Modding

VPaulus · Post by **VPaulus** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 2:27 pm

In the near future, specially if the modding community grows up in numbers, we'll face a problem when wanting to use different mods at the same time.
Let us suppose, that I want pack x from modder x and want also to use pack y from modder y. I'll have to edit and merge the equipment and the sound/animation table. That's not user friendly, and lesser it will be when adding even more different mods. It will be chaotic. I'm not seeing a workaround for this, unless we change some of the game programming structure.
"equipment.pzeqp" and "efx.pzdat" should be dynamic and load at the game startup according to the way the player start the game, with the choosing mods or not. You'd need also that each unit must have a single table (maybe a simple txt file) with the data necessary where those two files will get the data at startup.
This way we would grant a certain modularity to the game. Otherwise I think it will be hard to share or to use different mods at the same time.
If modding is going to be an important part of the game, I think that something must be done
Any ideas?

El_Condoro · Post by **El_Condoro** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 3:01 pm

One way might be to keep a central data bank of sounds, effects, tiles, unit images etc. These would go through a quality control process before being added and could then be downloaded, either individually or, perhaps better, as a zipped (?) update periodically. The equipment.pzeqp and efx.pzdat could be kept up-to-date with all references to custom content maintained, too. I think it's more important to keep the custom content centrally maintained than the pzeqp file because I imagine guys or groups will adopt an efile they like and maintain that - as long as the custom content is available.

VPaulus · Post by **VPaulus** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 3:11 pm

That's also an idea.

But who would control it? And above all what type of criteria? This could create some problems with people not getting in that list.

AgentX · Post by **AgentX** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 6:21 pm

I also think custom campaigns need to be addressed as well. They are already starting to pop all over and, as far as I understand, you have to replace the stock campaigns with the new modded one. If you want to go back to stock or try some other modded campaign, you have to replace all over again (and have to keep backups). I'm thinking it would be nice to have a "Custom Campaign" tab much like the "Custom Scenario" tab. When you click on the tab, a list of campaigns you have downloaded show up. It would also be great if they could have their own folder (again just like custom scenarios), so you can easily add and delete custom campaigns without messing up the stock campaigns.

Razz1 · Post by **Razz1** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 7:08 pm

Custom maps already use the host files for equipment.

The problem comes when you are a modder, you need one or more files for different maps.

The other problem is; if you download someone else's equipment file.

So if there two clubs that had two different files you have to always replace the equipment file every time you host a new game.

Once you host a game, it doesn't matter what you do to the equipment file on your PC as it will not affect existing games.

The solution to this problem has already been mentioned by the development team.

They plan on updating the equipment file as time goes on to balance it closer where everyone will be happy.

This leaves only a special equipment file that is needed for maps such as that unGodly huge world by Black where every hex = 1 KM

El_Condoro · Post by **El_Condoro** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 10:33 pm

They plan on updating the equipment file as time goes on to balance it closer where everyone will be happy.

They should attempt a task that is possible!

There is no way everyone will be happy - the best they can hope for is *most* people will be happy. An easy way to access multiple pzeqp files would be a great option. Something like a selection screen with a number of efiles listed - perhaps from separate folders in My Games?

El_Condoro · Post by **El_Condoro** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 11:13 pm

What about a way to allocate a particular efile to a scenario? Currently a playing starting a challenge has to remember to switch to the pzeqp that is appropriate for the scenario. What if a field was made available in the editor to require a specific efile for the scenario, which would come from a series of folders in the My Games\Panzer Corps\Equipment folder?

VPaulus · Post by **VPaulus** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 12:25 am

Well we don't know what is feasible or not. But some solution must be worked out, otherwise modding will be very limited.

bobk · Post by **bobk** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 1:23 am

I hope you guys can work this out. It`s very frustrating to own the same game as everyone else, but not be able to use certain mods because you have to be a programmer to get them s working. A good example is Company of Heroes which is a total mess due to the Steam/retail versions, and also Windows 7. Other examples are all the different equipment files that are floating around for PG1 and 2, and Peoples General. These are great additions to the game, and represent lots of hard work, but a real pain to keep switching between them.
I like the idea of a master file where additions are tested and approved by the developers. Custom files could be loaded for a modded scenario or campaign from another folder. Next time you started the game, it would default to the master file that everybody else is using, as long as you had the newest version.

El_Condoro · Post by **El_Condoro** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:37 am

A couple of related questions that might help with a solution:

1. Does the pzeqp file have to be called equipment.pzeqp? Could it be called anything as long as it had a pzeqp extension?
2. Does the pzeqp file need to be in the main installation folder's \data sub folder?

If the answer to these is 'no' then it should be easy to have pzeqp files called EC_equipment.pzeqp, for example, which is 'tied' to the scenario automatically (perhaps from a central store, or just the challenging player's local drive). The equipment is then always right for the scenario and is uploaded for the game as currently happens.

Kerensky · Post by **Kerensky** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 3:00 am

At the moment, the answer to both is: yes.