Dawn of War Mods

/tg/ loves it some Dawn of War. This goes without saying. Unfortunately as has been widely documented, Dawn of War is fraught with problems; the way the game plays is hideously unbalanced, the factions don't play anything like they should (Eldar being both swarmy and utilitarian, for example), and as such, this has left a lot of players out in the cold, asking obvious questions: Is there a way to fix this? Is there anything that makes this game better than it already is?

The answer to both is yes, and the answer comes in the form of Mods.

Mods in DOW range from conversion and add-on packs to add units, to mods to re-work the game to play more like vanilla Dawn of War. They can completely revamp how the game handles, or simply re-balance gameplay to more-clearly approach something resembling actual balance.

What Modding Can And Cannot Do

Modding in DOW can do a lot of awesome things. It can re-add slashed content (such as the Flamers for the Imperial Guardsmen, or optional weapon upgrades for the Imperial Guard Sentinel), it can make better use of existing resources (making weapon and tech-tree upgrades that make sense, for example), or it can mod how some units operate to make them closer to their codex equivalents. Alternately, they can change weapon and damage algorithms to make the game more balanced, ratchet back overpowered units, or add whole-new-units or factions! All of which, it needs be said, is Awesome.

On the downside, there's an extent to which Modding can do. A lot of DOW's more infamous issues are hard-coded into the SDK and cannot be fixed without extensive modification to the interface; for example, until it was patched, there was no way for modders to fix the targetting bug possessed by Tau Broadside Teams and Imperial Guard Heavy Weapons Teams. Sometimes, modders can make clever work-arounds to bypass existing issues, but this is not always a hard-and-fast rule. Idiotic nonsense like how DOW handles terrain (and letting units shoot right through it, for example) can't really be fixed with any level of modding, no matter how advanced.

Dawn of War Modding

Dawn of War is arguably one of the least mod-friendly games that actually allows mods. There's a number of reasons behind this, but the general gist is that the developers did not go out of their way to embrace the modding community (despite constantly touting supporting it), and never released things like the engine coding or SDKs to the public. This, paired with the fact that no mod auto-updates in Dawn of War, did a lot to make all the various mods available in the Dawn of War series fight with one another for community spotlight and run-time, with each mod having a small but bustling community attached to it. Because there's an enormous population of fa/tg/uys and ca/tg/irls who still play Dawn of War, there's a sort of disconnect and general stigma against the modding community, when they've arguably handled a lot of issues better than the original developers.

But that's neither here nor there. You want to know about Mods, and that's why you're viewing this page.

Dawn of War 2 Modding

Oh fuck the hell yes. There's plenty of mods here, too, but, like the case for Dawn of War, they haven't been widely supported. They include things like mod packs that add the dreaded weeaboo space communists or stupid sexy evil space elves.

Favored Dawn of War and Dawn of War 2 Mods of /tg/

The Following are some of /tg/'s favorite mods for Dawn of War and Dawn of War 2. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and needs to be updated by the community so they can add their own entries. It's highly encouraged that you check them out; they range from the epic to the lulzy. Almost every mod has its drawbacks, as well; Firestorm Over Kronus, for example, tends to use a lot more resources than regular Dark Crusade, whilst Dawn of War Pro's slower gameplay and more literal scaling tends to put a lot of players off - but that's part of what makes them enjoyable. Try them out and see which one(s) you like. People worked hard on these goddamned things, and it shows.

Anyway, here's a brief list:

Dawn of War Mods:

