At first we agree with you all. It is important that the modauthors get the infos about bugs in their mods. In addition to get the infos about patches to make their mods compatible in a MegaMod. With these infos, the author can decide to make a new mod-version or not.
There are two situations for us:
1.) Active modauthers, you can work with
2.) Not active modauthers, you can't contact anymore
For point 2 we think it is important that the fixes/patches will be listed in the forums, too. So other can use the info and know about the bugs/compatibility issues.
For point 1 we have two additional situations:
1.) Modauthors they are very active and workes everytime for updates and ongoing projects
2.) Modauthors they still there, but have not the interest to make new updates anymore
For point 2 we see not really a new updated mod-version to fix the problems, so we must do the patch.
For point 1 we have in additon two situations:
1.) Modauthors who support MegaMods
2.) Modauthors who don't support MegaMods
For point 2 the authors have no interest for compatability issues and don't want to talk about it or have not the time to support it.
Like you see, there are many differrent situations in the modding-scene. In addition we have another problem.
BG is popular and it gives many many mods for
BG, all splits in different forums and subforums. Somebody who fixed some bugs has it not easy to find the right place to post it, especially by smaller mods. That is the unlikely situation we have. Most fixes and patches are splits over the net and make it hard to find them.
We collect these fixes to upgrade our "BiG World Fixpack", so you can use it. And this work is not easy. We make less own fixpatches. We use only the infos we get through the forums and often we must combine several posts in much subforums to solve the problems and create a patch for the issue. That you understand, our "BiG World Fixpack" is a collection of fixes/patches you can find throughout the net. If the problem is solved by a new mod-version we deleted the fix from our Fixpack to have it up to date.
For your info, there are so much fixes/patches throughout the net we have noticed but have not found the time to include it in our Fixpack. You see, there are many infos about that and mostly not in the corresponded forums of the corresponded mods.
Otherwise we include own fixpatches to make all mods compatible in a MegaMod, either of our own or from informations of the net.
Now we come to your responses:
In my opinion, it doesn't make much sense to include "fixed files" for mods that are being actively supported and regularly updated (as is the case with SCSII).
Right, that's why we contact the authors about the problems in the forums.
Why not simply report any bugs/compatibility issues at the mod's forum and wait for the author to resolve them instead? As I've pointed out a while ago releasing unsupported stand-alone fixes can be counterproductive in such cases.
That is only possible by active modauthors who supports MegaMods. Otherwise you want to wait a long time to get an update or get none. In this case it is important to see what the update does. If it is fixed the problem and you have a fix, then you must delete it. That is what we do. We know your descripted problems and don't want to have these.
History repeats itself: The Big Picture was originally created to do just the same--provide inter-mod fixes that ensured all the other mods worked well together.
But that is not our goal. We don't want to make an own "BP". We want to work with the authors together, honor their work and find solutions for the bugs. If we can reduce our fixpatches, we will do it.
For all other comments, thanks for your opinion.
Like you see in the last months, we are going to more and more actively throughout the forums. We search the contact with the modauthors to work together. We don't want to create
BWP as a own hidden project. We want that all gamers, modders and all the others get all infos, what happend with their mod in a MegaMod. In addition
BWP is not only a MegaMod. It is an installation order for all mods who can best work together. You don't need to install all the listed mods. You can decide to pick some of them and install them in the recommend order. If someone searches for a modlist, he can find it in our guide. And is it not a great advertise for all the included mods? Through our guide the gamer get mentioned of one of your mods and comes to your website. Without the guide we think that all infos are splitted throughout the net like the fixpatches are. You must collect them...
So concluding, we will do more public relations with the fixes we have found in the net and uses in our fixpack. We think it is the best, that we start with this. We will try to list the bugs in the corresponded forums for the modauthors next time. So they know, which fixes we have found in the net. We will do this for active and none active supported mods. So all infos are there, where they should be.
Greetings Leomar
Edited by Leomar, 22 April 2008 - 12:10 PM.
