Hi Fanatic Modder, I hope I can shed some light on some of your questions.
We disgarded, FOR THE TIME BEING, the route of seperating the Jetwar section from the WW2 section. We could split off the 1916 section because it was completely new and removed. But the jetwar is extremely integrated with the ww2 stuff, and vice verca, in terms not only of dependant classes, but also objects, maps, weapons, ect ect, each has its own level of interdependant or related or even just referenced classes. The result is that to split the game down that route would be akin to a large extent, to starting everything from scratch (that is, everything, as, from the root mods up the pack structure out the top.)
In addition, simply loading a different air ini does not adress the problem we are having (this "wall" that systems run into when the amount of cross referenced java class files exceed the capacity of JDK 1.3 withing the capabilities of the host system). Because, most of the interdependant classes will still load, if they are referenced from anywhere, not only via the air.ini.
So, the route we are taking, and that has been discussed at lenght by the pack makers and by the most campaign and mission makers, and also in a thread in the campaigns board of DBW, is, to investigate the total list of air ini entries we currently have, and look for the following:
~Duplicate planes (where in the past a slot was made to have perhaps different weapons or FM from stock, but is the same plane, or, where we are having different slots of different interpretations from several modders of the same plane.
~Fictitious planes: Apart from the 1956 stuff, which we cannot remove because of further interdependancies, sever new slot planes are so completely fictitious as to verge on the silly
~Superflous SLots: Slots where fanatics of the type have tried to create a seperate slot for every different sparkplug that was used...you know what I mean?, that is perhaps of no interest or use to people not interested in that type
We looked for a few other thinsg also. But those are the most important as I recall.
In the end I think we found something like 80 or so slots that we are carrying, that we realy should not be. These are going to be removed. This will happen in one of three ways:
1) Some slots will be merged where that is possible or practical.
2) Some slots will be completely removed, but the original mod can still be installed manualy by a player,as usual, on his own steam.
3) Some slots will be repacked into small classfiles "entusiast add-ons". For example, all the 109's we remove, will be available from DBW in a small collection of classfiles that a 109 fan can put in his game, paste in his air.ini, and enjoy right away.
That aim of all this is to push back this WALL, by about 70 or 80 slots , and use those to introduce new totally unique types that are worth having, and also using it to allow members to only expand theyr slot lists into areas that interest them alone.
This is also only part of how we are tackling this problem, but a very strong and important one. Other developments are on the way, but later.
And then, the other very important thing about this, and why we are doing it right away, is that we mUST give a final and stable list of planes in a "stock" DBW to our mission and campaign guys, so they can use it in their works.
In the end, it comes down to that there were two schools. One said, we want to have everything and anything at all, even if it is crap. The other said, lets just have the best and required, and leave the rest up to the individual player.
The first option is failing the test of time and use, and not by a little, it is failing horrendously.
So I recon its time we put out big boy pants on and do the second.
So no one will realy loose anything they dont want to, they can easily put most of it back, if they choose, but they will soon be sorry because their game will collapse when we bring in great new mods of planes perhaps not yet in DBW at all.
So, All I can ask is, trust us, we have put a LOT of homework into this, and we know what the lay of the land is. It will work, and it will be a good move for everyone. Just give us a little time to roll it out properly, and then we can at least talk about something in existence, and not in theory anymore
Cheers!
Piet
Author
Topic: DBW 1.7 Heads Up (Read 32911 times)
