The ULTIMATE Star Wars RTS Mod | Galactic Battlegrounds: Expanding Fronts Review
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- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
- Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds: Expanding Fronts is a massive fan-made expansion that brings new civilizations, units, maps, gameplay features, and quality of life improvements to Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds. Built over nearly a decade with contributions from dozens of community members, Expanding Fronts provides the definitive Galactic Battlegrounds experience.
Mod download: www.moddb.com/...
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Been always meaning to make a review video on Expanding Fronts, figured no better time to do so then now - especially with the mod's latest big update to end the year off featuring the Black Sun, Imperial Remnants and New Republic Legends factions. 😁
Big ups to these modders for keeping the Star Wars RTS scene alive! Now for Lucasfilm Games to finally start delivering us something in regards to a new Star Wars RTS in 2023. 🙏
Holy cow I used to play this game for hours and hours as a kid, so addicting! These modders are awesome!
Totally, it's really the only way to play the game these days and yes, the EF mod team is truly fantastic.
SWGB uses canopies on all speeders due to the game's lack of proper scale (see Rebels and Naboo). Having visible tiny drivers sitting inside them makes the scaling differences much more noticeable. So that's why the Resistance strike mech has one. The only reason that we didn't give one for the First Order strike mech, is because we couldn't find a way to get a canopy to look right.
Not a good excuse for me. SWGB also put Stormtroopers on the speeder bike instead of Scout troopers, which you guys ended up fixing in EF (per my suggestion and push to do it). Just because the vanilla game makes some mistakes, doesn't mean EF should repeat those said mistakes. The First Order strike mech has no canopy and looks awesome, no real issue with scaling whatsoever. I'm more of the mind of "making sure things look authentic and right" then "making sure things continue not looking right because the vanilla game did a questionable choice." At least, that's my opinion on the matter.
@@SYLOStarWars Well, you said it was a "weird reason", but there was a good reason behind it. The decision was to be consistent with the art design for the game. It's a lot more jarring having hobbit drivers in the seat of vehicles than having a canopy added to the vehicle. It's just a nit-picky thing, and you don't have to like it, but just letting you know that's why we did it and why we won't change it (sorry). The Empire Scout being a stormtrooper was a complaint going back over 20 years since the game came out. Normally, we don't like changing art of the original game assets, but that was such a minor change that many people wouldn't even notice the difference.
@@Tevious oh yeah, trust me, I know you won't change it. Didn't change it when I first complained about it, so of course you won't do it now lol, not like I was counting on that happening now anyway, but yes I know it's nit-picky - which is a good thing. Better a mod has 'small nit-picky' problems than something major haha but it nevertheless is still a weird decision in my opinion despite the explanation you gave. Also, the turning the Stormtrooper speeder bike to a Scout trooper just makes so much more sense (and like you said is minor too), that I don't see anyone ever really complaining about that. If anything, it fixes something from the main game. As they were supposed to be Scout troopers in the first place (given that the appear in the ROTJ Endor campaign mission), but for whatever reason (maybe due to time constraints, laziness, etc) wasn't done and shipped like that. A very good change.
@@Teviousam assuming your a dev on the mod did you do this and was this this done for free or with occasional donations from the community?
@@LoreCrom Hey there, sorry this is 8 months late of a response. I am one of the artists on the team, and we do not get donations, this is a passion project!
I remember when I was a part of the Heaven Games community and was friends with the developers of this mod. I was actually one of the the first in a small MSN or Skype chat to hear the name "Expanding Fronts" tossed around as a project name, not sure who came up with it, whether it was Dallows or Moff, but it sure was fun being in that little chat room talking about the possibilities and seeing where it's come now! -Orrion Carn
It's crazy how much has changed with this mod since it was first unveiled. Very rare for mods to keep going so strong like this after so many years. A lot of heart, passion and dedication is put in this mod by the Expanding Fronts team, which is incredible. I remember logging onto Heaven Games as a kid to try and mod my game (years before Expanding Fronts was even announced) and even then, I was amazed at the modding capabilities and wondered if people could use them to add new units and factions into the game. It's funny too, as the very first mod I ever downloaded from Heaven Games was turning the Imperial scout into a Scoutrooper, which I years later managed to convince the EF team to make this a permanent change in the mod.
