Moving on | Morroblivion

This is just to let you know that I have given up on Skywind. I have been waiting to play this for years, starting back when you still allowed downloads. But the recent post asking just for an estimated year range for a release, and the response that "We have absolutely no idea, and cant make an estimate at all" tells me it is very likely you will never finish. Even requests for rough percentages of where you are and the tasks that remain are turn aside with statement that it is impossible to know. This is a sign of a project in major trouble.

This is a conclusion based on my experience as I have worked in software development since the 1980s. Projects without at least some estimates drift, expand, rarely achieve their goals, and often fail.

I think it is pretty clear you will never achieve your goal, of bringing Morrowind into an up to date game engine. Skywind would be an improvement, but its engine likewise ages. We already have SE edition, and it is very likely that we will have a new game engine by the time you release Skywind, if you do. So there is a very real possibility that by the time you release Skywind, it will look as dated as Morrowind looked in 2011.

So I gave up on Skwind. Instead I took a look at a Skyblivion, and just modding Morrowind (regular and OpenMV). After comparing them, I have decided to my surprise that Morrowind with mods such as Morrowind Graphics and Sound Overhaul and Morrowind Rebirth looks pretty good. Even better than vanilla Skyblivion, though I am in the process of modding Oblivion to Bevilex's recent Modlist and then will check again. However, I am likely to stick with Morrowind because of mods such as Tamriel Rebuilt. In any event, actually playing Morrowind modded is certainly far better than watching an occasional development video on vaporware.

I wish your team well, and should you ever finish, depending on what games are around at the time I might take a look.

You joined TESRenewal just to

You joined TESRenewal just to post that?

The people said the same

The people said the same thing about Beyond Skyrim : Bruma where the developers gave the same response, "We have absolutely no idea, and cant make an estimate at all". And guess what ? It's finished, and people who said like you, that projects like that couldn't go on, are now where ? It will be the same thing with this project, and you'll be open-mouthed about it.

I am a developer too, and know that estimate drifts is something important in a big project, or even a small one. But this apply more to projects who got some fund, this one here doesn't have, and people who work in him, work only as volunteers and can't be full-time working in him. So even if this response somehow appears as disappointing and discouraging, it's the truly and only answer, because you can't estimate when are going to end, people don't work 8 hours straight everyday, sometimes they work in the project one hour, two or even more, but it's not something concrete.

They estimate that is going to be release in 2018, but it's not complete 100% this affirmative, because as I said before, you can't estimate in something like that.

I really feel sad that you just gave up, I hope you change your mind after all, usually when people lose hope in something, they still continue looking for what they lost, and the more sad is see that when they just quit, is that things change for better.

So you say you've been paying

So you say you've been paying attention to this project for a long time, but you've only just made an account today. And the day you create an account, all you've done is trash talk the team working on it by saying they aren't working hard enough even though it's volunteer work?

These people don't owe you anything buddy, especially since you haven't contributed anything other than potentially hurting their spirits. Maybe things would move along at a faster pace if you'd spend your time getting involved instead of complaining. I think the contributors on this site are owed a lot of credit for the amazing work they put in, definitely not your self-entitled pity party.

I'm going to be completely

I'm going to be completely honest with you; I don't really care what you do. It might sound harsh, but I'm not in this for your sake, and I don't owe you anything. I'm doing it because I think it's fun and because it's a learning process. That, and I get to meet a lot of new people that are passionate about what they do.

Comparing us to professional software development companies doesn't make any sense. Apart from working within the same area, we have nothing in common. If you've ever tried estimating anything, you'll know that estimates are never on point. Now try to calculate an estimate with no fixed values. It's impossible.

You better releasing it soon

You better release it soon guys, we are losing him, we are losing him, damn it!!! >_<

Oh, who cares. :D

People said the same about

People said the same about Beyond Skyrim: Bruma. They said the same about Black Mesa. They'll say the same about every big project handled by modders. It's an unhelpful statement made by people who contribute nothing and don't even have the respect to be patient and understanding of the fact that there is no possible way to estimate a release date.

Say 50 talented modders come from out of left field and finish the project by christmas? or everyone leaves one day and Skywind is lost to history? there can't be fixed dates when everything is handled on everyone's own time and everyone is responsible for themselves.

I want to play both Morrowind

I want to play both Morrowind & Oblivion but I just can't I've tried running them and they would just crash on me, plus both of them haven't aged well. So when I noticed this project I immediately became interested sure I've registered recently but I've been following their Youtube channel for months now I know this Project will take time and its fine we are all gamers we can wait we have responsibilities we can keep ourselves busy until the time comes for us to play SKYWIND & SKYBLIVION.

For what I could see on a a

For what I could see on a "pirate" release on nexus, this mod is getting well closed to completion and it looks gorgeous.

I am not sure where you get

I am not sure where you get the 2018 estimate, but if the team said that, that would a great improvement over their claims that they have "absolutely no idea." I am well aware that developers hate making estimate, and all the problems involved. I do not like it either and have estimated small single person projects up to very large team multiple year projects. My point was not just the lack of time estimates, but also and more importantly the lack of % of work remaining. The two in tandem are what make the project so problematic in my mind.

My main point is that if this is just a exercise is self gratification they can take as long as they like and it does not matter when they are done, they will have achieved their goal. But I think that is unlikely. If, however, there goal is to bring Morrowind up to date so that it can be experience and enjoyed by others, there is a clock ticking because game engine is aging. Development is a series of compromises. If the project takes too long, they could end up releasing a mod that will surely look better than the original Morrowind, but when compared to the then current games could look more dated than Morrowind looked when they started.

Then there is the issue of who will play it. Right now people are looking for games and it would have been a perfect time to release. It is one of the reasons, I decided to go back and play the original Morrowind, which given the current mods looks pretty good, and I am enjoying quite a bit. If they do release in 2018, I probably will skip it, as I will either be well into or have just finished my play through of Morrowind. Then of course we have the two other games in the pipeline from Bethesda and ES6 that will be release at some point, the first of which might be release next year.

Like I said, I wish the team well. I would like them to both succeed and have a large number of people enjoy what they have worked so hard to produce, even if it is unlikely that I will be one of those. Nor, do I suspect that I am the only one.

Well if I had actually said

Well if I had actually said what you claimed you might have a point, but I am not quite clear how you got that out of "I wish team well."

I'm fairly sure people have

I'm fairly sure people have thrown down an 'percentage done' here and there. But what would you take from that exactly? Other than clinging to a number which tells you absolutely nothing so far, apart from the amount of work we've already done. It might take just as long to complete 30%, as it takes to complete 60. That number means nothing.

You don't know the pace we're working at. You don't know what the pace is in 1 month. You won't know if we hit a speed bump. In 'normal' projects you have the luxury of saying; with these assets, this is the best case, and this is the worst case scenario. If a person leaves, you replace him. On Skywind, if a person leaves, he leaves. End of story. Perhaps 7 people are given tasks and trained, and none of them ever returns with said asset. It is NOT the same as a normal project, and you CANNOT estimate it. Yes, I would make a guesstimate and say we're done in 2 years, but what would that grant you other than the most imprecise timeline you'll ever encounter?

I appreciate you hope we make it, even though you don't believe in us... I guess.