OpenMW 0.42.0

[openmwfan]

Looking forward to the videos Atahualpa, cant wait

Is there anywhere i can download the 0.42 binaries for linux yet?

[psi29a]

ppa dailies/nightlies will get you close to master

there are RC builds of 0.42, but I'll not post 0.42 builds on the PPA and downstream to debian until we're officially released.

[openmwfan]

Where can i download the RC builds?

[Loriel]

Where can i download the RC builds?

Download details at viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4058&start=93

Loriel

[Atahualpa]

Okay, we finally have a WIP engine video. Is it long? Yes it is. Just follow the link below -- and, please, do not distribute it!

>>> W I P <<<

There will definitely be a reworked version because I already found some issues while watching the video for the first time. If you notice anything strange, please let me know.

[Thunderforge]

Glad to see a work in progress video! I appreciate that you took time to point out that 0.42.0 does not mean 42% complete. However, I think that there is still some confusion:

First of all, OpenMW is already in a fully-playable state. As of now you are able to complete the main quest, finish the expansion questlines, advance through the ranks of all factions, and hunt down each and every sidequest in the game. And the best thing is, you'll probably do so without ever hitting a bug, as OpenMW is likely to contain less bugs than Morrowind's original engine.

This is great! It sounds like OpenMW is pretty much done!

As of now, the project is technically in an alpha state and we haven't reached our main goals yet, which is why we always have a leading zero regardless of compatibility issues.

Wait, it's in alpha? And you haven't reached your main goals? But your main goals are to make Morrowind playable in your own engine, right? So you were wrong in saying that I could play it completely?

I think that this is where some of the confusion with OpenMW's progress lies. First, most people associate "alpha" with "not ready for public consumption", as opposed to beta, meaning "ready for public consumption, yet may have minor bugs" (or in Google's case, "it works perfectly, but we'll say it's "beta" for years so we have an excuse in case something goes wrong"). I don't know what "technically in an alpha state" means, or who decides that, but it makes it sound as though the app is much less mature than it actually is. Can we call it a "stable beta" or something?

Also, what are the main goals of the project? You say that distant terrain is a step towards 1.0, and say that people can contribute if they want 1.0 to be sooner, but again, what does that mean? Perhaps at the end of the video, you should outline the major things that are outstanding for 1.0. Moreover, you say that the engine will reveal it's full potential after the 1.0 release. If someone learned about the project through this video, they would be confused as to what that meant.

Finally, I think you were talking about "faux shaders" when talking about distant terrain, but were pronouncing the first word as "fox". If so, the word is pronounced as "foe" in English.

[Atahualpa]

Thanks for your feedback, Thunderforge.

I think that this is where some of the confusion with OpenMW's progress lies. First, most people associate "alpha" with "not ready for public consumption", as opposed to beta, meaning "ready for public consumption, yet may have minor bugs" (or in Google's case, "it works perfectly, but we'll say it's "beta" for years so we have an excuse in case something goes wrong"). I don't know what "technically in an alpha state" means, or who decides that, but it makes it sound as though the app is much less mature than it actually is. Can we call it a "stable beta" or something?

We already had several discussions about alpha vs. beta status. If I remember correct, we came to the conclusion that OpenMW -- despite being nearly complete -- is technically (hence my wording in the video) in an alpha state.

Also, what are the main goals of the project? You say that distant terrain is a step towards 1.0, and say that people can contribute if they want 1.0 to be sooner, but again, what does that mean? Perhaps at the end of the video, you should outline the major things that are outstanding for 1.0. Moreover, you say that the engine will reveal it's full potential after the 1.0 release. If someone learned about the project through this video, they would be confused as to what that meant.

These are all questions to be answered in our FAQ (written or as a video). The release commentary is already quite long, and an additional two minutes in order to explain the very basics of our project seem a bit over the top.
However, I could reference to our FAQ for further information.

Finally, I think you were talking about "faux shaders" when talking about distant terrain, but were pronouncing the first word as "fox". If so, the word is pronounced as "foe" in English.

No, it's "fog shaders". I would have shown them in the video but failed to get them working in v0.42.0.

[psi29a]

I would just remove any reference to alpha/beta, whatever because we're not proprietary software. Let alpha/beta only refer to when we make the final push to 1.0 for QA and PR reasons. The only thing we'll do right now is turn off more people.

OpenMW is in a perfectly playable (from beginning to end) state, so give it a try!

Playable doesn't mean finished, it just means it works and is enjoyable.

[Atahualpa]

I'll remove the reference to our alpha status and just say that we haven't reached ALL of our main goals yet. Thinking about it a bit more, a list of our main goals could help people to understand our current status. I'll see what I can do.

Any other notes, psi29a?

[psi29a]

You could possibly drum up some good-will PR for the test3mp people by saying that there is an active multiplayer fork of openmw that can eventually be merged in post 1.0 and that interested testers and experimenters can talk about it on the openmw forums.

If this is put into the video, even if it isn't related to 0.42 it is a way to generate more buzz around OpenMW as a whole.

Maybe put in a good word about the Example-Suite to?