The truth
In every life, there is a point where you have to be honest to yourself and to everybody around you. This point has come now and we (CTDP) want to let you (our fans & followers) know, about our current status. The truth is, after CTDP 2006, a lot of the guys disappeared. In order to compensate the loss, we said CTDP2006 was maybe our most complete mod and will ever be. It was just perfect, it was something nobody has done before and maybe nobody will ever do again. The details and blood, sweat and tears we put into that mod was impressive. Not only to everybody who played the mod. Especially to everybody who was part of the develpment team. But with the release of the mod there was a turning point. Almost four years of develpment demanded its price – and it was very high. While right after the release motivation was high to start new projects, within months we lost many people which caused us to cancel the 2009 mod. Some members quit because they got offers from game developers, some just disappeared and never showed up again, most got job, girlfriend, life.
So what was the next goal to aim for? Our very much awaited 1994 mod should come back to life and should get released at some point. We started the project with our even more limited resources, did a very good research and even built up our own wiki for this season. We were ready to start over, but there is the point we struggled. We thought, it would be enough to give our “old” cars a smart overhaul to get them up to today’s standards, but after had our Wiki and about 5GB of photo material, we discovered, that lots of proportions are wrong and each car has a lot of visible mistakes. Our philosophy turns out as a “neckbraker”. We always wanted to achieve nothing else as the best we can do. And knowing about all the faults it wasn’t good enough for us anymore. So we started fixing the mistakes or even completly redid cars. So far we have 2 cars ready and 3-5 more on a good way. That makes 7 in total, but we’re far from coming even close to a release.
You may ask why?
To answer that question I have to explain what the motivation is the members in CTDP work for.
In a recent comment we were asked if it’s worth the extra time doing all the track specifiy upgrades, liveries etc. for CTDP 2006. That’s a tough question and I think that you can answer it with yes and no. No, because in hindsight it was a huge project that cost us so much time and yes because it’s shows the spirit of CTDP.
The spirit
We are always willing to improve ourself and keep pace with the professional developers in the industry. In case of CTDP 2006 we did something that even professional developers never did before and probably never will: recreate a complete F1 season with every upgrade that was raced during that season. We’ll probably never again create a mod to such an extent but we will always try new ways and technologies in creating our mods.[nbsp] In the end we’re not just modders that create the content, we’re also hackers and gamers. We have certain expectations on how a game/mod should look and feel – like everyone else out there and we work and fight to get the means to do it the way we want it.
Personally if I play a game like Forza, pCARS etc. I look at the graphics – especially the models and textures – and analyze them, to get inspired, to develop new techniques for myself. I wonder how they did this and that and then I try to do something similar to improve my work.
The consequences
The price of the high quality our mods comes in the time and sometimes money spent. Creating more detailed models and textures that look better ingame requires time and skill to create. And to get that skill you need to spend time to practise, improve and experience. To create more realistic physics you again have to invest time and also money to get your hands on books and/or magazines. Creating a mod is much more time consuming than 5 years ago; at least if you go with the time and exhaust all possibilities the engine offers you.
As I wrote above I often take a look at the techniques used in other games or even mods and try to recreate them or even improve them. It’s time that I could have spent in creating another model or whatever. But I think in the end it serves the mod more to create a better looking experience than to release the mod a few weeks earlier with models that look like they were already out of date two years ago.
The consequences – Part II
Our high standards have another negative side effect: it’s hard to find[nbsp] people that have the talent and more importantly the WILL to improve themselves. As every modding group knows members will come and go over time. That’s pretty normal and also understandable – quite often we loose members to the industry. So you’ll try to compensate your losses by recruiting new people. The best thing would be to get someone that[nbsp] already has the skills to work on your level so that you can continue your work without any transition.
As we’re already reached a pretty high quality standard it’s hard to find those people. It’s much more likely that you’ll find some less experienced modders that you’ll have to teach some of the advanced techniques.
I remember back in the days when I started modding with community 3D app that loads in GP2/GP3 models. In this app you can manipulate just the vertics a model had by clicking on it and entering x/y/z co-ordinates. That has tought me the real spirit of modding back in the days and I still remember these days with joy. As for textures, you had your common template and by today’s means you got create a mod within a few weeks.
Modding is constantly evolving and games like rFactor2 will provide us with new[nbsp] features that we want to and should take advantage of. Complexity and difficulty have become harder and where more possibilities were created, the amount of people who is actually able to use them diminishes.
The consequences – Part III
So if you haven’t stopped reading you now know how CTDP ticks, how we define our spirit and what consequences that spirit is asking for.
While we still have talented guys in our rows, it’s not enough. The amount of work for 24 cars is just too much. The IFM mod was a good way to see if we can effort single car mods with just one model and it was a good testing ground for us to get known to rF2 and its new techniques and limitations. So what are our learnings from IFM, if we reduced it to the team work and not to the technical part of the job.
The part of the team that is left, did a great job and we covered almost 80% of our todo’s.
Who is actually part of CTDP right NOW?
- Stefan Triefellner (3D artist, Physics artist, 2D artist)
- James Bendy (2D artist)
- Dennis Schmidt (2D artist) – inactive atm
- Andreas Neidhardt (3D artist)
- Daniel Senff (2D artist, Website) – inactive atm
Volunteers who help us on occasion:
- Michael Borda (ISI)
- Luc Van Camp (ISI)
- Tuttle (3D artist, 2D artist, Physics artist)
- Ben (2D artist)
- radu teo (3D artist)
- AndreasT (Research)
Friends long gone or M.I.A:
- afborro
- Codan
- Gonzo
- Raulungo
- Shaun Stroud
- Paulo
- Ennisfargis
- Roberto Yermo
- Eugenio Faria
What does that mean?
