Tarquinn2049

Generically, as a framework for 35 games.

Similar to something like VorpX, except it doesn’t have a unified front end, so it can’t be called a program, it has to be called a mod package or mod suite. So it falls under different rules for an arbitrary reason.

Confirmed, you have no idea what luke ross does. You read one uninformed headline, and then read another uninformed headline.

Yeah, the main issue is the mods are for a niche of a niche of a niche. Not just the niche of VR, but the further niche of PCVR, and within that, the further niche of people who don’t or no longer get sick from stick-based movement in VR. Each of which cuts the audience about ten-fold.

And then for that tiny audience, he is making what is basically perfect VR mods. Like we couldn’t imagine anyway they could possibly get better, until he figures out a new feature he can add, and then slowly back port to every previous game that can support it.

I very much am a continuous patron of him. For people that just want the mod once for one game, they generally don’t need to pay more than once. And technically when they do, they actually get ~35 games they could also choose to play. But it’s worth more than 10 dollars even for 1 game.

It is a non-standard pricing model, but it is more than fair.

He works his ass off, almost every hour of every day. This is the only pricing model that works for a situation like this.

Sorry, meant no modding tools from any one specific game involved in the luke ross mod, he supports 35 games with it.

Then the mod suite would only be allowed to support 1 game. Not much of a suite.

They could have chosen to give him permission to continue, in their own words, they didn’t choose that.

Yeah, this would be setting precedent if it ever went to court, but it likely never will. He doesn’t want to step on any toes. If they don’t like being included in the suite, they can be removed. It’s all-around easier and less risky. This is his job/livelihood, don’t rock the boat that feeds you, or something.

Donations is not an option, this level of mod is not possible without it being his full time job. Anyone saying otherwise has not tried it. Amd any one company hiring him wojld mean all other games would need to be dropped from the suite. There is no other way for this to exist than how it does now. If he couldn’t charge, it just wouldn’t exist.

The problem mostly comes with calling it a “mod”, that is barely a word that applies here. That’s an entirely different scope from what this is.

There are no modding tools. This is done entirely outside the game. But it does still qualify as a breech of ToS. There are alot of options for how to handle it, this is the option they chose.

It is indeed against their ToS, they do have this option. They also cite themselves that all he would need is their permission, but they didn’t go that route.

His work does indeed go against their terms, though there are plenty of options, they even cite themselves that all he would need is their permission and it would be fine, they decided not to go that route. So he is in the process of disentangling that game from the mod suite, it’s shut down while he works, it’ll be about a week, 100 hours of work or so.

Other than the option they said they had, which was to give him their permission… they could have chosen that.

They didn’t, and he respected that choice. He is in the process of the week or so of hard work it’s going to take to remove the game. The mod suite is shut down in the interim while he complies.

What if there is so much passion that the mod author works 100+ hours a week on the mod. And the mod he makes is so awesome that people have no issue paying him to do that job. Honestly if every mod was this level of skill and effort, paid mods would make sense to more people. When you think of mods, “passion project” mods may be what comes to mind, that is not what this mod suite is.

This is 35 completely transformed and improved games, better than any other VR games on the market, fully supported in perpetuity, for 10 dollars. With everything he brings to these games, it’s like if 20 mod authors got together and made 20 perfectly interleaved mods that all work perfectly with each other. You don’t find this anywhere else. This isn’t a “mod”, this is unprecedented.

And while the mod is behind the paywall, most of us don’t think of it as paying for the mod, we are paying part of his wage for a day. Many of us just keep an active monthly subscription, but that isn’t necessary for people that just want the mod suite. You can just buy one month if you only want to play one game real quick, or any game that it currently supports. You would only need to update it if either the game updates and that update breaks the game (though you always have the choice of reverting and pausing updates for the game instead) or if he adds a new game that you want to play in VR.

It’s understandable not to like that it costs money, but it is very much the only option.

I agree that it isn’t just passion, it is his full time job. He clearly has passion for it too, but you can’t make a mod suite this insane on passion alone. This is years of consistent 100 hour work weeks. All dedicated to making these VR mods better than any VR port, or even “built for VR first” games.

