New Member & Have Random Mod Idea Thread

I'm a very new member to MODDB and am interested in creating a mod. It will use the SAGE Engine and be modded from C&C Generals Zero Hour. My knowledge in modding, code or computer graphical art is limited so feel free to tell me it won't work, because I have no one yet that could be able to do such things currently. Here are some ideas I have for a mod.

Setting:
The mod is planning to be a total conversion of Zero Hour. It will change the setting into 1899-1902 in the Second Boer War. The use of aircraft or naval units will not be seen. It is all land based except for the British Scout Balloon. Map wise I aim to replicate some famous battles of the war. I will take a look into these. No campaign planned yet. It will focus on infantry and mounted units in particular.

Armies:
There would be two armies. The two armies are the British Empire and the Dutch Boers. The British Empire contains international units but mainly focuses on Britain and Australia. They use numbers and conventional tactics a lot. The Dutch Boers are more stealth based and rely on hit and run based tactics a lot.

Units:
A couple of units I have the idea of implementing are listed below:

British Empire:
-Infantry Rifleman: Standard infantry soldier. Carries .303 rifle. Can reveal stealth but has a short reveal range.
-Maxim .303: .303 machine gun. Must deploy to fire and can lay down impressive barrages of fire against infantry and mounted units. Much faster rate of fire compared to the single shot or bolt actioned rifles of the rifleman.
-Mounted Rifle: A rifleman mounted on a horse. Much faster than infantry, however his rifle is inaccurate unless dismounted. Dismounting converts the unit into a rifleman who can mount the horse later to return to mounted rifle. Has short reveal range.
-Officer: Gives fire rate bonuses to nearby units and improves their effectiveness in combat. Armed with a MkII Revolver. Ineffective at fighting and must be protected. Can reveal stealth.
-Combat Medic: Medic that when close to units allows them to self heal at a slow rate. Unarmed.
-Scout Balloon: The Scout Balloon has a very large sight range and can detect stealthed units. It is the only flying unit in the game. It is very lightly armoured and a few rounds from ground troops will easily bring it down.
-Marksman: Long range sniper. Carries a .303 rifle and has been trained to use it with much deadlier accuracy than a standard rifleman. Will kill infantry in one shot but has a very slow rate of fire.
-Bushveldt Carbineer: Guerrila warfare unit. Travels relatively quickly for a foot soldier and carries a .303 rifle. He has a good sight range and is fairly skilled with his rifle. Stealthed on the ground or can mount a horse to lose his stealth for mobility. Is an arsonist and can set fire to or destroy enemy buildings. Will unstealth whilst sabotaging buildings or shooting.
-Royal Engineer: Can build and repair buildings. Can also construct garrisonable defenses such as Redoubts, Trenches, Forts or Machine Gun Nests.
-Scout: Just a stealthed infantry unit. Armed with a .303 rifle but is much considerably lesser with it than a rifleman. He can reveal stealth and has a good sight range.

Dutch Boers:
-Boer Rebel: Standard infantry. Carries a Mauser rifle. Considerably lesser than the British Rifleman but cheaper. Also has a short stealth reveal radius.
-Maxim-Nordenfelt 'Pom Pom': Deployable machine gun. Much slower rate of fire than the Maxim .303 but much harder hitting and faster to move around. Very effective against infantry and Scout Balloons.
-Mounted Boer: Serves a similar role to the Mounted Rifle but is faster and more accurate when firing. Can be dismounted to further increase accuracy.
-Commander: Serves a similar role to officer. Unarmed but is faster and reveals stealth over larger distances.
-German Missionary: An unarmed missionary. Comes with a doctor and nurse and can heal units much faster than the Combat Medic. Can also lower effectiveness of enemy units by lowering morale through his words. Will not be fired upon by enemy units. Expensive unit.
-Sharpshooter: Boer sniper. Carries Mauser and has a very long range, and kills infantry with 1 hit. Can hide himself to make him stealthed and immobile, but will reveal his position whilst firing and takes time to set up.
-Commando: The Boer Commando is one of the most fearful infantry units. Carries a Mauser. Can be mounted and comes with a horse. Can also dismount. Can sabotage enemy buildings but his most effective way of fighting comes from the fact he can set ambushes. When given time an ambush option can be used. Takes time to set up but stealths the unit/s using it (including very large armies) and these units get improved range and rate of fire but are immobile. The reason why the Bushveldt Carbineers were created.
-Civil Engineer. Constructs buildings, defenses and special defenses. Special Defenses are stealthed and can also serve other roles rather than just defense.

