Quote Originally Posted by Puzz3D
Of course, mods don't spring from nothing. They take months of work, and my experience is that you can't convince enough people to use a mod to make it a viable option for online play.
I can't but agree here, making a stat (that's what mod means here) can take months and even then it's possible that things turn up that don't work that great, you know that very well. Time consuming, wasting even. Not that a good set of stats isn't a nice thing to have, but a gamecompany could drain up all its resources to get it 100% right. Better invest in flexibility, stability and selling it :)

Part of the problem with playing mods online is that it's still too hard and cumbersome to do. Anyone who regularly changes Era knows one problem: it takes a while to change. Add a few mods and it will take even longer to scroll through the list. I guess the CRC is responsible for that. CRC is a very important thing, but it should be done after the era/mod is selected and not real time during scrolling the list.

The other problem is that the only way to play a mod/map/stat is to get the file from a fansite. Many other game titles offer autodownload of missing files (very effective and mod games florish there). TW files, speaking about STW/MTW and I expect most RTW ones not to be much bigger either, are well below 100kb, even a 56k can get that within 15 seconds.

Allowing mods is one thing, a quick distribution and selection is another (not just, but especially for MP).

I also think stat makers can improve the proces. Instead of saying it's all bad and investing months to get it right (risking to give it up) in one go you can address the most obvious issues first and continue releasing improvements. That does require a flexibile versionmanagement of course, both a job for the modder but also the game.

Full mods are one thing and consume time to create and distribute, extensive configuration/profiles is another. The fast gamespeed is, at least mostly, a configuration matter. Anyone who builds a server/hosts a game should be able to do that within seconds, just push the slider to left/right and anyone who joins, plays those settings. Why should CA look into getting that right for everyone? Decide yourself!

This is not a new thing, STW already had morale on/off, (un)limited ammo and restricted camera. RTW deserves to have much much more. Peeking at the demo: RTW does already have something.