You’re not missing anything. Heavy modding of older games PC can be a pain in the ass.
You can usually find a somewhat coherent and structured guide that will give you a step by step process, but will still be time-consuming (and there will likely be exceptions or outdated information).
The best option is to keep mods to minimum unless you know what you are doing and it’s a game that you play on a permanent basis.
I think the real world implementation of “Kingdoms of Elyria” is Kingdoms Reborn. A multiplayer 4X/city-builder hybrid (although it works just fine in single player too).
I am so excited for this game! I went into the original Citizen Sleeper without any prior knowledge of the game, ended up finishing it in two (pretty long) sessions.
I don’t think it would be possible to make a tycoon/management game with an official Stargate license. The IP holders would want returns of such a size that would be unrealistic for the tycoon/management game genre. Although Two Point Studios have seen what seems like mainstream success.
I wouldn’t be so sure that SQ42 will be a guaranteed slam dunk as many SC fans seem to be speculating. That’s if it ever does get released or course.
The gameplay in the recent demo is subpar. FPS combat in particular was trash, far worse than HL1; a game released more than a quarter of a century ago. Turret gunning and the platforming parts looked decent but they are not going to carry the game. No example of player controlled space flight was shown.
The space battles looked nice in a b-movie kind of way, but I have my doubts how this will translate to fun space flight gameplay.
From SC, we know that they have a very history of even basic conceptual balance and they are horrible at iterative play testing.
Regarding the Hollywood cast, Gary Oldman sounded like he wanted to get his money and get out of there ASAP. Anderson wasn’t much better. Writing was some high school-level drivel “we must win because we must!” and lots of shouty one liners. There is a very real possibility that the whole thing will be a Wing Commander: The Movie - 30 hours of tedious custscenes. And you just know it’s going to take itself extremely seriously (think the space bulldozer scene in Wing Commander).
Looking at the UI/UX of SC, it’s not unreasonable to assume SQ42 will suffer the same sorry fate. Very flashy ironman-style UI visuals that are nigh unusable in a video game.
I should honestly try the 3rd one. These days I don’t really play FPSs other than replaying HL1/HL2 (and their expansions) and Max Payne 1/2 usually in back to back sessions.
I would of course play HL3 (still have to play HLA; I don’t have an index).