Hearts of Iron IV - Development Diary 52 - Modding

[Snow Wolf]

I felt like pressing "Helpful" just isn't enough, but I'm speechless

 

[Axe99]

A question for Podcat/Havebeard, but no need to answer unless easy (I'll have a look once HoI4's out), but some of the things I was keen on trying to get happening were:

- Ships having some kind of fuel/supply/anything consumption (just some kind of cost). Am curious about aircraft as well, but my main focus is on ships atm.
- If possible, for this cost to be variable (increasing with age/circumstances).
- Have attrition of equipment (for naval, air and land units) vary by movement/supply/combat/weather.

And am curious as to the chances for it, but not the end of the world if not possible.

 

[Guraan]

Oooh, nice. are those country specific hooks mainly for units, or are they potentially for things like tech/UI as well? No need to answer, but interested if you can/feel like it .

They are used a bit here and there but mostly for graphical appearance and text. That is interface textures and naming, the purpose of it is to have different flavor of things that are the same for each country gameplay wise.
Ex:
* Naming and textures used for techtree interface are using the system for both of them for appearance.
* The construction system do not use it as it is but it has support for it at least when it comes to naming, you could easily rename the generic "Trade Goods" for GER (and germany only) to "Sauerkraut" just by adding something like 'GER_TRADE_GOODS: "Sauerkraut"' (where default 'TRADE_GOODS: "Trade Goods"') in the localization files.
etc...

I'm almost more excited about that -debug flag than I am about all the other modding features combined. Praise be to whoever is/are responsible for it making it out to modders .

Hahaha It is a team effort, we all agreed that moddability should always be one of the main focuses (if/when possible) when designing the different systems.

 

[Axe99]

* The construction system do not use it as it is but it has support for it at least when it comes to naming, you could easily rename the generic "Trade Goods" for GER (and germany only) to "Sauerkraut" just by adding something like 'GER_TRADE_GOODS: "Sauerkraut"' (where default 'TRADE_GOODS: "Trade Goods"') in the localization files.
etc...

That's pretty cool - thank you very much for the extra info . So, if I get this right, we could have Aluminum for the USA and Aluminium for the UK? (suggestion partly a joking reference to discussion of which spelling to use for it from a DD a ways back ).

Hahaha It is a team effort, we all agreed that moddability should always be one of the main focuses (if/when possible) when designing the different systems.

Praise be the whole team then . I reckon that debug flag will save many a modder from early graying .

 

[novapaddy]

Any support for having proxy wars, instead of the full-on ww2 type war?

I mean a war that is less than a war, like a border skirmish, with the country carrying on as if it is still at peace, since the war is in foreign lands or such small scale as not to matter much.

Any way to have submarines fire missiles for a modern day type mod?

Have you added any modern abilities to the game, which can be accessed by modders, in addition to the usual ww2 stuff.

Have you in any way future-proofed the game to allow modders to add modern day type units / abilities

Thanks

 

[Maizel]

I have no idea what this stuff means. But people seem to be happy. That probably means better mods for me to play.

So I'm gonna say, good job paradox!

 

[Guraan]

That's pretty cool - thank you very much for the extra info . So, if I get this right, we could have Aluminum for the USA and Aluminium for the UK? (suggestion partly a joking reference to discussion of which spelling to use for it from a DD a ways back ).

In theory yes, trade goods are a pseudo resource (loss of civilian production) so I cannot say if the "material" resources are country specific right now... But that is a <5min fix if they are not O

 

[tommylotto]

You can add more templates , like a smaller but not change existing or change what templates some units use. Understand that player might have several different templates for infantry or armor so there wouldnt be a way of targeting the right one.

Thanks for the feedback, but darn. I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed. I wasn't so much thinking about events changing the player's templates, but rather the AI controlled nation's templates. Such an event effect would really allow a modder to leverage one of the coolest features of HoiIV -- the ability to make changes to potentially hundreds of divisions by just changing the template and allowing the game mechanics to automatically adjust the manpower and equipment for you. I was hoping to give nations historically accurate OOB's for 1936 and then have their division structures change over time to be like the divisions that eventually fought in the war. For example, the US infantry divisions would start with four regiments but by the time the war rolls around they had three regiments, and later would add an independent tank battalion. Or Italian infantry divisions could start in 1936 with three regiments, be reduced to two regiments in 1938, then have two battalions of infantry (a legion of CCNN) added back in 1940. Or the early SS divisions starting out as modest brigades and morphing over time into bloated uber divisions by late war.

