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    SWGEmu End of Year Update 2011

    SWGEmu End of Year Update 2011

    January 2012
    SWGEmu Team








    Table of Contents
    • Project Update
    • Staff Updates
    • Quick Stats
    • Staff Round-Table
    • Closing



    SWGEmu End of Year Update 2011










    Another year is behind us, was it a good year? A great year? Only time will tell...

    We had our ups and downs, our good and bad times, but we pulled through and we continued to march on towards our common goal a fully functional, vanilla, 14.1 Pre-CU Star Wars Galaxies Emulator. There is no going back, no compromises, we know why we are here and we will stay on the course.

    SWGEmu Project Updates

    Hardware Upgrade/Changes:
    • 02/14/2011 - TC: Nova and Liberator Upgrade
    • 05/16/2011 - Web and Database Server Upgade
    • 07/04/2011 - Network Upgrade
    • 01/07/2012 - Website and Database Move

    Major Additions/Changes

    Staff Updates

    SWGEmu is Recruiting!
    As always, SWGEmu is an ever-changing and growing organization where new talent is always being sought out. We especially would like to mention the need for more developers, please see this thread for more information.

    The Web Development team is recruiting, please see this thread.

    The Quality Assurance team is recruiting, please see this thread.

    The Support team is recruiting, please see this thread.

    Quick Stats

    Developer Code Commits:
    Total Commits: 3,527
    Total Lines of Code (LoC): 5,603,903


    Registration Statistics:
    June 2011 - 6611 new users registered
    November 2011 - 2449 new users registered
    Monthly Average: 4169.83 new users registered

    Users online:
    Record online users - 1657 (05-11-2011 05:22 PM)

    Most viewed thread: Force Progression thread
    Most replied thread: Force Progression thread
    Most popular forum: Trade Forum

    New thread statistics:

    March 24, 2011 - 178 started threads
    November 19, 2011 - 20 started threads


    Staff Round-Table

    Oru - Developer
    Quote Originally Posted by Oru
    Another rough and challenging year has passed. Aside from trying to keep the project together i have been working along with TheAnswer on engine updates that should make the everyday job of our coders easier and will be the base for scaling core3 over multiple nodes. Currently we are facing performance and some correctness issues but it is a tremendously exciting job to create this system.


    Another great thing this year was establishing the SWGEmu Non-Profit organization. Added an extra protection both legality and financial wise so it was well worth every penny.


    Stay tuned for all the upcoming updates because End of Liberator Milestone is starting to shape up and you should see some marginal changes over the next year!

    Loshult - Developer
    Quote Originally Posted by Loshult
    I was very happy when I found out about this emulator this summer. For some reason I had completely missed it all these years since I quit playing SWG at the CU. I digged up my old CD's and installed and logged onto Liberator as fast as I could and I was overwhelmed with all memories from the first months I played SWG. However my joy diminished a bit when I found out that the part of the game that I loved so much wasn't entirely implemented (survey, mining and crafting). I started to read about how to setup my own development environment and a few days later I ran around for the first time on my own server while trying to re-add the strarting items.

    So these last four months I've tried to use as much of my spare time as possible to help out with bringing the development forward. So far I've done some bugfixing, added a few missing features and done some work with the underlying structure of the server. My focus has mainly been towards player creation, structures and non-combat missions.

    Next year I will continue the work with the non-combat missions. I'm hoping to get the factional deliver missions up and running pretty soon, if they are not already. After that I don't know yet but it will be something that gets us closer to EOL.

    Sytner - Client Developer
    Quote Originally Posted by Sytner

    It must have been a couple of years since I last posted an official update so many apologies to those who have messaged me asking for one that it has taken so long. I expect many of our newer members may not even know who I am – so I am Sytner, SWGEmu’s resident tool developer/client reverser. Since so much has happened since my last update I am just going to briefly summarise the state of all of my editors (for the sake of not taking up too much of this thread) and hopefully clear up some misinformation that has been floating around.

