Slitherine

I have a huge request for the devs.

If there is a patch 1.06 and if there are new units added in could we please have at least the number where the new unit was added into the equipment file.

There are quite alot of mods underway or completed and it would help the modding community immensely if we knew at least were the new units were added in.

I'm sure we could handle the rest to make the mods compatible with a new patch if we at least were told the number where the new units were entered.

Thanks in advance for any consideration of this request.

For me - I dont need no more new units - I have them all.
But we need a better scenario editor allowed us to hold all setting tiles after automatic tile set. I can't produce my big maps with this bad automatic tile set feature eliminate all my work.
Also many new features, possible campaign scenario videos, line of sight, programmable new movement typs and terain typs, mine system, bridge detroy option and many many more.

H.Balck

HBalck wrote: But we need a better scenario editor allowed us to hold all setting tiles after automatic tile set. I can't produce my big maps with this bad automatic tile set feature eliminate all my work.
H.Balck

I 100% agree...while its not impossible to make a big map its very bugging as one has to plan far ahead and if at a later stage you need another airfield you are screwed cause you have to hit the generate tile button and all the nice overlays are gone...thats mega annoying

I was not asking for new units guys nor quite frankly for any enhancements at all.

I just was asking that if the devs do add new units to just add the numbers of the new units, if they add them, to the equip file for those who do mod .

If the devs do add more units,I for one will be gratefull for the work they put into making them and not touting that I have them all.

Not everyone has the skill nor the time to make their own units.

There is also alot of people who don't want to use modders work,for whatever reasons,so the only way for them to get new units is by the devs making them

Mongo, it doesn't seem to me that the Developers think very much of the mods that have been made even though the mods expand the basic game to a completely new level. They don't even acknowledge anything on the forum. So many players are missing the best part of the game when using the mods is easier than learning the game. You'd think the developers would have this light bulb turn on in their heads.

chris10 wrote:I 100% agree...while its not impossible to make a big map its very bugging as one has to plan far ahead and if at a later stage you need another airfield you are screwed cause you have to hit the generate tile button and all the nice overlays are gone...thats mega annoying

Not that I disagree there's huge room for improvements on the scenario editor ... but why exactly do you have to hit generate tiles if you need another airfield?
You can place the terrain type and the graphic manually, after all...
_____
rezaf

flakfernrohr wrote:Mongo, it doesn't seem to me that the Developers think very much of the mods that have been made even though the mods expand the basic game to a completely new level. They don't even acknowledge anything on the forum. So many players are missing the best part of the game when using the mods is easier than learning the game. You'd think the developers would have this light bulb turn on in their heads.

I hate to say this Dwight,but I maybe starting to agree with you.

I have strived to not change the game mechanics or gameplay at all. I just wanted to add stuff,that either for nation laws (Germany)or for time and monetary concerns (expanded SE and Minors file) they could not or did not want to include. I totally understanded those reasons and was glad to fill a void,so to speak, once you and rezaf made you excellent skins and then furthered community skining w/ the Camo Paint Shop tool.

I love the game and the devs are great,but it seems the modding community is starting to get dissed,at least it seems that way to me.

This was my 1st time stab at modding and I was happy to share stuff to make the game more enjoyable for everyone,that I was making for myself anyway

I personally don't get discouraged by people not responding to threads. What discourages me is when the devs and admin don't respond to threads.

I guess they are onto bigger and better things. Maybe I will also.

I personally hate anything to do w/ deserts (I guess to much time spent in them) and I don't think Rommel was the great God of war most do,nor do I think Patton or Montgoemry were the greatest Allied generals,so Africa Korps is not my cup of tea

Oh well it was good while it lasted.....

flakfernrohr wrote:Mongo, it doesn't seem to me that the Developers think very much of the mods that have been made even though the mods expand the basic game to a completely new level. They don't even acknowledge anything on the forum. So many players are missing the best part of the game when using the mods is easier than learning the game. You'd think the developers would have this light bulb turn on in their heads.

really? that's the attitude your going to have? maybe theyd care if people were making actual good mods instead of horrible projects that twist and warp teh game into rediculous abominations like million hex maps
i havent seen a single mod that has been interesting or decently sized and balanced, let alone COMPLETE

That's the first we have seen of your thoughts, Linai. Perhaps if you shared them a little more often, and constructively, we might see more mods that meet your standard - whatever it is.

