How does the name of the maps work? (please, let's keep it neat)
First of all, an example of what you SHOULDN'T put in the name of your map:
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111 HEYYYYAAAAA 2222222vvv22222 MMMMAPPPPP HURRRR DURRRRR I AM THE BEEEEEESSSSST WOOOOOOOOOWW
Ok? Understand? I guess yes...
"Hmm, so, DeeKay, what should I put in the name of my map?"
First - Put the kind of map that it is, 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 or 4v4.
Second - If it is 2v2,3v3 or 4v4, put the positions of the map (I'm going to explain it later, if your map is 1v1, skip this to the third step).
Third - Put the name of the map, whatever it is, but, better if you could be creative in the name.
Fourth - Put the owner of the map, for example: "2v2 !2 hurr durr BY DEEKAY" (or simply put your name in the description of the map, not necessary in the name ^^)
"Hey DeeKay, and the positions, won't you explain to us?"
Ah, yes, right.
The positions are represented by an "!", and, the number that comes later, who the host is going with. (That's because you don't need it in 1v1 maps).
Let me explain more about this:
First, a normal 2v2 is happening in a room: (lol I didn't have many people to do 2v2, so I put AIs, and thanks to ricardo for his freetime to help me xD!)
As you see here, I'm going to make a team with the AI, and he is, in my list, the fourth player:
If he is the fourth, I will pick a 2v2 map with !4 in the name ("!" = the host is going with, "number" the position of your team in your list):
Ah, and don't forget to disable Random Start Locations:
So, knowing the positions, you don't need go to middle or have any problem with the game.
How to use TA:K Switcher?
Hey, guys! Now, I'm going to talk about how to use TA:K Switcher, this awesome program (simple, but awesome) let you play mods, races, units, etc. in your TA:K.
Ok, now, install it. When you finish your instalation, TA:K Switcher is going to create 10 folders (addons, defaults, ais, gamedata, races, units, unknown, takpacks, mods and anims) and some files...
Your TA:K's folder is going to seem like this:
For example, let's take a simply mod for example like Hardcore TAK:
Hardcore TAK is a mod, right? So, we need move the .hpi files to Mods folder:
Then, we open TA:K Switcher, go to Mods tab, and click twice in Hardcore TAK:
And for finish, click in "Launch TA:Kingdoms" (if you press enter key the game also will start) :
Ready, your mod/race is launched!
Obs: The process for races is the samething, but, instead of mods folder, put in races folder (addons, ais, gamedata, etc too, just put them in their respective folder).
How to install total conversion mods?
This question was very discussed here and the doubts still standing. So, I will try to explain how to install these total conversion mods now, and finish your problems (or not :p)!
First of all, for example, let's take Conflict of Arda mod, it is a very good total conversion mod...
Ok, now that you downloaded, let's start, here are the files of Conflict of Arda:
Surely, if it is a total conversion mod, it won't run in TA:K Switcher, you need copy all the .ufo files to your TA:K's directory:
There are others 2 .zip files called CoAXP.zip and RivendelWarrior.zip, open it and copy all the .ufo files to your TA:K's directory too:
And, for finish, you need remove the file called kingdoms.key (just move to another place, don't delete it or copy, read "Obs"):
Ready, you can enjoy the mod now, just open your TA:K's shortcut or open Kingdoms.exe file.
Obs: If you want to play the normal TA:K, just put kingdoms.key file back to your TA:K's directory, so, it is very important you make it as backup before removing.
How to find TA:K for GameRanger?
Sometimes, people go to GameRanger's main window, and see no rooms of TA:K, then, they try to create a room of TA:K to play, and TA:K isn't in the list of available games to host... And they ask themselves: "Why can't I join/host a game? Did I do something wrong?" Answer:
GameRanger doesn't know where is your game, and it doesn't know that you really have this game. You did nothing wrong, you just need to show where is your game and you are ready!
