BULAT STEEL is a global modification for Medieval II: Total War™ Kingdoms about the European Middle Ages and the era of the Crusades. In this Mod all the most important and basic aspects of the game (Units, 2d-art, Music, Scripts) have been carefully and lovingly reworked and improved, and also many innovations have been added, which cannot be counted. None of the 30 factions was left without attention. Bulat Steel is a adamant which was cutted by over 10 years of hard and painstaking work of many masters, which can already be called a brilliant.
So for some reason everything here on moddb about this mod is in english but the mod is in russian... totally unplayable. The readme file gives a link to a non-existant dl-link for translation.
This is a beautiful mod in many ways. The units are pristine and the detail is admirable. Alas, the endless crashes and bugs make it almost unplayable and diminish what could be one of the foremost M2TW mods around.
hi! lekka first of all, i appreciate you guys make this mod
it is so happy and fun that i cannot play other mod
pros
1.beautiful unit texture and skin
(absolutely norman helms, and faction leader's crown, and heir s helm crown is beatuiful)
2.superb russian faction i love it
3.developing country system is good!
4.many historical event is so good i love it too :)
5.awesome biography(it is magnificient)
6. historical hero giving to faction is so good(but more! hero :( pls..arab faction Baybars...extc)
master piece
cons
little bit lacks of balance(several faction)
little bit historical
more city please(just like sship ss mod)
if we choose strong ai mod, give more unit(knight, or more powerful high rank unit)-starting balancee fixing pls
more historical event please!
Battle of Río Salado, (October 30, 1340)
(ugra river battle)-1480
iberian wedding-1469)
2th~9th crusade effect(!)
if kingdom of aragon take palermo naples bari athens candia ..>aragorn union kingdom unifciation effect(aragon can create norman knight, muslim archer )...
actually korean mod(mm mod:fixing ss mod by korean)
east roman empire reboom(if roman empire take rome jerusalem cairo,spain)->can make effect(mm mod:fixing ss mod by korean)
holy roman empire too(west roman empire)(mm mod:fixing ss mod by korean)
need more powerful arab faction(mamluk's rebellion )
(Avignonese Captivity)-pope s authority downgrade)
scottish vs england war!(13centry~14centry) event: more unit and more fight!
it is my idea :)
but it is awesome mod bro
i look foward to next bulat steel mod(2.16~2.2)
If I rated this mod only for the new units and mechanics, I'd give it a 10/10. Unfortunately there's more.
PROS:
* The new units are absolutely gorgeous, some of the best I've ever seen in a Total War mod.
* The huge amount of customizable scripts allow you to create your ideal Total War. I love the AI mods.
* Campaign map is big and beautiful.
* New dust effects and stuff look great.
CONS:
* The new buildings are hit and miss, some of them look great but some of them look worse than vanilla (like stone walls).
* Mostly, this mod has a terrible presentation, which really harms the experience. Issues include:
* The English translation, so far, is a terrible machine translation. It's understandable, but it really takes you out of the experience. This will probably be fixed.
* The menu's and loading screens of this mod are, to be frank, worse than amateurish. This sounds like a nitpick but it really takes you out of the experience. Vanilla has a really clean menu and loading screens, they really get you into that grim Total War experience. This mod blows it, and it harms all the great work it showcases elsewhere. I know many mods have some janky menu's and loading screens, but this takes the cake.
The main menu is covered in logo's, text, and shoutouts in glowing text in clashing neon colours. Just, the opposite of atmospheric.
The loading screen images are hit and miss BUT HAVE BOTH THE NAME OF THE MOD AND THE NAME OF THE PERSON WHO COLLECTED THEM WRITTEN OVER THEM IN AN UGLY SEETHROUGH WATERMARK. That person basically ruined their own work collecting those pictures in the first place. There's nothing like taking you out of the anticipation of a battle seeing "art collected by Leeekaaa" and "BULAT STEEL LYNVO" splashed over the art in a really ugly font. These are so terrible that I wouldn't be surprised if a submod gets released to change it. **** I might even make one.
* The music choices are, IMHO, terrible (you can turn them off, though). Hearing the Game of Thrones theme on the campaign map or electric guitars in the battle tracks takes me out of the atmosphere quicker than a punch to the gut.
To conclude: this is an amazing mod wrapped in an ugly, gaudy package that detracts from the great work done inside. I know a lot of mods have this issue of presentation but this one takes the cake. It's a real shame, although if you just close your eyes during the loading screens and don't install any music packs, the absolutely phenomenal work is very enjoyable. 10/10 mod wrapped in a 3/10 presentation.
Mod requires Torrent, spends at least a few hours to download, mod is in Russian and finding the english translations was absolutely painful, and after uninstall and reinstalling it still crashes while upon loading a campaign.
Having clearer instructions as to where the English translations are would be beneficial.
I can't play if I do not pay them for the "early access" translation.
And they like locking everything behind "early access" now. Are they trying to be CA Russian version? Will they charge 2 bucks for blood efects too?
The mod is really good, nice units, map awesome pics between loads and very cool campaign. I would probably had given a 10 for this and the hard work that was put in but the size of the mod is ridiculous and this is the only mod I see asking for money. I normally would be okay with it if everything was made by them but some of the units are from other mods which seems odd profiting over others work even if permission was given. Either way it is a very good mod and still appreciate the work.
thanks
absolutely awsome script
it just rocks period
ss 6.4 is good but i like bulat better for sure
its a ****** MassivE overhaul
while the whole mod is very impressive
the 3 russian factions are incredible
honestly a little OP but novgorod was always my fav anyway so not a big deal to me
only reason i didnt give it a 10 is id like to see the western europe factions have a little more diversity as far as units go instead of them all having pretty much the same armies with the acception of a few faction speacial units like vanilla and all other mods
id like to see atleast 6-7 faction speacial units per faction
great work guys
- Not creative. It is a soup with russian sauce made up of many modes.
- Nationalist (Childish). The original city names have been translated to Russian, especially Polish ones. And, surely, using "from" thing instead "of", wtf?
- The russian factions are too strong. This is not historically correct, it's typically a loser exaggeration.
- Corny, cheezy expressions like that:
"Probably, each of us on a question "What is the best mod for Medieval 2 TW?" Everyone answers "Of course: BULAT STEEL TW".
Everyone?
Excellent modification all around. Like some other reviewers pointed out, some building icons look a bit out of place, but the team is still working on the mod. As for the soundtrack, while I agree there are also some tracks which seem dislocated, it is something that you can edit on your own to suit your own tastes ;) - something that I personally do with virtually every game or mod that I have. Otherwise, the work put on the factions, unit rosters and scripts to provide an immersive experience is without pair, which makes this mod still stand out in an otherwise excellent modding scene for good old Medieval II. Many thanks to the developers and all the best to them!