While we wait for the next Total War game it’s worth considering upgrading Shogun II. Finding Shogun 2 mods is always going to be a pain until the Steam Workshop comes to Total War – especially as good ones seem as rare as a tasteful Horo. We’ve gone through those available and picked a selection of the better-maintained and better-designed ones. Remember, not all these work well together – so if you’re going to install multiple mods, use something like the All-in-one pack, the Zen pack or the Radious Collection.
Darth Mod
The enemy campaign AI in Total War games is famously inconsistent, with a tendency to cheat or behave bizarrely in the presence of an non-AI character. In our recent chats with the developers, they’ve admitted the difficulty of creating believable AI without taking shortcuts (and look damn shame-faced when we brought up the subject of AI cheating).DarthMod redresses that, making apparently rational AI behaviour in the campaign, land battles or sea battles. It’s the simplest of mods, but makes more than a background difference. The enemy AI makes better use of its units and the subtle alterations in morale, arrow spread and so on, really change the battles. Given that it also increases unit sizes and densities, fighting a DarthMod AI is always a more reliable challenge.
The Rights of Man (TROM) 3
TROM is a fix-pack for Shogun II. Where Darth mod alters the general AI, TROM focuses on a hundred little fixes to improve the user experience. Firstly, it extends the campaign to 1640, giving players more time to achieve their objectives. It does however, include some AI changes – specifically to help some of the factions use their units and territories better, but also changes to their agent abilities and to improve the use and value of monk units.
AUM-SHO
The Additional Units Mod adds 11 new troop types to Shogun II as well as unlocking the faction-specific units for use by all players. The new units are not exactlystunning – they mostly look like reskins or variants of existing units – but they certainly do add a little more length and life to campaigns and battles. If you want more units, try the Realism + or Radious mods. Update – AUM-SHO doesn’t work anymore, using Radious will give you most if not all the units included though.
Zen
Similar to the Realism + mod, Zen is a top-level mod that overhauls the game. The ashigaru (peasant) units are a particular focus, having been made substantially cheaper and having larger units, to reflect how common they were, and the AI has been tweaked to produce less of them. Similarly, to give players a fighting chance, battles have been slowed down and initial garrison sizes increases, so the game doesn’t degenerate into opportunistic warfare immediately. Every clan has been given a unique feel, by altering their unit rosters, giving the units correct Japanese names, and giving each clan a single, unique Hero unit.Update – Zen only works when it’s installed on its own.
Realism +
The main Shogun 2 Realism project has focused on balancing the combat of the game, without looking at the campaign. This expansion focuses more on the main world view, but also rejigs the battle system by extending their length. It also makes you focus more on the units, by letting you see their martial art animations and changing how they advance during the campaign – for example, Ashigaru actually become closer to professional soldiers the longer they survive. On top of the units from the AUM-SHO (above), there are another 30 unit types added to the game, many of which are faction-specific; other units have had their names changed to the true Japanese names and even the unit-recruitment system has been revamped.
On the campaign side, the changes are more fundamental. Both buildings and arts have been deeply changed, factions are much more long-lasting, cultural influences (Ikko, Buddhist, Catholic allegiances) play a campaign role, and cashflow is a problem throughout the campaign. Similarly to DarthMod, it also fixes the unrealistic AI behaviour by including the universal AI mod. Because it uses several other mods as a base, it’s best only run alone.Update – No longer updated. Radious
This is a combination pack, mingling several different mods, so that players can create their own Shogun II experience. Players can alter the unit roster, the building availability and cost, the way how units gain experience and subsist, the way characters mature, the in-game AI, the game techs, and a huge naval mod.
AIOM-SHO
The All in One Mod combines most of these mods, as well as maybe a hundred others, and allows you to choose which to implement.
Blockbuster games like DOTA, Counter-Strike and DayZ have are all connected by the fact that they started off as total conversion mods. These are labours of love created by code-savvy fans who one day thought ‘What would ARMA be like with zombies?’ or ‘How would Warcraft III play if I controlled just the one hero?’
From these little kernels of inspiration, a phenomena were born.
But we’re going to put aside those success stories for now, and look at the best total conversion mods that are still completely free. After years of work and hundreds of hours of development, these mods are so well crafted that if you squint just a little, you may just mistake them for full standalone games.
The ability to completely transform your existing game into an entirely new one using total conversion mods is yet another reason why gaming on PC is so good. So, as part of our PC Gaming Week 2018, here's our pick of the best total conversion mods you can install and play right now for free.
