Mvp 2011 Mod Petition

[JoeRudi26]

First of all, I realize it's early to be talking about the 2011 MLB season, as we're barely over half way through this season alone. But I wanted to put this out there as of now because I realize how much time and effort a complete season mod really takes. Not that I've been personally involved in any past complete mod updates, but I've been around this site long enough to know that it involves a monumental effort from many different modders through many different resources.

As of now, the last major update to MVP was the '08 mod which was wonderfully created by many different talent people (not to mention the earlier mods) across the site, of which is virtually still in high demand. Even now, I still see people searching and downloading the mod, primarily due to it being the most recent update. In fact, it's the one I personally have played with over the last couple of years, with the exception of tweaks to update my rosters. 

Even now, 5 years after MVP was released, it's still, in conjunction with the mods (including rosters and utilities) and external utilities, still the best baseball sim on the planet. Not to mention, the fun factor in MVP takes a back seat to none. The Show has shown great progression and 2K seems to want to get on the right track, but it's still implausible to think that, even in the next year or so, barring a miracle, either of these titles will out perform the game play and outright fun factor that MVP has has to offer. I mean, the proof is that this site has existed for so long and what it has offered over the years are virtually priceless. Economically speaking, individuals across the world have profited from this site just by selling their old worn out copy of the game on Ebay. Of course, that's no secret, it just reaffirms that there is, and still can be, life breathed into this old game, and without a doubt will prolong one of the best baseball sites that's ever existed.

So what I'm proposing is this: How many members would be willing to pay for a complete 2011 mod for the upcoming season? Is there enough interest to even pursue an update? I've contributed to the site, but I will admit that I've never compensated anyone for their personal time on a mod, be it uniforms, stadiums, utilities, or whatever it may be. And for that, I am regretful. Over the years, I've come to realize how much time and effort it must take to put out these mods that have given me so much, not to mention extending the life of MVP.

On another note, it would have been virtually impossible to compensate each and every individual that released a mod, but I firmly believe there's still enough left in this game to move on and give it one more shot. Only this time, with a complete update, by charging a set fee for the mod, each and every individual that is involved will be compensated. In a nutshell, charge the individual to download the mod, and leave it at that. It's well deserved for those that put forth the time and effort, and long overdue for what most of us have already benefited from this site alone.

All of this being said, I realize that this is a touchy subject, primarily due to some people being compensated in the past, and some not, including the complete update mods, classic mods, individual efforts, and so on. Even the mods that still exist on this site that have been free to download for that past half decade. But the fact is, I believe there is something for everyone to gain, from compensating the right people, to maintaining an already fantastic site, to getting an updated quality product for one of the best baseball games to date. As of now, the mod would probably be virtually in tact as it is, with the exception of a few updates; rosters, schedule, and so on. I didn't want to name names, but if spungo's unis are (hopefully) included, I believe he has the right to be compensated (and well deserved) as well, even if they are a set from the past. I believe that whoever has a personal mod that would be included in the update should be able to attach their name and has the right be compensated as well, which would be included in the outright price of the package. 

If there is enough demand to dig up MVP once again, I believe this would be the only way it will be done. There may or may not be enough people willing to come back to MVP, it's really hard to tell, but from what I've personally experienced with the newer titles, MVP is still the most solid option when it comes to video game baseball. Even so, it's possible most of the people involved in the past mods have moved on, I really don't know who still checks in.

All in all, if there's enough demand, it's a no lose situation for everyone involved. We get a quality update, and the modders get compensated for their efforts. Ultimately, the site will benefit as well. 

I briefly ran this post by Trues and with his feedback decided to go ahead and post. The objective is to pick up and move on, and see if there is enough demand to create a solid title for next year that benefits everyone involved.

Jay

[Homer]

the biggest problem i see is there just isn't the demand for it. we used to get hundreds to thousands of downloads a month for these updates, but now we're really talking dozens...if that. with all the work that is involved, getting enough downloads to compensate anyone isn't going to garner enough revenue. unless you really want to charge a high premium.

i'm against charging at all, but i think it's really irrelevant. i'm just saying that i've been involved in trying to get this mod made for the last two years, and if i've learned anything, there just isn't enough interest. there's just not enough people who would pay. even worse, there just aren't enough people who are capable of modding to make something like this.

i would love it if someone proved me wrong.

[JoeRudi26]

the biggest problem i see is there just isn't the demand for it.  we used to get hundreds to thousands of downloads a month for these updates, but now we're really talking dozens...if that.  with all the work that is involved, getting enough downloads to compensate anyone isn't going to garner enough revenue.  unless you really want to charge a high premium.  

i'm against charging at all, but i think it's really irrelevant.  i'm just saying that i've been involved in trying to get this mod made for the last two years, and if i've learned anything, there just isn't enough interest.  there's just not enough people who would pay.  even worse, there just aren't enough people who are capable of modding to make something like this.  

i would love it if someone proved me wrong.

