[beta Release] 2020: Before The Fall

[Rick Savant]

This is the beta release of the 2020: Before The Fall modification of Total Extreme Wrestling.

 

What The **** Even Is This

 

Glad you asked! Its a mod set at the beginning of March, 2020, right before the major wrestling companies stopped having fans in the buildings and in some cases changed their story lines drastically to accommodate a new reality. Only this time, due to the magic of TEW not being a Global Pandemic Simulator, and so having no other option, the pandemic never happened.

 

It is built off the Landxx Modern Day Real World Mod, with changes to the Agers, Alter Egos, Angles, Broadcasters, Broadcasting Deals, Chemistry, Companies, Company Relationships, Contracts, End of Year Awards, Excursions, Pics and Free Pics, Graduates, Hall of Immortals, Halls of Fame, Injuries, Match Types, Media Groups, Narrative, Power 500, Scandals, Stables, Starting Absences, Starting Injuries, Starting Morale, Starting Storylines, Tag Teams, Titles, Title Lineages, Venues, Worker Names, Worker Relationships, plain old Workers, and more. Which is a bad way of saying that I've touched nearly every aspect of this database, and it is not a quick and easy release.

 

What Was/Is Your Mod Building Philosophy

 

Wow, what a deep question! You're really smart! My approach for this was to learn from the C-Verse, and then apply my own take on things, more or less within the parameters set by the base game.

 

What The **** Does That Mean

 

Good question! What I did was export the C-Verse into Access, transfer it over into Excel and then look at the shape of the data, and try to be informed by that as I distributed skills, popularities, physical condition and all that jazz. Here's an example, this is how the Brawling stat is distributed in the C-Verse for Active Male Wrestlers, sorted by Brawl and by Age:

 

 

So some things come out of that analysis that I wouldn't have expected: Barely anyone starts the game with a Brawl over 80, it doesn't diminish more than 10ish points on average as people age, and the vast majority of the distribution is in the middle, with relatively few workers at the ends of the spectrum. This informed my skill distribution shown here:

 

 

They're not twins, but they're clearly related.

 

So This Is Just The C-Verse With Real Wrestler's Names

No... No, look, it's really not. There's no wrestler that would be same as a worker in the C-Verse, except by occasional coincidence, the promotions aren't the same, its really nothing like the default database except that the macro skill distributions (and stuff like that) learned at the C-Verse's knee.

 

This has some real benefits! The world is very stable. It has functioned admirably through dozens of 8-12 year sims, and the one 20 year sim I did worked great. Older wrestlers tend to move down the P500 except in some rare cases, while younger wrestlers rise up to replace them.

 

Ok, Sounds Good, Can't Wait To Play IMPACT

 

Oh. Right. Well, ok so one thing you should know, is that while the world works really, really well on a macro sense, on a fed by fed basis, I only really got around to the major companies. WWE, AEW, NJPW, NXT, AAA, NXT UK, and CMLL have been tested, and are functional ... but anything past that may, or may not, need tweeking. But hey! That's why we're in Beta! Please give me your thoughts, couched in flowery praise, or a hint of reverence, and I will definitely be making adjustments.

 

So, This Isn't Really Done, Is It

 

Art is never completed, only abandoned. Honestly, its completely playable, I just can't vouch for smaller feds. To my knowledge there's a bunch of future workers I need to add, but outside of that it should be within spitting distance of tearing off its Beta tag and running naked through the streets, drunk on its new found freedom and gin. Maybe I'll add some narratives. Either way my partner banned me from working on it another minute if I didn't release it first, so here we are.

 

Who Do I Blame For This Catastrophe

 

Me! With help from Bizzo2k who was returning the favor for the help I gave them with their legendary A New Trust: 1934 mod (which you absolutely should play). Also Landxx for giving me permission to use his mod as a base, and Fleisch/Southside_Hitman as Landxx used their mods in turn. And lastly Joemurphy, NoLegsGaming, and Sabin357 for pic contributions! If anyone finds pics of their that made their way into the picture pack that they're not credited for, please let me know so I can credit you! Also, if you'd like to have your pics removed from the pack, just let me know and I'm on it!

