Stop Trying To Take On The World
Stop Trying To Take On The World
How You Can Successfully Create and FINISH Your Own Total War Mod
(aka MasterOfNone's/Dol Guldur's/Palantir's Retirement Rant)
by MasterOfNone
I shouldn't let it affect me. But it does. The waste, the lost work, the broken dreams. Well, I'm retiring and so I thought I'd share a few parting comments...
I've been modding Total War games since the end of 2004. I have seen the announcement of many mods for Rome Total War, its expansions and the more recent Medieval II Total War & Kingdoms. I have not worked out the stats, but I think it's fair to say that very few of even the hosted mods actually make it to completion. After a while one can tell, almost as soon as a mod is announced, whether it will make it or not. I've been wrong of course, but not very often.
I should like to say that there will always be exceptions to the "rules" I mention below, but they are few and far between. In reading this you'd be wise to consider yourself unexceptionalI say this because, with a lot of effort and time, mods that I would have said had no chance of ever being fully finished and stable were or are being actually completed - though I can think of just two as I write.
Why do some mods fail while others succeed? I hope to share some thoughts on this here, but before I do that you might be wondering what gives me the expertise to write such an article? Well, let me briefly outline my work in the realm of TW modding:
* Late 04 - Mid 2005 : Heavily involved in research, map design, general design as well as learning coding on the Fourth Age dev. team.
* Mid 2005 - End 2007 : Heavily involved in game mechanics/coding research as well as acting as Coding Manager and Build Manager for FATW. The last year or so of my tenure with FATW I kept the mod going and alive virtually alone due to the real-life issues and health of other members. Also learned many new skills - in fact just about everything about modding TW except for 3D work.
During the latter part of 2007 and into 2008 I released the following modifications:
* FATW - The New Shadow 2.0b (BI 1.6) - consistent winner of favorite fantasy mod & the only TW mod in the Top 100 on Moddb.com in 2007 awards. Featured in PCGamer (UK) Total PCGaming magazine and a best-selling German magazine
* The Multi-Mod Sampler (with Makanyane) (RTW 1.5) - this later made it onto the PC Gamer (UK) coverdisc for March 2008 and then again in February 2009
* The Dwarven Blunderbuss (RTW 1.5) - well, it's good to have some fun sometimes
* Gods & Fighting Men (Alexander) - featured on StrategyInformer as the mod for Alexander
* Title of Liberty (BI 1.6)
* Viking Invasion II (BI 1.6) - Main article feature in the Downloader section of PCGamer (UK), February 2009.
I also have worked on some other projects along the way such as modfoldering Europa Barbarorum for its fully-modfoldered 1.0 release, and the porting of Fourth Age Total War - The New Shadow (2.3 at the time I believe) from BI to the RTW engine (updated to the latest patch and released by Aradan).
I have written several guides and tutorials such as the oft-used Complete EDB Guide and the tutorial on setting up a seventh culture. And during my time with FATW discovered such things as:
* multiple building upgrades
* multiple bodyguards
* faction-specific building descriptions
* use of type in addition to class for mount bonuses in EDU
* use of temple and hinterland prefixes to adjust nature of buildings
* porting RTW/BI victory conditions
* the seventh culture slot
* negative upgrades (now used by FATW, EB, VI2 and other mods to effect reforms, block peasant armies etc.)
So, that said, let's begin!
1. Setting Yourself Up Mentally
OK, you love a certain Total War game and you think "Wouldn't it be nice to see a mod of [insert historical period/movie/book here]!" Now STOP and take a reality check. Let's do a quick survey:
a. Will the basic game mechanics lend itself to your mod? (spaceships are just a no-no in TW games thus far!)
b. Will the basic game assets lend itself to your mod? (building architecture, vegetation, etc. - if not, then you are probably looking at a full conversion of 3-4 years and even that will be a struggle)
c. Are you willing to learn at least 80% of what needs to be done modding-wise?
d. Are you willing to complete the mod on your own if need be?
e. Do you have enough time for at least one year to dedicate to finishing the mod? (50 hours per week for a year, or 25 hours per week for two years is a rough guide for a modest one-man mod - unless you are very familiar with the files and modding TW games); this amounts to well over a thousand hours even for a small mod.
f. Are you willing to work through "real life" despite interruptions by illness, PC woes, moving house, exams...?
g. Are you willing to rethink and downscale your ideas - to make your dreams realistic ones?
