Hard Light Productions Forums
Hosted Projects - FS2 Required => Inferno => Topic started by: Lepanto on October 03, 2015, 10:12:35 pm
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Hey guys.
majorvader111 just asked us for some unreleased Shivan models for his Sins project. Woo would prefer to keep them exclusive.
So I ask YOU, the five of you still waiting for Inferno's glorious inevitable release, this question of immeasurable gravitas.
Would you rather we save our remaining exclusive assets for release, to boost the cool factor?
Or would you rather we hand out assets on a case-by-case basis, like to help out majorvader's project?
OR! Would you rather we modeldump our exclusive assets if we've been sitting on them for a while, so other projects can use them?
Thanks!
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So I ask YOU, the five of you still waiting for Inferno's glorious inevitable release
Hey, I count too, right?
...right? :(
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Well that was fast.
Good to see we have more than literally five people who care about Inferno's asset policy.
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Make it at least seven fans of Inferno. ;)
I can see both sides so I'll say case by case.
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yeah both are good in there ways, some of the models could be model dumped while the newer models could be done with a case to case method, Just my 2 cents.
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For whatever my opinion is worth, I think that case by case is always the way to go. Some assets are more prominent or important than others in any campaign - keeping some assets back and releasing the rest lets you have the best of both worlds. And a gradual release schedule lets people know things are happening (or gives that appearance before more important releases, to generate interest).
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If there's any really cool models, I suppose you could just ask any project that wanted to use them to delay their release until yours. Then, after they finish their project, they'll have to help yours so you can both release sooner! :drevil:
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I'm leaning case-by-case myself, though it's Woo's call I suppose.
Thanks for your opinions!
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As someone who has done a lot of work with the INFR1 assets, I would strongly encourage the new Inferno to release assets as they're finalized, if for no other reason than to keep up the mod's reputation as being chock-a-block with content. Especially if there's any upgrades of existing models, like the GTCa Warlock.
Keep anything plot-relevant internal, naturally.
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I agree wholeheartedly with Galemp.
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I'd agree on a case-by-case basis, especially as artists are getting scarcer with time.
Inferno EA fleet is especially inspired IMHO and would be a great community asset.
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I vote for sharing already - it's not like we expect Inferno release in this decade. Additional benefit would be is someone would take you assets and improve them even further - such upgrades could made back into Inferno.
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2nd Galemp's points...ship models that are already public can benefit from updates (and the mods using them benefit as well). Anything that's plot-relevant or has "shock value" should be kept under wraps until release.
I've quietly waited for an update to Inferno, too, so that makes at least eight.
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Mr. Who kind of brings up an interesting point.
If Inferno: Nostos is going to be released relatively soon (in the next year or so), hold onto more of the assets. However, if you unfortunately don't see Inferno: Nostos being released for more than a couple years, you might as well release more assets.
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Wow, 20 votes for both options. And a single vote for keeping the assets exclusive.
I don't intend on voting, but as I said when Earth Defence got dumped:
It's obviously sad that a project has failed, but the part that seems really sad to me is that it's just been thrown out like this, almost unceremoniously. If this is the culmination of 7 years work, it's something that seems to me that should have been presented to the community. Talked about in detail with pride and shown off. Maybe released in a number of segments. Apart from what Dragon said, I basically have no idea what's in this dump. But it sounds like there's plenty in there to be proud of and it's just been thrown out like this.
So I would say if Inferno do decide to release anything, have some fun with it! Take some pride and pleasure in the release/s and enjoy doing it. And in turn that will help create interest in the mod far more than just releasing stuff. Show off separate ships / releases in their own threads like you're selling a shiny new product. Perhaps tease some releases before releasing.
Circumstances came between us and being able to enjoy the experience of doing so with Frontlines, we were originally intending on doing plenty of pimping of the mod before release, and I do feel not being able to have done so hurt it somewhat. That is applicable here because the release is intended to be just the first release not the final one. Like Diaspora is just the first and the new Wings of Dawn is just the first.
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How about some 'demo' missions (a mission spotlighting each release?) -- doesn't have to be a full out mission, its purpose is just to show off the release, not be an actual playable mission in a production sense. Like the FS2 demo missions, maybe even less complex than those.
IDK just an idea.
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Exclusive assets don't make a mod that much better. They might increase people's anticipation for a mod, but people shouldn't look forward to Inferno just so they can sort through the models and maps folders. Story and missions should be the selling point, not exclusive ships.
IMO, this is a decision ultimately up to the individual artists themselves, but I personally think you should release anything that isn't unfinished or inherently a spoiler.
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A considerable number of assets are "unfinished" in the sense that they are high(er)-poly models that have been tilemapped so we can work with them and not have them hold up development, but they really deserve proper UVmapping and textures, but are "finished" in the sense that you can plop them in a mission and they don't look too out of place (though obviously not as good as they could), hence I say a case-by-case basis - a good number are actually UVmapped and complete, while others...well, they're complete and they're not...
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I think it comes down to this: will the model be significantly improved between now and the campaign release? If the answer is no, release it. If the model's been sitting tilemapped for years, is it really going to get UVmapped and textured between now and Inferno's release? Obviously, I can't answer that. Only the artist can.
This is why we released the Erebus early rather than waiting for the WiH Director's Cut. I don't consider it finished. There's still a ****load of stuff that bothers me about it which I'd like to fix, and that's why it wasn't released last year when it probably should have been. But it's good enough. Whatever improvements I want to make can be packaged in a future BP release or by themselves later. And since they're always drop-in, it's very easy to do this with UV maps and textures. No balance work is required.
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Also, sometimes if you release assets a crazy talented mother****er pops up out of nowhere and improves them of his own crazy Canadian volition. That's a lot easier than recruiting.
