The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

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texmex
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The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by texmex » Post

I saw that Minecraft Forum is shutting down. It will soon be read-only. Tbh, it seems like the whole Minecraft ecosystem is dying, and it’s bringing it’s community content with down with it. The forums host links to a vast trove of Minecraft content. Some of which is properly licensed with Creative Commons.

I’m looking to salvage interesting content from dying links on dying file hosting platforms and put them somewhere safer, probably on git. This is a chance to rescue good content from lock-in of a dying game. Is anyone else interested in this?

As for the massive amount of content with restrictive/non-free/homecooked licensing, the creators of such content can be persuaded to relicense to for example CC-BY-SA. I’ve successfully reached out to creators more than once with favorable outcome.

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by sorcerykid » Post

This is certainly shocking news that I wasn't even aware of. Is there link to some news source where people can find more background on what is happening with Minecraft? Are people jumping ship or is this a full scale exodus? And might this be an opportunity to capitalize on this death knell of Minecraft by making Minetest into a viable alternative?

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by texmex » Post

The reason for the shutdown is explained in a post on the site. Note that Minecraft Forums is not run by Mojang nor Microsoft but Curse, a 3rd party. Still, it’s telling of the state of the MC community. Personally I think the game and community has just run its course.

By reasons outlined in this post I believe that the MT community has the potential of becoming new custodians of content from a game that really transcended being a commodity and, for a while, almost became a common good.

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by Linuxdirk » Post

I feel so sorry for the community. Even if I switched to Minetest some years ago I still was an active member for a long time.

On the other hand ... "HA! I knew it."

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by texmex » Post

So Linuxdirk, as a former MC community member, what content would you want to survive? What are some of the more defining work worth rescuing?

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by Linuxdirk » Post

texmex wrote:So Linuxdirk, as a former MC community member, what content would you want to survive? What are some of the more defining work worth rescuing?
I'm out of it since a few years, but I absolutely loved the concept of resource packs allowing to modify a lot of visual game aspects without having to use mods that basically reinvent the wheel over and over again.

You could also mix the packs as you want and configure loading order so for example you're able to define what textures are loaded first for example and then get overwritten by the next contents. This would really maintain updatability but allowing flexibility at the same time (I like texture pack X but I don't like their stone texture? Load X and add a new texture pack with my favorite stone texture and load it second so the stone texture from X gets overwritten but X can still beupdated without having to take care of my own changes.)

The concept was officially rejected.

We should also try to get server networks. So players can join on server X and can be transferred via portal or command or whatever to server Y without losing inventory and stuff and without having to log off and on or re-enter password, etc. with server networks multiple independent worlds with different/independent settings were possible allowing servers to have different worlds for their players without complicated mods and allowing to reset individual worlds if wanted (for example a mining world that gets reset every X days, a PvP world, etc.). This would also greatly improve the amount of players that can use a server (or server network) at the same time by combining the resources of said server.

This concept was also officially rejected (and people were redirected to a completely unrelated other issue).

Oh, and of course the textures. Those are just awesome (I am aware of 3rd party converting scripts). I hope texture pack artists will come to Minetest so we get hundreds of artsy textures from actual artists. Don't get me wrong, "our" textures are mostly great, but having an actual artist creating textures is just different.

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by texmex » Post

You barely address my actual question. Instead you chose to hijack my topic with various past failures. I asked, what CONTENT would you want to salvage from the MC community. If you’re not interested in talking about this, just start your own topic.

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by Linuxdirk » Post

Then it's just professionally made texture packs, Sir.

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by texmex » Post

Linuxdirk wrote:Then it's just professionally made texture packs, Sir.
Heh, that’s better! I’ve started that very process with a few texture packs over at Minetest Texture Packs, maybe you’ve seen it.

What TPs do you want rescued then? I have my own taste in texture packs of course but one factor to look into is if the pack has large mod support, textures which in turn may become the base of MT mod support.

I’m thinking various textures form MC mods may be of value as well, even if not part of a TP. One can think of them as resources for future MT creations.

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by Linuxdirk » Post

texmex wrote:What TPs do you want rescued then?
I could name a few (Misas Realistic, Default 3D, Alvoria’s Sanity, Sphax PureBDCraft, etc.) but that’s not the point.

I just hope there will be some artists finding Minetest and getting all the support they need to provide a good looking overall default style and some extraordinary high-res works.

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by texmex » Post

Linuxdirk wrote:I just hope there will be some artists finding Minetest and getting all the support they need to provide a good looking overall default style and some extraordinary high-res works.
I do too, but this is about saving existing work from oblivion.

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by GreenXenith » Post

texmex wrote:it’s bringing it’s community content with down with it
citricsquid@minecraftforum.net wrote:all content will remain accessible
So the content isn't going away, per se.
Saving content from dying hosts, on the other hand, makes sense.
a dying game
Minecraft is not dead at all; In fact, it may as well be experiencing a resurgence at the moment.
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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by TumeniNodes » Post

I was not even aware of this...
Perhaps I will speak with my acquaintance Glim about his steampunk work.
Not sure how it will go, I've spoken with him before about it, and I'm not sure about the actual impact this will even have...
Most content is already available through various means other than the forum.
Quite a few of the more popular works/content have their own web pages where their material can be accessed.