Can you answer "Yes!" to all the above? If so, you're in with a chance.
At this point I would like to put forward the very great wisdom in joining another mod development team rather than starting your own off the bat. This will give you experience and, equally as important, a sense of how difficult things are and how long they take. You might well find that you prefer to support mod development than lead it. You might even freelance between several mods as some so successfully do. Whatever the case, you need to explore and experience these things so that you can know what is best for you. Few, in my honest opinion, have what it takes to pull off - or lead - a mod.
2. Suggestions for Quick Releases
You might be sitting there thinking that it's OK to wait a year or two (or more) before a release. Game popularity aside, there are several reasons for getting a release (not necessarily the final one) out swiftly. The first is that it will bolster your (and your team's - if you have one) motivation. Second, it will stir up interest in the mod publicly and this will also boost your enthusiasm. As a rule of thumb no mod should allow more than 6 months to pass without some form of substantial release. If your mod is proceeding with the vigour it needs to have in order to be completed then you should have no problem with this time frame. A release can also give you valuable feedback to improve the next release and pick out any bugs. Just a tip here: do not release anything that has known CTDs. Resolve them first. You will not make a good impression with your fans.
SUGGESTION 1: Stop Trying To Take On The World
This is the number one reason why so many mods fail imho. They bite off more than they can chew. It has a number of negative effects. Firstly the enthusiasm hits a wall of gloom when, several months down the road, it is realized that what has been planned is going to take a lot longer, and a lot more effort, than originally envisioned. Often tons of research is done, ideas are discussed and even a map and units made - but when the buzz is over the dedicated modder or modders begin to discover they have set out a blueprint for a sprawling metropolis when they only have the resources for a village. As it dawns upon them that most of their work to this point will never be realized, this brings even more misery to that once-enthused would-be modder.
So how can this be overcome? Firstly, when fans and posters keep asking for various features to be implemented - or their own part of the world included - generally ignore them
Mods will differ, but as a rule of thumb take the smallest scenario you can with your chosen milieu whilst keeping it playable and interesting. Some of the add-ons for M2TW are quite good examples of this. After all, they are only mods after a fashion. The Britannia Campaign focuses on a small part of the map (essentially the British Isles) with five factions and uses much of the original (M2TW) files. The Americas Campaign, on the other hand, though also having just a few factions and a narrow geography would involve a full-conversion of culture - text, 3D, 2D and audio - which would be a huge endeavour and not something for beginners.
Remember that you can add to or expand this idea if you wish and release a series of "modules" much as The Fourth Age has done over the past couple of years or so. RTR has also more recently employed this method with its release of The Iberian Conflict.
In order to solidify this idea into your head, let me go through my thinking when I suggested that FATW forget about going for the all-or-nothing approach to a campaign release. FATW began its life in terms of discussion around August 2004. By mid 2005 the full map and many units were completed. But we were overwhelmed with all the less-obvious stuff. We hit reality. Motivation was declining. Staff, which had numbered around 20 at our peak (with about a half dozen core members), were diminishing.
We needed to make a decision. Finish up something fast or run the risk of the mod dying. It was impossible to finish the campaign we had set out to make. It was just not realistic at that point. So we decided on cutting out about a third of the map and using just five factions, all of them "Mannish" and in harmony with much of the base vanilla architecture etc. Corsair Invasion was released in November 2006. If we had not done this I do not think we would have survived imho. Since then of course we have built upon that with Forth Eorlingas and then The New Shadow.
