War Of The Ring 1.1

hexagonian · March 8, 2003, 00:35

Link up here for the updated Lord of the Rings Scenario...

First of all, a big thanks to Ben Weaver (Immortal Wombat) for putting together a VERY atmospheric SLIC file for this Scenario - there are many events and ingame messages that relate to the world of Middle Earth. I have run it through a 75 turn playtest with no problem - hopefully there will not be any crashes.

You play as Gondor...

There are a total of 4 setups - 2 with the ability to recapture cities, and 2 that will raze all cities that you capture (as you can guess, this last one is incredibly tough because you cannot grow your empire other than through population growth.) Each of the main setups has 2 settings - Mordor starts with a lot of mobile units and does not start with mobile units except for Black Riders.

If you have downloaded earlier version of WOTR, you will need to download all the files that are posted. Old gamefiles will not work with this new setup, and there are many updated files.

There are
- readme
- graphics
- txtfile
zips - you will need all of the files. Make sure you read the install readme, as well as the main readme.

I do have a base map, so if anyone wants to add onto this setup, I can send it to you.

Report any problems and suggestions to this thread. Ben and I will try to address them.

This is my final gift to the CTP2 community. Have fun...

Ben, you may want to post some thoughts here too.

Immortal Wombat · March 9, 2003, 06:00

wow, yeah.
Hex did a great job on this, the map is as near to perfect as one could reasonably expect, the balance is great, Mordor is a worthy foe, the graphics are beautiful. To be honest, even without the SLIC the scenario was fun to play. Hope I haven't ruined it.

There is an events help file included with the readmes to give you a hand with any of the events which are less than obvious to grasp. Give it a few play-throughs though, and only "cheat" if you can't figure it out yourself.

What else to say... Oh yeah, don't /reloadslic unless you absolutely have to. If this means setting aside three or four hours and playing the whole thing at once, its better than reloading slic and messing the whole event storylines.

I've been through and tested every event a dozen times, and I am pretty sure it is running how it should and bug free. Any other problems, let us know, and we'll get it sorted.

Other than that, have fun, enjoy.

hexagonian · March 9, 2003, 14:16

Quote:

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat
What else to say... Oh yeah, don't /reloadslic unless you absolutely have to. If this means setting aside three or four hours and playing the whole thing at once, its better than reloading slic and messing the whole event storylines.

Ben, I did a /reloadslic on all of the maps before the final setup. (loaded map you sent me > /reloadslic > hit next turn > place new units > save scenario) - because two of the setups have the raze city SLIC option and two do not (and I wanted to make sure that the SLICs were properly loaded).

Is this going to cause problems? Do I have to reset up the maps...

When I relaunced the scenario, the spash message came up and the game seemed to run fine, so it may not be a problem.

Martin Gühmann · March 9, 2003, 14:19

IIRC when the scenario is loaded slic is automaticly reloaded.

-Martin

Immortal Wombat · March 10, 2003, 07:05

No, that's fine. I meant no /reloading mid-game.

Pedrunn · March 10, 2003, 08:41

Quote:

Originally posted by Martin Gühmann
IIRC when the scenario is loaded slic is automaticly reloaded.

The slic isnt reloaded.

hexagonian · March 21, 2003, 12:32

Any reports?????.....I know some peole have the Scenario - or at least visited the site.

Kyran · March 30, 2003, 21:44

i get a path error when the scenario loads, G(something or other)

hexagonian · March 31, 2003, 12:28

Quote:

Originally posted by Kyran
i get a path error when the scenario loads, G(something or other)

I need clarification on what the message is.

Make sure you have the following ZIP files.

cradle_allfiles04_08.ZIP
134a_update_10_31.ZIP

wotr_txt_03_07.zip
wotr_graphics.ZIP
wotr_readme.zip

There may have been some confusion at my site about the what are the Cradle 1.3 files.

Originally, my site had a listing for a 1.3/Victory file - it was an update and did not include all the files in Cradle.

Since 1.3 was a major update when I released it, I had rebundled all files into a single download, as well as posting those 1.3 files as an update to cut down on downloads for people who had been playing Cradle beforehand.

My site has been fixed to hopefully reduce confusion on which files are needed.

You need both the Cradle main files, (cradle_allfiles04_08.ZIP) located on the left side of the website.

and the 1.34 update, (134a_update_10_31.ZIP) located on the right side of the website.

hexagonian · April 27, 2003, 23:16

bump...

9 posts - 567 hits to this page.

Someone playing this?????

JoyeuxJim · May 18, 2003, 08:02

Well, I tried the scenario yesterday, and I have to say that it's a pretty good one !

Tha map is really "realistic" (I mean it's the same that Tolkien's one), the scenario is a real happiness for a Tolkien's fan !