 

Now stop reading this and play test it for me.

 

Database: 2020: Before The Fall 0.91

 

Pics: Initial Pic Pack

 

Changelog

 

0.92

-Rebalanced various announcers and colour commentators, some have left the business

-Red Velvet now exists

-Dean Alexander is now destined to exist

-Joey Janela is no longer a play by play announcer

-Allie is now signed to AEW as The Bunny

-PAC has decided to work more than 10 dates for AEW

-QT Marshall can now perform any role in AEW

-Jimmy Yuta now goes by Wheeler Yuta, stats rebalanced

-Terrell & Terrence Dudley now go by Hughes

-Fixed duplicate title reigns stemming from current champions being entered in title linages for WWE, AEW, NXT, NXT UK, and Impact

 

0.91

-Hiroshi Tanahashi has decided to perform colour commentary

-Katsuyori Shibata has taken up play by play

-Small buffs to the skills related to above

-Griff Garrison now exists

-Darby Allin is now edgier

-Adam Page is now a heavy drinker (kayfabe)

-MJF is no longer egomaniacal

-Penelope Ford's AEW contract now allows her to wrestle

-Allie's AEW contract now allows her to wrestle

-Taz's AEW contract now allows him to manage

-AEW contracts for out of ring talents now set to any out of ring role

-Tony Khan and Brandi Rhodes may now act as Road Agents, although I wouldn't recommend it

-Vickie Guerrero may now wrestle in a pinch, but, again, not recommended

-ACH will contemplate retirement sooner

-Christian's popularity has been realigned

-Goldberg has returned from hiatus

-AJ Styles has moved to RAW

-Samoa Joe has become more heroic

-The Revial have become more villainous

-Humberto Carrillo has been booted from Team Vega

-Humberto Carrillo and Rey Mysterio are now feuding with Team Vega

-TJ Wilson is now listed as Tyson Kidd

-Tyson Kidd is no longer managed by Natalia

-Jerrry Lawler is significantly less popular with human beings

-Various WWE contracts for out of ring talent is now for any out of ring role

-Family members will no longer die mid match

-Various bio revisons

[ubernoob]

Boy I found this post too late in the day.

 

Excellent looking, and can't wait to dig in later.

[hyretic]

Love the idea of a pre-pandemic focused mod

 

Sorry if I'm being a bit dense, but I'm not totally following the comparison to the C-Verse thing. Does it mean you've tried to replicate the distribution of stats? Like if say 5% of C-Verse workers have a brawling of 70+, you'd try to do the same for your mod? Or am I way off?

[Rick Savant]

Excellent looking, and can't wait to dig in later.

 

Rad! I'd love to hear your feedback~

 

Does it mean you've tried to replicate the distribution of stats? Like if say 5% of C-Verse workers have a brawling of 70+, you'd try to do the same for your mod? Or am I way off?

 

Not that off at all! You're totally on it, with trying to replicate the distribution of stats. Although my methodology was a bit different than looking at percentages, it probably ended up in a similar place to if I had approached it that way, while leaving more room for my unquenchable need to express my bevy of opinions.

 

To help illustrate what I'm talking about, let's look at the physical condition of worker's heads at start of game. I've sorted it by debut date on the grounds that, for most people, wrestling is likely to be the worst thing you do to your head. So if you start wrestling at 18, your head will be in much worse condition come 25 than if you had spent that time learning card magic. Not that you can't do both. But a 27 year old who gets into wrestling should be in better condition than a 22 year old who's been wrestling for four years.

 

 

As you can see, the C-Verse tends to agree with me, showing a pretty linear line from your debut date to your impending chronic headaches. Actually, for me the big surprise was how healthy wrestlers tended to be at the end of their careers.

 

When you look at my data you can see that the people at the beginning of their careers tend to be in worse shape than people starting out in the C-Verse. The reason for that is the amount of wrestlers who start in IRL wrestling after doing other things which are bad for your brain: MMA, american football, boxing, etc.

