ThirdWire.... What a shame !!!

[+Veltro2k 6,317]

I remember the first time I heard of third wire and SF1 . I was at the time enjoying myself with the Jane's products. It didn't look like much , but I said ." hey let me give it a shot and purchased it. I was surprised how good it was except lacking

the capability of other Sims. Then all these sites popped up where individuals ( apart from a few greedy groups whose name shall be not mentioned ) using their own spare time and resources started adding to the program.. This made Third wires products more

versatile and added new life to it. So , what happens ? Does third wire see the potential of their program ? do they maybe take suggestions to add or let their engine me modified for more options ?  NO!! they abandon it and refuse to listen to the Modder group sites and made the game more difficult to MOD.  This also caused of many Great Modder's, that I can't even compare myself with, to  give up and leave. Despite this I applaud the effort and dedication of the ones that are still hanging on, including the  non modder's. and hope a miracle happens that one day we can add extras , like real Air refueling , landing on water, ,,,,and so forth  

[Nuni 131]

Maybe the people who grew up with SF1, SF2 and this place learn how to code another simulator one day, now that would be beautiful!

[+Sundowner 4,554]

How do you know it's been abandoned? Have I missed something...

[+Veltro2k 6,317]

48 minutes ago, Sundowner said:

How do you know it's been abandoned? Have I missed something...

in the sense that Thirdwire is not updating it anymore or adding more features and concentrating on the Mobile versions. Even the  thirdwire suggestion forum was removed

Edited May 2, 2021 by Veltro2k

[+Menrva 4,027]

56 minutes ago, Veltro2k said:

in the sense that Thirdwire is not updating it anymore or adding more features and concentrating on the Mobile versions. Even the  thirdwire suggestion forum was removed

Third Wire has not released updates even for mobile games for quite some time, so I have no idea about what you're talking about. TK definitely is in a difficult situation, his latest tweets date back to March, to announce the opening of new forums in a Discord server. The suggestion box in the Discord forum is still there. TK probably couldn't afford to pay for all servers, and moved the forum ones to Discord.

Simply put, the situation is even worse. It's not like TK doesn't want to move forward with the PC series, we were promised a Win10 updated funded mostly thorough loans, since the kickstarter failed. The fact he is not even active on the mobile games shows how bad the economic situation might be. I wish this... I wish that... The reality is that many players always suggest things and features which sometimes are not even feasible for triple A developers. I'd like to see a brighter future for the Strike Fighters series, which IMHO carries lots of unexpressed potential; however, complaining like that brings us nowhere, it's like beating a dead horse.

In all modesty, I think I've done more to support TK in the way of working on a high quality total conversion together with an awesome team of active modders, than by asking countless times about air refueling like many end-users do (in a game which by design has scaled 60% terrains, just to be precise). I'd love more communication with TK, but by the time I've become a more active modder together with a few others, damage was already done.

Edited May 2, 2021 by Menrva

[Spinners 15,972]

Deep down I'm still a Third Wire fan boy (albeit nearly 60 years old!) but I am so disappointed at TK's poor communication regarding the Strike Fighters 2 Win10 Edition and we're now a full year overdue on his original May 2020 due date with not a single tweet to update us or explain why it's so late or even to simply give a new due date apart from the store's perpetual "coming soon" caption.

BTW I'm not expecting SF3... just what was announced.

[+Veltro2k 6,317]

1 hour ago, Menrva said:

Third Wire has not released updates even for mobile games for quite some time, so I have no idea about what you're talking about. TK definitely is in a difficult situation, his latest tweets date back to March, to announce the opening of new forums in a Discord server. The suggestion box in the Discord forum is still there. TK probably couldn't afford to pay for all servers, and moved the forum ones to Discord.

Simply put, the situation is even worse. It's not like TK doesn't want to move forward with the PC series, we were promised a Win10 updated funded mostly thorough loans, since the kickstarter failed. The fact he is not even active on the mobile games shows how bad the economic situation might be. I wish this... I wish that... The reality is that many players always suggest things and features which sometimes are not even feasible for triple A developers. I'd like to see a brighter future for the Strike Fighters series, which IMHO carries lots of unexpressed potential; however, complaining like that brings us nowhere, it's like beating a dead horse.

In all modesty, I think I've done more to support TK in the way of working on a high quality total conversion together with an awesome team of active modders, than by asking countless times about air refueling like many end-users do (in a game which by design has scaled 60% terrains, just to be precise). I'd love more communication with TK, but by the time I've become a more active modder together with a few others, damage was already done.

sorry but you missed the entire point

 

also if you look down ,you will notice that the thirdwire community that used to be on top is gone

Edited May 2, 2021 by Veltro2k

[+Menrva 4,027]

7 minutes ago, Veltro2k said:

sorry but you missed the entire point

also if you look down ,you will notice that the thirdwire community that used to be on top is gone

I don't think I missed the point, I simply do not want to beat a dead horse because the matter has been discussed countless times. TK might have made wrong decisions in the past, now he's not in the position of solving everything overnight. And if he no longer communicates with the community as he used to in the early days of SFP1, something must have happened.

