Are you addicted to addons?

[munger 25]

Hi,

Recent talk of 'addon addiction' in various topics has inspired me to create a specific thread so that I may seek out and discover fellow OFP'ers with the same affliction from which I "suffer".

For the past few years I have been obsessed with OFP addons. If I consider when it was that this particular vice took ahold of me, I distinctly recall one indelible image. I was browsing the threads in the forum of old and came across a picture of Kegetys' Hawk. In this picture, the aircraft was pointing almost vertically upwards with nothing but blue sky behind it, and a flood of wonderful images came to me of dogfighting and soaring across Everon and pulling super high g's in this agile little jet. I was amazed at how good it looked, and how different it was, and how NEW it would be after playing with A10's and SU-25's for so long. Scrolling further down, I noticed that there was a link below the picture which read something like 'Download Hawk - 2MB'. And there it began.

Well, my hunger for addons was inflamed, and it wasn't long before other talented 'ModMakers' were getting to grips with Oxygen and making the most of the vast plethora of as yet unmade weapons and vehicles that OFP didn't already have and that the community was crying out for. Soon afterwards, I'd created a specific OFP folder for storing new downloads. It was only a matter of time before I divided everything up into categories. For the record, these were (and still are):

-Cars

-Islands

-Mods

-Armour

-Helicopters

-Units

-Bikes

-Boats

-Weapons

-Planes

-Objects

I have also had a dusty sheet of A4 paper next to my monitor for who knows how long, on which I write down addons which I'm looking forward to being released. I then cross them out once they are. Because of this there is a whole lot of scribbled out text all over it. A few random examples include 'MH-60', 'BMP-3', 'AAV7' and 'Trinity 2.0'. I find it amusing to note that one of the oldest addons on there is the Ferret, and it still isn't crossed out! What a legend.

These days my addon collecting is still as rampant as ever. I check most of the OFP news sites several times a day at work, get home, have tea, then boot my PC, check the news sites again, and spend upto an hour on the forum reading all the new posts. At weekends these figures can be doubled. My life literally revolves around addon collecting.

And now for the silly part:

I don't actually play OFP that much.

Don't get me wrong, when a new addon is released I'll put it in my addons folder and run OFP with a mixture of Christmas Day excitement and delicious impatience as 'The Countdown Begins...' and 'Wait A Moment...' seems to take forever to disappear off the screen and a burnt out M113 on desert island appears instead. And when I actually play with my new toy, I love every minute of it. It's just that I seem to live more for the collecting than the actual playing. I enjoy the anticipation of the thing more than the thing itself. And this puzzles me.

But anyway. It actually feels good to have said all this. Almost as if it was a weight I had to get off my chest. Something I wanted to share with this tight-knit community who loves the game as much as I do. I used to buy a lot of games, and then I got OFP. I'll still play new ones from time to time, but as soon as I've completed them I've forgotten about them and I'm back in my sandbox on Nogova airfield pitting BTR-80's against Delta Force and bombing T-62's with F/A-18's taking off from Nimitz Class carriers off the coast.

So, who else is an addon junkie?

[Milkman 1]

Councilor- "Okay, lets all give a warm welcome to Milkman"

Group- "Hi Milkman."

Milkman- "Hello, my name is Milkman, and I am addicted to addons."

But Munger, where is this T-62 you speak of?

[Acecombat 0]

RHS T-62?

I am a airplane addon junkie thats all i have to say , playing OFP like a flight sim is truly thrilling whn you hear that radar lock buzzing in the cabin and that streaking missile misses you when you dispatch a few flares , truly amazing stuff

[bonko the sane 2]

omg...what a thread...cant I keep in innocent denial?

Ill never forget my first addon dload...Gimbal's planes

Currently my pc is about to explode due to a massive amount of stored addons (my cd burner is fubar)...

And now excuse me while i got to the Addons & Mods Complete forum to relapse

[ebud 18]

Hi, I'm Ebud and I'm an addon tinkerer.

