Is this true?

[Krusader]

Yes EB2 takes time, but that's because most work needs more work. I hope no one thinks it goes just as fast skinning just one skin (RTW) versus 4 (M2TW) for one unit (disregarding factional skins, which just makes it even more). And that's the bottleneck/chokepoint of EB2 development really. We lack enough modellers & skinners and not because we've been slacking, heck the internal forums have had plenty of "Recruitment threads" where members have suggested this or that modeller/skinner to be contacted for work. But usually most skinners don't show up or after a week or two drop off.

The EB team though has done a lot of work in other areas, especially the Buildings system...man that one is sweet.

It will take time, but we ain't professionals. We don't get paid for doing this job and we don't work on it 8-10 hours a day like game developers do. Take that into account next time you wonder why we aren't showing previews. And we do have two faction previews in the works, but they will be released when they will be released.

[Mithridates VI Eupator]

Just popping in to further emphasise that we're still around and kickin'!

True, the units will take time, but there has been a lot of progress in other areas in the meantime. And actually, there have appeared some amazing new units, just in the last couple of weeks.

[Banzai!]

EBII used to be the talk of the forum, and of the modding community. In fact so much so that it completely swallowed another mod, and eventually the mod became a scrambling submod under my leadership with not a modder to its name. I can only say this is a reflection not only on how promising the mod was, but on how far it outstripped rival rome-era mods to the point that even the RTR:2 team seems to have vanished.

I feel the poster of the quote is resentful of EBII. When M2TW came out multiple teams planned to make a Rome-era mod on the engine. The forums were alive, previews were aplenty, and there was a good prospect at least one would release a version in a realistic timeframe. However EBII came in to the scene and started swallowing up each of these mods. Now there is only one true next-gen Classical-era M2TW mod still in the works [see footnote], EBII. Having absorbed that many mod teams and destroyed that many mods, the quote poster would expect: rapid progress and plenty of previews. Instead previews come rarely, all talk of progress is kept hidden, and the expected release date is far in the future.

All the eggs have come to rest in one basket, but its extremely hard to get an omelette out of this basket.

(Footnote: next gen = incorporating units custom made for M2TW and exploiting unit variety in the works)




I come from the MTW2 modding scene myself. The M2TW scene is extremely hot and new mods are released at a weekly rate. I believe this is due to the extremely open, free and sharing nature of M2TW modders. The M2TW modder, in general, (e.g. Magus, burrek, Point Blank) works to improve a small portion of the M2TW game, e.g. blood, Western unit skins, combat mechanics respectively. He sets up his own thread, posts regularly, then releases this to the public. Among these small modders are big "joiner" modders, e.g. uanime5, King Kong, repman, whoever is in charge of Chivalry II. They take these small mods, assemble these together on a campaign, add little touches of their own, and release a big mod for the general public (those not in the modding scene). SS, DLV, Chivalry II, Eras: Total Conquest are essentially compilations of minor mods made by other people.

The RTW modding scene, which EBII takes after, is very slow in contrast. What we have in RTW are teams, who do not like to share what they have made with each other or with the public (to improve the vanilla game), and must wait for the final version before release. To show just how slow the RTW modding scene is, the last great release in RTW land was probably RTR:TIC.

The M2TW modding scene operates on a "feudal" system while the RTW scene operates as a "centralised bureaucracy", and suffers from it.

[hoom]

If skinning is a choke-point, can't you just make temporary skins (I'm thinking plain colours with 'Triarii' or 'Shuban-i Fradakhshana' or whatever) so that stats & other gameplay stuff gets done without being delayed by the skins/models?

I think a bunch of us would be fine with playing like that for early versions.