Total War: SHOGUN 2

Total War: SHOGUN 2

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[FOTS] DK's Boshin Reskin
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Tags: mod
File Size
Posted
29.262 MB
30 Oct, 2021 @ 9:58am
1 Change Note ( view )

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[FOTS] DK's Boshin Reskin

Description
A simple graphics mod that reskins almost every unit in FOTS to look more visually interesting and historically accurate. Should be compatible with anything gameplay-altering.

I would highly recommend the mod "FoTS Tactics and Uniforms" by The_Yogi if you want a more accurate and better implemented version of this, I just wanted to make a similar mod that didn't alter the gameplay at all.

---Changes---

Faction colours:
-All playable factions have been recoloured to add a third colour (all player clans with the exception of Tosa only have 2 in the base game).
-Multiple unit variantmodel pieces have had their RGB masks changed to still display correctly. For example, infantry legs (which would normally display as the secondary colour) have been changed to primary so that they still match the torso uniform.

Modern units:
-Line Infantry have had their headgear changed from the round jingasa to the folded paper one, which better reflects the standard issue equipment at the time.
-To retain the distinction between levies and professional troops, the paper jingasa has been removed from Levy Infantry and their appearance has been altered to look more like levied militia.
-Bear Infantry for the Satsuma and Choshu clans have been replaced by something more fitting. Please see the end of the description for a breakdown in my reasoning behind this.
-Unit cards updated to accommodate the above changes.

Traditional units:
-All traditional units now have much greater variety in clothing worn under-armour. The base game has them clad in only a single colour, which is unrealistically uniform - this mod now has 3 or 4, depending on the unit. This only affects troops who wear Sashimono, so it shouldn't be too confusing in battle.
-Select traditional units (Katana Kachi and Yari Ki) now have the occasional woman scattered amongst their ranks, to reflect the not-insignificant number of Onna-Musha who fought in the Boshin War, & subsequent and preceding revolts.


---Credits---

Most references used in the making of this and the above screenshots taken from "Japanese Military Uniforms 1841-1929", written and illustrated by Ritta Nakanishi. Invaluable resource.

Other sources, in order of appearance in the screenshots:

A still taken from "Red Lion" (1969)
Ukiyo-e painting by Utagawa Yoshimori, depicting the Battle of Ueno
Ukiyo-e painting from an unknown artist, depicting the Battle of Shiroyama
Ukiyo-e painting by an unknown artist, depicting the Battle of Ueno
Painting depicting a Samurai in Shogunate service from "Japanese Armies 1868 - 1877", illustrated by Giuseppe Rava
Ukiyo-e painting "Women and men in the Night Attack on Yoshitsune's Residence At Horikawa" by an unknown artist

Cover image by Utagawa Isshusai Kunikazu

If any living artist has an issue with me using their art in the screenshots please let me know and I will be more than happy to take it down.


---A note on the bear wigs---

It seems like the common understanding of the bear wigs (Shaguma, Haguma, & Koguma) is that they were only issued to officers of the Imperial Army, and colour-coded by province. However, from consulting various Japanese sources I don't believe this is the case - for example, Sagara Sozo of the Sekihotai wore a Shaguma despite not being from the Tosa domain, and many other places make reference to the Haguma being widespread among officers regardless of where they were from.

Furthermore, the following were enough to warrant the removal of Satsuma and Choshu's bear infantry in my eyes:
-NONE of the Imperial Army had any wigs at all until the bloodless opening of Edo Castle in 1868, so their presence in the game before then isn't historically accurate
-They were never issued at "unit level" as seen in the game, generally only to elite officers
-These wigs were taken from the armoury at Edo Castle, held by the Shogunate for the vast majority of the war. Koguma, at least, were definitely worn by some Samurai loyal to the Shogunate rather than exclusively by the Imperial side
-Satsuma lack their iconic conical "dunce cap" jingasa in the base game, and I don't know enough about modding to replace it for their Line Infantry so this is the best solution I could implement

As mentioned above, the only Bear unit I've left intact is the Tosa Red Bear Infantry, just because there is slightly more plausibility to them than the others - although there isn't much textual evidence for it, there is one painting of the Battle of Ueno which depicts a large number of Jinshotai wearing them. Whilst in reality it's more likely they were just given to the officers within this unit, nothing wrong with a slight bit of romanticism - God knows the base game took enough liberties anyway.

Feel free to argue about this in the comments because I'm legitimately curious to learn more about these fascinating wigs, it's hard to find info on them in English with reliable period sources, and it's hard to trawl through Japanese text as a non-speaker.


---Known issues---

The encyclopedia still has the original unit cards for the ones I replaced (Levy Infantry, Line Infantry, White & Black Bears) but I've no idea how to fix this since the Encyclopedia is web-based and I've already replaced every icon I can find in the game's files.

Let me know if you notice any other bugs and I'll try to fix. Open to hearing general suggestions too, this is my first mod release so no idea what I'm doing really lol
72 Comments
Wurstmeister 14 May, 2023 @ 1:15pm 
Just the kind of mod I was looking for.
Dong Kong  [author] 8 May, 2023 @ 7:08am 
@Even Red Bear infantry should still be in the game but I changed out White Bear infantry and Black Bear infantry for Choshu and Satsuma infantry respectively. In hindsight I don't know why I did this and they are readded in a (still) upcoming version
Evan 4 May, 2023 @ 2:59am 
Where is white bear and red bear infantry is it gone ?? cant get it anymoire in campaign
Nadeshiko_Rin 19 Feb, 2023 @ 7:00am 
love your mods but can you change uniform for kihetai too? since they are irregular millitia
Orendiz 21 Nov, 2022 @ 2:49am 
x) i see
Dong Kong  [author] 20 Nov, 2022 @ 5:41pm 
Because I am an idiot and didn't know how to use pack file manager when I made this, I compiled it all through BOB. This is fixed in the upcoming release, hang tight
Orendiz 20 Nov, 2022 @ 10:11am 
Why do you have all shogun 2's unit variantmodels if the reskin is only for fots?
Righteous Ham 19 Nov, 2022 @ 7:17pm 
I like the idea of the armband like everyone else has already mentioned. Keep up the great work.
Mori 13 Nov, 2022 @ 6:20pm 
oh snap I got a response, that's cool.

I now feel i should clarify that i use the rebalanced version of The Lost domains (and its sub mods)

one sub mod makes modernization slower

and the other tweaks realm divide

since you can't run one without the other I have no clue if it is the Lost domains mod itself or the other two mods, so I am sorry I can't be more specific in what caused the new models to not show up when I tried your mod with them.
Dong Kong  [author] 13 Nov, 2022 @ 3:54pm 
Thanks for letting me know, I'll take a look and see if I can have them be compatible for the next release