Mods - where to start?!

[Jiggymike]

Hey all! First off, thanks to everyone who put in the time to mod for this game and to reply to my thread. I've never played a modded game before, so I don't even know where to start. I guess the first thing I need to know is whether any or all of the mod will work on a Mac, as that's what I play my Dominions 3 on.

Next, I was wondering if there are a few good mods to start with. The conceptual balance one sounds good - I just finished a game for the first time in a while and it definitely felt unbalanced. However, from there I don't really know where to go. What are some of the highly recommended mods with a focus on core gameplay? The nations and maps I can just look at myself but I'm looking to enhance the Dominions 3 experience without altering it too badly for now. Thanks again for your help!

[kianduatha]

All mods work on a mac--you just have to put the banner graphic and .dm and any folders with graphics into the 'mod' folder(you may have to make one...it goes in the base dom3 folder).

In terms of core gameplay mods, CBM (http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/index.php?showtopic=381) is pretty much where it's at. A lot of that is because other gameplay mods if they're any good tend to get incorporated into it. I could suggest things like the Underwater Gameplay Improvement Mod (http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/index.php?showtopic=44), but most of its changes are already in the latest CBM versions. People sometimes use the Endgame Diversity Mod (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=45056) by itself.

Over on the SomethingAwful forums a modder called Ninjadebugger has some other core gameplay-ish mods--AwesomeGods (http://submarine.sandwich.net/AwesomeGods/) and AwesomeEndgame (http://submarine.sandwich.net/AwesomeEndgame/), which do pretty much what they say. AwesomeEndgame is basically a more high-powered and further-reaching Endgame Diversity Mod.

As a smaller thing, Single Age Complete (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6299&d=1212179279) can be useful for, say, a fight between all three eras of Ulms.

[Gandalf Parker]

Do you mean for Solo play or for MultiPlayer play?

[Jiggymike]

I'm asking for both, Gandalf.

[Gandalf Parker]

Here is a good thread to look in for Solo play info...

House Rules Against AI (improving the AI)
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=44783

[llamabeast]

Embarrasingly, the CB1.84 thread still contains a broken version of the mod (it was broken by the last patch for dom3). You can get a fixed version here:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=47550

To answer your question:

- Conceptual Balance is probably the main mod you want, it tackles all aspects of the game and tries to increase the number of interesting options available
- If you would like to add some new nations to the game, I have compiled some collections of what I think are among the best mod nations. In my opinion these add a great deal to the game, and the quality is very high. You can find the Expanded Nations Packs here: http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=47230
- You may also enjoy Holy War (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=47250), which adds new holy spells and holy sites to the game, and Cross Path Combat Spells, which adds a bunch of cross-path combat spells (http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/index.php?showtopic=55&view=findpost&p=1408711) to the game. As for all of Burnsaber's mods, the quality is very high.

I should say that although these all have my name on, I've done very little of the actual work. I'm just a keen compiler.

Finally, Globu has made a fantastic online mod catalogue, here: http://www.llamaserver.net/globu/Dom3_Mods_Catalog/Dom3_Mods_Catalog_Nations_EA.html

AwesomeGods and AwesomeEndgame make quite dramatic changes. They go a bit too far for my taste, but the folks at the SomethingAwful forums seem to really like them.

Hmm, I really should make a sticky.

[llamabeast]

Embarrasingly, the CB1.84 thread still contains a broken version of the mod (it was broken by the last patch for dom3). You can get a fixed version here:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=47550

To answer your question:

- Conceptual Balance is probably the main mod you want, it tackles all aspects of the game and tries to increase the number of interesting options available
- If you would like to add some new nations to the game, I have compiled some collections of what I think are among the best mod nations. In my opinion these add a great deal to the game, and the quality is very high. You can find the Expanded Nations Packs here: http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=47230
- You may also enjoy Holy War (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=47250), which adds new holy spells and holy sites to the game, and Cross Path Combat Spells, which adds a bunch of cross-path combat spells (http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/index.php?showtopic=55&view=findpost&p=1408711) to the game. As for all of Burnsaber's mods, the quality is very high.

I should say that although these all have my name on, I've done very little of the actual work. I'm just a keen compiler.

Finally, Globu has made a fantastic online mod catalogue, here: http://www.llamaserver.net/globu/Dom3_Mods_Catalog/Dom3_Mods_Catalog_Nations_EA.html

AwesomeGods and AwesomeEndgame make quite dramatic changes. They go a bit too far for my taste, but the folks at the SomethingAwful forums seem to really like them.

Hmm, I really should make a sticky.

[Jiggymike]

Thanks llama, that looks exactly where I want to start. I'm going to try to start a SP game with the CBM and one without and see how I feel about it.

[Azurain]

I haven't made any changes or improvements to it in a while, but in terms of core gameplay changes, Assimilation can be fun (or at least I think so, since I made it for my own use ;) ).

It lets you recruit a small selection of a nation's units and commanders at their capital once you've captured it, which gives a bit more incentive to conquer:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=46696

[sidhos]

I downloaded the expanded nations mod. It is in a zipped version on my desktop, currently. I tried to "extract all" to my mods folder and the transfer failed.

Any info on how/where to put the folders from the download, would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[Gandalf Parker]

What operating system?

[sidhos]

Not really sure. Whatever the newest windows is. 7.0, I suppose.

[sidhos]

Got it figured out. I don't know why, but I had to remove each folder individually to my desktop(from the zipped file), then manually move each one individually to the mods folder. Working now.

[Gandalf Parker]

Because for security reasons, Win7 puts added data in a different place than program installs

[sidhos]

I didn't know that. Thanks for the replies GP.