There are challenges beyond this unusual focus on mod accoutrements.
The majority have instead opted to “completely change the type and direction of their current work.” Like Efe, they’re preparing models, music and branding – everything that will contribute to the mod except the code itself – without any means to incorporate their hard work into the game. Just at the cost of hours of digging.” A WIP dragon for Silmarillionįrom what Marko’s seen, most modders are steering well clear of this backbreaking approach. If it doesn't, we move on until later.” Though punishing, the process is at least effective: “We are able to achieve a lot of our vision, sure.
Once we figure it out, we try to edit it. He explains, “Everyone deep dives into the project, trying to figure out how something works.
According to "CouldntDeal", the leader of Stormlight Archive (a mod based on the Brandon Sanderson fantasy novel series of the same name) the strategy is simple but gruelling. With Bannerlord, by contrast, “even casual players can quickly edit surface elements to their liking.”īut without tools, more complex coding is only possible through experimentation, persistence and trial and error.
He says that in Warband the ground floor was much higher: it could only be modded through janky workarounds and hacks. "Marko", a Warband modder and moderator on TaleWorld’s modding forum, says Bannerlord has brought in a wave of “newcomers and enthusiasts” looking to cut their teeth personalising the game. This energy is reflected in the community as a whole. “It’s a good time for projects because it’s the first days, so everyone’s just getting to know one another.” “It’s all about the creation of a core team, building something that will function continuously over time,” Efe tells me. “There are many aspects of game development that take place outside the engine, and they take time.”Įxcitement in the group’s Discord is high, with new members joining each day and modders from other teams popping in to say hello. “It kinda forces us to focus on the world and narrative more than we otherwise would,” Efe says. They’ve been fleshing out characters, planning quests and compiling an exhaustive glossary of Tolkien-y vocab. The waiting period is giving Efe and his team the opportunity to breathe life into the land of Middle-earth (prior to that business with the scary jewellery). So all teams are focused on artwork, world building, game design, narrative – trying to get it all pinned down.” A piece of teaser art for Silmarillion “We can still reverse-engineer TaleWorlds’ files to access the code and mod in a less orthodox way,” Efe explains, “but it’s nothing till we get the tools. As the more technical work is a no-go, his team is pouring all its efforts into pre-production instead. One project leader, "Efe", says he’s been planning his Tolkein-inspired Silmarillion mod since before Bannerlord was even announced. So instead of twiddling their thumbs waiting for the right equipment to come their way, they’re mobilising: forming ambitious projects and getting to grips with a game that, despite its many similarities to Warband, presents very different challenges once you lift the hood. In spite of this, many have decided to roll up their sleeves and just get started – tools be damned.īannerlord has been hotly anticipated for years, and its modding community is raring to go.
Without these tools, not due until the game’s full release, there’s no easy way to access Bannerlord’s internal scripting language and make changes.
Modding a game that’s in early access is a bit like trying to ice a cake before its baked, and Bannerlord’s fans don’t even have a spatula – by which, of course, I mean official modding tools – to work with.
The biggest mods are some way off, however. There’s every reason to expect great things from its sequel: whereas Warband’s modders had to make do with a system not designed to be altered, Bannerlord is being built from the ground up with modding in mind. After all, Mount and Blade is famous not for tweaks but for immense overhaul mods that completely transform the game, transporting us to our favourite fictional worlds and historical periods. But this is just a taste of what’s to come. We’ve already been blessed with a bounty of minor Bannerlord mods: there are hundreds of ways to tweak, alter and optimise your experience, and the option to turn your character into a sword-swinging, death-dealing toddler is not to be sniffed at. Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord has only been around for a few months, but that’s plenty of time for modders to have a good tinker.