• Firestorm over Kronus - An epic mod for Dark Crusade, Firestorm over Kronus ramps everything up about the game and then some. Sick of fighting with the limited battlegroups Dawn of War enforces? Want to fight with entire goddamned armies? Firestorm Over Kronus is for you. One of several mods that /tg/'s Dawn of War veterans will heartily recommend. Available for Dark Crusade, with the dev team developing a Soulstorm translation with extea goodies.
• DoWpro - Dawn of War Pro is a mod that is dedicated to re-creating the feel of Vanilla Dawn of War with the new mechanics and units added in the various other games. Adding most of Dawn of War's slashed content (and there's a fucking lot) and adding some new goodies and techniques to each play style, Dawn of War Pro has a little something for everyone to enjoy if you were a fan of the original Dawn of War (pre Winter Assault).
• Armageddon Steel Legion Mod - Oh, fuck yes. Tired of just having the original Imperial Guard to fight with? The ASL Mod adds the manliest of Ork killers, the Armageddon Steel Legion, who play significantly differently than the other Imperial Guard force. With tons of units to play with and better scaling than the original, the Armageddon Steel Legion Mod's biggest drawback is how bad it (arguably) makes the actual Imperial Guard in Dawn of War look by comparison. Whereas the Vanilla Imperial guard is based mostly on the 3rd ed codex, this one is largely based on the 5th ed one with some IA options and the removal of things like Ogryns and Fliers. The A.I here, like the Tyranid mod, is fiendishly difficult and loves to drown it's foes in bodies whether on the defense or on the attack. Better pray you brought lots and lots and lots of anti-vehicle options because whether it's in mechanized or armored flavor the Steel Legion is going to have all the vehicles. No air units though, so thankfully you won't have Vendettas hounding your ass.
• Witch Hunters Mod - Before the Sisters of Battle were added in Soulstorm, a modding community got together to add them to Dark Crusade, and good god, were they successful. Notable for having models far more delicious than the SoB models Relic/Iron Lore put out for Soulstorm, the Witch Hunters Mod is no longer actively updated, having disbanded, but is still a fan favorite and needs to be seen for the awesomeness it is.
• Titanium Wars Mod - Also for Dark Crusade - The godfather of Titan-like mods which adds a good repertory of Titans for every race at the same time it keeps it fluffy and crunchy.
• Ultimate Apocalypse Mod - Another mod which introduces Titan and epic-sized units, expanding with more Advanced Buildings and a shit ton of new units for every race and making everything fucking epic. Massive battles with hundreds of units smashing into each other, very CPU intensive, but only when it wants to work. Soulstorm exclusive.
• Tyranid Mod - The title says it all. The Tyranid Mod adds the 'Nids to Dawn of War! Naturally, this includes new units for this race as well as an unique gameplay dedicated to swarm and control your units through synapse. Be warned, the Tyranids are a fiendishly hard A.I opponent and will drown you in corpses. You're going to need a lot of flamers to stem the tide of bodies. And they don't need power, like at all, though they do have an alternative resource in play in the most recent versions. And did you bring anti-vehicle weapons? Well they'll all be useless. Not a single Tyranid has vehicle armor of any kind! Although many have Daemon armor.
• Inquisition Daemonhunt - A magnificent race mod which adds the Ordo Malleus, one of the Inquisition branches as a playable army (Pre-Matt ward dickery), totally recommendable if you like them.
• Codex Mod - Another cool mod for those who felt disappointed by Firestorm over Kronus mod. Adds a lot of armies and keeps them related to as they are in their respective codex and army sheets. Pretty cool to take a look. In the process of updating the Necrons to their 5e status, and closely tied to the Tyranid mod.
• ZMS Mod Baleeted - Adds goddamn Imperator and Warlord titans, among other titan equivalents and other apocalypse units. Not much else to mention besides the AI going to sleep half the time. Dark Crusade only, though it does backport the Sisters of Battle and the Dark Eldar as playable races.
• Daemons mod - Exactly what the title says; Daemons Mod adds motherfucking Daemons as a playable faction, complete with their own unique units and abilities.
• Black Templars - Angry about 6E canning the Black Templars as an individual army? This mod is for you. Giving the Templars things like Vows for the Emperor's Champion, a Castellan in fucking TERMINATOR ARMOR and righteous psyker-killing zeal, this is definitely a mod to play!
• Dark Angels - Probably the mod that finally got the Dark Angels' organization down, this mod gives them three different and balanced ways to play: Deathwing, which gives all your commanders Termie Armor, Ravenwing, which gives everyone bikes, and the regular mode, which gives you Azrael, other major guys, and the ability to use either of the other two forces as you may.

Dawn of War 2 mods:

• Elite Mod - A must-have for all of those who felt a big let down with Dawn of War 2 Retribution and how it was left for death without fixing many of it´s problems. Rebalances many things and also adds some new units; plus you have the possibility to play as the Grey Knights.
• Codex Edition - Don't confuse it with Codex Mod from DoW1 as they are quite different. Codex Edition adds many more new units and ads realistic damage. Worth to take a look.
• Space Hulk mod - HOLY SHIT ITS SPACE HULK FOR DAWN OF WAR 2, COMPLETE WITH ANGRY MARINES!!
• Warpstorm over Aurelia - Adds fluffy crunchy codex stuff but doesn't change gameplay much otherwise. Definitely worth checking out.
• Destroyer 40k - Adds some really pretty Grey Knights and lots of new upgrades for Marines and Chaos.

Please add more mods to the list.

Try all of them out. You'll be glad you did. I guarantee it.