My only regret is that we begin with so much cities and units, as Gondor, that the first turns are veeeery long, building units and buildings for each city and moving/fortifying each unit.

Anyway, thanks to the creators of this scenario !

EDIT : for the one that had a problem with missing files with the scenario : I had the same problem, but it was because my game is not in english and that part of the files go in the "english" folder. If the problem is the same, all you have to do is to cut and paste the content of this folder into the the one of your language !

Immortal Wombat · May 18, 2003, 17:54

Quote:

My only regret is that we begin with so much cities and units, as Gondor, that the first turns are veeeery long, building units and buildings for each city and moving/fortifying each unit.

Yeah, that was my first comment when playtesting it. But once you get over the initial effort, it plays really well.

Thanks for playing, and thanks even more for responding

hexagonian · May 18, 2003, 18:16

Glad you are enjoying it. Any additional feedback will help finetune this Scenario too.

There really isn't a easy way to set up the world of Middle-earth at a particular timeframe without having all of the cities already in place. It wouldn't work to have players build the cities themselves. (as this will not follow the general layout in the book, and this was my goal instead of simply creating a Mod that would merely replace a legion with an orc).

...So there is a lot of micromanagement of units/build queues to do during the early turns. But think of it as being thrust into the middle of a normal CTP2 game - or playing the Alexander Scenario that shipped with the default game.

Changmai Beagle · May 20, 2003, 20:46

I'm hoping to try this scenario, but I'm tied up with some other things right now. Cradle is my standard CTPII setup, and it is a great leap forward.

hexagonian · September 14, 2003, 18:19

Well, I was watching FOTR last night and decided to bump this thread up...

225 hits on my site for this Scenario - still no feedback. This does not mean that it has been downloaded 225 times, but at least some people have looked at the page. I have no idea who has actually tried it so far.

Either the Scenario is absolutely perfect and leaves everyone speechless, or it is a load of crap beyond hope of repair.

(I'm willing to upgrade and fix it, but only if there is enough interest out there to do so.)

yaldah · December 1, 2003, 01:37

Just got the scenario, and it looks great. It crashes, though, when I try to load a saved game. I have cradle 1.35, and I'm pretty sure I installed the WOTR stuff correctly, too.

Immortal Wombat · December 1, 2003, 14:51

Can you post the save and we can have a look at it, try and find the problem?

Thanks for playing and commenting, btw.

Martin Gühmann · December 1, 2003, 21:17

Quote:

Originally posted by yaldah
Just got the scenario, and it looks great. It crashes, though, when I try to load a saved game. I have cradle 1.35, and I'm pretty sure I installed the WOTR stuff correctly, too.

Did you try to load a savegame from Cradle 1.35 or did you try to load a savegame that you created with this scenario afterwards you successfully loaded the savegame that comes with all the files. If you tried the first I am not surprised that this fails, because the databases of both mods do not agree.

-Martin

kaigun · December 26, 2003, 04:08

As Hex sounded despondent on the AI thread about LOTR thought Id post.Played it more than once like it enjoy it.
Dont usually post on forums though do read sure others have played too it is good.

hexagonian · December 26, 2003, 23:48

Got some questions, kaigun...

Did you win or lose - or give up at a certain point because of difficulty, or did you have the game well in hand?
Was it tough/easy?
What difficulty levels were you playing?
Any in-game crashes?

Any additional input would be nice...

Maquiladora · December 27, 2003, 00:50

Ok ive read what i can but im still abit confused, can i just download CRADLE 1.3 (dated - 04/08/02), then 1.35 UPDATE (dated 04/17/03) and be able to play the scenario? I want to have the most upto date version of cradle only, but if its necessary am i only supposed to update with 1.34 UPDATE (dated 04/17/03) to be able to play the scenario? and what about Required 1.34 UPDATE FIX (unzip over 1.34)?

Basically im asking will the scenario work if i install Cradle and update it with,

1.35 UPDATE (dated 04/17/03)
and
1.35b UPDATE FIX (dated 07/18/03)?

hexagonian · December 27, 2003, 08:38

To play WOTR, you will need

- Modswapper
- Patch
- CRADLE 1.3 (dated - 04/08/02)
(this has 90% of the base graphics tga/sprite files)

and either
- 1.35 UPDATE (dated 04/17/03)
or
- 1.34 UPDATE (dated 04/17/03)
(both 1.34 and 1.35 had converted Cradle to Leonardo's graphics setup in the uniticon.txt file and WOTR uses the same designations - the tga files he created are also part of either of those downloads)

The update fixes are not required - they are txtfile alts to Cradle, and WOTR has its own set of txtfiles.

Make sure you read the installation/readme files.

Maquiladora · December 27, 2003, 10:10

Ok thanks Hex, although i guess i still need the Apolyton Tile File, not sure if thats mentioned in the readmes.

