Why must i start a new game to use DLC?

[Stan the Sumo Man]

Exactly that. Im just hoping someone (possible a dev) could shed some light on that for me. I just want to understand the reasoning, because i like EG, it has problems but i like it, and the fact that every time i see something new/cool that i would want to try, it would mean scrapping all the hrs ive put in up to that point, its just discouraging. I play the game fairly slowly and just dont have the time to complete a new campaign every time a DLC drops. That was my rant, hopefully someone could shed some light on this, thanks

[Mandemon]

Simple. Content is loaded and flagged when new game is started. To load content mid game risks ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

[Stan the Sumo Man]

Originally posted by Mandemon:

Simple. Content is loaded and flagged when new game is started. To load content mid game risks ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

To that i would then ask is it literally not possible to do it in a way that could be integrated into existing saves. I will admit i have no clue how this stuff works, but this is the 1st time ive ever run into a game that made me restart to use DLC and is just really odd/offputting imo. The fact its a base building game, restarts hurt a lot more than a normal game

[Papa Owl]

Originally posted by Stan the Sumo Man:

Originally posted by Mandemon:

Simple. Content is loaded and flagged when new game is started. To load content mid game risks ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

To that i would then ask is it literally not possible to do it in a way that could be integrated into existing saves. I will admit i have no clue how this stuff works, but this is the 1st time ive ever run into a game that made me restart to use DLC and is just really odd/offputting imo. The fact its a base building game, restarts hurt a lot more than a normal game

It depends largely on how the game is built. Skyrim didn't care because that game is designed to be modular (and even then adding mods and DLC to a pre-existing save game can make things a bit wonky), but typically strategy games tend to be a bit more...convoluted programming wise. I mean, Total War games typically don't activate DLC on old save games for exactly that reason.

[Mandemon]

Originally posted by Stan the Sumo Man:

Originally posted by Mandemon:

Simple. Content is loaded and flagged when new game is started. To load content mid game risks ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

To that i would then ask is it literally not possible to do it in a way that could be integrated into existing saves. I will admit i have no clue how this stuff works, but this is the 1st time ive ever run into a game that made me restart to use DLC and is just really odd/offputting imo. The fact its a base building game, restarts hurt a lot more than a normal game

Different designs. Strategy and management games often demand restart because all relevant data is loaded at the start. Paradox games, for example, demand new campaing to enable DLCs. Same with Total War games.

Games like Skyrim or Fallout are more modular, triggering events entirely separately from rest of the world, so they can "hotload" new content. Game world is separated into intances.

[GeoG85]

XCOM did the same thing.

[Stan the Sumo Man]

fair answers and i guess i cant really argue with you guys on the specifics of that, sounds reasonable enough. The last thing i would then ask is would it not be better to have it integrate? No one has said its not outright possible to this point. Is it not jarring/upsetting to have to restart if you want to experience any of the cool new stuff you see?

[Stan the Sumo Man]

Originally posted by GeoG85:

XCOM did the same thing.

i guess i never really noticed it with XCOM because i would always install new mods and have to restart, but again, il take ur wrd for it

[Mandemon]

Originally posted by Stan the Sumo Man:

fair answers and i guess i cant really argue with you guys on the specifics of that, sounds reasonable enough. The last thing i would then ask is would it not be better to have it integrate? No one has said its not outright possible to this point. Is it not jarring/upsetting to have to restart if you want to experience any of the cool new stuff you see?

Different designs, fundamentally. EG is one continous gameworld from start to finish, injecting new stuff mid-way has higher chance of screwing over things. Even when you are on the world map, the base does not go away: it's still there, you are just looking at overlay over the base.

[Stan the Sumo Man]

Originally posted by Mandemon:

Originally posted by Stan the Sumo Man:

fair answers and i guess i cant really argue with you guys on the specifics of that, sounds reasonable enough. The last thing i would then ask is would it not be better to have it integrate? No one has said its not outright possible to this point. Is it not jarring/upsetting to have to restart if you want to experience any of the cool new stuff you see?

Different designs, fundamentally. EG is one continous gameworld from start to finish, injecting new stuff mid-way has higher chance of screwing over things. Even when you are on the world map, the base does not go away: it's still there, you are just looking at overlay over the base.

So just design choice for design choice sake would be the answer of "Why?" then? Again just trying to get to the root of why. If they could completely overhaul something like the salary/heat or world map system in my game with no real problems, why couldnt they give me a new story/henchman?

[Mandemon]

Originally posted by Stan the Sumo Man:

Originally posted by Mandemon:

Different designs, fundamentally. EG is one continous gameworld from start to finish, injecting new stuff mid-way has higher chance of screwing over things. Even when you are on the world map, the base does not go away: it's still there, you are just looking at overlay over the base.

So just design choice for design choice sake would be the answer of "Why?" then? Again just trying to get to the root of why. If they could completely overhaul something like the salary/heat or world map system in my game with no real problems, why couldnt they give me a new story/henchman?

Okay, here is a thing. Each game is made differently, with different engines. Some engines load everything on startup, others read data as the game runs. As far as I know, EG2 engine is one that loads all relevant data when new game is started.

This has benefit of making sure that all data is loaded properly, with no risk of conflicts. Downside is that, well, you can't insert new data during game. Everything happens at once, so inserting new item/quest/whatever causes trouble.

Skyrim, in contrast, puts areas to sleep and heavily instances places, so they can basically inject new stuff to region that is not currenctly active.

[Stan the Sumo Man]

Originally posted by Mandemon:

Originally posted by Stan the Sumo Man:

So just design choice for design choice sake would be the answer of "Why?" then? Again just trying to get to the root of why. If they could completely overhaul something like the salary/heat or world map system in my game with no real problems, why couldnt they give me a new story/henchman?

Okay, here is a thing. Each game is made differently, with different engines. Some engines load everything on startup, others read data as the game runs. As far as I know, EG2 engine is one that loads all relevant data when new game is started.

This has benefit of making sure that all data is loaded properly, with no risk of conflicts. Downside is that, well, you can't insert new data during game. Everything happens at once, so inserting new item/quest/whatever causes trouble.

Skyrim, in contrast, puts areas to sleep and heavily instances places, so they can basically inject new stuff to region that is not currenctly active.

Thank you, that was actually very helpful/explanatory. I still disagree and have a whole other set of issues with the design choice of being unable to load dlc during gameplay, but at least i understand why that may be the case now

[FIL903]

How do you know if the DLC is installed?

[Nightwolfnl]

Originally posted by FIL903:

How do you know if the DLC is installed?

If you see it in your list of DLCs for this game (or any game for that matter) and the DLC has a tick next to it.

[tzeneth]

There’s also the issue that if you don’t start from the beginning you may already be past the point in the story when the dlc items are available. Loot quests do disappear after certain points in the story. Some henchmen become unavailable because of certain actions, etc. If you make it required they start over you deal with both the issues previously discussed and prevent the complaints from people going “where’s the DLC? I installed it but can’t find anything!” when they already passed the point of no return for that item.

[Calypso]

It's becoming a problem when you have to restart the base every damn time.

A new campaign or new boss require new restart? sure! why not. A new sidequest? WHY DO I HAVE TO RESTART FOR THAT??

on top of this is how little the content is offered per new playthrough. XCOM and Paradox Strategy games are different because each of their new DLC offer new mechanics and massive overhaul. This is literally adding a henchman and 2 new building. For all that i have to restart? ♥♥♥♥ that!