Barkhorn1x Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Interesting conversation all. Forgive me for not being familiar w/ what can be (and not be) modded w/ the CMx2 engine. How locked down is it? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vergeltungswaffe Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 You can mod skins on vehicles and troops, sounds, and a few little things like tracers and signs, but thats about it, off the top of my head. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scipio Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Paper Tiger, indeed I have never ever heard of a game that has lost a single sale because of modding. If I look how long even a prof team with Battlefront supports needs to complete CM:A, than I highly doubt that we would quickly have nameable numbers of alternative titles. But well, I agree that full and free modding support is not a good idea, mostly because of my H2H dedication and all compatibility and cheating issues that free modded engines will cause. Control must stay add BFC. Sounds like a contradiction, but somebody has control over the Linux kernel for example, too, and somebody still makes money with Linux. Just to go to an extrem... More modding then just textures & sounds would be at least wishable. How about for example user created buildings and other map stuff? Animations? Non critical things like that. Things that could officially aproved, implemented and released by BFC. Well well, I know...I'm just fantasising... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomm Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Scipio, All these modding interfaces need to be supported by BFC! I'd rather have one of the things I bitch and whine about implemented than mod support. Best regards, Thomm 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barkhorn1x Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 You can mod skins on vehicles and troops, sounds, and a few little things like tracers and signs, but thats about it, off the top of my head. Thanks for the info. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scipio Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Well then, let's go on to something completly different ! Has somebody a map from the USA with an overview of US Army and USMC bases? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 The three reasons to not open up the engine are the same now as they have been since CMBO: 1. Fractured community. We've seen this in just about every game out there that is modable. For games with massive user bases this isn't so much of a problem because each faction is large enough to be satisfying to the players. But we're talking about a small customer base for CM products compared to the other games out there. 2. Support headaches. Not only do we have to invest precious time into making the format open, we have to support it. Modders will cause crashes, guaranteed. They already do and the system isn't even open We will have to support both successful Mods and the ones that aren't so successful. Worse, it will be our responsibility to fix things no matter what. Tech support is already difficult enough with a unified, controlled center. We shudder to think about what it would be with an open center game structure. 3. It would kill us. The arguments that modding increases sales isn't one we believe applies to wargames. For our type of game people will either buy it because they are interested in the subject matter or they won't. Mod capability, whatever it may or may not be, doesn't drive purchasing decisions. Therefore, best case we will undergo extra expenses and risk for no extra revenue. From a business standpoint that makes opening the engine up a dumb move. When you add to it the risk of it reducing our sales, which is a massive risk, a dumb move becomes a near suicidal move. We're not into suicide Steve 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scipio Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Well, to bad. That means I have to eternally blame BFC for not releasing all theatres I want to see and futhermore not even releasing all other theatres at the speed I want them to have. *sight* I'm doomed... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkumaSD Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 The three reasons to not open up the engine are the same now as they have been since CMBO Thanks for responding. I've been wondering about this myself for a while now. I'd much rather have BF make money off the game than me having the opportunity to play the inevitable Star Wars mod that would come out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pvt. Ryan Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 The Star Wars defense system will be featured in the upcoming Space Lobsters of Doom title, which is part of the Intergalactic Arachnid family of games. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeatEtr Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Now that we got Steve out and about posting on the forums. We need to get down to brass tacks here. First and foremost, will there be cowbell in CMN? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisND Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Correction: Arachnids are from the subphylum Chelicerata and class Arachnida. Lobsters belong to the subphylum Crustacea and class Malacostraca. I demand a retraction and apology for your ahistorical module title. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scipio Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Now that we got Steve out and about posting on the forums.... It means he has to much free time!?! Something will be released after the weekend!!! *gasp* 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pvt. Ryan Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Correction: Arachnids are from the subphylum Chelicerata and class Arachnida. Lobsters belong to the subphylum Crustacea and class Malacostraca. I demand a retraction and apology for your ahistorical module title. Space Lobsters of Doom is set in the year 3057, which is 500 years after the universal apocalypse. The resulting genetic mutations have totally screwed up the standard genus and species classifications. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisND Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Space Lobsters of Doom is set in the year 3057, which is 500 years after the universal apocalypse. The resulting genetic mutations have totally screwed up the standard genus and species classifications. Maybe we could work in a romance subplot using this. Every game needs one, after all. A forbidden love between an unmutated Crustacea lobster and a mutated Arachnid lobster. Quick, someone get Paramount on the horn! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Correction: Arachnids are from the subphylum Chelicerata and class Arachnida. Lobsters belong to the subphylum Crustacea and class Malacostraca. I demand a retraction and apology for your ahistorical module title. Bravo! Well played, sir! Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLeftFlank Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 Well then, let's go on to something completly different ! Has somebody a map from the USA with an overview of US Army and USMC bases? Since 9/11 such things are more difficult to come by for reasons which should be obvious. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scipio Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 I doubt that this "reasons" are lacking the informations. But nevermind, ain't important anyway. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribosom Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 Since 9/11 such things are more difficult to come by for reasons which should be obvious. I don´t get it. Why? When searching for "US Army Bases in America" the first entry is a website where bases from all branches are listed with adress and phone numbers. Hardly classified data. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sitting Duck Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 The three reasons to not open up the engine are the same now as they have been since CMBO... I think that if the decision makers at Battlefront were actually motivated to resolve these 3 issues for CM, then they would find a creative way to do it. But, as long as the important people are happy with how it's being done and making enough money, why take the risk? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theFightingSeabee Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 I don´t get it. Why? When searching for "US Army Bases in America" the first entry is a website where bases from all branches are listed with adress and phone numbers. Hardly classified data. Our enemies already know where our bases are. You won't find much about where all the units/ships are, when they will move, how many per unit, etc. When I was in, I wasn't allowed to talk specifics about our movements. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 I think that if the decision makers at Battlefront were actually motivated to resolve these 3 issues for CM, then they would find a creative way to do it. But, as long as the important people are happy with how it's being done and making enough money, why take the risk? Well, you've got it there in a nutshell. If we became "motivated to resolve these 3 issues for CM", we may be able to figure out a reasonable degree of compromise between the engine being open or closed. From a business standpoint "motivation" = money. If we think we can sell enough games to fund the actual development, ongoing support, risk, and profit then we would definitely consider it. But we see absolutely no promise of even recovering enough money to fund the development, not to mention the support, risk, and profit. So we have no "motivation" to solve the three problems noted. Steve 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theFightingSeabee Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 I'm just glad we have the ability to even mod what we can. It's my belief that the mods out there now not only strengthen the game by tailoring to our own individual tastes, but can keep people interested in the game for longer periods of time. The more the end user gets into the game, the more likely they will stick around to purchase the next module or the next version. I know that is the case for me, and I hope that my mod manager has at least helped to keep a few fans from moving on. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 I second that. We are all in favor of Mods that do not cause us to lose sales, divert development energy, or cause too many support headaches. If we weren't we could easily shut down just about all Mods of all types by modifying the BRZ format and then not releasing the BRZ unpacking tool. Thrown in a little encryption here and there and bingo... the game is completely locked down. But that would suck, so we aren't even remotely interested in that Steve 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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