An Open Letter to the OpenMW devs

General discussion regarding the OpenMW project.
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ArashiAganawa
Posts: 74
Joined: 02 Feb 2017, 02:11

An Open Letter to the OpenMW devs

Post by ArashiAganawa »

Dear OpenMW Development Staff,

This has been something I've been meaning to do for a while, and it's about time I did it. There have been negative things said about OpenMW, such as "Lua/MWSE support isn't here yet" and "If this isn't on par with (input external program here) then it's not good enough" etc, etc. I have been lurking on here for a very long time, and made an account a while ago to help with mod testing (really should be adding more reports, using so many mods). I have watched this project grow over the years, and seen what it's become.

I want to take this time, not to complain or ask for feature x,y, or z, but rather to thank you. Sincerely, and with the utmost gratitude. Words cannot describe what this project is to me, or what the work you've done means to me. OpenMW is literally a dream come true for me. I mean that. Ever since I got Morrowind, on the OG Xbox, long ago, I have been loving it. It quickly became, and still is, my favorite game of all time. There were some things missing from it, things that I (in my young teenage mind) thought were just locked away or hidden. I didn't understand then how the game worked, nor the engine, or anything really. Certain features that weren't available on Xbox, or even pc for that matter, seemed like something that should be par for the course back in the day. Things like multiplayer. I found M'iaq the Liar, and his topic of Multiplayer got my hopes up. I found out later that it was, in essence, impossible to do. My younger brother and I sank many hours in a co-op character that we shared just to get something close to the experience. We longed for the day that we could play a game like Morrowind, or even Morrowind itself, together.

Now I started on Xbox, but moved to PC when I finally had the money. I had a crappy Toshiba Techra, and it barely worked when running Morrowind, but it still worked. It was then that I started looking for mods to enable such a feature. My search turned up a few wonky engine hacks, and nothing more. Failed projects by people with the same desire I had. I gave up hope. I had no hope that Morrowind would be so loved by the community that it would ever get what it deserves, a new engine that enabled you to Co-op with a friend. That is, until OpenMW came along.

OpenMW caught my eye in a random search for Morrowind Multiplayer. See, I had given up hope, but I had thought about looking into the projects that had tried it, to see what they were all about. Maybe some people in my family that understood code could help me make it a reality. Mind you this was before TES3MP. I found the OpenMW FAQ's, and saw that it was, indeed, technically possible. My heart jumped for joy! My dreams for Morrowind had grown more complex since then, and seeing this engine gave me massive hope!

See, since I got it on PC, I suddenly wanted other things. Not just mods, but performance, stability, and no save game corruption. Things that are still difficult to get out of Morrowind today without OpenMW. With the combined power of MGE/XE, MCP, MWSE, 4GB Patch, EXE Optimizer, and Wrye Mash, and Mlox, you could get a fairly okay running game... but that's a lot of programs to run to get the darn thing to work right. OpenMW delivers on most of these features, and I know with time more shall come. I am a patient man, and am more than willing to wait until 1.X to get X feature in the game. I am not one to rush a beautiful thing such as this.

I wanted to let you know that there are many of us out there that support and will continue to praise your project. Take your time, do things right, and don't let some "hot shots" in the modding community or elsewhere get you down.

As of May the 4th, I shall be married, after that, I shall start learning C++ and whatever else is needed to try and help with this project. Coding, and IT in general, is in my blood. Most the men in my family know how to do that, and I will have a massive reservoir of knowledge from them to help me learn. It's the least I can do. This project means a lot to me, and soon I shall be able to play on a stable version with my wife, and my brother, and be able to fulfill my dreams!

Morrowind has been an obsession of mine, I dream of it often, listen to it's music, I even have custom made Morrowind things like a nice MUG and journal.

I also want to state that all the people nay saying, no external program can do what OpenMW can as of this point. With all 7 or so external programs you can't get the same stability, multiplayer, or save file continuity as you can with OpenMW. I have never had OpenMW crash on me, even when using the nightly builds (aside from that one time with the save errors), and I almost only use the nightly builds. I have never had issues with a save, loading, or anything else. I don't have to spend hours trouble shooting or reinstalling, nor do I have to remember the order to run extra programs. I can change the load order in the launcher with ease. OpenMW is, in my mind, the perfect direction for Morrowind to go in. You awesome folks are crazy, in a good way, and I can't wait to see this thing grow even more!

I run a page on facebook called Morrowind Is Home, we will continue to share your work with people and get them to give it a try!