Just got this mod and playing as either Black Sun or Imperial Remnant gave me major nostalgia over previous Star Wars games like Shadows of the Empire, Rogue Squadron, and Jedi Knight 2.
It’s weird how we haven’t gotten a new rts with both space and ground combat
I'd be just happy with a new Star Wars RTS in general at this point haha...
But yeah, having both space and ground combat is a must in a brand new modern Star Wars RTS. We've already got new single player adventure, multiplayer shooter games, now it should be time for an RTS 😛
@@SYLOStarWars apparently there's new star wars strategy game in development. fingers crossed it's a rts!
@@neatrat3366 mfw it's a mobile card game XD
This GAME needs a remake!!!
Its great for RTS fans too not just starwars fans. AOE2 players should take a peak tbh.
This makes me so fuckin excited!!! This game was a big part of my teenagehood and I was also a heavy modder for this game back in the day, in fact Im so happy there is one of my mods included in the package which is the Mustafar Bridge where Anakin and Obiwan are fighting.
Gosh I didnt even know this was on Steam, gonna get all this ASAP, maybe even collaborate once again for it! =D
Nice to see the Disney films get some content. A lot of mods (perhaps understandably) only focus on doing EU content
OMG I'm so glad I decided to randomly search for this again! I rememeber trying this mod a while ago but the AI broke on me mulitple times so I gave up... Glad to see it should be fixed!
Five factions I’d add would be the Old Republic and Vitiate’s Sith Empire from SWTOR, the Hutt Cartel, the Yuuzhan Vong, and the Mandalorian Clans.
I’d also change the Sith Temple to Dark Fortress for the CIS, and Inquisitor fortress for the Empire, with Sith being relegated to The Sith Empire and everything else being “Dark Jedi” or “Inquisitor”. That and “Sith Knight” would be renamed “Sith Warrior”. Just for lore purposes.
Man yuzan vong would be crazy amazing
THE HUTT CARTEL!! 😭
I wanna play as a big fatso mobster, hiring a bunch of mercenaries and Bounty Hunters, like a filthy AoE3 Germans!
I tried emulating that on Scenario Editor, but, _yeeeaah, needless to say, it was an absolute mess._ 😔
*Yuuzhan Vong would be crazy, though. Holy shit!* 😳
Star war empire at war with awakening of the rebellion is good enough for both ground and space now and day
This is so cool!!! Downloading it today!!
I always wanted a Star Wars game where I can fight my way through a Star Destorre and take control of it
Doesn't sound like an RTS game lol, but technically something that could had been possible to program into the cancelled Battlefront 3.
I love STGB, played it for years but the issue I had was the Jedi/Sith. I wanted to be able to change the color of the sabers to make it more realistic to the order. Now I have not had the chance to play this mod so not sure if you guys made changes to that
In the latest update the Jedi Padawans/Knights/Masters for Gungans, Naboo, Wookiees, and New Republic now use green lightsabers instead of blue for variety.
I used to be addicted to this game as a kid...i just got a PC and this is the first game i bought lol...i want to try this mod
On the topic of vanilla empire at war ground battles being bland you should try out the awakening the rebellion mod, it takes ground battles, the weak link, and makes then honestly somewhat better the space in some ways, the latest update also refreshed space, they make it feel more fleshed out, new and revised units, dynamic missions as well as the campaign ones, entirely new economy systems and all 3 playable factions feel different in their own ways
Cool, thanks. I'll give it a look. Yeah, like I said, EaW has awesome space combat, but the ground combat (which I generally prefer more over space/air combat in games) is very bland and not all that good or fun in the vanilla game. I'm sure mods can help out quite a lot, but a major issue I have is the game engine itself is rough and did not age well... I mean, even back in the day it was released, it wasn't all that great either. Especially when you compare to a better RTS like Company of Heroes 1, which released in the same year and had more dynamic ground combat, covering system for troops, etc. I'm still holding out that Petroglyph Games gets to one day make an EaW 2 and significantly improve the ground combat... heck, I'd even love for them to copy Company of Heroes' battle system if they could . I mean, my dream Star Wars RTS is basically Company of Heroes but with a Star Wars skin after all haha
@@SYLOStarWars I thought the space combat was awful in EaW. Land combat was definitely bland but the space combat while visually beautiful at the time was shallow as hell and didn't live up to the hype. I was very disappointed with the game and left wondering why it got the praise that it did specifically the space combat portion. Easily one of the worst rts games I've played in the last 2 decades. Even though SWGB was a glorified licensed SW mod of AOE2 imo it was the superior rts and game overall. I love your idea of a company of heroes/Star Wars game since CoH was the spiritual predecessor of Dawn of War 1(Dark Crusade) my favorite RTS game of all time.
