Rallying call for all interested: Colonisation of the Moon mod!

[woodelf]

Ug... Woodelf, how many times do I have to tell you this. It was XML stuff that I added. XML. Building and Unit changes.

Hmmm, I guess I don't listen well

 

[12monkeys]

Re: 12 Monkeys, I don't entirely disagree, but I don't entirely agree either. We have definitely hit a lull caused by our inability to debug that release, and that's hurt us alot. I knew it would, but I just haven't had the time to debug it. I spent two days on it, it didn't get solved, I handed it off to Matt, hoping he could figure it out, but he didn't, and I haven't had time to invest in it since. That's no one's fault, that's just the reality of a volunteer coding project. Bugs like that are a nightmare. Perhaps I should have already decided to have us rollback to the previous version and move on from there, but I'd immediately want to go add the same features that broke it in the first place :/. What I really wanted to do was find out /why/ it was broken, so we could not have that same problem in the future. That knowledge has thus far eluded us .

Maybe you should ask the community to help here or there. If you need some help for debugging that issue, I'm willing to do so. I'm currently between two things and would be able to spend some time in that. Also, I might be a good excercise to check what the HAP Debugger is able to do.

As for the small plan idea, I think that's not the way to go. What we need is a clearer idea of our destination, which is what the new design doc is all about.

I always had the feeling that your final destination is quite clear (you called it the "bible", I think). In fact, I had the feeling, that some of you have problems to get rid of it. The "great plan" should be more flexible.

Then, once we've got our destination firmly in mind, we can come up with a migration plan with small manageable steps to get us from here to there.

Thats exactly what I meant!

 

[Belizan]

Maybe you should ask the community to help here or there. If you need some help for debugging that issue, I'm willing to do so. I'm currently between two things and would be able to spend some time in that. Also, I might be a good excercise to check what the HAP Debugger is able to do.

If I can find the time to merge Matt and My versions together I'll send you a PM . Thanks for the offer!

I always had the feeling that your final destination is quite clear (you called it the "bible", I think). In fact, I had the feeling, that some of you have problems to get rid of it. The "great plan" should be more flexible.

We overtook the Bible long, long ago.

 

[JBG]

I would appreciate it if you would not hijack the project. The remaining contributors on the project, after waiting months for some word from you JBG, made a commitment to move forward with a new plan, and a hell of a lot of work has been done towards that by myself and Warsong. You have no idea how irate I'm going to be if you derail us.

Trust me - derailment is the last thing I want. I won't hurt the project by returning fire - but point taken. I didn't really have much choice about my absence, though.

I didn't mean to imply I thought that work hadn't been done - indeed the very first thing I saw when I came back onto the thread was the prototype reskins of the early cities.

I refer you back to my earlier statement whereby I said, quite explicitly, that I would not assume command again unless asked. Woodelf seemed to be hoping that I would, so I gave him some stuff to work on - or at least discuss - and I also made a commitment to continuing my work on the mod.

However, in-fighting is probably the one sure-fire way to derailment. I am very sorry for my absence, but as I said, it wasn't intentional - nor did I have much choice.


So far as the mod is concerned, the version that is currently linked on the main SotM thread is the one I downloaded, and it works (so far as I can tell) fine on my computer. After 200 turns I found no major problems (the ones I mentioned were, as I said, trivial, nitpicking and spurious )

If you could send me a copy of your progress document, I'd be really interested to read it. As I mentioned (perhaps not enough) in my previous posts, I was extremely impressed to play the latest version - and I spent the first few minutes laughing aloud at the sheer volume of new content there was to work with.

I have absolutely no intention of suddenly coming back and immediately throwing spanners in the various works - and if I have done so already, I apologise.

And on the audio note, if you, or Woodelf, or, indeed, anyone, tells me which sounds are needed, I will try my utmost to provide. I can also go through my copy of the XMLs and iron out those points I mentioned in my previous post. Just say the word.

 

[JBG]

I've just updated the SotM thread with a new FAQ and one or two other minor additions.

 

[woodelf]

The talk of derailment is troubling. How close to the old game are you and Warsong sticking Belizan? Is it basically a new mod or not? If the answer is yes then maybe it should be split. I get the idea from your posts that ideas by myself, Geomodder, ect that don't fit into your new plans aren't being listened to anyway. We went from leaderless to dictatorship awfully quick...

 

[JBG]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I think before we decide to do anything like a split, we need to pool ideas and isolate the friction points. We've all put too much into this to just let it die, so let's talk before we do anything radical which we might regret later.

Belizan, if you post your and Warsong's project document, we can take a look at that and go from there.

 

[woodelf]

I'm not suggesting a split per se, but if you go back and read the last month worth of posts you can see that starting over was discussed. I think the best option we discussed was finishing this version off and then restarting using the knowledge we had acquired during this trial run.

 

[JBG]

I don't like the sound of that... However, thinking about it, it is kind of attractive. That said, what'd be the point? Strting from scratch, i.e. a sort of Battlestar Galactica-style remake, or simply putting the content into a fresh set of files?

Incidentally, I've commenced unofficial work on a 0.23A version, which includes a new unit graphic (Rabbit_White's Lancers) and will include some sounds and XML fixes for the minor bugs I pointed out earlier.

I'll go back and take a look at the posts.

 

[woodelf]

I think the attraction was that we made of a lot of noob modding mistakes and fixing them might be harder than restarting. I'm not really sure where we stand...

 

[GeoModder]

Hope you guys get out if this disparity.

Belizan, why not sending over to the rest the ideas you and Warsong came up with already? As it is now, everyone but you and him sit here in the dark. It's not like a finished blueprint must be put on the table.

 

[JBG]

Geo, what was that picture you posted in post #2,440? It looked rather... ah... as if it was right up our street. Where was it from?

Btw, if you go here, you will see those moon units that Rabbit, White made. As it's relatively simple to do, I'll try adding the Lancer graphic into the mod and report back on what happens.

 

[GeoModder]

Check this thread for that picture link.

 

[JBG]

Thanks. Any chance of using it in-game..?

I'm about to test Rabbit, White's Lancers - wish me luck!

 

[GeoModder]

Good luck.

 

[JBG]

Aaagh, he's bloody PINK! What have I done wrong?

 

[GeoModder]

Mislinked a .nif file in the XML, no doubt.

Have you tried as it comes with the lancer file, or did you try to attach another costume instead of his medieval one?

 

[JBG]

er...... do capital letters make a difference?

 

[JBG]

Answer = nope. I'm trying to find the pikeman art in the root Civ IV art directory - but can't. Where does the game keep all its artwork?

 

[woodelf]

The joys of the pink blob.

And I think the being kept in the dark is a big problem. I can see not wanting to put out incomplete ideas, but the rest of us are spinning our wheels!