-Kind Regards and greatest thanks
Gabe the N'wah
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Capostrophic
Posts: 794
Joined: 22 Feb 2016, 20:32

Re: An Open Letter to the OpenMW devs

Post by Capostrophic »

As of May the 4th, I shall be married
Congratulations!
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raevol
Posts: 3093
Joined: 07 Aug 2011, 01:12
Location: Caldera

Re: An Open Letter to the OpenMW devs

Post by raevol »

Congrats as well! And I concur, many many thanks to all the contributors who have given their time and effort to OpenMW over the years!
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AnyOldName3
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Joined: 26 Nov 2015, 03:25

Re: An Open Letter to the OpenMW devs

Post by AnyOldName3 »

I will have a massive reservoir of knowledge from them to help me learn.
Just be careful that you don't learn outdated practices from experienced programmers - there are some things you used to have to do in C++ that you should never do any more, and someone trained a long time ago who hasn't been keeping up with things might still prefer the old way.

Congrats on the upcoming wedding, and thanks for the words of encouragement.
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silentthief
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Joined: 18 Apr 2013, 01:20
Location: Currently traversing the Ascadian Isles

Re: An Open Letter to the OpenMW devs

Post by silentthief »

Congrats on the wedding, and I concur with the opinions on openmw. As for having a custom MW Mug - I thought that was just your icon but that is cool

ST
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klorax
Posts: 46
Joined: 29 Apr 2018, 19:55

Re: An Open Letter to the OpenMW devs

Post by klorax »

Ah ... the memories of Morrowind! I remember when I bought the game for PC: it must have been within days of the release, and the long trip home from the store. I created a Khajiit, wielded a huge sword, and wore a stolen skirt, while running through Pelagiad! :lol:

Multiplayer were not on my mind, though I agree fully with your conclusions, OpenMW is awesome! It is fantastic to play Morrowind again in an free software engine on GNU+Linux! Thank you to the developers!


As of May the 4th, I shall be married
Congratulations in advance!
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psi29a
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Joined: 29 Sep 2011, 10:13
Location: Belgium
Gitlab profile: https://gitlab.com/psi29a/
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Re: An Open Letter to the OpenMW devs

Post by psi29a »

Thank you for your kind words.

We wish you and yours the best. :)

Just be sure to hold a healthy work, home, hobby balance. Happy spouse, happy house. :)
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Jemolk
Posts: 237
Joined: 20 Mar 2017, 02:12
Location: Sadrith Mora

Re: An Open Letter to the OpenMW devs

Post by Jemolk »

I likewise concur with your assessments. Though I can be a bit harsh with my statements at times, it's only because I so desperately want to see OpenMW be all it can be, and can get frustrated at times when it feels like someone is explicitly refusing something that could make OpenMW so much better as a plan even post-1.0. This project is truly the best.

And congrats on the wedding yet again! May the Fourth be with you!
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ArashiAganawa
Posts: 74
Joined: 02 Feb 2017, 02:11

Re: An Open Letter to the OpenMW devs

Post by ArashiAganawa »

Thanks for the congrats!

BTW, this is the mug in question:

Image

Custom made. Favorite mug by far, couldn't ask for a better one!
Jemolk wrote: 13 Feb 2019, 17:29 I likewise concur with your assessments. Though I can be a bit harsh with my statements at times, it's only because I so desperately want to see OpenMW be all it can be, and can get frustrated at times when it feels like someone is explicitly refusing something that could make OpenMW so much better as a plan even post-1.0. This project is truly the best.

And congrats on the wedding yet again! May the Fourth be with you!
When it comes down to it, it's an open source engine, so if there's something you want that no one is willing to add, you might want to pick up some coding skills (if you have the time) and make it a reality. That, or ask someone else who can do that.
psi29a wrote: 13 Feb 2019, 16:54 Just be sure to hold a healthy work, home, hobby balance. Happy spouse, happy house.
She loves my hobbies, so I'm set in that :D
klorax wrote: 13 Feb 2019, 16:32 Ah ... the memories of Morrowind! I remember when I bought the game for PC: it must have been within days of the release, and the long trip home from the store. I created a Khajiit, wielded a huge sword, and wore a stolen skirt, while running through Pelagiad!
So I'm not the only one that started the game as a crazed Khajiit! Though mine had a bow and took out Dagon Fel
AnyOldName3 wrote: 13 Feb 2019, 15:31 Just be careful that you don't learn outdated practices from experienced programmers - there are some things you used to have to do in C++ that you should never do any more, and someone trained a long time ago who hasn't been keeping up with things might still prefer the old way.
Thankfully both my brother and dad keep up to date, so that shouldn't be an issue. I also know there's a lot of help online I can look into, and if I feel like I'm not in the right place, I'm not beyond asking you kind folks, to make sure I'm headed in the right direction!
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Jemolk
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Location: Sadrith Mora

Re: An Open Letter to the OpenMW devs

Post by Jemolk »

ArashiAganawa wrote: 13 Feb 2019, 23:39 When it comes down to it, it's an open source engine, so if there's something you want that no one is willing to add, you might want to pick up some coding skills (if you have the time) and make it a reality. That, or ask someone else who can do that.
Oh, I know, and I really want to. I just don't have nearly as much time as I feel like I'd need at the moment to pick up the skills. That, and I'm too stressed. Well, that, and I don't tend to feel comfortable making requests.
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