You may be right, there may not be enough interest. Like I said, I realize there have been people over the last couple of years to that have tried jump start a new mod (even me at some point), but it truly amazes me how many times I see people "come back" to this game by the middle of the summer. Nothing groundbreaking, just a very steady flow each and every year. Needless to say, it really just lends credibility to the game itself, the mods, and what this site has to offer.

Who knows, I'd love to see MVP flourish one more time.

[Yankee4Life]

the biggest problem i see is there just isn't the demand for it.

Homer, I just can't agree with you on this. I think there is still a big demand for quality Mvp stuff. Just look at what you are doing with your mod.

I do not count these new people who have no clue at all what any baseball game is before the 2K Sports series. I feel sorry for them. If they are not interested in something like this, then I respectfully say "who needs them"?

There are still people working on Mvp. Dylan Bradbury still churns out his calculators for the dynasties like there is no tomorrow. Dennis James has updated the stadiums. I believe he has done every one of them.

While I am not a modder I can go into my extensive hi-res photo collection and pull out some very nice photos for you guys to have for the loading screens. I can help getting the jukebox audio. I am willing to do this.

Whatever it takes I think this is a great idea and I thank Joe Rudi for bringing this idea up.

[Homer]

well i say we get a petition and get jim to do it! i've just seen this project brought up a dozen times and there is never more than two people interested in making. no one seems to want to step up and learn to mod, so we hardly have any new modders.

[Homer]

Homer, I just can't agree with you on this. I think there is still a big demand for quality Mvp stuff. Just look at what you are doing with your mod.

I do not count these new people who have no clue at all what any baseball game is before the 2K Sports series. I feel sorry for them. If they are not interested in something like this, then I respectfully say "who needs them"?

There are still people working on Mvp. Dylan Bradbury still churns out his calculators for the dynasties like there is no tomorrow. Dennis James has updated the stadiums. I believe he has done every one of them.

While I am not a modder I can go into my extensive hi-res photo collection and pull out some very nice photos for you guys to have for the loading screens. I can help getting the jukebox audio. I am willing to do this.

Whatever it takes I think this is a great idea and I thank Joe Rudi for bringing this idea up.

i see what you see too. but i've gotten dozens of requests about this for 09 and 10, but it never happened. i've seen half a dozen of these threads and while some people want it to happen, there just haven't been enough modders.

i see dennis has done stadiums, but i see no stadium modders who can do modelling work. so all we have are updated ads, which i'm fine with. but i don't know of any other cyberface modders, and there's just no way for me to keep up by myself. we could probably do portraits, but there's no one doing audios. front end stuff we could do. uniforms are always a huge maybe. there's only one or two guys even capable of doing an overlay. again, all the little things we can do, but we still need several people doing it. when we tackle that, we need to get modders who can do the hard stuff.

i'd love to see this happen, but i want to see the modders step up first. when we have that, we might be able to get somewhere.

oh, and again there's the part about paying for it. i don't know how well that will go over.

[Yankee4Life]

oh, and again there's the part about paying for it. i don't know how well that will go over.

I agree.

[JoeRudi26]

I agree with the both of you. Even at a trickle, there are still people producing updates, even if they are minimal. And Homer is indeed correct about more people stepping up and being proactive.

Putting my money where my mouth is, I'd be willing to tackle the overlay department. I've got a general idea of how to mod them, but with some research and asking around (Trues), I'm pretty sure I can put out some quality stuff.

Hopefully enough people stay interested over the upcoming offseason, and if the ball starts to roll at a decent pace, it's possible that we could have something by next spring.

[Homer]

one of the hardest parts is having to wait until pressboxes are done and whipping out portraits. that just takes a bunch of people to make it work. as for cyberfaces, it may be a lost cause. we'll need to see where we stand with uniforms too.

[MilkmanAnt]

I'm beyond interested in this. I've recently came back to MVP as my full time baseball game, gave 2k10 the boot as it was a waste of money (Maybe played about 20 hours total since getting it in March). This game is unreal man, I mean wow! Think it's time to stop messing with 2k baseball since it always interferes with MVP.

Anyway I've been slowly piecing my MVP folder together updating things other than rosters, audio, cyberfaces, and portraits. I'm more than willing to help out if needed. I'm good with player audio, can do pretty much most things alpha related (logos, portraits, etc).

[JoeRudi26]

IMO, I firmly believe that charging for the mod is key. Looking around, there are still a lot of gamers that aren't willing (or can't afford) to drop $300-400 for a PS3, and frankly 2K has a long way to go to be anywhere near to being in the same league as EA.

