Currently up to date on the 30/03/2021
Hi, this is aimed to be a comprehensive guide for Bannerlord Online, whether you are a hardened veteran of the Mount and Blade series, or someone who bought Bannerlord simply to play this mod.
BASICS
1 INSTALLING THE MOD
First, go to the homepage and make yourself an account, this will be linked to your character on each server. It is recommended you play on the server of your local region, this is chosen later.
Next, make sure you have an installation of Bannerlord. I recommend starting with a fresh install of Bannerlord, no other mods should interfere or you may have errors as it is unknown exactly what has been done to your bannerlord files with other mods that may effect this mods operation. I also recommend if you have an SSD, INSTALL BANNERLORD THERE.
Now run the launcher, this should download an .exe file. Run this and it will ask you to select a path for installation. The mod is not installed in the modules folder of Bannerlord, it is a completely standalone installation. As before, if you have an SSD, INSTALL THIS MOD THERE. If you get an error at this point, try running the .exe as an administrator, this fixes most issues. If this doesn't work please report any issues in the Bannerlord Online Discord or on this forum.
2 GAMEPLAY
On every start up, you will be greeted with the title screen:
You can use options to lower graphics etc. It is recommended while the mod is still in development to use lowest graphics possible, as it has been reported to cause less crashes and hence less frustration. I also recommend taking a quick peek at the controls page and familiarizing yourself.
Server selection gives you the server list. Every server at the current moment has an individual character linked to your account, the progress is NOT shared. So it is more beneficial to just stick to one server, and so it is better to just pick your local region.
3 LOADING IN
The first screen you will see once clicking on a server[As a new player] will be the culture screen. As of right now, the mod has not developed this properly, as in, none of the bonus traits are working, and your character will default to "Empire" culture once it is created right now. None of these cultures matter right now, but I suggest picking one based on how you would like your character to roleplay or what bonus you prefer, for future proofing.
Next screen is the character customization, this can all be changed later on by pressing V on the main map of Bannerlord Online, but the only thing that is PERMANENT is GENDER, so choose wisely there, not that it has any gameplay repercussions yet. As an FYI for people who are wondering, Height doesn't have a tangible effect on combat so don't worry about that.
4 GAMEPLAY BASICS
Navigating the overworld is done by LMB clicking where you want to go. You can hold LEFT ALT to see further information in both the overworld and in "instances" [Instances refer to battles, cities, villages etc. where you are playing from 1st/3rd person]. TAB will exit the current instance except in battles it will show you the current troop numbers of each side. Every other control is familiar to anyone who has played a fps or RPG, WASD to move, LMB to attack, RMB to block, of course Mount&Blade uses directional combat so you will have to get used to that which is controlled by what direction your camera faces. Any further controls can be seen in the Options in the title screen, but this is enough to get around the tutorial.
Here is a notated guide of the overworld screen:
1: Character screen, accessed by hotkey "C"; This is where you apply attribute points to attributes when you level up, and select perks in the different skills. Will be explained in depth later.
2: Inventory screen, accessed by hotkey "I"; This is your current inventory, how you equip and unequip items, and discard items. Will be explained in depth later.
3: Party screen, accessed by hotkey "P"; This is your current party, where you can upgrade troops, or disband them. Will be explained in depth later.
4: Journal, accessed by hotkey "J"; This keeps track of your quests for you. Will be explained in depth later.
5: World clock, this displays the current ingame time. There is not much to explain but it is important: 1 hour of REAL time is ONE DAY/NIGHT CYCLE in Bannerlord Online. Seasons are like our world, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and they last 30 days long. They each have impacts on the world map which you will observe as you play.
6: Currency, this shows your expenses and income.
7: Influence, not currently used in this mod.
8: Percentage of HP. If you highlight over this you can see exactly how much HP you have, and any healing buffs/debuffs, all you need to know right now is that being injured heavily slows your healing down further with a -18 debuff and being inside a town(Even just sitting at the screen like above) will give you a +30 to healing.
9: Party size, kind of a moot thing to show as you can see it on the map at all times and in the party screen.
10: Food, not currently utilized in the mod.
11: Morale, this works differently to Bannerlord. Normal amount is 100, you can lose morale if your troops are not paid, and they will desert you eventually, or you can gain morale by winning battles. Currently that is all there is to it.
12: The arrow opens up an extended toolbar which has three more icons. The horse one tells you your party speed in detail if you hover over it, I will explain in detail later. The telescope is your view distance which currently cannot be increased, and is decreased at night. The last icon is your daily party wage, this is deducted at the start of every Bannerlord Online day or every HOUR. Wages are not deducted if you are offline, but if you play for more than 9 minutes in the CURRENT DAY/NIGHT CYCLE your wages WILL BE DEDUCTED. (Sorry guys, people abused it!)
13: This is a village, where you can farm to earn some money peacefully and safely.
14: This is a bandit party, it's strength is noted by the numbers of men. If an enemy "bandit" party has more men than you it will run to engage you, if you have more men it will flee. As you can see from the "Forest Bandits" one, because I'm holding LEFT ALT in the screenshot, I can see it has "+1w" which means it has one man wounded, so be careful if passing by a weaker party with wounded troops as they may heal at that moment and start chasing you.
15: Player party, same information as bandit parties, but it will display player names above their party.
16: This is a city. This is Zeonica where you start off in Bannerlord Online. You can see the 4 options on the left of the screen. Town surroundings will take you to the city gate and you can walk around here, I will go into more depth later. Tavern is currently not used except in the starting quest. Arena is where you can fight other players in a randomized game mode, winners earn money, more in depth guide later.
