Hey everyone,


First, I wanted to say that I truly appreciate the candor and honesty in this latest roundtable, and quite frankly I love these roundtables and was happy to see this specific one dedicated to the C&C mod scene.

Overall, I agree with most of the opinions and I don’t mind that some are harsher than others. What I found encouraging is that everyone is still very optimistic about the C&C mod scene. What I primarily took away was the following:


- Making Maps for C&C 3, Generals, Zero Hour has a basic learning curve if one is willing to take the time to learn. The difference between a good map maker and a great map maker however is very widespread and takes a more advanced understanding of WorldBuilder, and experience. We cannot make WB like Blizzards Map Editor, but on the flipside, Worldbuilder gives YOU the ultimate power to make maps just like us. We deal with the same challenges in house. I agree we should consider in the future ways to make it more 'novice', or a 'novice' version for example.

- The C&C 3 MOD SDK is powerful, very powerful, but it has a very steep learning curve. It’s also noted that building assets and the file sizes are an annoyance as compared to Generals and Zero Hour ease of us, but this has greater positive effects due to how we have modified our engine to work/load faster.

- The C&C 3 MOD SDK learning curve is too steep for anyone who has zero knowledge of modding in the past. Documentation is deep and it’s very hard to break into.

- The C&C 3 MOD SDK needs more technical information and examples. You guys would like more source files to compare and contrast to, and learn from us. Single Player XML source files and more unit models are the most requested.

- In general, the C&C MOD scene is at a standstill, it is not growing, but I don’t believe it is declining. Right now, MidEast Crisis 2 and Asylum are the two biggest projects on the horizon, both of which crowd over any other C&C 3 mod attempting to get some eyes on it. Modding past C&C games still has tons of life (i.e. TAKTICS).

- You guys want the MOD SDK for Red Alert 3 at launch. I get it and will work my butt off to see if we can pull that off.

- You guys want better mod exposure and support - whether in the form of more documentation, files, website exposure, and contests. I absolutely get that. The primary problem here for me has always been resources. I am a one-man show as you guys all know and I only recently got approval to hire a contract assistant. I’ll be on the hunt over the next two months, but it will help greatly. And in June, I may get some much needed help on the mod scene, just in terms of keeping all eyes on it, helping to answer questions, etc. So, help is on the way, but I still have to keep my head above water and manage everything on my own. I want you guys to know I will keep trying to expose the mod scene. Hopefully you will see greater improvements of that immediately this month and next.

- Kane’s Wrath MOD SDK…not a critical priority aside from the fact that people want the APC change. I will look into it. That said, I would rather focus energy on fixing the critical issues with KW Worldbuilder, and providing any further assistance for the C&C 3 MOD SDK. A KW MOD SDK I agree is needed, however I argue that modders need to keep focusing on their current projects and not keep starting new ones. I would rather help the current mods in production see through to the finish line. I think that is critical. Kane’s Wrath arguably is one big mod for C&C 3, yes there are features modders would like, but ultimately, it’s all new content and not a completely new game with tons of new code features, aside from a lot of the new customization features and Global Conquest Mode. To that extent, I think modders should continue focusing on the big projects for C&C 3 and during that time I will keep pressing to see if we can update the MOD SDK for Kane’s Wrath. We want to do it, but our resources are limited and I want to make sure they are focused on the most critical things.



I challenge each of you to e-mail me a simple list of how we can make modding for Red Alert 3 stellar at launch. What should be upgraded to the MOD SDK? What should be done to Worldbuilder? If you guys want to bind together and submit one document, that would be awesome.


Best as always,

APOC