Redux Mod for Black & White 2

[Boxhead]

Hello guys,

in this topic I want to present a modification for Black & White 2 on which I worked the last 1,5 years couple of years.
As the title suggests the mod is named Black & White 2: Redux.

Version 1.6 Features
  - Revised Campaign: All norse, japanese and aztec lands changed
  - Added own implementation of BOTG campaign
  - A new Skirmish Mode where you fight other Gods
  - 4 new Wonders which get available with each Epic Wonder you unlock
  - Select one of 5 difficulties: Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard
  - Many more types of platoons to recruit
  - Many, many balance changes to Town Building and Mana Management
  - 10 new Quests in total
  - Platoons and Siege Weapons initial level now rises with more Armories
  - Influence also extends with Villagers
  - 2 creatures enabled for the player to choose: Gorilla and Tiger

Where can I get this mod?
All relevant version are uploaded at moddb. Currently available are english, german and spanish versions.
Click here to get to the moddb page.

 

[Kirays]

Wow, this looks amazing! I've been waiting for something like this for ages. I'll go try it out and report back to you.

By the way, the mouse stuttering occurs if your mouse is set on a high polling rate, the game doesn't handle it well. If you lower it down to 125 it should work flawlessly.

 

[Boxhead]

By the way, the mouse stuttering occurs if your mouse is set on a high polling rate, the game doesn't handle it well. If you lower it down to 125 it should work flawlessly.

Ohh didn't exactly know that. Thanks for informing me

 

[ger4]

Oh nice

3 Aztec lands, I thought there were only 2?


Also, could you add opponet gods? There's a demo for that by the OGAM people here....

 

[Boxhead]

3 Aztec lands, I thought there were only 2?

You're right, originally there were 2 lands but in my opinion the whole fight against the aztecs was over too fast so I want to make 3 lands.

Also, could you add opponet gods? There's a demo for that by the OGAM people here....

I don't plan to add opponent gods to my campaign maps but I think I'll add them to my skirmish maps which I plan to include in this mod in a later version.

 

[ger4]

You're right, originally there were 2 lands but in my opinion the whole fight against the aztecs was over too fast so I want to make 3 lands.
I don't plan to add opponent gods to my campaign maps but I think I'll add them to my skirmish maps which I plan to include in this mod in a later version.

Ok thanks.

BTW, could you edit the creature selection screen to add the aztec gorillia? This map allows for it to be selected without having to repalce the Ape.

http://www.bwfiles.com/files/file.php?id=1428

 

[Boxhead]

Ok thanks.

BTW, could you edit the creature selection screen to add the aztec gorillia? This map allows for it to be selected without having to repalce the Ape.

http://www.bwfiles.com/files/file.php?id=1428

Thanks to Handsome Matt who uploaded the original B&W2 scripts I can easily edit the original creature selection.

So yes, I plan to add the tiger and gorilla in the next version

 

[ger4]

Small bug, the sheep gathering quest in the Norse land is called "Default" on its scroll and has no proper name.

 

[Boxhead]

Small bug, the sheep gathering quest in the Norse land is called "Default" on its scroll and has no proper name.

Thanks for the report.
Not exactly a bug, I set all names of custom quests to "Default" for now.

To add custom quest names I would need to edit the file "bw2text.bin" located in the Black & White 2 folder but I don't know a way to edit the file without crashing the game.

 

[Kirays]

Alright, I have played through the first two non-tutorial maps and partly the third one, however it seems like my save game is damaged so I can't continue onwards. Nevertheless my experience I have gathered so far should be enough for small feedback.

Language: German
Playstyle: Good

My initial impression was good. The rescripted quests from Black & White 1 are a cute idea and quite well integrated (I haven't found a single sheep :^). The modified maps bring in fresh air to the gameplay, they do lack a little bit of additional flattening to make room for more building space, though. The viking map in particular feels quite empty so I'd say it's worth considering reducing the size of it. The third map is a chore to complete, I'll be honest here. Now that you have fixed the burning tree trick the hurricane wonder is ridiculous. It doesn't require any charging for the AI, apparently it's impossible to deflect with the shield miracle as well and furthermore it's not a one time use either.

I agree on most of the balance changes except the increased epic wonders cost, the removal of the fortified walls and the nerfed food income. Despite having granaries placed I could not keep up my food count consistently.

Also, please get rid of the awful wind sound. It triggers at random and is excessively loud, thankfully it's possible to avoid it by disabling background sound in the settings.

What I would like to see:

- the AI should not cheat by spawning platoons or anything for that matter whenever possible. It should have a living city like the human player.
- a feature to rotate buildings in various degrees
- a feature to identify the length of a road
- a fix for when your villagers start standing still doing nothing because there are too many of them.

