Titans.

[TheConstable6]

The giants of an industry.

With the 10-year anniversary of Bridge Commander being yesterday (for the PAL market) and 9 days ago (for NTSC) I thought it would be a good idea to think of some of the true giants of the modding scene - mods from the early days of the scene that still hold up today. Also, hear from some of the people still active here that were around in those first two or three years ( to our elders.) Just generally bask in the gloriousness of this game and all that it means to us, even in its old age.

Wiley, Baz, DJ, and Bones have the mantle now...it's been well-kept over these 10 years. Who would've thought TEN YEARS?

[Bren]

Well, Dasher42 - the father of BC modding, without whom we'd still be replacing stock models and MP3s, and making do with custom missions as the full extent of our script modding. By now, the community would have been dead for 8 years, given how frustrating all the different versions of MainMenu.py would have gotten for those brave enough to dabble in script mods.

P81 got the ball rolling on ship mods before there were even any scripts in place to load them. We had a Galaxy Class replacement within a few days of the Game's launch, and he seemed to churn out ships by the hour. It took us a while to realise he was converting his back catalogue from SFC, but that was no bad thing. The guy laid the groundwork for the ship modding community here, and set the first standard for quality modding, at once outstripping the stock ships. His output may look dated by today's standards, but the fact that some of his work is still visible in 2012 is testament to the dude's impact on this community.

Scotchy's impact on the community makes it hard to believe how few mods he actually released. But what he lacked in quantity, he more than made up for in quality. In particular, his SNS Galaxy was the standard-bearer for the new wave of ultra-high-fidelity ship mods. It opened the community's eyes to what was possible in the engine, and it took many years for the community to catch up.

Chronocidal Guy's CG Sov hit around the same time, and attained similar levels of quality, praise, and ubiquity. Again, it's telling that only in the last year has anyone seen the need to replace it, or have any attempts come close to dethroning it. In many ways, CG and Scotchy were two of a kind, and, indeed, this is not the first time their names have been mentioned in the same sentence. It helped that their ships were two of the most visible in BC, and Trek in general, but the quality, devotion, and attention to detail shown by both artists was worthy of every ounce of praise and attention.

There are so many others I can recall who had a major impact on this community. So many ships and scripts, big and small, that hold a lasting influence on what this game is today. If I tried to do them all justice, I'd be writing til the cows came home. Suffice to say that most of you know who you are, and that the most important thing we can say to you all, from the heart, is...

Thank you.

[Darkthunder]

I'd like to take this opportunity to praise some of the ship modders who have come and gone over the years. Without which, the level of quality of BC would never have reached the heights it currently enjoys:

Scotchy & Chronocidal Guy: Agreed with Bren's sentiments

LC Amaral: A man who single-handedly replaced pretty much every one of the stock ships with higher poly/higher detailed ships, including some of the lesser known such as the "Wolf 359" pack. To this day, his Wolf 359 pack remains the only version of these ships for BC.

Queball: Brought to life, some of the most interesting ship concepts of Star Trek, including but not limited to the Courageous Class, and the Premonition Class. While neither of these were technically his own designs, his version of the designs were truly inspiring.

DJ Curtis: To this day, one of the "giants" of ship modding. Akin to the Scotchy and Chronocidal Guy of days gone by. Still manages to make unique ship designs, all of which hold a very high level of quality and detail.

WileyCoyote: Very much, the same opinion as that of DJ Curtis. A true "giant" of ship modding. Has an eye for detail, and strives for excellence in all his ship models.

This was just a short list of some of the "greats" that the BC community has had the pleasure to be in company of. Thou I may not have listed each and every one of the ship modellers over the years, I give praise to ALL who manage to achieve, that which I can not. You may/may not be employed within the gaming industry, but in my book, you are all deserving of such jobs. The work that is done, far exceeds that which many professional game developers can achieve.

Your love for the genre, and sci-fi in general, knows no bounds.

Here's to the next 10 years of BC modding. Happy Birthday

[Morgan]

So much focus on ships  I'd like to recognize a few of BC's scripters:

Nanobyte - Brought us NanoFX and our first modding tools.  Although BCMI and BCMP have been superseded by BCUT, they were the first to make installing ships and mods not be such a pain in the neck.

Sneaker98 - I remember when EVERYONE couldn't stop talking about making a Galaxy or Prometheus that separated.  Sneaker made that happen, and it was such a game changer for BC.

Apollo - Apollo of course brought us our first taste of special abilities for ships with his Advanced Technologies Pack.  Ablative armor, multi-vectral shields, Breen Energy Dampener, Apollo was the first to make these things a reality in BC.  The day ATP Dimensions was cancelled remains to this day one of the blackest days in BC's history...

USS Sovereign - My friend Sov and the rest of BCS made wormholes and the Gamma Quadrant a reality in BC.  No scripting list would be complete without mentioning Sov, BCS:TNG, and DS9FX.

Defiant - QB Autostart and all it's add-on's, KM, these are the contributions of Defiant.  QB Autostart made it easier to add scripts and features to BC, and BC scripting would be much more difficult without Defiant's contributions.

Lurok - My good friend Lurok, you're SP mod is such a work of art!  I've never seen a single player mod of this scope even be attempted, yet alone be successful.  You've definitely become one of the BC titans.

I'm sure I missed some people, but never the less your contributions have and always will be appreciated in this community.  Thanks guys for changing the way we play Bridge Commander.  

