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About this mod
About: A custom map accompanied by custom audio files to enhance storytelling. This story is part 1 of an ongoing campaign being developed.
please let me know if you are able to get the audio working! :)
- Permissions and credits
About: A custom map accompanied by custom audio files to enhance storytelling. This story is part 1 of an ongoing campaign being developed.
Narrative:
Short: In the prologue to this scenario, Matthew unknowingly helped Lady Seren perform a vile pagan ritual. The realm however, knows only that he helped the witch commit the sins. Upon arriving in your small swap-town fief in Norfolk, you are surprised to learn that the King and the Church of England have launched a crusade against you! You must gather provisions and construct an escape fleet before the full invasion arrives. You hope that the Kingdom of Scotland will provide you with refuge.
Long:
As Matthew and his men marched back from the falls of eternal life, he reflected on what had happened, what he had done. He could still hear the screams of those poor clergymen in his head. How could he have known that the realm's protector of the falls, Lady Seren, would, no, was capable of committing such atrocities. But the King's orders were simple: "Help Seren in any way you can to remove Devereux from our sacred waters!" When William moved against them and aided his brother, Matthew had no choice but to kill him, right? He was following the King's orders. In his heart, Matthew knew what he did was wrong. But it was more than blind obedience which compelled Matthew that day. When Seren asked for a thing, it felt like a command. Perhaps the rumors about her are true, Seren is a witch working for some pagan god. In fact, once they removed the Hawk from his perch, even Matthew himself was surprised he did not ask more questions. The Lady simply TOLD him to leave for home and he quickly obliged. It was only this morning that Matthew felt more like himself again. Post battle numbness was not uncommon for Matthew, but this felt different somehow, he was not in control...
Matthew did not grow-up a lord, he had to earn his estate. Matthew was still a knight in the King's service when he singlehandedly held up the Viking's force on a bridge before the first sacking of North Hampton. His bravery allowed hundreds to escape with their lives and livestock. He only survived the encounter due to being shoved off the bridge and washing ashore a couple miles down the bank. When he returned to the King 3 days later, the King had no choice but to offer him land as a reward. The land given to him was not very rich. It was really no more than a few hovels in the swamp. But the people there were honest folk. The estate did have some fantastic views though. To the east, the North Sea stretched endlessly on the horizon. To the northwest, one of the church's most fortunate provinces. The bishop there hosts countless tournaments and eats bread every day! On a clear windy day Matthew could smell the biscuits being made in the morning. Although in four years, not once has the bishop invited him to sit as his table. Clergy of the papal variety did not take kindly to landed men without noble blood, for they were not ordained by God to rule and were seen as illegitimate. Matthew preferred the view of the sea.
In the time that Matthew had ruled here in Norfolk, others had gained much richer rewards. Edwin was granted the King's second richest estate in Wessex! Although Matthew had not donated sizable sums of money to the King's coffers. Officially, Edwin makes his money from brewing and distributing mead. However, it is common knowledge that he has criminal ties to the North Sea slave trade. Unfair as it is, envy looks good on no one and is a sin regardless.
Matthew and his troops arrived at a small town named Babenshire to water the horses and rest a while before heading home the next day. Matthew had visited this town many times and had never seen it so busy and armed... What was going on? Matthew's scribe Peter grabbed his attention: "Listen to this!" A local clergyman was reading a proclamation to a group of peasants with pitchforks. "Sir Matthew Steele has committed heinous crimes against the church and man, He was found sodomizing men of the cloth!" the crowd responded: "ARRR!", "DEVIL!", "TRAITOR!". The clergyman continued: "The King and Bishop have declared him a heretic and thus have launched a crusade on him and those who follow him! Those of you who take up arms against this devil shall know eternal life in Heaven above. All your previous sins will be washed away if only you fight this monster now!" Matthew was stunned silent how could they not know that Seren had done that not him? Matthew's Marshal, Albert, spoke sternly and quietly: "Quick my lord, we are not safe here... I will reassemble the men, and we will ride hard to your estate."