A couple of buildings planned:
British Empire:
-Barracks: Constructs non mounted infantry.
-Stable: Constructs mounted units and later the feared Commando or the clever Bushveldt Carbineer depending on what side you play.
-Supply Depot: Construct supply gatherers (thinking of making them wagons or maybe give the Engineers the ability of gathering supplies.) These are a source of money though there may be others implemented as well. Also allows the building of monetary support centers.
-Field Hospital: Allows construction of Combat Medics and contains upgrades to improve the armour and health of units.
-Commanding Structure: Allows construction of officers and commanders. Also allows usage of special abilities and gives access to radar.
-HQ: Starting structure. The heart of a base and allows construction of Engineers and is essential to your strategy early on as it can use some smaller abilities.

That's all I have planned for now. More might be on the way. So what do you all think? Should I quit now and save my feelings or go forth with plans for such a mod? This is my first big mod idea and the first one I actually might have enough dedication and motivation to make.

Everything is posible if you code it and change it that some people will say hardcore...If QSN could modifie CNC:G:ZH graphic and effect then its very posible to modifie engine...But you need to have SDK or Source code of engine...

Also came up with some more ideas, such as more units like the 'Pom-Pom' automatic cannon, the 'Long Tom' long range howitzer, the armoured maxim cart, lancers and some other stuff.

the ideas are good, but i dont think they will catch on, people are never interested in Britians 'small' wars. It dissapoints me that people feel like this. Either way i wish you the best of luck.

Maybe i can offer some ideas and historical help if you do actually go with it.

I am interested in going forth with it, and I have downloaded the SAGE SDK and taking a look into what I know of ZH to see what I could do with it. Personally I like the Boer War, and I find it quite interesting. I don't know about others but I wouldn't bother putting all this effort into it if I don't think I would get anywhere. What else might I need to start getting things set up to make such a game?

Well practically, you need the right tools, if you have the sage SDK then youve made a start, might be wise grabbing photoshop or gimp, most importantly your going to want tutorials, so have a look on youtube for some.

Long term, your going to need somewhere a team can share their work with eachother, ie a forum or something, your also going to want a website too.

Your going to need, a couple of modellers/skinners and an animator, a level designer or two, and most importantly a coder. Might also be worth having a Sound techy about.

I dont think ive missed anything, but could of!!!

I have an animator and modeller in mind, but his knowledge of it is also limited to some extent. I have photoshop myself. Sound tech I know a bit about and a friend of mine can also help. As for getting a website that would take some time.

hmmm, setting up forums is piss easy, websites are a bit more difficult. I have a lot of websites to do right now, however in the future (a couple of months) depending on how far you've progressed, i might be willing to make you a website!

As long as you make a seperation between Infantryman and Rifleman in the British Army :-p

Hmmm could always make a rifleman who carries a Lee-Metford and then an upgrade that turns him into an infantryman with a Lee-Enfield, I wouldn't mind such an upgrade due to historical accuracy, simplicity and effectiveness I imagine. I don't know much about making websites though, nor do I have the program to do so. I would prefer to get Macromedia Dreamweave for that.

a rifleman and infantryman carry the same weapon, its just in the British army back then, they had different jobs, an infantryman would of been line infantry (formed up in platoons and companies) and a rifleman was a skirmisher.

Like i say, a i can do the flash for you, in a month or two. Forums are easy to set up without any tools.

I will look forward to that. Still don't know fully if I would be able to proceed with it but I'm getting a lot of ideas, more than I have ever seen for any random mod idea of mine and it quite interests me the sort of topic and originality of this idea.

Also my friend and I are getting together to discuss this idea, and I'm going to show this page to him. He doesn't have a profile here though and his knowledge is also limited.

Hmm, If you put Iraq and USA, I might join.
Or just USA.
Anyways, I would like to join the Team if you will make it.

Cheers,
Flot

OH!
It's a War between...
1899-1902...
So, Screw what Flotsam (Me) Said.
Still want to join with your Permission.

-SWAT

Sure just send me a PM of what you can do and you will be considered.

I can do voice acting, sound tech, website design, AND forums. Also, your mod sounds awesome! Sounds a bit like an older version of Company Of Heroes!!!

Sure, contact me about it.

Yes Def great idea, good luck on this man

Hendrix, could you please tell me how to add images to your sig like you have?Thanx