 

Those workers have a much worse starting condition than wrestlers with no contact sports background (in my db), and there's a fair amount of them. So for me, the trick was to balance representing those worker's handicap, while still keeping the world at large roughly in line with what will keep matches good enough, and retirements at an appropriate level. If I'd try to fit it in by percentage, then Tyson Fury would have entered pro wrestling with, at worst, a head condition of 80.

 

So instead, I set the workers to what made sense to me (based on where older wrestlers in the C-Verse ended up) and just made sure that the general trend moved in a comparable way to the default data. An example of a measuring stick that I used, that can be seen here, is that the trendline for head condition in the CV crosses the threshold of 90 in 2013, in my database it crosses at the end of 2014, meaning that, while individual wrestlers may have their idiosyncratic situations, careers in general followed a similar path to that laid by the CV.

 

There are other measuring sticks beyond that one to keep each of these stats within what I felt were the core parameters implied by the CV, but that's an example of how I approached it.

[hyretic]

That's a really cool way of doing it. Looking forward to giving this a go when I get the chance

[neslo024]

Really liking how this looks so far. I was messing around with the AEW roster and noticed a couple things I wasn't sure if they were correct or not.

 

Adam Page starts with no gimmick

Darby Allin's gimmick is Cool Dude

Christopher Daniels gimmick is proud ethnic

 

I'll let you know if I find anything else that sticks out to me.

[Rick Savant]

Really liking how this looks so far. I was messing around with the AEW roster and noticed a couple things I wasn't sure if they were correct or not.

 

Adam Page starts with no gimmick

Darby Allin's gimmick is Cool Dude

Christopher Daniels gimmick is proud ethnic

 

I'll let you know if I find anything else that sticks out to me.

 

This is fantastic feedback, thanks so much! That all should (and will) be corrected!

[neslo024]

I found a few more things with AEW once I got into playing a little bit.

 

Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky both have the proud ethnic gimmick as well

Penelope Ford's contract only allows her to be a manager

Taz's contract only allows him to do colour commentary

MJF has an egomaniac personality. This could be correct but I've never heard him being difficult to work with. In the rare instances he's not in character he comes across as a decent guy. This kinda thing is totally opinion though.

Billy Gunn's contract doesn't allow him to wrestle.

Excalibur's contract doesn't allow him to be an announcer

 

Really enjoying my game so far though.

[Rick Savant]

Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky both have the proud ethnic gimmick as well

 

Lol, sorry, I probably made their characters a year ago, and I totally forgot the joke until now. They're proudly Southern Californian, which I thought was funny application of the old TEW standard Proud Ethnic. But given that even *I* didn't get that when you mentioned it to me at first, I'll change it.

 

Ehn, they can't all be gold.

 

Penelope Ford's contract only allows her to be a manager

Taz's contract only allows him to do colour commentary

 

Billy Gunn's contract doesn't allow him to wrestle.

Excalibur's contract doesn't allow him to be an announcer

 

This one is a bit weird as they are all set to have those jobs in their AEW contracts. Would you be willing to pop into the editor and see if their AEW contracts match what you're seeing in your game?

 

MJF has an egomaniac personality. This could be correct but I've never heard him being difficult to work with. In the rare instances he's not in character he comes across as a decent guy. This kinda thing is totally opinion though.

 

No, I'm in full agreement here. My general philosophy was, if I didn't personally know a wrestler's personality, then I went with whatever was in the database I started with. But I just did a bunch of research on MJF just now, and there's no evidence he would behave the way an Egomaniac would. Fixed!

 

Really enjoying my game so far though.

 

Thank you! And thanks for letting me know about this stuff, super helpful.

[wbafanlee]

Been having a look around and it looks good.

