A Fantasy Mod Planning/Recruitment

[PawelS]

Edit: maybe we can have a play around with the FX's, we could change it so it twinkles like the mana node(rather than beam of light)? Havnt looked at the rest of the FX's.

That would be a good option, I suppose

As for that green thing at the ground that you recolored to purple, perhaps you can remove it altogether (along with the roads), so we can enlarge the central structure...

 

[Horem]

As for that green thing at the ground that you recolored to purple, perhaps you can remove it altogether (along with the roads), so we can enlarge the central structure...

Thats doable, I have also managed to convert 277/290 FX dds's into jpeg files, so I now have access to them.

 

[rocklikeafool]

Short name: Beastmen

Long name: Beastmen Clans

Leader: Manezt Aru'uh

Gaming and fiction inspirations: Khajiit from The Elder Scrolls series, Warhammer Beastmen

Real life inspiration: Jungle tribesmen

Description: A loose federation of humanoids, the Beastmen look like a combination of man and beast. Generally, their warmakers (combat units) resemble large, powerful animals, such as lions, bears, great wolves (wolves that resemble werewolves), bulls, etc. Both because non-intelligent beasts are afraid of them and because some consider it wrong to use non-intelligent beasts as mounts, Beastmen do not ride any other types of beasts as mounts. Polictically, the Beastmen are organized into clans, with the Clanlords electing one of their own as king.

Starting bias: Jungle

Trait:
Jungle Dwellers
Terrain - +1 food in Jungle, units move in Jungles as on roads
Military - 15% strength in Jungles, -10% strength in Tundra/snow
3rd Trait Attribute - Any ideas welcome.

Uniques:

• Ohm'ez Skirmishers – medium-strength ranged unit with 2 movment
• Ra'aht Ironbeasts – heavy infantry, equipped with curved metal swords and axes; do not wear armor, relying instead on their natural abilites to dodge and/or resist pain
• More to come (maybe a UB or 2)

 

[Horem]

So trackign them FX dd's to the relevent files is goign to be an issue, since the FX files point to an art define that does not say what DDS it is using

Edit: Sussed it, Trigger points to a particle effect which in turn points to a psb(now i just need to find aprog that will open psb's)
Edit2: Ug, Photoshop

  <VisEffectParticleArtInfo>
    <Name>ART_DEF_PEFFECT_HOLY_SITE_01</Name>
    <File>FX_Religion_Holy_Site_01.psb</File>

 

[Horem]

Can not open them psb files, even with photoshop(30 day trail) to find out what textures they use

Edit: Can remove the ground from the mana node(making the textures transparant(all 4) seems to work okay).

 

[PawelS]

@Horem: Maybe it's not really a Photoshop file, only it happens to have the same extension?

Edit: Can remove the ground from the mana node(making the textures transparant(all 4) seems to work okay).

That would be good, then we can make the central structure bigger, so it looks different than the standard Holy Site (which I'm going to use too).

Now I'm going to implement your new graphics in the game (starting with the Crystal Plains), so if you have new files for Clay, please post them

@rocklikeafool: Your Beastmen idea is somewhat similar to my Lemuria (which I'm going to post next), I thought about combining them, but there are also some differences (Lemuria is going to be Humans, not half-beasts, with an emphasis on Recon units), so perhaps we can have two jungle based civs... or maybe we will remove Lemuria from the alpha, and replace it with another civ... I'll have to think about it, let me know if you have any civ ideas that you want to introduce to the alpha.

 

[rocklikeafool]

@rocklikeafool: Your Beastmen idea is somewhat similar to my Lemuria (which I'm going to post next), I thought about combining them, but there are also some differences (Lemuria is going to be Humans, not half-beasts, with an emphasis on Recon units), so perhaps we can have two jungle based civs... or maybe we will remove Lemuria from the alpha, and replace it with another civ... I'll have to think about it, let me know if you have any civ ideas that you want to introduce to the alpha.

One option would be to combine them as a human civ with "shape-shifting" abilities, resulting in certain units which have animal shapes. The basic idea could be that the Shaman (or whatever) have magic to twist certain units into anthropomorphic beast shapes.

