Hello there folks. Recently there has been an issue with SCP team. I don't know anything about it except what IP-Andrews stated here, but I think I can pretty well understand both sides.
The SCP team is constantly improving the builds. They are removing bugs, adding new features, provide more possibilities and make fs2 more stable. ( I LOVE what they are doing !!! I complained about a few things in the last years and they took care of everything )
OF COURSE they don't want their efforts and THEIR hard work to be in vain. You spent months to make a feature running, and then comes a mod team that claims they don't want to do anything to incorporate it into their mod.
Of course this is frustrating. Why writing the code for glow and shinemaps if no one has the patience to make glow and shinemaps for his mod ? Why add new SEXPS to fred if no one touches up his campaigns with them ?
I understand they want everyone to use what they are doing. Fair enough.
On the other side we have TBP final and IPANDREWS extremely reasonable approach on things. Even against my objection in the past
Take something into consideration :
TBP is final, which means there is a full and complete TC offering 120+ vessels. And one reason TBP is one of the few mods and TC who actually HAVE a full and complete release is DISCIPLINE.
The discipline to say : "Let's aim for something well defined"
The first release was our famous Earth-Minbari War Demo. It was something that was purposefully aimed at. We packed together the ships, the sound effects , the interface art , made 5 missions and voila..... we had something to play with.
We resisted the urge to improve one vessel for the 346th time ( while others were not even started ) and managed to release, and that was a wonderful thing.
So many projects around, and unlike TBP they all suffer from undisciplined ambition. The few vessels done are never detailed enough ( while the other 90 % not even have a raw mesh ), no mission ever has enough features ( waiting for even newer and cooler SEXPs while 95 % of the intended campaign missions have not even been started in FRED )
There are never enough cool ideas what could be done ( and none is ever realized, coz there could be an even cooler idea tomorrow..... )
Just look around.
FATE OF THE GALAXY.
Even more detailed Star-Destroyer, 10 more Polygons on TIE interceptor, even ships I have never heard of ( whatever-wings ).
Tons of stuff in the making, and therefore nothing ever nearing completion. NEVER. Just like everything else, progress is unplanned and chaotic as cancer. ( sorry, at least I have the impression )
Although I would highly anticipate one, I doubt they will ever release. I think they will get lost in the endless plains of undisciplined ambition and loose themselves in various details like even more polygons here and yet another vessel there, until the team breaks up like so many and the project is deserted. Starved to death.
They asked what we expect from the project. Well. X-wing, y-wing, one or two TIEs, a corvette, a transport, perhaps a star destroyer or a calamari. That would be enough for me to make a campaign already. But I think that is to reasonable to be attractive.
Same goes for similar projects, like apocalypse. Too few people with too high goals.
The Babylon Project is successful. We HAVE a release and we are proud of it. Because we know that dreaming of what WOULD be cool distracts you from knowing what CAN be done in reasonable time.
IPAndrews objected to a number of things in the past, for example to the infamous HIGH POLY update. Of course a high poly update would have been cool ! But let's be honest : It would have never developed the way we dreamed of ! New models wouldn't have been 100% compatibel to old ones. Entire campaigns would have become obsolete. The original fredders long gone, no one would have volunteered to update a foreign campaign ( Everyone has own stuff in the making ). Also, the interest in DOING campaigns at all would have severely decreased. ( What ? It could be made obsolete with the next build ? Then I wait for the next build ! There will always be a next build ? Too bad, I had such a wonderful idea, but I don't want to fred for NOTHING.... )
And even without compatibility issues..... The new MIDWINTER looks superb ! But wait.... somehow the game looks crappy. The old OMEGA class now looks so silly by comparison ! This can't stay like that ! We have to redo the Omega class ! And the .... class ! And the ..... ! **** repeat 110 times **** And the XYZ !!! But I think we will be through with this ambitious apdate in 2018 !
You got the point. I think we owe VERY MUCH to IPAndrews ( and his precursors ) for maintaining discipline. Otherwise we would still be adding 3 more polygons to the NIAL fighter. And all the people who helped to get all the 120 vessels done would have never showed up, coz they would have never had anything to play and to inspire them.
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EACW and ITNOTE
ITNOTE was this little 3 mission campaign I did as a SEXP test for EACW. The combat trials are nicely set up , and the cutscenes use the new SEXPs. I did far cooler CUTSCENES with EACW no one has seen yet, but I am on it.
Like ITNOTE, EACW will make use of a current 3.6.10 build. So, in a way.... TBP is definitely making use of SCPs beautyful new builds. The wonderful thing is : TBP looks better and better along with SCP. Why do we have to touch the TBP 3.4 stuff ? Unnecessary.
TBP DOES develop : Campaigns and missions are in the making, so I don't see ANYONES stuff being not used.
With EACW under development ( courtesy the guys from SCP , I love you ) I still look into a golden future, and there is much fun in store for all of us.
Well, If we can find more voiceactors with DISCIPLINE....
Greetings
Skullar