 

A few errors I have noticed with WWE based on before the pandemic;

Roman Reigns set to on hiatus (was scheduled to be in Mania main event pre pandemic)

Goldberg set to on hiatus (Current Universal Champion so should be available

AJ Styles should be on RAW

Christian should no be more over than Edge especially just after Edge's return

Samoa Joe should be face at this point as he was feuding with Rollins

The Revival should be heel (last appearance was attacking a face Braun Strowman)

Humberto Carrillo wasn't a member of Zelina Team (he was feuding with them)

Mustafa Ali (maybe should have Underdog as gimmick)

Tyson Kidd (has Natalya set as manager, he was retired due to injury)

Vanessa Borne (was reported to be called up but never appeared so should probably still be in NXT)

 

A few suggestions on overness;

Roman Reigns (too high)

Goldberg (too high)

Jerry Lawler (incredibly high)

Cain Valesquez (never a draw in wrestling)

Ronda Rousey (Should only be on the same level as Becky)

Rey Mysterio (shouldn't be more over than Rollins, Edge, Orton, Styles)

 

Again great work and these are just my personal suggestions.

[Rick Savant]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="wbafanlee" data-cite="wbafanlee" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="53290" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Been having a look around and it looks good.<p> </p><p> A few errors I have noticed with WWE based on before the pandemic;</p><p> Roman Reigns set to on hiatus (was scheduled to be in Mania main event pre pandemic)</p><p> Goldberg set to on hiatus (Current Universal Champion so should be available</p><p> AJ Styles should be on RAW</p><p> Christian should no be more over than Edge especially just after Edge's return</p><p> Samoa Joe should be face at this point as he was feuding with Rollins</p><p> The Revival should be heel (last appearance was attacking a face Braun Strowman)</p><p> Humberto Carrillo wasn't a member of Zelina Team (he was feuding with them)</p><p> Mustafa Ali (maybe should have Underdog as gimmick)</p><p> Tyson Kidd (has Natalya set as manager, he was retired due to injury)</p><p> Vanessa Borne (was reported to be called up but never appeared so should probably still be in NXT)</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Hey! Thanks so much, this is really helpful!</p><p> </p><p> So as far as Roman Reigns, his last appearance in WWE was Feb 29th (with one house show on March 1st), so regardless of what Vince promoted, he was gone. Now, one could make the argument that if the pandemic never happened, then Roman wouldn’t have left, but the problem with that is Roman always insisted that the reason he left was not related to the pandemic. So, whether he should be available, or not, kinda comes down to whether you think he’s a liar <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />. I’m agnostic on the issue, so I take him at his word. But I think it seems fair to include a mention of the situation somewhere early and obvious, so anyone who wants to play with him available can delete the hiatus in the editor.</p><p> </p><p> To my eyes, Mustata Ali’s gimmick is definitely that he is A Guy, and Borne never wrestled again in WWE <em>or</em> NXT so I’ll leave her in her last reported position, but other than that I agree with everything you pointed out! Goldberg’s hiatus is a huge catch that I missed. Thank you!</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="wbafanlee" data-cite="wbafanlee" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="53290" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>A few suggestions on overness;<p> Roman Reigns (too high)</p><p> Goldberg (too high)</p><p> Jerry Lawler (incredibly high)</p><p> Cain Valesquez (never a draw in wrestling)</p><p> Ronda Rousey (Should only be on the same level as Becky)</p><p> Rey Mysterio (shouldn't be more over than Rollins, Edge, Orton, Styles)</p><p> </p><p> Again great work and these are just my personal suggestions.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> On the Pop front, this stuff is somewhat subjective. I’ll just give some info on where I’m coming from, but obviously this is the sort of thing someone can fix quickly in the editor if it bothers them.</p><p> </p><p> My take on the WWE’s situation in early 2020 is that they have no stars except Roman and part timers (like Goldberg) because those are the only people they have pushed for the better half of a decade. I know some people believe that since Roman was booed as a face he wasn’t over, and while I disagree with that, the truth of TEW is that the WWE needs people to be over at a certain level in order to not crash to medium within six months.</p><p> </p><p> As for Cain, was a huge draw in MMA, and his only heavily promoted matches in pro wrestling sold out, but with big asterisks. One of those matches was at TripleMania, and the other at Crown Jewel. Now the way WWE was using him, was he on his way to becoming a non draw? Yes. But I think that his pop reflects that, from where he started, as if he had beaten Brock at Crown Jewel he would have been in the high 80s across the board.</p><p> </p><p> The philosophy of this mod is that Rhonda Rousey was a transcendent star brought in to give the rub to Becky Lynch. That plan makes no sense if they’re at the same level, so she’s gotta be higher.</p><p> </p><p> The Lawler catch was a really good one, and he’s been smacked down appropriately!</p>

