I want M2TW looks like this!

[keebz]

Second picture looks like a tapestry.

[Duke_of_Bavaria]

To be honest I prefer the darker version.

[Wolfcp11]

The bright one hurts my eyes and my sense of pride...

[Ritter-of-Thailand]

what skin do you use? Burrek?

[Balthagor]

I prefer the first one, both times, but I'm far more interested in time being spent on diplomacy and AI (Love 1.2 btw). Most of the time I have my settings at the lowest (system runs fine at all settings about 1/2) because I spend so much time at maximum zoom. If I had the original MTW battlemap graphics I'd still be satisfied, gameplay over graphics for me.

[Necromancer]

I don't mind a little bit of "bloom" on my troops... I don't really know why. I guess it gives a sort of "LOTR" effect, very enlightening, then agin... we're talking about medieval warfare. But that was... a bit too much to put it nicely. But hey, keep it up. An example of photos with GREAT "bloom" effects are Serious Samurai's "Renaissance: Total War" Splash Screens. It's got a bit of a "bloom" effect, but it's not all gaudy and overly done. It looks great imo.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=83874