Comments - MaximeMartyr

Oh! Someone actually posted some mods for Darkstar One a few months after I asked for it, thanks ZachFett!

Moddb.com
Moddb.com

Thank you for answering but did you actually pay attention to the question?
This is not what I asked, I already knew that it doesn't work with GoldSource, I asked if it requires the fork Xash3D FWGS or if it works as well with the base Xash3D.
But it's okay, I already tried it with the base Xash3D and it works just as well so I already figured out the answer to my own question.

Déjà vu?
Moddb.com
Why are there 2 pages for the same mod?

There is one right here:
Moddb.com

This one was not rhetoric.

Fair enough, and how did you learn?

I'm glad you used this saying because it will make my point clear.
The saying you refer to is "Give a fish to someone, you feed them once. Teach them how to fish, you feed them for life.".
Giving a fishing rode is useless if you don't teach how to use it.
You gave me Github, and I told you I don't know how to use it, this site is too austere to figure out simply, it lacks the clarity of ModDB.

Google? What is that? Never heard about it!
Actually, I searched with Ecosia a free file converter and I found this one:
File-converter.org
Of course I know how to search things myself and I did, I asked you what you would use in case you knew a good one that you recommend.

If only Github was clear to figure out instead of being a compilation of lines of codes put together without any clear organization, just compare how Github is designed and how Mod DB is designed, notice the difference?
Both these websites contain files, however ModDB is not an austere list of codes, it actually has a visual clear organization, it's like the difference between using DOS and Windows, I didn't ask you help to use ModDB, did I?

Okay so the first archive that you gave me is v0.20 and you told me that it doesn't support HD materials so I guess I can drop it to the trash.
The second archive is v0.19.3 so it is what I wanted.
I simply asked you if I just extract it into my Xash3D FWGS folder to update it, I didn't think answering this simple question would require a full user manual.

I ask you questions about Xash3D FWGS because it is related to Xash3D, which is the topic of this thread, is it not?
While it is not exactly the topic of this thread, I didn't think you would get mad just because I asked questions related to it.
Moreover, according to our conversation, Xash3D has become obsolete so I don't think I asked wrong questions when I considered switching to Xash3D FWGS.

Well, I overwrote "rewolf.avi" instead of "valve.avi" in media\StartupVids.txt in both my Xash3D and Xash3D FWGS folders and that still doesn't work, videos don't play at all neither with Xash3D FWGS neither with Xash3D.
But it's okay, since that ****** you off, I give up, it's not a big deal if the intro video doesn't play.

That's why I like ModDB, here is more user-friendly. ;-)

Well, actually, the intro video is in bik format.
Do you know a free video converter?

Ah, thank you for giving me direct download links, I appreciate it. :-)
So, to update my Xash3D FWGS, all I have to do is extract these 2 archives into my Xash3D FWGS folder and that's it?

Actually, I didn't ask many questions, well I did, but most of them are rhetorical. :-3
You gave links to github but I have no clue how this website works, all I see there is code, code, and more code, but I'm no archeologist, I can't read these hieroglyphs. ;-3
If you could give a direct link to download the latest old version of Xash3D FWGS (v0.19.3 that is?), that would be appreciated.

And if you know how to get Xash3D and Xash3D FWGS to play the game videos, then be my guest.

So I actually asked 2 questions, the rest is rhetoric. :-3

You mean Xash3D FWGS is still being developed whereas Xash3D is no more?

The latest version is 0.19.3? The latest version I found is 0.19.2.

And wait, do you mean that the HD upscale pack add-on is not compatible with Xash3D v0.99 (build 4344) because they removed support for HD materials from build 3598?
But I downloaded it from here:
Moddb.com
and I extracted it into my Xash3D v0.99 and it seems to work fine?

