[smurfbizkit]

This topic is only for posting things said by EA regarding modding B4ME, nothing else.

To start it off, Nick from ME-MW asked some questions to Harvard. You can check it out here. A quote of the modding regarded parts is here;

Q. Will modern warfare type mods meet a boat load of restrictions, or has the Dev team anticipated this?
A. We have streamlined the engine in some ways that may be issues for tank type games. It really depends on what modders want to do. That said, we’ve added MUCH more than we removed. The engine is extremely robust right now and I’m sure creative modders will be able to have a blast.

Q. From what you know of the C&C community and the present interests of most modders, what would you say is least possible in B4ME?
A. Flying jets might be difficult. It really is up to the modders and their ability.

[Phoib]

This is from some early emails from January.

Q: Judging from the trailer there are quite some improvements in the engine, but would you think these changes make a port of Blitzkrieg from Generals/ZH wortwhile, or do you think the engine is more suitable for medieval style battles?
A: I think that the format is very similar. Consider LOTR an extension (a big one) of existing tech. I’m sure tanks will work as well as infantry.

Q: But how far will the changes alter the existing game? Could you, if you wanted to, remake Generals in the LOTR game, with some tweaks?
A: I’m sure you could remake Generals with LOTR…only the possibilities are much further.

*starts typing up new email.*

[smurfbizkit]

Good luck, they have been ignoring mine for a while now. :/

[smurfbizkit]

Nick from Me-MW asked me if I had some questions for him to include with his ongoing dialog with EA about B4ME...so I hastily wrote up a good amount of questions, some of them were answered. Not too much new information though I'm afraid...

You can check out the full q/a here

Q. Squads are used widely in B4ME, but would it be possible to create a squad that is made up of different unit types? An example would be a squad of half archers and half swordsmen.
A. You can in fact create mixed battalions by combining two battalions together. This new unit has different AI and some real advantages on the battlefield. The most popular is to include Soldiers with Archers. The Soldiers defend the Archers from enemy troops and even enemy arrow attacks while the Archers shoot over the shoulders of their friends. The soldiers won’t advance on the enemy or move too far away from the Archers, creating a very effective new formation.

It didn't really answer my question, although if the squad code is anything like the gla mob it is possible.

Q. Will there be a properly working mod swapping utility? There was one implemented in Generals, however it wasn't complete (it didn't work like a full directory override and as a result certain tga and ini files weren't read instead of their game counterparts).
A. Right now we are just focused on bringing a quality product to the fans of the films and fans of our RTS games. We want to and will continue to do the best we can to support the mod community but I don’t believe we will be putting a lot of effort into this over the next month.

If I wasn't accustomed to EA ignoring us, this would piss me off. The code is there, all it needs is some minor tweaks and it would work. I suppose it means we'll need more Blitz2-style mod launchers.

Q. Will it be possible to re-use the animations from the Generals infantry for new B4ME-like polycount infantry?
A. I don’t want to say “no” because so many members of the mod community have done things that developers never thought were possible but it does seem unlikely that those animations will carry over well to Middle-earth. The B4ME characters are much more complex than anything that we ever did in Generals.

This also sucks, which means that most modern warfare projects will need all new animations. I asked flyby about this a week ago and he said that it might be possible...but animations have problems when scaled (which would have to happen, unless you want to put in the generals infantry as-is in all their rectangle shaped glory)

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There were many other questions, which were ignored...that would've given much more insight. At least we know a little bit more about it now, or at least know that EA's attitude hasn't changed.

[DeeZire]

Originally Posted by smurfbizkit

There were many other questions, which were ignored...that would've given much more insight. At least we know a little bit more about it now, or at least know that EA's attitude hasn't changed.

The BETA milestone hasnt been reached yet, any answer you did get would be 'umm, we dont really know' and they will NEVER give that answer

Dustin is the ultimate guy for answering these things but whenever I ask him something its just 'yup, we can do that!!' - the man LOVES his games. I asked him about resource sharing between players, arguing that now, more than ever before (given what the competition has done) it would be appropriate to do and also that it would perhaps 'fit' in a LOTR setting better than C&C given that youre controlling larger forces and combat groups (armies).

The answer was - 'yup, we can do that!!'

What Harvard said there is a good way of summing things up in a roundabout way, the engine is an extension of existing tech, pretty much like the transition from TS to RA2. The only burning issue for me is what will and will not be 'held back' or 'left out' for the x-pack.

[Hostile]

Well pull the strings in the powers that be and make Airstrip and Aircraft logic exist. As so much can be done by including this and so little is gained in space wise by removing it. Just include these simple modules for God's sake!

[Juggernaut1985]

Yeah Dee, we still want to have Airfields and such so we can make those type of mods.

[Hostile]

Rocket and missle logic still also?!?!

[DarkSlayer]

difficult to make flying jets? hmm .... lotr does have some flying creatures ... and elaborate on such an idea .... could be interesting .... I'll say it would be silly to not have flying stuff in it.

...but then, I doesn't work at ea ...

[Hostile]

I think the problem lies in the airstrip coding. If that's in the there than how would you properly land an aircraft. Unless they just appear from the side of the screen to do the job and leave. Just not going to be the same I assume.