That said, charge for the mod at a decent premium, and stand your ground.

If they want it, they'll come.

[Homer]

i don't know that i like that. i work for free because quite honestly no one can afford what i charge.

[Trues]

I'm all for teaming up with JR to work on some overlays. This would even give me the incentive to finally finish up the front end menus mod I started a few years ago.

[Homer]

well jr, i say you start a checklist.

[MarkB]

I'm not a modder as such, certainly not when compared to the work of many of the other guys around here, but in all honesty, I'd be more reluctant to contribute a mod to a project which I know will have a cost attached, even if I was to receive payment for the work I did. If that was to be the arrangement, I'd rather hold a mod back and release it after the project is released as an add-on which can be obtained at no cost.

To me, modding has always, always been for the fun and the challenge of creating it, or improving on the work done by the games companies - be it EA, 2K, or anyone else. I'm unemployed now, and have been for 12 of the last 14 months, but I'd feel worse charging for a mod than I do about waking up each day knowing that I don't have a job, and probably won't have one any time soon. Maybe that's because I know 99% of my mods aren't good enough to merit a charge - and I have no qualms admitting that - but I think I'd still feel the same if I was good at it.

Just my 2¢, but I think if you're modding under the expectation of being paid in some way for it, you're modding for the wrong reasons.

Again, just my 2¢. I don't mean to disparage your idea, Jay. :)

[JoeRudi26]

I'm all for teaming up with JR to work on some overlays. This would even give me the incentive to finally finish up the front end menus mod I started a few years ago.

This is good news, I'd definitely need to be pointed in the right direction.

[JoeRudi26]

well jr, i say you start a checklist.

I can do that, so maybe we can keep this thread open to make sure I don't miss anything. After all, it's going to be a long winter, and there should be plenty of time to see whether this is going to get off the ground or not.

[JoeRudi26]

Again, just my 2¢. I don't mean to disparage your idea, Jay.

No worries man, I just think charging for the mod would not only kick start the project, but IMO the modders will get, at the very least, compensated for their time and effort. 

It's at least thrown out there now for debate.

[MarkB]

Definitely agree. It's better to have the discussion and iron out the details later than not to have the discussion at all. :)

[Mykal94]

the biggest problem i see is there just isn't the demand for it.

Well I demand it! (kidding) But seriously I would love to see it happen. And I would be willing to offer the little amount of time and talent I have to aid in this quest.

[Yankee4Life]

Well I demand it! (kidding) But seriously I would love to see it happen. And I would be willing to offer the little amount of time and talent I have to aid in this quest.

I bet you will.

[jwheels]

I would love to see another one. I know nothing about how to mod, but would pay if it was asked for.

[apocalypse]

Have you guys considered putting out a big community effort which would get updated all the time?

That means that there wouldn't be no "one huge release" but you'd simply start building and improving it part by part?

We have that kind of project in NHL 2004, MVP 2005's "cousin game" if you allow me to use that definition.

See the link here.

Our community is not huge but it's very, very active and the results have been tremendous. This game raised from the ashes about a year ago... now that thread has over 220.000 views and the mod has thousands of players.

I'm not fully aware of the MVP 2005 file structure, but we have simply replaced the big viv files every time a significant member addon has been released.

This method requires someone who keeps up with everything and takes care of the updated files. Someone who decides what to put in the game and what not... it also requires complete "public domain" attitude from everyone. That means whatever you release, it's going to be "public property" and can be used anywhere, anytime, if it only makes the game better. Biggest obstacle in the modding communities is that people are over-sensitive and they have silly egos. Everyone would agree to create things for the common good only... when it's out it's out, and you can't "take it back" when the first temper tantrum comes. I've been into gaming forums long enough to know that it's a problem.

The best way for us has been that one sticky which ALWAYS has all the latest. We also have an autoinstaller, which gets updated once every 2 months or so.

I would love to see something similar here... a big MVP 2005 project where everyone could be involved.

Just my 2c.

[andy82]

I would love to see another one. I know nothing about how to mod, but would pay if it was asked for.

Go on the 1998 MLB Mod Thread in the Classics section. I knew almost nothing about modding. Within a year, I had released TC'98 (It's not to the standard of the other fantastic Total Classics mods, but hey, it's there). It can be done.

If we had more people who were committed to learn how to mod rather than just say "Yeah I want that, but I can't help because I cba learning", then we'd probably be playing the mod right now.

[SeveredSoulX]

I am more than willing to help out in any case I can. I don't have an 'expertise' in any one area, but I've done LOC files, uniforms, logos, rosters, just not overlays, cyberfaces, portraits, stadiums or audio! But hey, if you need me, count me in!