[BETA RELEASE] T-Zone presents January 1997 - The War Rages On

[rovert]

I just wanted to say I've greatly enjoyed this mod and it has brought me a lot of fun and escape in a rotten year. I hope you can pick it up again when you feel more inspired and have the time.

[benjybates]

Not sure exactly when Bubba, D-Von & Spike joined the Dudley family stable but you might wanna either go ahead and put them in or find a way to keep people out. In the first week of my save, RVD and Tommy Dreamer joined the stable.

 

I mean I kinda like the sound of Rob Van Dudley and Tommy Dudley

[johnal881]

This mod looks good, any problems, why was dropped?

[Peter.1986]

I like this mod, 1997 for me was around the time i started watching nearly every RAW and PPV.

 

i would say though when I first started the game a lot of workers looked OP.

 

I simulated a watcher game and about a year and half later the WWF have 90 million, and still have the same stars at the top. (time decline?)

 

it seems like none of the top two will have any struggles going out of business (in reality WWF were not far off and we all know what happened to WCW)

 

The locker room seems too happy. Triple H a positive influence?

 

Other than that a great mod and love the pic pack too.

[forlan]

I like this mod, 1997 for me was around the time i started watching nearly every RAW and PPV.

 

i would say though when I first started the game a lot of workers looked OP.

 

I simulated a watcher game and about a year and half later the WWF have 90 million, and still have the same stars at the top. (time decline?)

 

it seems like none of the top two will have any struggles going out of business (in reality WWF were not far off and we all know what happened to WCW)

 

The locker room seems too happy. Triple H a positive influence?

 

Other than that a great mod and love the pic pack too.

 

Possibly considering once things die down a bit picking this back up so just to address this. This is more to do with the game than the data, WWF talent wise is stacked at this time. Whilst in rela lfie they struggled, from a game mechanic point of view due to the talent of the workers they have the AI can always put on great shows.

[Bigpapa42]

Possibly considering once things die down a bit picking this back up so just to address this. This is more to do with the game than the data, WWF talent wise is stacked at this time. Whilst in rela lfie they struggled, from a game mechanic point of view due to the talent of the workers they have the AI can always put on great shows.

 

When a company has a talented roster in TEW, its kinda really hard to keep the AI from doing well with them. The TNA dynamic, going back several versions of TEW. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to set up a company so that it has talent but the AI won't be successful, in addition to being rather counter-intuitive.

[jean-vic]

Possibly considering once things die down a bit picking this back up so just to address this. This is more to do with the game than the data, WWF talent wise is stacked at this time. Whilst in rela lfie they struggled, from a game mechanic point of view due to the talent of the workers they have the AI can always put on great shows.

 

Only way I see it being possible is to tank the pop of everyone other than Austin, HBK, Bret and Taker, make most gimmicks outiside of those four stale and drop the company's momentum.

[forlan]

I feel that in itself would ruin the game experience tbh though as already some workers like rocky are rightly hamstrung because of what was going on

[thecoolestjedi12]

Yeah as someone in a year, the only way to make the WWF really feel like they are struggling is to tank a lot of the roster outside of three people and I don't even know if that is even worth it for the little realism it adds to playing of the game. The game sees the WWF as way more talented than it was in real life by audiences coming to see you etc etc.

 

On another note, I'm a year in with this mod and absolutely loving it. Basically most of my TEW time is this mod and working on my own mod. Its already my favorite TEW2020 mod with the time put in so far.

[spiffyone]

A bit late to the party with this mod, but the talk of WCW Pro and Worldwide piqued my interest:

 

Though (if it matters) Worldwide usually aired on a one week delay for some reason (at least it did in the KC market), while Pro was up to date. To my knowledge Pro was also on TBS at the very beginning of the year on Sunday afternoons, before making the transition to syndication, though I could be wrong about that (Pro was syndicated on late Saturday nights in my market, whereas Worldwide was on Saturday Afternoons, so I watched much of the latter and very little of the former). I know it was on TBS at least through the fall of 1996 (Glacier actually debuted on Pro in 96, before he had his "official" debut match on the following Nitro).

