World in Flames III : Origins
A World War One era mod for Darkest Hour
Hello all. I’m proud and happy to announce a new mod for Darkest Hour.
Few of you ever heard about me since I never posted anything on Paradox boards until now. I’m not, however, without experience, as I modestly contributed to the French Mod 33 and the first two instances of the World in Flames mod by Fernando Torres. Last but not least, I had the privilege to take an active part in the development of Darkest Hour itself, for which I am thankful to the rest of the DH Team. Although I ceased to do more than occasionally giving my personal opinions when consulted, I’m still in touch with them.
History of the project
More than two years ago (in March 2014), Fernando Torres submitted Rhysaxiel (who, as far as I know, sometimes lurks here) and I his ideas about a World War One mod. By this time, project of an enhanced Mod 1914 for DH had been put asleep by its main developer Arturius, so such a project seemed justified and we quickly started theoretical work on it.
Fernando Torres’ main ideas were : focus on the European theatre, allowing for a new map with more provinces ; war goals, like in WiF2 ; armistices triggered by « national morale » rather than by fixed event conditions ; a different organisation for tech trees.
To this, I added several ideas that have been considered for implementation in DH and not retained for various reasons, or simply planned for future versions. This included a refined mobilization system, more decision-driven sliders, a modular system for building divisions (ersatz of a division builder), and so on.
Having no pressure to finish the mod quickly, and being confident in the DH community’s long term endurance, we took the time to refine the various designs we wanted to include in the mod. Actual modding did not start before one year has passed, and progressed slowly, depending on our free time.
By now (July 2015), the work is advanced enough to plan an open alpha release for, let’s say, the following months (for my part, I target September, but I prefer not to promise anything for now). Of course, an open alpha is far from a finished mod, so you will find many things missing (including events and AI files), but at least you could enjoy an incomplete, yet playable mod.
What has been done by now (Alpha 0.03 version, July 2015)
Implemented (complete changelogs to be published, of course, after open alpha release) :
- Leaders (142 new ones)
- Tech teams (375 new ones)
- Tech trees
- A few new tech specialities
- Ministers (256 new ones)
- Some changes to minister personalities
- New units
- Unit icons and illustrations (nearly 5,000 files)
- Unit/army/navy/air names files
- Country-specific topbars + 20 complete skins sets
- Scenario files (incuding starting OOBs)
- New softcoded map values, including new area and region distribution (see below)
- Scenario information and propaganda pictures
- Some interface pics
- Mobilization-related decisions and events (more than 500, including many country-specific ones)
- War economy decisions and events (around 400)
Currently being worked on :
- Main scenario events until the start of the Great War
- Research events
Planned major goals of alpha development
- National morale mechanisms
- Diplomatic system
- Propaganda-related events and decisions
- AI files
- Political events (aka minister changes)
- And much more
Including an exclusively non exclusive land doctrine tree.
Development diaries
As some of the mod’s aspects are somewhat different from the vanilla’s, we felt they had to be explained in development diaries.
Well, to be fully honest we also need to get your attention.
These DDs already exist in French on the following board : http://forum.reseau-js.com/forum/465-mod-1914/ , where the mod has been quietly developed from the start. Anyone reading French can find them there.
They will be published here on a blatantly irregular schedule, depending on when we will be able to translate them.
The map
Yes, we want a new map for this mod. Yes, we still plan to get one, some day. Yes, a drawing of this planned map does exist. No, we definitely don’t have a map modder for now.
An experienced map modder has been approached to draw it in late 2014 and even started preparatory work on it. However, we lost contact with him.
Nevertheless, now that the mod appears to be released shortly (even as an open alpha version), I hope he, or someone else, will pick up the task and create this map.
And yes, you can consider this as a recruitment ad.
For the moment, we use a vanilla DH map with obscured zones, that is, a very, very, very large battlescenario map. For the sake of simplicity, some countries have been omitted. I apologize to anyone offended. But seriously, what did you expect to do in WW1 with Bhutan ?