So, to summarize: narrow down your scenario (50 regions or less is good), keep close to vanilla assets in terms of culture, minimize factions (2-5 I would suggest).
SUGGESTION 2: Don't Reinvent The Wheel
It's almost humourous to see various mod forums of today and of yesteryear that essentially have the same subject but all of which have researched for themselves. Now, independent research is good but unless historical accuracy is a main feature of your mod you can probably use some of that already-posted work at least as a starting point. In this regard be careful that historians, researchers and others who may be working on your mod do not become fastidious. They will slow down the mod's progression. As the mod leader you set the pace and make the decisions, not historians. Obviously a mod dedicated to historical realism above all else will give more leeway for historians but there are few such mods that have this single focus.
If I could turn back the hands of time I would have pushed for a merger, or at least a greater sharing of resources, between FATW, METW and LOTRTW. We did some sharing of course but were unaware of the travails ahead back when we started. This brings up two important points:
Firstly, if you want to create a mod about (say) early Medieval Japan then look to see if a mod about that place and time exists already before announcing your own. Join them, help them. Put aside the need to be a "mod leader" (it's long hours and you'll have no social life
Secondly, share your resources and help other modders. By so doing they will repay in kind. For example, in Gods & Fighting Men I used Arthurian Total War's map of Ireland as a base for my map, as well as several of their unit models. Most modders will allow this as long as they are credited of course. Never use anything without permission. You'll get a bad name and that will not make getting permission any easier! Vanilla and open-source assets can also be used or tweaked to greatly enhance a mod. It's amazing what you get if you just ask. And of course there are others who have resources that you can use, with permission such as musicians. After hearing "The Blood of Cu Chulainn" (theme track from Boondock Saints movie) I really wanted it for Gods & Fighting Men and so I made some enquiries which ended up with me on the phone to Hollywood speaking to the composers, Jeff & Mychael Danna!
There's a great tendency to want everything to be fresh and new - and all of your own making. Well, that's not a bad thing in some respects but keep to reality. Don't make new stuff just for the sake of it. Use the resources out there wisely - many mods will create stuff and then the mod will die, so much that is made never sees the light of day unless one of the team has the presence of mind to release the resource files publicly before disappearing.
SUGGESTION 3: Learn By Example
It's interesting that many quality mods that are released all share one thing in common - very dedicated skilled modders! Whether it be a large team or a team of two or just one, they get things done and done well.
I thought, at this point, I might share an example of how the very popular Viking Invasion II played out in terms of modding...
I'd been toying around with the idea of bringing MTW: Viking Invasion to RTW for a long time, but it was not until May 2008 that I started seriously thinking about finding the time to do it (I was thinking of fully retiring but this project idea kept me awake). I PM'd DaVinci (head of Chivalry TW) about it and he was very enthusiastic about the era and project. Likewise with Antagonist. Agraes (Arthurian TW) allowed me to use their base map and also - along with Chivalry - the units.
I then spent June and July working on adapting the map and all the units. I became unemployed in or towards the end of June and so was able to spend a great deal of time to get it done fast. Around August the second layer of the mod began - the stuff that many mods do not get to. I had help with various elements but most especially the traits, ancillaries and unit cards. Aradan also attended to the unit balance. Then, finally, I had help with campaign balance from Aradan and polish from the likes of Halie and others with menu-related 2D graphics.
So how did this mod get done in 113 days? Let's look up some of the reasons:
1. Use of pre-existing resources - maps and unit models do *not* (despite what some think) constitute the majority of what a full-conversion mod is made up of; however, the use of these resources from Chivalry and Arthurian and AoVaF saved some months of work!
