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Author Topic: [Medieval 2: Total War/Mods] Europa Barbarorum II v2.3 released!  (Read 2331 times)

Kiero

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I don't know how many people are still playing total conversion mods for this old classic, but there are many teams still at work creating them. Some of you might remember the original Europa Barbarorum for Rome: Total War, and indeed earlier iterations of this mod too. The last time a major release dropped was in August 2016, so this update has been in development a fair old while, adding lots of new content and expanding/deepening what was already there.



Get Europa Barbarorum II v2.3

The above is a link to a forum post with installation instructions and download links, previews, changelog and lots more.

All you need to play is Medieval 2: Total War with the Kingdoms expansion patched to v1.05 (automatic if you're playing on Steam). The mod itself is free and M2TW is available cheaply nowadays, being an old game.

Full disclosure, I'm one of the developers, a code-monkey in Game Mechanics, everything relating to recruitment is mine and I dabble in unit stats, scripting and lots else besides. Our multi-lingual, multi-talented team is comprised entirely of volunteers and we're always on the lookout for new people with skills to help us progress the mod.

Enjoy!
« Last Edit: October 19, 2017, 08:34:13 AM by Kiero »
Currently running: Tyche's Favourites, a historical ACKS campaign set around Massalia in 300BC.

Our podcast site, In Sanity We Trust Productions.

Motorskills

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[Medieval 2: Total War/Mods] Europa Barbarorum II v2.3 released!
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2017, 10:30:20 PM »
Thanks for the heads-up!
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Kiero

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[Medieval 2: Total War/Mods] Europa Barbarorum II v2.3 released!
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2017, 05:05:41 AM »
Quote from: Motorskills;1002164
Thanks for the heads-up!

Hope you have fun, let us know how you get on.
Currently running: Tyche's Favourites, a historical ACKS campaign set around Massalia in 300BC.

Our podcast site, In Sanity We Trust Productions.

Wanderer

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[Medieval 2: Total War/Mods] Europa Barbarorum II v2.3 released!
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2017, 04:20:38 PM »
Oh! I've just been playing 2.2 and thinking that was the last of it. Can anybody who plays give a brief review, please. How about pc specs? Even 2.2 was a bit of a challenge for my laptop.

Kiero

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[Medieval 2: Total War/Mods] Europa Barbarorum II v2.3 released!
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2017, 09:06:37 PM »
Definitely not the last of it, we're hard at work adding more stuff. Still two new factions to be done amongst other things. There's been 2.2b (a full release) and the patch to 2.2r since 2.2 dropped.

One of the things I did for 2.3 was a major exercise in optimising the script. While it's undoubtedly bigger (with more stuff in it), it's also much more efficient than it was, with things that aren't being used being closed and everything having a means of switching off. I culled almost 200 extraneous monitors by consolidating where I could, or simply rewriting things in a simpler way. People have noted that makes a difference to between-turn processing times.

Really, though, two things that boost performance most are getting Large Address Aware (a generic compiler flag that tells the executable to use up to 4GB RAM instead of the default 2GB), and changing the logging method so it only records errors, not every item of trace. The latter is default in the config provided with 2.3.
Currently running: Tyche's Favourites, a historical ACKS campaign set around Massalia in 300BC.

Our podcast site, In Sanity We Trust Productions.

Wanderer

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[Medieval 2: Total War/Mods] Europa Barbarorum II v2.3 released!
« Reply #5 on: October 22, 2017, 05:58:27 AM »
Quote from: Kiero;1002684
Definitely not the last of it, we're hard at work adding more stuff. Still two new factions to be done amongst other things. There's been 2.2b (a full release) and the patch to 2.2r since 2.2 dropped.

One of the things I did for 2.3 was a major exercise in optimising the script. While it's undoubtedly bigger (with more stuff in it), it's also much more efficient than it was, with things that aren't being used being closed and everything having a means of switching off. I culled almost 200 extraneous monitors by consolidating where I could, or simply rewriting things in a simpler way. People have noted that makes a difference to between-turn processing times.

Really, though, two things that boost performance most are getting Large Address Aware (a generic compiler flag that tells the executable to use up to 4GB RAM instead of the default 2GB), and changing the logging method so it only records errors, not every item of trace. The latter is default in the config provided with 2.3.

Great-I love this mod and the research that's gone into it. What amazes me is how many of the factions, including the Aeudi, say, have their own new art , units and transforming reforms. I've played Rome, Carthage, Aeudi, Ptolemic Egypt, and found interesting stuff in every case. Haven't tried more 'exotic' groups like the Bactrians so don't know if even they have been given the same loving treatment.

 I'll try 2.3 soon.

I miss only the cheesy Wonder films, but I can see why they are not in keeping with the tone of the mod.

Kiero

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[Medieval 2: Total War/Mods] Europa Barbarorum II v2.3 released!
« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2017, 10:40:09 AM »
Quote from: Wanderer;1002721
Great-I love this mod and the research that's gone into it. What amazes me is how many of the factions, including the Aeudi, say, have their own new art , units and transforming reforms. I've played Rome, Carthage, Aeudi, Ptolemic Egypt, and found interesting stuff in every case. Haven't tried more 'exotic' groups like the Bactrians so don't know if even they have been given the same loving treatment.

 I'll try 2.3 soon.

I miss only the cheesy Wonder films, but I can see why they are not in keeping with the tone of the mod.

While we're unfinished, it's a different sort of unfinished as to having factions without complete UI and such. It's more that lots of rosters are incomplete (especially regional units, rather than core factional ones) and we haven't scripted all the events and other gameplay features that will eventually be present. A lot of progress has been made between 2.2b and 2.3 on that front, though. Especially in the traits area, where they're now working much better, as a result of dealing with a huge bug with AntiTraits. Though that job is nowhere near finished, it's massive.

Baktria, as a Hellenistic faction, has the Greek core of it's units done already, and most of the Eastern/Iranian roster is complete as well. More recently, they've had the three "Indo-Greek" (in reality they're mostly and Hellenising Iranians) units added to the region, though they're still missing their elite cavalry. Their tributary events and independence reform are in, though, and they have a host of "missions" which give useful rewards like colonists.

Wonders are back, though no film, just a popup when you first find them.
Currently running: Tyche's Favourites, a historical ACKS campaign set around Massalia in 300BC.

Our podcast site, In Sanity We Trust Productions.