And he drops support for the game as soon as asked. Which requires shutting down for a week to disentangle anything related to the one game specifically from the rest of the suite. I can’t say he didn’t complain, but not about the work, just that it didn’t have to go this route, but it did go this route, so he does what he has to.

While the mod is behind payment, the payment is for his work and dedication. If he had to subsist on donations, he wouldn’t be able to put 100 hours a week into it, he would need a job.

Again, the games are fully in their right to pull out, but they also admit that all he would need is their permission, they could choose to go that route, most do.

Why do people think luke ross is the same person as pure dark? I’ve seen this in other places too.

They are completely different people, they have completely different patreons, and luke ross doesn’t have time to pretend to be a whole different person on top of himself. Is it because both their mods include, in part, the acronym “dlss”? As far as I can tell that is literally the only possible link between them. And technically that’s even a stretch, because luke ross’s mod suite actually adds DL"S"SS, the extra S is for a version that works properly in stereo. Which no one and nothing else has.

When you say he “did the same thing” with rockstar. What do you think he did?

The mod is for 35 games, yes one other company decided to remove their game from the mod, and luke ross immediately did so… it took about a week of work to remove it while he locked down access to the mod suite at his own expense, sure he grumbled that it was a dumb move from rockstar but we all hoped maybe it meant rockstar was considering their own VR port so it made sense. But they didn’t.

Is that what a jerk does?

I think you have no idea what luke ross does.

I think there is nuance, the mod in question is a suite of about 35 mods that is constantly maintained/repaired as games patch and break parts of it, and is so insanely complex and impressive that it is a 100 hour a week job for the guy. That’s not something that can be done for free or for donations, It’s well beyond “a mod”. And each of those ~35 mods is like 10-20 mods in one, the list of features added to each game beyond “just” VR support is lengthy.

And it’s such an impressive thing to use, and is only done for games that have no plans to be made for VR. So it only adds sales to the games themselves. Maybe not alot, but it certainly doesn’t take anything away. Not only does he make the games VR capable, he makes sure they play the absolute best possible in VR, not only performance-wise but play-wise as well.

While they are in the right to ask that their game not be part of it, they lose out by doing so.

Without being able to charge a fixed price, a mod of this insane level of quality, quantity, and detail just wouldn’t exist instead.

People that think he is grifting or ripping people off have not actually tried the mods. It is insanely cheap for what you get. For 10 dollars you get ~35 games not just in VR, but in better VR than any company has done with their actual VR ports, and not by a small margin, not to mention they will keep working, because he doesn’t just put in all the effort to make a perfect VR game out of them once, he goes back and fixes anything that needs fixing for every single game too. Even if you don’t want to try it yourself because 10 dollars feels like too much to charge for an amazing VR version of 35 games, at least watch videos of how much people enjoy and respect his work before assuming he is some kind of jerk.

Only 2 of the 35 games have decided to pursue dmca against it in it’s entire history, it is a choice, they don’t -have- to, they choose to. ToS can always be amended if a use is deemed exceptional and worth supporting. The law, just like everything else, is not actually black and white, there is always nuance and possibility.

For both games that asked, he immediately acquiesced and spent the week or so of work it took/takes to strip out all support for that game. It’s the only option he has, this is his full time job. A fuller-time job than most people do/have.

CDprojekt Red even said all he needed was their permission, they could have gone that route.

The worst part is he’s accelerating towards it so hard that half, or more, of the frogs are going to jump out of the boiling pot. And they will have a civil war at the same time as starting WW3… so they will also lose WW3.

The Harvest Moon games were also all dating sims. The main thing Stardew Valley does is have like 20x as much content and variety as a Harvest Moon game with significantly fewer bugs or abandoned concepts. And the Harvest Moon games were already great as they were. But yeah, if you literally rolled every single Harvest Moon game feature into a single Harvest Moon game, it would still come up short against Stardew Valley. And it was made primarily by one dude that charged way less than any single Harvest Moon game for it.

For the purposes of this comment “Harvest Moon games” refers to the ones made by the real Harvest Moon team, that eventually moved on to “Story of Seasons” when their franchise name was stolen from them. And also includes Rune Factory.