Author Topic: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!  (Read 8832 times)

Offline Eltharodo

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Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« on: September 08, 2004, 07:17:00 AM »
Sorry I've been away for a while guys.  You know how it can be for a few months ;)

Congratulations to Icelus, Barren <Althought you've been listed as Barren Fischa as opposed to your name on this forum> and Cliffete, who have all been listed in the credits for "Unfinished Business" in the UK version of PCGamer.  In their monthly "Top 5" downloader section, they did a special on "User Created Patches",  i.e Texture packs, redashed models, and of course our beloved UB.  Below is a transcript of the article, becuase my scanner is broke.  I'll try to get a copy up soon.  Icelus, if I mail it to you, could you host it on Icelus.net? 

<The Intro To The Article>

"Few PC Games are perfect.  There are too many factors to balance, too much work involved in their creation for them to be ever truly finished.  For developers, it's sometimes easier to paper over the cracks in a game than spend weeks, or even months, polishing it until it gleams.  That's where the fans come in:  Given time and energy any game can be improved, with or without the Developers' tacit support. 
        The user-created patches listed here range from simple visual tweaks to ful makeovers.  In the case of the "Baldur's Gate" patch, it was a case of scouring archives, and learning everything possible about the elements dropped from the published version.  It's a measure of the fan's love for the game that they took this much trouble.  This is no botch-job; it's restoration work on an old master."  - Tim Edwards


<This is the section devoted specifically to UB>

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

BY Icelus, Barren Fischa and Cliffette

Adds New Quests, fixes plot holes

Link http://ub.icelus.net

"In their Rush to hit the release date, Bioware left some plotholes in "Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows Of Amn".  This fills the gaps.  There's added story, more adventures, and most importantly the re-insertiom of Minsc's NPC quest, 'The Kidnapping of Boo', using pieces of the original dialogue written by Bioware's David Gaider.  This is a huge work, and an essential piece of code for all BG fans."


YES!  Rejoice guys!  Get back to me Icelus and if you're willing to host, I can get a scan of the article up for you.

Once again, congratulations, you guys really are doing something special here.  Keep up the good work!


Dave

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Offline SimDing0™

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2004, 07:55:51 AM »
Well it's certainly better than the last fucking article the wrote about how amazing TDD is. Thanks for posting this.

Offline NiGHTMARE

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2004, 08:05:40 AM »
Wasn't the TDD-loving done by the American PC Gamer? IIRC the two magazines have nothing in common except the name :).
The Gibberlings Three - home to the BG1 NPC Project, BG2 Tweak Pack, Divine Remix, GemRB, Lands of Intrigue, Song & Silence, and many more!

Offline jcompton

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2004, 09:22:40 AM »
What issue month is that?
Cespenar says, "Kelsey and friends be at the Pocket Plane? Ohhh yesssss!" http://www.pocketplane.net

Offline cliffette

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2004, 04:00:47 PM »
I'm not sure if the work's paid off until I actually get a cheque. ;D

Thanks Elthorado! Now I can feel all famous and stuff before the next lot of bug reports roll in.  :)

Offline icelus

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2004, 04:41:54 PM »
... wow.  I'm not really sure what to say...

Um, sure, send me whatever files you create and I'll put them up somewhere.

Wait... where am I?
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Offline Andyr

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2004, 04:52:41 PM »
Wow, that's pretty cool. :)
"We are the Gibberlings Three, as merry a band as you ever did see..." - Home of IE mods

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Offline Bons

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2004, 06:32:34 PM »
Awesome.  :D
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Offline BigRob

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2004, 10:09:40 PM »
Woooo! Go UB!  ;D
Come on down to the Gibberlings Three! Home of Delainy, The Haer'Dalis Romance, Aklon, the Lands of Intrigue, the Tiefling Sisters, Tabiya and more! A veritable cornucopoeia of Modding goodness!