~But, DeeKay, How to do it?~
That's what I'm going to explain now:
First, go to GameRanger's main window:
Second, click in Edit tab:
Next, click in Options:
Now, you are going to see a list, with lots of names of games, search TA:K in this list (press T key to go faster):
Ok, now that you find TA:K, click in "Browse..." button:
It is going to appear a new window, is there that you are going to say to GameRanger where is your game, it is very recommended to put TA:K in its default directory (C:\Cavedog\Kingdoms):
Click twice in Kingdoms.exe file:
ANDD, you are ready!! UHUUHUHUHUHUH \\O///// =P
Ah, and more one tip: if you don't want that mess of games, select to show only the games that you have, or only the games that you want to appear.
"Hehe, DeeKay, I think that's asking too much, but, How to do it? xD"
Ok... Then I will explain...
Here, again, go to GameRanger's main window:
Below GameRanger's banner/advertisements, there is a menu, that when you click in it, it will appear a list of groups of games:
To show only the games that you have in your game list, choose "My Games":
And it's going to appear only the games that you have in your game list...:
If you want to show only the games that you want to appear, choose New Group to create your own group:
When you click in it, will appear a new window, and here are your options:
1- Put here the name of the group.
2- Choose here the condition for the games that you are going to choose in third step.
3- Now, here, choose the games that you want according to the condition of second step.
Click "OK" button to finish your group's config and see the result:
Ok, now, you are ready. :D
How to make the graphics/effects look better in TA:K?
Hehe, TA:K doesn't have the better graphics/effects in the world, but not the worst too. =p
I'm gonna teach you how to make them look better in the game
.
First, easy, but sometimes unknown, Choose Renderer, it is a powerful tool, you can change the Software MMX effects to Direct3D ones (o.O), yeah it makes diference. Here are some screenshot with the diference:
With Software MMX:
With Direct3D:
With Software MMX:
With Direct3D:
If you didn't notice diference, look closer, the software water is flat, while in Direct3D it seems have depth.
With Software MMX:
With Direct3D:
Well, these screenshots doesn't tell many things, but you can test yourself in game.
"Eh, DeeKay... You forgot to teach us how to change from Software to Direct3D. =/"
Oh, sorry, ok hwg.
1- Go to your Kingdoms main directory folder (may be C:\Cavedog\Kingdoms).
2- Search for the file Choose Renderer.exe.
3- Open it and double click Direct3D. You are ready. :)
Some useful commands when Direct3D is ON:
+rollingfog - Switch in Software and Direct3D fog. (You can use this to see the diference between Software fog and Direct3D fog)
+wackywater - Switch in Sofware and Direct3D water. (You can use this to see the diference between Sofware water and Direct3D water)
+fogcolor # # # - # = put a number between 1-256, it is controlled with RGB (Red Green Blue) colors.
More tips of how to make the graphics look better:
-Increasing resolution, it can be done in F2 Menu - Options - Visuals. Or, typing +vidmode widthx height (notice, there is a space later X, don't forget it, example: 1024x768 is wrong, 1024x 768 is right)
-Changing some things in registry (watch out, incorrect changes to the registry can cause serious problems in your system)
Go to start, run (or simply windows+r), type regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cavedog Entertainment\Kingdoms\VisualOptions, and change to:
ScaleAll=0
ShadowScale = 1
UnitRedrawPct = 100
UnitScale = 1
Explanation:
UnitRedrawPct: This setting is what is controlled by +kenny. You can set this to any decimal number between 0 and 101 and the behaviour will be as described for +kenny followed by a number.
ShadowScale: This setting controls the scaling of rendered shadows (note: not all units have rendered shadows). There are four legal settings:
0 - the default. Adjust shadow scaling based on frame rate.
1 - always do full resolution shadows.
2 - always do half resolution shadows.
3 - always do quarter resolution shadows.
