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Author Topic: State of STEELCLADS  (Read 2914 times)

TrashMan

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State of STEELCLADS
« on: December 07, 2019, 05:29:47 AM »

Just a quick heads-up to people who are wondering about the status of Steelclad - it is not in development anymore.
Now before anyone jumps to conclusions and starts thinking Harmful Mechanics antics are the reason - nope, don't pester the guy.
Replacing 2-3 weapons sprites is hardly a setback.

The real reason is that I'm an obsessive-cumpulsive modder with the attention span of a goldfish. I modded pretty much any game I played, and given that I've been at this modding business for well over 20 years, you can imagine the number. EV Nova, Baldurs Gate series, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Freespace series, X3, Xenonauts, X-com, Space Wolves, Dawn of War, Freelancer, Dominions series, Fallen Empires, C&C, Wesnoth, Sword of the Stars to name just a few that have completed mods. I even worked on some full-fledged games. The number of unfinished mods stuck in eternal limbo or lost to drive crashes and accidental deletions is far greater.
Because of this it is rare for me to stick with modding any game for long. Those that followed my activity can see that I pretty much disappear and then pop back up for a while when a new update comes out and the game catches my attention again. It is a testament to Starsector that I came back so many times as I did, very few games ever manage that.
Either way, being that I'm an old fart with things happening in RL, you can image how my interest is waning. Lately maintaining this has become more of a chore than passion.

As for what the future holds, when I took over from Okim he said he was fine with anyone taking over, since he wouldn't want the mod to die. I feel the same, so if anyone wants to work with it, you have both of our blessings.
I am reasonably satisfied with the state of the mod, since it's stable and functional, despite not having everything I wanted in it yet.
I'm going to put in some extra files and unfinished scripts up as a separate zip just in case.

That said, a final disclaimer, a basic rule I had since I started modding: any and all assets of mine are free to be be used in any shape or form by anyone, no credits necessary. I firmly believe that this is always the best for any community, as I've been a part of MANY modding communities and tribalism, backstabbing, pointless drama and trying to hog exclusive content brought many projects and teams down.

There is a small chance that I might return; best case scenario when the next major update drops or the game is finished - but that is assuming I have time then and something else doesn't catch my attention.
Anyway, I had great fun with this game and discussing things with you guys. You might see me around occasionally.
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MesoTroniK

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Re: State of STEELCLADS
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2019, 07:45:21 PM »

That said, a final disclaimer, a basic rule I had since I started modding: any and all assets of mine are free to be be used in any shape or form by anyone, no credits necessary. I firmly believe that this is always the best for any community, as I've been a part of MANY modding communities and tribalism, backstabbing, pointless drama and trying to hog exclusive content brought many projects and teams down.

To anyone reading this and thinking of taking him up on that line of thought? Beware, as if you make a deal with the Devil? You will be burned. Extremely dangerous as the mod contains *hundreds* of stolen assets. I mean this as a genuine warning to those who are reading this thread and may not realize this fact.

Harmful Mechanic

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Re: State of STEELCLADS
« Reply #2 on: December 09, 2019, 05:13:27 PM »

It seems awfully weird to spend twenty-plus years modding a wide variety of games (hey, me too!) and still need help with writing code and creating assets to the point where you just take code and assets from other mods without so much as asking first. I certainly found many people in this community to be more than forthcoming when I asked for help with code on my own Starsector mod, and I generally pay it forward by helping others (like SafariJohn with constellation code just today, or Vayra with sprites and incidental art for Kadur). I make an exception for gratuitously rude people, though, and TrashMan is certainly that.

For the record, I'm happy to give away code or even art assets (I have a freebie thread, second link in my sig), if someone asks me politely first. TrashMan neither asked politely in the first place (the first I heard of it was an error that was caused by his not even changing a sound ID in a borrowed script), nor complied with a polite request to remove the specific scripts in reasonable time. On top of that, on investigating I found he was using even more of my work without permission; some DME sprites that had been hacked up. If you read the FAQ in my thread, you can see I explicitly don't want people doing that. Call it 'hogging' or 'exclusivity' if you like, but I'm the one who made the art. If I want to gift things to the forum, I have a thread for doing just that, and I'm not shy about adding to it.

TrashMan could easily have asked politely for the scripts, or offered to commission sprites from me (MesoTroniK and Vayra can vouch for the quality and affordability of my work). Instead, he got caught pilfering from the candy jar that I happily share sweets from if I'm asked, and now he's throwing a temper tantrum on the open forum.
« Last Edit: December 09, 2019, 09:42:08 PM by Harmful Mechanic »
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TrashMan

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Re: State of STEELCLADS
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2019, 12:30:29 AM »

1st - if you bothered to read, it specifically sez assets of MINE. I do not have hunderds of stolen assets. A few weapon sprites (4-5 maybe), that have been hacked up and heavily modified, perhaps. The only weapon sprite I "lifted" is one missile launcher. But if you consider a 5x1 pixel weapon barrel or a 2x3 pixel vent to be theft, then everything is theft. I'm quite sure there is a sequence of pixels that I made that appears in your mod somewhere.