Munger, whatever you do, do NOT get into making them. It's an addiction thats even worse than collecting.

All day long at work all I can think about is what addon/island/texture/model I'm going to work on when I get some free time that evening. Then I sit on the train on the way home from work and texture on my handy dandy pocket pc. It's the best sketch pad I've ever had. Then if my better half is wrapped up in something on TV I get to jump in and start creating. Then when she's asleep I crawl out of bed and work on addons some more. You get in over your head. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It really is a horrible addiction/obcession that never goes away unless you just quit cold turkey. You can't really describe it to someone who doesn't make addons as well. You have all these ideas in your head and you HAVE to get them into the game somehow. You read a book about (insert war here) and you just know you can create that exact situation in OFP, or create everything to make it a "virtual reality".

My future wife thinks I'm crazy but tolerates it as long as she gets her time. I can understand how someone on the CSLA team had their wife leave them. You just get wrapped up in the act of creation and slowly seeing your creations "come to life."

If you have an addictive personality, addon making can really get under your skin.

[Acecombat 0]

Jee that sounds bad ... but good for us i guess

[Schoeler 0]

My God am I addicted to addons.  I scour the ofp.info site four or five times a day.  I hang in these forums just to see what will be discussed in the AMD thread in the next ten minutes.  I have been a member of this community for a long time now and I too don't even play the game that much anymore.  All I get excited about is the next upcoming addon.

I think my addiction stems from the realization of what this game could be and is not quite yet.  Then there is the thrill of discovering a new arena of modification that is being done, a new previously impenetrable barrier broken.  Think about the first addons we saw.  Retextured items like the PK machinegun fobbed off as a SAW.  I used to laugh.  Then editing models came into play, finally O2 became a reality and we got truly new models.  My mind would race at the new possibilities.  Realism in the game jumped by a factor of ten.  Then all of the sudden the animation barrier was broken.  I thought, "My God, this is going to be a whole new game!"  Since then several other walls have come down and several more stand to.  The thrill of possibility is what I am addicted to now.  I don't think that addiction will end until the day the game becomes something like watching a motion picture.  Where realism reigns supreme.

My addiction got me started on learning how to make new addons myself and Ebud, I concur, if addon collecting was addictive, addon making is the crack cocaine of the gaming world.  I think about what I could make next almost all day long.  I see a tree, building, wall, and think, "Geez I could model that!  Wouldn't that be so cool in game?  Then I see an old gate and think, I've got to get that texture!" and break out the digital camera, my mind already set on photoshop and how I'm going to edit it.

I've got so many ideas about what kinds of new immersion objects I wanted in the game that I had to start a mod to get help making them.

Ebud, I've got so many things started I don't know if I'll ever finish them all.  I go to one project one day and then another the next.

Its a great addiction and a great game!

[killagee 0]

Yip. I am an absolute addon junkie too....

[Guest]

[south Park Councillor Voice]Addons are bad m'kay?[/south Park Councillor Voice]

I agree with Ebud....collecting is one thing....making is another!

[John_Q 0]

There's nothing wrong with being addicted to addons, they're what keeps OFP alive in its old age.

Quote[/b] ]Munger, whatever you do, do NOT get into making them. It's an addiction thats even worse than collecting.

I agree, the compulsion to create is much stronger than the one to play with addons. I script/texture during some of my free periods in order to get OFP out of my head .

[VMF124 Foxtrot 0]

I'd have to say that I am too, even though I have dialup and a slow 500Mhz pro. It truly isn't worth the effort when one MB take 5 mins to dl and i cant play any decent missions! But I cant stop. And the worst part is, I'm not only hooked on OFP addons but, Flight Simulator and Orbitor addons too.

So where do I sign up for the club? Or the support group?

[ale2999 0]

this is sad. I am addicted too and dont play more than a couple of hrs a week. crazy addons are the man. i cant go without them

[dm 9]

So if you lot are junkies, that makes me a dealer right?

Anyho, bascially, what Ebud said... Once you're drawn in to making them, theres NO escape!!!

