GWX

[mayandlex]

Hi I would like to post my thoughts on the GWX project, at the risk of having my epaulettes torn off and being banished to the Russian Front.
I think that the contributors to this forum have undergone a subtle change over the past months and may, and I emphasise may, indicate that many gamers have wandered off to other fields or oceans. Until the advent of the "super mods" there was a continuous supply of small mods that were easy to download and could be added to the game or discarded as required, so giving the submariner his own "personal" submarine. Dont get me wrong, I do have all the supermods installed and enjoy them. but this last one, GWX, has been long in the coming and will probably be a huge file to download, which may prove a problem to players in some areas and with some systems.
My point is that perhaps it would be better if these mods were "drip fed" in smaller packages, so holding the interest of our members and creating continuous anticipation of the "next episode"
I am fully aware of the superhuman efforts required to produce GWX to the exacting standards now expected, and being in any way critical will I hope be taken in context of the overall picture.
I dont think it matters but I am one of probably many "older" members of this forum who as a child, has vivid memories of the "enemy" German submarines in this war that we now have the luxury of replaying as a game.
Roll on GWX!
Merry Cristmas to all!
MayandLex

[Dowly]

I understand your point completely, but the changes made to the files in GWX make it close to impossible to be broken in to little pieces. So many things are tied together.

The size of the GWX download is not sure yet, but it will propably stay in the area of 700-800Mb and it´ll be distributed in 4-5 parts.

[danlisa]

Yeah, what he said.

Another reason for everything being kept together is performance related. For example if every change by GWX was released separately you might have 50+ mods enabled in JSGME effectively doubleing/tripleing your total installation size.

The way the GWX Devs have packed GWX means that there is the same or less system impact, which is an achievement in it's own right considering the amount of work added.

[Dowly]

Yes, the performance is better than in TGW1.1a for me. The loading bar only advances about 25% and the game is loaded on naval academy missions.

[mayandlex]

Thank you Dowly for the prompt response, I am now off to play GW!
MayandLex

[Pants]

One of the main differences between GW 1.1a and GWX is..While there is huge amount of new content in GWX..it is actually smaller than GW1.1a, So in short loading speed and DL will be quicker than GW1.1a.

[VonHelsching]

Originally Posted by mayandlex

My point is that perhaps it would be better if these mods were "drip fed" in smaller packages, so holding the interest of our members and creating continuous anticipation of the "next episode"
MayandLex

MayandLex,

I understand your point. And maybe one year ago I would agree with you. The thing is that the number of existing "single" mods is now overwhelming for the average user. Although there are numerous forum members that actually can maintain their "personal" edition of SHIII, it is gradually getting more difficult to integrate more advanced changes in the game, as new things are discovered, and when it comes to GWX, virtually imporssible. New users would be diverted from the game, and user support would become more time consuming than modding itself.

Using a "next episode" approach for GWX was next to impossible, since there are so many interconnections between modded files. In addition, the GWX installer is not just a big JSGME that copies and enables files, but also makes additional changes to SHIII, in order for the supermod to function properly.

Furthermore, in the case of SHIII, the player base does not seem to be declining. Only our FilePlanet link reached 10.000 downloads some days ago. (on top of the other ~15.000 estimated downloads from other sources / mirrors). Taking into account that the Fileplanet link is fairly recent (IIRC 3 months now), just imagine how many new users are showing up. And also the majority of these users have probably never heard of JSGME, SH3Commander, other major mods and additions, and are probably not aware of this fantastic community in Subsim. These users would not have appeared if they didn´t find a comprehensive modpack.

Having that said, I do not know about other modding communities, but I guess that in every game, after, say, 6 months of their release, the number of mods (and the interconnections) bring out the neccesity for an integral piece of work ie the modpack / supermod.