As quickly as they arrived, Matthew and his men left Babenshire. On the road, Albert continued: " If what we heard is true, this whole country is not safe." Matthew responded, "I must tell the King about this! there has surely been a huge mistake!" "No use," said Albert " you will be riding into a noose." "A burning pyre more than likely!" interjected Peter. "We must prepare to escape to the sea once we arrive home." The company rod into the night approaching Matthew's 'castle'. "Look my lord! They have blocked off the route to Berry and fortified Blakeney forest." said Peter. Berry had always been open to trading with them for the produce they could grow there. And Blakeney forest was the only source of quality lumber in the area. The Crown was already one step ahead of Matthew. But a cornered lion does not run, he bites first! Matthew prepared to do the one thing he knew could do better than anyone, because he was not born into greatness, rather he found it with his sword. His words were simple, effective, but carried everything.
"To battle."
Install instructions:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hello! Thank you for trying out my map! With this mod you will be able to use custom audio designed for this scenario. If you have played the military campaign for this game and ever messed with the map editor feature you might realize that the missions that we played were almost certainly designed with this map editor. However, as a player we are missing certain triggers and effects. Most notably, the ability to add messages that tell our stories! In 2015 it was discovered that custom messages could be added by the player if they could access and edit an existing .s2m file which had messages. Once we have access to this file, all that is left is to replace the existing audio mapped to the original scenario. This way we can tell our own stories with maps that we create! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Step 1: The only thing that is required to play this map is to copy the .s2m file, valley_of_eternal_life.s2m into your Stronghold 2 maps folder (\Documents\Stronghold 2\maps). Make sure to look for this map under the peace custom tab in game! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Step 2: If you want to see the custom messages for this scenario you need to replace your en-us.xml file with the one provided. This file is located in : Program_files(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stronghold 2\ i18n . Notice that for thisto work, you need to be using an English version of this game.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Step 3: for the FULL experience, you will also have to replace some of the audio files in the peaceful campaign with the ones provided in the new_audio_files folder. Luckily I have provided a simple batch script to handle this for you so you don't have to root around in the directories too much. Simply copy the escapehome_audio_files folder and escapehome_audioreplace.batinto: Program_files(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stronghold 2\ . Then run the script by double clicking. This will replace those peace campaign audio files with the custom ones I have made. Don't worry though, the old ones get moved to a backup folder located: Program_files(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stronghold 2\fx\speech\backup_files. If you ever want to restore the original audio files, simply replace the the corresponding file from the backup folder with file in: Program_files(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stronghold 2\fx\speech\.
Narrative:
Short: In the prologue to this scenario, Matthew unknowingly helped Lady Seren perform a vile pagan ritual. The realm however, knows only that he helped the witch commit the sins. Upon arriving in your small swap-town fief in Norfolk, you are surprised to learn that the King and the Church of England have launched a crusade against you! You must gather provisions and construct an escape fleet before the full invasion arrives. You hope that the Kingdom of Scotland will provide you with refuge.
Long:
As Matthew and his men marched back from the falls of eternal life, he reflected on what had happened, what he had done. He could still hear the screams of those poor clergymen in his head. How could he have known that the realm's protector of the falls, Lady Seren, would, no, was capable of committing such atrocities. But the King's orders were simple: "Help Seren in any way you can to remove Devereux from our sacred waters!" When William moved against them and aided his brother, Matthew had no choice but to kill him, right? He was following the King's orders. In his heart, Matthew knew what he did was wrong. But it was more than blind obedience which compelled Matthew that day. When Seren asked for a thing, it felt like a command. Perhaps the rumors about her are true, Seren is a witch working for some pagan god. In fact, once they removed the Hawk from his perch, even Matthew himself was surprised he did not ask more questions. The Lady simply TOLD him to leave for home and he quickly obliged. It was only this morning that Matthew felt more like himself again. Post battle numbness was not uncommon for Matthew, but this felt different somehow, he was not in control...
Matthew did not grow-up a lord, he had to earn his estate. Matthew was still a knight in the King's service when he singlehandedly held up the Viking's force on a bridge before the first sacking of North Hampton. His bravery allowed hundreds to escape with their lives and livestock. He only survived the encounter due to being shoved off the bridge and washing ashore a couple miles down the bank. When he returned to the King 3 days later, the King had no choice but to offer him land as a reward. The land given to him was not very rich. It was really no more than a few hovels in the swamp. But the people there were honest folk. The estate did have some fantastic views though. To the east, the North Sea stretched endlessly on the horizon. To the northwest, one of the church's most fortunate provinces. The bishop there hosts countless tournaments and eats bread every day! On a clear windy day Matthew could smell the biscuits being made in the morning. Although in four years, not once has the bishop invited him to sit as his table. Clergy of the papal variety did not take kindly to landed men without noble blood, for they were not ordained by God to rule and were seen as illegitimate. Matthew preferred the view of the sea.
