I've noticed an abundance of tragically unused assets for real-world guns and vehicles. I have an idea for a swbf1 mod for the Galactic Civil War era, the basic theme of which is a dieselpunk-ish war between fictional European-esque nations, a rising industrial and economic power vs. an old yet better-established empire, with a rough aesthetic feel of both WW1 and WW2. The mod would mostly use pre-existing models and other assets, and primarily would be a model and weapons mod with gun effects.

I can specify with more details and unit layouts if this idea stimulates any interest.  Any time taken to give my idea a shot would be greatly appreciated. 

Definitely finish the modern/near-future mod, no question about it. Too much good progress has been made for you to abandon it now, and a lot of people were looking forward to it.   

Welcome back, in any case.  What kind of help do you need?

I'll test for you if you'd like.

I could take a gander at the map for you if you'd like.

@ Nikoli- I got your reply. My suggestion for sides is to go for something not obvious; the USA vs. Russia idea has been touched on often in games and fiction, and I wouldn't go for a USA vs. Middle East/Terrorist or China conflict either. Maybe look into various ongoing international disputes which could presumably develop into war.

Off the top of my head, I can kind of envision a US vs. Mexico mod, where A: Mexico collapses under the might of drug lords and attempt to extend their cartels into the US, or B: Mexico tries to reclaim their long-lost Texas territory.
Or maybe even a new American Civil War scenario. It could even be for the same basic reason as the original war; people are divided amongst themselves as to whether the States should carry more authority than the Federal Government, especially during recent events. Some states are trying to opt out of the federal requirement of citizens to purchase health care, and California's prop. 19 directly challenges Federal drug enforcement laws. Now, not that I'm predicting civil war will break out anytime soon, but it may be a realistic scenario for years in the future.

Just some thoughts. 

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to add custom sounds to this kind of mod. I'm fairly sure if these sides were made for a specific map, you'd be able to include new sounds in the files of the map itself. However, seeing as one of the main selling points of this mod is it's compatibility with ALL maps without custom sides, It's my personal opinion you should stick with the blaster sounds and let the player's imagination explain/ignore them.

I say you should go for a more "realistic" approach. I think it would fit the intensity of the theme a lot better. You've got modern vehicles, modern weapons, and modern factions, it would be appropriate for the consequences of being shot to be realistic too. If you're trying to establish a theme for the mod, you might as well go as far as you can.
Besides, it gets kind of frustrating when you need to waste huge chunks of ammo taking down one opponent, which is actually one of my few criticisms of the unmodded game to begin with.

I knew I shouldnt have eaten those mushrooms I found growing behind the shed.
Is that one muscle guy supposed to be jimmy carter? 

Hey, Nikoli, I was in the GameToast assets forum and I found these 2-handed pistol animations with realistic recoil and reloading. http://www.gametoast.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=20261

Think you could make some use of it somehow?

Sorry you have to leave, snake.  Good luck, and hopefully if you ever come back, we'll have a plethora of fresh new mods for you to enjoy.

I went for the apache. Considering SWBF's tendancy to have dozens of soldiers and vehicles on the field at once, it makes sense that one would want an attack helicopter versatile enough to take them all on. I'm no millitary expert by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems to me the apache would do the trick.

QuoteEDIT: (new idea) When I'm done with the projects I'm working on at the moment I might make a side mod for SWBF2. It would be cool to have the regular soldier's gun would go from M16 to M4 sopmod, heavy troopers gun would go from M60 to M249, snipers would go from M24 to Berreta 50 cal. And I'm not sure what the first pistol would be but it would change to the Desert Eagle.

I dont mean to be pessimistic, but my personal opinion is that modders should stay away from making BF2 "universal" side mods. This isnt just because I'm biased to prefer BF1- one thing I've noticed about the BF2 mod community is that they are VERY picky, and as far as custom maps go, where once custom sides were a nice bonus, it seems nowadays they're a necessity for most people to even consider downloading  a map. Whats wrong with that? Nothing, but what it DOES mean is that your side mod for BF2 will almost certainly be incompatable with most maps, and thus players would be forced to use the stock maps again and again- which, of course, would get boring after a while. My opinion? stick with BF1 if you want to focus on side mods.


Lol, sorry, I tend to ramble. Did that make sense? 

As for RPG ideas, I was thinking of making one based on the book I'm writing (yes, it's still being written, slowly but surely, lol.) Scince it's technichally a heavily modified version of the origional RPG, we could still use some of our old characters, for nostalgia's sake.

If you're tired of that type of setting, I have some other ideas too, but I'd have to develop it more first.

Lol, nah, no death star, sorry. Now that you mention it, I dont think I've EVER requested a mod that takes place in star wars canon... huh... :/ No, I have kind of an idea for a steampunk vs. dieselpunk/ alternate history hybrid.

Cool, cool.  In that case, what sounds were you planning to use for the weapons? There arent many blaster sounds in the game that could pass as gunshots (at least without a lot of imagination.  )

So, it looks like you've moved away from the origional "random characters" concept and focused on a modern warfare-type mod instead. Do you think you could put up a simple list of what units and vehicles you plan on replacing? That way, it could be easier for us to give suggestions and opinions on what you have already, and ideas on what blank spots there are to fill.

Thanks, guys, this is actually a bigger response than I expected. 

Who's up for another round of doomed forum RPG's and ludicrously unfufilable mod requests?