raystuttgart
Civ4Col Modder
Happy Easter to everybody ! 
(And "Happy Modding" to all modders.
)
(And "Happy Modding" to all modders.
)
[Religion and Revolution]: General Questions and Discussions
- Thread starter raystuttgart
- Start date
DARCK-PHOENIX
Chieftain
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2011
- Messages
- 41
Happy Easter ...... 
raystuttgart
Civ4Col Modder
Hm ...
We had about 1000 dowloads in total for Release 1.3.
After one week of Release 1.4 being available it only has about 150 downloads.
Well yes, Release 1.3 was available for almost 5 months and Release 1.4 only one week now.
But I would have expected more downloads.
We had about 1000 dowloads in total for Release 1.3.
After one week of Release 1.4 being available it only has about 150 downloads.
Well yes, Release 1.3 was available for almost 5 months and Release 1.4 only one week now.
But I would have expected more downloads.
Hm ...
We had about 1000 dowloads in total for Release 1.3.
After one week of Release 1.4 being available it only has about 150 downloads.
Well yes, Release 1.3 was available for almost 5 months and Release 1.4 only one week now.
But I would have expected more downloads.
I think you need a frontpage feature
1000 downloads in five months would make 50/week.
So 150 in first week is not so bad.
Version 1.3 is 5 months old, I don't know how often you make updates, but I think it would be a reason that most people check for updates only once a year or halve year.
Normally I give my downloaded new version to a friend, but he is in a game in the moment, so he don't need the update in the moment. This could be another reason.
You could include in 1.5 an url-file which links to the page where people can get the updates. Give it the Name "Check for updates.url" (is url the ending for such files?) and explain it in the readme why you made it and suggest to put on the desktop.
You could also offer an update mailling list on the updated page and the readme!
So 150 in first week is not so bad.
Version 1.3 is 5 months old, I don't know how often you make updates, but I think it would be a reason that most people check for updates only once a year or halve year.
Normally I give my downloaded new version to a friend, but he is in a game in the moment, so he don't need the update in the moment. This could be another reason.
You could include in 1.5 an url-file which links to the page where people can get the updates. Give it the Name "Check for updates.url" (is url the ending for such files?) and explain it in the readme why you made it and suggest to put on the desktop.
You could also offer an update mailling list on the updated page and the readme!
orlanth
Storm God. Yarr!
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2001
- Messages
- 1,805
Yes that's not so bad, I think that certainly makes it the most downloaded Civ4Col mod at the moment! 
It's simply the case that Civ4Col is a great but under-recognized game, with a niche audience that is currently small in number but enjoys it a lot (and appreciates mods when they find them since they're such an improvement over the vanilla game). Also, many people who only played vanilla Civ4Col on its release likely don't realize there are plenty of mods out there that vastly improve the original game. Recently the 2071 mod gets about 10-12 downloads per week or so.. not much, but for an old mod not updated in awhile I'm glad some people will still be downloading and enjoying it into the future! 
For other options to get more people involved and aware of Civ4Col mods, I have wanted to get RaR and other Civ4Col mods mirrored onto some more sites like desura.com where plenty of new players might encounter them for the first time. I sent them an email about that a few months ago but didn't get a response
Maybe moddb, weplayciv and strategyinformer would be good places to host mirrors or links to the infracta download, for additional awareness once a close to final version is released. Having a brief frontpage civfanatics piece covering Civ4Col mods like Medieval Conquests, Werewolves and the final RaR1.4 release could also be nice if TheJ or someone would agree to that.
It's simply the case that Civ4Col is a great but under-recognized game, with a niche audience that is currently small in number but enjoys it a lot (and appreciates mods when they find them since they're such an improvement over the vanilla game). Also, many people who only played vanilla Civ4Col on its release likely don't realize there are plenty of mods out there that vastly improve the original game. Recently the 2071 mod gets about 10-12 downloads per week or so.. not much, but for an old mod not updated in awhile I'm glad some people will still be downloading and enjoying it into the future! For other options to get more people involved and aware of Civ4Col mods, I have wanted to get RaR and other Civ4Col mods mirrored onto some more sites like desura.com where plenty of new players might encounter them for the first time. I sent them an email about that a few months ago but didn't get a response
Maybe moddb, weplayciv and strategyinformer would be good places to host mirrors or links to the infracta download, for additional awareness once a close to final version is released. Having a brief frontpage civfanatics piece covering Civ4Col mods like Medieval Conquests, Werewolves and the final RaR1.4 release could also be nice if TheJ or someone would agree to that.DARCK-PHOENIX
Chieftain
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2011
- Messages
- 41
Hm ...
We had about 1000 dowloads in total for Release 1.3.
After one week of Release 1.4 being available it only has about 150 downloads.
Well yes, Release 1.3 was available for almost 5 months and Release 1.4 only one week now.
But I would have expected more downloads.
There are too small number players of colonization
raystuttgart
Civ4Col Modder
I was not really wondering about the 1000 downloads total of Release 1.3.
(Considering the size of our community, that is totally fine for me.)
I was wondering that only 1 out of 6 players had switched to Release 1.4 within the first week ...
