Ahh, modDB. It's good to be here. Nice smell too. :P
Howdy folks! My name is Y|yukichigai, head of the Shifter Team. Actually, I am the entire Shifter Team, though the last word doesn't really apply since there's no "I" in "team" and "I" am all that constitutes the "team". Except there is an "I" in this "team". I guess we'll call me the "Shifter Tieam" then.
Note to self: drink less caffiene before posting news.
Anyway, now that we've gotten the introduction out of the way, let me get down to the meaty stuff. As you may have heard, Project HDTP just recently released a tantalizing, if occasionally glitchy, partial collection of their beautiful eye candy for Deus Ex. This is a very good thing, but it raises some difficulty with mods like mine because in order for their new textures to show up they have to replace the same file that, coincidentally, my mod (and one or two others) replaces in order to work. This presented me with a problem: either force players to choose between HDTP and Shifter, or release two versions -- HDTP enabled and regular -- for each release of the mod.
This, obviously, was undesireable.
Fortunately for me, I've discovered a way to load up the new HDTP models and skins if they are present, but default to the normal Deus Ex files otherwise, all in the same file. This means that Shifter will be HDTP-capable, but will not screw up anyone who isn't running it. Everybody wins! Hooray!
This will probably be the most prominent feature of the upcoming v1.7 release, other than a few "restored" conversations that somehow were left out of the original game. As you read this I'm probably coding in the HDTP-compatibility. I may even hold off on some additional features I wanted to put in v1.7 in order to expedite its release, just so you can enjoy HDTP eye candy with Shifter rules. I'll keep you posted.
-- Y|yukichigai (the Shifter Tieam)