2. Unemployment - OK, you do not need to be unemployed to make a mod but it helps to have a lot of free time. In July/August I was able to dedicate nearly all my time, for 6 days a week at least, to VI2. This fast-tracked it considerably. Serious modding can take up a lot of time. When I was working on FATW I had a 3-day part-time job and worked on the mod for three solid days and as many late evenings as I could, averaging around 60 hours per week, sometimes I hit 90 hours. Over the course of a few years this adds up into the thousands. Remember that this included lore research (though mostly not after the first 6 months), writing, designing, making tutorials, coding, testing, "pioneering" work, 2D artwork, filling in lots of big Excel spreadsheets, and a host of other minutiae....and, no, it didn't include playing
3. Help - If you help others (whether it be directly or indirectly - such as through tutorials) - then you are more likely to be helped. This is a great thing that benefits one and all. Halie ploughed in with tweaks to unit models, superb loading screens, banners, symbols and other miscellaneous menu graphics such as the title words and faction maps. Uranos did the unit cards and the Scandinvian part of the map. Aradan did the sprites, unit balance, traits, campaign balance, help with conversion of MTW:VI vanilla elements to a format for use in BI, and the tweaks and improvements in the subsequent patches. Antagonist drew up the basic unit rosters and wrote the unit descriptions.
3. Other Things To Avoid
As well as avoiding "expansionism" also avoid complicating things. There's a layer of modding that need not be attended to until the basics are done. If you avoid the temptation to start polishing the windows before the house is built, so to speak, you might end up with a playable (if unpolished) mod should real life strike (and it usually does at some point). Traits, sprites, ancs, scripts, LOD sets, music, battlemap buildings, balance are all things that can be put aside in preference to the basics: unit build, tech trees, map, units, cards, text, 2D art, symbols, baners, menu, etc. These can be attended to next, when all is stable. This method also helps track down bugs more easily.
Avoid bad coding. A mod should be coded so that if your coder were to drop dead or, worse, join another mod team (just kidding!), anyone taking over should be able to easily take it up where the last coder left it. This is facilitated by prefixing new files such as models and textures (FATW uses 4a_ for example), and using plenty of headers and comments in the coding text files. Use conventions in filenames etc. You might decide for example that something like modabbrev_factionname_category_unitname might be a good name (e.g. 4a_harad_inf_corsair). This also makes it SOOOO much easier to track down bugs caused by bad coding, both in the coding and filenames attached to the same. It also aids a great deal if you stick with the vanilla names in terms of association as much as you can, otherwise confusion can easily crop up and - if intuitive - you will not need to continually be referencing a checklist to see which internal faction name matches up with your new faction etc. This can save a ton of time in my experience.
Avoid taking time off. Generally mod leaders or other key members of a development team who take time off generally lose momentum or even stop doing any modding at all. To get a mod done you need to keep pushing unceasingly until it is done. Most modders who have completed quality mods will tell you they had to sacrifice sleep and socializing. Accept that as part of what it takes to complete a mod.
Avoid working on more than one mod at a time. I tried working on 2 mods at the same time once but gave up. Unless you are an outsource or a freelancer in a particular area of modding, you really need to focus on your own mod. This is especially true for a mod leader and the builder/coding manager. Unlike freelancers or those who add some of the more specific things to mods, a builder/mod leader needs to glue it all together, to build it all from ground up and comprehend and see all the interactions and methods employed. This often makes him the best debugger too.
Avoid losing the vision. You must keep in your mind the final goal and let it drive your non-expansionist enthusiasm
So there you have it. Some parting words. Be enthusiastic but be realistic. Look at other mods, see what they have done and how long it took them. Help others but be willing to learn and do most things yourself.
Let me close with a poem I adulterated..er, I mean penned..
If you can keep your dev team when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can code and not be tired by coding,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to see the mod idea you've spoken
Twisted by noobs to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your mod be broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your coding
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginning
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your mod long after it is released,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says "the mod is not deceased!"
If you can talk on forums and keep your virtue,
Or walk with modding legends - nor lose the common touch;
If neither fans nor forum trolls can hurt you;
If all players count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of an AI run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Modder my son!
NOT Rudyard Kipling
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) and then goign to unit cards, skinning, simple mapping, and now am chipping away at modelling.
Originally Posted by Simon Cashmere
