Ideas for a Mod - Seeking Suggestions

Started by Thor110, September 26, 2017, 08:16:36 AM

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Would anybody be interested in discussing ideas for a mod I am hoping to work on, also seeking modders and mappers to help.

Intended for BF2, but contemplating a BF1 release with the same content, or adding Classic Conquest Game Mode to all maps.

Main focus started as a personal mod / map pack, but I decided that I wanted to make a few maps and modifications to Battlefront 2 both for myself and for others if I can manage it.

I want to take all the mods and maps I currently have, package them together, make all the factions work across all the maps, or at least the relevant ones, make all game modes work on all or relevant maps.

I also want to remove Dark Times from the Prosecutor map, currently noting a lot of little things I would like to alter within the game / version I am using.

Also have plans for creating a lot of KotoR I & II Maps intended for the KotoR faction from the conversion pack, but depending on peoples thoughts perhaps for all factions.

Another main focus is to package all the best models and textures for each individual unit type amongst each faction together.

Example : Droideka from BF3 Beta, Evolved Models & Cockpit Views in one package, along with any other touch ups possible.

Does anybody have any thoughts, questions or advice to offer?

A lot to undertake, may not happen, may need to build a team.

For now seeking advice on the BF1/BF2 issue, personally I am preferring BF2 now a days but when they first came out I preferred BF1, I think classic conquest solves this issue, though the BF1 menu is also very nice.

Many possible routes I could take such as
BF1 & BF2 Release
or Installer for just BF2 offering an option to use the BF1 menu if possible as well as the choice between updated models and textures or not.

Trying to decide if either one will perform better for this overall, also hoping CdtFox's upcoming mod may become either a part of or work alongside this idea, that way Classic Conquest, Prone and Cockpit View, pretty much covers the BF1 changes, besides perhaps stat changes, which can be worked out later, unless Classic Conquest already covers that.

Thank you for anyone that might have taken the time to read all or any of my ramblings / ideas.

I currently have a pack of all the mods / maps I am using as well as a list of, pretty much everything works together perfectly, except a few maps that do not work with the Imperial / Rebel Factions.

But I am hoping that should be an easy fix once I figure out what I am doing.

Any help understanding how I might go about achieving some of the more simple tasks I am looking to do would be greatly appreciated.

As well as any thoughts on the mod idea, I have talked about it here and there, not actually got any content yet, just a mod / map pack, a few documents containing ideas and a mood board / thoughts on some individual / specific maps to take from KotoR for the KotoR factions.

I still feel many old games could and should be at the forefront of 2017!

Having enjoyed playing just a little bit of BF2, messing around and dying a lot way more than I have any new age game in years.

Again thank you for taking the time to read and sorry for potentially wasting anyones time with my thoughts and ideas.

Thor110

My posts are terribly un structured for the moment and potentially difficult for people to read, I apologise and will do my best to revise this in the future.
"A cornered fox is more dangerous than a jackal!" - Gray Fox

If you want to compile and munge an assortment of mods together, I suspect you'd need all of the assorted Data folders from each mod. In all likelihood, these are not publicly available and you would have to ask the makers of each mod.

Sleepkiller has made a decompiler, albeit for BF1. He made it in his spare time so maybe he would want to help you with this. Barring this, you will likely need all of those Data folders.
"Birth, pain, fear, death; the cycle of existence." -Dread Master Calphayus.

SWBF1 Maps: Tatooine: Mos Anek, Kashyyyk: Village, Naboo: Province, Tatooine: Gulch.

SWBF2 Maps: Space Carida.

Yes, this is the conclusion I came to also after finding the BF1 decompiler and as many tools as I could get my hands on.

If I get the chance I will ask Sleepkiller, or post on the thread for the tool asking if they would be interested in such a thing.

Contacting each mod's creator is often a difficult task as is gaining access to the source, but there are always ways around these problems.

Though I also ran across the NVidia / Zero Editor issue a few days ago, so am only able to build maps from my laptop, bit of a pain, unless anybody knows of a fix, but I did have a good look around and could not find anyone that had managed to fix it for nvidia cards.