As for the Third Wire community being gone, you probably missed the point. He announced back in March that he would move to Discord, and so he did. I've already explained it above, I won't repeat myself.

[+Veltro2k 6,317]

5 minutes ago, Menrva said:

I don't think I missed the point, I simply do not want to beat a dead horse because the matter has been discussed countless times. TK might have made wrong decisions in the past, now he's not in the position of solving everything overnight. And if he no longer communicates with the community as he used to in the early days of SFP1, something must have happened.

As for the Third Wire community being gone, you probably missed the point. He announced back in March that he would move to Discord, and so he did. I've already explained it above, I won't repeat myself.

Certo che hai una test dura  BTW enjoying your Mods

anyway, My point is this game had a great potential  and with this I close 

Edited May 2, 2021 by Veltro2k

[+Menrva 4,027]

2 minutes ago, Veltro2k said:

Certo che hai una test dura  

Well yeah, probably.

3 minutes ago, Veltro2k said:

anyway, My point is this game had a great potential  and with this I close 

And I totally agree with you. I wish more can happen, but there's only so much a one man development team can do. TK is pretty much alone. As for the forums being gone, he announced that back in March, so you probably missed it. I speculate that's because of server costs; with the forums being gone and now using a free alternative like Discord, he surely has to cover less costs.

I enjoy your exotic aircraft 3d models as well, BTW! There are fewer modders these days, so I do appreciate there are still some being active.

[UllyB 1,204]

2 hours ago, Sundowner said:

How do you know it's been abandoned? Have I missed something...

That makes two of us.

[UllyB 1,204]

2 hours ago, Veltro2k said:

I remember the first time I heard of third wire and SF1 . I was at the time enjoying myself with the Jane's products. It didn't look like much , but I said ." hey let me give it a shot and purchased it. I was surprised how good it was except lacking

the capability of other Sims. Then all these sites popped up where individuals ( apart from a few greedy groups whose name shall be not mentioned ) using their own spare time and resources started adding to the program.. This made Third wires products more

versatile and added new life to it. So , what happens ? Does third wire see the potential of their program ? do they maybe take suggestions to add or let their engine me modified for more options ?  NO!! they abandon it and refuse to listen to the Modder group sites and made the game more difficult to MOD.  This also caused of many Great Modder's, that I can't even compare myself with, to  give up and leave. Despite this I applaud the effort and dedication of the ones that are still hanging on, including the  non modder's. and hope a miracle happens that one day we can add extras , like real Air refueling , landing on water, ,,,,and so forth  

Could you elaborate a little relatively to the information you have that the game was abandoned for sure ? Or it's more just a hunch ?

[+Veltro2k 6,317]

simply said, Unless funding becomes available or the Owners of thirdwire hit the lottery LOL there will probably<--(but not yet 100% certain,,,we can always hope LOL ) not be a SF3

[+Veltro2k 6,317]

26 minutes ago, Menrva said:

Well yeah, probably.

And I totally agree with you. I wish more can happen, but there's only so much a one man development team can do. TK is pretty much alone. As for the forums being gone, he announced that back in March, so you probably missed it. I speculate that's because of server costs; with the forums being gone and now using a free alternative like Discord, he surely has to cover less costs.

I enjoy your exotic aircraft 3d models as well, BTW! There are fewer modders these days, so I do appreciate there are still some being active.

to you my friend

[+Coupi 4,290]

Last updated in July 2013 and... a promise of a version for Window 10, I am pessimistic for the game.

However, I remain loyal to Strike Fighter 2 (and First Eagle 2) because I find the members of the Community very nice ! 

Take care !

P.

[+yakarov79 10,595]

39 minutes ago, Menrva said:

but there's only so much a one man development team can do. TK is pretty much alone.

guess it is not a big deal to create an account on CA and communicate a little bit.  

[snowburn 354]

i can only dream with the source code being released as open source to let the community improve it.

TW can still keep the IP and rights on the art, models and everything else, maybe even it manages to bring more people interesed on the game and improve sales.

[+Menrva 4,027]

1 hour ago, yakarov79 said:

guess it is not a big deal to create an account on CA and communicate a little bit.  

Of course, but he should have done it way back, when he was able to work on SF2 with a reasonable budget. Now, I wonder what's the point of communicating, as he knows well he cannot develop those features the community asks for. He would only disappoint the audience even more with sad news about TW, I think.

50 minutes ago, snowburn said:

i can only dream with the source code being released as open source to let the community improve it.

