Jack Lusted Answers Questions Part I

[Barkhorn1x]

...a lot of good info here:

http://forums.totalwar.com/showthread.php/72354-Jack-Answers!

...a must read.

Not sure I am going to like the phalanx treatment but the answer was a bit vague so who knows at this point.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Will Rome II be moddable and will you support modding?
Yes and yes though we are working on getting the game out just now, we hope eventually it will be as moddable as Shogun 2, which remains the most moddable game we’ve ever released. There will be a modding summit (although we are very busy at the moment but Craig keeps nagging everyone about dates).

Was Shogun 2 really that moddable? I thought the most moddable TW game saw Rome 1..

[Monk]

Was Shogun 2 really that moddable? I thought the most moddable TW game saw Rome 1..

That's the sound of the PR train a-comin'. Shogun 2 was the least moddable by far.

[Ca Putt]

now there are 3 possible explinations:

1. It's a typo and is supposed to mean Medieval 2

2. He is reffering not to the series but to the exact devteam, which does fluctuate quite a bit.

3. He Lied.

[Jack Lusted]

Shogun 2 saw Steam Workshop integration, first release of official mod tools that allowed for chanigng unit models and making new campaign maps, and the engine itself features less hardcoding (no unit or faction limits for example) and more information is exposed in the database.

Rome I and Medieval II might be easier to mod, but doesn't mean that more can't be done with Shogun 2.

[The Outsider]

Thanks for the reply jack but i beleive that "medieval 2 was easier mod" means ease of acess for the modders. And even though it had its restrictions, we can see the capacity at full work with the sheer number of existing mods three of which i still play. However, i dont think that this can be said for shogun 2.

[Ca Putt]

Hmm, interesting in that case I hope to see some exensive mods for S2 in the future. While there are some pretty neat mods out there, they all tke place in feudal/earlyindustrial japan. Not Middleearth or Missouri.

[Myth]

Shogun 2 saw Steam Workshop integration, first release of official mod tools that allowed for chanigng unit models and making new campaign maps, and the engine itself features less hardcoding (no unit or faction limits for example) and more information is exposed in the database.

Rome I and Medieval II might be easier to mod, but doesn't mean that more can't be done with Shogun 2.

So long as mods reaching the scope of Stainless Steel and Third Age Total War can be created for the new Rome game you will get all the fan support and the game will probably outlive us all.

[Andres]

Thanks for the reply jack but i beleive that "medieval 2 was easier mod" means ease of acess for the modders. And even though it had its restrictions, we can see the capacity at full work with the sheer number of existing mods three of which i still play. However, i dont think that this can be said for shogun 2.

What Jack says does make sense though. Maybe the community could do more with Rome and Medieval II because those games were easier to mod.

Perhaps the community is too harsh for CA here; when the games get more complicated, it's likely that modding them becomes more complicated as well. Modding is done by fans with an affinity for, but if the vanilla games get very complicated, there will be fewer fans who mod for a hobby actually having the skills for modding the games.

Eventually, only a pro or semi-pro will be able to mod the games and such people will probably end up hired by a gaming company when they notice them :shrug:

Or maybe the game is such a huge project, that it would take a lot of people to make a good mod. More people needed, but less people qualified to mod -> less mods; certainly less of the total conversion kinds.

We can't expect CA not to make progress and to keep making games based on the technology they used almost 10 years ago so that we can easily mod them.

Then again, I'm not a modder, so perhaps I'm talking nonsense.

[Vuk]

What Jack says does make sense though. Maybe the community could do more with Rome and Medieval II because those games were easier to mod.

Perhaps the community is too harsh for CA here; when the games get more complicated, it's likely that modding them becomes more complicated as well. Modding is done by fans with an affinity for, but if the vanilla games get very complicated, there will be fewer fans who mod for a hobby actually having the skills for modding the games.

Eventually, only a pro or semi-pro will be able to mod the games and such people will probably end up hired by a gaming company when they notice them :shrug:

Or maybe the game is such a huge project, that it would take a lot of people to make a good mod. More people needed, but less people qualified to mod -> less mods; certainly less of the total conversion kinds.

We can't expect CA not to make progress and to keep making games based on the technology they used almost 10 years ago so that we can easily mod them.

Then again, I'm not a modder, so perhaps I'm talking nonsense.

That's not it I think. Some games I mod are very hard to mod, but I do it anyway. Others (like RTW) are very easy. Whether I mod a game or not has more to do with whether I enjoy the game or not. I think their new games are just not appealing to the hardcore gamers who make mods. TBH, Shogun II is really not that much harder to mod than RTW. Modders aren't modding it as much because the game just didn't captivate them like RTW did.