I could just try to apply various fixes to maps / game modes / factions through a mod, but currently not sure if that is viable, also not what I am going for.

Thank you for your reply, time reading my post and your suggestion :)
"A cornered fox is more dangerous than a jackal!" - Gray Fox

Quote from: Thor110 on September 28, 2017, 09:21:08 AM

Contacting each mod's creator is often a difficult task as is gaining access to the source, but there are always ways around these problems.

I would caution against using some ones assets (particularly if decompiled) without the original modder's permission.  It would be a fast way to lose friends in the modding community.
Quote from: Abraham Lincoln. on November 04, 1971, 12:34:40 PM
Don't believe everything you read on the internet

September 28, 2017, 12:22:07 PM #4 Last Edit: September 28, 2017, 12:31:05 PM by Commander_Javik
Tell that to the Moddb people. They think it's ok to use assets through .lvl files without the original modders premisson.

Like this mod for example: http://www.moddb.com/mods/hero-assault-the-clone-wars-tv-show-mod

That is i2Bros Ashoka model. I have reported this mod to the staff for copyright rules.

Quote from: Commander_Javik on September 28, 2017, 12:22:07 PM
Tell that to the Moddb people. They think it's ok to use assets through .lvl files without the original modders premisson.

Like this mod for example: http://www.moddb.com/mods/hero-assault-the-clone-wars-tv-show-mod

That is i2Bros Ashoka model. I have reported this mod to the staff for copyright rules.
Well, this is not Moddb, and each website has it's own rules.
If anything like that would be hosted here, we'd have removed the file(s).
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I've never really understood the aspect of modding ettiequte. I'd never take assets without permission but I don't see the problem with something like the Battlefront 2 Ultimate Pack. Nobody really owns these mods and maps. They're all based off the Star Wars IP and are created solely for people to enjoy. If someone includes the maps or assets with credit in another mod I don't see the problem. The reason people create maps for this game is for everyone to share and enjoy them and a new mod containing the maps will only result in more people playing them.

Sorry, I did forget to mention, I would for starters give credit and do my best to track down the original modder.

But that can often be difficult, sometimes impossible.

I did also consider remaking the mod I wish to alter from scratch, but a lot of work.

Hopefully I can track these modders down and obtain their permission I am currently looking at alternate solutions as well as trying to get mdl files from kotor imported into blender, 3dsmax or kotor, but each and every version of the plugin I try is giving me an error, blenders neverblender literally worked fine yesterday, today it gives me an error,  fun eh.

The Republic Commando mod is one of the main ones I wanted to edit, so I best head over to ModDB & contact [GT]Anakin as well as... hope that is the mods original creator...

This entire project is starting as a KotoR Map, followed by a potential faction for the halloween competition, then hopefully a revised mod / map pack including a few more kotor maps.

We will have to wait and see though, as I am having so many issues along the way, Zero Editor & NVidia being the main problem, besides MDL importing.

I may be forced to abandon my efforts already and return to working on something else.

Or perhaps port Battlefront to another engine.

Imagine though, wanting to update a mod, you could spend years waiting for replies... people would just abandon someone that does some work and still credits the original creators?

All I wanted to do was update peoples maps & factions to work together properly, as well as have some fun making some maps from KotoR.

Guess it might not be plausible.

Also.... pretty sure copyright covers intellectual property.... that would be Disney...
They definitely should be crediting that person, but maybe they asked and you don't know?

I received a tonne of permission from people for my GTA4 mod pack which I never released & I still had people asking if I had done so, how would you guys even know if I had... you wouldn't...

As long as I credited them, you would never know... not saying that this is how I will go about it, just always find it annoying that people have the gall to mod a game and say no one else can mod their mod...

And finally I have to ask, do you know that they didn't receive permission to use the model?

P.S. Spot on / thank you swgaming1015
"You can't use my free content" is like saying "you can't mod my game" people will find a way to do it anyway...
Regardless of the licensing, copyright, legal or moral issues that arise.

However I can say I would never use something without credit, hating on that I can understand.

It also appears that i2Bros mod is not obtainable via ModDB... Perhaps this is the reason someone ripped it off or re-used it.

