Oxygen not being freely distributed online!

[Kris 1]

Whoa, bad news ppl. Check out

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....;t=7280

Personally, I disagree with BIS and think this is the first real time they've let the community down. I'm a bit annoyed frankly. Looks like i won't be able to put my models in the game, me not being anything special in the world of mod-making and all =(

[Damage Inc 0]

I think this is a good decision becuase now we're not going to get a lot of useless addons.

[Kris 1]

Yeah, but I've got 1-2 really good models which I spent a long time making and I was looking forward to putting them in the game. A lot of other ppl will be in the same position. I didn't want Star Wars or anything, I just wanted to put in an SA80 - and an M4

[shadow 6]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Damage Inc @ Feb. 28 2002,21:10)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I think this is a good decision becuase now we're not going to get a lot of useless addons.<span id='postcolor'>

Well the only way to not make useless addons is to learn is'nt it?

[sgt bastard 0]

But who will be the "Lucky few"?

[Damage Inc 0]

I bet someone will make an SA80 and M4.

[Kris 1]

Mod teams that are working on more fantasy-based things are going to be pis...ahem...annoyed at this. All that work and BIS aren't going to let them take it to the next level.

[Damage Inc 0]

Well OFP wasn't meant for that stuff anyway.

[Kris 1]

Yeah, well they might but I'm not going to have the satisfaction of putting my models in the game and that, in my view is THE point of the matter.

[Dawdler 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (MrCrispPacket @ Feb. 28 2002,21:07)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Whoa, bad news ppl. Check out

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....;t=7280

Personally, I disagree with BIS and think this is the first real time they've let the community down. I'm a bit annoyed frankly. Looks like i won't be able to put my models in the game, me not being anything special in the world of mod-making and all =(<span id='postcolor'>

Yes, a lot of people will be dissapointed and sites will probably close down... Its bad.

But there will not be a score of bad things, each model worse than the other... Thats good, but one doesnt have to download everything...

See it this way: OFP is the heart. Mods are its blood. A heart can not survive without the blood. CS put new blood to halflife, BIS is putting us on a respirator. Lets see if we survive.

(this is not a comment from I44, this is a comment from ME)

[rpc007 0]

you can still put models into the game, theres a utility to do it on some websites,

[Guest Scooby]

As far as I can see this is all about money.

Personally I will be boycotting products by BIS from now on. One thing people should learn is to keep what they promise. If they fail to do so they lose their credibility.

I am disappointed because I was expecting good amount of new weapons and vehicles for OFP soon after tools would have been released. Now we will have to wait for long long time before mod teams can put anything together. Thats if BIS is going to give tools to any mod team as they said that they will give it to teams which they think deserve tools.

[Kris 1]

If BIS had imposed this sorta thing on the fist addons - retexturing - it would be like saying, yes ppl like Ebud and Tigershark can make addons - we'll give them the tools to do it and, yes, they would come out with amazing stuff, but the bloke on the street isn't going to be able to go, "I wonder if I can do that?", "maybe I'll have a go" - there will be nowhere for new talent to start and build upwards.

[Maddock 0]

I like the idea.

There are (and will be) enough serious teams looking to do great addons to keep the community happy. To keep this game alive we need quality in our addons, not quantity.

MrCrispPacket, I don't think the announcement insisted on you 'being anything special in the world of mod making'. If you've got models, ideas, and serious plans to make good mods, write to BIS and plead your case.

They're reasonable people, you never know your luck, you could be one of the first they sign up.

That said, isn't it true that people die without Oxygen?

[Kris 1]

YES BUT...sorry getting flustered, cool down....Right ;-) At the end of the day I'm not going to loose sleep over it but I don't want to start a project, I want to put 2 MODELS! into the game. Do you think BIS are going to give me their prized tools for that?

[shadow 6]

I bet I'm not alone here when I say :

I have never made a 3d-model before, BUT I was planning on learning when I got Oxigen ( I wanted to learn on the official tools)

the people who know me and my missions, know that I'm not releasing missions I'm not satisfied with

This is all just plain unfair.

As MrCrispPacket said: </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">there will be nowhere for new talent to start and build upwards.<span id='postcolor'>

You will only get this far and then what?

[-Dogi- 0]

cs also attracted llamas and wahtnot else unplesant elements to hl...

[theavonlady 2]

I regret BIS' decission as it has the potential to stifle creativity. Sure maybe most of the big addon/mod teams will sign up and get the tools but some people are good at making individual objects one at a time.

Now we'll never know.

As to the concern of too many addons/mod if everyone can get their hands on this, there are sites out there, like OFPEC, that review and rank people's work and forums where people can gather opinions about an addon/mod maker.

If BIS' concern is about being overwhelmed to support these tools by 100's of people, then they can indeed limit support communications only to those very same groups that they're now willing to provide the tools to.

Pity.