[neslo024]

When I checked their contracts they are set to exclusively to specific roles instead of any role.

[Rick Savant]

When I checked their contracts they are set to exclusively to specific roles instead of any role.

 

Thanks so much! I see what you mean now, and fixed.

 

I'll get 0.91 up with the fixes discussed in the thread (plus some) in an hour or two.

[Rick Savant]

0.91 released.

 

Also, here's the Griff Garrison pic as he has been born, fresh faced, into this world.

[Corey]

Just noticed this thread for the first time. Mod looks really cool! Not sure if it's an issue on my end but I just tried to download the data and the zip doesn't seem to have the database in it?

[Rick Savant]

Just noticed this thread for the first time. Mod looks really cool! Not sure if it's an issue on my end but I just tried to download the data and the zip doesn't seem to have the database in it?

 

Thanks for noticing! I'll fix immediately! Lemme know if it still doesn't work.

[wbafanlee]

I have just noticed that a lot of the title reigns are duplicated due to having end dates on the current reign. For example on game Goldberg is in his 3rd reign as Universal champion when it should be his second. This is the same for a lot of titles.

[TheShabadoo]

In my short bit of looking around in AEW I noticed just a few small mistakes

- Allie should be named "The Bunny"

- In Cody's contract he is set to be a gatekeeper (this could be intentional but I always thought gatekeeper were for guys who aren't main event talents, I could be wrong)

- Dasha Gonzales should be a retired wrestler

- PACs contract is only 10 appearances long

- QT Marshall is set to be a Wrestler & a Road Agent but in his contract it says he is role is exclusively for In-Ring Work

 

I have just noticed that a lot of the title reigns are duplicated due to having end dates on the current reign. For example on game Goldberg is in his 3rd reign as Universal champion when it should be his second. This is the same for a lot of titles.

 

I noticed this too with Nyla Rose's title right, so I made a list of all these odd title discrepancies that I was going to edit out myself and I thought you might want to see it too. I only did the companies that you listed as completed in the editor (AEW, WWE, NXT, NXT UK, IMPACT, NJPW).

 

Nyla Rose - AEW Women's World

Brock Lesnar - WWE Championship

Braun Strowman is the IC Champ when it should be Zayn

Murphy & Rollins - RAW Tag Team

Becky Lynch - RAW Women's

The Miz & Morrison - SD Tag Team

Andrade - United States

Goldberd - Universal

Asuka & Sane - Women's Tag Team

Jordan Devlin - NXT Cruiserweight

The Broserweights - NXT Tag Team

Rhea Ripley - NXT Women's

Ace Austin - X-Division

[Rick Savant]

I have just noticed that a lot of the title reigns are duplicated due to having end dates on the current reign. For example on game Goldberg is in his 3rd reign as Universal champion when it should be his second. This is the same for a lot of titles.

 

Fantastic catch, this is something I can get to work on immediately!

 

In my short bit of looking around in AEW I noticed just a few small mistakes

- Allie should be named "The Bunny"

- In Cody's contract he is set to be a gatekeeper (this could be intentional but I always thought gatekeeper were for guys who aren't main event talents, I could be wrong)

- Dasha Gonzales should be a retired wrestler

- PACs contract is only 10 appearances long

- QT Marshall is set to be a Wrestler & a Road Agent but in his contract it says he is role is exclusively for In-Ring Work

 

The only direction the help file gives on gatekeepers is that they will rarely complain if they lose to someone at their level or above. I think that's fair for how Cody has carried himself on the roster. If there is additional instructions, in the tag, for the AI to keep him out of main events, then that's a bonus, since he hasn't main evented a pay per view, or even a 'named' episode of Dynamite since the start date of the mod. I agree with your talent assessment, but AEW seems pretty dedicated to keeping him a half step below main event.