I just want a new Star Wars Bounty Hunters game with Boba as the lead
At this rate, I think you'll sooner get "Star Wars Goody Two-Shoes Crime Lord: Boba Fett" the game before that.
I love Galactic Battlegrounds and I want to see it come back with the sequel trilogy. Revenge of the Sith. The Clone Wars. Rogue One. Solo. Rebels. The Mandalorian. Ahsoka etc.
Zann Consortium 💀💀💀 I hope they are balanced.
real question here are the Mandalorians
added into the game
eventually!
The more important question: are THE HUTT CARTEL added into the game?
Still have this game but haven't dusted it off. I love that it was made from Age of Empires II, and it shows in the gameplay. I would love to see this game now with the new mods
Yeah, that's also what really makes Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds great in general, because of the engine, which is really timeless. There's a reason the OG Age of Empires 2 is still heavily popular today, the gameplay just works and is so much fun. I personally wish Lucasfilm Games would take note of this and take the Age of Empires Definitive Edition and make a Galactic Battlegrounds version for it too. That way, it would also allow the Expanding Fronts team to swoop in later to help create an even better looking mod on an updated engine. That be great.
They recently made age of empires 2 available on Xbox and this game with all the updates would be awesome to play on xbox!!
Something that really annoyed me in the unmodded version (But who knows if it was fixed in the Modded version), was that you can't instantly find your workers that aren't being tasked to anything, you actually have to search around and find where they are. In warcraft 3 reign of chaos, theres just a worker button to press which will take you to the next unactive worker in sequence, and you'll quickly find all your inactive workers and make them do stuff, its way more efficient. I was also annoyed that I put the level to "Easiest" and the enemy made it to my base before I even had half and army and wiped me out. And lastly, to add onto the Easiest difficulty destroying me, my teammates just sat there. In warcraft 3, your teammates always help you out if youre under attack, but in Starwars Galactic battlegrounds, they just sit there and watch you die.
Are you sure? There is a 'find idle worker' button on the left side next to the mini map that does exactly this. It is in the vanilla version as well.
As for the computer AI, I agree - it was crap in the vanilla version, both being too overpowered even on the lowest setting and then breaking itself. Fortunately, the mod's reworked AI is 100% better. Trust me, everything simply works way better in this mod. It's how the game should be played now. Anything less, and you're screwing yourself out of a good experience.
Hi congratulations on the video!
I have a question , by chance in the editor is there a way to put invisible walls that block shots without being crossed?
Like so that no external threat via bluster can get through the wall. Secondly, is there a way to create connections between areas with a teleport?
So that you can reach locations without crossing the whole map.
Thanks :)
Unfortunately, I wouldn't know since I never dug that deep in the map editor. This sounds like a question for the mod creators though, I suggest reaching out to the mod creators through their Mod DB page or Discord.
Need to find a laptop with disc drive to fire up my og hard copy I got.
The one mod that i think makes ground combat good for eaw is eaw remake mod. But it is unstable. However the ground combat reminds me a little more of company of heroes style which i love.
Cool, a Star Wars game with CoH combat style would be my dream. I gotta try that mod out
@@SYLOStarWars they do have a mod for coh1 called frontlines but it is still in the works. They have one playable doctrine for alliance and empire so far. Been in development for quite some time. As for eaw remake mod i personally edited the limit for the heroes in skirmish mode so u can get them an infinite amount. It would be my dream too for a sw style coh game. And a terminator style coh game as well lol
I was able to get the mod installed but the game keeps crashing while I’m playing. Turning the resolution settings all the way down seems to help some but it still ends up crashing. I’ve tried using different compatibility settings and still issues. I’m running windows 11. Can someone help?
That's strange, I've never experienced a single crash. Especially since this is an older game as well. Then again I'm running on Windows 10, but I'd imagine it be just as stable on 11 as well. I would recommend asking the mod creators for help on their moddb.com page or their discord (link should be on their moddb page), see if they could troubleshoot this for you.
