Rome: Total War

Prerelease Info Unused Event PicturesSeems that CA is lazy enough to implement these.

Unused Images#

There are several images that go unused in this game, in DDS and TGA format.

Loading Screens#

Loading Screen One	Loading Screen Two

Here are pictures of a loading screen that is never seen in-game. The background displays the map made in mosaic, something unique to these screens. The developers seem to have been playing around with the size of the title as it is bigger in the left picture than the right picture. The title in the left picture also has a TM next to it which is lacking in the right picture. The loading bar present here is much larger than what is seen in game. The difficulty setting text is also absent in the final version.

In the final game's loading screen, the faction name is absent, with only their icon present in the center. The House of Julii's faction icon is displayed in gold without a background in Loading Screen Two, while the final uses button designs. This same icon can be seen on one of the soldiers in early leader images section below.

Another thing to point out is the date of 502 (presumably BC) - it seems to imply that the campaign game was to be started much earlier, predating both the imperial and Sons of Mars campaigns. The imperial campaign ranges from 270 BC to 14 AD, while the Sons of Mars campaign/tutorial ranges from 329 to 290 BC.

Faction symbols#

To do: There appear to be models associated with these as well in data\models.

In data\models\textures is an entire set of faction icons using model renders instead of buttons. The House of Julii icon also features in one of the loading screens above. The Greek and Thracian symbols appear to have been erroneously attributed to each other; Thrace normally feature a snake on their banner and the Greek Cities use lightning. Armenia has two renders, with the side-on view labeled as "low". They both don't have transparent backgrounds either.

Test Images#

dummy.tga.dss

This dummy texture is found twice: in *\Rome Total War\Data\models_landscape\textures and *\Rome Total War\Data\settlement_plans\underlays\textures. Judging from the first location, it appears that it was used as a test texture for landscapes. The second file location has the texture associated with settlements in some way. This file has a creation date of 3/7/2002.

rgb.tga

This image can be found in *\Rome Total War\Data\menu. It seems that the developers were screwing around with three colors. The filename could refer to the colors red, green and blue, but only the latter two are found in the picture. This file has a creation date of 5/21/2002.

Early Leader Images#

File Name	IC_leader_julii.tga	leader_julii.tga	leader_pic_julii.tga	leader_pic_brutii.tga	leader_pic_scipii.tga
Creation Date	11/1/2002	6/28/2002	7/17/2002	7/17/2002	7/17/2002
Image

These images are very unique. At a first glance, they simply depict Roman infantry. Their file names say that these were supposed to be the leaders of the Julii, Brutii, and Scipii. It isn’t known whether these were leaders of the factions themselves. However, these pictures share similar names of used pictures of faction leaders at the beginning of a campaign game. Regardless of what these images were supposed to be used for, their styling is unique for Roman infantry. Judging that the shape of their shields resembles the shields of hastati, principes, and triarii, these images should have been seen from the beginning of a campaign game. The design of their shields is also unique as there are no Roman units in the final game that carry shields with these unique designs. In fact, some of the shields show what appear to be early versions of their faction icon on their shield.

Early Campaign Map#

Located under Data\world\maps\base\map.FE.tga, dated Thursday, September 2, 2004, 10:05:48 PM is a normally unused smaller world map.

This image is still used for the starting territories map, when a normally unplayable faction is modded in and selected.

Early Layout	Final

Early Battering Ram#

The Battering Ram seen in the game's intro is different from the one featured in normal gameplay.

Intro	Final

Hidden Dev Tool#

By adding enable_editor to the games' shortcut target, it's possible to access the battle editor used to create historical battles and create one's own.

Apparently the Creative Assembly didn't ever support the Battle Editor: "The Battle Editor is intended for advanced users and is not supported. It is possible to create battles that do not work properly, or edit Historical Battles so that they cannot be won. Please refer to your documentation. Please do not contact Activision Customer Support for assistance with these tools."

Factions#

Campaign Descriptions#

Macedonia and Pontus have campaign descriptions despite not being unlockable for the campaign, although they are rather trivially modded back in. The formatting has been altered for presentation here as the plaintext for both is one long string. Paragraphs in the plaintext are denoted with \n\n.

Macedonia#

After the death of Alexander the Great the empire he had created tottered and fell into disarray with remarkable speed. His empire was the largest ever seen, 
and the generals struggled against each other for the ultimate prize of being the new Alexander. Something that none of them was quite strong enough to attain. 
The Diadochi, or Successors, were only strong enough to hold together fragments of Alexander’s empire.