Maybe we have luck and 20 new, talented and well experienced members will join right after that post. But that would be something quite unrealistic to expect and actually not easy to handle as well ;). So for now, we will focus on IFM and then we will decide IF, HOW & WHEN we continue work on CTDP 1994.
It’s also possible, that IFM is CTDP’s last mod ever released. If CTDP will be gone, we want to see it go in glory and on a highnote, but we will let you know, as soon as we know. It will not be a decision easily made.
Thanks for your attention, patience and your support.
Your CTDP Team (everybody who was & is still part of the team).
Written by
Andreas ‘Neidryder’ Neidhardt
Signed by
Daniel ‘Dahie’ Senff
James ‘Juluka’ Bendy
Pier ‘tuttle’ Murru
Stefan ‘erale’ Triefellner
Wow guys, that was sad to read. But you’re doing a great job. As you already said the CTDP F1 2006 mod was the best mod ever released.
But keep in mind, that you don’t take money, so ‘you’ guys don’t owe us (the community) anything.
I think you’re going to do the right thing.
Heads up and ‘don’t worry, be happy’! 🙂
If it helps, I would happily pay for one of your mods.
I’m sure many others would too. £5 for a mod seems reasonable
Given that they’re free at the moment and given the amount of pleasure
a good mod brings.
Donations are welcomed as we said before, but money is neither the reason for our situation, nor a solution.
@Blacky: Thanks for the kind words 🙂
I will gladly help with research. I can paint in PS but I would only call myself decent at it(even though I’ve done it for years, I use some tricks to help myself along). But research is my specialty. Also, I’ve got quite a bit of server space if you need more of that, and I have an awesomely powerful PC, so if there’s anything you need that requires processing power, my puter is all yours.
Well you all have life changes. I know I have less spare time than I used to now I have a daughter. It happens, and you should only really be modding if you enjoy it, you should never feel under pressure to get something done when you’re working for free.
I would say that one of the problems is a managerial issue, that not everything has to be perfect, but isn’t that what makes you CTDP? Your 2006 F1 mod was and is absolutely incredible, even today; but to be honest, I haven’t played it in a long time.
Since most of the work is completed and you have some experience with rF2 now, may I suggest porting F1 2006 to rFactor 2? That would probably be easier than the 1994 mod and be in a timely manner; it may even reinvigorate you.
In any case, thanks for the hard work! It would have been great to see more mods from you that weren’t as “complete” instead of one mod every few years, but alas, it is what it is.
/tip of the hat
thanks for everythings!!!
@Ahmad
We discussed porting F1-2006, but this is on ice until ISI fixes this issue: http://devblog.ctdp.net/2012/04/mirror-mirror/
Hey Guys,
first things first, thank you for so much transparency and in-deep view on ctdp.
My first modding experience was painting in GP2/GP3 and editing those carshapes in GP3. What a stunning time, what a wonderful chance we got!
I guess I would be one of the top modders, if those circumstances wouldn’t have changed. 😛
Now, rF1 is still handy, but it takes a hole new level of skill to create quality stuff. On a Scale: GP3 is Level 20 and rf1 is Level 100. 5 times harder or,… more complex than simple old gp3. And that was just the switch from one sim to the next.
When I then look at the power in which those new rf2 ISI tracks are done, where no guardrail is straight and every bit is modeled and designed to perfection and to get all the files to start to modify something, I somehow lose the interest in modding this sim.
So as this platform is build for the modding community it might be ISI’s job to give us all the help/tools to get a realistic chance to release something in an equal quality in a motivating timeframe.
Not because we are lazy, we spent a lot of time for modding, no … just because I hope they want this idea to stay alive as much as we would love to build or edit all the stuff.
I hope we will find a way. Right now it looks like modding isn’t enjoyable for many people.
To end this:
Hats off to all those designers and modders that rock rf1 and also move to rf2. You guys are very talented and the community is thankful to have you!
Strong words, but tell the whole reality. To all modding group work is difficult, since this activity is a hobby.
I fully understand your situation and hope you can continue working as they have done. Making the best projects I’ve seen in rFactor.
My greetings and love to help me within my means.
I have to say I felt similar in many ways along reading this article.
I’ve been helping CTDP out for the 2009 season, but that all got cancelled quite soon. I’ve been with RH before, then moved to FSOne, MMG…did a few commercial cars for SimRaceWay and Reiza.
It’s a sad thing to read indeed, but it’s quite normal. The everlasting modgroup still needs to arise. It’s a sad thing to think about it, that also I soon may have to give up what we all liked most in the past 9 years. But, what CTDP wrote down is a honest confession, and shows the great character behind the whole team!
Good luck for the future of CTDP, as well as for all guys being part of it!
Koen
All the best wishes to your future, life and modding, you’ve offered more than a lot, waiting for more always LOL
best regards, nikos
Just as the other fans felt, its sad read about this honest thoughts, but its a reality we must all face.
Modding is a passion driven hobby, and its inevitable that as we grow up, our life changes, priorities shift and its just not possible for us to pursue our passion in a same consistent manner throughout our life.
PC gaming owes the modding community such as you guys a huge gratitude, as modding is what makes PC gaming stands out. What CTDP achieved with the 2006 project is the pinnacle of modding.
Whatever happens, you guys can always be proud of it, to have achieve something very few modders can claim to achieved. And I hope, it will be something that will inspire future generation of modders.
Thank you all for everything CTDP have gave us.