Widescreen Gaming Forum

Yes sir, this mod works great for me

Thanks for the feedback!

nothing like playing the Minas Tirith map the way it was meant to be played.

That's the exact reason I started the mod in the first place. The super-low camera just did not capture the epic scale that The Lord of the Rings demands.

I posted a couple screenies in the Widescreen section. No time for surround atm, but maybe I can do some "faux TH2G" playtesting later...

By the way General, now that I saw it in action again, I can confirm you were right : the CE dragon is just a different skin... ;)

By the way General, now that I saw it in action again, I can confirm you were right : the CE dragon is just a different skin... ;)

A skin change should be rather simple. I'll browse some of the texture archives.

Maybe not that simple... The summoned dragon (CE or not) doesn't look like the 'dragstrike' texture at all, which is the same in the CE and regular version anyway. Can't find any other relevant texture in any .big file.

The dragon texture in the ws mod is the regular one by the way.

It's amazing how cautiously they seem to have "hidden" that texture. Needless to say, the additional maps are a much more essential feature of the CE so let's not catch a headache trying to sort this out ;)

What? Throw down a gauntlet and then say "Don't run it"? ;) :)

Besides, I think you might have found the treasure map:

The dragon texture in the ws mod is the regular one by the way.

The mod doesn't include any textures, but it does include a full set of the .ini files from ini.big, and those files are from my non-CE version of the game. Can you upload or send me the ini.big file from your CE version?

Okay, I'll PM you when I finish uploading the file. There's a couple interesting entries in there actually, and in datainiobjectevilfactionunitsevilbeastssummoneddragon.ini I see this :

RandomTextureFixedRandomIndex = Yes
;// this set of replacements correspond (in number and in order) to ...
RandomTexture = SumnDragon_C.tga 0 SumnDragon_C.tga
RandomTexture = SumnDragonB_C.tga 0 SumnDragon_C.tga
RandomTexture = SumnDragonC_C.tga 0 SumnDragon_C.tga
RandomTexture = SumnDragonD_C.tga 0 SumnDragon_C.tga
RandomTexture = SumnDragonE_C.tga 0 SumnDragon_C.tga
;// ... this set
RandomTexture = SumnDragon2_C.tga 0 SumnDragon2_C.tga
RandomTexture = SumnDragonB2_C.tga 0 SumnDragon2_C.tga
RandomTexture = SumnDragonC2_C.tga 0 SumnDragon2_C.tga
RandomTexture = SumnDragonD2_C.tga 0 SumnDragon2_C.tga
RandomTexture = SumnDragonE2_C.tga 0 SumnDragon2_C.tga

:idea: :?:

Odd. I ran a text diff on the .ini files from your version and it came up with no differences with mine. :?

I caught a small tip on another forum, saying that the CE version comes with a different game2.dat file. Here's the MD5 hash from mine:
E82F5311F97750868DD18FCD5594C6D8

How does that compare to yours?

Do you only have the CE version? If I could compare all the files between the 2 versions it would probably help reveal the changes.

MD5 tool: http://www.elgorithms.com/downloads/chaosmd5.php

Mine is : 4B38163D4001AFDF71783AEA5EA2F2D3 (here's the file)
Yes, I only have the CE.
Also don't forget I have a data3.big with only an empty mithriledition.txt in it; could this be a trigger for CE contents and maybe the RandomTexture replacements ?

There's a total of 4 different skins for the summoned dragon in Textures3.bigartcompiledtexturessusumndragonxxx.dds - looks like the CE version's "dalmation" skin is sumndragonc_c.dds and sumnddragonc2_c.dds , no idea what the others (green, gold...) are, I'll try some export/rename/import and see what it does...

Okay, I think I got it, at least partially. Not really pertaining to your mod or WS gaming so maybe I should post this on some BFME2 forum instead, but hey.

There are actually 5 different skins that consist of two 1024x1024 texture files (body & wings).

dragon_c.dds & dragon2_c.dds


dragonb_c.dds & dragonb2_c.dds


dragonc_c.dds & dragonc2_c.dds


dragond_c.dds & dragond2_c.dds


dragone_c.dds & dragone2_c.dds



So there are 5 different "summoned dragons", and each time you use that power there's a probability of getting each skin.
To verify this I used a trainer to "chain summon" dragons, and eventually got all flavors in both my not-modded CE and Widescreen Enhanced versions. BUT :
1) the first time you summon the dragon in a game, you always get the "default" skin (I'm not 100% sure though, maybe there's no default at all)
2) if you have the CE, dragon "c" replaces all others - as the "default" dragon at least.




Games where you summon several dragons are not that common I suppose (need lots of power points + cooldown time), so one'd think there's only one dragon skin available per version of BFME2 - except maybe in the rare event of a multiplayer game with several dragons of various colors summoned by different players. However even if you have the regular non-CE version of the game, it seems you have a chance of summoning dragon "c" just like any other - from your "second" summoned dragon on. The same probably applies to the CE : you always get dragon "c" first, then any skin can pop up if you use the power again.

Again that may not be 100% true, I'm a bit fed up of playtesting this :lol: (and trying to explain tings I'm not even sure of.. in english...) but in any event, if you really want to be sure summoned dragons will always have one specific skin, you can always rename or replace the relevant dds files (just watch that syntax ! All files are "_c" and "2" is for wings)...

Anyone toying with this, please post your results ;)

Great work, scav. I didn't suspect that the first summon would always be the standard skin, so I'll need to playtest again using multiple summons. Fortunately I can mod the regeneration value so the dragon can be summoned as quickly as I want. ;)

I have all those same skins in my non-CE .big file. Given that our .ini files also showed no differences, I'd say EA has done a fairly good job of hiding how the CE features work. We can crack it, though. :)

I don't have lots of time for modding ATM, but I'll get back to this when I can. If you feel like it, would you be willing to dump a directory list of your CE install folder into a .txt file and share it? PM me when you can. I'd like to compare all files/folders/sizes/dates with my non-CE version. No hurry, BTW.