Trust me: the mod's AI is so good it is able to get to rather historical situations even without AI files at all.
The mod itself
Well, it appears that I forgot the basics.
Chronological setting is from May 5, 1912 until the end of 1921.
This means the Balkan Wars will have to be fought first. Our development policy is not against ahistorical event chains, but at first we prefer to focus on historical outcomes, for we believe balancing the mod is a top priority. Once the historical scenario will be balanced, we will add ahistorical chains, which could by then be considered as somewhat naturally balanced, too.
The aftermath of the Great War is not considered a priority, because the various possible outcomes makes it very difficult to get it balanced or even coherent. Furthermore, we will never be able to do better than Kaiserreich in this part. However, some of us are interested in the Russian Civil War and its consequences (although we cannot reasonably expect to do better than White Eagle, Red Star about this era).
More personally, I feel close to several statements expressed in the official announcement for the HoI IV version of the August Storm mod.
You may wonder about the mod’s title and its meaning. World in Flames III seemed a natural choice, as Fernando Torres initiated it. However, it was felt some kind of a complement was required. And Origins made its way to the title, as the Great War sowed the seeds of World War Two, setting of the first two editions of the WiF mod. The starting screen above tries to express this, with the faces of major WW2 leaders as they were 25 years ago, over an iconic WW1 battlefield photograph.
See you soon, hopefully with Dev Diaries, news, and download links.
LATEST VERSION AVAILABLE:
WORLD IN FLAMES III – ORIGINS: ALPHA 0.07 (5 December 2017)
Checksum: MFDW
For Darkest Hour 1.05
https://mega.nz/#!w3hzCDxZ!w4JSDjkL9a7e8Ud-AJjmBJPz6n-4lIEavVgAp6Wl4Ow
This is a stand-alone mod.
Installation:
- If you did not have installed WiF3 previously, just unzip the file in the Mods folder of your DH directory.
- If WiF3 is already installed, the best solution is to delete the former version, then to replace it with the new version.
A World War One era mod for Darkest Hour
Hello all. I’m proud and happy to announce a new mod for Darkest Hour.
Few of you ever heard about me since I never posted anything on Paradox boards until now. I’m not, however, without experience, as I modestly contributed to the French Mod 33 and the first two instances of the World in Flames mod by Fernando Torres. Last but not least, I had the privilege to take an active part in the development of Darkest Hour itself, for which I am thankful to the rest of the DH Team. Although I ceased to do more than occasionally giving my personal opinions when consulted, I’m still in touch with them.
History of the project
More than two years ago (in March 2014), Fernando Torres submitted Rhysaxiel (who, as far as I know, sometimes lurks here) and I his ideas about a World War One mod. By this time, project of an enhanced Mod 1914 for DH had been put asleep by its main developer Arturius, so such a project seemed justified and we quickly started theoretical work on it.
Fernando Torres’ main ideas were : focus on the European theatre, allowing for a new map with more provinces ; war goals, like in WiF2 ; armistices triggered by « national morale » rather than by fixed event conditions ; a different organisation for tech trees.
To this, I added several ideas that have been considered for implementation in DH and not retained for various reasons, or simply planned for future versions. This included a refined mobilization system, more decision-driven sliders, a modular system for building divisions (ersatz of a division builder), and so on.
Having no pressure to finish the mod quickly, and being confident in the DH community’s long term endurance, we took the time to refine the various designs we wanted to include in the mod. Actual modding did not start before one year has passed, and progressed slowly, depending on our free time.
By now (July 2015), the work is advanced enough to plan an open alpha release for, let’s say, the following months (for my part, I target September, but I prefer not to promise anything for now). Of course, an open alpha is far from a finished mod, so you will find many things missing (including events and AI files), but at least you could enjoy an incomplete, yet playable mod.
