XLightningStormL

Mortal

(id: TheBronyKing11)

posted 22 November 2014 08:28 AM EDT (US)



This Week: The Most Underknown Beta Unit: The Hirdman



How Was the Hirdman Found?

What many modders know .BTI Files just help with Alphas, and Player colors and stuff (Now it's DDTs and Stuff) the Hirdman was found, but how?



If you look in any .dll language file editor (or the Textures.bar for the .BTI) and look thru AoM's Language .DLL:



At the Line 11471 (I used Vachu's Text Editor) the text: Your Champion Hirdmen have been upgraded to mighty Hersir!



Meaning that the Hirdman Could have been able to have been upgraded to Hesir in an Earlier Version of Age of Mythology (Or Hero Norse in the beta)



The BTI you're looking for is called infantry n hirdman map.bti, but due to it's thing for being a text file, that's about all the evidence, really?



Nope, in Two Screenshots from the beta you can see him:









Also in the Textures.bar under the Icons folder, the Hirdman 's Icon can be found, Yikes!





But The Texture for the Hirdman can be found in the Multiplayer Alpha's Textures.bar under Infantry N Hirdman Map.BTX



By Merging all of the evidence I have made this:

Top Left (Image 2) Top Right (Image 1) Bottom Right (Hirdman Map Texture transformed to be able to be rigged onto a Current AoM Model), and Bottom Left (Hirdman Texture transformed into a proper human stature)





What Happened To Him?

Well like many things like the Apep being replaced the the Petsuchos. the Hirdman was Replaced by the Huskarl (Which made it's debut in January 2002) The Hirdman was no longer needed, and well most of it's files archived somewhere by ES.



What does History Define as the "Hirdman"



Hirdmen historically called Hird are defined by wikipedia as: "in Norwegian history, was originally an informal retinue of personal armed companions, hirdmen or housecarls, but came to mean not only the nucleus ('Guards') of the royal army, but also developed into a more formal royal court household." Hirdmen could have stayed as Norse Equivalents of Greek Militia, or Like the Fanatics, royal guards.



Author's Note

I looked and played around with the texture, and putting it on units, and the only in-game unit that looks as close to using the Hirdman's Models were the Fanatics, and Ironically in the code they were called "Royal Guard" In history the Hirds were considered Danish Royal Guards, Further Proving that the Hirdman's Models were reused, and modified for the Fanatic.



Next Week the Chariot, and it's majestic glory! Creator of AoM Expanded Mod (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1828492742) and Mod on AoEWiki (Morayus1) [This message has been edited by TheBronyKing11 (edited 11-22-2014 @ 05:39 PM).] Throughout all of Age of Mythology's Development Cycle countless Units, Campaigns, Scenarios, History Files and Sounds were removed and or replaced, but due to left overs we can have a look at things that were removed.This Week: The Most Underknown Beta Unit: The Hirdman