    General editor progress:

    • I have been very busy in real life the past few years, so my progress tends to come in chunks, but this year in particular a great deal of progress has been made in both client research and tools development.
    • The majority of my time is spent working on the mesh/animation and terrain elements of the editor, but it now has read/write support for almost every SWG file of any interest.
    • Unfortunately I do not have the time to write interfaces for editing all of these files, but currently there are UIs for editing: terrains and their associated files, snapshots (these deal with object placement on the world), shaders, meshes (static and dynamic), animations and datatables.

    The terrain and snapshot editor:

    • The terrain/snapshot editor (I often refer to this collectively as the world editor) is a mixture of graphical and form based tools which can be used to create entirely new worlds for SWG. A couple of screenshots of this section of the editor: top-down planet editing, creatures.
    • The snapshot component is basically done besides a few missing graphical tools. The user can move around objects on the map, snap them to terrain, create various arrays of objects and so on.
    • There are too many aspects to the terrain component to discuss it in detail here, but the file format is >95% understood and the main work remaining is just adding more tools to allow the user to edit terrains more easily.
    • The world editor can generate high detail top-down images of the whole planet which can be used for new planetary maps.
    • Support for space "terrains" too.

    The mesh/animations editor:

    • The mesh editor allows both static and dynamic (animated) models to be imported into SWG from a variety of popular formats including: 3ds, dae, ase, obj, lwo and smd.
    • I managed to completely reverse animations this year, all that remains to be done is come up with a convincing way to generate the new data for them. Here’s a two videos showing bone animation and skinning.
    This screenshot shows a fairly early version of the editor being used to import a new speeder into the game.

    Finally two things to clear up since I get asked quite a lot:

    • I have every intention of publicly releasing at least the majority of the tools as soon as I feel they’re ready.
    • Although I rarely get the time to post official updates like this, I do post numerous pictorial updates on my Photobucket during my periods of activity (admittedly not ideal but it works for now).
    Wuzze - Quality Assurance
    Quote Originally Posted by wuzze301
    Hi, I want to thank all the community members who have kept me busy keeping Mantis updated and current. This leads me into what I've been doing this year since joining the SWGEMU team, checking and confirming as many as possible the Mantis bug reports. Also in game worked on the shipwright schematic download, testing Tailor schematics, TKA combat, Armorsmith Schematics, Chef Schematics, Structures, crafting in all aspects, Testing combat. Then in spare time Aceblade had numerous projects he was juggling and would ask for input. I'm new this year to the staff but want to tell the community how impressed I am with all involved and the time and effort they put forward. Thank you all, looking forward to a great new year as we get closer to the goal.
    Ilipah - Support Director
    Quote Originally Posted by Ilipah
    This year saw the launch of the Liberator Server and a restructure of the Support Department to more effectively offer support for the Server. In this regard, we expanded the Community Assistant Program to not only allow the Assistants to help the Community but to also offer them a chance to become Community Staff Members. The Assistants, past and present, have truly made an impact on the support we offer and are to be commended for their hard work and dedication to not only the Support Department but to the SWGEmu Project, as a whole.

    Are you interested in becoming a Customer Support Representative (CSR), a Forum or IRC Moderator, or an Event Coordinator (EC)? We are currently accepting applications to the Community Assistant Program. As an Assistant, you will work with other Assistants, and with Community Staff, in offering support to the Community. During this time, your performance will be evaluated and you may be offered a Community Staff Position. To submit your application, please use the following link.

    I also want to thank the Community for helping us to help you. We all want Pre-CU back but it takes time and there are growing pains involved. As we progress along this path, please remember to thank your friendly CSRs, Moderators and ECs for their hard work and dedication. Be us Community Members or Staff, we are one family, committed to reliving the greatest saga ever told... yours! We will relive it, one step at a time.
    TAfirehawk - Site Services Leader
    Quote Originally Posted by TAfirehawk
    2011 has been an extremely busy year for me here and in RL - where I bought a new house in April. *The year started with the launch of this new forum and registration system. *We followed that up with the fun and challenges with Liberator but all-in-all I believe the "play server" concept is a good one for everybody. *Hopefully we can improve the implementation of the concept soon (tm) in 2012 while we eagerly await the Nova code for Liberator.

    I have bounced around different departments this year (not so different from previous years) to help wherever possible throughout the year and I am currently handling "Site Services". *The goal of Site Services is to reduce the server admin workload from Developers so they can focus more on Nova code development.

