Lo-Fi Games

Is the option for co-op possible? I want an actual honest answer

I'm not saying that Kenshi 2 will have multiplayer, or even necessarily needs multiplayer...

That being said, I would love to be able to play Kenshi 2 with a few of my friends, and I DO think that it would enhance the game in large ways. The Kenshi world doesn't care about 1 person, why not, not care about 2 people? or 4? There is something so alluring to sharing this world with other people. I'm not saying this game should ever be turned into an MMO, because that would be a crime against humanity, but co-op play has no real drawbacks that I see.

I understand that there are people who are set in there beliefs that Kenshi does not belong anywhere but in a single player world, but for those of you that would argue against it... give me one (good reason) why it shouldn't at least be an option? I've seen a lot of people try to shut the idea of it down, but it just kind of seems like they're just trying to justify there own opinions on how Kenshi should be played.

Some of the things I always see people arguing are

"Kenshi uses pause/fast forward options that would have to be taken out for multiplayer"
I have played many games that are multiplayer that have pause/fast forward options that work just fine. Rimworld and the total war series are two that come to mind off the top of my head. One of which is controlled by the host, and the other is sort of a voting mechanic, where as long as both players click the pause/ fast forward button, then it will pause/fast forward. Not to mention, even if they just took out the mechanic of pause/fast forward if played in multiplayer, who cares? I would be playing with my friends, I play total war: warhammer with them and a single turn can take upwards of an hour in some circumstances.

"The world is designed for one person"
How so? Kenshi is just a sandbox world, that moves on with or without you. what's the difference between having two people that the game doesn't care about? or 3? or 4? There are no real quest lines, or anything really that having more than one person would really break. If a faction topples in the world, then 2 or 3 people see it happening around them instead of just 1. I see no real limitations in the way the world is designed in Kenshi, that more than 1 person hinders.

"The engine does not support this option"
Now, I don't know much about game design, and this is something I could be very naive about... but I understand that the idea of multiplayer is all but hopeless for Kenshi 1 because to add the option would mean to go back and rewrite much of the code to allow for this option (or so I have heard) this doesn't seem like much of a solid reason for Kenshi 2. They are both made with Ogre (though Kenshi 2 is getting an upgrade to Ogre 2.1) however from my understanding Ogre fully supports multiplayer, and Kenshi 2 being a new game leaves room for the devs to write this into the game. Sure, they'll use a lot of the same mechanics but c'mon.

If all you have to say is that you don't want to play the game in co-op with other people then... don't? That's the beauty of games like this. You get to play in the way that you want, whether you want to build a city, or travel alone. Be a trained assassin, or a simple farmer. Play by yourself, or share the world with a few friends.

In the end, I'll be happy to support the devs in whatever they do, because after 1000 hours of play, I can say that I love Kenshi inside and out, crashes and all.

the official answer is it is not possible because of the base engine.
it does not have coding for MP. and adding it would require scraping the current game and starting over.

Is there hope for Online, Multiplayer, Co-Op, Lan mod?

Online gaming for this title is not possible.
list of reasons.

Dev created the game as single player only
With the custom built engine, he chose modulus that allowed the freedom of single player over multiplayer. though in the core there is a tiny bit of MP functionality. the main core of the engine does not have it.

What does this mean?
It means that in the base engine there is basically zero options to add this feature. The modules the Dev used to create the games engine does not have the core coding needed.

Can MP be added as a Mod?
It is not possible due to the core engine.

But other game companies eventually had their games have MP due to modding
This is a result of their game engines already have the capability inside them. the parent company chose not to add the functionally. This is not a option with Kenshi.

But the Dev can add this after the game is finished?
In a way he could. but it would require scraping the entire game and starting over from scratch. Those are the words the Dev used. But he also said he could make Kenshi MP compatible, even so. The overhaul would require years. far longer then just starting over from scratch.

Maybe he will add it in Kenshi 2?
Kenshi 2 has been confirmed, it is using the same engine with Ogre 2.1, this means Kenshi will still not support MP.

So what are the chances of MP ever being added?
Basically, Zero.

I was hoping more for an answer, not a copy paste message from someone who doesn't really know

Especially since that copy paste is already wrong in obvious ways.

"Modding can't be done because of the engine"
Ogre allows for multiplayer within the engine. Look at games like skyrim and rimworld, those games were not designed for SP

Ogre is not the base engine
its a component to the base engine the Dev created.

this is the official answer with facts provided by the Dev.

Skyrim and rimworld use different off the shelf base engines, they just did not enable the MP aspect thats was in them.
this is explained in the official answer. and its been this same answer since 2013.

Hatsune_Neko wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 07, 2019 9:04 pm

the official answer is it is not possible because of the base engine.
it does not have coding for MP. and adding it would require scraping the current game and starting over.

Is there hope for Online, Multiplayer, Co-Op, Lan mod?

Online gaming for this title is not possible.
list of reasons.

