Recent content by seanparkerfilms

Fantastic! I've already put a good handful of hours into the Mac version and it's shaping up nicely. (Although there's lots of bugs, to be sure).

Some of the things I've noticed:
-Character body invisible/disappearing during character creation (I'm just a floating head)
-75% of the time, riders who get their horses killed go absolutely FLYING (well, sliding) to the edges of the map. Sometimes through walls during tournaments
-Really weird lighting glitches, like massive checkerboards, lines, or other weird shapes of light and shade that sometimes appear and fill up the landscape
-A couple times during night battles, a gigantic red silhouette of me on horseback appears in the sky, mimicking my motions

If helpful, I've got some video screen captures of most of the above issues, though I'm sure they're fairly common right now.

Thank you! Glad to hear it.

Mr Mohawk said:

I'm afraid I can't see the difference. It looks like my normal windowed mode.

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Take a look at the edges of the screen in that video -- particularly the corners. They have a slight distorted effect to them, like they've been stretched out a little bit and rotated outward.

The most noticeable thing to me is how things that used to be straight (or at least kind of straight like trees, walls, etc.) now look considerably more crooked than they used to unless you look at them totally straight-on. It might be a subtle effect to some and perhaps some people won't like it, but I think it actually gives a nice visual flair.

There's definitely more spatial awareness going on in this mod. Notice how you can see a little more of your readied weapon than before. That should give a rough idea of how widened the vision cone is now.

The really crazy thing that I can tell from this is that when using a crossbow, the zoomed-in mode gives you close to the same view of your weapon as not being zoomed-in without the mod. I'm not sure if that makes firing more difficult, but my guess would be not by much.

Holy cow! That looks incredible!

Um... Taleworlds? This would be really, really, really good for Mount & Blade. Really, really, really good...

Armagan said wider FOV would happen on the first page of this thread: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,80028.msg2069863.html#msg2069863

And yet... that was almost two years ago? Anyone know if anything actually happened, like a really subtle tweak, or has it never been improved after all? I still think it really could stand to benefit from a wider view, and it would be a whole lot better if the devs implemented it themselves.

I like Warband for it's bumped up visuals. But I have to agree, there was something about the original that felt really right to me.

One thing I preferred in the original, even though it's admittedly silly-looking, is the way your character's arm stretched out a bit when readying each directional strike. One handed attacks really had some range that has been scaled back a lot in Warband, and as someone who put about 20,000 kills into the original, the change is strikingly different. I understand why many will swear by Warband (it's really darn good!), but I have a soft spot for the original mechanics as well. Glad to hear I'm not alone.

Don Doggy said:

So somebody actually uses kinect?

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Well, hackers sure do! These things are getting modified in crazy ways by the boatload on a daily basis.

But I get what you mean, aside from the unsanctioned uses like this fine mod, Kinect has been pretty unsatisfying thus far. We'll have to give it time before we get some quality experiences with it. After all, developers are sure to get over the "we can make Wii-style shovelware in HD now!" phase sooner or later.

Very cool!

One thing that I would love to see in this system -- if it's even possible -- would be for Kinect to recognize all 4 block directions, with the arm gesture required for each one being a slight tweak of the matching attack movement. Please let me know if this indeed was in the video and I somehow missed it, but it would be really cool if while your arm was in one of the attack positions, say the overhead strike for example, to suddenly turn your wrist to hold the sword horizontal, quickly initiating the overhead block animation (yeah, there'd be some lag, but it'd be neato).

It's a great use of technology you've got going on here. Awesome work!

(All we need now is a Die by the Sword style sword-swinging mod that maps the exact position of your arm to dynamic unscripted 1:1 sword movements. I know this is probably completely impossible without reverse engineering the game, but it's a fun thought!)

Sword swings are 1:1? Do you mean within the existing 4-way attack system... or that you can freely move your arm about and the character matches you in game?

