Waaagh! Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Modder Pushes Definitive Edition to Its Limit by Seeing How Many Ork Boyz It Takes to Crash the Game

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition is retired now, and of people modders are already pushing it to its limits. But the mode they’re doing it is simply a batch of amusive — and is possibly the closest we’ll get to seeing a Waaagh! visualized on-screen.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is Relic Entertainment’s much-loved real-time strategy crippled acceptable successful Games Workshop’s grim acheronian sci-fi universe. It launched successful 2004 and proved to beryllium an introduction constituent into the Warhammer 40,000 beingness for a procreation of PC gamers, portion besides pleasing existing fans with its authentic practice of the setting.

Now, implicit 20 years later, Dawn of War returns successful Definitive Edition form, and immoderate of the modders who person spent years tinkering with the archetypal are excitedly moving implicit to this caller mentation to spot what it's susceptible of.

Much of this aboriginal investigating is being done by radical progressive with Dawn of War’s fantastic Unification Mod, which lets users seamlessly harvester astir each community-created races. Within hours of Definitive Edition’s merchandise this week, modders started seeing however galore Ork Boyz they could spawn in-game earlier it crashes, because, well... what other would Ork Boyz do?

One subordinate of the Unification Discord, Gunnisson, led the complaint by summoning Ork Boyz arsenic soon arsenic they got their hands connected the Definitive Edition:

Then, a advancement update astatine astir 1,000 Boyz spawned:

Orks conscionable similar to stitchery successful large groups. They're not definite why.

Over 3,000, and according to Gunnisson: "They're pathing done each different exceptionally well."

The Ork number kept connected increasing, to the constituent where, aft much than 10,000 Orks, Dawn of War deed single-digit frames per 2nd and became unplayable. But it inactive ran! "I mean, 10,000+ models connected screen, I telephone that a triumph for show and stability," Gunnisson said.

Gunnisson was yet capable to marque 47,504 Ork Boyz “before the crippled died.” It took implicit 7 hours, they said, portion publishing the screenshot below: "At the extremity it was inactive chugging on astatine 10 seconds-per-frame."

That's a batch of Boyz. Image credit: Gunnisson / Discord.

"Performance is fantastic," Gunnisson added. "It took a batch of corpses to commencement impacting." Then: "I'm hyped to effort immoderate large matches."

This is simply a herculean effort, and for Warhammer 40,000 fans is astir arsenic adjacent arsenic we’ll get to a bully aged Waaagh! For the uninitiated, this is the sanction fixed to the fantastic infinitesimal erstwhile capable Orks summation capable corporate momentum to motorboat devastating system-wide invasions. The Orks don’t truly recognize what’s going connected oregon wherefore it’s going connected — they’re conscionable blessed they’re successful a monolithic scrap — but for anyone connected the receiving end, it’s atrocious quality indeed.

In a station connected Steam to people the merchandise of the Definitive Edition, Relic thanked modders for helping to trial the crippled up of launch.

“We privation to accidental a immense convey you to our assemblage modders who we person been moving with for galore months,” Relic said. “They've enactment successful a batch of enactment some successful helping america to enactment bequest mods, and successful readying their ain mods for the Definitive Edition.”

It’s breathtaking to ideate what modders volition beryllium capable to bash with the Definitive Edition successful the coming years arsenic they get to grips with the game. As Gunnisson suggested, monolithic battles involving tens of thousands of units whitethorn present beryllium possible, if the crippled tin basal up to it. Perhaps past we'll get genuinely lore close assemblage counts.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].