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I'm always in favor of releasing assets. It all but eliminates the possibility that those assets will get lost in an unlucky hard drive failure, or loss of cloud storage access, or something.
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My answer to this question would be "why are you even asking this question?".
HLP has survived and thrived on sharing. It's part of our DNA. Don't be Earth Defense.
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My answer to this question would be "why are you even asking this question?".
HLP has survived and thrived on sharing. It's part of our DNA. Don't be Earth Defense.
What happened with Earth Defense?
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It had a bunch of great assets for a long time but never finished any missions and never released.
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Also, sometimes if you release assets a crazy talented mother****er pops up out of nowhere and improves them of his own crazy Canadian volition. That's a lot easier than recruiting.
Seconded. I hate seeing wasted potential, as my history on HLP will show.
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I voted for the case-by-case basis, but I was primarily thinking of huge set-pieces like, say, the Nemesis. If it's a ship on that scale that's a huge focal point of the entire plot, then I have no problem with a team wanting to keep it exclusive (provided there's also a plan in place to release it publicly in the unfortunate event that the project should fold). Other than that, I think recent history has shown that mostly-open assets tend to provide the most benefit to the community as a whole, and as Battuta noted can even help attract fresh blood to your project.
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Is anything happening on this front Lepanto? It's been about a month and a half so the poll has had plenty of time to run course.
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Is anything happening on this front Lepanto? It's been about a month and a half so the poll has had plenty of time to run course.
It turns out you don't actually need to spend effort making a separate assets release when you're about to release the whole thing anyway!
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So, does that mean this release includes all the content that has been dropped over the years? Just asking cause I've seen quite a lot of screeens of ships which disappeared over time. (Not to mention the INFASA stuff)
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What assets are you thinking of? I'm not sure if they're even in the current SVN at all, if there are any dropped ships we have they should have been released earlier in the 2011 model dump or something.
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They are most likely not in the SVN, I was talking about ships posted in the Eyecandy threat IIRC like the SF Danta, the Andra, the Gigas R3, this Atlantis drydock, so mostly older models. Didn't wanted to bother you with that too much now that you've got more important things to do, I was just asking if it could be released if it's still available somewhere.
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It's not going to include all dropped content, obviously.
The majority of the dropped content that is finished has been released in model packs/dumps.
The ones that are unfinished (or otherwise broken) won't be because they are well, unfinished.
Note, I also do not believe this impending release is a release of everything, just the new ACT 1 (portion corresponding to the old INFR1 give or take), and the assets related thereto.
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First release contain 90% of Inferno assets anyway, including multiple shivan ships and lots of other shiny stuff. So maybe it's not everything, but's still more than any other mod ever released. Current Inferno modpack is 8gb of shiny stuff!
As for other dumped assets, some of them are lost due to various reasons. Woo still keep some models on his HD, but many [like this Sobek-esque corvette] are lost forever.
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They are most likely not in the SVN, I was talking about ships posted in the Eyecandy threat IIRC like the SF Danta, the Andra, the Gigas R3, this Atlantis drydock, so mostly older models.
Those are stored in our old SVN, those will be added to the current SVN once the EA war part is over as they are required for later parts of the campaign. Those models haven't been lost and are still appearing. This includes the Danta, Andra, Gigas, Icanus, Yama, Vindhyachal, Incubus, Gargant and the Sechat.
Those aren't dumped they are being held in reserve as we didn't want them used in the earlier Shivan missions by accident.
Current Inferno modpack is 8gb of shiny stuff!
The size is around 4GB I think you included the SVN cache folder for it to hit 8.
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Ah, that was the information I was looking for! Thanks!
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Holy balls the Gargant still exists?
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Holy balls the Gargant still exists?
Yesssssss! Someone use that in a mod. ;7
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I worked on a campaign where I wanted to use the Gargant as ultimate, absolutely undefeatable opponent, but it died before I even registered here for it was too similar to Exile. :(
I even made my own placeholder by editing the pre-R1 Gigas in PCS...
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Count me in on anything Inferno-related. I've been waiting for Part 2 since I played through Part 1 all those years ago! And releasing assets to benefit the community lets one show off one's skills, even if it's not in one's own project. IMHO. :P
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Whole modpack will be released with Act I, including many models not used in Act I but already prepared for Act II. Stay tuned :P. There is no point of releasing everything when Act I is 95% done. We prefer to release the biggest modpack ever made along with campaign :)
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Excluding the INFA stuff, which probably won't be released anytime soon. :nervous:
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Excluding the INFA stuff, which probably won't be released anytime soon. :nervous:
....or will it?
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The campaign or just the stuff? In case you require a tester when its ready...
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Nerdo is working on accesing old INF SVN, so we can retrieve some unreleased INFA models and other assets.
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"Working on accessing"? I thought all it takes to access one of these things is the SVN programm-
of course only if all team members have access to all files that the mod uses, what apparently didn't happen in the past...
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Inferno is elder mod. There were numerous changes both in staff, hosting, missions, modpack and basicly everything over the years. In such circumstances, it is likely for some stuff to be lost.
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Yeah, but from a public point of view it's hard to figure out what is lost and what has been held back.
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Pretty hard from a private POV too
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Be good to have it out there for people to use in their projects, with proper credit of course. Doesn't even have to be FSO. A TC for Sins(!) or Homeworld would be pretty epic. Oh wait, that latter's already been done. At least for the stock assets :P
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Then you'll understand that for maximum epicness, the waiting has to be a bit longer :D
As long as anything there is gets released one day...
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Then you'll understand that for maximum epicness, the waiting has to be a bit longer :D
As long as anything there is gets released one day...
Couldn't agree more!