2nd - I have a life and other things to do. Writing code was never my strong suite and while I did a lot of coding, none of it was in Java. Also, you are full of BS, claiming ownership of a OnHit function (don't even give me that "specific implementaion" crap. There's nothing in the script other than that function). And I did offer money for scripting help, publicly - no one replied.
You are right in one thing. The last update I did was half-hearted, as I already lost interest. Your missile sprite remained because I completely forgot about it.
But let's not even pretend that this is about some exclusivity or copyright issue. We both know the only reason you started this is because of a post of mine in an unrelated thread you didn't like. You specifically admitted that as much. Basically, you were/are acting out of sheer spite. You entire "moral high ground/politeness" tower is on a unstable grounds.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2019, 12:39:14 AM by TrashMan »
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MesoTroniK

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Re: State of STEELCLADS
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2019, 01:06:22 AM »

1st - if you bothered to read, it specifically sez assets of MINE. I do not have hunderds of stolen assets. A few weapon sprites (4-5 maybe), that have been hacked up and heavily modified, perhaps. The only weapon sprite I "lifted" is one missile launcher. But if you consider a 5x1 pixel weapon barrel or a 2x3 pixel vent to be theft, then everything is theft. I'm quite sure there is a sequence of pixels that I made that appears in your mod somewhere.
You, are a horrible liar. All the music, so many sounds, all the portraits, random other things, all from so many sources it is mind boggling and gives me a headache even thinking about it. Let alone the things you been called out for from within in this community. Yes it indeed adds up to "hundreds".

And anyone who continues work of StealClads? Will inherit the mantle of all that theft and put their own neck out on the line.

Harmful Mechanic

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Re: State of STEELCLADS
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2019, 01:22:10 AM »

1st - if you bothered to read, it specifically sez assets of MINE. I do not have hunderds of stolen assets.

Blizzard Entertainment would, I'm sure, be elated to receive your license fee for the use of Starcraft 2's music:
Code
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAS8KivZX5s named "ISA - SC2 Terran 01.ogg" in Steelclad
...there's a bunch of anime junk I don't recognize, then a track from Stellaris:
Code
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjbVIvjVMOk named "Stellaris - The Imperial Fleet.ogg" in Steelclad
...oh, here's one by Two Steps From Hell:
Code
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8-1-ee0S9I named "Battle - TSFH_Starfleet.ogg" in Steelclad

This is just on cursory examination, stuff I caught scrolling through; a close search would find so much more. There's no way you contacted all these companies to use their music; you have, as you say, a life and stuff to do. So you pilfered it, and you hoped you'd fly under the radar.

A few weapon sprites (4-5 maybe), that have been hacked up and heavily modified, perhaps. The only weapon sprite I "lifted" is one missile launcher.

I named the specific scripts (I'm not claiming the function; I'm claiming those specific implementations, which are easy to see come from DME because of the comments; you could always use another OnHit implementation, and I wouldn't care) and your hackjobs of my specific sprites in your thread, and Alex confirmed them. I also have a life, but this just isn't that hard. I spent a bit of my lunch break on it (a gallery check in Bridge, a simple shell script to find my scripts), not long at all. It's very obvious.

My issue was with how rude you were. Someone who can't create art or write code in a specific language shouldn't annoy people who can do both, people he relies on to make his mods, when things aren't done fast enough for his liking, Toni. That's rude. You're rude. So, if you can't be appreciative of the things you're given by other people, you get them taken away, like any other child who can't play nice.

All you had to avoid having your thread locked was remove what Alex, the owner of the forum, asked you to remove. Alex had to ask you, wasting his valuable dev time, because when you were asked politely by anyone who wasn't at least a moderator, you ignored them. I gave you plenty of time; ten days after I asked you to remove the scripts, you put out an update. So you had modding time; you chose to ignore me. And a moderator is going to have to come into this thread and spank you, because you don't respect people, just force.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2019, 02:07:13 AM by Harmful Mechanic »
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Grievous69

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Re: State of STEELCLADS
« Reply #6 on: December 10, 2019, 02:02:17 AM »

Any mods who read this, just ban the guy already. I swear every thread he's in he just writes aggressive crap and insults people, often tripleposting and replying to himself. And even if some thread starts ok, he comes in and makes it a *** show. He has literal trash in his name!!! The most cancerous person on this forum by faaaaar.
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Please don't take me too seriously.

Sundog

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Re: State of STEELCLADS
« Reply #7 on: December 10, 2019, 07:08:32 AM »

It doesn't look like this thread is going anywhere productive, so I'm going to lock it for now. I'll ask Alex and the other moderators if it should stay that way.