[We the People] Development "diary"

[Honor]

Hey there, why didn't you just go with small, incremental changes rather than trying to do everything at once? I (and maybe others) could have contributed to that much more easily than contributing to a giant, complex undertaking like this 4.0 release.

 

[raystuttgart]

Hey there, why didn't you just go with small, incremental changes rather than trying to do everything at once?

"Incremental changes" is only possible if you build small features. - The small features are not the problem anyways.
It is not that easily done with giant overhauls like "Plains" (Terrain Overhaul) and "Yields" (Economy Overhaul).

e.g.
Do you want to adjust Maps 10 times if you add 10 new Terrains?
Do you want to adjust City Screen 40 times if you add 40 Yields?
Do you want to do balancing 40 times if you want to add 40 Professions?
...

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Otherwise:

There were simply not enough modders motivated to join forces, finish what needed to be finished, merge all the branches and actually release anything.
Thus I for example simply continued developing my own branches for about 2 years ... otherwise I could just have sat around and not mod at all the last 2 years.

I (and maybe others) could have contributed to that much more easily than contributing to a giant, complex undertaking like this 4.0 release.

So where have you and the other guys been the last 2 years then? Why did you not come to help then?
We suggested more than once to build a release over the last years ... but we never had enough motivated modders.

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Summary:

For about 2 years there was simply no team joining forces to finish the open todos, merge the branches and actually publish anything.
And it is not even sure that we will have enough modders to do it this time ... there are currently just 2 modders that commited to the "plan".

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It is pretty easy to know things better in theory.
And in theory if everybody is motivated and has enough time things might even work.

So yeah, we should have released one year ago already ... and I would have liked to.
But in reality things simply do not work out if there is not enough motivated to invest the effort.

Necessary todos were simply not done and thus branches not mature enough to publish.
(e.g. MapScript, Maps, fixing bugs, merging branches ...)

How should we have published incrementally without adjusting Maps?
How should we have published incrementally without adjusting MapScripts?
How should we have published incrementally without merging the bugfix branches?
How should we have published incrementally without having adjusted the Screens?
...

It is not about "incremental" or not - it is simply about actually finishing stuff that is required - even if it is not fun.
But sometimes there is just not enough motivation, not enough time or not enough skill around.

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So is this release a f*** monster that requires lots of effort to finish and publish?
Yes it is. But it will be worth the effort to do so - there is lots of great stuff in it.
(But it simply requires people to take over responsibility to do or coordinate parts of it.)

Would it have been less effort to publish "incrementally"?
No, definitely not, in total it would have created lots of overhead actually in order to achieve the same amount of progress.
(The small features are not the problem anyways. The big overhauls could not have been done more efficiently.)

Does it even help to discuss how things could theoretically have been done better in the past?
Not in my opinion. Because that will also not lead to more motivation and effort put into modding.
(The only thing that helps is a few modders joining forces to actually make another release come true.)

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Does that answer the question?

 

[Honor]

Yeah, alright. Don't be demotivated, please. This is all excellent work by you and others that deserves all the love we can give it. Let me see what I can contribute.

 

[Mr. ZorG]

Goal 2: Getting the Maps updated so at least there is something to play
---> Coordinator: @Mr. ZorG (is that ok?)

it will be difficult for me to coordinate the work, since I can only communicate in Slack or here on the forum. if @liet and @ignasito join us in Slack, I think we can coordinate our actions.

All the randomized Maps still need to be adjusted.
@Mr. ZorG could you please take care to organize the work on them?

Since the Americas Gigantic and Americas Huge maps have already been modified by @ignasito, I believe that the same maps marked "random" should be modified by him. it will be easier for him to place new elements on these maps as well as on the previous ones.
I can start editing The New World Gigantic, Two Continents Gigantic, Amerayca Gigantic maps.
however, lately I've been working 12-hour days and modification can take a long time.


By the way, the work on "release 4.0" is going to be a long one. why don't we publish a "3.x release" where the 3.0.1 bugs will be fixed?

 

[raystuttgart]

By the way, the work on "release 4.0" is going to be a long one. why don't we publish a "3.x release" where the 3.0.1 bugs will be fixed?

Every existing bugfix for Release 3.0.1 should be contained in "develop2" which @devolution was mostly working on.
(It is his working branch and he knows the status of it best - including what he would still like to implement.)

If @devolution wants to publish it as a Release 3.0.2 that would be perfectly fine for me. Actually I would really like it.
But I am not going to publish his working branch without him ... so let us wait until he is back and what he says to it.

Both @devolution and @Nightinggale are much better informed about the bugfixes they implemented.
If they say "Hey, let us publish this." I will happily join their efforts but one of them should take the lead.

Summary:
Everything related to bugfixes for Release 3.0.1 I currently consider @devolution to be the expert.
So I will follow his advice and would also expect him to take the lead to organize a Release 3.0.2.
(Alternatively @Nigthinggale if he returns to active modding again in the near future.)

 

[raystuttgart]

I can start editing The New World Gigantic, Two Continents Gigantic, Amerayca Gigantic maps.

That would be great.

if @liet and @ignasito join us in Slack, I think we can coordinate our actions.

Ok cool, I will try to contact them and invite them to join us here and in Slack.

 

[ArchdukeLiet]

That would be great.


Ok cool, I will try to contact them and invite them to join us here and in Slack.

Just created an account: ArchdukeLiet.
Good idea to coordinate who focusses on what map!

