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[News:]

News:

News:  Warband is being shown at E3  (June 3, 2009)

News:  New Warband Interview at StrategyInformer  (May 5, 2009)

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Latest release of M&B:  1.010/1.011  (November 3, 2008)

Featured mod:  Expanded Gameplay III  v0.95  (May 26, 2009)

[Zaro]

The thread for GE3 can be found here.


Changelog:

30th September:
GE Resources v2.51 - added overlooked snow and steppe terrain meshes.
HDR Add-on v1.1 - added option settings, the Author's settings and the Author's explanation of the settings.

28th September: fixed HDR add-on.

27th September: GE 2.5 released.

1st September: added screenshots of GE 2.5 in first post for the four different terrain packs, some map work and building textures.

14th August: screenshots in first post to show versions soon to be released.

8th August: added two optional downloads - a Skybox replacement pack and a file that downsizes the hilly map border to gentle hills.

7th August: rearranged the base download into two separate downloads, the Base download and the Dark terrain pack. These are the same textures as those released in June.

Note for v2.5:

Graphical Enhancement 2.5 is what I've been advertising as version 3. I did this because it's not really a full release, and not really as much as I wanted out of version 3. So, for my peace of mind I've released a version 2.5 and postponed version 3 until it receives the proper treatment.

What the mod actually looks like

Some people have suggested that the mod doesn't actually look like it does in these shots, well they're wrong. Either they have installed the mod incorrectly, or aren't playing with the same video settings. Here are my settings:

Configuration menu (the 'configure' option when loading the game):
Render method: Dx9
Pixel shaders: enabled.
Texture detail - 100%.
Screen Resolution - 1680x1050.
Antialiasing - 2x
Shadow Quality - low.

In-game video settings (menu -> options -> video settings):
Gamma: 2.0.
Grass Density: 100%.
Dynamic Lighting: enabled.
Environmental Shadows: enabled.
Realistic Shadows on Plants: enabled.
Particle Systems: enabled.
Anisotropic Filtering: enabled.

You should also be aware of your own monitor and graphics card settings, since your own screen brightness and contrast could be effecting the picture. I know many monitors are set unreasonably bright.

Add: I've just learned that dx7 users don't seem to be able to adjust gamma.


Graphical Enhancement 2.5:

This version is made for M&B 1.0+ and includes three downloads: a texture pack, a resource pack and an HDR pack. The textures include those shown on this page, any the work-in-progress shots up until late September. The resources include the low hill borders (the terrain bordering the battlefields will appear much flatter) and a denser grass mesh. The resources aren't necessary, but I strongly recommend them. The HDR mod also isn't necessary but I recommend it for people with mid-level system or higher (seems to cause a 15-20% drop in framerates). The hdr add-on will also cause an error when exiting M&B, but please don't post that here as there's nothing I can do about it.

GE Textures v2.5

GE Resources v2.51 - 2.51 includes snow and steppe border meshes.

HDR Add-on v1.1 for GE2.5 - v1.1 includes several alternative settings, the Author's settings and the Author's explanation of the settings.

Alternative links (thanks to Kikosha):
Resources: http://rapidshare.com/files/155582085/ge_resources_2.5_2_.exe
Textures: http://rapidshare.com/files/155590698/_2.exe
HDR mode: http://rapidshare.com/files/155611977/_2.zip

Note that I was not the author of the HDR add-on. All I have done is host it and customise the settings for ease of use for Graphical Enhancement users. The details of the author, Vorontsov Boris, and his contact details can be found in the download link. The license is also included in the download.

Recommended settings (go into menu->options->video settings)

Gamma: I recommend 2.0 to 2.2, but it what matters is that people are aware that they can change the brightness.
Plant shadows: On. Otherwise the vegetation will appear too light.
Grass density: Set to 100 for max effect, but that may be too demanding for some users, so reduce until suitable. Changes will only take place in the next scene (I recommend re-entering the same village/town until you find a setting you're happy with).
Lowering other settings: If performance isn't great, try turning off anti-aliasing, shadow detail (to low), character shadow detail (to low), blood stains (to near) and corpses. I'd do this before lowering grass density, turning off plant shading or dumping hdr.

