Games

Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II Gollum Skirmish Mod

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Game:	The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II
Platform:	PC
File type:	Mod
Date added:	Mar 24, 2006
Downloads:	650

This modification upgrades Gollums' statistics making them much more powerful and harder to defeat.

Mod details:

Hi,

sniggles here (aka Mark)

This mod requires that you have already extracted (unpacked) the INI.big file
in the main
battle for middle earth 2 folder using the 'finalbig' utility. The program and
instructions
are easily availiable on the net and it is a very simple and safe procedure.

If you have set up the game correctly - You should have NO INI.big file in your
main battle for
middle earth 2 folder but you should have a folder called INI in the 'Data'
folder.

This contains all the lovely files that can easily be changed to make the game
play exactly as
you want.

Okay - on to the mod;


WHAT DOES IT DO?
----------------

In 'skirmish' battles it is very annoying when within 5 minutes or less - the
enemy declares
'they have the ring' and get it back to there fortress before you have a chance
to react.
NOT FUN or fair.

This mod greatly improves 'gollums' AI so that 90% of the time the enemy will
not be able to
trap and kill him (thus getting the ring). He will run all over the map
frantically trying to
avoid both you and the enemy using his Elven cloak of invisibility to help him.


If he finds a quiet peacefull spot - he will 'camp' there untill anyone comes
too close for
comfort.

When you are ready and feel you have a strong enough force to track gollum down
you can just
use your 'stealth' detection' units or powers to find and kill him.

The Dwarves can use there newly modded and uograded 'hearth' battle wagon (new
big detection
range - part of this mod)

and the Goblins can use there amazing fortress 'bats' upgrade which will detect
Gollum over a
huge area.

Battle towers also have a good chance of detecting him and most units in
general if they get
close enough to his hiding place.

This makes Gollum a mini game in itself during skirmish and i love it!



Try it on the Demo or main game and let me know what you think. I can be
contacted at
markhambly@blueyonder.co.uk or discuss this mod and any problems at the
official EA BFME2 forums
in the maps and mods section under the 'Gollum Skirmish Evasion Mod' title.

I have fully tested it out in the Demo and i think it is great - much more fun
for skirmish!

I have not received the full game yet but i see no reason why these small
changes to a few of
the files should not work fine in the final game. Any problems and i will
update this mod for
the full game.




PROCEDURE;
----------

Simply replace the 3 files in the locations below with the 3 files supplied
with this mod.

NOTE - Keep the original files somewhere safe so you can revert back to an
un-modded state if
required.


1) DATA / INI / OBJECT / NEUTRAL / NEUTRALUNITS

2) DATA / INI / LOCOMOTOR

3) DATA / INI / OBJECT / GOODFACTION / UNITS / DWARVEN / DWARVENBATTLEWAGON

ENJOY!


DETAILED CHANGE LOG AND LOCATIONS (FOR YOUR REFERENCE)
------------------------------------------------------


Below is all the changes and file locations for this 'Gollum Skirmish Evasion'
mod.



The New Super Gollum
--------------------

Fed up with starting a skirmish map and within 5 minutes the enemy declares
they have the ring
and 10 seconds later say it is back in there fortress! WORRY NO MORE!

What the changes do;


1) Increased his vision range (to detect threats earlier)

2) He is not squishable (to prevent quick kills by cavalry)

3) Immediate announcement at start of skirmish game that Gollum is on the map
(spotted but
hidden)

4) He has a high health (unrealistic - i know, but occasionally he can get
trapped by the enemy
in some corner of the map and will need a high health to escape them. You can
experiment with
his health setting if you wish.

5) He is just faster then all infantry but slower than cavalry (spider riders
and battle wagons
etc - so you can easily catch him or herd him in any direction you want)

6) He cannot wander (he will constantly run from enemy threats but will stay
comfy and warm in
any spot where no one has detected him. This is to prevent him constantly
wandering around and
being detected easily by the enemy).

7) His invisibilty detection range is reduced (enemy has to be closer to detect
him)

8) His awareness and threat detection range of enemies is better

9) He cannot scale walls (this is optional - it says it is on by default in the
file but i
decided to turn it off and give the Dwarfs a chance to accidentally trap him
behind there walls
- mwahahaha!