So basically Xash3D FWGS is better than base Xash3D?
I also noticed in Gunman options that Xash3D FWGS adds some options that Xash3D doesn't such as:
- gamepad support
- quality sound interpolation (I didn't notice any difference, voices still reverberate where they shouldn't.)
- sound vibration (whatever that means)
- bump-mapping
- VBO (I looked up what that is, I found it is Vertex Buffer Object and if I understood right, it is about using VRAM instead of RAM?)
- allow materials
However I tried to use the HD upscale pack add-on with base Xash3D and it works just as well as it does with Xash3D FWGS so I'm not sure if they are features exclusive to Xash3D FWGS or if Xash3D FWGS just adds them as options whereas Xash3D has the same features but doesn't add them in the game options?

But neither Xash3D nor Xash3D FWGS seem able to play the intro video...

What about the fork Xash3D FWGS? What does it change upon base Xash3D?

Does this work as well with Xash3D or does it require Xash3D FWGS?

I don't know if all of the game resources are within the rewolf folder, the folder Gunman contains more than one folder and a bunch of loose files.

So I overwrote "rewolf" instead of "valve" as basedir in gameinfo.txt and I added " -game rewolf" in the shortcut's target and... that worked!
Thank you, may I suggest you to add these instructions into step 7 of your user's manual?

Hey, do I have to install Half-Life in order to use Xash3D to play other games?
For instance, I want to use Xash3D to play Gunman Chronicles.
I followed your steps carefully:

1. Gunman Chronicles is already installed on my PC.

2. I downloaded the latest version of Xash3D available on ModDB, this one:
Moddb.com
(Speaking of which, something bugs me, it's that you specifically mention "Xash 3D v0.99" in your article whereas v0.99 was posted in 2019 and your article was posted in 2012...)

3. I created a Xash3D folder.

4. I opened the Gunman Chronicles folder.

5. I copied the rewolf folder into the Xash3D folder and I deleted the SAVE folder.

6. I extracted the Xash3D archives into the Xash3D folder.

7. I created a shortcut for hl.exe on my desktop, I renamed it Xash3D, and I added " -console" in its target.

8. I tried to play and I got "Xash Error: W_LoadWadFile: couldn't load gfx.wad"...

Your article guides how to use Xash3D to run Half-Life specifically, you even suggest to buy it if we don't have it, instead of any GoldSource engine game.
Do I miss some files because Xash3D requires Half-Life even if we don't want to play Half-Life?

You're most welcome. ;-)

Well, maybe I got carried away about PLS and DSO replacing it because it was upgraded and ported to X-Box 360 4 years after its release on PC so I thought AE did not plan to release it on X-Box since it was ported only 4 years later, which made me think that it was Microsoft who requested it to be ported on their console, it might be an wrong assumption from me but it is a logical deduction, not an attempt to tell fairy tales, I apologize if I was wrong.

I also scrolled up to check and I really did write "open-world first-person space-ship games", let me quote the paragraph where I said it:
"Really? How many of these games do you know?
Because I know only Privateer, Parkan, X, Freelancer, Darkstar One, Spaceforce, and Elite: Dangerous.
That makes 7.
How many do you consider "many"?
For instance, we have a long way to come close to the hundreds, if not thousands, of FPS, TPS, RTS, TBS, RPG, H&S, P&C, shoot'emup, beat'emup, ryth'emup, platformers, puzzlers, dungeon crawlers, horror, racing, fighting, sports, tycoon, arcade, etc etc...
First person space-ship games are a niche, and open-world first person space-ship games are even less.
7 franchises."

I distinct 2 types of first-person space-ship games: linear and open-world.
Linear are the kind of Wing Commander or Starlancer or Freespace for examples where the games are split into missions, you take off from the base, you complete your mission, then you return to the base, you don't get free time, there is nothing to do outside the missions.
Open-world are the kind of Privateer or Freelancer or Darkstar One for examples where you are free to travel, explore and do as you please.

It is up to the player if they want to be in the cockpit or outside their ship, Freelancer offers both options so it is both first-person and third-person hence I include it in my first-person list just like I could include it in a third-person list as well.

