Modding Vs Developer Design

[rogue189]

I have started to mod my Combat Mission Black Sea but I have a question that I have been wondering about for some time, and please believe me, the is not a slam on Battlefront.  Why is it that video game developers don't incorporate popular or superior mods to their game as "official" updates?  I am someone who is easily lost in a sea of mods and I find myself wondering why developers don't incorporate mods that enhance the game play experience into the official product?  I have been burned by mods that crash the game, or require complete deletion and re-installation after a major patch, or mods that are updated but the user needs to try and find the latest and greatest update.  Several of the mods are amazing, but I find myself wondering which one to download all the time.  Can they not be put into the game because of legal reasons, or is it permission, or is it simply the developer sees the game one way while players see it another?  Thanks!

[sburke]

I think partly because what is "good" is subjective.  For example lots of folks rave about Aris work and it is pretty amazing stuff.  However the degree of weathering is in some eyes a cinematic effect and in reality vehicles didn't generally look like that (I am kind of on the fence on this but I have to admit color photos I have seen tend to support that).  Then you get into uniforms and high definition files (which are more PC demanding) and don't even start on audio files.  What should an M1 Garand sound like in game?  The way it sounds in real life or the way it sounds in a movie?

 

The only mod I know of in CM that has issues with upgrades is Vin's text mod which does say a lot for BF's position about what they will allow folks access to.  You can't really break the game.  A mod designer could always sign away rights to their work, but from BF's view why bother.  Once the mod is created anyone can load it.  Why should BF alter what is distributed in the actual game so a player who loads version 2 sees one set of images and another loads version 3 and sees another.  As it stands the player is free to put in what they want and BF can steer clear of that whole debate as to what is "best".  For them it is a distraction that does nothing to help sell the game.

 

You do not have to mod the game, it is perfectly fine as is.  However you can do so if you so choose with the mods that you prefer.  Unfortunately you have to decide for yourself what is best.

[Hydaspes]

I think partly because what is "good" is subjective.  For example lots of folks rave about Aris work and it is pretty amazing stuff.  However the degree of weathering is in some eyes a cinematic effect and in reality vehicles didn't generally look like that (I am kind of on the fence on this but I have to admit color photos I have seen tend to support that).  Then you get into uniforms and high definition files (which are more PC demanding) and don't even start on audio files.  What should an M1 Garand sound like in game?  The way it sounds in real life or the way it sounds in a movie?

 

The only mod I know of in CM that has issues with upgrades is Vin's text mod which does say a lot for BF's position about what they will allow folks access to.  You can't really break the game.  A mod designer could always sign away rights to their work, but from BF's view why bother.  Once the mod is created anyone can load it.  Why should BF alter what is distributed in the actual game so a player who loads version 2 sees one set of images and another loads version 3 and sees another.  As it stands the player is free to put in what they want and BF can steer clear of that whole debate as to what is "best".  For them it is a distraction that does nothing to help sell the game.

 

You do not have to mod the game, it is perfectly fine as is.  However you can do so if you so choose with the mods that you prefer.  Unfortunately you have to decide for yourself what is best.

point about pc requirements is not valid since only textures are being changed (and they can change performance up to 10% even on a pc from 1860s ,and its not like many ppl actaully have those kind of pcs, i am seeing her r9s and gtx 970s )  ,also vanila sounds like pkm pkp, are just pure lazyness theres no excuse for such evil. other vanila sounds are ok-ish, but not good

[sburke]

point about pc requirements is not valid since only textures are being changed (and they can change performance up to 10% even on a pc from 1860s ,and its not like many ppl actaully have those kind of pcs, i am seeing her r9s and gtx 970s )  ,also vanila sounds like pkm pkp, are just pure lazyness theres no excuse for such evil. other vanila sounds are ok-ish, but not good

suit yourself

On the subject of hi def files, this has been brought up by folks who created them and I believe they can in fact have an impact. I make no assumptions as to what users have and neither does BF which is why they work as hard as they can to optimize the game to run on the full range of what their users have. 

