19 replies to this topic

[The_Silencer]

Could be possible to make the entire SFX set of the mechas moddable_

This might be something pretty cool, IMO.

[Zero]

Hawken is being made in the Unreal Engine. So I'm pretty sure that moddability for the game is a no go. What would you mod anyway_ The game itself is shipping with standard FFA and Team Deathmatch as well as 2 custom game variants. So where would modding fit in_ It's not a game for you to explore the world around (although the maps look stellar, but I mean something slightly different) you and have fun, it's a game where you blow everyone else's mechs to bits.

[The_Silencer]

The possibility of modding the entire set of mechanical wave-sounds of the mechas looks as something cool and fun to me. Obviously we're talking about the client side; always.

Just an idea though.

[BeeJay]

For me, it would be the ability to create new Mech's to fight in.

[Zero]

The_Silencer said:

The possibility of modding the entire set of mechanical wave-sounds of the mechas looks as something cool and fun to me. Obviously we're talking about the client side; always.

Just an idea though.

The problem with this is that if you wanted to change anything major, you would have to break open the file and get it into the UDK if I'm not mistaken, the former of which is illegal, and the latter having the problem of distributing it. And as mentioned, there will be nowhere to put these mods into action.

[Synther1]

Zero said:

The_Silencer said:

The possibility of modding the entire set of mechanical wave-sounds of the mechas looks as something cool and fun to me. Obviously we're talking about the client side; always.

Just an idea though.

The problem with this is that if you wanted to change anything major, you would have to break open the file and get it into the UDK if I'm not mistaken, the former of which is illegal, and the latter having the problem of distributing it. And as mentioned, there will be nowhere to put these mods into action.

Yeah...because there's never been a UT Engine game that's been modded before.....

So, just because you can't think of a way to implement any mods (new custom maps, custom mechs, custom sounds) that means that nobody, anywhere, will be capable of putting said mods into action_  Wow...glad to know you are so in control.

[Zero]

That sounded sort of sarcastic, sort of hard to tell over the internet sometimes, so I'm sorry if I'm wrong in my reply.

Because it's not their engine, it should not be possible to make a way to mod (at least not in any major way, like entire maps or scripting or anything like that). You could do that if you released the engine and made a way to distribute those mods throughout the community ingame, like the SC2 Galaxy Editor. However, they do not have the former, so the latter is not possible. If you could however, make mods using the UDK, I don't see them releasing an ingame distributor (this is a mech combat game first after all), so you would have to find somewhere to post your mods, then people would have to manually download and install each mod. Take Cortex Command for example, an indie game written in Lua, there are mods, and you can go to their forums to get mods. But in actual gameplay, there won't (it's still in alpha/beta) be any using of the mods as that would sort of break the game, especially since this is a multiplayer only title. If you want to mess about in custom games and make machinimas and such, that's fine, but it won't affect supported gameplay.

[shaken]

I'm sorry Zero, but Hawken will be a PC game, so it will be modded.  How easy the devs make it for the modders is another question.  Just because a game is built using a commercial engine doesn't mean it can't be modded.

[Zero]

It might just as easily not be a PC game. And with it being a mainly multiplayer game, the devs will have to keep modding out of at least the multiplayer portion of the game. Obviously, if someone could just boot the game up in the UDK then mess with the files so that his/her rocket launcher did 100 times the normal damage, then that would really screw things up. Not that it would work of course, since having people with completely different files coming into the same game would be awkward. On top of that, they would most likely work with their own servers, meaning that you would have to physically hack them in order to change anything player-base wide.

[The_Silencer]

If that has to be somehow a risk from an anti-cheating standpoint then I've said nothing.

However, I've found fun the possibility of a custom set of SFX for the mechas on the client side.

During many years, I have been a modder as well. I come from the RTS genre so balancing and anti-cheating efforts are a must. Anti-cheating on the engineering side of the things. And balancing constantly deserves prioritized efforts until the game hit the "streets".

The only problem I do see is if the SFX are compressed into some propietary format as you has mentioned above. I do not know on whether the later applies or not though. I've not checked the intrincacies of this engine.

[Zero]

I also have not looked into the engine as much as I will in the coming weeks (as soon as the my family's main computer finishes RAIDing and backing up the last 7 TBs of info, I intend to download the UDK beta client), but I highly doubt you can just upload someone elses game and mess with it. From a copyright standpoint you might be messing with the files and then re-releasing it as one problem (not to say that other forms of pirating don't exist), and since it's being built in UE3, you would have to use UE3 to modify the files, this doesn't even come with the game, and getting it into the UDK wouldn't be possible either, since you don't open an application within another application, and you don't have access to the files that make the game up (for those copyright statements mentioned above). So from this information, I'm going to make this ASSUMPTION that Hawken will not be moddable.

[The_Silencer]

Well. As I said, that was just an idea.

[ShamblerBishop]

Eh_ UE3 is one of the most moddable game engines out there, and the UDK provides the full toolsuite you need to mod the game.
If the devs of Hawken are using the UDK, they >can not< disable the editor or script compiling etc., because they can't change the .exe.

In short, Hawken will most definitely be moddable, with or without dev support.

[Zero]

Yes, there will always be ways to modify files, whether by hacking or official means. But either way, it will not be possible to use these mods in official play (legally) as one, you wouldn't be using the same files as someone else, and two, distributing it would be a pain unless you yourself had the UDK (assuming this does work), and then you would have to do it yourself, as otherwise you would have to download a modded copy/files, which would be pirating.

[ShamblerBishop]

You don't have to redistribute any original Hawken content; create your own code/models/textures/maps etc. and distribute those.

Even if you use Hawken stuff in your maps etc., the actual Hawken content is not included in the map, it is just referenced so it can be loaded from Hawken's packages.

[Tetragrammaton]

Couldent we just do mods like new maps and such, which yes, it could be done, which is server based, as you would be distributing the mods as seperate part of the game rather than redistributing the entire game itself_

Though personally, I think the devs could get alot more support if they supported the mod community to let the game evolve even more.

Thats just me though, and I will respect the devs position on this topic either way.

[SoberAddiction]

In answer to your question, yes. I'm pretty sure you can mod the SFX in the game when it is released on the PC. Or at least set up your own soundtrack for it. What Zero is failing to understand is that the sound files are kept client side and there are more than likely no checks on file size for the SFX. And as for distributing a SFX mod to every user, why the hell would anybody want to do that Zero_ I know you're not talking about SFX mods when you made the comment, but that was the question that The_Silencer asked that started this. Why go off topic_

[3leggedFreak]

Unreal games have been moddable for ages, can't see why this must be different. If they just ship the editor with the game as all UT games have we can start tweaking this as we wish both for online and offline use. If the devs allow it oc. :]

[Mech Mechanic]

Thinking on Hawken makes me think on this.



It's practically the same. Both are works of geniuses.

[KellAset]

I just hope that this game will be good enough to deserve to get some mods and that it will have community big enough so we could see those mods being made. Look at Mechwarrior games, last part long after release was/is getting still a lot of attention from fans, additional maps/mechs/weapons etc.