 

WCW Pro was originally on syndication (as NWA Pro Wrestling, later renamed when the company itself was renamed) and only later added to TBS (in 1994). It continued to air in syndication even after that, but just on less stations than the old NWA Pro and early WCW Pro days (believe it or not, there was a point in time where Pro was the A show for JCP NWA).

 

When it started airing on TBS, the original timeslot was Saturday mornings. By Fall '96 had been moved to Sunday late afternoon/early evening (5pm).

 

TBS cancelled it when Thunder started, but it still was shown in syndication with one or two exclusive matches (it was mostly recap show by that point, though).

 

So, for this mod, it should be airing Sunday early evenings on TBS and, if folks want to add the syndicated airings on top of that...well, depends on how you want to balance that. If you just go with an umbrella "syndication" broadcaster, it should be one with less of a range than whatever one you have assigned for Worldwide. If you're going station by station...well...good luck, because it's a mix of timeslots (the WCW syndicated shows aired in some areas in afternoons, mornings in others, graveyard shifts in still others). And going through old TV listings just to make things "accurate"...that way lies madness.

 

Take it from someone who knows.

[spiffyone]

When a company has a talented roster in TEW, its kinda really hard to keep the AI from doing well with them. The TNA dynamic, going back several versions of TEW. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to set up a company so that it has talent but the AI won't be successful, in addition to being rather counter-intuitive.

 

It was a bit simpler in previous TEWs, via some careful manipulation of trends for each area, but that was somewhat taken out of the user's hands this time around. A step backwards there, as it would've been better for allowing that same freedom for the user or mods to set it in the database editor (not the in-game editor, mind you) but actually broadening it so that it would be for each region as well.

 

Ah, well. Maybe in the next TEW.

[Vinsmoker]

Lowering the "Booking Skill" of the booker usually does lower the quality quite well in my experience. WWE ratings went from being in their 80s to dropping into the 40-60s when I lowered Stephanie McMahon's booking skill to sub 20

[StatboyVT]

EDIT: Nevermind...I read that star quality can improve, so disregard.

 

This is a great mod, thanks for your efforts!

 

One comment: The Rock only has a star quality of 75. Seems low. I assume star quality is a set number that doesn't improve? Guys like Shamrock and The British Bulldog are higher. I'm thinking of editing it and bumping it up to a 95.

[njmcfreak]

I have to check this one out, got that itch for a late 90s game.

[wwe9112]

This seems great, thank you!

[Jarelskovic]

love this mod, is it dead?

[MrVillain]

Due to work commitments in the pandemic etc I brekky have time to look at the forum never mind mod..I will throw it out there that this is very playable just needs more future workers and tweaks of any errors etc..I would be happy if someone else wanted to take over as I have no idea when and if I'd get time to work on this more

 

Has anyone picked this up? I am considering doing it?

[Satyr24]

Has anyone picked this up? I am considering doing it?

 

Please Do

[MrVillain]

Please Do

 

I've been looking around and the game is in a nice state already. So shouldn't be too bad.

[xzommer]

The late 1997 — early 2002 era of wrestling is probably my favorite overall, I have a lot of nostalgia for that phase. And although I've tried a few mods, so far, The War Rages On has been the most accessible to me for that particular era. Other mods for TEW 2020 are either too early or too late for the aforementioned era.

 

Although I'd prefer the game to start around late 1997, early 1997 is close enough for me.

 

I noticed that the current version is 0.50, but I've been using 0.45 and have gone half-a-year in-game with no issues. Thanks for a solid mod Forlan.

[Johnny Fenoli]

I've been looking around and the game is in a nice state already. So shouldn't be too bad.

 

Did anyone ever pick this mod up?

[S_Joker]

Is this still being worked on?

[s7eve_s]

Just wanted to add that so far this has been my favourite MOD to play on TEW20

Played 2 and a half years as WWF using version 0.3, and thinking of restarting a game using the 0.5 version

I'd be happy to update a few things on the MOD if there are any suggestions and to keep it going if Forlan doesn't have the time to?