1. A Game of Thrones - Crusader Kings II
Released not long after Crusader Kings 2 itself, A Game of Thrones is not only a perfect fit for the mechanics of Paradox’s feudal grand strategy game, but hands down the best video-game set in George R.R. Martin’s blockbuster fantasy world.
A Game of Thrones may sometimes appear to be all battles and dragons and bad language, but really it’s a saga of political intrigue, scheming and Machiavellian plotting; who should be married off to whom, and for what gain? What would assassinating a certain lord do to your claim on their land? How do you clamber your way up the feudal ladder to get to the Iron Throne?
Its themes meld perfectly with Crusader Kings II, and this mod realises George R.R. Martin’s world right down to the writing and the topographical lay of the land.
And yes, of course there are dragons...
2. Enderal - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
One of the most polished total conversion mods ever made, Enderal could just about pass off as its own triple-A game.
German developer SureAI (who also made stunning Oblivion mod Nehrim) pulled out all stops, writing and voicing tens of hours of dialogue (that arguably outdoes Skyrim’s oft-risible script), and painstakingly building a beautiful new world that offers around 100 hours of content.
Within Skyrim’s rather action-orientated engine, Enderal manages to find its own identity, and in many ways harks back to old-school RPGs; it’s tough, with a traditional levelling system, no fast travel, and slow pacing, while offering a powerful story that often ventures into darker, more mature territory than Skyrim’s mass-market take on high fantasy.
3. Gekokujo - Mount & Blade: Warband
Mount & Blade: Warband is the quintessential feudal sandbox, letting you create a character in a central-European kingdom and build them up into a roving mercenary, a heroic commander or, ultimately, a lord who answers to no one. You go about this through a messy, delightful mix of direct combat, RTS-like strategising, and RPG-like decision-making.
Gekokujo takes all that, and whisks it off to Sengoku-era Japan. The world map spans the entire Land of the Rising Sun, complete with major kingdoms, villages, cities, holdings, and lords for you to saddle up with (before, inevitably, betraying them).
Weapons, armour, clothing and architecture are faithful to the setting, and a whole world of dialogue and events has been written to convincingly migrate the inimitable Warband formula to the Far East.
4. X-COM/UFO: Enemy Unknown - X-Piratez
The original 1994 turn-based squaddie alien shooter X-COM UFO: Enemy Unknown has been kept alive thanks to the OpenXcom Extended open-source project. Based on this, X-Piratez is a fascinating piece of punky fan-fiction set in the same universe, borrowing ideas and mechanics from the whole gamut of X-COM games.
Set in a future where the X-COM resistance was crushed by the alien invaders, X-Piratez casts you as a buccaneering crew of space-pirates, robbing settlers and plundering ships until the intriguing plot inevitably brings you into contact with greater threats.
With its unique arsenal of makeshift weaponry, fresh tech tree and lowlife factions, it all feels refreshingly scrappy compared to the high-tech shenanigans of the mainline series.
5. Underhell - Half-life 2
From Black Mesa to Garry’s Mod, by way of Natural Selection, Half-life 2 has been the launchpad for several successful mods that went on to become fully fledged games. One of the ones that never made the jump, however, was Underhell.
Following a psychologically-spiraling S.W.A.T. operative who’s struggling to deal with his wife’s death, Underhell is part puzzler, part horror, part bullet-time shooter that’s thick in atmosphere and experimental storytelling.
The action flows like a fever dream between a dreamworld, spooky home and vicious action, making Underhell stand alongside The Stanley Parable as one of the more artful Half-life 2 mods.
Sadly, only one of the intended six episodes of Underhell was ever made, with developer We Create Stuff’s priorities shifting to other projects in recent years.
![]() 6. The Dark Mod (Thief) - Doom 3
The Thief IP, once revered for its revolutionary stealth mechanics and level design, was run into the ground with the facile 2014 reboot. Luckily, The Dark Mod, a total conversion mod for Doom 3, is as fine a spiritual successor to the original games as you could ask for.
The Dark Mod eschews combat and action in favour of good old-fashioned stealth.
Stick to the rafters, extinguish candles with water arrows, and loot the rich and wealthy of a brooding steampunk city that’s somewhere between the worlds of Thief and Dishonored. The base mod (now standalone) is just the tip of the arrow, as it’s bolstered by hundreds of excellent community-made levels.
7. The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age - Medieval II: Total War
There’s no shortage of Middle-Earth-themed mods out there, but, like Gandalf at a Hobbiton pipeweed convention, this one stands tall among them.
