I downloaded some official mods, that changed some gods’ portraits to the older versions in the beta. In some cases, the final version really got an upgrade, but in my opinion, some of them got worse, like Poseidon, for example.
The thing is, if I have those mods ON, I can play multiplayer ONLY with people who have the SAME exact mods that I have installed. These mods are merely aesthetic and don’t provide any advantage of any type, but they are categorized as UI, so I suppose that’s why the multiplayer doesn’t allow me to play with other people without these mods.
SUGGESTED SOLUTION: Add a new category in the mods section as “PORTRAITS” and make an exception in that category for multiplayer games, so I can play with everyone regardless if they have the portraits mod or not.
note: Each portrait is a single mod (not a pack), so since I have changed like 6 or 7 gods pics, it’s impossible to find someone that has changed the same ones I did.
4 Likes
Agreed we should be able to.
I actually think the way it works right now is very simple. If you have mods, you cannot play ranked. It’s not because “they are categorized as UI”, because I don’t think the game detects categories at all (I think the categories are only to help with searching).
But I agree. We should be able to play with mods that don’t affect gameplay. The way AoE2 does mods is great. Mods that do affect gameplay are set up as “data packs”. You can select a data pack when creating a multiplayer lobby. Other mods—ones that only affect the UI or audio, or that add in new scenarios etc.—don’t stop you playing competitive at all. One player can change Hand Cannoneers to look and sound like Musketeers or change their men at arms to snowmen, while the other player adds a scenario to teach build orders or change their main menu layout, and they can both play ranked games against each other, no problem.
I wish AoM did it in a way more similar to how AoE2 does. So you could have your portraits, and I could have resources in the bottom left, and we could play without worrying about what other players are doing.
Please allow UI mods in ranked - Discussion - Age of Empires Forum
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AoE 2 mods affect and change a lot of visuals that shouldn’t be allowed in multiplayer. It is a slippery slope. The portraits semm fine though.
Well the fact is I’m not even trying to play ranked, just a normal multiplayer game. Maybe 2v2 or 4v4 to have some fun.
Mods that doesn’t bring any competitive advantage should be allowed without restrictions
The most important reason of restricting mods is to keep the game in Sync not to prevent cheating.
Obviously PNGs won’t affect that but they have to make a white list of all components that are not affecting gameplay for that to work.
I hope that will happen soon.
4 Likes
Yeah, I hope they read this and at least add it to the “to-do” list. I know they’re probably busy fixing all the bugs first, but I think this isn’t too complicated to do, right?