Big news! This weekend I had a go at merging K-Mod into HR and it went surprisingly well. I'm still going through the fine details, but the list of incompatibilities I've encountered so far is much shorter than I expected. I reckon I can solve or workaround them too, so I'm gonna push forward and make it happen for 1.24. This is exciting and significant change for HR, so here's a quick FAQ about it:
What is K-Mod?
K-Mod reworking of BTS made by Karadoc. It's built around a custom DLL that significantly improves stability, speed, balance, and the AI. It's regarded very highly by modders and players alike. You can read more about it here and here.
Why is K-Mod Windows only?
The Mac version of BTS does not and never will support custom DLLs. Most of the fixes and improvements that K-Mod makes are simply not possible to achieve via Python or XML alone. Those that are I've probably already implemented in HR.
Does this mean HR is becoming Windows only?
No! I'm am absolutely committed to HR remaining Mac compatible. I'm a Mac user myself after all, though recently I have been trying out Windows BTS via virtualisation (Parallels 11).
Will this mean separate Windows and Mac releases of HR from now on?
No. It'll still be a single release, same content, mostly the same mechanics, but if you're on Windows it'll be faster, more stable, and with smarter AI.
How much faster?
I don't know yet. K-Mod will speed up the BTS parts of HR, but not the custom parts that I've written. The slowest part of BTS is AI decision making and unit pathfinding though, and K-Mod makes significant improvements to both of these. I'd expect there to be a noticeable but not amazing speed increase.
How much more stable?
K-Mod fixes a ton of flaws in BTS, eliminating many crashes and OOS errors. It won't fix MAFs though. Or any bugs created by me (sadly).
What mechanics will be different between Mac and Windows?
I'm still determining this. K-mod doesn't add new mechanics per se, but it does alter how several existing BTS mechanics work, a few significantly (like Culture and Global Warming). Some changes I might need to disable to ensure Mac compatibility or because they don't fit with HR's existing mechanics. Feel free to have a browse through K-Mod's change log and ask about anything in particular.
When will 1.24 be available to test?
Because this is such a major change, I want to get an early beta out for testing as soon as possible. Sometime this month ideally.
What is K-Mod?
K-Mod reworking of BTS made by Karadoc. It's built around a custom DLL that significantly improves stability, speed, balance, and the AI. It's regarded very highly by modders and players alike. You can read more about it here and here.
Why is K-Mod Windows only?
The Mac version of BTS does not and never will support custom DLLs. Most of the fixes and improvements that K-Mod makes are simply not possible to achieve via Python or XML alone. Those that are I've probably already implemented in HR.
Does this mean HR is becoming Windows only?
No! I'm am absolutely committed to HR remaining Mac compatible. I'm a Mac user myself after all, though recently I have been trying out Windows BTS via virtualisation (Parallels 11).
Will this mean separate Windows and Mac releases of HR from now on?
No. It'll still be a single release, same content, mostly the same mechanics, but if you're on Windows it'll be faster, more stable, and with smarter AI.
How much faster?
I don't know yet. K-Mod will speed up the BTS parts of HR, but not the custom parts that I've written. The slowest part of BTS is AI decision making and unit pathfinding though, and K-Mod makes significant improvements to both of these. I'd expect there to be a noticeable but not amazing speed increase.
How much more stable?
K-Mod fixes a ton of flaws in BTS, eliminating many crashes and OOS errors. It won't fix MAFs though. Or any bugs created by me (sadly).
What mechanics will be different between Mac and Windows?
I'm still determining this. K-mod doesn't add new mechanics per se, but it does alter how several existing BTS mechanics work, a few significantly (like Culture and Global Warming). Some changes I might need to disable to ensure Mac compatibility or because they don't fit with HR's existing mechanics. Feel free to have a browse through K-Mod's change log and ask about anything in particular.
When will 1.24 be available to test?
Because this is such a major change, I want to get an early beta out for testing as soon as possible. Sometime this month ideally.