I think that is everything - on to the file changes and locations:


DATA / INI / OBJECT / NEUTRAL / NEUTRALUNITS (all but two of the adjustments
are here)


1) SUPER EYESIGHT;
------------------

Use edit / find - type 'gollum' and press enter - then type 'visionrange' and
enter.

I set it to 'VisionRange = 800.0' (can't remember what the original value was)


2) SQUISHINESS;
---------------

Three lines down from vision range is 'CrushableLevel = 0' Changed it to = '2'



3) GOLLUM HAS ARRIVED!
----------------------

About 24 lines of code further down from crushablelevel above is the reference

'OnlyIfVisible = No' Changed it to = 'Yes'


4) SUPER HEALTH;
----------------

About 24 lines of code down from onlyifvisible above (in engineering parameters
section) is

MaxHealth = ? (i can't remember what original value was) Changed it to =
20000

and

;MaxHealthDamaged = ? Changed to quarter of above value. I made mine = 5000


5) MR SPEEDY!
-------------

Now follow the page down a small amount untill you get to his speed or
locomotor settings


LocomotorSet
Locomotor = HumanLocomotor
Condition = SET_NORMAL
Speed = 75 ;32


Changed the numbers to those above.



6) MR LAZY
----------

Immediately below the speed reference above is one of his wander settings


LocomotorSet
Locomotor = HumanWanderLocomotor
Condition = SET_WANDER
Speed = 0
End


Changed the speed to '0' as above


7) MR STEALTHY
--------------

A few more lines of code down we have his invisibility settings for his elven
cloak



Behavior = InvisibilityUpdate ModuleTag_StealthForEscape
InvisibilityNugget
InvisibilityType = CAMOUFLAGE
ForbiddenConditions = FIRING_ANY
BecomeStealthedFX = FX_ElvenCloakOn
ExitStealthFX = FX_ElvenCloakOff
DetectionRange = 30
HintDetectableConditions = IS_FIRING_WEAPON
End
StartsActive = Yes
UpdatePeriod = 1000
End


Changed the numbers to those shown above.



8) MR SCARDY CAT
----------------

Shoot down a bit now to the small section 'ChildObject NeutralGollum_RingHero
NeutralGollum'

Behavior = AnimalAIUpdate ModuleTagWanderAround
FleeRange = 700 ; how close enemies have to be before we panic
FleeDistance = 800 ; how far the animal will run once spooked
WanderPercentage = 00 ; percentage of the time we should move
MaxWanderDistance = 00 ; maximum distance to move at once
MaxWanderRadius = 0 ; how far to wander on our own
UpdateTimer = 1 ; how often do we want to check for enemies
End


Changed the values to those shown above.

and the section below


ChildObject NeutralGollum_RingStealer NeutralGollum

Behavior = AnimalAIUpdate ModuleTagWanderAround
FleeRange = 700 ; how close enemies have to be before we panic
FleeDistance = 800 ; how far the animal will run once spooked
WanderPercentage = 0 ; percentage of the time we should move
MaxWanderDistance = 0 ; maximum distance to move at once
MaxWanderRadius = 0 ; how far to wander on our own
UpdateTimer = 1 ; how often do we want to check for enemies
End



Again - changed the values to those shown above.


OKAY - That's it for the 'neutralunits' file.


9) MR SCARED OF HEIGHTS (OPTIONAL BUT FUN)
------------------------------------------

This file is in

DATA / INI / LOCOMOTOR

Use edit / find - type 'gollum' and enter

Takes you to



Locomotor GollumWallScalingLocomotor
ScalesWalls = No; A NEW FEATURE!



I Set it to 'no' as shown above.


EXTRA FILE (OPTIONAL BUT RECOMMENDED)
-------------------------------------

To make the Dwarven army have a good detecter unit - I improved the very wimpy
detection
range of there Battle Wagons 'Hearth' upgrade.

In

DATA / INI / OBJECT / GOODFACTION / UNITS / DWARVEN / DWARVENBATTLEWAGON

Use edit / find - type 'detectionrange' and enter


Behavior = StealthDetectorUpdate ModuleTag_HearthStealthDetect
DetectionRange = 1800
DetectionRate = 100


Changed values to those shown above. These are just the same level as Legolas
so they are not
over the top.


OKAY - HOORAY - FINISHED.

This has took me bl--dy ages to test and write - so please leave your comments
if you like my
mod.