 

[Boxhead]

Alright, I have played through the first two non-tutorial maps and partly the third one, however it seems like my save game is damaged so I can't continue onwards. Nevertheless my experience I have gathered so far should be enough for small feedback.

Language: German
Playstyle: Good

My initial impression was good. The rescripted quests from Black & White 1 are a cute idea and quite well integrated (I haven't found a single sheep :^). The modified maps bring in fresh air to the gameplay, they do lack a little bit of additional flattening to make room for more building space, though. The viking map in particular feels quite empty so I'd say it's worth considering reducing the size of it. The third map is a chore to complete, I'll be honest here. Now that you have fixed the burning tree trick the hurricane wonder is ridiculous. It doesn't require any charging for the AI, apparently it's impossible to deflect with the shield miracle as well and furthermore it's not a one time use either.

I agree on most of the balance changes except the increased epic wonders cost, the removal of the fortified walls and the nerfed food income. Despite having granaries placed I could not keep up my food count consistently.

Also, please get rid of the awful wind sound. It triggers at random and is excessively loud, thankfully it's possible to avoid it by disabling background sound in the settings.

Thanks for your feedback, unfortunate though that your save game got damaged. Any idea what could've caused the broken save?

I'll consider your awesome feedback for the next update of my mod.

I don't know which wind sound you mean. If you mean the wind sound during the loading screen it's fixed in the next version, else it's a problem which doesn't occour in my b&w2.

What I would like to see:

- the AI should not cheat by spawning platoons or anything for that matter whenever possible. It should have a living city like the human player.
- a feature to rotate buildings in various degrees
- a feature to identify the length of a road
- a fix for when your villagers start standing still doing nothing because there are too many of them.

- The AI doesn't need villagers to recruit a platoon which is okay in my opinion. But because of that I limited the AI to recruit one platoon every 2-4 minutes per town. Exceptions are a special attack wave which is recruited like every 25 minutes and 2 small defender platoons if a town is attacked. I might want to make the AI more passive as time passes in the future.
- I have a look if I can implement this
- Same as above
- I think I improved the villager performance in the next version but I have to playtest a bit more

 

[CuriousKhazar]

This is a brilliant mod. Keep up the excellent work mate! The best out there I swear!  :yourock:

 

[ger4]

Congratulations on the 1.0 release

Just wondering, but is this map of yours present? It looks really cool. http://www.bwfiles.com/files/file.php?id=1430

 

[ger4]

Also, when I play using the Gorillia, the creature statue in Greek land 2 still has an aztec 'base'.

 

[herolich2]

Can you maybe add in the vortex made by willy

http://www.bwfiles.com/files/file.php?id=1434

 

[ger4]

Can you maybe add in the vortex made by willy

http://www.bwfiles.com/files/file.php?id=1434

The mod author tends to respond more quickly here https://www.moddb.com/mods/bw2-redux

 

[Boxhead]

Can you maybe add in the vortex made by willy

http://www.bwfiles.com/files/file.php?id=1434

Hello, sorry for forgetting to answer, but better late than never  :yes
I originally wanted to include the vortex script in my mod, but I made some bad experiences with the persistent data function in black & white 2 which can crash the game for some people which is one of the main reasons why I didn't included his script yet.

Another topic I wanted to point out: Because I saw some bw2 modders being active since I started bw2 modding, I want to make my project open source: https://github.com/Boxhead78/Black-White-2-Redux
It includes ALL scripts I made, including land 1 to 11 (land 12 wip), all global scripts (such as the script which increases influence with villagers, or increase platoons levels with armories), and of course the skirmish mode I wrote and the god-engine which I modified quite a lot.
However these weren't intended to be open source so I didn't document it too well, also some scripts might not work outside of the Redux mod. But I hope these will still help if someone decides to start bw2-modding or is interested in modding this game.

 

[Boxhead]

Hello all, I'm currently working on getting the my own adaptation of the botg-campaign into bw2 and want to share some screenshots here:

Cutscene introducing the enemy creature:

Japanese town conquered by the aztecs + Ghosts!

I also had a look at the unused ballista, quite funny to see it first time ingame, even though it's not textured

 

[ger4]

Hello all, I'm currently working on getting the my own adaptation of the botg-campaign into bw2 and want to share some screenshots here:

Cutscene introducing the enemy creature:

Japanese town conquered by the aztecs + Ghosts!

I also had a look at the unused ballista, quite funny to see it first time ingame, even though it's not textured

Cool, are there more screenshots/details anywhere?

 

[Boxhead]

Cool, are there more screenshots/details anywhere?

Not yet but I'll give more information about it when I've progressed enough in finishing the next patch