Below is the text:
An Open Letter to Taleworlds
Why does Total-Overhaul Mod Development not have access to Custom Servers, and how can Multiplayer Mod Teams work on Custom Servers?
Preface
This Open Letter is a direct response to the "Future Plans" article published by Taleworlds, which does not include any effort to clarify their plans for future modding support for multiplayer mods. It is a kind of solidarity letter opened in order to eliminate the concerns of mod projects, who aim to make "multiplayer" content, to find solutions to this issue. We expect cooperation from Taleworlds and hope that together we will find the best solution to our concerns, which will benefit us all.
QUOTE by Callum on November 3, 2020
Many in the mod communities are aware of the fact that Taleworlds has a smaller team working on MP, and we fully understand Taleworlds' development effort on this and look forward to it.
Quote from the Future Plans section that Callum stated on August 17, 2021.
The Main Problem
Total-Overhaul Mod Development teams trying to develop Multiplayer mods and related content in the Modding Community are doing their best to work with the tools made available in Bannerlord and we don't want our efforts to be in vain, as we've made clear on the forum. But unfortunately, our concerns were not understood and no progress has been made in this regard.
Currently, mod teams cannot make adequate progress on the multiplayer aspects within the modules they have created, and they are worried that their work will be unsuccessful on the currently non-existent servers, even if they continue to troubleshoot this issue.
The most important concern of Mod Communities is uniforms, weapons, animations, accessories, etc. that they have made for their modules. It's a matter of whether "Custom Servers" will support mod content (custom assets) and how they will perform when introduced.
Some aspects of Multiplayer mods can be tested using battle scenes in Custom Battle or Sandbox Campaign for Singleplayer, but features related to server communication cannot be created, tested, and implemented unless Custom Servers are included.
If simultaneously, work in the absence of Custom Servers experiences performance degradation, then revising the work in the projects is also a waste of time. And all uniforms, weapons, etc.(custom assets) It will also cause a delay in revising other important content.
After following the development of Bannerlord for a while now, we have growing concerns about the success of this endeavour/project. Mount and Blade at its core was always based on very simple premises and mechanics, which gave the player a great amount of freedom concerning the implementation of their personal vision for the game, since it was at the same time a very flexible and universal base for realising a vast amount of modifications. This enabled a vast amount of diversity between different modules, that certainly led to the longevity of the communities so long after the releases.
We believe TaleWorlds understands that the modding community has been one of the primary drivers of success for the franchise, especially long term. This is apparent in the community messaging. The response to the earlier open letter has resulted in many positive changes to benefit the modding community.
Meanwhile, the developers and fans of multiplayer modifications are beginning to feel disregarded and marginalized. We understand that single player is the primary focus of the game at this time, however even the simplest essential tooling and information is still unavailable to us. Beginning to involve the multiplayer modding community sooner rather than later can help to give the multiplayer aspect of Bannerlord a bit of focus and feedback which it sorely needs, without having to dedicate too many resources within the company.
How TaleWorlds Can Resolve These Problems
The way to solve this is actually very simple. There are several solutions for this.
- Re-enable the "Create a Game" function in the main or beta branches of the game.
Since the community knows the Create a Game function is already implemented and works, and it is also got released/leaked unintentionally multiple times during the Beta and EA process and patched immediately. We believe this only hurts the modding community and causes ridiculous conspiracy theories between players and that hurts Taleworlds and the Community.
Source: Patch Notes 1.4.0 thread in Official Taleworlds forum May 21, 2020
https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?threads/patch-notes-e1-4-0.423227/page-3
We know Taleworlds is gathering data from played games and they gather information about player picked perks, classes server crash rates etc. and enabling Create a Game function on the main branch could lead Taleworlds to gather wrong information.
While it could affect multiplayer development badly, we believe Taleworlds could re-enable "Create a Game" function in the already created beta branches, or create a beta branch just for modding, which means the official Multiplayer development is unaffected. This would only require minimal maintenance by Taleworlds. Therefore we believe it will be better to have this ability enabled in a beta branch or a Branch that is like a perf_test branch solely for the purpose of mod development and testing.
In addition, we believe that this solution will be beneficial for the entire community and Taleworlds. Currently, the multiplayer aspect of the beta branch serves little to no purpose, as beta servers are almost never available. Enabling the Create a Game function allows players to more easily test features in the current beta branch. This is useful for tournaments like B.E.A.S.T, so they can prepare themselves for the upcoming patch, and can also be used to catch bugs like the Sound of Doom before they reach the main branch.
- Release the server files for public use.
While we believe this solution is unlikely, as Taleworlds has previously stated that the server files would not be released until after the full release of the game, releasing the server files would allow multiplayers mods to start proper development. Subsequent updates to the files would likely cause issues, but this is also the case for Singleplayer mods currently in development, and they have managed to work with this.
Create “Special Custom Servers” for Mod Communities or open Mod Module within the dedicated Taleworlds Servers.
These would essentially be custom servers hosted by Taleworlds themselves, to which mod teams would have access through an SFTP client like Filezilla. This has several benefits:
- Servers would still be in Taleworlds’ direct control. This means they don’t have to worry about players maintaining older versions of the game, and means Taleworlds could still use data from these servers for their metrics.
- Mod teams and tournaments can use this architecture to create their mods or events without having to wait for the full release of files. This means multiplayer mods can be created earlier in Taleworlds’ lifespan, and tournaments/events can help bolster the amount of players in multiplayer.
Add-on "LAN Connection" into Mod Tools for Mod Communities, which makes Taleworlds "Multiplayer" development directly
We believe that this will be very good for Mod Communities that have an initiative like Multiplayer, because they can test and experience the work they have created within their own modules better with "Local Area Connection", again with their friends who have the same module. But we have doubts about how Mod Tools will perform in this regard.
TLDR - It would be better for our work if Taleworlds were to provide special servers to Mod Communities by making improvements related to our direct request.
Why are "Custom Servers" important to Mod Communities?
Because we have unique needs within the Mod Community and we want these needs to be met for us to be successful. We need custom servers in order to successfully work on Multiplayer content.
To be successful in our efforts, we will use these "Mod Custom Servers" for testing content, as previously mentioned, from our projects. If this is not possible, then we will have to test it with the people in our mod using "Local Area Connection" and prepare our works as planned.
We also fully understand the decisions and concerns that Taleworlds is currently making in the "Early Access" phase and in the Mod Community. We also understand your decision regarding company policy and "Custom Servers" in the development process, but for us the importance of the Mod Community lies in being able to successfully test the Mods we develop, so please reconsider your decisions.
Sincerely and respectfully,
Sword & Musket
The Deluge II: With Fire & Sword
Bretwalda - Divided Kingdoms
The Kingdoms of Alantia
Bannerlord CO-OP
Mount & Warcraft Reborn
Hundred Years War
The Old World
Full İnvasion 3
Trial of the Seven Kingdoms
La Commune de Paris
Eagle Rising
In the name of Jerusalem II
Mount & Blade Third Crusade
Koryos
Vikings Storm
Kingdom Come
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