Why is going prone an uncommon mod feature? (BFP mod)

[Michaeluj]

I discovered the Battlefront Project mod by Syth. It strikes me as a very under-appreciate era and map pack, since it has some ambitious units, cool variety of vehicles, a fantastic roster of heroes (Padme and Anakin look derpy, though), and even features the ability to destroy Trade Federation Core Ships (which is an admirable attempt, though the experience feels flat).

However, most unique among its features seems to be the ability for basic units to go prone. It looks a teeny bit glitchy, but it works! It would be perfect to introduce into the Conversion Pack! [I know, there's modder etiquette and reservations about adjusting works like this, but the point still stands that this is something that the pack should have had since the beginning]

Is there a reason for why this feature is so infrequently implemented? I would like to see it in other mods!

Link to mod: https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-battlefront-project

[DylanRocket]

If I recall correctly, all the code for prone was removed from SWBF2's executable because the feature was broken during the development of the game, and they ran out of time to fix it before the game was released. So the functionality for it isn't actually there.

What Syth did in the BFP mod was replace the crouch animations with the prone animations with SWBF1. The issue with this is that the hitboxes for crouching are hardcoded, so you can actually kill someone by firing above them. Also, all laser bolts are still fired from the same location as it would if you were crouching. Basically, it wasn't real prone. It was just crouch made to look like prone. I imagine these issues are why most mods don't add prone. It's better to have something that functions properly than something that looks cool.

[Michaeluj]

Oh well.

By the way, since I'm writing a history about Battlefront 2's development, I'm really curious about where you possibly learned about the issues with going prone. Do you have any idea what the source was?

[DylanRocket]

Unfortunately I'm not quite sure where the information originates. It's just sometime I've seen mentioned a few times over on Gametoast.

[Michaeluj]

Thank you. I went to Gametoast and found references to a conversation between Teancum and some devs. While it would be cool to have direct quotes from the devs, Teancum's statements should be sufficient. Apparently, the code for crouching was accidentally overwritten while working on the Jedi, and they simply lacked the time to fix it.