 

Dasha ends up wrestling in August, as part of the Deadly Draw tournament, so it feels inappropriate to have to talk her out of retirement if someone wanted to recreate that.

 

Fixed Bunny, PAC, and QT. Honestly the PAC thing is so big, can't thank you enough for that one.

 

I noticed this too with Nyla Rose's title right, so I made a list of all these odd title discrepancies that I was going to edit out myself and I thought you might want to see it too. I only did the companies that you listed as completed in the editor (AEW, WWE, NXT, NXT UK, IMPACT, NJPW).

 

Nyla Rose - AEW Women's World

Brock Lesnar - WWE Championship

Braun Strowman is the IC Champ when it should be Zayn

Murphy & Rollins - RAW Tag Team

Becky Lynch - RAW Women's

The Miz & Morrison - SD Tag Team

Andrade - United States

Goldberd - Universal

Asuka & Sane - Women's Tag Team

Jordan Devlin - NXT Cruiserweight

The Broserweights - NXT Tag Team

Rhea Ripley - NXT Women's

Ace Austin - X-Division

 

This is really helpful, thank you!

[TheShabadoo]

Dasha ends up wrestling in August, as part of the Deadly Draw tournament, so it feels inappropriate to have to talk her out of retirement if someone wanted to recreate that.

 

I completely forgot this entire tournament even happened lol

[Rick Savant]

I completely forgot this entire tournament even happened lol

 

My suspicion is that nobody will want to recreate it

[ubernoob]

- In Cody's contract he is set to be a gatekeeper (this could be intentional but I always thought gatekeeper were for guys who aren't main event talents, I could be wrong)

 

Cody literally is a gatekeeper. He's not a main event talent. He booked himself out of the championship picture.

 

Look who his feuds are with. MJF, who went on to bigger things after him. QT Marshall and that crew which led to Ogogo getting a singles match and Cody and QT going at it.

 

Before that was Brodie and the dark order. He's been with Red Velvet against Shaq and Jade Cargill.

 

Cody is the definition of gatekeeper with AEW. He isn't a main event talent. He's not good enough to be your PPV Main Event, but he's a good enough talker and is just good enough in the ring to get people over when he needs to, and pick up the wins he needs to to stay relevant.

[Rick Savant]

Cody literally is a gatekeeper. He's not a main event talent. He booked himself out of the championship picture.

 

Look who his feuds are with. MJF, who went on to bigger things after him. QT Marshall and that crew which led to Ogogo getting a singles match and Cody and QT going at it.

 

Before that was Brodie and the dark order. He's been with Red Velvet against Shaq and Jade Cargill.

 

Cody is the definition of gatekeeper with AEW. He isn't a main event talent. He's not good enough to be your PPV Main Event, but he's a good enough talker and is just good enough in the ring to get people over when he needs to, and pick up the wins he needs to to stay relevant.

 

I won't get detailed cause we'll get off topic, and I literally got a whole mod to express my opinions on nearly all of wrestling but I 100% agree with your assessment of Cody's position, and disagree strongly with your assessment that he lacks the talent to be a main eventer.

 

I should have the next patch for the mod out tonight!

[Rick Savant]

<p>...and by "tonight" I meant "in a couple days after I fix nearly breaking the mod due to a spontaneous announcer rebalancing".</p><p> </p><p>

0.92 is out! Tell me what's wrong with it, cause if you don't I'll have to do an actual full release and whoo boy do I not have a fancy graphic ready or anything.</p><p> </p><p>

Also here's the new pics so you don't have to download a whole new pic pack: <a href="https://www.mediafire.com/file/97c0gsxov7b1m95/New_Faces.7z/file" rel="external nofollow">Pics!</a></p>