I
put up this site in 2002, just weeks after the original FF game was released. I
was a pretty active member of the community for a few years, sharing my mod
tools, mods and "hero recipes". I was even a moderator on the official
Irrational Freedom Force boards for a while. But in 2005, due to family issues,
I quietly said goodbye, not thinking I would ever return (though I did keep the
site running as it was.)
I did peek back a few times, in 2007 and 2010, posting a few thoughts and even adding new content from my many collaborators. But it wasn't until 2014 that I really jumped back in. And it was due to the JLA Mod.
You see, even though I had been inactive for many years in FF, I still would get emails. People from all over the world (Japan, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, US, UK, etc.) would write in. I would get questions about how to install meshes, skins, or where to find specific characters. Often they'd just thank me for the site and for keeping it running so long for a game that was released well over a decade ago now.
The Big Question ...
But one thing I did get asked a lot (and one I didn't answer) was What happened in JLA Mod #7? I've even had people ask for just the script to read (if there was one) just so they could see how it turned out. I had left a lot things dangling at the end you see. ... And the fact was, I knew how it all turned out, because I'd written it all out back in 2003-2004.
In April 2014, I happened to run across my script for #7 (and #8 and #9 and #10, but more on that in a future blog) and I thought it was a shame I never finished this thing. So I decided to do something about it.
Back into the fray ...
I jumped back into learning mode to understand what the current state of FF modding was. I read about the newest FFX add-on, new FX, meshes, skins, niftools and skoping, etc. I even bought the games again on Steam, so I could learn how those versions work. I also had to re-learn just how FF mods are put together. Years of not doing it had led me to forget some basic things!
One major thing I learned is that there was a lot more content being created for FFv3R than FF these days (it was different when I had left). Also, due to now being on Windows 7, I found that I couldn't get the original FF editor to work. Though I'm still looking into this, this meant that if I did want to finish this thing, it would have to be a new version, built for FFv3R, not FF.
So what's the plan?
I want to finish the Pawns of Darkness storyline, as I had originally written it back in 2004. In order to do this, I will most likely need to create a whole new version of the game for FFv3R. (I'm still holding out a little hope I'll also find a way to make an FF version)
This will be sort of a "Director's Cut" version as many things will be updated. Back in 2004, my unreleased version already had a lot new character meshes and skins. I will run through all this again as there have been lots of new things created in the 10 years since, to the FF community's credit. I found a lot of the work I'd already done (back in 2005): new meshes & skins, FFX powers), music, voice packs, etc.
But wait there's more!
I also wrote (all those years ago) an outline of close to 50 additional issues (4 issues were even completely written out with dialogue, etc.). There was an actual plan behind the mod and stuff that was setup in issues 1-7 would only pay off much later. I also have a completed script (7 issues!) for a JSA Mod that I worked on with KennX. We'd planned it as a separate mod, but the story in it follows right after events in the JLA mod, so I may just decide to add it on as issues #8-15.
More next time on exactly what I'm doing.