I went to the Mod Summit - Ask Me Anything

[.Mitch.]

So until there are the full write ups for the summit, I'm sure there are some burning questions people might have?

Keep to the general outlines of an AMA guys, only questions please, there are plenty of other places to discuss things!

(Keep it about the summit or else!)

So...

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Hi, I'm Mitch.

I went to the Modding Summit.

Ask Me Anything.


Green Text = My Answers

[JaM]

Ok, first one. Map Editor. i guess its pointless to ask when it will be out, but did they show you how it will work? what everything will be editable?


second one. Battle AI. Any plans to externalize it into data packs so it can be modded?

[Oestvang]

Will there be sound/music tools?

[Achilleslastand]

Ok, first one. Map Editor. i guess its pointless to ask when it will be out, but did they show you how it will work? what everything will be editable?

I second this question..............

Also when/if at all possible will it be possible for full conversion mods {ala medieval period for example} for Rome 2?

[Heinz Guderian]

Who was the most attractive modder in the room? be honest. What was the one thing that you heard at the summit that made you go "wow" or "really? thats cool man"

[ToonTotalWar]

Are CA now going to implement the patches as standalone so it will give us modders less work to go through all the files to update?

I gave this question to Noif and I am aware that Radious was also going to bring this up!

[JaM]

Who was the most attractive modder in the room? be honest. What was the one thing that you heard at the summit that made you go "wow" or "really? thats cool man"

second that second part... could really use some good news right now...

[.Mitch.]

Ok, first one. Map Editor. i guess its pointless to ask when it will be out, but did they show you how it will work? what everything will be editable?

I'll answer for both battle map, and campaign map.

Battle Map - There was talk of Ted2. A fair point was raised that it wasn't used very much, but it's definitely something they're thinking about. Key point to remember was that Ted wasn't released until quite long after Shogun 2, so it'll likely be the same for Rome 2.
There has also been a change to the way things work now in terms of Ted, and so it's not just as simple as re-releasing the same tool.

Campaign Map - Again along the same lines, and I guess as you can gather from the fact the first tools were a "wave one" of tools, they want to bring the R2 tools up to the same level of S2 tools. There's definitely the intention for the tools, timescale as you can understand isn't something they can nail down.

As for what theses tools might do/look like. It's too far off to have any definitive answer to that.

[Karnil Vark Khaitan]

Hi, Mitch.

you went to the Modding Summit.

I wish to Ask you about what sound files can we change, as in make a unit firing musket? and what is that teabagging I hear about?

[.Mitch.]

Will there be sound/music tools?

We spoke in detail about the sound modding problem. It was a hot topic!

I'll say that they're very aware that it is a problem, highlighted by the fact when we first asked about sound files.. Craig jokingly ran out of the room.

There are definitely avenues that are being looked at, and infact I know Craig took down the details of certain things to chase up.

These tools that they use cost a LOT for the main license, but there is a free version of this toolset apparantly, and there might need to be some communication between that company and CA to get the ball rolling. Hence Craig is shooting off emails and PMs to chase this up.

tl;dr answer - More on this soon, CA are very aware, and its hopefuly being persued!

[.Mitch.]

Who was the most attractive modder in the room? be honest.

Wangrin.

In fact here's a true story. When Wangrin left the room for a moment we all remarked at how much swag the guy had, and he's French, so he just oozes class.

What was the one thing that you heard at the summit that made you go "wow" or "really? thats cool man"

For me personally when I asked Guy Davidson (Big scary important coding manager guy) "can I haz access to your uncompiled Lua source please", and wasn't met with a punch to the face but instead a "That could be possible".

Not to sound like a fanboy and some may not understand how, but this was like my "Oh wow, you guys really are open to giving modders the they want".

So I guess overall their willingness to provide what I had thought there would be no chance of us getting.

[.Mitch.]

Are CA now going to implement the patches as standalone so it will give us modders less work to go through all the files to update?

I gave this question to Noif and I am aware that Radious was also going to bring this up!

They're very aware of this issue, and really are aware patches break mods... I can't say more than that.

[TomR199]

No questiond. Thanks for breaking the silence I was beginning to think all the attendees were beginning to enjoy withholding the Info as we wait on edge for it

[stevehoos]

Anyway in the future to have an army without the restriction of a general, or is this hard coded?

[.Mitch.]

Hi, Mitch.

what is that teabagging I hear about?

I gave the preface to a question I asked Guy Davidson of "Feel free to punch me in the face when I ask this" and Craig immediatly tried to throw a (unused) teabag at me.

It got some mad curve on a pretty impressive throw, missed me entirely and hit Radious.

We remarked how the headlines in tomorows papers would be "CA's Craig teabags modders".

[.Mitch.]

Anyway in the future to have an army without the restriction of a general, or is this hard coded?

Pretty sure that's hardcoded. It's just one of those game design apspects that some people like, others dislike. Something so intrinsic to the game design is really beyond the scope of modding anyway, in any game for that matter.

[The Hedge Knight]

Was it a used or an unused teabag?

I'm quite annoyed it missed you really Mitch!

[JaM]

Pretty sure that's hardcoded. It's just one of those game design apspects that some people like, others dislike. Something so intrinsic to the game design is really beyond the scope of modding anyway, in any game for that matter.

plus, nobody is stopping people to increase numbers of generals let say to 99 for all tiers if they want...

[chris10]

plus, nobody is stopping people to increase numbers of generals let say to 99 for all tiers if they want...

army cap ? civil war ? spawning of hordes of doom and fleets of darkness ?

btw thats a real issue for modders

anything on that ?

[jockmcplop]

Realistically how moddable is the UI going to be?
Will there be any mechanism at all to mod features such as the 'political system'?
Is there going to be any way to mod the Civil War mechanic?