[Maddock 0]

You never know until you ask.

You've got to remember that this project has been BIS's life for years. As a software developer it amazes me that anyone can give away control of 'their baby' to any type of modification. I know that by today's standards this is imperative for great games.

I'm sure they just want to know that it's in safe hands while it ventures alone into the world. They want to have it find it's legs and be respected in terms of mods.

In six months, once a few more official campaigns are released, and some great mods have become available, BIS will be happy that the community has done justice to their great work.

Undoubtedy they'll then release tools to the wider community, unrestricted, having set the standard for OFP mods. The worst case scenario for yourself is that you'll have to wait a little longer for your mod.

I hope you'll stick around and be patient with OFP and BIS. Let's see if the modding sites that talk-the-talk can walk-the-walk.  

[Kris 1]

That's exactly how I felt a few months back Shadow when I started my campaign - I wanted to learn and I dl'd Gmax and all the tutorials. I thought what I made was pretty good (not amazing but still pretty good). Now, I've got no avenue to continue down.

[Kris 1]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">You've got to remember that this project has been BIS's life for years. As a software developer it amazes me that anyone can give away control of 'their baby' to any type of modification. I know that by today's standards this is imperative for great games<span id='postcolor'>

Virtually every "good" game availible today undermymes this fact by the number of mods created for them - look at the rise of the SDK. Delevlopers should be more than happy to let ppl do this right - ppl had to buy Half-Life to play CS!

[ACT SMILEY 0]

Unfortunately, in amongst the tonnes of crap, a lot of good stuff will be lost. I already had a map worked out ready for Visitor (I'm not the 3D graphics kind of person) and that I won't get it because its limited to large scale semi-pro mods (such as Operation Vietnam and I44) is a bit of a pisser. I could understand the logic in them releasing it to the large teams first, but a general release can only help the community. Waiting until after Resistance? Fair enough, if they want to do that I don't mind, but there's only so many times you can retexture Malden. I don't really see the reasoning behind this, as any mod having "THIS IS UNOFFICIAL AND NOT MADE OR SUPPORTED BY BIS OR CM" should do the trick of having the crap blamed on the mod makers rather than BIS.

"There are (and will be) enough serious teams looking to do great addons to keep the community happy. "

Sometimes there's nothing like getting in and doing it yourself. Only then will you fully realise how f***ing good the original game is. I'm an extremely amateur mod maker, I've knocked up a couple of config.cpp's and a scripted cutscene so far and I plan to make a decent couple of missions for OFP, I've already got half a DromED (Thief II) project going and I was really hyped about Visitor. For an example of how important extra mod-making power is, look at Thief and its sequel. Its quite an old game but there are 2 major mods for Thief II and hundreds of high quality fan missions out there - Dromed, the editor for it, is extremely powerful and was bundled with instructions on how to retexture and a tool that imports static objects and another for AIs (although the AI importer was for Maya files, so it took a LONG time for anyone to use). If Looking Glass hadn't released Dromed openly, would we have seen Benny's Dead, a plot driven highly original mission that is widely thought of as being better than many original missions? Probably not. Another comparison is the upcoming RPG Morrowind, its editor forum has thousands of posts so far and many projects, big and small (including one by me) underway. One or two are receiving assistance from Bethesda Softworks, but they aren't giving it only to major projects - its good for a new character or for a new world and they're recognising that. Lots of guys have made missions in advance of Red Hammer, with these tools we could push the game yet further.

Scifi crap? Sure, some guy might add it - but you don't need to get it if you don't want to. Thats the whole point of mods.

rpc007, the current thing, the P3D2OBJ hack, doesn't do all of the features of the P3D file so you can only make minor alterations (MP5 without the silencer for example). Although, if stuff isn't released I could see that being improved on. We're desperate for it and I don't like being manipulated like a a crack addict by a dealer.

Just a few thoughts.

[Maddock 0]

I'm not saying that they don't want to have it modded, or go the way it's going. While I don't believe their primary motivation for this is financial, could you blame them if it was?

I think we're all over reacting just a little too early here.

[ralphwiggum 6]

I know my words will cause anger in some, but I support BIS's decision. I kinda feared that proliferation of customized add-ons would ruin and dilute OFP's stanadrad add-ons. Let me say it again. I want only the official, bug-free add-ons. If OXYGEN was to be distributed freely, what could have happen is that we would end up with 10 different add-ons for one thing. Like, say, AK101, made by 10 different ppl, with all different attributes.

For simple users like me, this is a pain in the ass. By limiting release, BIS can actually improve add-ons and so forth, while not compromising OFP's own architect. So we have to sacrifice a little bit of our desire, to make sure that OFP stays the way it is.

Also, Maruk said only non-commercial projects are accepted. i.e. BIS wants to stick with community, but keep some orders, so that dumbdumbs like me can follow.

[Kris 1]

Amen to that ACT SMILEY :-)