I'll try to answer to some points discussed in this topic.

- Patch 1.06 will come out together with Africa. It is likely that there will be more patches after that one too.

- In 1.05 we still have a lot "reserved" units in the eqp file, and these slots should be enough to add all the new units we need. As long as the mods do not use these "reserved" slots, I don't expect any conflicts between "our" units and "your" units. In retrospect, I should have recommended all modders to assign new units some big IDs (for example, starting from 10000 and onwards) to make sure they never have conflicts with "official" content.

- It is true that we don't have time to consistently track all the work being done by the modders, or read all threads being posted. If you guys want to attract our attention to anything, feel free to PM me, or drop an email to rudankort@rsdn.ru. If you think that some mods could use some support of maybe promotion from us, also let us know, and we'll see what we can do.

Rudankort wrote:I'll try to answer to some points discussed in this topic.

- Patch 1.06 will come out together with Africa. It is likely that there will be more patches after that one too.

- In 1.05 we still have a lot "reserved" units in the eqp file, and these slots should be enough to add all the new units we need. As long as the mods do not use these "reserved" slots, I don't expect any conflicts between "our" units and "your" units. In retrospect, I should have recommended all modders to assign new units some big IDs (for example, starting from 10000 and onwards) to make sure they never have conflicts with "official" content.

- It is true that we don't have time to consistently track all the work being done by the modders, or read all threads being posted. If you guys want to attract our attention to anything, feel free to PM me, or drop an email to rudankort@rsdn.ru. If you think that some mods could use some support of maybe promotion from us, also let us know, and we'll see what we can do.

Rudankort thank you immensely for responding to the thread. My trust and faith are renewed and restored. Thank you so much

I don't see a conflict w/ the units . Any modder with half a brain (yes that's me....too many jumps out of perfectly good aircraft..I probably didn't have a full brain to begin with) wouldn't put a unit into a reserved spot (at least I hope not). I'm asking that when you put a new unit(s) into the original equip files reserved location(s) if we (the modding community) could have the number of where the unit was placed so that we could make our mods compliant w/ Patch 1.06. I will give an example of what I mean:

Lets say you add an Afrika Korps PIVE into the equip file. You could let us know that it was put into slot 401 (just an arbitrary number I picked). That way a modder ,such as myself, that has expanded the equipment file could place the Afrika Korps PIVE into his mods equipment file in spot 401 to keep it updated to 1.06.

It would be of immense help and make patching mods to be compliant w/ the stock file alot easier.

The one mod/tool that I would love for the devs/admin to highlight is Flak and Rezaf's skinning tool and their skins. That tool and those skins,in my opinion, are the most awesome things I've seen come out of the community and are groundbreaking work. W/o those two gentlemen ,along w/ those who helped my understand the editor (namley VPaulus and El Condoro. They deserve Knights Crosses w/ Swords) I would've never even thought of modding. Flak and Rezaf's skins have been used by so many people and modders it has revolutionzed the games visuals

The other mod/tool to highlight would be Mark Garnett's unit editor. This is tool enabled a Mongo to mod (which is amazing in itself). I know there are numerous modders who have used it also.

Thanks again for responding Rudankort.

Linai wrote: really? that's the attitude your going to have? maybe theyd care if people were making actual good mods instead of horrible projects that twist and warp teh game into rediculous abominations like million hex maps
i havent seen a single mod that has been interesting or decently sized and balanced, let alone COMPLETE

Dude.......

A whopping 4 posts and you slam alot of good people.

Real good way to announce yourself

airbornemongo101 wrote: Lets say you add an Afrika Korps PIVE into the equip file. You could let us know that it was put into slot 401 (just an arbitrary number I picked). That way a modder ,such as myself, that has expanded the equipment file could place the Afrika Korps PIVE into his mods equipment file in spot 401 to keep it updated to 1.06.

It would be of immense help and make patching mods to be compliant w/ the stock file alot easier.

