[BTS] Ethnically Diverse Units v3.0

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Rabbit, White

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Ethnically Diverse Units MOD Beyond the Sword Edition
Version 3.14

UPDATE: Version 3.14 fixes a bug that was introduced in version 3.13

This is the Beyond the Sword version of the Ethnically Diverse Units MOD (hence forth referred to as EDU BTS). If you're not familiar with the Ethnically Diverse Units MOD you can read a more detailed desription in the original thread. The only thing I will mention here is that this mod does not in any way modify the gameplay, it is strictly a graphical modification.

Download EDU BTS v3.14

Thanks to mamba you can download the modular version of the mod here http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/76988/EDU_v314_modular.zip.

As you may already be aware, the BTS expansion includes many ethnic units. However the units that appear in the game are only part of all the units that were made. All the units however are included on the CD, in other words, think of them as the lost units from vanilla - the resources are there but are not being used. This mod adds those units, 29 in total, to the game as well as a few more things.

All the ethnic units, other than those taken from Warlords scenarios and the BTS Charlemagne scenario, have been made by the EDU team, with guidance from the talented artists at Firaxis.

The EDU team consists of (in alphabetical order):

AlazkanAssassin
Alexander01
C.Roland
Cham
Danthrax
Elhoim
Impaler
Kael
Ploeperpengel
seZereth
White Rabbit

There are more than 50 new ethnic units, and altogether, with those taken from Warlords and Charlemagne, and some default/vanilla ones, they cover 16 units across 5 styles - European, Greco-Roman, Middle-Eastern, Asian and South American (aka Native).
The units that have ethnic styles are - Settler, Worker, Warrior, Scout, Archer, Spearman, Chariot, Horse Archer, Axeman, Swordsman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Pikeman, Maceman, Knight and War Elephant. Here are screenshots of all the units, based on art style, in the following order - European, Greco-Roman, Middle-Eastern, Asian and South American.



In addition to the ethnic units, this mod also includes scale adjustments of naval units based on Elhoim's Better Ship Scale mod, plus minor scale adjustments to other units. As well as more interesting Settlers' "formations" with bigger families.

Spoiler If you're interested in what was removed and why :

In comparison to the original EDU mod, EDU BTS is missing several things.

There are no African units - this is due to the fact that the initial version of the mod only supports the official art styles, which do not include African. In future versions I'll add the African, and possibly more styles.

There are no modern ethnic units - this is because in the modern age the difference between units is not based on ethnicity but rather on the actual civ. In other words, there is no "generic European" look for the tanks. Instead there are Russian, British, French and so on, tanks. I'm not yet sure how to handle that, but I don't want to create a separate art style for every civ.

There are no ethnic palaces or additional city styles - I decided to refocus the mod on units only. There is a great Ethnic Diverse Citystyles mod by GeoModder that does a much better job of providing many styles of buildings. And if you wish to combine the two, well I saw at least two people working on that, and probably more so no worries on that front either. ;)

There are no formations (beside the modified settlers) - to be honest the only good formations idea I had was for the spearman, rest would've probably just ended up something I'd change from version to version 'cause I can't decide on what to do. Plus, there's enough work as it is without worrying about formations anyway. If there's a high demand for that, I'm sure somebody would come along and do it.

Much thanks goes to...
Spoiler Credits :

Kael and Impaler for organizing and leading this project.

C.Roland, AlazkanAssassin, Ploeperpengel, seZereth and Cham for creating many ethnic units.

Elhoim for texturing (pretty much all) the units.

Alexander01 and Danthrax for helping with research and providing much needed resources.

Firaxis for providing their help and expertise and of course, of course, for including the ethnic units in the game. Something like this is pretty much a dream of any modder and I am grateful to have been so lucky.

Installation Instructions

As a MOD
1. Unzip the contents of the file into [Beyond the Sword installation folder]/Mods folder
2. Launch the game and go to Advanced -> Load MOD
3. Select EDU and click OK

As CustomAssets (this will apply the mod without having to load it but may conflict with other mods, or custom assets that you might be using).
1. Unzip the contents of the file into a temporary directory
2. Copy the contents of the Assets folder, which is inside the EDU folder, into CustomAssets directory
3. Run the game

Future Plans
At this point priority number one is adding African art style and units, after that we'll see.

Version History
Spoiler Version History :

Version 3.14
Fixes XML bug

Version 3.13
- Added ten African units
Worker
Warrior
Scout
Archer
Spearman
Chariot (Bakuel)
HorseArcher
Axeman
Swordsman
WarElephant

- Added 2 Arabian units
Chariot
Spearman

Version 3.01
- Added European War Elephant in XML

Version 3.0
- Initial Version

Download EDU BTS v3.14

Enjoy! :)
 
Thanks guys, but really, the credit goes to the entire team.

Looks wonderful! :D I love all those Native units!

BTW, with the European pikeman, is the shield always a cross or does it carry the Civ's flag pattern?
Yeah, the shield carries the flag pattern/color. It's a new shader they added in BTS, it's used in the Charlemagne scenario. Unfortunately there was no update to the max plugin that would include this new shader, which means the only way to take advantage of it so far, that I could find, is reusing the shields from those units in the scenario that use that shader.
 
Unfortunately there was no update to the max plugin that would include this new shader, which means the only way to take advantage of it so far, that I could find, is reusing the shields from those units in the scenario that use that shader.

I hope somehow that shader becomes usable - I can only imagine the things we could do with it!!!
 
Wow, it's out already?
Big thanks for this, WR. I'll use it as a base to port the ethnic citystyles on.
 
Any plans to combine this with Geo's mod?

Big thanks for this, WR. I'll use it as a base to port the ethnic citystyles on.

:)

I hope somehow that shader becomes usable - I can only imagine the things we could do with it!!!

Yeah, I hope there will be a way to take advantage of it. Maybe the same folks that did the importer for max will figure it out. For now though, the Charlemagne scenario has at least 3 different shields that use it IIRC, so for any medieval unit one might want to create that base is covered.
 
Glad to see all those units again, I've been missing them :goodjob:
 
So does include all of the ethnic units from the previous encarnation of EDU? I'm assuming that it probably does since you make reference to all the talented artists who contributed, but I notice that you only have screenshots of the Firaxis units... so I'm a little confuzzled.
 
Sweet. I'm gonna do some personal modding soon I think to make the Epic game a bit more like I want it. And this would be an excellent start.
 
This looks to be just activation of 'Lost' BtS EDU contents (thus this download should be xml only), new Styles and expansions to the current styles will likely be the next phase. I'd like to see Musketmen and Rifleman targeted for the next layer in terms of tech tree depth extension and the aforementioned African set for Diversity expansion. thats 28 units total but most already exist in some form.
 
So does include all of the ethnic units from the previous encarnation of EDU? I'm assuming that it probably does since you make reference to all the talented artists who contributed, but I notice that you only have screenshots of the Firaxis units... so I'm a little confuzzled.

No, it is only based on what is in BtS.

WR said he'll eventually add more units and ethnic styles.:)
 
So does include all of the ethnic units from the previous encarnation of EDU? I'm assuming that it probably does since you make reference to all the talented artists who contributed, but I notice that you only have screenshots of the Firaxis units... so I'm a little confuzzled.

In fact, those units aren't made by Firaxis but by the team listed in the credits.
 
In fact, those units aren't made by Firaxis but by the team listed in the credits.

Yeah, I started to realize that after I posted... impressive work :yup:
 
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