In the time that Matthew had ruled here in Norfolk, others had gained much richer rewards. Edwin was granted the King's second richest estate in Wessex! Although Matthew had not donated sizable sums of money to the King's coffers. Officially, Edwin makes his money from brewing and distributing mead. However, it is common knowledge that he has criminal ties to the North Sea slave trade. Unfair as it is, envy looks good on no one and is a sin regardless.
Matthew and his troops arrived at a small town named Babenshire to water the horses and rest a while before heading home the next day. Matthew had visited this town many times and had never seen it so busy and armed... What was going on? Matthew's scribe Peter grabbed his attention: "Listen to this!" A local clergyman was reading a proclamation to a group of peasants with pitchforks. "Sir Matthew Steele has committed heinous crimes against the church and man, He was found sodomizing men of the cloth!" the crowd responded: "ARRR!", "DEVIL!", "TRAITOR!". The clergyman continued: "The King and Bishop have declared him a heretic and thus have launched a crusade on him and those who follow him! Those of you who take up arms against this devil shall know eternal life in Heaven above. All your previous sins will be washed away if only you fight this monster now!" Matthew was stunned silent how could they not know that Seren had done that not him? Matthew's Marshal, Albert, spoke sternly and quietly: "Quick my lord, we are not safe here... I will reassemble the men, and we will ride hard to your estate."
As quickly as they arrived, Matthew and his men left Babenshire. On the road, Albert continued: " If what we heard is true, this whole country is not safe." Matthew responded, "I must tell the King about this! there has surely been a huge mistake!" "No use," said Albert " you will be riding into a noose." "A burning pyre more than likely!" interjected Peter. "We must prepare to escape to the sea once we arrive home." The company rod into the night approaching Matthew's 'castle'. "Look my lord! They have blocked off the route to Berry and fortified Blakeney forest." said Peter. Berry had always been open to trading with them for the produce they could grow there. And Blakeney forest was the only source of quality lumber in the area. The Crown was already one step ahead of Matthew. But a cornered lion does not run, he bites first! Matthew prepared to do the one thing he knew could do better than anyone, because he was not born into greatness, rather he found it with his sword. His words were simple, effective, but carried everything.
"To battle."
Install instructions:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hello! Thank you for trying out my map! With this mod you will be able to use custom audio designed for this scenario. If you have played the military campaign for this game and ever messed with the map editor feature you might realize that the missions that we played were almost certainly designed with this map editor. However, as a player we are missing certain triggers and effects. Most notably, the ability to add messages that tell our stories! In 2015 it was discovered that custom messages could be added by the player if they could access and edit an existing .s2m file which had messages. Once we have access to this file, all that is left is to replace the existing audio mapped to the original scenario. This way we can tell our own stories with maps that we create! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Step 1: The only thing that is required to play this map is to copy the .s2m file, valley_of_eternal_life.s2m into your Stronghold 2 maps folder (\Documents\Stronghold 2\maps). Make sure to look for this map under the peace custom tab in game! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Step 2: If you want to see the custom messages for this scenario you need to replace your en-us.xml file with the one provided. This file is located in : Program_files(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stronghold 2\ i18n . Notice that for thisto work, you need to be using an English version of this game.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Step 3: for the FULL experience, you will also have to replace some of the audio files in the peaceful campaign with the ones provided in the new_audio_files folder. Luckily I have provided a simple batch script to handle this for you so you don't have to root around in the directories too much. Simply copy the escapehome_audio_files folder and escapehome_audioreplace.batinto: Program_files(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stronghold 2\ . Then run the script by double clicking. This will replace those peace campaign audio files with the custom ones I have made. Don't worry though, the old ones get moved to a backup folder located: Program_files(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stronghold 2\fx\speech\backup_files. If you ever want to restore the original audio files, simply replace the the corresponding file from the backup folder with file in: Program_files(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stronghold 2\fx\speech\.