I am sure there will be work arounds, but changing a nation's template would have been a graceful way to do it. Thanks again.

 

[Ostheim]

Any support for having proxy wars, instead of the full-on ww2 type war?

I mean a war that is less than a war, like a border skirmish, with the country carrying on as if it is still at peace, since the war is in foreign lands or such small scale as not to matter much.

Any way to have submarines fire missiles for a modern day type mod?

Have you added any modern abilities to the game, which can be accessed by modders, in addition to the usual ww2 stuff.

Have you in any way future-proofed the game to allow modders to add modern day type units / abilities

Thanks

There is a Border War mechanic, it's used in the Chinese Civil War, should be able to apply it elsewhere

 

[TheDungen]

Seems great as long as we can still use the text editor too.

 

[Lord Cuddlesworth]

This makes me so happy! I can't wait to see what we'll be able to do with this!

Also, Black Icecream is the best.

 

[novapaddy]

There is a Border War mechanic, it's used in the Chinese Civil War, should be able to apply it elsewhere

OK Good, Thanks for the information.

I did ask podcat to keep in mind stuff for modern times, when the game was announced over 2 years ago, but I suppose his priorities were elsewhere. I just feel that if this kind of stuff was in the game, but in the background and only for use if modders required it, then HOI4 would definitely be a game that could be modded into something amazing.

 

[Novatheorem]

I would love if someone made a mod to spilt large cities into 4 or 5 different provinces eg. North Berlin, East Berlin, South, West, central etc. would really simulate the battles for cities as a much more part by part process of bitter fighting and resistance. [...]

Mods can do whatever you want them to do, but I'd not be too interested in that mod using the structure for HoI4, unless you could add an additional layer to the state/province structure. City "zones" would need to exist on a layer below the province level, in order for there not to be an immersion breaking use of artillery, for example. I could see a ton of issues with doing it in this version, but it wouldn't be a bad thing for Paradox to earmark for HoI 5, if they can add an additional layer to the game that's used in specific provinces (those historically large cities you were talking about).

$0.02.

 

[Secret Master]

We only have limited stuff like that unfortunatly so you need to hack around with events. Its something i would like to improve but its very technically difficult. We spent a week on suppoting dynamic tag changes but atm its much too unstable. I hope we can sort it out in the future. Just flag change is easier i guess.

Thanks for the honest answer. When I saw tech tree and NFs, I thought there might be problems with outright changing of tags.

The fact that you guys explored the issue but found it too unstable at the moment tells me that you want to see the same things, but there are other limitations in place.

I guess I'll dig up the old Kalmar Union flag from EU1 and make some custom events for Sweden, Denmark, and Norway and just roll with it.

 

[Jeremy971]

any_neighbor_country = {
    tag = GER
}

NOT =  { is_in_faction_with = GER }

This could instead be created as a scripted trigger which we would define in the scripted_triggers folder in the game files as the following:

is_neighbor_not_in_german_faction = {
    any_neighbor_country = {
        tag = GER
   }

   NOT =  { is_in_faction_with = GER }
}

 

[Tasmosunt]

Just flag change is easier i guess.

There's flag changing in HoI4? Is there also name changing?

 

[Razor]

Awesome DD! Thanks

 

[hansnery]

Turning Point 1989 for HOI4 confirmed.

 

[Orlunu]

They are used a bit here and there but mostly for graphical appearance and text. That is interface textures and naming, the purpose of it is to have different flavor of things that are the same for each country gameplay wise.
Ex:
* Naming and textures used for techtree interface are using the system for both of them for appearance.
* The construction system do not use it as it is but it has support for it at least when it comes to naming, you could easily rename the generic "Trade Goods" for GER (and germany only) to "Sauerkraut" just by adding something like 'GER_TRADE_GOODS: "Sauerkraut"' (where default 'TRADE_GOODS: "Trade Goods"') in the localization files.
etc...

So... I can have Japan fight for lolis instead of VP in the actual software instead of just in my head, now?

\o/

 

[Nelfe]

There's flag changing in HoI4? Is there also name changing?

Yes. Flag and name of a country change depending on the ideology of the country.