ScaleAll: This setting controls the scaling of units. By default none of the existing units are scaled. If you set this to 1, to enable scaling of all units, then units will be rendered at a lower resolution as specified by the UnitScale registry setting. By default this means that they will be scaled down only when this is needed to maintain a good frame rate.
UnitScale: This setting controls the scaling of units. This entry is interpreted in the same way as the ShadowScale entry. However, note that by default UnitScale only applies to units that are flagged as needing optimization - which none of the existing units are. Therefore this option has no effect unless you set ScaleAll to true.
That's it. :D
How to make my Campaigns' Movies work?
This is THE question, that many people have in their mind. Play campaigns without movies? Hmm. I think it won't be a problem anymore when ya finish reading this tutorial.
Starting, there are some ways to play campaigns with movies.
One of them you just need to move the respective movie files to Movies folder of your TA:K, if you are going to play The Book of Darien campaign, then you move its movies to Movies folder, if you are going to play The Iron Plague campaign, so you remove The Book of Darien movies first, then move The Iron Plague movies there.
Understood? Not? Yeah, maybe it's a bit confused. But I won't leave it as it is, I will simplify it more, with screenshots, showing you how to do it! (oh, how good person I am...) =)
LET'S GO!
Preparation: (what will you need to follow me)
-The Book of Darien and The Iron Plague Movies.
They are available to download here:
The Book of Darien Movies - -
The Iron Plague Movies - -
First of all, this is my Movies folder, organized. I recommend you do that too. So, create a folder called "The Book of Darien" and another called "The Iron Plague", like the image below shows.
Then, you copy the movies to their respective folder, The Book of Darien movies to The Book of Darien folder, like the image shows:
And The Iron Plague Movies to The Iron Plague folder:
Ok, now, it's all organized.
Continuing, if you wanna play The Book of Darien campaign, you should cut The Book of Darien Movies that were into The Book of Darien folder, and put into Movies folder, normally:
Doing it, you are ready to play The Book of Darien Movies. BUT
If you wanna play The Iron Plague campaign with movies, you MUST cut The Book of Darien Movies that were into Movies folder, and put it back to The Book of Darien folder:
And cut The Iron Plague Movies from The Iron Plague folder and put them into Movies folder:
And then, you are ready to play The Iron Plague campaign with movies.
NEVER, NEVER PUT BOTH CAMPAIGNS' MOVIES TOGETHER. Ok? Always, cut & move them to other place.
The other way is getting the CD images of the game and emule them, and play.
THAT'S IT! Hope you all liked this tutorial, more coming soon, hope it helps!
How to Give and Share a % of your Mana with your Ally
Hell Yeah, Guys. I finally discovered how to manage that fucking "Diplomacy - Share Mana" thing. \o/
And now, I'm going to teach you all to improve your team's strategies and gameplay.
3 commands, 3 awesome commands, it's all you need to share/give mana to your partner who needs it hopelessly, AND THEY ARE:
1- +GiveMana (Player ID) (Amount)
Gives an amount of your Mana instantly to a player. The Player ID you can check who is player 1, player 2, by checking the Diplomacy Menu (D), then count, the first is Player 1, second Player 2...
2- *+ShareManaPct (Player ID) (% Amount 0-100)
You set a percentage of your Mana to share with your ally PER SECOND (not sure), where 0 is 0%, 0.25 is 25%, 0.5 is 50%, 0.75 is 75% and 1 is 100%. (You can, for sure, use others values like 0.01 for 1%)
3- *+ShareManaLimit (1 or 0)
You can here declare a Limit that when it's hit, your are not going to share mana anymore. For example, if you have 10000 max mana and you are sharing some mana with your friend, but want always to have at least 2000 mana, use +ShareManaLimit 0.2 (20%) for it and when your mana hits 2000 or below, you will automatically stop sharing, and will continue sharing if it goes higher than 2000.
Some sets: 0 is 0%, 0.25 is 25%, 0.5 is 50%, 0.75 is 75% and 1 is 100%. (You can, for sure, use others values like 0.01 for 1%)
* = Needs to enable Share Mana in Diplomacy.