(Does the rest not know ? Do they want to finish a game before switching ? Do they not care about new releases anymore ? )
(Considering the size of our community, that is totally fine for me.)
I was wondering that only 1 out of 6 players had switched to Release 1.4 within the first week ...
(Does the rest not know ? Do they want to finish a game before switching ? Do they not care about new releases anymore ? )
AbsintheRed
Deity
Only small part of the players check the forums every week
It could be as AbsintheRed says. You have to remember too that many people thought that RaR had ended when you decided to leave at a certain time. I would guess that not all people know that RaR is back with a new release.
Anyways, thanks to the RaR team and specially you Ray for your great work. I have to say that release 1.4 is super stable release. I have played many hours and it doesn't freezes on me as previous versions did.
raystuttgart
Civ4Col Modder
I have to say that release 1.4 is super stable release. I have played many hours and it doesn't freezes on me as previous versions did.
Well sure, there have been improvements of the existing code, graphics and XML for Release 1.4.
But Release 1.3 was also "super stable" for me.
Thanks.
In a few weeks we will publish again, since we have found and fixed a few tiny issues and also have a few nice improvements.
I hope with that we will have created a good base for other modders and modmodders.
AbsintheRed
Deity
Definitely, you guys made an awesome work!
And maybe development for RaR will still continue when you get some of your motivation back after a longer break (that's what I due when I'm a little too tired of modding)
hopefully it leads to an uptick in downloads.
raystuttgart
Civ4Col Modder
Hi guys, 
I have had contact with several people that told me in private messages or posts in different forums:
"I am planning / considering to do a modmod for Religion and Revolution."
or
"I love Religion and Revolution and I would really like to help working on it."
or
"I have done improvements to Religion and Revolution and would like to share them."
or
"Could you guys please continue working on the mod. I love to play it and I am eager for new releases."
or
...
So from what I hear there are:
1. People interested to create modmods for RaR
2. People interested to support these modmods
3. People interested to play these modmods
Thus I simply don't get, why these projects are not starting.
(Except Religion and Revolution Extended from Nightinggale.)
What is missing ?
What do you guys still need ?
Is it simply the "performance issue" I have heard several times ?
-> We are working on it and a new Release will be published as soon as I get it properly tested.
Are you guys afraid of the technical complexity of the mod ?
-> Well, I promised that I will still be around to answer questions.
Also I do not get why those people interested in modding RaR don't try to find common interests and organize a team to work together more efficiently.
---------
Summary:
Tell me what it is that you need to get your projects going and I will try to assist.
Otherwise I can simply try to give you an even better base for your project with the upcoming Release 1.6, which will only focus on further improvements and fixes.
(Which is in fact the only reason why I postponed once more my leave from active Civ4Col modding and am working on RaR again.)
That is all my limited time does still allow.
I have had contact with several people that told me in private messages or posts in different forums:
"I am planning / considering to do a modmod for Religion and Revolution."
or
"I love Religion and Revolution and I would really like to help working on it."
or
"I have done improvements to Religion and Revolution and would like to share them."
or
"Could you guys please continue working on the mod. I love to play it and I am eager for new releases."
or
...
So from what I hear there are:
1. People interested to create modmods for RaR
2. People interested to support these modmods
3. People interested to play these modmods
Thus I simply don't get, why these projects are not starting.
(Except Religion and Revolution Extended from Nightinggale.
)What is missing ?
What do you guys still need ?
Is it simply the "performance issue" I have heard several times ?
-> We are working on it and a new Release will be published as soon as I get it properly tested.
Are you guys afraid of the technical complexity of the mod ?
-> Well, I promised that I will still be around to answer questions.
Also I do not get why those people interested in modding RaR don't try to find common interests and organize a team to work together more efficiently.
Spoiler :
---------
Summary:
Tell me what it is that you need to get your projects going and I will try to assist.
Otherwise I can simply try to give you an even better base for your project with the upcoming Release 1.6, which will only focus on further improvements and fixes.
(Which is in fact the only reason why I postponed once more my leave from active Civ4Col modding and am working on RaR again.)
That is all my limited time does still allow.
raystuttgart
Civ4Col Modder
Dowload rate of Religion and Revolution is pretty constantly about 10 per day.
(We had more than 500 downloads of Release 1.5 within a bit less than 2 months.)
Still need to calculate how long it will take until everybody in the world will play the mod ...
Considering that we do not have downloads available on any other site than Infracta, that is probably quite ok.
(The mod is simply too big for many other sites.)
Also it is quite positive that there are slowly but surely more and more people starting to modmod it.
(No idea however how many of those will ever publish their work since most of it seems to be some small private adjustments.)
But we still frequently get messages or posts from people telling
"Wow, great mod ! Thanks a lot ! But how come that I had never heard of it before ?
I wish I had known about the mod much earlier. You should really do something so that people can find it more easily."
However, I am not sure, what could or better should really be done.
There is talk about Religion and Revolution on many sites related to Civ4Col modding.
(Here at CivFanatics, the German CivForum, the French CivFr, Infracta, Steam forum, Russian sites, ...)
