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Announcing...

T

Tango_Romeo

Guest
...the opening of The Source File Archive, a new resource for designers and the flight sim community dedicated to the preservation of FSDS and Gmax source files representing untold hours of creative work. :jump:

Every single week we lose original source files from which many of our most popular addons were created. Designers seldom post their source files for fear of piracy, and eventually they are lost through crashes or the designer moving on to other interests. :isadizzy:

This archive will provide a safe haven for designers to park source files AND have control over them.

I am dedicating two large external drives to this project...one for the archive and one for backup. The archive will contain the ZIPed source files (and original textures, if available) cross-referenced by author, program, type, etc. in a database of my own design. :kilroy:

Designers can send their files via email for archiving knowing that the files will not be made available to anyone without the author's specific permission. :applause:

I am committed to managing the project personally, and should I be unable to carry it forward, will find a successor to do so.

Bismarck13, Brunosk, Crashaz, Oldwheat, myself and several other dedicated producers have joined the effort initially. Everyone is welcome to contribute.

Files can be submitted to me directly via email (click on Tango_Romeo in this post to send email) or just PM me for directions.

Essentially, all that is needed is a ZIP containing the source file (with textures if available), a file ID naming the author, design program and sim, and instructions on how the file should be handled. :engel016:
 
:applause:bravo!

have a beer:ernae: on me, this is a noble undertaking
:medals: & worthy of much praise & support

:icon29:

if any of us "non-designers can help in any way, just ask.
 
I really...

...hope it will fly. It needs widespread support on the part of designers...and that requires some amount of trust on their part that the projeect is as represented. :kilroy:
 
Some...

...folks are just sending CDs/DVDs via snailmail for inclusion in the archive. This is OK too... PM me for the mailing address.:engel016:
 
Hi everybody: I think that Tango Romeo's idea is VERY important.
The worst thing that we have to deal with is that in the internet world a person or a site can disappear suddenly and without warning. And there is no way of contacting the person or site--even to see if the person is still alive, for example.

I would like to suggest that in order to provide a semblance of insurance against this, that a small number (say 4) of the senior members agree to form a "circle of contact" that is actually independent of the internet; i.e. snail mail address and phone contact. This select group would maintain contact with each other and would also act as "guardians" of the CFS2 resources. Then when a member of the circle retires (dies, or whatever), the other members of the circle would appoint a new member to take over, with the responsibility of ensuring the maintainance of the resources.

Ideally, each member of the circle would have full access to the resources backup that Tango Romeo is developing. (So, even if Tango Romeo were to "buy it" others could still maintain the resource).

I don't know if this makes sense to anybody, but I think we need some sort of insurance plan for us and for the future.


merlin2
 
Exactly, Merlin!

You took the plan right out of my head.....but you had to read between the lines of my original post to dig it out. :engel016:
 
The first files...

...have been added to the Source File Archive, and the catalog is being setup now. :jump:

I've begun with FSDS files, but will certainly incude Gmax files as well.
Eventually I will add all of the posted files at SimV and FFDS to the archive. :running:

There are many source files posted with downloads at various sim sites on the net, and I would appreciate anyone who stumbles across one letting me know of the location, so I can add it to the archive. :applause:

BUT ABOVE ALL, I want to concentrate on the non-published source files that (one way or another) will probably be lost to both the author and the community unless they are archived. :isadizzy:

I said to myself, 'Self, what have you gotten yourself into? This is a lot of work.' :kilroy:
 
Tango,

This sounds like a very important and worthy undertaking. Thank you for all of your hard work! :wavey:
 
I'm happy...

...to announce that The Source File Archive is now officially in existence. :wavey:

The first section is exclusively FSDS files and there are now nearly 300 of them in the archive. :jump:

The Gmax section is to be added shortly. :engel016:

The catalog has almost caught up with the archive's contents.....with me working as fast as I can. :running:
 
Details...

The Archive has a home on a dedicated 160GB external hard-drive at present.
That's plenty big as the total archive (consisting of ZIP files) is only a little over 2GB at present. :kilroy:

Backups will be kept on a separate external drive. :engel016:
 
FSDS & Gmax

The Archive is now up to about 400 source files, including the new Gmax section. And a basic catalog is in place. :jump:

Once the catalog is in decent shape, I'll be posting it on my website or Fox Four where I can update it as needed. :male:

Lots to do...and miles to go before I sleep. :running:
 
First Look...

...at the catalog. It's a Rich Text Format file zipped and renamed with a .TXT on the end to make uploading possible. Just save it to your desktop, rename it by removing the .TXT from the file name. Unzip it and open the RTF file with any word processor...including WordPad. :engel016:

(Eventually the full catalog will be a PDF file available for download at Fox Four.) :running:
 
Well, this is a very good idea, I will upload my helldiver source after my vacation (I haven't the time to collect it now), also my Nell, P26 and Ki 27, and possible a few unfinished old project's (Ki48. B5N2 Kate, Caproni CA101) all finished project sources will be available with permission, the other will be free to use.

wolfi
 
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