NTW modding - have CA said anything about the level of support we will get?

[Furunculus]

Hi guys,

Done a quick google search, checked the obvious places here and at TW Centre, but i can find no information or discussion on what mod tools we can expect will be released, and when we might expect them.

Is this because there is no information available, or have i merely failed to notice it?

I still love the original MTW because of the awesome total conversions such as; XL, NTW, HTW, RTW, Reconquista, Supermod etc, and it kills me that ETW modding is utterly dead, so i am wondering if the same problem will persist with NTW............?

Cheers

[Fisherking]

The one tool we may get, it was promised with NTW, was a uniform editor.

There is nothing else expected and no word on when the one tool will be released.

That said, the last time I looked there were 7 pages of mods for NTW and more in the works.

So far as I know, the one aspect of NTW & ETW that no one has been able to do anything with is the map.

[Furunculus]

that is critical, it is the one thing absolutely vital to allow total conversions.

i don't care about mods, it is taking TW game mechanics and applying them to different scenarios that is interesting to me. :(

[Graphic]

I think some modders might be able to figure out how to edit the map. Or at least make some total conversion mods where the map still works (1600s, 1800s). The problem, I realized, is that ETW's reputation was so horrible that most of the talented and motivated modders never made the switch to ETW and have just stuck with RTW and mostly M2TW. Then there's a huge group of people who won't try NTW in protest who assume it sucks (when practically everyone who's actually played it will tell them the opposite), so it's modding suffers too. So all you get for the most part are simple things like gameplay mods made by editing values in the pack file manager, or reskins, or "new units" that use old models (AUM) with some recoloring via value tweaks in the PFM.

It's 100% possible to make new units in ETW with completely new models, but there's pretty much only ONE PERSON who's bothering to do so, and that's danova of "Ornamentum." The majority of mods that are trying to be ambitious are cheap-looking and amateurish, they're all do-it-yourselfers who've banded together (in fact the only mods that have custom models are ones that have gotten danova to help them) to make big projects out of PFM edits and some quick reskinning. The "pros" simply haven't made the upgrade, so the serious talent isn't there.

There's also the related issues of a LOT of players just hating the gunpowder age in general; a good chunk of the community has hated the idea of ETW ever since it was announced, and the fact that graphics quality has skyrocketed so any custom stuff has to be much more detailed than something made for M2TW and especially Rome, which means it's more time consuming and requires much more talent.

[Fisherking]

I don't know what the quality is like but there are some mods out and more in the works.

Some are working on new campaigns for NTW but I have heard nothing of full conversions for that title.

The community is working on tools, but at what stage they are, I can't say.

Serious mods take time and the game has only been out a little over a month.

In a year there may be some great ones out but right now is mostly individual efforts.

[Graphic]

I was more talking about what happened with ETW, but I think NTW will suffer the same fate.

[Furunculus]

why did CA decide to butcher that which was best about the games? :(