TW can still keep the IP and rights on the art, models and everything else, maybe even it manages to bring more people interesed on the game and improve sales.

I'd really love for something like this. The source code is his own work, though. I can understand he doesn't want to give it away for free. He knows SF is a unique product, and had the economic situation been different, he'd do more with it.

Edited May 2, 2021 by Menrva

[Wrench 9,566]

Quote

guess it is not a big deal to create an account on CA and communicate a little bit. 

In the early days, when SF1 was first released, he did.

It was the community (albeit no one still around) that through their comments and harassments, that made him go underground (so to speak). I was there, saw it all.

But, yes, it is disappointing and disconcerting that nothing has been mentioned about the W10 upgrade. I do, however, take into account the total shitstorm the last 14+ months have been. So, even while still on W7, I can afford to be paitient for The 10. 

 

[+Trotski 833]

The whole discussion about a win 10 version is rather academic, as the sim functions totally fine on Win 10 already. So look at it this way, you wont be splashing out your hard earned dosh on a not really necessary update. As for the TK apologists, and how the poor dear is struggling, couldn't really give two hoots, if, as has been suggested, he worked with the community, and he has been totally absent in that regard, and engage with the folk on Discord, where a grand trumpeting, and hoo ha about was made, but does he ?...errr no.....so TK is like a spoiled brat, who knows his toy is broken, but wont ask for help, or, abandon it totally. Thus, he keeps everone hanging on tenterhooks, awaiting the great day when all will be well, and everything will be rainbows and fluffy kittens......Well news flash dudes, it aint gonna happen, TK is a pillock, end of story.

[+Trotski 833]

PS I make no apologies for speaking straight, I feel too much pussyfooting and apologist behaviour goes on, call a spade a damn spade, and then get over it.....End of Dit .

[+Sundowner 4,554]

2 hours ago, Wrench said:

In the early days, when SF1 was first released, he did.

It was the community (albeit no one still around) that through their comments and harassments, that made him go underground (so to speak). I was there, saw it all.

But, yes, it is disappointing and disconcerting that nothing has been mentioned about the W10 upgrade. I do, however, take into account the total shitstorm the last 14+ months have been. So, even while still on W7, I can afford to be paitient for The 10. 

 

Ahhh, the good old days....I remember it well.

And just because the game works on Win 10 today there's no saying that it will after the next major update, we DO need the Win 10 version.

[Sky High 166]

In this company, I feel unworthy to comment, but all I can say, which isn't much, is that European Air War and the Strike Fighters/First Eagles sims are the games of their genre that I continue to enjoy and play the most. I owe an unrepayable debt to the various modders concerned, but also to one other...

[UllyB 1,204]

If you ask me, I never saw where TK ever said that a Win 10 version will mean, automatically, a DirectX 11/12 support for the game (did he?). The way I felt it, it was that he just wanted to release the same game, with no Direct X suport upgrade, but to be hardcoded  "compatible" 100% with the OS, which would be a  ripoff, pure and simple. Why would I (re)buy a game that changed just the OS ? I play it very well even now in Win 10, so I wouldn't be that stupid to buy it again. Maybe he tried that, I'm just saying it, and he saw the reactions, people were not happy with this idea and maybe he decided to forget it and move on. Maybe he just got bored and wants to do anything else with his life. Sometimes we all can wind up there, some already have been there. Or maybe things have gone bad for him, economically, with this pandemic and all and he simply doesn't have resources to do that now. Or maybe he is around the corner just calculating his next move.

Maybe a heavy name from here should have a talk with him to see what is actually happening.

 

PS - an update to Windows, whatever it would be, won't change the Direct X support for 11 and 12. Microsoft , if a Direct X 13 is comming, will integrate such feature in the next OS. They are not that stupid to give it away for free, with Win 10. Exactly how it was with the meteor that killed the dinosaurs: It happened before (Win XP/Vista/Win 7/Win 8), it will happen again.

Edited May 2, 2021 by UllyB

[+Trotski 833]

That about sums it up methinks, its all about the direct x , not the actual OS, which as I said before is not an issue anyhow, as to whether the sim will operate after the next update to the standing OS, I doubt that somehow, as the OS is pretty much setup so any updates will not change the way programmes operate using Win 10. Of course there is a slim chance of that being the case, the fact remains TK is twatting about like a fanny in a trance, dangling the proverbial carrot, I have zero patience with the guy, no matter how nice a chap he may be, his business acumen leaves a little to be desired. in myopinion of course, I dont expect anyone to agree slavishly with my views, I'm afraid I am too old and too damn ugly to buy into any of his pissing about, as for the suggestion he was just trying to make a few bucks by re selling the same product in a new wrapper, I hate to say it, but I believe that to be the case. Very shady if ya ask me.

Edited May 2, 2021 by trotski00