Game developement of PC2 in general

[Grondel]

Since i have some time to spare in the near future and will continue working on the PC1 remake mod a little more I want to refresh the topic of "modding support" for PC2.

TLDR version: Don´t like it, ur slacking! Step it up.

In potential anticipation of that, in part of the Panzer Corps 2 update that accompanies the launch of Ghost Division we’re investigation the possibility for custom player mod campaigns to enable their own sets of VO audio files.

This was stated in one of the latest Devs diaries. Let´s put this into perspective and fill out the blanks not mentioned here.

Adding audio files to mods has been enabled since release of the base game and was always possible.
Getting the audio files, baking them with UE and adding them to the mod is an easy task and had been done for the 3 mayor mods to some extend.
But we disabled them again since they cause an unrealcrash due to lackluster programming.
For those with some basic understanding in coding(if ur not, just scip the next paragraph):
This error occurs due to not taking into account that u have to add the correct file path into the editor and not just the file name.
This causes a // in the modded audio files name UE tries to adress if u hit the back button, which windows doesn´t like.


This has been reported first in 2018, several times since and is still around. Eq here:
https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewto ... g#p1001260

Stating in a Dev Diary that u just "enabled" it for modders is laughable, considering that is has always been there and is nothing new u added to the game.
It has been broken all the time and u didn´t fix it is more like it.

Edit:
Still broken with the same error after Ghost Division, if that wasn´t clear.

Quote from the modding guide:

Modding the game’s Unreal Engine assets (unit models, terrain graphics, UI etc.) is also possible, but the process if more difficult. We’ll describe it in the next guide. Stay tuned!

Yep still staying tuned.

We figured out how to do 2D stuff and audio with some help of Sheff, who sadly is "no longer on the project" and left our discord.
With our help and this fast path to the dev team a release debacle for AO44 could be avoided.
(If u need proof for this @Edmond just go to our general chat in the discord and scroll up to oct/2022, there´s the whole discussion between me and Sheff.)
Sadly in 12/2022 Sheff was removed from the PC2 Team and has not been replaced. Loosing this source of direct Information was bad for the modding community of PC2 and bad for the game in general, since we were able to remove countless minor to mayor and even one critical bug from the game due to this direct interactions.

Implementing and registering new 3D modells works fine as well, but sadly delivering them via the provided mod support doesn´t. game will only register them when they are put into the gamefolder itself.
The promised tools would be of help here.

"We love modders!" is a statement one often hears when listening to the "What´s ur mod" series on twitch.

I have a hard time feeling that love lately.

That's my diatribe for today.

Feel free to add urs.

sers,
Thomas