So which games from your list are games where you pilot a space-ship from the cockpit in open-world?

"The gameplay was slow and boring?"
I read many complaints from Freelancer's players who said just that, "outside of the trade lanes, moving takes ages", modders had to develop a mod to speed up the ships because it was "slow and boring" whereas Darkstar One features a turbo mode which makes even the trade lanes useless with the advantage that you can speed up anywhere, not only on specific paths.
Freelancer's AI consists in gang-banging the player with armadas
of ships, all ships fight the same way, whereas in Darkstar One, each ship features its own fighting style and you need to adapt your own style to each opponent.
DSO lacks multiplayer, on that we agree, hence I am trying to find a solution to fix this issue to start an active community and makes it worth modding and expanding.
Is it not possible to add the ability for multiple players to join the same galaxy on a server?

The Babylon Project is a Freespace's total conversion mod, it cannot stand alone without Freespace, hence I include it in Freespace, not as a standalone game, the same goes for Shattered Worlds which is a Freelancer's mod.

You're right, I indeed asked you for "games", however I then listed "7 franchises", did I not?
I did not list every games from each franchise, I only listed franchises, so I thought it was obvious that I wanted a list of franchises the same way I made one, was it not?
I mean, if I wanted a list of every games from every franchises, then I would have made one myself, don't you think?

Anyway this is not the point of my initiative here therefore I don't think it is worth arguing for, the only important question is:
Is it possible to just add the ability for multiple players to join the same galaxy on a server for starters? What would it take to do it?

My answer exceeds the 5 000 characters limitation so I had to split it in 2 and here is the other half:

You kept repeating that DSO and FL had nothing in common and then when I ask you how many games like them you know, you give me a mostly irrelevant list.
I said "open-world first person space-ship games", not "any space-ship games".
Most of your list is therefore irrelevant as they don't fill these criteria.
Otherwise I would have included:

Elite
Wing Commander
The Ur-Quan Masters
Star Wars X-Wing
Descent
Battlecruiser
Colony Wars
G-Police
Blast Radius
Xenocracy
Darklight Conflict
Forsaken
I-War
Star Wraith
Freespace
Starlancer
Tachyon: The Fringe
Vega Strike
EVE Online
Universal Combat
Evochron
Star Assault
Project Freedom
Tarr Chronicles
Dark Horizon
Starpoint Gemini
Retrovirus
Miner Wars 2081
Iron Sky
Sublevel Zero
NeonXSZ
Cavernous Wastes
Overload
Everspace
Rebel Galaxy

But all of these would have been irrelevant as they are NOT "open-world first-person space-ship games".

Moreover, some titles in your list are mods, not stand-alone games, I thought it was obvious we were talking about games, not mods...
And you included names from my list in your list of "other" games...
Also, you listed several games from the same franchise when I made it clear that my list was of 7 "franchises" otherwise my list would have been:

Wing Commander Privateer
Privateer 2: The Darkening
Parkan: The Imperial Chronicles
X: Beyond the Frontier
X-Tension
Freelancer
X2: The Threat
Parkan 2
X3: Reunion
Darkstar One
Spaceforce: Rogue Universe
X3: Terran Conflict
X3: Albion Prelude
X Rebirth
X Rebirth: The Teladi Outpost
Elite: Dangerous
X Rebirth: Home of Light
X4: Foundations
X4: Split Vendetta
X4: Cradle of Humanity
X3: Farnham's Legacy

But this list would have been redundant because most of these games are part of a series, all of this list contains only 7 franchises, 7 universes.
And even if I did list every game from every series, that makes 21, not exactly what I call "many".
If you include every game which contains space-ships then sure, there are many of all kinds.
However you were asking for games like FL, did you not?
And what is FL?
It is an "open-world first-person space-ship game".
"open-world" as in "you are free to go wherever you want and do whatever you want" and "first-person space-ship" as in "you pilot a space-ship and you see the universe from your cockpit".
That is the kind of games that FL is.
And I know only 7 franchises of this kind:

