Rise of Three Kingdoms Version 5.2 (Chuping) Update news

Greetings once again, everyone!

This new update is a bit different than all of the previous ones. While, as usual, there have been a lot of fixes and improvements to the campaign, the primary reason for this update existing is the creation of an entirely new campaign. Set in the year 190, this new campaign focuses on the struggles between Han regional governors and warlords, set against the backdrop of Dong Zhuo's takeover of the Imperial government. Leaders such as Liu Yu, Tao Qian, and Sun Jian, all of whom perished before the 194 start date of the original campaign, are amongst the more than 100 new characters added for this new scenario. Unlike the original 194 campaign, the 190 campaign has far less events and scripting in order to create a more sandbox experience for the player. Many characters, who are part of a faction at the start of the original campaign, but historically were not beholden to any regional leader in 190, will be a part of the Unaligned faction; meaning you can get them to join your faction when you come across them. Characters that fall into this category include Gan Ning, Sima Yi, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Xu Chu, Lu Su, Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, and many others. The new update also comes with a campaign switcher: when you run the mod you will be given a prompt as to whether you want to be play either the 190 or 194 campaign, with each campaign's files being independent of the other. Below you can see a couple screenshots of the new faction selection screen, with Liu Yu and Tao Qian ready for preview.

Both campaigns will also make use of an updated campaign map. An are that needed some work was the Jiangdong region, which is located in the east of the country, immediately below the Yangtze River. The region was significantly remodeled, extending the landmass east and moving Lake Taihu a bit west. Speaking of lakes, Lake Weishan was added to east-central China as well as the closing of Lake Chao from the Yangtze. Additionally several sections of the Great Wall in the northwest have been made unpassable - in conjunction with the natural barriers in the region, the strategic town of Jieting now serves an even more important purpose: if you don't control it, you will have a significant detour for your armies to pass between Yong and Liang provinces. Finally the Hebei region, which is located north of the Yellow River in the eastern part of China, received an overhaul to both it's river system and commandery borders, as well as the addition of Ganling commandery. Below you can see an image of the updated Hebei region.

Quite bit of time was taken to improve the quality of the characters on the campaign map. Many of the existing models had been ported from the original mod over 10 years ago and had some notable blemishes, such as being un-smoothed or excess levels of alpha. Those issues were fixed, not only for important characters such as Cao Cao, Lu Bu, or Liu Bei, but also for the 'standard' models shared between factions. Additionally, I also took the time to convert a couple models for characters that really needed the love. I made them unique battle models quite a while ago, but it wasn't until now that converted those battle models to be displayed on the campaign map. Below you can see two of these conversion, Wei Yan on the left and Gan Ning on the right.

And finally, I figured I should mention that a bit of work was done to improve and overhaul a few of the unique units found in the mod. The Formation Breakers, Unstoppable Flying Army, Suicide Vanguard, Bingzhou Cavalry, Heishan Marauders, and Camp Raiders all have received brand new battle models. While there was nothing wrong with any of them, per se, the mod has progressed a ton since they were introduced and they were beginning to show their age. So not only did they need to be spruced up and the overall quality improved, but they also needed to be cohesive to the overall aesthetic of the mod and the other units found in it. With the new 190 campaign, some new unique units also needed to be created for the new factions, such as the Jiujiang Marines, War Dragons, and The Hundred Riders. Below you can see a screenshot of the new battle model for the fearsome Formation Breakers, the famed elite unit of Gao Shun.

The Version 5.2 (Chuping) Update can be downloaded here and has instructions on how to properly install the patch (extract .zip contents into main Medieval II Total War folder).

IMPORTANT NOTE: You must have the Rise of Three Kingdoms v4.5 Full Release installed prior to installing this update. This update is NOT save-game compatible (will break saves). Once an installer for this update is created, the included .zip file will be replaced with the installer.

Happy gaming!