[mathews99]

10 years is a long time, I remember waiting in line to get the game....
All my thrills and good times have come along though with the aspect of these modders.... I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to the success and fame of this game... I will keep playing it as long as the mods are around and computers will support it.....

[TheConstable6]

More about what Nero was talking about with ATP Dimensions - I have only been around this community for two years or so, but what I would like to know more about is how the sad collapse of BCU affected the community. I was browsing one of the archives of BCU the other day (this one http://archive.kontek.net/bridgecommander.3dactionplanet.gamespy.com/ ; trying to piece together what I can find of BCU has become a mission of mine as my interest in the game and the community rises) and saw some amazing things there that sadly never came to fruition. BCU's downfall seemed to happen at the worst time.

Away from that grim topic, tought, those are all excellent people! Thank you guys so much. For instance I had never even heard of Queball before, but I downloaded his Courageous & Premonition and was amazed at how good they still look today!

[Bren]

In Bridge modding, we've had something of a continuity of people working on Bridges.

People like Viper, Mark, LC, and others, in groups like Dreamyards, who produced the first custom bridge (the Nebula class), and 3rd Era, who picked up the mantel (and many of the staff) of Dreamyards, and ran with it. Most of that old guard have moved on to pastures new, in the form of Excalibur.

But we've also had visionaries like Lurok, who came into the community with an indomitable spirit and a refusal to bow down before the difficulties, and turned bridge modding on it's head in a few short months. The new era of bridge modding is upon us, with people like Baz1701 and Bones turning their prodigious talents to it, and blowing us away with their creativity and productivity.

WalkFX was a game changer from another luminary of the community - Lost_Jedi. You'll never meet a friendlier script-god. You might come close with his Excalibur team mate, and long-time BC scripter MLeoDaalder. He's been in this community from the beginning, and has produced fixes here, optimisations there, and many small, awesome mods that crept into most people's installs unnoticed, but would be sourly missed if removed.

[Mario]

Apollo - Apollo of course brought us our first taste of special abilities for ships with his Advanced Technologies Pack.  Ablative armor, multi-vectral shields, Breen Energy Dampener, Apollo was the first to make these things a reality in BC.  The day ATP Dimensions was cancelled remains to this day one of the blackest days in BC's history...

That's why you have Galaxy Charts

Although I can remember couple of years back when I got an unfinished copy (from an unnamed source ) of ATP Dimensions, even in that unfinished state it was brilliant.

[TheConstable6]

Lol what even is ATP Dimensions? Before my time  ;)

[Mario]

http://users.skynet.be/Alexis.Rombaut/BridgeCommander/Pages/AdvancedTechnologies/ATP_Dimensions.htm

[TheConstable6]

WOW  :eek

It's Galaxy Charts! Thanks Sov

[Mario]

Although it terms of AI, it's vastly superior.

[TheConstable6]

The star chart looks sweet too...how completed did it ever get? Sov, do you think that if ATP:D had gotten completed, Galaxy Charts would have see the light of day?

[Killallewoks]

Is it playable? It looks sweet, shame it never got finished. 

[Mario]

The star chart looks sweet too...how completed did it ever get?

From what I can recall, as this was way back in 2006 and when I last spoke to Apollo, it was maybe around 50% completed or even more (the whole mod), please don't take my word for it though (it's been 6 years). Although the starchart itself I think was fully functional -- more or less.

Sov, do you think that if ATP:D had gotten completed, Galaxy Charts would have see the light of day?

In all honesty no, I don't think it would have.

However to be perfectly honest, I don't think I would have even started working on DS9FX myself. IIRC Apollo also worked on the bajoran wormhole, I don't know if he ever completed it though. This was also 2-3 years before I started working on DS9FX. Too bad I never checked out the Bajoran System in ATPD to see if the wormhole was there or even functional. I do remember LC Amaral creating wormhole models for ATPD and the ones included in the original DS9FX are those models which were transferred by LC to me.

BCs history is full of sucess and unfinished mods -- which is sad but true. BCS:TNG for example only formed for one purpose: to create a mod called EarthFX -- which was never completed at all. But we continued working on other mods.

If anyone wonders about this EarthFX business, I'll be brief... we were working on a mod which allowed you to actually enter planets atmosphere, we had some ideas too for planetary landings also. But as with all things, other mods took precedence.

Is it playable? It looks sweet, shame it never got finished.

Parts which I tried were playable, remember that this was 6 years ago. Parts which I tried:
1. I assembled a fleet
2. Set a course for cardassia
3. Got my ass kicked

[TheConstable6]

Thank you very much for your insight and honesty  you learn something new every day and this was a good day!

[JimmyB76]

Although I can remember couple of years back when I got an unfinished copy (from an unnamed source ) of ATP Dimensions, even in that unfinished state it was brilliant.

i still have ATP:D

hey sov - remember back the in oldschool days it was deemed impossible for BC to have a functioning wormhole?

and i remember earthfx also  
(and the oldschool BCS forums )
awww now im gonna get all nostalgic and sappy lol  
we were all so very young then...
fucks sakes, that was like 6 years ago lol

[Mario]

Yeah, those were the good old days. Out of original 5 in BCS-TNG only you and I remained

[JimmyB76]

those bitches dont know how to hang
except John (LJ) - he is rocking hardcore on Excalibur...  
wowie and ck are still around on facebook...

[TheConstable6]

i still have ATP:D

... ;)