[s7eve_s]

On 10/25/2020 at 8:51 AM, forlan said:

 

Due to work commitments in the pandemic etc I brekky have time to look at the forum never mind mod..I will throw it out there that this is very playable just needs more future workers and tweaks of any errors etc..I would be happy if someone else wanted to take over as I have no idea when and if I'd get time to work on this more

Hoping this still stands as I've made a couple of adjustments based on my own playing of the game and a couple of suggestions on this thread.

Have named the update version 0.6 as would rather continue the excellent work of @forlan than take any credit, just simply want to see a continuation of perhaps one of the best MOD's for TEW20

Changes:

WWF Popularity lowered in all game areas by 10. WWF were pulling crowds of 15000 previously at Knickerbocker Arena where as in real life they only managed 7000ish at the end of December 1996, so lowered Tri State to bring that down and all other areas in line. This has reduced WWF size to Medium and also made them 2^nd in the world now, which seems more accurate behind WCW.

Vince, Steph, Shane McMahon – All have occasional Wrestler enabled now and can be ticked when playing as WWF

A few didn't have defined roles in WWF so have done the following:

Vince Russo – Road Agent

Howark Finkel – Announcer

JC Ice & Wolfie D – Wrestlers

Linda McMahon – On Screen Personality

 

I will probably take a look at attributes of some of the main stars as @forlan did previously ask for suggestions, so it's possibly not an area of the MOD that was covered in depth, I will go back through the thread and look at some of the suggestions but for starters:

Rocky Maivia – Prodigy added to attributes (Hidden). In the save I had that reached 1999, Rock capped his pop at 82. His Star Quality seemed to peak at 84 which may be the reason for the cap, so have added this attribute to see if it gives him the boost he had irl.

Shawn Michaels – It’s who you know. Though it didn't occur until towards the end of 1997, HBK put Triple H over by lying down for the European Title. Added this attribute and HBK will accept losing to Triple from the off and anyone else he has a positive relationship with which is..... no one else within WWF at the time.

Triple H - Have adjusted and added attributes based on @Peter.1986 comments regarding him being a positive influence backstage.

Changed to Driven which has removed his positive influence, Egomaniac or Bully seemed appropriate for future years but at this time after the curtain call, he seemed to just get his head down and be focused on rebuilding his career, added Political Player to imitate the issues with Rock?

Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy Gimmicks, set both to Backyarder (Legitimate). Both were still jobbing around this time and not really stealing the show yet, but gimmicks have been set as Established and at Average, so can be changed if wanting to push them.

EWA World Heavyweight Title – Set to Retired as didn’t become active until September 1997, also set start date of vacant reign to Jan 1997

 

If anyone has a go with this data please let me know how you get on and open to suggestions for any further changes, though I do want to be respectful of the original data

Edited February 16 by s7eve_s
Additional info

[s7eve_s]

Data: https://www.mediafire.com/file/v0z886my65qese9/TEW2020.mdb/file

Done a little editing to try and adjust the finances

Merchandise:

WWF - Changed from Enviable to Comprehensive
WCW - Changed from Industrial to Growing Business

Broadcast Deals:

WCW/TW - Changed to Prime Time from On Demand and lowered from 100% to 50% split (Seems to have worked)
WWF/DTV - Changed to Prime Time (This has doubled the amount of income)

Changed DirecTV coverage in USA from Enormous to Medium and changed split from 30% to 50% for WWF deal (Doesn't make nearly as much now).

WWFRaw/TSN - Changed from Prime Time to Late Evening/Contract lowered from 3 to 1 year
WWFRaw/Sky - Changed to Late Night from Late Evening and amended to Sky Box Office rather than Sky Sports 1

Changed Sky Box Office coverage in UK to Medium from Big

WWF:
Production Values lowered to Professional
Live Event to Large
Broadcast Quality to In House
Music: Minor Licensed

WWF still make a profit but not as much as they were doing previously, makes it more of a challenge as it was at the time but no threat of going under (which is good, as they didn't!). WCW still make millions but only half as much as they were doing, which is still a lot!

A couple of updates to attributes for the following:

Ric Flair - Changed to Insecure (from Professional) and added Golden Mane
Booker T - Added Chequered Past
Kurt Angle - Added Plays Comedy Well, Plays Weasely/Underdog Well (Not sure on this?) and can't play Mysterious/Occult and Offbeat/Unstable