Mod Support Request: Since Final Update is Coming Soon

[TheIronMenace]

Dear developers of Ultimate Admiral Dreadnaughts and the UA: Dreadnaughts community,

I want to talk to you about something important: the request for mod support before the development team moves on. It has come to my attention that the developers will soon be moving on from the game after patch 1.4, and I believe that adding modding capabilities before their departure would be a tremendous benefit to the community.

I've noticed that many players are not aware of this upcoming transition. In my recent posts on the Steam forum (link: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1069660/discussions/0/3810657379784043098/#c3810657379789706925) and Reddit (link: https://www.reddit.com/r/ultimateadmiral/comments/14wwbtt/since_the_devs_are_leaving_the_game_soon/), I highlighted the need for mod support. The Reddit post received a good amount of feedback, with the post receiving 80 upvotes as of this writing. It's clear that modding support is a highly desired feature among the community, as also seen in the Steam forums in the “6-month Roadmap: What you want us to make” thread where many of the most awarded comments request modding capabilities.

Allow me to present a few reasons why mod support is crucial:

1) Enhancements: We understand that the development team has limitations in fulfilling every community request. However, with modding, we, the players including myself, can contribute by creating custom models for hulls, towers, and turrets. This would enable us to achieve the historical ship designs we desire. And just adding to the choices in part selection.

2) Tailored Gameplay: By empowering players to modify various aspects of the game, such as fuel consumption, income, or even the presence of certain elements like mines and submarines, we can customize the gameplay experience to our individual preferences. This would reduce dissatisfaction and complaints on the forums and in the reviews because players can edit or remove things they don’t enjoy.

3) Marketing and Exposure: Modding support has a significant impact on a game's longevity and its ability to attract new players. Mods breathe new life into a game, allowing content creators to showcase it through gameplay streams and videos. This exposure can reignite interest, generate positive word-of-mouth promotion, and ultimately lead to increased sales, all at no expense to the developers.

I am persistent in bringing up these points because I genuinely care about this game. I'm enthusiastic about its potential and the creative possibilities that mod support can unlock. Game Labs has created exceptional games in a niche market, and as an owner and enthusiast of their other titles like Ultimate General Gettysburg, Ultimate General Civil War, and Ultimate Admiral Dreadnaughts, I hope to see them continue to thrive for years to come. But I would like to see things added to UA: Dreadnaughts which the dev team couldn’t get to (Understandably. small studio, have already spent 4 years developing the game, and apparently some are based out of Ukraine). It is my sincere wish that we are provided with some kind of modding framework for this game (not necessarily steam workshop if that is too difficult), allowing it to expand even after the developers have moved on. Because who knows when there will be an Ultimate Admiral Sequel! lol

I hope that the developers will consider our request and hopefully at least address it, as they have touched upon it in the past by stating, "We must first finish the game…" With the final major update fast approaching, I hope the community made its desire clear for modding capabilities in UA: Dreadnaughts.

As always respectful community feedback is appreciated! Thanks

[mm3_al]

I love the idea of mods for this game, from the functional to the flashy.

[TheIronMenace]

Originally posted by mm3_al:

I love the idea of mods for this game, from the functional to the flashy.

Yeah I think so too. I think the community could really add a lot to this game.

[Ahnassi]

And mods are nessecery as alot of ship hulls, towers etc (Victoria-class battleship, Kongo, Yamashiro superstucture, Chinese pre-dreadnoughts, US predreadnoughts, early US cruisers, interwar destroyers etc) isn't in the game yet, and the devs probably don't have thetime to make them all.

[Magic Monarch]

I would really love mod support. I understand that the developers haven’t been able to do everything they want with this game, and I think it would be super great for the game going forward. Honestly I’d love if they dropped everything else and completely focused on mod support at this point to get it done.

[AJJJ]

Mods will keep this game alive far longer than anything else, if done right. For instance, any source game, ravenfield, skyrim, the list goes on. Mods are absolutely the way to go for this game!

[TacticalSpaghetti421T]

Yes please give us mod support. I mean, if there are no further updates coming, then the game will eventually be dead and nobody will buy it anymore. But if you add mods, people will keep improving it themselves and keep playing.