Also the zips on your website,
wotr_txt_03_07.zip
wotr_graphics.ZIP
wotr_readme.zip

have the wrong structure to directly extract to the Call to Power 2 folder, instead they go inside another folder called "Call to Power 2" inside the Call to Power 2 folder, if that makes sense.

Immortal Wombat · December 29, 2003, 18:05

Quote:

Originally posted by Maquiladora
Ok thanks Hex, although i guess i still need the Apolyton Tile File, not sure if thats mentioned in the readmes.

You shouldn't need it I don't think, unless you're running a city expansion mod along with it.

Quote:

Also the zips on your website,
wotr_txt_03_07.zip
wotr_graphics.ZIP
wotr_readme.zip

have the wrong structure to directly extract to the Call to Power 2 folder, instead they go inside another folder called "Call to Power 2" inside the Call to Power 2 folder, if that makes sense.

Yeah, most (or all?) of the zips from hex need unzipping into the top Activision folder rather than the CtP2 folder.

Maquiladora · December 29, 2003, 18:40

Quote:

You shouldn't need it I don't think, unless you're running a city expansion mod along with it.

Yeah i realised after i downloaded it, i was just wondering why there was a Obelisk on the map, shoulda guessed....... but then i know next to nothing about LOTR. I can appreciate how much work went into to, while i try and find out what im doing.

hexagonian · December 29, 2003, 23:15

When I was setting up Cradle, the folder that contained all of the Cradle files was the ctp2_data folder, so I used that as my top folder in the zipped file.

The scenario folder structure of WOTR required the Call to Power 2 folder as the top folder in the zipped file.

If I had planned ahead while setting up Cradle, (..if I had realized that I would eventually create an actual scenario) I would of used the Call to Power 2 folder in the zipped folder structure for Cradle too.

But sometimes, I'm not too bright...

Quote:

Originally posted by Maquiladora
Yeah i realised after i downloaded it, i was just wondering why there was a Obelisk on the map, shoulda guessed

I had to use existing CTP2 graphics for some of the stuff in the Scenario - those are the beacon watchtowers.

Take some time to go through the readmes/unit pdf files and the Great Library.

hexagonian · January 5, 2004, 12:40

Some gameplay info, as it relates to loading saved gamefiles...

When loading an existing saved gamefile, make sure you launch the War of the Ring 1.1 setup, and then create a new gamefile with the Scenario that you are using, before loading your existing saved file.

The reason why is because each of the 2 main playing options (Rebirth of Gondor, Twilight of Gondor) uses different SLIC files. The default SLIC file for the basic 'War of the Ring' setup is the 'Twilight of Gondor' set of SLICs. When you activate the various sub-scenarios, you activate the SLICs for those options.

So if you simply launch the game and then load a saved file, you may end up using the wrong set of SLICs which could cause problems down the road.

child of Thor · January 6, 2004, 07:30

Thanks for that tip Hex, i've got the files for LOTR now and hope to have a look this week sometime

Prepare for some activity in this thread as i get stuck and mess up my CTP2 files

child of Thor · January 7, 2004, 17:21

Ok looks good so far, played a few turns on both Hard and easy settings for Gondor.
I noticed a few of the characters start in different locations(depending on the difficulty choice) and once 'Strider' appeared as a different graphic(in the hard game he was a spy graphic - in the easy game he was a legionary type unit). I think the same thing happend with 'Treebeard'(its a shame we dont have an ent sprite).
Those grey tower/monolith things have a little graphic glitch when there is a road built on the square they occupy - the road appears to float in the air halfway up the tower, making a slight impossible object illuson.

I havent played much(its slow going on my P166 with 48MB!- but its not bad considering!), but so far i'm astounded at the level of detail you've all managed to put in this scenario, the Map/units(the dark riders freak my hobbits out!)/names, its all very cool indeed

I'll have some fun! Its quite intimidating at the begining with all the units you control, still i can see that after a few long turns you can set things up nicely.

child of Thor · January 12, 2004, 17:40

Ok i had a crash to desktop today.

Just before the crash:

I had just tried to attack a black rider fortified near Rivendell with a stack comprising Strider,Frodo,Merry,Pippin and Samwise. It wouldn't let me so i moved my stack south of the black rider.

I ended my turn and on Saurons(bad guys) go i got the crash - the normal windows fault box came up but i clicked a debug option on the box and it launched my Visual Studio 6.0 program.

That gave me the following info:

'Bug in CTP2(may have said .exe on the end?) - 0041f86f mov eax,dword ptr [ecx+38h] '

And the intro character dialogue boxes still get a bit confused from time to time(i started a new game and got the same kind a thing i reported earlier).

I havent had time to replay from my last save to see if i can replicate the crash again, but will report if i can get it again.

I'm quite early in the scenario, maybe about 10-15 turns in. Playing as Gondor with recapturable cities hard level.