Installation

For the texture and resource packs, simply download and double-click the downloaded file. There are uninstall icons for both of these in the M&B folder. For the HDR mod, extract the contents, go into the folder it creates and copy those contents to your M&B directory. Use shift-F12 to deactive/activate (it's activated by default).

GE 2.5 Terrain






GE 2.5 Buildings

[Trooper5445]

Very nice. Now I just wait for release.

[Kolba]

Great stuff here! I especially like those stone walls.

[Taal]

Constructive criticism.

The Grass in the second picture looks too bright, but the dirt is gorgeous, good enough to eat 
I preferred your other stone textures, but the current one is still much better then Native.
The wood in the 7th picture looks terrible. Maybe the building could have been better Uv mapped but IMHO it looks ugly.

Lastly the 6th picture is absolutely gorgeous.

Can't wait until the release.

[Lt. of the tower]

Love the Khergit Style infrastructure.

[Elenmmare]

Looks great. Really brings the game up a notch.

[Balduran]

To be short - Fantastic!   

[nnnm]

very cool Zaro, great work 

[Zaro]

Constructive criticism.

The Grass in the second picture looks too bright, but the dirt is gorgeous, good enough to eat 
I preferred your other stone textures, but the current one is still much better then Native.
The wood in the 7th picture looks terrible. Maybe the building could have been better Uv mapped but IMHO it looks ugly.

Lastly the 6th picture is absolutely gorgeous.

Can't wait until the release.

Grass in 2nd pic: it does but it's the same as the grass in the other shots. It's just the angle and time of day I suppose.

Stone: do you mean the ones in the old release or the earlier WIP shot I showed (a flatter, "civilised" brick-styled stone)? The previous version was too stylistic and I'm glad to get away from that look. 1.3 was purposely stylistic as I made it with a mod in mind and I guess the look just carried over to 1.4, since that was only a slight upgrade. If you're talking about the stone in the WIP shots of the old thread, I felt it looked too smooth in exterior scenes while the stone above just felt right.

Wood: I pointed that out below the pic and it's actually as simple as rotating that texture 90 degrees .

Love the Khergit Style infrastructure.

That's actually my favourite texture, and the only one that's been in every version.


Any preferences on whether the village ground should be dirt/muddy (best shown in the pic of the arena) or paved with stone as in the town shots?

[Kraven]

this makes me wanna go rob a computer store.... for a better comp....

you will get my out of jail wont you?

anyway joking..

looks great, keep up the amazing work...

[Trooper5445]

I think the villages should be muddy. After all the people wouldn't have money to pay. Maybe one main street could have a dirt road.

[Zaro]

I think the villages should be muddy. After all the people wouldn't have money to pay. Maybe one main street could have a dirt road.

One things that's always bothered me is that the ground within the towns contains so much grass? I feel like the majority of it should be dirt/mud trodden ground but that would redoing the scenes. Ah, also ignore the whatever vegetation is in those pics, it's from the previous version and will need to be adjusted as it's a little too saturated.

[killkhergit]

Wohow!! Better. Desperately waiting for this to be released for 95x.

Suggestion. Not to dissapoint ya, the overall theme is too grey to my taste. As an example: castle walls. I've seen a great looking castle on vacation a year ago, called Malbork (Malienburg for Germans out here) in north Poland, and it's just the right era. There's not a bit of grey on the walls. Try  google/wiki searching "malbork". Brown is everywhere!! Same on my overall vision of medieval times.

And oh, I vote for the tiling version for Khergit towns.

[McLenin]

Simply put: 
Really astonishing, can t wait to have them.

[The Blind Skald]

Awesome, great and fuck yeah!!!

therefor I recognise the awesomeness contained in the pictures posted above.