[TheIronMenace]

Originally posted by Artisans:

Mods will keep this game alive far longer than anything else, if done right. For instance, any source game, ravenfield, skyrim, the list goes on. Mods are absolutely the way to go for this game!

Absolutley. How relevant is Skyrim still after being a 12 year old game because of mods. Not to mention how many sales skyrim has got just from having mods people wanted to play.

[TheIronMenace]

Originally posted by Ahnassi:

And mods are nessecery as alot of ship hulls, towers etc (Victoria-class battleship, Kongo, Yamashiro superstucture, Chinese pre-dreadnoughts, US predreadnoughts, early US cruisers, interwar destroyers etc) isn't in the game yet, and the devs probably don't have thetime to make them all.

Yes! I have personally been working on a 3d model for the IJN Kongo. I would really like to add its tower to the game. Building historical ships is one of my favorite aspects.

And also the lack of more parts I think is one of the biggest shortfalls of this game. Imagine the creativity you could have in this game with double the amount of parts!

[AIM-9x sidewinder]

I do agree that mod support would be great for this game, maybe even the only way it can survive in the long term after dev support is withdrawn.

[TheIronMenace]

Originally posted by AIM-9x sidewinder:

I do agree that mod support would be great for this game, maybe even the only way it can survive in the long term after dev support is withdrawn.

For sure so much could still be added.

Also let me add something that I did not include in my original post that the devs have said they are not abandoning the game. They said "It is scheduled to provide one more major update which will contain new interwar cruisers.
After that, we will monitor the game for any needed fixes and improvements, but we will certainly NOT abandon it."

I know you didn't say this. Just putting it here so others can see it. I dont want anyone to think I am suggesting that the devs are going to abandon this game after the final major update.

[GL.L3gi]

i have a no sub no flaws fix ready for months, but as every small patch needs minor fixing ive not put it out for public use as it may be outdated within hrs.

100% support from my side.

[Ahnassi]

Originally posted by TheIronMenace:

Yes! I have personally been working on a 3d model for the IJN Kongo. I would really like to add its tower to the game. Building historical ships is one of my favorite aspects.

And also the lack of more parts I think is one of the biggest shortfalls of this game. Imagine the creativity you could have in this game with double the amount of parts!

Yes, not all German BB, BC and CA in 1940 are "Bismarck but different sizes"

[TheIronMenace]

Originally posted by GL.L3gi:

i have a no sub no flaws fix ready for months, but as every small patch needs minor fixing ive not put it out for public use as it may be outdated within hrs.

100% support from my side.

Holy crap forreal?? Youll have to teach me how to edit the games files. Are there any modding guides? How comprehensively can you mod the game at the moment?

[the Baron]

Originally posted by TheIronMenace:

Are there any modding guides?

1) download UABEA https://github.com/nesrak1/UABEA
2) open resource.assets in this location with UABEA C:\....\Steam\steamapps\common\Ultimate Admiral Dreadnoughts\Ultimate Admiral Dreadnoughts_Data
3) Filter to only see the text files.
4) export and edit in excel or notepad++ plus CSVLint plug in
5) import the changes back to UABEA and update the resource,assets file.

Note: because the devs are still working on the game, I recommend using a text file comparison tool to make it easier to update your work. "Meld" is what I use and works great.
https://meldmerge.org/?utm_source=Logiciels.Pro

Originally posted by TheIronMenace:

How comprehensively can you mod the game at the moment?

A lot! To have a good idea what is possible to do, take a look at what I am doing for the past months: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iMPmebM8xoULdg5TuTmx7bnhGqNrImH5/view?usp=drive_link

[TheIronMenace]

Originally posted by Baron:

A lot! To have a good idea what is possible to do, take a look at what I am doing for the past months: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iMPmebM8xoULdg5TuTmx7bnhGqNrImH5/view?usp=drive_link

Wow I like a lot off what you are doing in your mod. Especially editing smoke, torpedo evade range (do you find that the AI formations really keep better?) and the addition of hulls and towers to certain countries. I have run into problems finding the right parts to make my ships how I want them and having parts from other nations would help a lot. I might have to look into making a free for all mod that allows all different nations parts on any ship. For example american towers on a Japanese hull. The unlock button in custom battles doesnt behave the way I would like it to.

Can you add new models to the game? ie hulls and towers?

Thanks Baron for all the resources and info!