Von

[Pants]

Originally Posted by VonHelsching

Furthermore, in the case of SHIII, the player base does not seem to be declining. Only our FilePlanet link reached 10.000 downloads some days ago. (on top of the other ~15.000 estimated downloads from other sources / mirrors).

Von

Yup GW 1.1a is still going strong
Author: GW Team
Size: 683.9 MB
Created: 9/14/2006
Updated: 9/14/2006
Downloads:10,679 And that is only from one site
So if you total up the number of people who ONLY downloaded One of the big mods you will see that there is still quite alot of people still playing SH3

[mayandlex]

Thank you gentlemen for the interest, I am patiently waiting for christmas!
Cheers MayandLex

[squeak]

[quote=Pants]

Originally Posted by VonHelsching

Downloads:10,679 And that is only from one site

CONGRATULATIONS!

I think that GWX will reach the same amount in one day

[AVGWarhawk]

It was the dripping of mods and all the different mods to choose from that turned me away from the game. Not to mention is this or that mod compatable with this mod or that mod, etc. It was just too cumbersome and time consuming. Once I found the super mod 1.1a that had just about ALL one would need, I got back into the game. I have not stopped playing. Sure, there are a few new mods out like Sobers water mod that I added. Works great. But darn, all this in one download, no fuss, no muss. Put it in and off you go. Just awesome. I'm really looking forward to the new GWX mod, once again, no fuss, no muss all included fun

[K_Sea6]

Originally Posted by mayandlex

Hi I would like to post my thoughts on the GWX project, at the risk of having my epaulettes torn off and being banished to the Russian Front.
I think that the contributors to this forum have undergone a subtle change over the past months and may, and I emphasise may, indicate that many gamers have wandered off to other fields or oceans. Until the advent of the "super mods" there was a continuous supply of small mods that were easy to download and could be added to the game or discarded as required, so giving the submariner his own "personal" submarine. Dont get me wrong, I do have all the supermods installed and enjoy them. but this last one, GWX, has been long in the coming and will probably be a huge file to download, which may prove a problem to players in some areas and with some systems.
My point is that perhaps it would be better if these mods were "drip fed" in smaller packages, so holding the interest of our members and creating continuous anticipation of the "next episode"
I am fully aware of the superhuman efforts required to produce GWX to the exacting standards now expected, and being in any way critical will I hope be taken in context of the overall picture.
I dont think it matters but I am one of probably many "older" members of this forum who as a child, has vivid memories of the "enemy" German submarines in this war that we now have the luxury of replaying as a game.
Roll on GWX!
Merry Cristmas to all!
MayandLex

I just have to say this is the single most impressive question I think I have seen asked on here in a long time very articulate and mature. Youngsters now that is how you ask a question.

[NightCrawler]

Awesom, wooohoo cant wait to download with my 3mbps :P
1 file at the time goes faster and hopefully on the same site when i downloaded the GW1.1a, super fast site....
Free space 8.4GB :P plenty enough to install GWX :P

[stabiz]

And the download will be spread to several mirrors, I understand, to avoid the worst bottlenecks.

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

It was the dripping of mods and all the different mods to choose from that turned me away from the game. Not to mention is this or that mod compatable with this mod or that mod, etc. It was just too cumbersome and time consuming. Once I found the super mod 1.1a that had just about ALL one would need, I got back into the game. I have not stopped playing. Sure, there are a few new mods out like Sobers water mod that I added. Works great. But darn, all this in one download, no fuss, no muss. Put it in and off you go. Just awesome. I'm really looking forward to the new GWX mod, once again, no fuss, no muss all included fun

That is exactly my feeling on it as well. I remember when I first found subsim and started downloading mods for the game, I ran into so many incompatibilities and problems (the solution to the dreaded "black sky of doom" had me stumped for quite a while). I was very happy to see RuB and IuB come out and I gave each a try. Once I went down the path of the supermod, I never looked back. It just simplified everything to the point where I was actually playing the game and enjoying it, rather than trying to track down all the imcompatibilities!