my mod idea - needs some advice and help! Thread

Hi guys, I have been thinking about making a mod for a long time, and when I stumbled across the site I was very relieved as I have seen that the probs give the n00bs a lot of help, and I'm hoping that you guys can help me too :p

I have always been fascinated by WW2, and am very interested in making a mod about the war between Russia and Germany. I have an Russian uncle who fought in the Battle of Stalingrad and I would really like to recreate the battles of the "Great Patriotic War" as he calls it!

Obviously I don't know much about mods, and I'm hoping this has not been done (and completed) before. If it has I suppose its back to the drawing board :p . I just need to find this out before I plan it out.

Anyway I would be grateful if you could help me out, we were all n00bs once!

Many thanks - mr.spammer

Edited by: mr.spammer

mr.spammer wrote: I have an Russian uncle who fought in the Battle of Stalingrad and I would really like to recreate the battles of the "Great Patriotic War" as he calls it!

Sounds like a great name for a mod

mr.spammer wrote: Obviously I don't know much about mods, and I'm hoping this has not been done (and completed) before. If it has I suppose its back to the drawing board :p

There's Red Orchestra, a multiplayer UT2K4 mod set on the Eastern front during WW2.
But that doesn't mean you have to give up your idea.
You could either join the RO team (joining an existing mod is always a good idea for beginners), or create a *singleplayer* mod about the Eastern front.

Edited by: Fragvergnugen

I haven't had experience with UT2K4, and to be honest, I really would only like to work on a mod for HL2.

I know there was a mod called Eastern Front for CoD but for some reason that died...

Edited by: mr.spammer

It's a good idea. Fragvergnugen has a god point in that Red Orchestra has become immensely popular and focuses on the Eastern Front, but Stalingrad is practically a war in itself. It could create some really interesting games if you did it right. Get your ideas together and start mining for team members, but be sure to tell them you'd like to separate your mod from the rabble of WW2 mods out there.

This site is a great place to find help.

Edited by: EvilFish

Finding other team members seems like a daunting prospect! But believe me when I say that I am VERY commited to making this mod, so the only problem is that because I am a n00b, it would be hard to start a mod on my own. I was hoping someone else (it doesn't matter if n00b or pro) could start out with me. Where should I start then?

so committed you'll fund programmers?

Commitment is not about money, commitment is about staying with the mod and not giving up on it. I can't imagine funding a programmer for a free mod, that's crazy

Edited by: mr.spammer

hes saying that coders are a fucking hard thing to find and good ones are even harder. nowadays in a world full of mods(especially a mod for HL2 which is full of ideas atm) it is basically impossible to find a coder(which is why alot of mods fail, most mods that suceed are led by coders because they're the only thing that keeps mods going)

I know that it will be hard, and I will try to stay with this as much as possible, but I'm not stupid, I do know this won't be an easy task. But if I am negative at this point, it will have an even more certain chance of failing. I am so optimistic at this point that I can even say I will try learning myself. My dad knows C++ (well he's not exactly a gun at it), but he can teach me.

But anyway, surely I should not be bothering myself with coders at the moment?

Yeah I wouldnt worry about coders just yet. If I were you I would just get the whole mod planned out, even down to the smallest details. After that I would work on perhaps your mapping skills (mapping in Hammer is fairly user/n00b friendly if you find some good tutorials). Show people what your mod is all about and pimp that thing . If you can make the mod sound good enough and show people you are "for real" finding a dedicated team won't be as hard a process as you thing. Good luck with everything man!

spammer, check out my thread in mod discussion named "creating a source engine mod." it should really give you some ideas on where to start out with this whole business,

Thankyou very much guys, you are all very helpful to n00b modders. Just one more thing, should I do start my mod and pimp it about or should I get someone to help me? (only of course if anyone wants to )

How is this for first brief description?:

“The Great Patriotic War” is a single and multi-player World War 2 mod for Half-Life 2.

You will be able to play as either the Germans or the Soviets on the Eastern Front, based around three major campaigns; the Battle of Moscow, the Battle of Stalingrad and commending upon the Battle of Berlin.

Each campaign will contain five maps, all of which will be detailed factual sites of battles. Players will need to depend on tactics and arrangements to win each of the maps, and each online player will have their class decided by their score so far. Some maps will also include vehicles.

Maps have their own unique objectives, whether it be push the other team back to a certain point, advance to a certain point, blow up certain buildings, rescue PoWs, or just simply to destroy the opposing force.

Weapons and equipment will be realistic as will uniforms. Planned weapons are the M-38 and M-44 Carbines, the M-91 Sniper Rifle, submachine guns and more for the Soviets. Also planned are the Karabiner 98k, MP40 and the MP43 for the Germans and much more, of course not forgetting the anti-tank Panzerfaust.

If you are interested in making this mod in any areas, please PM me or email me at idioticwaster@yahoo.co.uk

I created a tutorial about this that should really help you out, especially since it's a Half-Life 2 thread. You can check it out here: Moddb.com

Don't try going for a realistic game, though, seeing as if you play as the Germans, that throws the realism out the window, seeing as you could win with them. lol. However, everything else seems fine. I'd love to see how you're going to make it different from other mods.

I'd suggest learning at least one skill that could really benefit the mod development process

I think I'm going to have to start again with a new idea! I posted it at the halflife2.net forums and they just flamed me! Apparently there are hundreds of other WW2 mods so I shouldn't bother!

Any thoughts on the matter?

mr.spammer wrote: I think I'm going to have to start again with a new idea! I posted it at the halflife2.net forums and they just flamed me! Apparently there are hundreds of other WW2 mods so I shouldn't bother!

Any thoughts on the matter?

My advice would be: don't let other people make the decisions for you.
If you think your idea is good, go ahead and turn it into a mod, no matter what other people say.
I'm still curious about your new idea, though.

OK then, but if all people are like that then I will not be able to get a team together, you catch my drift?

half-life2.net fucked me over they wouldnt let me post there

edit: just for your info one of my friends(whos latvian) grandpas hated russia so much that he fought for the germans just so he could kill osme russians

Edited by: embers.

Don't go to that site, then. If all they're going to do is brush your mod aside since it's about WW2, then they're not paying attention. Make sure you have a fresh new take on the genre, and go from there. You're bound to find a team that way. Remember that it takes quite long time to form an entire teamm. Hell, for me, it's been 5 months, and I could still do with a few more members

I don't think I can do this any more, I have just found a pretty much identical mod called Born Of War.

ah...well!

its multi player. If you make it single player that would make it stand out. I dont know many WWII mods that are single player most focus on multi player. which in my opinion is a bad Idea since how many multi player WWII mods will you play. there is only so much that you can do to make it different. so that means that every WWII MP mod will be trying to get the same audiance and most people will only play 1 to 2 WWII mp mods. On the other hand some one would have no problem playing every single sp WWII mod since each can be compleatly different.

WWII mods are really popular, and I'm interested in mr.spammers idea. It shows a perspective that you don't see a lot in WWII mods (at least I haven't). I offer to help you. I can make maps. To tell you the truth I just started to convert to Source Mapping. I'm getting used to it, which won't take that long. I'll help you on this if you decide to proceed with making this and if you'll let me. I will just need the historical information.

ok now Hp-P00nst3r is on the team, I need some modellers, skinners and texturers. Also, because I need the maps, weapons and characters to be accurate, I also need another person to help with research.
If you can help PM me thanks.

Edited by: mr.spammer