FOJ Future - Please vote

[Pavcules]

Hi all,

As with everything in life nothing lasts forever. During 2008 the popularity of FOJ has been going down very steadily.  As less members join, it means that very very few are going to donate.  Running FOJ is still costing Muratus money, and he can't keep on paying for this when there is very little people around.

You would have thought that FO:UC would have brought in a whole load of new players, but we not seeing that at all with the lack of people playing online and modding.  Before people say we don't have the tools to mod FO:UC, we can't always rely one individual cracking things, and I'm sure there is other capable people that could do this.

Its also disappointing that game companies seem reluctant to provide SDKs to allow people to easily mod the game.  If FOJ  does continue for another year, Grid Joint domain name will not be renewed due to the difficulty in modding the game.

I have posted a poll to see people's reactions.  Before you vote, please think about things.

Thanks.

[Shadow]

Well I certainly agree, Muratus has paid most of the bill for a nice home to many modders/racers of flatout series/crashday and now Grid for quite a while.

All games die out, modding kicks in extra life for longer play. With flatout UC being mainly unmoddable to how we would like it and Grid only being somewhat moddable with mainly only graphics changes.So they won't last long. Grid has died down way to fast for a great game it is. Again , its limited to modding so won't last long before its dead.

Any chance Pav of a countdown to extinction timer put on  Gridjoint? As it will be gone for sure.

[Purple44]

Thanks to Mur generosity and Pav doing the Webmaster duties, we have had a great place to share our Flatout stuff and GRID stuff.

With Ultimate Carnage being a dud and being release way to late for the PC, modding has showed down here at FOJ. But I was ready for a break to go race GRID.

I would like to see Flatout Joint continue at least through 2009 if Mur and Pav are still willing to give their time to keep the site running and if we can find a way to pay the bills, so Mur does not have too.

We should be hearing from BugBear before the year is out what they have been working on ( supposedly Flatout on steroids ) and I would think BugBear will be releasing it new racing game sometime next year.

Mur, Pav, would you be OK with the idea of me asking BugBear to help sponsor Flatout Joint by donating 6 months of hosting site fees?

If BugBear were to help out, then I would hope we could get enough donations to cover the other 6 months. If we can't, then Flatout Joint should DIE.

[Pavcules]

Ok guys, it's been extended for another 6 months now.  I also need the webserver for other reasons.

Maybe we should be looking at other games to support.  Shadow pointed out about GTA4, and that will more likely be moddable. But with the 100s of fan websites for the previous versions, I don't know how well we could compete, and what to provide as well.  Unless we get modders, or ourselves that creates a popular mod!

There is also the FUEL game in production as well, so maybe fingers cross that maybe popular as well.

So what do you think guys?  Possibility to create another Joint website for 2009?

We will review the server costs again in Q2 of 2009.

[Shadow]

Fuel will end up like GRID,die fast and hard after a few months of play. I doubt they will release modding tools. Anyone know of a game codemasters ever released SDK or at least a map editor? Or anything to help out modding communities?

Its too bad Crytek don't do race games. Check out Crymod.com, by crytek just for modding farcry/crysis. They help with mods, post tutorials,tips/tricks and also host your mods. Dev modding, they give you the sdk and stick it out to help you out. 4-5 years later and they still around reading and posting.

[Heddly]

I know that GTR2 isn't exactly new, but it is mod able as far as cars and tracks.The new 3DSimED Version 2 can import and export both cars and tracks.

The program also has a Direct Conversion Option for .GMT files to other games.

Maybe make an FOJ Com GTR2 Mod with the cars from the car packs?

The Track Editor supports

Object File Formats Supported

    * Create database from N2003/N2002/N4 .PTF or GPL .TRK Note that PTF and TRK files supplied with the games N2003 and GPL cannot be opened.
    * Option to allow creation of track database from scratch.
    * Export:- 3DS; PTF (N2003) ; GMT (GTR2, rFactor, GTL, GTR) ; MTS (F1CC,F1-2002)
    * Creation of AIW files converting from N2003/GPL .LP files.
    * Creation of CAM files for GTR2, rFactor, GTL converting from N2003/GPL .CAM files.
    * Database stored in XML format to allow editing using 3rd party applications (e.g. XMLSpy, MS Access etc.)
-------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a link to a NoGrip Racing GoKart Track for GTR2.

[Pavcules]

Okay guys, anyone can comment on this thread now.

[drag_racer]

I think that instead of sticking with the Flatout series, I think we should think about moving to another game that has a full SDK (one that is easy to work with, or relatively easy to learn) and make our own mod instead of just making new track layouts, cars, and new game modes like we've been doing with the Flatout Series.

[Pavcules]

I agree with you Drag.  There is talented people on FOJ and GJ, and would be ashame that this could be lost.

But the question is what game to support in the future?

[drag_racer]

the Shooting games like Far Cry 2, Crysis, Half Life 2, etc. would be the best because you have the ability to walk, drive, etc.  If we would wait for Grand Theft Auto 4, we could have that plus planes (I'm not 100% sure it has planes, but would make sense since GTA San Andreas and Vice City both had planes). The only question with the GTA4 engine would be ease of modification, and what features the engine has.

I think that the free roam part would be a big thing to have and there's no good recent racing games out that I know of that have good free roam. Burnout: Paradise has free roam, but can't walk anywhere, so you are tied to the vehicle.

[Rodman]

Ok I don't paticipate too much in forums , But I had to vote"Yes" Keep Flatout site ...in fact I almost dug into my wallet for a donation, then realized I am likely on strike on Monday coming....sorry guys,geez! There has been a bunch of us around since FO 1 Fov3, (still loaded by the way)...and although I never loaded Flatout 2 "community mod" it still comes up regularily in online conversations with buddies. I still love the 2 Flatout games, and if I could still easily join a FO1 Fov3 server at weird times without too much preparation, I would still be racin it quite regularily...as one can with FO2 bone stock game...in fact I believe FO2 has taken an upswing in popularity lately , judging by the numbers of servers I see at various times... still a very fun , rewarding race game to play and you guys still provide the best site to keep track of FO news /mods/events....so my vote be counted!