Dev created the game as single player only
With the custom built engine, he chose modulus that allowed the freedom of single player over multiplayer. though in the core there is a tiny bit of MP functionality. the main core of the engine does not have it.

What does this mean?
It means that in the base engine there is basically zero options to add this feature. The modules the Dev used to create the games engine does not have the core coding needed.

Can MP be added as a Mod?
It is not possible due to the core engine.

But other game companies eventually had their games have MP due to modding
This is a result of their game engines already have the capability inside them. the parent company chose not to add the functionally. This is not a option with Kenshi.

But the Dev can add this after the game is finished?
In a way he could. but it would require scraping the entire game and starting over from scratch. Those are the words the Dev used. But he also said he could make Kenshi MP compatible, even so. The overhaul would require years. far longer then just starting over from scratch.

Maybe he will add it in Kenshi 2?
Kenshi 2 has been confirmed, it is using the same engine with Ogre 2.1, this means Kenshi will still not support MP.

So what are the chances of MP ever being added?
Basically, Zero.

You say its not possible to mod in coop yet someone has done exactly that sure it doesn't work half the time but there are times when it does work

please provide proof
this is not the first time someone has said they made a MP version yet they never provided evidence.

and no, a video wont do, please provide a link to the mod.

Alot of these reasons , were the same reasons for other single player games, and yet they were made multiplayer by hard working modders.

The ONLY definitive reason i see here is that old ass engine they are using for some reason. I understand the first game was made with that engine but its very clear the limitations on the engine have been reached? Am i wrong?


Signed,
Ben Shapiro

modding MP into K2 would require rewriting the games coding, which is not gonna happen, the Devs changed to much. they literally coded the option out with all the changes they did to the base engine.

which is different from K1, as it didn't have the coding to really start adding it.

I'd love to see multiplayer implemented in Kenshi as well so I can torture some friends into joining the desert and having their limbs taken (possibly by me) while the rest is left lying to dry in the sun.

That said, I agree that if the engine supports literally no support for it, designing and building multiplayer on top of it even as the first hand developer is challenging. But from my understanding Kenshi2 is developed in Unreal Engine, so there are bound to be some possibilities there given that it's one of the major game engines where there is a chance for 3rd party (modders) to hook into engine and game code.

For Unity, for instance, you have 'Harmony' which allows directly hooking into or overwriting (likely using 'new' to hide the base) despite the code not being editable itself. Just for reference, here's the git: https://github.com/pardeike/Harmony

If there's something like that for Unreal Engine (unless that engine changed?) I do not know; I'm more of a Unity/C# guy here.
3rd Party multiplayer support depends on 4 fronts, really. The engine support itself, the first hand developer (Lo-Fi), the community support of the engine (projects like Harmony for Unity) and lastly, the modder support for the game itself.
The last point is a big factor why I wouldn't expect to see Multiplayer come to fruition - Kenshi is a nice game, but it's a niche one. The player base and inherently the modder base is not as big as other games, so the bigger the challenge created by the other 3 fronts (e.g. lack of available foundational support) the less likely it is that anyone will have enough interest and endurance to see such a project through.

Should Lo-Fi Games have any interest of giving the community the opportunity to mod in Multiplayer at some point, it would at least help to structure the code in such a way that it is well designed and no assumptions are made such as "We always have one player and one party so lets just make those static". Using a function internally to return a player object given an identifier would be better as it's more modular and opens a door for modders - without obscuring the structure to the first hand devs.

But in the end --- the game isn't even released. Who knows what's possible and what's not.
Sorry for spam; just my 2 cents on the topic.

Kenshi 2 is using Unreal 4 engine, though the engine itself does support MP.
the changes the Devs made to the engine to support the game have made MP impossible to add.

Kenshi is one of those games where MP has to be planned from the start. it has to be a base part of the game for it to work.
Now the Devs are not against MP, They even mentioned it might be possible for say, kenshi 3
but that's year's off.

but for now, MP for kenshi 1 and 2 is not possible.
Kenshi 1, Due to the game engine not having any options for it. and changes made to the engine
Kenshi 2, Due to changes made to the game engine to support feature's the Dev wants.

Massive ball drop. It's apparent many people have been asking for small scale co-op.

mustardskaven wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 11, 2022 12:44 am

Code: Select all

Kenshi is one of those games where MP has to be planned from the start. it has to be a base part of the game for it to work.

Massive ball drop. It's apparent many people have been asking for small scale co-op.

not really that many people. at most on average about 2 people comment on it every week over the past 10+ years. ( That includes steam and the Lo-Fi Forums on the subject )

sure people would like it, but the demand is not that high where it would force the Devs to relook at it.
plus the game was not designed with it in mind.
but as i said above, the Devs are not against it, but they did not plan on making the game for it. maybe in Kenshi 3, but for the original and K2, its not gonna happen.

It's the only thing I feel is missing. A coop. It was great fun in Rimworld (someone made a multiplayer mod) to be able to play with the Mrs.