To be quite frank, I don't see how this is going to work. Even assuming that we could tell in advance where each of new units will be placed, and the modders assigned the same ID to their versions of these units, it is very much likely that the stats we assign to new units will be different to what you guys assign to them. And so, when the patch comes out, the balance of the custom scenarios will be broken. So, when the patch comes out, the modder will have to decide if he:
- wants to use new "official" units and maybe rebalance his scens to accomodate the differences in stats
or
- just leave things as they are, with his custom scens using his own custom units, having different stats compared to stock ones

Am I missing anything here?

airbornemongo101 wrote: The one mod/tool that I would love for the devs/admin to highlight is Flak and Rezaf's skinning tool and their skins. That tool and those skins,in my opinion, are the most awesome things I've seen come out of the community and are groundbreaking work. W/o those two gentlemen ,along w/ those who helped my understand the editor (namley VPaulus and El Condoro. They deserve Knights Crosses w/ Swords) I would've never even thought of modding. Flak and Rezaf's skins have been used by so many people and modders it has revolutionzed the games visuals

The other mod/tool to highlight would be Mark Garnett's unit editor. This is tool enabled a Mongo to mod (which is amazing in itself). I know there are numerous modders who have used it also.

I agree that these two tools are absolutely great, but what help exactly can we give in relation to these? I was talking more about making the mods more exposed to the player community in general, to people who never visit this and other forums in the first place (and such players are a majority). Modding tools do not have this problem, I'm sure that all people involved in modding are already aware about them.

Rudankort wrote:

airbornemongo101 wrote: Lets say you add an Afrika Korps PIVE into the equip file. You could let us know that it was put into slot 401 (just an arbitrary number I picked). That way a modder ,such as myself, that has expanded the equipment file could place the Afrika Korps PIVE into his mods equipment file in spot 401 to keep it updated to 1.06.

It would be of immense help and make patching mods to be compliant w/ the stock file alot easier.

To be quite frank, I don't see how this is going to work. Even assuming that we could tell in advance where each of new units will be placed, and the modders assigned the same ID to their versions of these units, it is very much likely that the stats we assign to new units will be different to what you guys assign to them. And so, when the patch comes out, the balance of the custom scenarios will be broken. So, when the patch comes out, the modder will have to decide if he:
- wants to use new "official" units and maybe rebalance his scens to accomodate the differences in stats
or
- just leave things as they are, with his custom scens using his own custom units, having different stats compared to stock ones

Am I missing anything here?

I was talking about after you release the patch in the patch notes you could just say were the new units were put. I know it's impossble to know before hand where you're going to have them

The only mod that I know of the changes the stock stats is Deducter's and his file is used for the vanill game and the DlC's,but he would still need to add the new units in (and then change the stats) or his mod would be unbalanced by the new units

My three mods didn't change any stats. I just added a complete unit roster for the the Waffen SS and Heer Elite Units seperately and then I combined them both. I am working on a complete unit roster for the Minor Axis Allies . My three mods were designed so the player could have a bigger and more diverse selection of units to purchase to use in the stock campaign and the DLC's

My mods would be useless in any future content if I did not add in the developer released units into the equipment file,because the player would wind up with invalid units on the map.

If I (or anybody else) didn't have the number of where the new units were placed I (they) would have to spend days looking thru the new stock equipment file to see where the new units were and then transfer them into the mod.

If informing the community where the new units are in the patch notes is alot of work,don't worry about it.

I see your point about the tools.

Thanks again for the reply

Well, my mod changes unit stats and certain game rules only for the DLCs. More promotion for it would be nice, for those players who want a more challenging/historically realistic gameplay. I try to change the unit stats to be more balanced using history as an inspiration. Even I'm fairly impressed with my changes for 1939-1943.

What I need most of all is a cool name besides "DLC Unit Rebalancing Mod." Something epic, like "Crosses of Iron" or some other appropriate name.

airbornemongo101 wrote:The one mod/tool that I would love for the devs/admin to highlight is Flak and Rezaf's skinning tool and their skins. That tool and those skins,in my opinion, are the most awesome things I've seen come out of the community and are groundbreaking work. W/o those two gentlemen ,along w/ those who helped my understand the editor (namley VPaulus and El Condoro. They deserve Knights Crosses w/ Swords) I would've never even thought of modding. Flak and Rezaf's skins have been used by so many people and modders it has revolutionzed the games visuals.

That much praise for our tool is probably not deserved, but thanks for the mention.

