To celebrate the release of our awesome
new fansite kit, we thought we’d put together a blog entry offering a few tips
on how to get started on making your own Total War fansite.

If you’ve yet to grab the fansite kit
itself, here’s a list of its contents:

Medieval II Banners x6

Medieval II Box Art -x2 (UK and US)

Medieval II Logos x 4

Medieval II Screenshots x42 (Various
sizes)

Medieval II Videos x1

Medieval II Wallpapers x12 (6 designs in
2 sizes)

Medieval II Forum Avatars x49

So you’ve grabbed that little lot -
where do you go from there?

First things first,
you’ll need to decide if you are going to build your own site and get it hosted
or use one of the popular blogging sites. Building your own site may require
some technical know-how and will mean you’ll need to purchase some webspace
(see hosting tips below). On the plus side you’ll have almost total freedom in
your design and content.

An alternative is to use one of the free
blogging platforms such as Blogspot or MySpace. Blog sites like this very site
have become an enormously popular method of getting seen and heard on the web.
They are easy to customise, even if you’re not technically minded, and there
are loads of great free templates to download. Other personal page services
include wordpress, which have space to blog, share photos, pictures, your movie
files and links. This option is great if you’re looking to get your site off
the ground and your content seen as soon as possible. In the long term though,
you may want to look at a more ambitious design and to get your own webspace,
which involves some more hands on design work and coughing up for some hosting.

Hosting
Tips

There are many companies offering
hosting services out there. These companies will host your html files, images
and movies and provide tools to help you update your site regularly. Many will
also offer domain name registration - the registration of your chosen URL
address. Simply do a websearch for “cheap domain hosting” and you
will find 100,000’s of services from as little as $1 month and url registration
from around $5 a year.

The URL of your site (the http://www.bit/) will need to be
registered first; this is the address people use to find your site. One thing
to keep in mind here is copyright, don’t use someone else’s IP (intellectual
property) in the URL otherwise you may be forced to close or rename your site
once it’s launched and built a community. As mentioned, most of the sites that
offer hosting include registration services, but if you do register a domain
name with your hosting service you’d be wise to check who owns the url should
you want to change hosting providers and take you url elsewhere.

Designing your
site

So you’ve decided on a host or set up
your blog site, now it’s time to consider design and this means making a few
more decisions. Websites are constructed using HTML (hyper text mark up
language) and more recently XHTML, both of which, with the right book(s) and
resources, are easy to learn. Just visit your Internet retailer of choice and
have a look at the basic html tuition books there are loads of great ones out
there. The web itself is also a massive resource in this area - there are so
many good tutorials it’s hard to recommend just one but - webmonkey.com is just one
example of the many great sites out there that do so.

The rest is up to you now but there’s an
awful lot of help around. If you have friends who have made their own site to
talk to them about what options they went for. Also if you are a member of any
forums, a quick post asking for advice will normally do the trick. The web
itself is certainly your best tutorial and guide.

You can get a lot of ideas
for website design by just browsing other peoples sites. You can even get
plugins for your browser such as the web developer plugin for Firefox

that allow you to examine the code, images and scripts behind
websites in detail.

Hopefully our fansite kit and this blog
has inspired you and helped you take the first few steps. After the holiday
we’ll post a second blog to give you some help with regards to promoting your
site and setting up your own forums.

Useful
Links

The
Medieval II Fansite Kit - Our awesome fansite kit full of goodies
such as images, logos, banners and much much, more.

Some great resources

WebMoney
- More great html and web tutorials and tools

http://www.webdeveloper.com/

HomeStead - A good
start for WYSIWYG hosting

Blogger.com - A popular
blogging service.

MySpace - Yet another blog
style service network.

WordPress - A popular
blogging service.

Thanks to Kevin Hoque of the Creative
Assembly UK studio, we now have a public releasable version of our in-house
model and animation exporter for Rome and Medieval II: Totalwar. Those of you
in the modding community will already be familiar with the model and animation
format used in Rome: Totalwar thanks to Vercingetorix’s 3rd party CAS
importer/exporter.

The CA exporter has been re-programmed for use in 3dsmax 7 8
and 9 while retaining full functionality. The CA exporter can be used by
modders to export custom created units, siege, props and animations for the
Rome: Totalwar engine. It can also be used to export custom strategy map models
and unit/siege animations for Medieval2: Totalwar.

You
can download it here!

Merry Christmas and Happy modding!

Caliban

That’s right folks, we’ve just had
confirmation from SEGA that Update 1 will be released on Friday 15th December!

As Wikiman mentioned in his previous
blog, we’ve addressed as much as we could so you would get the update before
Christmas. We’re currently working on the second update and are in constant
discussion with community leaders to be sure your biggest concerns get looked
at first. But to the modders out there, you’re finally getting the unpacker so
you can mod even more of the game, enjoy.