Hi, this is aimed to be a comprehensive guide for Bannerlord Online, whether you are a hardened veteran of the Mount and Blade series, or someone who bought Bannerlord simply to play this mod.
BASICS
1 INSTALLING THE MOD
First, go to the homepage and make yourself an account, this will be linked to your character on each server. It is recommended you play on the server of your local region, this is chosen later.
Next, make sure you have an installation of Bannerlord. I recommend starting with a fresh install of Bannerlord, no other mods should interfere or you may have errors as it is unknown exactly what has been done to your bannerlord files with other mods that may effect this mods operation. I also recommend if you have an SSD, INSTALL BANNERLORD THERE.
Now run the launcher, this should download an .exe file. Run this and it will ask you to select a path for installation. The mod is not installed in the modules folder of Bannerlord, it is a completely standalone installation. As before, if you have an SSD, INSTALL THIS MOD THERE. If you get an error at this point, try running the .exe as an administrator, this fixes most issues. If this doesn't work please report any issues in the Bannerlord Online Discord or on this forum.
2 GAMEPLAY
On every start up, you will be greeted with the title screen:
You can use options to lower graphics etc. It is recommended while the mod is still in development to use lowest graphics possible, as it has been reported to cause less crashes and hence less frustration. I also recommend taking a quick peek at the controls page and familiarizing yourself.
Server selection gives you the server list. Every server at the current moment has an individual character linked to your account, the progress is NOT shared. So it is more beneficial to just stick to one server, and so it is better to just pick your local region.
3 LOADING IN
The first screen you will see once clicking on a server[As a new player] will be the culture screen. As of right now, the mod has not developed this properly, as in, none of the bonus traits are working, and your character will default to "Empire" culture once it is created right now. None of these cultures matter right now, but I suggest picking one based on how you would like your character to roleplay or what bonus you prefer, for future proofing.
Next screen is the character customization, this can all be changed later on by pressing V on the main map of Bannerlord Online, but the only thing that is PERMANENT is GENDER, so choose wisely there, not that it has any gameplay repercussions yet. As an FYI for people who are wondering, Height doesn't have a tangible effect on combat so don't worry about that.
4 GAMEPLAY BASICS
Navigating the overworld is done by LMB clicking where you want to go. You can hold LEFT ALT to see further information in both the overworld and in "instances" [Instances refer to battles, cities, villages etc. where you are playing from 1st/3rd person]. TAB will exit the current instance except in battles it will show you the current troop numbers of each side. Every other control is familiar to anyone who has played a fps or RPG, WASD to move, LMB to attack, RMB to block, of course Mount&Blade uses directional combat so you will have to get used to that which is controlled by what direction your camera faces. Any further controls can be seen in the Options in the title screen, but this is enough to get around the tutorial.
Here is a notated guide of the overworld screen:
1: Character screen, accessed by hotkey "C"; This is where you apply attribute points to attributes when you level up, and select perks in the different skills. Will be explained in depth later.
2: Inventory screen, accessed by hotkey "I"; This is your current inventory, how you equip and unequip items, and discard items. Will be explained in depth later.
3: Party screen, accessed by hotkey "P"; This is your current party, where you can upgrade troops, or disband them. Will be explained in depth later.
4: Journal, accessed by hotkey "J"; This keeps track of your quests for you. Will be explained in depth later.
5: World clock, this displays the current ingame time. There is not much to explain but it is important: 1 hour of REAL time is ONE DAY/NIGHT CYCLE in Bannerlord Online. Seasons are like our world, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and they last 30 days long. They each have impacts on the world map which you will observe as you play.
6: Currency, this shows your expenses and income.
7: Influence, not currently used in this mod.
8: Percentage of HP. If you highlight over this you can see exactly how much HP you have, and any healing buffs/debuffs, all you need to know right now is that being injured heavily slows your healing down further with a -18 debuff and being inside a town(Even just sitting at the screen like above) will give you a +30 to healing.
9: Party size, kind of a moot thing to show as you can see it on the map at all times and in the party screen.
10: Food, not currently utilized in the mod.
11: Morale, this works differently to Bannerlord. Normal amount is 100, you can lose morale if your troops are not paid, and they will desert you eventually, or you can gain morale by winning battles. Currently that is all there is to it.
12: The arrow opens up an extended toolbar which has three more icons. The horse one tells you your party speed in detail if you hover over it, I will explain in detail later. The telescope is your view distance which currently cannot be increased, and is decreased at night. The last icon is your daily party wage, this is deducted at the start of every Bannerlord Online day or every HOUR. Wages are not deducted if you are offline, but if you play for more than 9 minutes in the CURRENT DAY/NIGHT CYCLE your wages WILL BE DEDUCTED. (Sorry guys, people abused it!)
13: This is a village, where you can farm to earn some money peacefully and safely.
14: This is a bandit party, it's strength is noted by the numbers of men. If an enemy "bandit" party has more men than you it will run to engage you, if you have more men it will flee. As you can see from the "Forest Bandits" one, because I'm holding LEFT ALT in the screenshot, I can see it has "+1w" which means it has one man wounded, so be careful if passing by a weaker party with wounded troops as they may heal at that moment and start chasing you.
15: Player party, same information as bandit parties, but it will display player names above their party.
16: This is a city. This is Zeonica where you start off in Bannerlord Online. You can see the 4 options on the left of the screen. Town surroundings will take you to the city gate and you can walk around here, I will go into more depth later. Tavern is currently not used except in the starting quest. Arena is where you can fight other players in a randomized game mode, winners earn money, more in depth guide later.