Homeworld 2 : Articles
HW2 Modding interview
We all know that IC shipped with some pretty awesome modding tools and documentation. I recently got the chance to conduct an interview with Relic regarding what we can expect from them when it comes to HW2 modding tools and support. So without further ado…
…
1. What kind of tools and documentation are you potentially looking to release to the modding community via RDN?
As with Homeworld, we will be releasing specs for all of our formats. We’ll also prepare documentation for many of the LUA scripting language file formats we use. Mod groups will be able to tune the data shipped with the game through the release of un-compiled LUA data files. In addition we will be releasing many of our tools used to create our various HW2 file formats. These include:
- Effects tool
- Spreadsheets used for tuning ship, resources, weapons and effect events
- Archive tool for packaging mods for easier distribution and more efficient loading
- Texture converter for Homeworld2 custom format - so some users can have faster loading times for their textures. TGA and DDS file format can be converted to work with HW2.
- Font creator and more…
And plug-ins for Maya (3.0) that include:
- Background Tool of the Gods V2.0
- Exporter for creating ships, asteroids, megaliths and other objects
- NIS (Non-Interactive Sequence) exporter
- Level exporter
2. What’s the primary tool being used in the development of HW2? Will it be required to create a mod?
The primary tool being used in development of HW2 is Maya 3.0, and the assorted custom tools that we’ve written for it. Yes, Maya will be required to create mods. However, we realize that a lot of people may not have access to Maya and we are currently trying to work with Alias to release our Maya tools for Maya PLE (Personal Learning Edition).
3. Will the tools that will be released be on par with the tools that were released for IC?
Not quite. We didn’t have the resources to devote to our Mod system that IC had. Also, HW2 will not support code mods like IC does. We support most of the data mods that IC supports, however.
4. What kind of mods do you think people will be able to create using the tools that will be released?
- Users will be able to create the following sorts of mods:
- Badges: Included for completeness.
- Backgrounds: Includes level lighting information, background textures, stars and background megaliths
- Multiplayer levels: Levels that ship with the game will be easily modifiable, creating new levels will require Maya
- Ships: This will include changing the guns, creating new animations, tuning of behaviours, creating new effects… etc.
- Weapons: This goes along with the ship mods. New ships need new weapon types.
- Megaliths and other objects: Similar to ships from the point-of-view of the gaming engine.
- NIS’s: Non-Interactive Sequences will be distributable with single-player mods.
- Effects: The most basic effects will be the spawning of a pre-defined particle system. More advanced mod groups would be scripting up really fancy special effects using our supplied effects tool. This would be quite useful for anyone who creates a new ship or does an ‘unlicensed’ mod and wants to get all the Star Trek effects in the game.
- New single-player levels or campaigns: If the user can create a multiplayer map, she can create a single player map. We’ve combined them into one. Single player maps generally require a bit of scripting to be playable. With a lot of scripting, they can be really fun! Multiple missions can be defined to create a campaign. Single-player will generally require a custom campaign file to integrate NISs, new win/lose conditions and animatics. More ambitions SP Campaign mods would be distributed as Command-Line mods with a custom install process to insure that the front-end stylistically matches the in-game experience.
- Computer players: New computer player behaviours can be defined and existing ones tuned. This will generally be needed for new multiplayer game types.
- New multiplayer game styles: Since multiplayer games use script code, the user could create new styles of game play using our scripting system. To implement capture the flag, for example, they could keep track of who has the various flags and declare a winner when the game is won. Because this may require tuning of MP options, we will be providing specific support for this type of mod in our MP game setup screen.
- Front-end screens: Given that our FE screens are totally data driven, it would be possible for mod groups to create new screens. For the out-of-game Front-end, this would have to be done as a Command-Line mod.
5. How much more modable will Homeworld 2 engine be as compared to Homeworld 1 engine? How about as compared to Impossible Creatures engine?
HW2 will be WAY more modable than the Homeworld engine. Most of our engine is very data-driven and we make use of a flexible scripting system (Lua) throughout. Additionally, we are providing specific mod support in the form of command-line mods and game-type mods. Our tools are also much more powerful and user-friendly than the ones used for Homeworld.
Compared to ICPC, we will support most of the same types of mods. There are three main areas where we fall short of ICPC in terms of mod support:
- We do not support code mods
- Some of our tools are not as user friendly.
- You cannot select mods from within the game, except for game type mods. More intensive mods will need to be invoked as a command-line option.
…
Thanks to Relic for taking the time out of their busy schedule to answer our questions!
Last updated by Pike on 06.09.2003