So complete and detailed is The Third Age - from Rohirrim shield crests to the city layout of Osgiliath - that seven years on, it remains the most popular LoTR mod for Total War.
It’s spawned a slew of sub-mods too, including the relatively-recent The Third Age: Reforged, which adds new factions, animations and units.
As a sidenote, if you’re on the Total War: Warhammer battlewagon, check out the recently-released The Lord of the Rings: Rise of Mordor. It’s far from complete yet, but looks promising and could yet become the true successor to The Third Age.
8. Fall from Heaven 2 - Civilization IV
Staying on the theme of historical strategy games with a fantasy makeover, Fall from Heaven 2 is a superbly imagined swords-and-sorcery overhaul of Civilization IV.
It transports the history-spanning formula to a lore-rich fantasy world brimming with magic spells, Hero units (complete with properly designed models), demonic religions and its own arcane tech tree.
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It’s not always easy for a total conversion mod to evoke a powerful atmosphere that really sets it apart from its base game, but Fall from Heaven 2 pulls it off with aplomb, thanks to an encyclopaedic amount of lore, and a soundtrack that immerses you in its faraway world of werewolves and wizards.
9. Fallout 1.5: Resurrection - Fallout 2
This one’s for the retro PC gamers for whom Fallout is a game of taking turns and isometric cameras - none of this pseudo-FPS nonsense.
Released in 2016, Fallout 1.5 is a total conversion mod for Fallout 2 which crams a 25-or-so-hour chapter between the events of the first and second games, taking you to the post-apocalyptic wastes of Albuquerque, New Mexico (no signs of a drug-lab camper van out in the scrublands, sadly).
Medieval Kingdoms Total War 2 Mods
Fallout 1.5 is well-written and old-school relentless, which you’ll learn from the off as you’re beset by sizeable mobs of ghouls and rats. True to the spirit of the original game, Fallout 1.5 also throws some dark questlines and morally murky quandaries at you, so be prepared to have your Karma sternly tested.
10. The Nameless Mod - Deus Ex
Another option for gamers of a certain vintage, the Nameless Mod takes Deus Ex’s cyber-noir tone of gravelly voices and shady conspiracies, and amplifies it.
Set in a city that’s a manifestation of tribal internet forum culture, it’s a strangely apt game given the make-up of society today.
Forum City is a place of lonely neon lights and zeal-maddened characters, weighed down by an air of constant paranoia that you must stop from spilling over into self-destruction.
What’s impressive about The Nameless Mod is how it manages to build on certain areas of the original Deus Ex; the AI is more responsive to your actions, and the story can pretty much split into two depending on your decisions, coming good on that bold promise that ‘Every Choice Matters’.
Discussion in 'Games & Gaming' started by Mithril-blade, Nov 5, 2011.
I'm as biased about it as it ever gets, but I'm pretty sure this is one of the most awesome things that happened to Total War modding ever.
Here's what in the release:
For some nice campaign maps, go here, here, and especially here.
Here are some screenshots of just some of the things you can customize:
Installation![]()
TroubleshootingIn case of trouble, screenshot whatever errors you see and send it straight to me.If installer doesn't work, try running it as administrator. If builder can't find your (retail) game installation, copy and paste all files from output directory to your game directory, then run concentrated_vanilla.bat from your game directory. Support for Steam launcher is extremely experimental, and I just finished it moments ago, so if it crashes, just provide me the best information you can and I'll try to figure it out. For some reason starting launcher as 'Medieval 2' rather than 'Kingdoms' invariably results in a crash on my computer. (even though the mod actually uses Medieval 2 not Kingdoms engine). Saving your workYou can save your settings with 'File > Save', but format of that file is not guaranteed to be compatible across upgrades. For now it probably won't be.Random seeds should result in the same map as long as you use the same version of the mod builder, and identical scenario settings. Different machine, or different settings for anything else are not meant to affect it, but no guarantees. In the future in would be nice to make random seeds shareable like in Minecraft. Using Install command will overwrite previously installed version of Concentrated Vanilla. It won't touch your saved games. Using Uninstall command will uninstall Concentrated Vanilla, but will not touch your saved games. This is early release so it has many limitations. Just some of them:
Credits and linksConcentrated Vanilla 0.60 includes some files from Medieval 2 Total War game by Creative Assembly, and the following minimods:
If you're interested in how this mod evolved, posts about previous versions (with links inside): How to Install Medieval II: Total War patch 1.2 and use the unpackerBest Medieval 2 Total War Mods
By Primo
Best Medieval 2 Total War Mods 2017
This short guide will hopefully help you with installing patch 1.2 for Medieval II Total War and use the unpacker without incident. To use the unpacker, you must have 1.2 as a minimum so 1.0 & 1.1 need to be patched.