Rudankort wrote:To be quite frank, I don't see how this is going to work. Even assuming that we could tell in advance where each of new units will be placed, and the modders assigned the same ID to their versions of these units, it is very much likely that the stats we assign to new units will be different to what you guys assign to them. And so, when the patch comes out, the balance of the custom scenarios will be broken. So, when the patch comes out, the modder will have to decide if he:
- wants to use new "official" units and maybe rebalance his scens to accomodate the differences in stats
or
- just leave things as they are, with his custom scens using his own custom units, having different stats compared to stock ones

Am I missing anything here?

Rudankort, I think all mongo is asking for is, say a comments column in the equipment file with a version number in which the unit was added (or changed, possibly).
The point is, if you have a mod that leaves the basic unit stats unchanged, but adds some additional units, you'll have your own equipment file. Now, if a patch introduces some new units, these won't break anything in your mod, but they won't be present in your mod. You'll have to scan through the original equipment file to single them out and then adjust the entries in your own equipment file.
This is especially true if you made some minor tweak yourself, otherwise you could just use the new equipment file as a base and append your own units, which you likely added to the end of the old file anyway. You'd have almost no additional work by adding a comments column, I imagine, and it'd help some modders keeping their stuff current.
At least that's how I understood the request - did I get that right mongo?

About the promotion part - since there doesn't appear to be any major fansite for PzC, I think having something like a monthly newsletter could be a start. Promote your own DLCs, hint at things to come in the future, cross-promote some other Slitherine/Matrix games and have a section about endorsed modding projects. That shouldn't eat up too much time or resources and would be at least something. Also (I just posted some ideas to the Dwight's Camo Sprayshop thread), it'd be nice to finally get a proper modding filetype, i.e. custom archive which end-users could use to one-click activate a PzC mod that's in the right format. That'd be a little bit more work (but not too much, I made a rudimentary version of such filetype for DCS), but well worth the effort, imo.

Btw., I don't think we've posted in the same thread since your return Rudankort, so, welcome back.
_____
rezaf

Rudankort wrote: I agree that these two tools are absolutely great, but what help exactly can we give in relation to these? I was talking more about making the mods more exposed to the player community in general, to people who never visit this and other forums in the first place (and such players are a majority).

Building in a CIV V like system where the game comes with a mod loader and playing mods is only a click away would be the maximum...
saying that the mod support should be increased making the exe always looking in the mod folder first and only drag from the main game what it doesnt find there..this would enable complete conversion,user ui customization,overlays etc etc and a generic mod enabler would be completely obsolete for PzC which could boost the amount of people willing to look into mods.

btw..while here talking..is there any technical reasons why the AI wouldnt be able to handle big scnarios like Panzercorps East ? Purchase and core composition besides..Iam only talking about attacking/defending victory hexes

Dead on rezaf .Thanks for the clarification.

About the promotion part - since there doesn't appear to be any major fansite for PzC, I think having something like a monthly newsletter could be a start.

UUUUHHHH. Please check the development diaries.

http://www.panzer-corps.com

Over 120.000 unique visits in 10 months...

Cheers,

Tim aka LZ

LZ or Tim,which you would prefer,my Lord ?

Please don't take offense or be annoyed.

We all appreciate the posts and dev diaries that you have posted

I don't think rezaf was trying being to be disrespectfull.

I think what he was getting at is to have a dedicated site just for PZC to highlight the different gameplay styles and mods of the community (ala COH,Warhammer 40,000,COD..etc).

Am I right Rezaf?

Right now the only thing there is is the forums,which we are all very gratefull for. The oppurtunity to be able to share our tips,gameplay styles and mods is invaluable and I'm sure everybody would agree with me. Having a dedicated site for the Panzer Corps community would just enhance that even further

I know it (a dedicated site) would be an added expense and added time for you guys.

What about putting together a "fansite kit" (wallpapers,banners..etc) so that we the community could make a "dedicated fansite" that could highlight the game and it's additions and mods w/o putting a burden on you guys. CDV/Laplata had done this w/ the Blitzkreig game and if I remmember correctly at it's height there were over 20 different sites for the game around the world.

We (the people active in the community) are just trying to expand the community and get Panzer Corps the huge following that it deserves.

Thanks for all the hard work that the devolopers and administration have put into this game and the community.

Of course we support any initiative to spread the word about Panzer Corps...

We come from a modding background ourselves, so we welcome any project on this matter.

Cheers,

Tim aka LZ