1) From 1993 to 1996, Privateer, which is the ancestor of Freelancer;
2) From 1997 to 2005, the trilogy Parkan, which is an amazing first-person game franchise which allows you to exit your cockpit and switch to first-person shooter, you can explore your ship, you can dock other ships and explore them on foot, you can even dock to enemy ships right in the heat of battle and destroy their crew on foot and loot them before you come back to your cockpit and you finish off the ship, you can also land on planets, exit your ship, explore colonies, trade with friendly ones, invade enemies ones, and even build your own;
3) From 1999 to keep going, the longest of these franchises, X, which is more of a successor to Elite than Privateer as in it focuses more on trade than dogfight;
4) In 2003, Freelancer, which is the successor to Privateer;
5) In 2006, Darkstar One, which I consider the successor to Freelancer which needs modders to support it;
6) In 2007, Spaceforce: Rogue Universe, which is too much of a sand-box to my liking;
7) In 2015, Elite: Dangerous, which is...well, Elite.

They are all that we have for open-world first-person space-ship games.
Oh and I don't include Star Citizen because I don't care about unfinished projects doomed to failures because of unreasonable leaders who stubbornly try to bite far more than they could possibly chew.

Ah, so we agree after all, multiplayer is all that it would take for DSO to grow a community, DSO just needs some modders inspired and pumped to add multiplayer to it, that's why I want to inspire you modders and...well...I won't say that I want to pump you modders, that would be weird, but you get the idea. :-3
If I succeed to motivate modders to add multiplayer to DSO then that would be it, that all it would take to start a community around DSO and it really is worth it, you only need to imagine what it could become then you would see what I see and try to achieve here.

We agree that DSO just needs multiplayer to get started so what about it? Do you think you could add it?

Oh, it seems you got me wrong, I didn't say Microsoft developed DSO, I said they chose it to replace PLS, and since PLS was to be the sequel to Freelancer, then logic is that its replacer is FL's successor.
And for having played both FL and DSO, I could really feel how much they have in common and how much DSO was an upgrade, I developed about this in my presentation to DSO.

You keep asking what DSO has in common with FL, so I keep asking did you actually read my presentation to DSO?
I went to details to explain everything they have in common, how DSO was an upgrade, and what original features DSO added which were lacking in FL.
Please read my presentation to DSO, I already answered your recurrent question before you even asked it the first time.
You keep speaking as if two unrelated works have nothing in common, yes, you're right, DSO doesn't take place in the same universe as FL, however you can't be objectively be oblivious to everything they have in common, including their games mechanics.
Most of everything I presented about DSO could be applied to FL, but not as developed as in DSO.
Well, if you sum up a game to "you can fly in space with mouse controls, that's it" then now I get it, it makes sense, now I understand how you can be so oblivious to so many obvious.
I mean, when I wanted to present DSO, I had much more to say than "it's a game where you can fly in space with mouse controls".

Actually not. Microsoft sticks to their doctrine of "5 years support then abandon" so they supported Freelancer for 5 years after release then they abandoned it.
Since DSO came 3 years after FL, FL had only 2 years left of official support and that's it.

On that we agree, DSO's community support can't compete with FL's one, hence why I hope to convince FL's modders to pay attention to DSO because I can imagine what DSO could become if only it was actively supported by skilled modders.
DSO is the best open-world first person space-ship game available to this day.
However it was left untouched since its release.
If it had been as actively modded as FL had been, then you would be playing it right now.
Hence I wish to repair this injustice and convince modders to start a community around DSO.

It was Microsoft who commissioned DA to develop a sequel to FL to feature in the catalogue of their coming X-Box 360.
PLS was a Microsoft's project developed by DA.
Microsoft replaced PLS with DSO because they recognized it as a worthy successor to FL so they decided to port it on X-Box 360 instead of PLS to compensate DA's failure.

