Modding Diary – September 2018

Hello everyone!

September is almost over, so time for some more news about my work in progress. It will be mainly about Viking religion, but first I want to go back to where the last post ended.

The broken windmill was repaired and now it’s also textured and fully functional. After a few test runs it was obvious that this small mill must be built on a hill because of wind conditions and so on, but also to make it more exciting to play with. If you want to try the mill yourself, you can download it below this post. You can also use it somewhere in the south or in a chartered colony. This is how it looks like in game:

As a second preview mod and if you want to replace the old model by a Nordic original, you can load the new tailor shop. In this version it contains all recipes of the current North. You can add it to your town by copying the file to your Banished\Windata directory, loading your saved game and activating the mod.

Now to the actual topic of September. We already have different dwellings, some storage buildings, workshops and public buildings such as Thingstead and Mead Hall for the Viking update. Still missing are religious or actually pagan buildings also to support all aspects of the Banished happiness system.

But how did the Vikings actually practice their faith? I did not really know that. Of course, somewhere in the 10th or 11th century, they became Christians and built churches but what was before? Not much is known from this time, because nothing was put down on paper and wooden constructions have decayed or been destroyed during the Christian era. According to what can be read, people worshiped natural landmarks and statues of heathen gods. Such wooden pillars were even taken on their sea voyages. That’s one thing I would like to include. So I created a couple of heathen idols, using photos as textures. It’s a bit fiddly to make but the result in game is not bad at all.

The statues get a passive function for spirit with a small circle and people will actively visit them. I’ll build a few more, 5 or 6 ‘F’ variants to satisfy the gods and the players too. ;D  But I’m not sure if that will be enough. No, actually I’m sure we need something bigger. Something really great. Like this:

It is an old stave church, originally from the 11th or 12th century, built in the period shortly after the Christianization, in Viking architecture and still with symbols of the Norse mythology like the Midgard Serpent on the roof and ravens at the gables. There were also temples, probably in similar construction. I want to build this for Banished as a pure Viking pagan temple. This is the most complicated model for me so far, apart from the Russian chapel which is still waiting to be finished, and a bit risky because it would not be good to fail on this and to lose much time for the update. But it seems the gods are with me. Here some images of the temple in SketchUp (still without textures).

Viking Temple – Layout

Viking Temple – Entrance

Viking Temple – Roof Details

Viking Temple – Finished Sketch

Drawing this temple took some time, but I am satisfied with the result so far and also with the tested performance in game. An advantage, if you create such big models from scratch, is that they are then tailored to Banished and well optimized. Parts you can not see in game because of limited camera angels and zoom stages are not even made. With about 17k vertices (190 per tile), the model is not much more complex or slower than normal houses on the same area.

So far for this month. In October, I want to build some more models to complete the Viking set and then gradually put together a beta version. Let me know your opinion and wishes for the planned update in the comments or in forum. And for your current town, here the two new models for download. Have fun with it and see you next time! :)

Small Windmill  (2.9 MB)
Stand-alone windmill to make flour from rye or wheat. Includes rye seeds.

Nordic Tailor Shop  (2.2 MB)
The new tailor shop to finally replace the vanilla one in your Nordic town.

⇠  August 2018

October 2018  ⇢