EA Releases BFME II / C&C Mod SDK v1.00

Dubbed "the one RTS Mod SDK to rule them all", the folks over at Electronic Arts have released some useful developer tools to enhance the production of mod projects for The Lord of the Rings and recent Command & Conquer games:


The official Battle for Middle-Earth II / Command and Conquer Mod SDK is welcome news for the mod community. Prior to the release of the official SDK, mod teams had been using a myriad of community created tools, hacks, editors and workarounds to create their mods.

So, with all the time EA spent gathering feedback through various forums and community summits in order to get the SDK right, surely we can sit back in our fancy bean bags and wait for a slew of community created Command and Conquer Generals mods to start rolling in?

More information on the offcial SDK can be found here.

The classic Half-Life mod makes a comeback

Great news! For anyone that played the classic Science and Industry mod for Half-Life, the development team have just announced the long awaited sequel for Half-Life 2 called, funnily enough, Science and Industry 2.


Check out the Science and Industry 2 website for news, concept art, and media for the upcoming sequel to the classic Half-Life mod.

When Bethesda Softworks announced that the company would focus solely on the single-player component of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, many fans were resigned to the prospect that any multiplayer aspect would remain little more than a pipedream. However, you can't keep a good mod community down; especially one with a little Aussie know-how.

Currently in early alpha stages, MultiTES4 is a multiplayer modification that allows two players to join a game of Oblivion and navigate their way around Cyrodiil. In development for just over two months by local mod maker 'the_FERRET', version 0.2 of MultiTES4 lays down the basic framework required for multiplayer; no quest sharing, no day or night cycles, no deathmatch – the build contains just enough code to get two players into the same environment. Nothing more, nothing less.

While MultiTES4 mightn't sound particularly impressive in its current state, even the rudimentary multiplayer component in 0.2 demonstrates that this mod definitely has a lot of potential. According to the 'progress' log on the MultiTES4 forum, the developer is aiming at supporting eight players, a deathmatch mode, as well as numerous other improvements in the upcoming release.


If you are a fan of Oblivion, this is definitely a modification to keep your eye on. Let's just hope that the MultiTES4 mod pumps all of its remaining attribute points into the Luck skill – they will need all the help they can get!

Version 0.2 is available for download via the MultiTES4: Multiplayer Oblivion Website

While The Sir. Community may be best known among Battlefield players for their crazy stunt videos, not everyone may be aware that the group has also branched-out into the world of mod development.

The Sir mod doesn’t take itself too seriously; imagine all the crazy things you could do with the content in Battlefield 2, and then chuck an afterburner on it. Chock-full of new skins, signs and billboards, vehicles with jet engines, handheld artillery and crazy new physics and weapon changes, the Sir Mod is all about having a good time.


More information on Sir. Mod v0.8 is available here.


Undoubtedly the most unique mod for Battlefield 2 thus far, BF2: Sandbox is best described as being in the vein of Garry's Mod for Half Life 2. The mod allows players to use the Battlefield 2 engine to build structures, set up racetracks, ramps, and generally go crazy via an easy-to-use Command Rose interface in-game.


More information on BF2: Sandbox is available here.

The Sir. Community prove that there is more to Battlefield 2 than just cunning stunts.