As a teaser for Update 2, we’re
currently playing with some of the fixes and tweaks and have to say, you will
absolutely love the more aggressive Scotland and Mongol campaign AI, more naval
assaults, an even more consistent less powerful cavalry charge, less devastating
gunpowder units and last but not least, stronger 2-handed axe men and billmen.

You can find the update from the usual
sorces including:

 

www.worthplaying.com

www.strategyinformer.com

www.jolt.co.uk

www.computerandvideogames.com

www.gamershell.com

If I don’t see you till after Christmas
have a happy healthy holiday and enjoy your Total War. To those multiplayer
people my sword will be sharp and my aim steady so watch out in the lobby.

Till next time,

Jason

A merry greetings from developer
central. The day is creeping close; Update 1 is just about baked to perfection.
Well ok maybe not perfection, if we had a hundred programmers and a hundred
artists then maybe it would be but for Update 1 we are pretty proud of it as it
is looking pretty sharp and playing even better. You should be sitting down to
play the updated game within a few days from now.

As promised here is a list of what is
fixed in Update 1. Of the huge lists gathered from the community (thank you!)
we have done our best to fix as many as possible within the allocated
timeframe. The remaining ones will have to be picked up in Update 2 (Yes we are
publishing another Update!!).

The next Update is pencilled for the
latter half of February so hopefully this will tie you over until then. We have
some cool things planned for Update 2 which we will announce next year.

Ok here is the breakdown of fixed or
tweaked issues, Merry Christmas from everyone at Creative Assembly!!!

Medieval 2:Total War Update 1

Major Fixes

========

-Fix crash in Deathtrack MP map with
empty Team 3 slot

-Fixed Battle AI - armies not engaging
enemies at close range.

-Fixed CTD when client attempts to join
game that the host is ending.

-Fixed instances when A.I is passive on
the campaign map and lets the user win on a campaign battle when stuck in-front
of open gates.

-Fixed loop between the windows for
‘Possible Connection Problems’ and ‘Really Quit?’

-Fixed AI: Calvary not charging a
spearmen army in a Custom Battle.

-Fixed cavalry not attacking - instances
when AI sieges a town with infantry and Calvary, if the infantry die and rout
and the player still holds the city, the cavalry do not attack nor rout.

-Fixed passive Siege Attack AI

-Fixed Timurids crash (related to
elephant artillery not having enough riders, CTD when trying to shoot)

-Fixed Siege Attack AI trying to attack
the back of settlements.
-Fixed Passive attack AI

-Fixed Cavalry charge consistency and
power. (Still raise and lower lances occasionally)

Added ModTool Unpacker

-Fixed Crash - Auto resolving a siege
battle on Gaza and repeatedly Right - Clicking the settlement

-Fixed Merchant Resource value dropping
after load/save

-Fixed CTD caused by Turks AI

-Fixed Cavalry not flanking spear walls

-Fixed AI not crossing river to attack
(River Jordan)

-Reduced the effect of morale - enemy AI
does not rout so easily

-Reduced the power of inquisitors

-Fixed ‘move to point’ crash

-MP Multinational support

-Fixed Cavalry sallying out and not attacking
(bunching at corner of settlement)

Medium Level Fixes

=============

-Fix construction crash when converting
settlements when buildings relating to initial settlement existed in
construction queue.

-Fixed Settlement still showing as under
siege even though sieging army had been defeated.

-Fixed repeating missions

-Fixed indecisive infantry / broken
formation (when ordered to a location they would head in the wrong direction
first)

-Fixed being able to open gates with
siege towers or embed them in walls

-Fixed victory video not always
appearing

-Diplomacy - AI no longer counters an
open proposition with a gift.

-Fixed deployment lines being rendered
incorrectly around ambient buildings

-Fixed Enemy units remain stationary
with flags flashing when ladders are thrown off a destroyed wall in a siege.

-Fixed the carroccio standard not
fitting through gates

-Fixed gunpowder units being stuck
reforming

-Fixed trebuchets disappearing and
reappearing when zooming

-Tweaked morale system

-Partially fixed units moving through
settlement buildings.

-Units now check if destination is in a
building or not.

-Enabled command-line switch to allow
unlimited soldiers (removes message)

-Fixed MP player-names being lost on
battle results screen if they quit the battle early

-Fixed the ability for a user to ‘buff’
their assassin experience by continually assassinating different captains

Other Fixes

========

-Fix difficulty level in MP (Affects
Morale). Previously defaulting to Normal.

-Fix lobby tooltip that showed incorrect
unit sizes.

