Update 2 for modders

Well, just a shorty really. So what will change for us with the 2nd patch?

The first important change is probably the introduction of "The Launcher". I am told that this is a software to place announcements, etc. but also contains a mod selector (so we won't have to use the different batch files anymore). This may make a few things easier, especially because people don't have to run different files for different mods (that, already, is too complicated for some of our "customers" :furious3:)

Furthermore, mod folders are supposedly fixed and I hope that we'll finally be able to use new models and stuff in them, if that holds true, I'd plead for everybody to use mod folders and not file_first, because it's a lot less messy.
We may need a new tutorial for mod folders explaining a few things (e.g. how to copy loading screens, and what to do to enable videos without having to copy them)

The feature list also speaks of a fully functional battle editor. Well, we'll see how that turns out, but historical battles would sure be nice to have in mods.
I also heard that split deployment areas are now possible, which would be nice especially for mp.

Another interesting point there was this: Improved diplomacy mechanic - AI Factions now stick with alliances and/or attack 'more intelligently'
This may enable a few more possibilities to tweak diplomacy to actually being existent instead of the mess it is right now.

Well what do you guys think about the patch? I'm not overly excited about it, but there's some stuff that might help us a bit. Unfortunately, it doesn't contain any new official tools, but I guess we can't do anything about that :wall:

You been chatting to Caliban alpaca?

The definite good news about the patch is the fixing of several issues with mod fodlers which means there will be no need for the io file first switch(and means i can include new textures and factions in my mod as i don't want to have anything in my mod that has to be put in the main data folder). This will greatly increase the amount of mods people can have installed.

The mod selector as well sounds very good, and will make things easier.

There may also be some other things for us modders in the patch if what Jason has told me is true.

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Originally Posted by Lusted

You been chatting to Caliban alpaca?

The definite good news about the patch is the fixing of several issues with mod fodlers which means there will be no need for the io file first switch(and means i can include new textures and factions in my mod as i don't want to have anything in my mod that has to be put in the main data folder). This will greatly increase the amount of mods people can have installed.

The mod selector as well sounds very good, and will make things easier.

There may also be some other things for us modders in the patch if what Jason has told me is true.

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Aye, I'm guilty o' that crime :sweatdrop:
And apparently there's some interesting new exposed settings for battles (such as collision mass for mounts).

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And apparently there's some interesting new exposed settings for battles (such as collision mass for mounts).

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Yeah, jason was talking about the accuracy of projectiles being exposed for us as well with 1.2, should make balancing things a lot better.

Just to add to this,

We are releasing a few more tools for modding. The big one is the cinematic editor (which is stand-alone program that runs off M2 replays) which lets you create cinematic renders from your replays. You can set camera paths and animations and render them out to .avis. Very usefull for making cutscenes, event movies or promo trailers for your mods.

We also uncommented a few utilities from our debug code which will now be available in the exe once the patch is released:
(these are all run via command lines which I'll write a few tuts for)

- Ability to build add and convert new vegetation models (.cas) and re-build the descr_vegetation.txt
- Ability to re-build descr_geography.txt (this may still cause problems because of the time stamp issue, may need some tinkering to get working)
- Ability to build collision mesh's for Siege engines from .cas files (not all the usefull at the moment, but it might be handy later on)
- Ability to build sound packs

Oh Caliban you know i was talking to you about sprites the other day, you said ti was the same as in RTw but it might not be exposed in the .exe. Is it exposed in the .exe, and if not will it be exposed in 1.2?

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Originally Posted by Lusted

Oh Caliban you know i was talking to you about sprites the other day, you said ti was the same as in RTw but it might not be exposed in the .exe. Is it exposed in the .exe, and if not will it be exposed in 1.2?

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I just tested this after you went offline. Doesn't look like it is enabled in the current retail medieval2.exe. I will have to look into this for the next update as update2 has been locked down for testing.

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Originally Posted by Caliban

Just to add to this,

We are releasing a few more tools for modding. The big one is the cinematic editor (which is stand-alone program that runs off M2 replays) which lets you create cinematic renders from your replays. You can set camera paths and animations and render them out to .avis. Very usefull for making cutscenes, event movies or promo trailers for your mods.

We also uncommented a few utilities from our debug code which will now be available in the exe once the patch is released:
(these are all run via command lines which I'll write a few tuts for)

- Ability to build add and convert new vegetation models (.cas) and re-build the descr_vegetation.txt
- Ability to re-build descr_geography.txt (this may still cause problems because of the time stamp issue, may need some tinkering to get working)
- Ability to build collision mesh's for Siege engines from .cas files (not all the usefull at the moment, but it might be handy later on)
- Ability to build sound packs

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Wow, I cant wait to see what the modding community does with these abilities! We should see some awesome mods! :2thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by Skott

Wow, I cant wait to see what the modding community does with these abilities! We should see some awesome mods! :2thumbsup:

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Yep, it's certainly some interesting stuff. A shame that we were too late in asking about the sprites though

I know i only thought about it when i started doing some Byzantine reskins, by which timeit was too late.

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Originally Posted by Lusted

I know i only thought about it when i started doing some Byzantine reskins, by which timeit was too late.

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Well I didn't think of it at all, so kudos to you anyways :laugh4:

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Originally Posted by Caliban

Just to add to this,

We are releasing a few more tools for modding. The big one is the cinematic editor (which is stand-alone program that runs off M2 replays) which lets you create cinematic renders from your replays. You can set camera paths and animations and render them out to .avis. Very usefull for making cutscenes, event movies or promo trailers for your mods.

We also uncommented a few utilities from our debug code which will now be available in the exe once the patch is released:
(these are all run via command lines which I'll write a few tuts for)

- Ability to build add and convert new vegetation models (.cas) and re-build the descr_vegetation.txt
- Ability to re-build descr_geography.txt (this may still cause problems because of the time stamp issue, may need some tinkering to get working)
- Ability to build collision mesh's for Siege engines from .cas files (not all the usefull at the moment, but it might be handy later on)
- Ability to build sound packs

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The "cinema" mode sure does sound tasty, might just about justify buying Premier Pro for Uni seen as that porject is done next Friday :laugh4:

Does sound like an interesting advancement at any rate!