[munger 25]

But Munger, where is this T-62 you speak of?

You're right Sgt - if I'm going to be an addon junkie I should at least act like one and know my collection back to front. Instead I mix up T-62's with what are actually T-64's. Oh the shame.

Ah but it's great to meet so many other 'collectors' (that's a euphemism if ever I heard one). Of course, it's even greater to learn that the addon makers themselves are even more addicted to creating them than we are to obtaining them. Hey, it holds my nightmares of there suddenly being no more addons at bay.

Quote[/b] ]So if you lot are junkies, that makes me a dealer right?

I've seen you cruising around the shadier parts of Nogova in a blacked out BMW M3 so yes, it does.

[Pathy 0]

I must be a pimp then

Addon making is very very addictive. Ermm, i havent PLAYED ofp in....ages.....i am constantly modelling, texturing or configging some new weapon or guy for my mod.

I think thats the justification for MODs making thier own campaign, otherwise the addons just tend to SIT on HD's everywhere inactive.

[Ironsight 1]

I am a desert junk, only I don't know why I love them the most, I get a real kick of seeing tanks and hummers (actualy all US Army stuff) crossing trough the desert.

Oh no, I am not only a desert but also a US Army junk

[Pathy 0]

Actually i am even more so a comment junky....after i post something new i hang around for ages waiting for comments on it

[munger 25]

Actually i am even more so a comment junky....after i post something new i hang around for ages waiting for comments on it  

LOL, I think everyone does that.

[canukausiuka 1]

I admit to addon addiction too. It started so innocently... I played OFP, and it was good. Then there were user missions. It was still under control, of course. A download here, a download there, and only if it was rated well. And then the addons. Things like GFX707's bunker pack, Gimbal's Minimi, and of course, Keg's Hawk. But even then, they were coming out slowly. But then they started to come out faster... and faster. And they started looking better and better.

Before I knew it, my hard drive was being inundated with addons. I lost track. Now not only are they smothering just my computer, but my school laptop and my family's computer as well. I'm completely hooked. And nobody warned me about the dangers of editing in time. It started innocently enough as well. A little doo-dad of a mission here, maybe a little thing there. And then I picked up scripting. That was the boundary... after I started scripting I started going more and more, and then I started to dePBO addons and begin to mess with configs. And now, I'm in over my head... configs, scripts, missions...

So what are we to do? Besides commisserate, I mean

[Cpt. Bazikian-5thSFG- 0]

I have to admit... I have an addon problem as well. Sure it started so small and innocent, but don't they all? From the first BAS re-tex'd UH-60 models to Evis's Huey, and now the much awaited Ranger / Delta overhaul and the Littlebird update...... And the soon to be pavehawks and desert vehicles pack. I'M ADDICTED I have almost every good addon to date I just chose to mention BAS because they're the Big mod that started from the begining from being TJP to now the infamous BAS............ If there weren't addons i'd probrably be getting better grades ATM ...............

HERE'S TO ALL ADDON MAKERS EVERYWHERE!!!

THX ALOT FOR THE CRUMMY GRADES

JK CHEERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Placebo 28]

Moving to A&M:D

[Ironsight 1]

@ Feb. 19 2004,02:30)]If there weren't addons i'd probrably be getting better grades ATM    .......

Same problem for me (or is it just because I am bored of school )

[cozza 24]

same here. i failed year 8. But i moved skools and doing year 9 there

[BraTTy 0]

OMG Munger you nailed it ! And like Ebud said, don't start making them because thats a whole nother world.Can only think about how to implement and alot of my days are spent brainstrorming, you wouldn't believe the ideas I have had.But lol glad I am not alone.

But I too am an addon collector and I hardly play.Most of my OFP time has been spent waiting,trying and making stuff

[CanadianTerror 0]

I'm addicted to tweaking addons.

My wife doesn't understand how modifying textures and tweaking config files could be any fun but then again I dont understand why she watches "Trading Spaces"...so I guess it's fair.

I'm an addon junky and I admit it.