Who knows...
"A cornered fox is more dangerous than a jackal!" - Gray Fox

You two are mixing up etiquette and legalities.

I'm not going to stop you from ripping another modders assets.

But, in your mind, trade places with someone that created a map and made a special unit.  They have plans to make more mods with the special unit/textures, whatever.

The someone (you) comes along, rips out their assets, and beats them to the punch on making a new map.

Do you think that is a good thing to do or not?
Quote from: Abraham Lincoln. on November 04, 1971, 12:34:40 PM
Don't believe everything you read on the internet

I know exactly where you are coming from and like I have said, I will do my best to contact all of the mods original creators, but sometimes this is impossible.

I was looking for a way to extract the source so I could ultimately avoid having to contact every mod developer first and wait weeks or months for a reply, but simply do it at the same time and hope for the right answer.

Sorry but pretty sure any modder should know I don't have weeks to sit about on an idea....

Also any decently made mod, comes with a readme stating that reproduction is fine as long as credit is given.

I guess I have to sit back and think about this for a little bit longer.

Also to be honest with you, I wanted to mainly modify the Republic Commando Faction mod, which already contains copyrighted material from the Republic Commando game...

Anyway, silly issues aside.

I guess I will at the least start sending out messages requesting the source and permission to reproduce.

Most of the mods were from ModDB, but I have some files from here too, as many of you may also know there were sites full of maps, tools, patches, tutorials and more that well, don't exist anymore...

Pretty sure some people might welcome a tool to do this, even some of the original creators, those who have lost their source for example...

Getting real fed up of this racist / fascist BS in the modding community / development community in general...

"It's my code" errr what built upon what a few million other people made possible over a heck of a lot of time?
"A cornered fox is more dangerous than a jackal!" - Gray Fox

September 28, 2017, 04:18:38 PM #10 Last Edit: September 28, 2017, 04:36:42 PM by Led
Quote from: Thor110 on September 28, 2017, 04:04:47 PM
Getting real fed up of this racist / fascist BS in the modding community / development community in general...

Thor110, I have no idea what race you are, nor do I care.  (Thor=Norwegian?  are people racist against Norwegian modders?  is Norwegian a race?  idk)

And, in my very recent experience, those crying fascism really mean someone won't give me what I want.

If you want a tool to rip SWBF2 models, Sleepkiller has made one and you can get the source.  If you want it made better, you will probably need to do that yourself.

This website is actually very lenient as far as usage goes.  Try posting the same things over on GameToast and see how far you get.   ;)
Quote from: Abraham Lincoln. on November 04, 1971, 12:34:40 PM
Don't believe everything you read on the internet

Quote from: Led on September 28, 2017, 03:41:12 PM

The someone (you) comes along, rips out their assets, and beats them to the punch on making a new map.

Do you think that is a good thing to do or not?

No, as I said in my post I wouldn't steal assets because that's a little different. I'm referring to something like the Battlefront 2 Ultimate pack mod which simply rereleases those maps and gives credit to the original creators. Something like that seems like a positive to me as it means more people will play and enjoy these maps that've been around for many years.

Quote from: Thor110 on September 28, 2017, 04:04:47 PM
I was looking for a way to extract the source so I could ultimately avoid having to contact every mod developer first and wait weeks or months for a reply, but simply do it at the same time and hope for the right answer.
Unfortunately this doesnt work that way. U can't take someone's work for granted. At least not here.

Quote from: Thor110 on September 28, 2017, 04:04:47 PM
Sorry but pretty sure any modder should know I don't have weeks to sit about on an idea....
Well, they may not know it and u are not the one to decide whether u get access to their source or not. That is up to the developer.

Quote from: Thor110 on September 28, 2017, 04:04:47 PM
I guess I will at the least start sending out messages requesting the source and permission to reproduce.
That's the way to do it.

Quote from: Thor110 on September 28, 2017, 04:04:47 PM
Pretty sure some people might welcome a tool to do this, even some of the original creators, those who have lost their source for example...
Maybe u should contact them in case they do not want their files to be back online. If I suddenly disappeared I wouldn't want anyone to upload my stuff without my permission, even if the files/source were lost for good.