Offline fallen demon

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2004, 12:49:27 AM »
what bigrob, andyr and bons said
"I choose to believe what I was programed to believe."
Futurama quotes rock

Offline MERLANCE

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #10 on: September 09, 2004, 07:55:28 AM »
Indeed.

Icelus has gained much honor in this.

So have the others, but they are not Lord Icelus, master of PC Gamer.

Yes, now you have a motivation to continue this mod. Now that you have gained prestige, countless people will flock to your banner! You can carve out your own empire from the ruins of the Pocket Plane Group! You will rise to the top and dethrone the cruel Shogun Weimer!

Um, regardless, how often do BG2 mods get mentioned in these magazines?

Offline Grim Squeaker

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #11 on: September 09, 2004, 07:57:22 AM »
Sweet!
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Offline Eltharodo

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #12 on: September 09, 2004, 02:16:36 PM »
Hmm.  I'm not usre if that was an actual question MERLANCE <or if you were just stating a fact> but really, not that often.  Also, seriously, UK Pcgamer is a much more esteemed publication that its American cousin.  Here's the forum;

http://forum.pcgamer.co.uk/

Its a really decent forum, and full of UK style ;)

If you want an idea of their reviews, here is an archive of the section called "They're Back".  It reviews the Budget Games that come out that month, and is qritten by John Walker.  Enjoy.

http://pool.cream.org/tb/

Discover.  Laugh.  Learn.

EDIT:  Do you think we should make this a sticky so that newcomers can get a look at what we've achieved?
« Last Edit: September 09, 2004, 02:49:12 PM by Eltharodo »
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Offline Caswallon

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #13 on: September 09, 2004, 02:30:33 PM »
Sweet. :D

Now we have something to tell our grandchildren - we once knew icelus, Barren and cliffette, the famous ones... ;D :pirate

The forum has to be decent. There's a Planescape discussion on the first page. ;) :D
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Offline NiGHTMARE

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #14 on: September 09, 2004, 03:23:52 PM »
When I'm rich and set up my own games development company, these guys are on my list of recruits :).
The Gibberlings Three - home to the BG1 NPC Project, BG2 Tweak Pack, Divine Remix, GemRB, Lands of Intrigue, Song & Silence, and many more!

Offline Oddsbodskins

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #15 on: May 09, 2005, 04:04:29 PM »
i've  got to ask (seriously, i get no choice, in something taking over :o ) whether downloads of the mod went up or down after the article?

or are you reckoning there's not much odds, since most folk who're into BG modding will have it or have a game so cluttered another mod would cause their computer to malfuncton so dramatically it took out most of it's hemisphere?  ;)
Åll spelling ånd gråmmåticål errors in this messåge åre å result of your overåctive imåginåtion.

Offline melora

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #16 on: May 09, 2005, 09:55:52 PM »
that is terrific.... congrats you guys !
i wonder if the same article will be in teh US PC gamer.
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Offline jcompton

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #17 on: May 09, 2005, 10:04:04 PM »
i've  got to ask (seriously, i get no choice, in something taking over :o ) whether downloads of the mod went up or down after the article?

Because most of our mods are spread across multiple mirrors with varying quality of reporting, it's hard to say for sure. UB is consistently one of the top downloads from PPG, and overall download traffic, more or less, tends to trend upward over time (really!)
Cespenar says, "Kelsey and friends be at the Pocket Plane? Ohhh yesssss!" http://www.pocketplane.net

Offline Oddsbodskins

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #18 on: May 09, 2005, 10:55:10 PM »
hmm? i wouldn't've expected that, well, thanks for the information, :)

and congrats to all concerned :D s'well deserved.
Åll spelling ånd gråmmåticål errors in this messåge åre å result of your overåctive imåginåtion.

Offline rreinier

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Re: Hard work has paid off - Please Read!
« Reply #19 on: August 24, 2005, 03:53:29 AM »
But isn't that mainly due to the constant updating? More and more people play these mods, and almost all of them will download a new version, so each new release should be more popular than the last.

 

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