TFC-Refrom: So, Why are you guys doing this anyways?

So. Why are you guys even bothering with this?

Why are we doing this? What prompted all this hullabaloo? Well, simply put - and this statement is merely MY opinion - When John Carmack of id Software released the entire source code set for Quake, to include the quakeworld components, this sounded a death knell for the prospects of TF1. In the past, there were cheats of various types - glowing skins, spiked models, hacked maps with transparent wall textures, and a hacked client to allow these to pass CRC checks. Now, with the source readily available, it's going to be moronically simple to do worse. At the time of writing this, there are rumours of massively hacked things going on, like flying players, and HWG's twice the speed of a scout. Sounds like Hell in a handbasket to me, folks. This disturbed me so much, I saw the end of "reliable" TF1, that I've retired from both TF1 and the clan I've been in for a long time - not an easy decision at all.

So, I'm of the FIRM opinion now, that if they are saying 2001 for a TF2 release, it's time to start a lobby for a patch/fixes for TFC, to make the bloody thing more useful to the clan players. I'm estimating a good 6-9 more months that TFC will be played, before TF2 hits - and right now TFC lacks a bit of the functionality it needs, to be usuable and convenient to clannies. I started a thread on the PlanetFortress Forums, to get this rolling, and to collect ideas to submit to Valve.This small thread snowballed into several discussions, a mound of emails, and finally into the beast you're reading here. This tells me that there ARE a decent number of people interested iin TFC, who care about making it better, and who would be interested in speaking out to make their voices heard.

What I hope to accomplish here, is to try to provide a single, easy reporting point for problem and issues with Half-Life, and TFC in particular. Some of the issues people have can be fixed by changes to the TFC mod itself. Others may require alterations to the HL engine itself. I'm hoping that the majority of people will decide to forward their inquiries to myself and Bundy, to be handled by us TFC Reform project droogies, rather than to generate any additional email traffic to the Valve personnel themselves. The less time they have to spend answering emails to the community, hopefully the more time they can devote to things that TRULY matter - fixing TFC and finishing up TF2. I fully expect some people to continue to writing directly to the folks at Valve - that's the nature of the beast. However, items coming from here HAVE already had an effect in changing priorities of things set "to do" - so hopefully it will continue to have a GOOD effect.

One point that has been brought up to my attention, is that I'm NOT doing this as some sort of ego-boost for myself. When this started, I had no "inside line" to Valve at all. zip, zero, nada. Right now, the only thing I have, is slight advance notification of intended fixes - and unless something happens in Real Life(tm) to otherwise occupy my time - it WILL rapidly get published on the web page. To be brutally honest, this is really more of a pain in the arse to me, offsetting anything people might perceive as a "benefit" to me. Amyhow, on with the show...

Here is a preliminary compilation of some items, from various people who's indentities have been protected. ^_^, followed by my comments, in my usual fave colour, if necessary. Remember, tho - My view of this is NOT to try to extend/add features to TFC, but to fix existing discrepencies in it.Requests to add in new neat "stuff" to TFC. I feel, will not be considered as seriously as ones to fix existing problems and weaknesses.