We all know that the only one reason why DSO didn't earn the popularity that FL earned and the only reason which keeps FL alive is multiplayer.
The fatal mistake that AE made was to underestimate the importance of multiplayer because if you remove multiplayer from FL then it would have nothing left to compete with DSO.
This is why if modders fixed AE's mistake and added multiplayer to DSO themselves then DSO would grow just as popular as FL if not more.
DSO only needs modders to reveal its latent potential.

You are right, DSO is unrelated to FL.
Hence I call it the successor, I don't call it the sequel.
DSO and FL are not just two games of the same type, they have a lot in common, didn't you read my presentation to DSO?
And Microsoft, who managed the development of FL, recognized DSO worthy to replace their failed PLS after Digital Anvil failed and was subsequently shut down and their employees relocated into Microsoft Game Studios.
In other words, Digital Anvil's staff was part of Microsoft Game Studios when MGS recognized DSO as worthy to replace PLS.
When MGS, who included Digital Anvil staff, discovered DSO on PC, they were so impressed that they absolutely wanted it on their X-Box 360 as the replacement of PLS.

Really? How many of these games do you know?
Because I know only Privateer, Parkan, X, Freelancer, Darkstar One, Spaceforce, and Elite: Dangerous.
That makes 7.
How many do you consider "many"?
For instance, we have a long way to come close to the hundreds, if not thousands, of FPS, TPS, RTS, TBS, RPG, H&S, P&C, shoot'emup, beat'emup, ryth'emup, platformers, puzzlers, dungeon crawlers, horror, racing, fighting, sports, tycoon, arcade, etc etc...
First person space-ship games are a niche, and open-world first person space-ship games are even less.
7 franchises.
And out of the 7, DSO is the one who has the most in common with FL, came after, and is an upgrade, please read my presentation.
And there IS a game related to FL, did you forget that Freelancer is the sequel to Starlancer?
Chris Robert, when he was an employee at Origin Systems in the 1990s, first created Wing Commander, then Privateer.
So when he founded Digital Anvil in 1996, he first created Starlancer as the successor of Wing Commander in 2000, then Freelancer as the successor of Privateer in 2003.
Well...actually he started developing Freelancer.
Until he ran out of resources because he was too ambitious.
So he sold his society to Microsoft Game Studios, who scaled down his unachievable ambitions for Freelancer and managed to achieve its development and released it in 2003.
Then Chris Roberts has repeated his mistakes.
He raised about 40 000 000 $ from Kickstarter and founded Cloud Imperium Games (just the name of his society speaks volumes of his "imperial" ambitions) and started developing Star Citizen in 2011 with ambitions beyond his reach again.
Many of his backers have requested refund which he is reluctant to grant.
He even managed to raise his funds to 400 000 000 $ through micro-transactions.
Now players pay real money to buy ships.
This is Chris Roberts for you.
Know that Freelancer would not have been possible without Microsoft Game Studios who achieved its development and released it, Chris Roberts lead Digital Anvil to failure.
So when MGS recognizes a worthy successor to Freelancer, this successor is worth be taken seriously.

I am not a modder so could you please develop about modding tools?
Why do you consider FL modding tools bad and how are DSO ones even worse according to you?
DSO developers wanted it to be modded, DSO includes a mod manager and they specifically provided tools to this end so I wonder what went wrong?
I am interested in modders' perspective.
Can't you see the potential of DSO waiting to be tapped?

Digital Anvil is not dead, it is now part of Microsoft Game Studios.

DSO replaced PLS, the failed sequel to FL, so why not recognize it as such?
Oh! So you did try to mod it! Could you please share your experience with modding it and explain why modding it is awful so I could understand why it is not modded?
Yes, I noticed that it lacks multiplayer but could it not be added by modding?
And thank you for answering my questions.