SFB Online and new SSDs

[Brigman]

OK, so, my understanding is that ADB has banned the addition of ANY new product's SSDs to SFBOL until such time as the client as revised to use non-graphical SSDs.

This, of course, means I won't be buying any new SFB products until this is done, because I can't use them - costing the company sales.  But, my question is:

1.) When will this be done?

2.) Will the "new" method allow custom SSD defs to be uploaded?  So that I can use a custom def in a campaign game, for example?

3.) If not, is the "old" method going to be disabled or can I continue to use it by not updating the client?

[William Wilson]

My understanding is that the current version of the client already supports this.  I know I don't get any SSD downloads when I install the client on a different system.  I don't understand what else needs to be changed.

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[William Wilson]

The other thing I don't understand is, that even if something does need to be converted from one format to another, why that should have to be a manual process as opposed to an automated one.

[Dale Mckee]

All I know is SVC is all aflutter about COPYRIGHT VIOLATION and he's
ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater by disallowing SFBOL to
be updated with new SSDs. At least that's my understanding. I'd love
to be wrong.

[Shawn Hantke]

My understanding on this is that there are a ton of sites that host the SFB
online client and of course are not authorized to do so. Comments made on
other boards by a few bad apples were encouraging people to join SFB online
for one month download the library and never buy a SFB product again. There
are even pirate sites that were hosting the SFB online library. The first
step to combat this was that in all of the newer versions of the client the
ship library in on the server and doesn't download to your computer, as long
as you are logged in to the client you have all the ships that are in the
library. The second problem was that ADB had wanted a ban on new ships from
a just released module not going to the client until at least six months
after that product had been released. Even then, permission had to be given
by ADB before any ships were added to the client. The previous volunteer
ignored that and put ships in the library that ADB had never given
permission to be in the client library and ships were being added as soon as
they were printed. The follow up solution to this was that the new style
SFB online client SSDs are going to be a new graphical format. Instead of a
block of squares for a shield there will be one box with a number in it. As
the ship takes damage the number gets smaller instead of the boxes in a
rectangle changing to red one by one. As far as I Understand the Tournament
ship SSDS since they are available for free on the website will stay the
same as the old ones. So all of the ships in the library need to be redone
to this new format one at a time taking several hours to do per ship.

My answer is not official but this is what I have understood over the last
several months as this has been happening.

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[N. Eric Phillips]

So, if I understand, in the future there will be no graphical SSDs in
the client. If that is true i will stop using the client which also
means I stop playing the game and buying stuff for it. The client is
quirky enough, non-graphical SSDs is just crap.

[William Wilson]

The best thing to do is look at the forum in the SFBOL : Ships Submitted thread where this is being discussed in higher volume.  The new-format SSDs are not as bad as you are imagining (or at least, they aren't as bad as *I* was imagining).  In some ways they are better, in others probably not quite as good, but on balance I don't hate them.

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[Dale Mckee]

So basically we can't use new modules we purchase on SFBOL until such
time as this conversion is completed, which was estimated to take at
least two years. And I actually buy all my products, or had, and like
the SSDs online to look like SSDs. I guess I could live with a
different SSD, but not being able to use new products for two years is
a deal-breaker... not to mention this BS about having to only buy
product from ADB directly if you want to use it on SFBOL. I *think*
they're talking about "going forward", at least I HOPE they are not
going to think I can/would re-purchase every product I've collected
for the last 20 years so I can use it on SFBOL.

Contrary to discouraging me to buy products, having them available on
SFBOL encouraged me to buy them, as I could actually PLAY them.
Otherwise, since my local gaming group went the way of the dodo,
they're just light bathroom reading...

[Paul Franz]

Agreed. I really like the new format. I will see if I can get a sample out tonight or tomorrow.

Paul Franz
Owner of Franz Games
Proprietor of SFB Online

[Dale Mckee]

Paul, what about custom defs ability, will this be retained?

> To view this discussion on the web visit

> https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sfb-online-client/-/RYLxlqDe1UwJ.

[Paul Franz]

Which abilities are you talking about? Do you mean the refits or something else?

[Dale Mckee]

I'm talking about the ability to create a custom definition. In my
old campaign we had one for the Klingon BT with pods attached (as we
found tractor-towing them around the map annoying), and I know Jeremy
Gray and I used some to playtest the Borak prior to publication.

> https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sfb-online-client/-/_q8uiAeW8VgJ.

[William Wilson]

Custom defs are also useful for captured & converted ships in campaigns as well as any player-designed ships (whether in campaigns or not).

I don't think the conversion project will take two years.  If I get a hand from Paul, it'll probably get done for 95% of ships in a week (once the new-style SSDs are tested and proved to work).  The new format is not space-efficient for all possible ship configurations and some ships (mostly those with lots of one-box elements) will not fit very well; those will probably have to be redone manually.

I certainly can't think of any reason to actively prevent this from working but there might be some technical problem I am not aware of.  The custom ships don't need to (and should not) be in the library, just something that the involved players can manually drop into the SFB directory, the same way custom ships have always worked.

[Dale Mckee]

Agreed. It is a huge part of campaign functionality. Losing it...
would SUCK. :(

[Paul Franz]

I see no reason to remove it.

Sent from my iPad

[Paul Franz]

No. That is not what will be happening. The look will just be changing.

[Paul Franz]

The data is easy enough to convert. The problem will the positioning of the boxes on the background image. Then their is will the handling on the refits be the same.

On Aug 29, 2012, at 8:04 PM, Drew Klenotic wrote:

Paul, if you can e-mail me something on the new format I'd bet you almost anything we could easily automate it.  You'd be surprised what's out there.

 

I already have the old library from an old archive of my HD, so I can see the old format and how that all works.  I'd just need to see the new data file format and the finished result.

 

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