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Generals & Zero Hour Editing Discuss any modding related issues to do with Generals and Zero Hour here.

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Old 01-28-2006, 09:52 AM   #1 (permalink)
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Default The Great Trench War Announcement! :]

The Great Trench War Modification Announcements
- Website can be found here
- Note this is being posted in both the Generals and BFMEII sections; as such, they can be pruned by moderators as they see fit and I won't hate you forever. :]


Change of Engine

After some debating, The Great Trench War team have decided to switch production from the Command and Conquer Generals / Zero Hour engine to the Battle For Middle Earth II engine, following the beta release. As such, production on the old engine will now cease and preperations will begin on the new.

This decision was made because of the possibilities provided by the new engine, the suitability of the engine in creating trench networks and other functionality we benefit from, the improved stability when playing online, improvements in the graphics engine and the promise of extensive documentation in the SDK.

Worth noting, of course, is that the similarities should mean progress is relatively quick; INI and LUA coding is much the same, and the 2D and 3D artwork can be reused, including the animations. They simply require touching up to take advantage of the new engine. :]


Recruitment

The mod is seeking staff for a variety of roles, and are always on the lookout for fresh talent. In particular, we require the following to increase the mod production speed:
- Modellers
- Texture Artists
- Skinners
- Mappers

Those interested can apply by posting on the forums or by EMailing me at AntiSocialKindaGuy@hotmail.com


The Great Trench War Mod Information

The intention of TGTW is to accurately simulate the entire span of World War 1 while still maintaining the speed and fun that players have become accustomed to with the C&C series. Hence players construct bases and train soldiers with the ultimate objective of eliminating the enemy, or take part in specific campaigns from key battles of World War 1 with limited resources and units at the players disposal. The focus will largely be on historical correctness, realism and tactics combined with fun and challenging gameplay.

Next to historically correct units and vehicles, modelled as accurately as the engine allows, a powerful WW1 atmosphere is created through the use of different maps and battlefields, with dynamic trench constructions and an array of statics. The gameplay is largely being overthrown so that one must count on coordination, artillery, slow units and static warfare. This gives the game a whole different character; one where the player must try and break through the enemies' defences to achieve victory, placing much more emphasis on long-term tactical maneuvers.

Next to the battles fought on the Western front between mostly the Germans, the British and the French, the intention is to cover other scenarios such as the Turkish battlefields at Gallipoli and the Eastern front where Germany and Austria-Hungaria fought against Russia. Through land and air battles, using historic weapons and units, TGTW will try to bring you a tactical game where you'll have to thoroughly think about every step you take.


Frontline 18 Information

Frontline 18 consists of two mods - Battlefield 1918/2 and The Great Trench War, as well as an elaborate history databank filled with articles well worth a read for those interested in the war. At the moment, most of the content on the website is available in both German, English and French, where the TGTW team and support is primarily English. The Frontline 18 forum reaches about 130 posts per day coming from around 1000 active members. With about 5000 visitors each day, we're now one of the well known sources for WW1 material on the net.

With over 50 members, the Frontline18 team is one of the biggest in the modding scene, with extensive history articles posted on a frequent basis to give a background to the war. All of this is done on a non commercial basis and is mostly a hobby project. However, we do make use of modern technology in the development of the mod. Next to a CVS system, which enables multiple developers to coordinate their work and work together, we make use of modern 3D programs, graphical programs and the tools made for modding the games by EA and Dice.


Media
Below are some nice happy media images from Zero Hour to encourage you to apply for positions, give your support, and give me kisses in the street should you see me. :]

street should you see me. :]


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Old 01-29-2006, 06:29 AM   #2 (permalink)
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I really like what I see

Quick question, how do you plan to replace all the "middle-earth-styled" civilian buildings, trees etc.?

That's what kept us from moving on to a new engine to be honest.
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Old 01-29-2006, 06:52 AM   #3 (permalink)
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Interesting question. First we'll plan to wait until the full release; the beta is missing a huge chunk of artwork. Then we'll know what we have to play with.

The chances are the trees that are there will be sufficient; there are huge sections of the map with little but barbed wire and dead animals. Some more can, of course, be made as necessary.

As for buildings, most of the ones in ZH were inappropriate for us anyway; we require French style houses at present. Unfortunately we have very few made as is - can't seem to get enough artists because we have never been able to generate the interest to the level of yours and the derelict stuff.

We're hoping that, with the new engine and its possibilities, a new generation of SAGE modders will move into the field. Thus far, I've been contracting out modellers I know from other projects ( HL2, Far Cry etc ), but they hate the low poly stuff.
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Old 01-29-2006, 07:18 AM   #4 (permalink)
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Waiting for the full release sounds reasonable in that case. We'll see what EA has in store for us then...

Well the ZH buildings indeed are of either very low quality or not appropriate as you said even for our mod. There are some Germany looking buildings but that's about it.

I think that most of the ZH mods really have the same problem, there's little to no interest from outside the community for RTS mods, so as you said, a new game might attract new modders. If only EA would announce another C&C...

Btw, we only have one texture man so even a possible high level of interest doesn't help the fact that there are not many free (=not already commited to one mod) texture artists out there.

P.S. Nice website, funny to read
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Old 01-29-2006, 07:47 AM   #5 (permalink)
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I assume you read the German side? Maybe a lot gets lost in translation, cos it never seems that funny to me. O_o

And yeah, it's generating interest - people just don't like doing low poly stuff. Trouble is, things tend to bottleneck in one place; all it takes is one person to have exams and everything stops for a while. We can't even get much help from the rest of the FL18 team as they're engrossed in BF1918/2.
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Old 01-29-2006, 07:54 AM   #6 (permalink)
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No, I checked out your site. The one with the fireworks

Yep, you're right about that bottleneck problem. The funny thing is, I talked to some FPS modders about how they could use their creativity in their mod and their chances in a RTS mod (which so many more options, TGTW shows that). Still they prefer their high-poly, more-than-real another-Abrams FPS mods. Who knows why...
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Old 01-29-2006, 08:17 AM   #7 (permalink)
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OH, MY website. I'm glad you find the ramblings of an idiot entertaining. :]

And aye, this is how it is. I'm running out of ideas to generate interest now though ... there are more mods than modders these days. I was pleasantly surprised by the Isotx Middle East mod; I'd never heard of them then they spring a fully working, polished mod on me. Excellent.
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Old 01-29-2006, 08:33 AM   #8 (permalink)
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Well besides that problem of more mods than modders I've encountered one major problem, at least in my opinion.

People are not reliable. Many times now there were people that wanted to help out CWC (or at least, said so) but when it came to actually contributing or even just reacting to emails there was no to little reaction.

The funny thing is, mods are always chased down to a give a release date and a progress report. When it comes to actually start helping people get lost.

But I guess that's a common problem with unpaid hard work
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Old 01-30-2006, 07:11 AM   #9 (permalink)
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It would be prudent to wait and see what code BFME2 has to offer.

Remember that BFME was not made with modern war in mind. Some of the code you use in ZH, is simply not available in BFME. You're going to fight an uphill battle codewise...
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Old 01-30-2006, 07:37 AM   #10 (permalink)
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Good point, I remember the turret problem with BFME. And all the other things that wouldn't work.

Maybe World War One is different to modern wars in some aspects.
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