That's it guys, hope you all enjoyed that. =D
LONG LIVE TA:K!!!
All Console & Cheat Codes
Hey Guys,
I will post every Console Code (including Cheats ones) that I know in a list (it must be all).
So here we go:
• Console Codes (works without Power Codes "On"):
+ShowRanges
+BPS
+ShowFrameRate
+Logo (Number 1-9)
+NameUnit (Name)
+GiveMana (Player) (Amount)
+ShareManaPct (Player) (% of your Mana to Share)
+ShareManaLimit (Number 0-1)
+Compression
+FSR
+ShootAll
+Clock
+Contour
+NoShake
+Quit
• Cheat Codes (works only with Power Codes "On")
+ManaMe
+ATM
+Doubleshot
+Halfshot
+Mapping
+NowISee
+LOS
+LotsaBlood
Soon: More Codes (if I missed one, tell me and I will be glad), Description of every code.
Q: Does your Setups come with both campaigns?
A: Depends the version you are downloading, the only that comes with ONLY The Book of Darien campaign, is the .img file of Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, the others include both campaigns.
Q: My TA:K is saying I need the CD to play Campaign?
A: Or you use the CD files to emulate a CD, or the KingNoCD.exe file instead of Kingdoms.exe, or play with TA:K Switcher. KingNoCD.exe is avaiable here: Download. Just put both files in the .rar file (KingNoCD.exe and KingNoCD.icd) into your TA:K folder and open it.
Q: How can I mount the CD images to install?
A: You will need a program to mount the images, the most popular program is Daemon Tools.
Q: Does the "All Maps Pack" really come with all maps?
A: No, it doesn't come with all maps, just the most of them.
Q: How can I play online?
A: First, you need install Gameranger and make an account, then, if you already have installed TA:K on the default directory (C:\Cavedog\Kingdoms) and installed v4.1 version, maybe you need show gameranger where is it... How? You go to gameranger, click in Edit tab, then Options. Find TA:K and TA:K Iron Plague, and click in "Browse...", go to its default directory and click twice in Kingdoms.exe. Now, you are ready, host a room and in some hours (joking, but it should take a time xD) will appear someone.
Q: How can I play mods or races online?
A: You can play mods or races online by TA:K Switcher (by IP), or by gameranger. To play mods/races online by TA:K Switcher (IP), you will need a program that "simulate" that you are in LAN with your partner, the most popular is Hamachi. Create a network with Hamachi and make your partner join in, Hamachi will create new IPs for you use it as IP Adress in the game.
To play by gameranger, you need put your mod/race in the default TA:K directory, then, remove kingdoms.key file (make it as backup for later), and launch game.
TA:K Main Forum - This is our principal forum, it is currently active. You must be logged there to download or post something.
Sage's Skydrive - Sage's Skydrive, it is a very useful site with lots of downloads.
Spagg's Site - Spagg's site, another good site with lots of downloads and tips.
VDTAUnits - This is a TA site with some useful Utilities that work with TA:K.
AngelFire - This site is a site with lots of sites that could help you. XD
VisualDesigns - This site contains explanations of some of TA and TA:K extension files, and some downloads.
KingdomsZone - This is a site made by TF-Lord-hawk-claw, with lots of downloads, and some information, it also includes the famous Ultimate TA:K Pack 1.0.
MultiMania TA:K French - A french website with lots of tools, units, and more downloads.
Original TA/TA:K Reference Bible - This is the original TA/TA:K Reference Bible, it contains lots of informations and tutorials.
TA:K Reference Bible - Alternative for original TA/TA:K reference bible, but, it only includes the TA:K part.
TA Universe TA:K Page - Nice site with lots of nice pictures made by "TA:K's artists".
Total Annihilation Design Group - A site with lots of downloads, some of them are offline, but there are lots of available useful downloads.
These are the sites that helped me, and it should help you too. ;D