 
Macedonia was the original home of Alexander, now ruled by the descendants of general Antigonus Cyclops or Antigonus the One-Eyed. 
The Macedonians are the proud inheritors of Alexander’s original kingdom. Macedonia itself, with parts of Greece as dependencies, has the potential to be a strong power once more. 
Although the empire may have slipped away from the Macedonians, they are still deadly warriors and fierce opponents. 
The Antigonid dynasty commands the respect of their people and has a strong military tradition. 
Macedonia has spent many long years struggling against the other Diadochi or ‘Successor’ states. 
This military might could equally be turned against other powers for domination of the eastern Mediterranean, 
Asia Minor and then, perhaps, the whole of the known world. A new Greek empire could arise and equal the achievements of Alexander...

Kingdom of Pontus#

After the death of Alexander the Great the empire he had created tottered and fell into disarray with remarkable speed. His empire was the largest ever seen, 
and the generals struggled against each other for the ultimate prize that none of them was quite strong enough to attain. 
The Diadochi, or Successors, were only strong enough to hold together fragments of Alexander’s empire. Mithradates I, the son of Prince Mithradates of Cius, 
took advantage of this situation to establish a new kingdom of Pontus. He was not one of the Diadochi, but a freebooter who saw his chance and took it. 
In the confusion Mithradates rode to Pontus with six horsemen and made himself king. Mithradates was an able man, to say the least.

 
Since then, Pontus has managed to maintain its independence from both Greek and Persian influences, even though the royal family have Persian roots. 
The kingdom has a good position on the Black Sea coast and the potential to expand into much of Asia Minor. Nearby lie the great trade routes from the east, 
a significant source of revenue. It is also home to many warlike peoples, a fact that could be exploited by expansionist rulers.

Cut Faction#

Several icons and flag graphics exist for a cut faction: the Illyrians. Unfortunately, none of them are unique, borrowing from either Thrace or (more frequently) Greece.

It's possible that they were cut fairly early in development due to a limit of 20 playable factions. In the final game the Illyrians are represented by rebels.

Unused Units#

Iberian Spearmen#

Spain are unplayable without modifying the game, either through a mod like Darthmod or through more direct file edits. The Spanish unit list is unfinished; it's missing Iberian Spearmen, which are otherwise functional. To add them in, do the following:

1) Unpack the games files in to get the descr_model, export_descr_unit, and the export_descr_unit_enums.

2) Add these to dsecr_model:

iberian_medium_infantry ; combat spear

skeleton fs_spearman, fs_swordsman

indiv_range 40

texture spain, data/models_unit/textures/unit_carthage_medium_infantry_spain.tga

model_flexi data/models_unit/unit_carthage_medium_infantry_high.cas, 15

model_flexi data/models_unit/unit_carthage_medium_infantry_med.cas, 30

model_flexi data/models_unit/unit_carthage_medium_infantry_low.cas, 40

model_flexi data/models_unit/unit_carthage_medium_infantry_lowest.cas, max

model_sprite 60.0, data/sprites/carthaginian_medium_infantry_sprite.spr

model_tri 400, 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f

3) Add this to export_descr_unit:

type category infantry

class spearmen

voice_type Medium_1

soldier iberian_medium_infantry, 40, 0, 1

officer carthaginian_standard

mount_effect horse +4, chariot +4, camel +4

attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, can_sap

formation 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, square

stat_health 1, 0

stat_pri 5, 5, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, spear, 25 ,0.73

stat_pri_attr no

stat_sec 0, 0, no, 0, 0, no, no, no, none, 25 ,1

stat_sec_attr no

stat_pri_armour 7, 4, 5, metal

stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh

stat_heat 2

stat_ground 2, 1, 0, -1

stat_mental 6, normal, untrained

stat_charge_dist 30

stat_fire_delay 0

stat_food 60, 300

stat_cost 1, 400, 170, 40, 60, 400

ownership spain

4) Add this to export_descr_unit_enums:

iberian_medium_infantry

iberian_medium_infantry_descr

iberian_medium_infantry_descr_short

5) Copy the libyan spearmen unit, and then change it in export_descr_unit_enums type what ever you want in there and make sure it is in curly brackets,