Why run the unpacker
When you install Medieval 2:Total War from the game dvd's, many of the game files are compressed or packed in order to save on hard disc space. That's fine for most people but for those who want to modify, they will need to run the unpacker in order to 'get at' the files that modders will be most interested in.
Installing patch 1.2
If you are installing Medieval 2: Total War and then installing Kingdoms or are installing the Gold edition of the game, then proceed directly to Installing Patch 1.5. Otherwise, continue reading on how to install patch 1.2.
Firstly, you will obviously need to download it patch 1.2. You can download it from many sites, a few of which are linked here. You do not need to download the patch if you have the Gold Edition of Medieval 2: Total War or the Kingdoms expansion as installing those will automatically update your version of Medieval 2: Total War to allow you to use the unpacker.
This Patch is a hefty 650 mb so if you have dial up, don't even bother unless you want to leave it running overnight. You may find it easier to use a friend's computer which has broadband but even then it takes a minimum of 45 mins. And that's on a super fast connection.
Remember, install it to your main M2TW folder, not your data folder. I know it's obvious, but some do make that mistake.
NOTE: Many people have had problems installing this patch and M2TW not working. I recommend that you uninstall M2TW before applying the patch by running the uninstall procedure and then going to where you installed it, deleting the SEGA folder (or the Medieval 2 Total War folder if you have another game in the SEGA folder) and then reinstall. After that install Patch 1.2 straight on top. It has all patch 1.1 has and more. So there is no need to install patch 1.1 again.
Installing Patch 1.3
Patch 1.3 was released so that players without the Kingdoms expansion would be able to play online against players with Kingdoms installed. Obviously, this would only apply to vanilla Medieval 2: Total War games. It is a small patch and won't take long to install. You can download it here. If you install Kingdoms, your M2TW game is automatically patched to 1.3.
Installing Patch 1.5
Patch 1.5 is only for the Kingdoms expansion. When you install Kingdoms, it automatically installs version 1.4 of Kingdoms. Creative Assembly later released a patch 1.5 with fixes for some issues with Kingdoms. It can be downloaded here.
Using the unpacker.
NOTE: BACKUP YOUR DATA FOLDER BEFORE YOU USE THE UNPACKER AS CA AND TOTAL WAR HEAVEN ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE DONE TO YOUR GAME FROM USING THIS UNPACKER.
Using the file unpacker that comes with the patch can be a little confusing. First it's a load of files you don't often see. Batch files for one. Don't worry, you don't have to use these. The unpacker uses them when running. The only batch file you have to use is unpack_all.bat. Just click on it to run. you will have to type Y to all the questions to use it.
It should take quite a while to run as there are 7 gigabytes of files to unpack. If it happens in a second then something is wrong.
Also, make sure the unpacker is in toolsunpacker. Otherwise it WILL NOT work. Some regions have the patch installing the unpacker in a different part of your M2TW folder. The forumer Admiral_Nelson can testify to that one.
Now, pay close attention to this bit, or your game will crash every time you go into a battle.
Quoted from Unpacker Readme: NOTE: Due to a timestamp check, the following unpacked files will cause the game to crash and must be deleted before the game is launched:
They are not kidding. Delete them. If you don't, you will get an unspecified error every time you go into a battle and CTD.
The readme gives you all the info you need to get the game to read the files but there is an easier way:
In your main Medieval 2 Total War folder, open preferences.cfg with notepad and scroll down to the bottom and type this:
[io]
Then save and close the file. Right click on the icon of preferences.cfg and go to properties. From there check the box next to read only and click apply. This will stop the game changing the file to the original content after one run. This way will not allow you to use show_err to find bugs. You have to run from a batch file for that but it does allow mods to work.
Issue with Unpacker & Windows XP
There is a known issue when trying to run the unpacker in Windows XP and you get an error saying that a .dll file cannot be found.
Mythic Commodore has the answers:
There are two solutions, both of which seem to work fine. Copy all of the .dll files in your main M2TW folder into either your tools/unpacker folder or into your windows/system32 folder.
I hope this guide has been of use to you and will help you in using the unpacker the patch. Any suggestions, criticisms, or improvements please don't hesitate to post in the thread on the forums.
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