-Fix Florins display during diplomacy

-Fix Money field looping into
negative/positive value when removing / adding money

-Fix overlapping and incorrectly sized
deployment zones

-Fixed cut-off graphics in civil
disorder message

-Fixed unclear ‘Start Diplomacy’ button
functionality

-Fixed MP Admit Defeat button
functionality

-Fixed missions showing as expired even
though they have been completed

-Fixed mouse-overs showing incorrect
diplomatic information

-Fixed minor FE Historical Battle error
(shield remaining highlighted)

-Fixed MP team chat - colours now match
recipient and sender.

-Fixed minor audio issue - Audio:
Campaign Map when an English Spy is ordered to join an English army he triggers
two “Joins_Army” speeches.

-Fixed minor audio issue - Campaign Map
when an English Merchant is ordered to disembark a boat, two
“Movement_Disembark” speeches are triggered.

-Fixed Mine income

-Fixed MP ignore/ban toggle permanently
banning player from chat

-Fixed - Making an offer gives a blank
scroll on the Diplomacy Scroll, but removing the offer gives the player help
text

-Fixed Mouse Cursor not updating when
over certain parts of the UI.

-Fixed miscalculation of some naval unit
movement points.

-Fixed units not leaving an army when
ordered to abandon it.

-Fixed ‘Possible Connection Problems’
message not appearing if user alt-tabs

-Fixed On campaign map, castles appear
under ‘town’ or ‘city’ title on UI

-Fixed Reinforcements box remains greyed
when the user deselects ‘Attempt a night battle’

-Fixed double speed on units that should
only go at one speed.

-Fixed Stakes not appearing correctly in
weather conditions

-Fixed non-functional help button on
ransom scrolls

-Fixed intro movies playing at x3 speed
in Historical battles

-Fixed transfer army functionality -
When transferring men the transfer resets after viewing the description

-Fixed Gunpowder units running forward
when given targets.

-Fixed clumping units when they are told
to do a 180 degree turn

-Fixed stuck Camera issues

-Fixed Fleeing units rallying at breached walls or gates of settlements
they are attacking when they should not

Hi guys,

Ok here’s another progress report on the
update just to keep you guys in the loop. The update is currently going through
specific testing in the US to ensure that the issues with the multiplayer
incompatibility with digital distributed versions is fixed. Once this is
confirmed, we’ll update the current list of fixes included in the update and,
all being well, we’ll be able to post this list for you tomorrow. It’s then a
case of preparing the bandwidth and mirror download sites so very soon we’ll be
able to give you a confirmed release date for the update itself. Again, many
thanks for your patience - we’ll keep you updated as we have developments.

Thanks,

Just a heads up on the progress
of the update, not that anyone is counting the days ;). The update is currently
in QA testing so it is real close. A big thank-you to the members of the .ORG
and .COM and all the community leaders that grab me (or my wife) daily on MSN
and offer their feedback. The priority list we’ve gathered from this is helping
to drive much of what we are doing.

As promised, a list of the fixes will be
available for viewing before the update is released. So all going well you will
have it in a matter of days not weeks.

On a personal note I thought I would
clarify the cavalry charging issue. Most of the posts I have read in the forums
are correct, it is a new charge mechanic and this has been reexamined in the
forthcoming update. In simple terms, you will now be able to get more than one
charge out of a unit and you will be able to charge skirmishers with your lance
down.

Regarding the new charge mechanic, there
are two charges available to a cavalry unit: a formed charge which allows for
most of the unit to charge into a target; and an unformed charge which stops
the charge after 10% of the soldiers within that unit have made contact with
the target. In RTW this wasn’t as much of an issue because cavalry did not have
long lances and as such did not require two significantly different charge
abilities. The M2TW charge system allows you to have a very powerful charge if
you do everything right and a light charge if you don’t.

The triggers for a formed (powerful)
charge include:

• Line up the cavalry
  parallel to the target
• Utilize a long straight run up
  toward the target
• Prioritize stationary targets as moving
  targets may result in a last second turn and
  reform

The triggers for an unformed (weak)
charge include:

• The unit is spread out just before
  charging
• The charge is issued while too close to the
  target
• The charge is issued when the unit isn’t facing the
  target
• The player changes direction just before the charge•
  The target moves and turns just before being hit

Currently we have set the balance so
that a formed charge is very strong due to the unit’s collision mass on impact
and have set the unformed charge to be rather weak due to the 10% stop charge
threshold. This ensures that players that love to see mass destruction and men
thrown in the air get what they want and those that want a balanced game where
cavalry don’t dominate every other unit get what they want. This is certainly
something we will look to get your feedback on once you get the update and see
the charge in action with the additional tweaks.

So just a reminder then - it’s a matter
of days not weeks before you have the update. Just how many only QA can tell,
may I suggest you send them gifts of caffeine and goodwill to help them
along.

Regards,

Jason