Here will be posted links to all finished files for staff, as well as systems information as they are created.

Current Files :

None

Current Conventions :

They're NOT like "guidelines":
It should go without saying, but the point of a reference is to recreate it as faithfully as possible where you can within the parameters of our game. If it doesn't look or work like the references, we probably can't use it. Don't be afraid to do some of your own research either - the internet is a magical place and 100% of the content of this mod is based on wikipedia or google searches which are not at all difficult. If you find a word you don't know, don't wait for instructions - look it up!

When in doubt :
FAIL EPICLY. You have nothing to lose and you'll probably learn something. Who knows, you might even be able to pull it off afterall. The only thing worse than making a mistake is making nothing.

Naming the .CAS and .TGA.DDS files :
All units will be named as function_mod_genericulture_type_faction.extention. For example:
data/models_unit/unit_bible_ben_slings_high.cas
data/models_unit/textures/unit_bible_canaan_ben_slings_rebel.tga.dds
data/models_unit/textures/unit_bible_canaan_ben_slings_hebre w.tga.dds

Culture Names :
For ease of searching, all units and items will be sorted by culture/region, similar to vanilla, even if they do not share a tremendous numbers of units. They are currently as follows:

Anatolian (Hittites, Neo-Hitties, Lycians)
Mesopotamia (Assyria, ...)
Canaan (Canaanites, Moabites, Edomites, Midianites, Amalekites)
Canaan_Hebrews (Hebrews)
Eastern (Medes, ...)
Egyptian (Egyptians)
Greek (Mycenaeans, Sea Peoples, Philistines, Trojans)
Phoenician (Phoenicians)

this list is particularly subject to change though as we are not yet certain of all of our factions.

Modeling 1 : Do as the Romans
When making a mod, one of the most important things to remember is actually not to change everything. Don't fix what ain't broke, so to speak. For this reason, all work should be done in the visual style of vanilla, because it is a very effective way of doing things, and you already have hundreds of examples just by owning the game.

Modeling 2 : How low can you go?
Not to make you piss your pants or anything, but models in Rome are rather low poly, often less than 700 tris. This means that every seven tris you add increases the space needed by 1% in a game that already lags on many machines. To add a significant number of vertices means using significantly more memory not only, but it often causes clashes with Modeling 1 in that none of the Rome models are ever mid-poly and especially not high-poly, so it will look out of place.

Modeling 3 : Do me a solid
In general, it's best to keep a mesh solid, contiguous, and to do as much as you can with the existing uvmap. Cut and pull rather than extrude, and try not to create floating faces. Although this is slightly more poly-heavy, it tends to be much better looking and is much better on the texture, both in terms of mental space and literal space, allowing more room for other fun things.

[This message has been edited by SrJamesTyrrel (edited 09-30-2008 @ 10:52 AM).]