Wes Howe sells his soul ...

[Drakron]

http://www.thesimsresource.com/news/view-post/post/13489

[Zazazu]

He's never been a bastion of good will and morality, ya know?

[Mire Krisma]

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This is the comment disclaimer. This is why I would never use the rancid cesspool that is TSR. Those assholes pretend to have more jurisdiction than they actually have. In fact, they have none, because I can find their objects same-day on PMBD.

[brownlustgirl]

I guess he gave up and said they will use it anyway.

Hope he got paid, not a ride with no lunch or a kiss good-bye.

[wes_h]

Characterize it as you want.

What I have done is allowed them to support the object mesh format I use for the MilkShape object meshing plugins. Better to have interoperable tools than not. If I had just licensed everything freely (as I did for TS2) from the start, there would have been less incentive for more modding tool development. As long people can get a free ride, they will take it. Since they have put some of their skin in the game, then standards are better than fighting.

While they have some distance to go technically, it is perfectly feasible to make an object with a new mesh and textures using their WorkShop program now. To whatever extent I contributed to their effort in the form of posting all of my research, I have no apologies to offer. I still have my code, none of which is included in their WorkShop, available as an alternative to using their stuff. That is not changing.

[CatOfEvilGenius]

Anything Thoma$ spews needs to be viewed with skepticism, because he's a lying liar who lies, and when not lying, he spins.  Anything on Coconut's blog needs to be taken with a grain of salt, because while Coconut is trustworthy, Coconut's sources or intel may be TSR disinformation.  That's why I waited until Wes told his side of it before judging.  While I would have much, much preferred that all the licenses stay non-commercial because who cares if TSR employees have interoperable tools, I don't see it as Wes selling his soul.  There are those who argue that some free creators will also use TSR's tool, that tools are just tools, free of politics.  While I believe they shouldn't, I can see how Wes might see tool interoperability as a service to the free community.  Since TSR took Wes' research and used it for their own purposes, they are simply being parasites, business as usual.  Thoma$ spouting "we're BFF with the free community now and all get along so great, working hand in hand for the greater glory of TSR" bullshit, also business as usual.

Thank you, Wes, for all your contributions to Sims3 modding, and especially for the stuff that can be used instead of TSR's "gifts".

[J. M. Pescado]

I can see how it might be characterized as such, but I don't think this quite qualifies as an act worthy of bringing out the pitchforks and torches.

[wes_h]

As long as my tired old body holds out, we will have the ObjTool I already made available and supported, and it will remain free. I think I may drop the restrictions on the work product, because they served their purpose. As long as people could leech without giving back, the provision had a purpose. While some people have made representations about their intentions to give their tools away, I have also listened to chatter about what functionality will be kept as private. Should such as event occur, and some significant custom content creation capability be hidden from the ordinary mortals, my competitive (and combative) spirit will force me to make sure that they can't do anything we can't.

==== Recruiting Message Below ===========================

I put a lot of effort into making the intermediate part of the mesh and material editing process be a simple (well, as simple as technology allows) set of text files. I was hoping that Morgade would make a Blender plugin for object meshing that uses that format, and had some initial discussions of that with him. He seems to have lost interest and has gone off into the ether somewhere. But I am actively interested in recruiting aspiring tool writers that might want to make a name for themselves writing a compatible file script for Blender or Wings (or some other modeling program) that leverages this work. All of the really hard parts (float/integer decompression and recompression, group packing and unpacking) are in the decompiler and recompiler code, all you have to worry about are the mesh parts themselves.

Besides the documentation I provided with the package, I will help where I can with the process. Ideally, you could use one editor for UV mapping and one for the bone assignments with the same set of files, recompile them, use Postal or S3PE or my S3Pack or insert-your-own packager and stick it in the game and play it.

[Srikandi]

He's never been a bastion of good will and morality, ya know?

Wes? :O I trust you haven't witnessed the patience and support he always has available for beginning meshers of all sophistication levels? I don't know any toolmaker who's kinder or more helpful to developing the talent pool in their area.