Trotski

Yeah Strat, but only official development from the originator is dead, and by what TK said in that email, if he were to develop it further, it would only be to dumb it down and make it more accessible.....what ever the hell that means, so, in that case, it is maybe a good thing he isn't interested in further development, as we want to un dumb it so to speak........I say work with what we have got, ok it may not be an ideal thing, but its what we have , and buying the rights I really don't see as an option at all, it would be a waste of a shitload of money to be honest.

What Do335 said !! I totally get jonathans frustrations, I really do, but like Do335 just said, the code and the intellectual property of the sim, belong to a third party, and as such, are his to lock, unlock, release or not release as HE chooses, yes sometimes there are things done by developers, that rub modders up the wrong way, and yes maybe he did change the code about just to annoy the modding community, but that is a matter of opinion, it may also just be happenstance that he was planning on doing that anyhow, I refer you back to my comment about games ( in general) are a business , and not just something to do for the love of it, the idea is to make money doing it , and to my mind, it just appears that is precisely what has occurred here, the sim has run at a loss, as is well known, and has actually caused the development team financial hardship. So going with that idea, obviously TK was going to do anything to keep his profit margin in the black, and he in such a case would have very little concern for the modders , and I am sorry, but I can see his point and logic there, also it does seem to me, that he isn't at all anti modding, on the contrary, he is happy for us to do it, as long as we don't profit from it, which is fair play in my book. If however, the sim was running at a healthy profit, and was a good money spinner, and THEN he wasdoing thing deliberately to make modding more difficult , then I would agree with the whole "it's not fair, feet stamping" but I have seen no real evidence of this happening, of course I am a newish face in this field of modding, even though I have been a user of SF and ~FE for many years now, and I repeat, this is a sim, that is NOT DCS, or Falcon 4 or IL2, it is never going to be a "high level " press a button to scratch your arse sim, it is what it is, and it is moddable, so therefore, we have to work with what we have, and bloody hell guys, c'mon, we do a pretty decent job with it after all, and the sim is still a lovely sim, and one of my firm favourites, as I don't wish to fly a sim, where I have to press 10 million keys just to lock a bogey up, I just want a sim that is A. fun, B. easy to work with, C. easy to mod , and D. long lived.....I thing SF, and FE both, fill these requirements, so, lets just crack on, and keep her flying as long as we can.

oh very nice !!

Ok, so you need NA to unlock certain stuff in game, you cannot moan about that, or accuse TK of "locking" the game up, as it appears to me that it was done that way to promote sales of NA, the development team need to make money, and it is a product made to earn money, so, if ist mainly the LODS that are locked up, who cares, loads of you guys are able to make new aircraft, pilots, weapons , terrain etc etc. so where is the issue here ? TK has mad it clear he isn't worried about we as a community, modding, or improving the game, far from it, all he wishes to ensure, as I see it, is that no profit ( which is rightfully his and the development teams) is made from anything we do. So if the code is openable, and pretty much everything else is, except for the bits that Mue is keeping locked ( very wisely) why do we even need to think about purchasing the rights , the price would be astronomical, and un feasible, for a sim that is what 6 -7 years old now ? it would be like buying a 1970's Ford escort and putting go faster stripes on it. So, lets just work with what we have, we do very well as it is with the new campaigns ( A new Scandinavian front is on its way for example) new and interesting aircraft are do-able and SF is still a good flight sim, just don't try making a Volkswagen Beetle ino a Porche 911, its not ever gonna happen.

Brill, really looking forward to this, love the soundtrack too !!

I'm still interested, but am tied up with a SF2 project at the moment, and not even had FE running for a few months, but I am still interested mate.

if the files are able to be opened, and therefore modded, and as long as no profit is made from any "locked" files which I don't for one minute would be the case, I see no real need to purchase anything from TK, as long as you have written and public permission to mod, I say just do it, and I am sure amongst us there is plenty of ability and talent to do the necessary work for a "Superpatch" or whatever else you wish to call it, I am sure there is much that can be done with the Sim, that will improve it, and bring it up to a more modern standard, I for one am more than happy to contribute time to it, and I know a lot of others are too. And yes Kev, I would like to hear the explanations behind this, its not the first time I have heard it mentioned, so is it just rumour control, or is it fact ?

I seem to remember similar discussions on European air War when that was alive and kicking, there was a huge modder base and fan base with that sim too, I like flight sims like DCS and Rise of flight, but sometimes those sims are just too technical, and , well to be frank fussy, so I end up coming back the SF2 and FE2, purely because it is a nice , enjoyable, non over complicated flight sim, with a great fan base, and a well establish modding community, yes ok, it isn't perfect, or in a lot of cases accurate, however it IS fun, it is easy to just load up, and tootle around, kill some stuff, and fly home, the add on Campaigns are good fun, and the graphics aren't too shabby, especially if you have an older pc. However, as with all computer games and sims, it does have a life span, and unless we can bring the sim into the present day with mods etc, and keep it up there with patches etc. the sim will eventually die a death, especially as pc' graphics cards and operating systems change. I don't want to see the game die, and if needs be I shall keep this pc going as long as I can to allow me to play , the same as I have an old win xp based pc, so I can play silent hunter 3 with no great hassles. I don't know what the answer is, or how we as a community will approach it, but I do think it is worth it. but would I want to pay out 5 or 600 quid to get a share ?......I would if I could, but I cant so I shan't . I cant see TK selling up, especially if he blames the modding community for his losses. Myself, I think that is just an excuse, but hey ho.

Yeah we used to call the hind by many names, hunchback, bogey man, a scary helo, but you just have to love the look of it, even if it did scare the crap out of us, ans attack chopper, which after it shot the bejesus out of yer sorry arse, could then deploy a section of Soviet Infantry, to spoil your whole day a little bit more. We worried more about the Hind than anything else the Sovs wanted to throw at us, and as I was RAF Regiment, and tasked with airfield defence, and Harrier defence, we would have been on the calling list of Sov Airborne and Spetznaz , but they didn't really bother us much, it was the Hind that got us a little concerned. An ugly brutal menacing beasty, with big teeth, and lot of 'em ! so ugly it is sexy too, I envy you getting a ride in one, even if it was a bit of a pukey ride !! lol

AC/DC and Daft Punk ? human after all is an album by daft punk, and Robot rock is in Ironman, there are 3 tracks to choose from by AC/DC Thunderstruck is probably the one ? Oh yeah and Daft Punk did the soundtrack for Tron

Oooh la la !! That looks a bit tasty !!