What has been done by now (Alpha 0.03 version, July 2015)
Implemented (complete changelogs to be published, of course, after open alpha release) :
- Leaders (142 new ones)
- Tech teams (375 new ones)
- Tech trees
- A few new tech specialities
- Ministers (256 new ones)
- Some changes to minister personalities
- New units
- Unit icons and illustrations (nearly 5,000 files)
- Unit/army/navy/air names files
- Country-specific topbars + 20 complete skins sets
- Scenario files (incuding starting OOBs)
- New softcoded map values, including new area and region distribution (see below)
- Scenario information and propaganda pictures
- Some interface pics
- Mobilization-related decisions and events (more than 500, including many country-specific ones)
- War economy decisions and events (around 400)
Currently being worked on :
- Main scenario events until the start of the Great War
- Research events
Planned major goals of alpha development
- National morale mechanisms
- Diplomatic system
- Propaganda-related events and decisions
- AI files
- Political events (aka minister changes)
- And much more
Including an exclusively non exclusive land doctrine tree.
Development diaries
As some of the mod’s aspects are somewhat different from the vanilla’s, we felt they had to be explained in development diaries.
Well, to be fully honest we also need to get your attention.
These DDs already exist in French on the following board : http://forum.reseau-js.com/forum/465-mod-1914/ , where the mod has been quietly developed from the start. Anyone reading French can find them there.
They will be published here on a blatantly irregular schedule, depending on when we will be able to translate them.
The map
Yes, we want a new map for this mod. Yes, we still plan to get one, some day. Yes, a drawing of this planned map does exist. No, we definitely don’t have a map modder for now.
An experienced map modder has been approached to draw it in late 2014 and even started preparatory work on it. However, we lost contact with him.
Nevertheless, now that the mod appears to be released shortly (even as an open alpha version), I hope he, or someone else, will pick up the task and create this map.
And yes, you can consider this as a recruitment ad.
For the moment, we use a vanilla DH map with obscured zones, that is, a very, very, very large battlescenario map. For the sake of simplicity, some countries have been omitted. I apologize to anyone offended. But seriously, what did you expect to do in WW1 with Bhutan ?
Trust me: the mod's AI is so good it is able to get to rather historical situations even without AI files at all.
The mod itself
Well, it appears that I forgot the basics.
Chronological setting is from May 5, 1912 until the end of 1921.
This means the Balkan Wars will have to be fought first. Our development policy is not against ahistorical event chains, but at first we prefer to focus on historical outcomes, for we believe balancing the mod is a top priority. Once the historical scenario will be balanced, we will add ahistorical chains, which could by then be considered as somewhat naturally balanced, too.
The aftermath of the Great War is not considered a priority, because the various possible outcomes makes it very difficult to get it balanced or even coherent. Furthermore, we will never be able to do better than Kaiserreich in this part. However, some of us are interested in the Russian Civil War and its consequences (although we cannot reasonably expect to do better than White Eagle, Red Star about this era).
More personally, I feel close to several statements expressed in the official announcement for the HoI IV version of the August Storm mod.
You may wonder about the mod’s title and its meaning. World in Flames III seemed a natural choice, as Fernando Torres initiated it. However, it was felt some kind of a complement was required. And Origins made its way to the title, as the Great War sowed the seeds of World War Two, setting of the first two editions of the WiF mod. The starting screen above tries to express this, with the faces of major WW2 leaders as they were 25 years ago, over an iconic WW1 battlefield photograph.
See you soon, hopefully with Dev Diaries, news, and download links.
LATEST VERSION AVAILABLE:
WORLD IN FLAMES III – ORIGINS: ALPHA 0.07 (5 December 2017)
Checksum: MFDW
For Darkest Hour 1.05
https://mega.nz/#!w3hzCDxZ!w4JSDjkL9a7e8Ud-AJjmBJPz6n-4lIEavVgAp6Wl4Ow
This is a stand-alone mod.
Installation:
- If you did not have installed WiF3 previously, just unzip the file in the Mods folder of your DH directory.
- If WiF3 is already installed, the best solution is to delete the former version, then to replace it with the new version.
Last edited:
- 31