The only real idea I still have, is Let's Play Videos.
But nobody seems to be interested to create one for Religion and Revolution.
-----------
Why am I interested at all to get the mod known a bit more ?
Simply because I hope that more people will get interested to mod it.
Thus increasing the chances of a big team forming to pick up development.
(Either by convincing some of the old team members to continue the main project or to create a big modmod with a completely new team.)
I would really like to see the story continue.
Just as TAC was the base for RaR, RaR could be the base for something even bigger or a Total Conversion or ...
We have put so much effort in adding configurable features, improving quality, improving performance, improving AI ...
that it would be a real pitty if all of that was not used anymore in further Civ4Col modding.
(We had more than 500 downloads of Release 1.5 within a bit less than 2 months.)
Still need to calculate how long it will take until everybody in the world will play the mod ...
Considering that we do not have downloads available on any other site than Infracta, that is probably quite ok.
(The mod is simply too big for many other sites.)
Also it is quite positive that there are slowly but surely more and more people starting to modmod it.
(No idea however how many of those will ever publish their work since most of it seems to be some small private adjustments.)
But we still frequently get messages or posts from people telling
"Wow, great mod ! Thanks a lot ! But how come that I had never heard of it before ?
I wish I had known about the mod much earlier. You should really do something so that people can find it more easily."
However, I am not sure, what could or better should really be done.
There is talk about Religion and Revolution on many sites related to Civ4Col modding.
(Here at CivFanatics, the German CivForum, the French CivFr, Infracta, Steam forum, Russian sites, ...)
The only real idea I still have, is Let's Play Videos.
But nobody seems to be interested to create one for Religion and Revolution.
-----------
Why am I interested at all to get the mod known a bit more ?
Simply because I hope that more people will get interested to mod it.
Thus increasing the chances of a big team forming to pick up development.
(Either by convincing some of the old team members to continue the main project or to create a big modmod with a completely new team.)
I would really like to see the story continue.
Just as TAC was the base for RaR, RaR could be the base for something even bigger or a Total Conversion or ...
We have put so much effort in adding configurable features, improving quality, improving performance, improving AI ...
that it would be a real pitty if all of that was not used anymore in further Civ4Col modding.
raystuttgart
Civ4Col Modder
M:C is still in the middle of creating new concepts and development.
Thus the mod is surely currently quite interesting for modders.
RaR on the other hand is currently only in its (last) phase of "optimization and enhancment".
Just like TAC base mod, RaR seems to be facing the end of its lifecycle.
Yes it does.
But TAC and RaR have "revolutionary" features as well to my opinion.
It is simply that these features are already well known and thus not that exiting anymore.
Well, both mods share their work with community.
Kaliric (or any other modder) is welcome to adapt any feature from RaR that he likes.
The original idea of RaR was to create a huge, stable and performant base for further projects and modmods (e.g. Total Conversions) by having the best modders of the community join forces and uniting the best ideas and features of the whole Civ4Col modding community.
It was supposed to be a "modding platform" that the whole community should benefit from.
Maybe some other mod will one day pick up that idea again.
Does this mean there is no point suggesting new features for RAR?
raystuttgart
Civ4Col Modder
See, if I would continue modding Civ4Col after Release 1.8 (containing "Africa Screen" which I have promissed) I would have lots of ideas of my own.
(In some cases even prototypes exist.)
But my time is really limitted and it is just the same for Schmiddie.
(Although there are several RaR-modmodders out there that occasionally support, we are the last 2 really active team members continuously working on the base mod.)
Also, I kind of lost motivation to continue, because I don't have the feeling that I could ever really achieve my original goals for this project with reasonable effort and efficiency.
Thus I would much more prefer community to simply create features than suggest features to us.
I am even still dreaming of a new team forming (without my participation) that would pick up RaR as a base for a new project.
(Similar to RaR picking up TAC base mod. Simply because I would like to see the story continue.)
In such a new project it would make sense again to suggest new features to the new team.
But I really feel like a senile old man for repeating myself over and over again.
For the moment, simply enjoy playing Release 1.7.
See, if I would continue modding Civ4Col after Release 1.8 (containing "Africa Screen" which I have promissed) I would have lots of ideas of my own.
(In some cases even prototypes exist.)
But my time is really limitted and it is just the same for Schmiddie.
(Although there are several RaR-modmodders out there that occasionally support, we are the last 2 really active team members continuously working on the base mod.)
Also, I kind of lost motivation to continue, because I don't have the feeling that I could ever really achieve my original goals for this project with reasonable effort and efficiency.
Thus I would much more prefer community to simply create features than suggest features to us.
I am even still dreaming of a new team forming (without my participation) that would pick up RaR as a base for a new project.
(Similar to RaR picking up TAC base mod. Simply because I would like to see the story continue.)
In such a new project it would make sense again to suggest new features to the new team.
But I really feel like a senile old man for repeating myself over and over again.
For the moment, simply enjoy playing Release 1.7.
I was following RAR development from beginning and I completely understand your reasons.Anyway you made such a great project, and I can only say thank you and the team.You can be really proud with RAR!
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