Quote from: Thor110 on September 28, 2017, 04:04:47 PM
Getting real fed up of this racist / fascist BS in the modding community / development community in general...
Well, this is how it has always worked, and will work. At least in this website.
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September 28, 2017, 05:15:51 PM #13 Last Edit: September 28, 2017, 05:18:23 PM by Thor110
That was exactly my focus, the only unpacking I wanted to do was to fix game modes and add new game modes, for example Galactic Civil War Faction crashes some custom maps.

Some Game Modes dont work on some maps, some factions dont work on some maps.

The only maps I was going to be making were from KotoR & Republic Commando.

Somehow I doubt the Battlefront Map Conversion pack will be doing a KotoR map conversion pack, they did add the faction though, so it is possible.

As for the Republic Commando mod, it does not have any maps, only a Faction which does not work on all the maps.

Then there is the RAS Prosecutor Republic Commando map, I believe it is made by a different user, again I wanted to update to include game modes and factions, as well as remove the Dark Times faction that seems to be a wierd hellish mix of Commando Vs Commando all over the place.

Though tbh I would also be tempted to recreate the Prosecutor Map, because from what I remember it didn't look that good and was not as big as it could have been either.

I do see where you are coming from though, I do, hopefully I can take a day off to think about these things and attempt to contact all of the mod creators asking for source and permission :) that should make everybody happy, I always at least planned to try anyway.

By the looks of it, still going to take me quite some time to work out the issues I have converting various file types, accessing various content and finding tools to save me a workload.

Thank you for the replies :) I feel like this was in the wrong forum section, not sure though as I did not want to start a page for a mod until I have actually something to show.

So shall I take it for now, nobody knows of a way to unmunge / extract / decompile a mod / map?
There were other reasons for wanting to do this, the main game levels for example, again I would contact the user Harrisonfog1, but I wanted to see if any of their rezzed textures would work in any of the other maps, as well as maybe make some higher resolution textures for the other maps myself.

I've ultimately become tirelessly bored of new games and games in general, just want to sit around building some levels for nostalgia, fixing whatever I can for battlefront 2 and releasing a mod pack to some friends as well as maybe the internet.

Already given some friends the modpack, but thats different, for now it is just a step by step set of folders full of the downloaded mod files as well as their readmes and such.

Even with the modtools, you guys have modified, shared and reproduced copyrighted content... as well as gaining access to source materials and content you were not meant to have access too... the .exe to begin with... even if not the source, the compiled version has been modified.

If you want to talk legalese and copyright, you are sharing a .exe from a game on your website... modified...

Ultimately, I get the feeling you guys don't have any idea how game development or modding began... it began by gaining access to source code people were not allowed access to most if not all of the time. & I really didn't want to say it like that... but that is the case.

Seems to be the case for most so called "modders" or "developers" now-a-days... All running side-by-side with the copyright / intellectual property hype, all the meanwhile re-iterating the same old rhetoric...

Actually... point of fact...

"THIS WEBSITE IS NOT MADE, DISTRIBUTED, SUPPORTED OR ENDORSED BY OR OTHERWISE AFFILIATED WITH LUCASARTS, A DIVISION OF LUCASFILM ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY LTD.  STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT AND ALL ELEMENTS THEREOF ARE TM & © LUCASARTS, A DIVISION OF LUCASFILM ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY LTD.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. "

Do you guys have rights to reproduce or share the EXE? an EXE that also cracks the video game software.
Let's not discuss copyright issues here please.

Let's be realistic here, how many mods other than the one by CdtFox are recent? or actually stand any chances of being updated? Not many.
"A cornered fox is more dangerous than a jackal!" - Gray Fox

Also, would have been nice to hear some suggestions or workaround, perhaps even suggestions on just making a mod to fix the game modes manually... things like that...

Thoughts on extracting and repacking the best models and textures into the stock factions. etc...

Any ideas at all other than, that can't be done and people might not like that.

Because to be honest, my post might have been a mess, but I did type a little bit more than "I am going to make a mod pack and steal everybodys mods muahahahahaha"
"A cornered fox is more dangerous than a jackal!" - Gray Fox