Lord Blueberry of Swadia said:

This is very much unlike cRPG tho, there is no leveling or anything, it's not an RPG, it's meant for Role Play which is an entirely diffrent thing. I don't think there's any roleplay whatsoever in cRPG, but i could be wrong.

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Yeah, cRPG was basically standard multiplayer except that you're crippled for the first several hours and don't stand a chance against the big guys. Not much room for role-playing at all, and it frankly was not much fun for me, not to mention the browser-based leveling was awkward.

But hey, don't say your mod isn't an RPG just because there's no leveling! Considering RPG stands for role-playing game, and the fact that most "RPGs" these days aren't anything but linear experiences with skill trees thrown in, the definition has lost its roots somewhat. This sounds like the purest form of RPG possible (and I mean that in the best way). Looking forward to it.

This sounds... really cool! This seems like just what I need to get back into multiplayer (when I get the chance). I tried the cRPG mod but it felt disjointed and ridiculously messy. Being able to play without installing mods is a big plus.

I hope your server stands the test of time!

Ramong said:

Would be a lot harder for modders to make mods to the game then ?

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SOOOOOOO much, yes. Thanks for bringing that up, because this would be a key area that would almost certainly get crippled. Nearly all console games have no mod support at all. The only game I've heard about this for was the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 3, but even then, I doubt the mods for that were as comprehensive as the kinds we see for Mount & Blade (they definitely weren't!). There's Little Big Planet, of course, but there's no real "modding" (programming) involved, as all the functionality comes straight from what it's designed to let you do.

I don't think it would be very easy for Taleworlds to pull off even allowing mod support on consoles (without creating an integrated, simple to use, full-fledged scenario/level/character/world editor), let alone modders learning how to program for a non-PC environment.

This is one of those crucial differences between the PC and console market -- PC games tend to gravitate toward being more complex games that aren't quite as streamlined, but allow for loads of potential with added value from mods, tweaks, and the like. Console games feel more like they're designed to be smooth, more polished, and somewhat simpler experiences. Even open world games like GTAIV and Red Dead Redemption keep things extremely user friendly and not too complicated. When games from PC go to consoles (or vice versa), it can be very, very obvious what the intended platform was supposed to be when you play the port.

So, if we ever saw Mount&Blade on consoles, there probably wouldn't be any mod support... but for a console-focused audience, it would hardly be a deal-breaker -- no one expects to get that. As long as the core gameplay and overall polish was strong, it could do OK on other platforms. But whether us PC faithfuls would be happy with it is another question entirely!

Orion said:

What will you do on consoles if your AI army just constantly charges the enemy, again and again, and gets slaughtered because you couldn't tell them to hold position?

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I'm not saying "hey! It's totally possible and they should make M&B on consoles," but a fairly decent fix for that issue would be to have a function to pause gameplay mid-battle, that brings up a radial command menu (think Mass Effect), possibly with some sub-menus, from which you can select your unit types and what action they ought to do. That would be a console friendly solution.

Also, beyond the in-battle commands, there really aren't many buttons. It's pretty bare bones! Attack, interact, jump, change weapons, aim/zoom, and block... and we don't need to use all four of the face buttons to perform different attacks -- why not have the right trigger be the "attack" button, like a left mouse click, and use it in conjunction with the way you're facing with the right thumbstick to perform the 4 various swings. Now, is that as accurate as a mouse?

No. I could see it taking some getting used to. And a heck of a lot of programming would be needed to make it function well. But plenty of console games that have PC counterparts exist and work just fine with similar controls -- not that they have a complex melee system, but the point is that Taleworlds could totally bring Mount&Blade to consoles if it were worth it for them. It is a really expensive venture though, and they'd probably have to build an entire new Mount&Blade game from the ground up. And as many have pointed out, they would need to bring a higher level of polish (slicker menu navigation, no bugs, and an engine overhaul) in order for console gamers and the industry as a whole to accept it.

It's interesting to think about. Not sure if I fully like the idea though.