@@SYLOStarWarsthanks! I’ll give it a try. Cheers
@LAKINGZFAN Hey, mate! A random passing by youtube comment here.
So, did you manage to get your problem fixed? 😊 Recently purchased Galactic Battlegrounds on Steam and I'm thinking of getting this mod, but I'd like to know if there are any extra steps I'm not aware of.
A bit sad to see textures cant be modded to improve them. Though it way be possible and it stayed like that in order to keep the original graphics fidelity ?
Yeah, they want to keep the aesthetic as close to the original as possible. Almost as if this was an official DLC/expansion released back in the day.
@@SYLOStarWars I understand then. Thanks 🙂
Engine limitations are like that unfortunately
You have a voice for silent film
A*hole omg haha.
Disney fan detected
Opinions rejected
Nah but the mod looks dope though
Haha what's wrong with loving all Star Wars? But let's be real here, there is waaaaay more Legends/EU content here so even Disney Star Wars haters will find a lot to like here.
RTS Shaanraaa
I have an *HP Pavillion p6330f* computer back from the 2009-2010 era, and it can't even run the unmodded version of Starwars Galactic Battlegrounds for over 20 minutes. Doesn't matter if I make a small game with 2 players or a jumbo game, the game and the soundtrack will both freeze around 20 minutes into every game. Something has to be wrong with my computer, how can you not run a 22 year old computer game?
Sounds like it maybe your PC. Do you have any other PC in your home to try SWGB on to see if the game will work for more then 20 minutes? Also, are you running it via a digital copy or physical disk? If you're using a disk, then perhaps it has some scratches on it which are causing the game crashes?
I would recommend the crash fix made by David Gow. Even on Windows 7 it needs compatibility mode to prevent crashes, though if your PC can run Expanding Fronts this should also fix the issue.
Im having trouble installing this mod on steam.. Can someone help?
Just pop in all the mod contents into the game folder. Should be a fairly easy and straight forward install. If you run into any complications though, I suggest reaching out to the mod creators through their Mod DB page or Discord.
Is it canon black sun or legends black sun?
Pretty sure they're using mostly Legends material. Legends stuff is their #1 go to for content in this game with the exception of the canon only factions like First Order and Resistance.
Does the mod work on steam?
Works on the Steam version, yes.
I'm having trouble installing it from steam. Any help would great.
Hi, sorry or the late response, but Expanding Fronts works on all versions of the game, both including GOG and the Steam versions. What I suggest you do is head onto Steam, go to library and find SWGB, right click it and go to 'manage', then 'browse local game files'. From there it will take you to the game folder, which you will then proceed to dump the EF game files in (it will replace the original files). Then click the custom launcher, select which game version you want, adjust settings and boom, you're in!
Okay, so how do I get this modded version of the game?
There is a download link for it in the video description box. Download it, extract the files into your SWGB game folder and run the mods own exe file. Enjoy!
Empire at war is amazing
No one said it wasn't a good game, but it didn't age all too well with its ground combat being very rough. CoH1 (which came out before EaW) had much better ground combat and plays better in 2023. EaW is only untouched in its space combat.
@@SYLOStarWars I respectfully disagree. I consistently have tons of fun even in the ground skirmishes with the game. I think the pacing is in the slower side, sure, but for me it's my go to Star Wars RTS. I like how the units are more closely to scale and how the special abilities give the gameplay more options.
That's fair. We each find fun in different things I suppose. Have you ever given the CoH series a try? I can almost guarantee that after playing those games and experiencing the ground combat there, it will show you how stale it is in EaW. Now that I think of it... I wouldn't be surprised if CoH ruined EaW for me haha
@@SYLOStarWars I'll give it a shot!
I never could get into empire at wore but galactic battlegrounds I probably had over a million hrs on my old dell laptop rip looking for a replacement one with a disc drive.
Can you play online with the mod?
Yep!
@@SYLOStarWars Please don't tell me its via GameRanger as I detest that program. If they added native MP support via the mod inside the game, then that is amazing!
This mod/game looks really good but really confusing
What's confusing about it?
Just an AOE 2 reskin. Empire at War is better.
... to each their own. 😆
L opinion, mate. Both are great games.