*edit: actually, just read his thoughts on the closure, and now I know that I will not bother him about this matter.
He's a stubborn old gruff like me :P
A Wonderful World

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by texmex » Post

I’m not trying to say that MC itself is dying, just various parts of its community ecosystem.

I’m also recognizing that content is sometimes mirrored at other sites, but that doesn’t take away the trend indecreasing community engagement I’m seeing (mods cease being developed, texture packs falling behind, a large dip in YouTube videos and so on). This trend will probably not turn upwards for any larger stretch of time, which is why I think it’d be good to talk to content creators about releasing under CC licensing while you can still reach them (people move on, leaving pseudonyms behind).

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by Hugues Ross » Post

Heh, that’s better! I’ve started that very process with a few texture packs over at Minetest Texture Packs, maybe you’ve seen it.

What TPs do you want rescued then? I have my own taste in texture packs of course but one factor to look into is if the pack has large mod support, textures which in turn may become the base of MT mod support.

I’m thinking various textures form MC mods may be of value as well, even if not part of a TP. One can think of them as resources for future MT creations.
The only worry I see about this (on the textures front) is that this is going to introduce a lot of incomplete content. default alone has a number of textures that Minecraft doesn't, and without support from the original creators (or volunteers who can match their style) it may become harder for players to figure out which packs are actively developed/maintained and which are stagnant.

If we can get the creators on board though, this could be a really big win for Minetest.

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by texmex » Post

Incomplete content is better than nothing when some day someone suddenly decides to complete it.

Btw and to add one more argument why this type of project is needed:
Putting a resource pack on the in-game marketplace requires the developer of the pack to be a Minecraft Partner.
This means any pack maker must be a registered company and sign a deal with Mojang to enter. Much will disappear/be abandoned because of this. The above quote is from Dokucraft, a community-driven MC resource pack that can’t and won’t become a business only in order to enter the MC marketplace.

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by Sokomine » Post

Sadly, locating good content that is worth preserving will not be easy whenever there's a lot of content around.

MT will certainly welcome any MC players that want to play it. Existing buildings can be converted to some degree. Texture packs...they're often a waste of good textures in my eyes: At least some of those nice textures *could* be put on new blocks and enrich MT mods :-) As far as mods go...those in MC do not seem to be as easily accessible (download from suspicious source, installation complicated) as MT mods. I'm sure there're a lot of good ideas around that would be worth rewriting in MT.
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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by twoelk » Post

There are certainly some plants and farming themed minecraft mods I would think worth comverting if the license allows. Sadly while most of the code seems to allow forking most textures seem somewhat more restricted

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by Sokomine » Post

twoelk wrote: There are certainly some plants and farming themed minecraft mods I would think worth comverting if the license allows. Sadly while most of the code seems to allow forking most textures seem somewhat more restricted
That's a pity. Perhaps some of these mod creators can still be reached and asked if they can provide a more permissive license (or contact with the artist who created the textures).
A list of my mods can be found here.

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by texmex » Post

Sokomine wrote:
twoelk wrote: There are certainly some plants and farming themed minecraft mods I would think worth comverting if the license allows. Sadly while most of the code seems to allow forking most textures seem somewhat more restricted
That's a pity. Perhaps some of these mod creators can still be reached and asked if they can provide a more permissive license (or contact with the artist who created the textures).
Yeah, I've managed to convince a few myself. One new strong incentive for permissive licensing is the risk of deprecation of the Java version of Minecraft with a lot of content missing a home. In that context their little "Use in Minecraft only" clause probably won't be that important if the argument is made that Minetest is the spiritual successor of an open Minecraft-like ecosystem.

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by texmex » Post

Another one! This is exactly what I’m talking about. viewtopic.php?p=349333#p349333

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by ShadMOrdre » Post

I'll gladly include worthwhile textures in lib_ecology / lib_materials. Plants, trees, and such are more than welcome, as are worthy stone / dirt types, but we may have reached equilibrium on that one in lib_materials.

This all reminds me of the demise of Opensim, and the loss of content as the "community" got over it's fad. There is still some great content out there, but as with alot of the mod sites for other older games, the content ends up on something like fileplanet or locked behind ad walls, click bait, or worse.

For those content providers that are willing, I would encourage they upload their content to github, or some other worth opensource type file site.

Look up Linda Kellie, an old Opensim content provider. Some of her stuff might also be preserved and used here in MT.

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by texmex » Post

Exactly, you understand the problem at hand. Are there any specific mods you have your eye on, ShadMOrdre?

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by ShadMOrdre » Post

I've only recently purchased MC for the xb0x for my son. I don't really play it.

I'm more a PC guy, with a hefty disdain for Java.

Sorry I can't provide mod names... :(

Honestly, other than reaching out to mod/content authors on those other forums, asking there to come here, or relicense might get you better results. Sure, the regulars here, who play there can provide better info.

If I were to vote for any mod, (name unknown of course...;) ), I'd have to vote for mods that increase immersion over anything. I'm really tired of formspecs popping up, when I should be inworld handling interactive objects.

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Re: The Dying Platforms Content Salvage Squad

by texmex » Post

I think that in your case a mod like Biomes o’ Plenty would provide many excellent textures. Some of them perhaps conforming too much with MC esthetics but most of them would probably be very useful. The mod is already CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, so it isn’t far off. Its creator(s) and you should have quite some interests in common, if you would want to establish contact.

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