 

[PawelS]

I submitted an update to GitHub, which adds Crystal Plains (they are also generated on maps). They give +1 Mana (Faith). Unfortunately I can't seem to find a way to prevent them from disappearing when there is an improvement on the tile (features that don't disappear in such cases, like Forest or Flood Plains, don't have their art defines in the database). Some future changes are possible as to yields, availability of improvements etc. Also it's possible that we change them to a bonus resource...

@rocklikeafool: OK, so we'll combine these civs into one (I'll post the details about my vision of the combined civ soon). This means that we'll have only 11 civs in the alpha, is there a civ that you'd like to add?

Also, do you like the name "Lemuria" (that's not my idea, someone proposed it when we discussed this civ in EoM thread), or we should call them just "Beastmen"?

 

[Horem]

Clay Quarry looks better, but there seems to be an oddity with it, See Pic. Not sure whats causing it, hense I did not post updated dds's, not sure the ones above have the same oddity. I went and broke the Mana Site, does not display at all. Still looking into both issues.

 

[Horem]

Unfortunately I can't seem to find a way to prevent them from disappearing when there is an improvement on the tile (features that don't disappear in such cases, like Forest or Flood Plains, don't have their art defines in the database).

You currently have to create new 3D models and Art for that. Unless it is handled in the dll.

 

[trystero49]

Hey there, sorry it's been a while since I've posted on the forums, but I'm having a bunch of RL stuff right now and I haven't been able to do any modding or even check these forums that often. I'd still like to work on the project with you, but I don't have enough time. I guess I'll let you know when I am able to do stuff?

 

[PawelS]

@trystero49: When you have some time for modding, please register at GitHub, and tell me your username, so I can add you as a collaborator to the project (the same applies to other team members).

About the Crystals: I decided to make it a bonus resource (called Mana Crystals) that gives some Mana yield (but not the Magical Power strategic resource), can be improved with a Mine, and is generated on Tundra and Snow (more often on the latter). If nobody objects, I will make this change in my next GitHub update, also the Kelp and Reef features will be generated on maps.

 

[magzhi]

@trystero49: When you have some time for modding, please register at GitHub, and tell me your username, so I can add you as a collaborator to the project (the same applies to other team members).

About the Crystals: I decided to make it a bonus resource (called Mana Crystals) that gives some Mana yield (but not the Magical Power strategic resource), can be improved with a Mine, and is generated on Tundra and Snow (more often on the latter). If nobody objects, I will make this change in my next GitHub update, also the Kelp and Reef features will be generated on maps.

we would need a new map script, to make some mountain/snowy regions in the middle part of the map.

 

[rocklikeafool]

Sorry about being MIA, guys. I've been very busy. In fact, I've exams soon. Those end on the 20th though, so I should be able to focus more on the mod then.

 

[PawelS]

Actually I was busy lately too, but I should be able to return to modding soon.

we would need a new map script, to make some mountain/snowy regions in the middle part of the map.

Why? Mana Crystals is only a bonus resource, so it's not something everyone will need. There are other ways of getting the Mana yield too, and the Magical Power strategic resource (the purple crystals) will appear in all terrain types.

I'm working on a map script indeed, but it generates tundra and snow only in the northern part of the map, and jungles in the south. It's something like Erebus Continent for FFH, but it doesn't have to be a single continent, and it can generate land at the edges of the map. The script is called Perfect Flat World, because it's based on Perfect World 3 by cephalo, and it generates flat maps. After tweaking some things I'll add it to the mod.

 

[Horem]

I have been bashing my head at the Quarry over last few days, can not seem to solve the graphical glitch(the squares(an i thought it was all hexes...improvements are still square) in the SS above) so I am going to start again from scratch and see where or if I have done anything wrong. Just thought I should let ya know

 

[PawelS]

It's nice that you're still working on it, thanks for all your effort

 

[Horem]

It's nice that you're still working on it, thanks for all your effort

No worries, its not much effort atm, only have about an hr a day for CiV modding.

 

[magzhi]

ok finally all programs are working fine for me. I am gonna start trying to port units from civ4 in 2-3 days

 

[rocklikeafool]

ok finally all programs are working fine for me. I am gonna start trying to port units from civ4 in 2-3 days

Awesome, thanks!

If you need, there's some great tutorials that contain helpful hints here on the site.