Also, don't know if you have CnC: Zero Hour, but I put up a quick Triplehead fix for it here:
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/9747

WAY more fun with such a huge view of the battlefield. :D

I could use a little photoshop project GeneralAdmission.

If I can find the material I would like to see if I can create a new title screen for the TH version so you do not have to have that seperate efect and get that nice 3 screen span feel.

Can you send me any resources you have (like the current images your using, the title) and give me any guidelines as to what you need (the required resolution & file type, is the image in an off aspect ratio and gets streched, ect ect)

Sounds good to me. You are talking about this splash screen, correct?:


I'd like to retain the Triplehead Enhanced title as-is, but you are welcome to change/recreate the background image(s). My 3-screen mashup way just a quick way to fix the horribly stretched regular splash screen. I've had it in the back of my mind to go back and improve/change it, especially since the transition lines don't line up exactly with my bezels for some reason, but I might never get around to it. I'd be happy to include your work in the mod, with credits, of course.

I'll collect the source assets and PM you with links and info, hopefully by the end of the day.

Sounds good to me. You are talking about this splash screen, correct?:


I'd like to retain the Triplehead Enhanced title as-is, but you are welcome to change/recreate the background image(s). My 3-screen mashup way just a quick way to fix the horribly stretched regular splash screen. I've had it in the back of my mind to go back and improve/change it, especially since the transition lines don't line up exactly with my bezels for some reason, but I might never get around to it. I'd be happy to include your work in the mod, with credits, of course.

I'll collect the source assets and PM you with links and info, hopefully by the end of the day.

Yep thats the one, Id love to give a little hand in your great mod. The title looks great and in that image link its fine I just saw the "in action" shots of the old one and thought it was stretching for some reason so I was going to correct it so that it would not stretch if possible. Looks like you already did that though so I just need to see what kind of backdrop I can come up with.

Im assuming this is something we can just have as an optional download where the users can freely and easily change it within there files in addition to your already setup mod downloads. Maybe even have a choice of a few backdrops.

The best way to get a source maybe very well just to take some great in game screen shots that way its related to the game and the right resolution & aspect already.

Im assuming this is something we can just have as an optional download where the users can freely and easily change it within there files in addition to your already setup mod downloads. Maybe even have a choice of a few backdrops.

It is possible to swap backgrounds whenever you want, but the process would be tedious to use with the way the mod is distributed. My guess is few people would want to bother with it.

I had my first idea today, I found a 3d saurons eye screen saver deal that I could use. Power went out in my house soon as I started to work on it though so work was canceled for today.

General, the BFMEII version of your command points mod doesn't seem to have any effect on my game... I tried Skirmish mode (Isengard), Campaign mode (Mordor) and War of the Ring (Elves).

Actually, in Skirmish mode (and probably MP too) there's a command points multiplier (up to 100x !) in the game's Rules... and it has no effect either (on buildings or killings), with or without your modded ini.big. So maybe it's just me :?

On a sidenote, would it be feasible to attach command points earnings to each and every building types, especially barracks ? That'd be much more "classical" RTS style and we wouldn't have to rely that much on farms for training big armies anymore.

ViciousXUSMC, if you're looking for photoshop action, the loading screens of the campaign mode maps could use some "tripleheading" too :P

General, the BFMEII version of your command points mod doesn't seem to have any effect on my game... I tried Skirmish mode (Isengard), Campaign mode (Mordor) and War of the Ring (Elves).

Does the RotWK version work? If so maybe your CE version of BFMEII is not playing nice. Do you have a dataini folder with tons of .ini files under the main directory? Delete or rename that folder to "hide" it from the engine so it uses only the ini.big file.

Did you try rebooting your PC or powering off your modem, counting to 10, then powering it back on? :wink: :P

Actually, in Skirmish mode (and probably MP too) there's a command points multiplier (up to 100x !) in the game's Rules... and it has no effect either (on buildings or killings), with or without your modded ini.big. So maybe it's just me Confused

Yes, I always use 100x to support massive armies, but that is altering the overall unit cap. Bumping CP per building lets you get to that 100x level a lot faster. ;)

On a sidenote, would it be feasible to attach command points earnings to each and every building types, especially barracks ? That'd be much more "classical" RTS style and we wouldn't have to rely that much on farms for training big armies anymore.

Yes, you could add your chosen CP value to any building you want by editing the .ini files. Just a matter of data hunting. :)

Depending on how the game is programmed this might handicap AI players (if they "think" that CP points only apply to farms, etc.).

Okay, that was stupid : it didn't work because I had only renamed the original ini.big to iniBAK.big, which didn't really move it out of the way. (Stupid "hide extensions" thingy's fault, too.)

The BFMEII version works perfectly. The game crawls with 8000+ command points spent, but hey :lol:

Okay, that was stupid : it didn't work because I had only renamed the original ini.big to iniBAK.big, which didn't really move it out of the way. (Stupid "hide extensions" thingy's fault, too.)

haha...Explorer's insidious "help" features strike again. You should try xplorer2 lite, my fav file manager. Among other things, CTRL+F2 lets you rename filename and extension in a snap.

The BFMEII version works perfectly. The game crawls with 8000+ command points spent, but hey :lol:

Glad to hear it works now. I think I'll post a new thread in the Mod section just so it gets a little more exposure.

Massive armies do move like molasses. I once played a Zero Hour skirmish against 7 Hard Armies...took 2 days to finish the match. :D

ok,i install this mod,is it,or will be ever posible to change angle of camera???