 

[raystuttgart]

Just created an account: ArchdukeLiet.

Welcome.

 

[Mr. ZorG]

Priority 1:

1. Americas Gigantic - random @ignasito
2. Americas Huge - random @ignasito
3. The New World Gigantic @Mr. ZorG - in progress
4. Two Continents Gigantic
5. Amerayca Gigantic

Priority 2:

1. Colonial America Large
2. New England Huge
3. North America Large
4. Northwest Passage
5. South America @ArchdukeLiet - in progress
6. West Indies Huge
7. Western Hemisphere Huge
8. Western Hemisphere Standard

Priority 3:

1. TAC America Huge
2. TAC Central America Large
3. TAC East Coast Large
4. TAC Northwest Passage Large
5. TAC South America Standard

 

[Schmiddie]

Is Americas Gigantic "historically correct" also on the table for ab update? I generally only play this map and would love the see it as an updated version. For me this map would have top priority.

 

[raystuttgart]

Is Americas Gigantic "historically correct" also on the table for ab update?

It was already updated by @ignasito weeks ago.
(That is why it is not on the list anymore.)

See this post here:

1. Americas Gigantic [DONE] by @ignasito
2. Americas Huge [DONE] by @ignasito

 

[raystuttgart]

This weekend I will also not find much time for modding.
(Saturday afternoon I need to help my parents, Sunday afternoon I am invited to a birthday party.)

Currently I really just find time to concentrate and mod during vacations.
Thankfully I have vacation again soon in 2 weeks.

 

[raystuttgart]

Puh, this was a hard day of work for the team ...
But we have pretty good news.

@Raubwuerger merged "Plains" into "New_Hope" - which means we are back to a single feature branch.
(Afterwards I had to merge my work of today as well - so it was a bit of unlucky timing from my side because I had not expected it to happen today.)

I have started reviewing the merge and so far it looks really good - will also check again tomorrow evening.
(I have found only a few minor points that resulted from "duplicated" commits in 2 branches.)

Generally "New Hope" is compiling, which is already a good sign.
(With merges of such big branches I have had sometimes bad experiences in the past.)

----

So let us please say thanks to @Raubwuerger for the effort he invested.
This must have been several hours of effort to merge and check everything properly.

----

Edit:
The merge is now completely reviewed.
(I just found 4 small XML findings to be corrected.)

 

[XSamatan]

These are wonderful news!

 

[raystuttgart]

More good news:

MULTI-THREADING - boosting the performance of the mod

We now use Multi-threading in WTP (see here) and have thus boosted performance for EndTurn calculations.
Instead of one CPU core our mod WTP can now use several CPU cores in parallel.

The results are overwhelming ... I have never seen EndTurns being that fast.
It is most definitely the most powerful performance enhancement we ever had.

Credits and thanks to our team member:
@devolution

ALL (main) develepment branches merged again - more efficient cooperation

All our main development branches are merged again in the branch for upcoming release "New_Hope".
(There are still a few minor open development branches that have not been finished and merged yet, but the main ones are merged.)

Tests are so far quite positive and once we finished the Maps and also the MapScript we may start a "beta".
(There are still much more todos for a final release of course but an early "beta" may help us with finding and fixing bugs.)

Many thanks for investing the effort to merge our branches:
@Raubwuerger

Graphical work of the mod is in "professional hands" again and resulting quality shows

@Schmiddie has already created some outstanding graphical improvements the last week.
I simply love the graphics he created - especially some of the improved Unit graphics.

But even better is that an old team member has returned from his absence to the team.
It is always great to have experienced and skilled modders come back to support the mod.

Otherwise I will let @Schmiddie post Screenshots of his work.
(I do not want to spoiler it.)

Welcome back again to:
@Schmiddie

Continous progress on the Maps - paying lots of attention to small details:

A lot of work is not always visible to the people here in the public forum, because we often discuss work details internally.
But I can assure you that there actually is progress - even if it is not always publically announced.

@ArchdukeLiet and @Mr. ZorG are continously working on updating the maps.
Several of the Maps have already been updated again.

So thanks to our Map creators as well:
@ArchdukeLiet and @Mr. ZorG

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All in all situation is currently quite positive.
Of course there is still a lot of work todo ... but this release will be worth it.

 

[Schmiddie]

Thank you. Great to be back again.

 

[ArchdukeLiet]

Thanks, but it's nothing compared to all the effort you all put into it. Just my two cents to contribute to this awesome mod that adds more than the original content!

 

[Raubwuerger]

A few screenshots (3440x1440) of the current developer version ...

 

[XSamatan]

wow - that terrain is fabulous!!

 

[ArchdukeLiet]

Priority 1:

1. Americas Gigantic - random @ignasito
2. Americas Huge - random @ignasito
3. The New World Gigantic @Mr. ZorG - in progress
4. Two Continents Gigantic
5. Amerayca Gigantic

Priority 2:

1. Colonial America Large
2. New England Huge
3. North America Large
4. Northwest Passage
5. South America @ArchdukeLiet - in progress
6. West Indies Huge
7. Western Hemisphere Huge
8. Western Hemisphere Standard

Priority 3:

1. TAC America Huge
2. TAC Central America Large
3. TAC East Coast Large
4. TAC Northwest Passage Large
5. TAC South America Standard

Update:
- 5. South America - finished
- 1. Colonial America Large - in progress
- 6. West Indies - in progress