Yeah BF is lazy, lol. You have no idea.  These guys work incredibly hard, but there are only so many hours in a day and days in a week. Realistic project management trumps gamer fantasies any day of the week and twice on Sunday.  

Not trying to be rude there, but the BF team really does work their asses off, accusing them of being lazy is a statement of ignorance. Accuse them of being short handed and you might be closer to the mark. 

[Hydaspes]

suit yourself

On the subject of hi def files, this has been brought up by folks who created them and I believe they can in fact have an impact. I make no assumptions as to what users have and neither does BF which is why they work as hard as they can to optimize the game to run on the full range of what their users have. 

Yeah BF is lazy, lol. You have no idea.  These guys work incredibly hard, but there are only so many hours in a day and days in a week. Realistic project management trumps gamer fantasies any day of the week and twice on Sunday.  

Not trying to be rude there, but the BF team really does work their asses off, accusing them of being lazy is a statement of ignorance. Accuse them of being short handed and you might be closer to the mark. 

hd files ,sure, can make catastrophic,potentially outocomes,if you go crazy with the resolution, but who sane would do that. i remmber that i had a very bad gpu, and was using all aris mods, performance was affected not 1% , but 0%, sometimes i even thought (although it was ilusion) that it runs better with his mods (texture mods) , Models are what truly this game is about.  

you say they dont have time to make pkp and pkm at least sound decent enough, its hard for me to believe that

and thing about number of hours,capitalism and all that, well that aint an excuse . Because* we live in a 'real' world, they should adapt, if they want to provide quality product

game's visuals are bare minimum what they could be ,and its been kept that way since 2011, that minimum can be improved easily, but they wont, for some reason (and its not hours or sundays)

[A Canadian Cat]

and thing about number of hours,capitalism and all that, well that aint an excuse . Because* we live in a 'real' world, they should adapt, if they want to provide quality product

wow really. That is just rude. Now, where is that down vote button when you need it. 

game's visuals are bare minimum what they could be ,and its been kept that way since 2011, that minimum can be improved easily, but they wont, for some reason (and its not hours or sundays)

LOL, really?  

The reason for keeping  the number of sound files and the size of texture files down  has been discussed here many times. Do a search and you will find them. 

[Hydaspes]

wow really. That is just rude. Now, where is that down vote button when you need it. 

LOL, really?  

The reason for keeping  the number of sound files and the size of texture files down  has been discussed here many times. Do a search and you will find them. 

discussed, not answered

[Kuderian]

As far as I know Hydaspes, the more different sound files and the higher quality they are in CM, negatively affects CPU performance and RAM availability.

Here is a good test for you to try yourself!

Download free version of FRAPs. This will allow you to count the frame rate.

Create or use a scenario where there are an incredible amount of firing eg. Two infantry Companies at close range shooting each other.

See the FPS rate from FRAPS.

Then download one of the various high quality  sound mods from this site and rerun the same scenario.

I would bet my hat that you would see a significant drop in FPS with the sound mod installed even on the most modern PC/Mac...

One reason I always stick to vanilla sounds.

Edited October 3, 2015 by Kuderian
spelling

[Thewood1]

There are also all kinds of commercial issues with using customer content.  Lawyers would have to draw up agreements.  I am sure it is a lot simpler for a small company to avoid that hassle.

[Rambler]

point about pc requirements is not valid since only textures are being changed (and they can change performance up to 10% even on a pc from 1860s ,and its not like many ppl actaully have those kind of pcs, i am seeing her r9s and gtx 970s )  ,also vanila sounds like pkm pkp, are just pure lazyness theres no excuse for such evil. other vanila sounds are ok-ish, but not good

haha +1 dude. If our rep button hadn't been taken away, I'd give you some for that. Unfortunately, BFC designs for the lowest common denominator so those running 12 year old computers can play. That's why they're too afraid to add new sounds. Oh noes! We might break it for Mr. SingleCore 512RAM! Seriously, if adding sounds is going to break the game, they have much bigger problems. For whatever reason, this is the only genre in gaming where its players expect to be able to run the latest game on their P4s.

Edited October 3, 2015 by Rambler
gramer