    The last few months have been the most demanding and exciting of 2011 because I am working on the new server layout and new site setup. *As we have stated before, we have a third dedicated server with FDC to upgrade all our web services and to allow one of the old servers to be used for development-only. *The school of hard knocks has taught us a lot of lessons in the server department and I truly believe this brand new setup for all three servers will be a big step forward.

    We will have more information coming out soon (tm) on the server/site features but the two main points for everybody to know right now are A) the creation of two distinct areas on swgemu.com, one for Community and one for Developers and B) the physical separation of Liberator and Nova so the "play server" will no longer take time or server stability away from Nova development.
    Renala - Event Coordinator Leader
    Quote Originally Posted by Renala
    Echoing what Kreen said, not only has it been a great year in general, its been great for the Event Coordination Team. As was already mentioned, we've recently added OMekks to the EC Team as our primary PvP event coordinator. While he has already proven to deliver entertaining PvP events by balancing both sides of the conflict to ensure a good fight, we'll also be working on helping him learn more about rudimentary props to enrich the experience.

    Earlier this year Shotter also rejoined the EC team and has been doing more private-type events (Such as the ones Kreen mentioned) for anyone whose requested them. Looking to the new year we hope as more people become their desired combat templates, we'll be able to increase the frequency of these types of events that are tailored specifically for the small group of players participating in them.

    Lastly, Chetok has been retired from the Event Coordinator Team due to personal commitments. We were sad to see him go, but wish him the best luck in his future endeavors.

    We're hoping 2012 will mark not just another year of progress towards our goal of restoring SWG to Pre-CU, but also a year of entertainment as the EC team continues to provide those that follow us by playing on Nova and Liberator with fun things to do.
    Kreen - Event Coordinator
    Quote Originally Posted by Kreen
    Hey guys! Thanks for another wonderful year and thanks for coming out and partying with us Event Coordinators all the time! Things are starting to pick up again in the EC department with our latest coordinator, oMekks, joining the team, so expect a lot more events coming your way for 2012. For me, this year has been pretty hard personally in my real life, so I apologize for my lack of event for the past few months. But, things are looking up, and with the help and support from friends and family, I'll be able to bring some more cool events this next semester!

    While oMek seems to really have a strong area for PvP events, I'll most likely be taking the role of creating more story-driven and immersive PvE, party, roleplaying, and a couple of PvP events. Things like mass group hunting, questing, dungeon-clearing, and of course swoop races! Shotter is back too, so between the two of us, expect some eye-candy scenery and epic events!

    Do you want to join the Event Coordinators? See how we work? Get to know us? Join our IRC channel #events and talk with us! (hint: during an event is probably not the best time to ask our favorite color ) One thing that we actually do that few players ask for is private events. Does your roleplaying guild have an epic battle that needs to unfold in someone's storyline? Does your PvP guild want a private fight club arena set up for an evening? Maybe you and some friends would like to go on a hunting trip with special encounters, or perhaps even just hang out in a scenic place? Send us a private message, email kreen@swgwemu.com, or join #events in IRC and let us know if you have a private, personal, public, or massive event that you want to plan, and we'll help make it become a reality!

    <3 Kreen
    Vlada - Community Relations Leader
    Quote Originally Posted by Vlada
    Its been an interesting year for Community Relations team, we tried our best to improve our services, understand and service communities needs, keep the community up to date with all the relevant info that was available to us. To insure better communication and understanding of our community needs we created our Community Relations Feedback group. Group was and still is, dedicated to answering questions and receiving any types of feedback that may help us preform and do our jobs. We've also been maintaining SWGEmu Facebook and Twitter pages and we created a page on Google+.

    We are not sure if we were always successful but we want you to know that we did do our best with the resources available to us.

    A lot of great people were a part of this team and we want to take this opportunity to thank them all (in no particular order):

    Leodextrin - Retired Moderator King
    Dame - Retired Communications Manager
    IX- - Retired IRC & Forums Moderator
    KroniK - Retired Forums Moderator
    Architect - Retired Forums Moderator
    Nedak - Retired Forums Moderator and Community Relations
    Akorange - Retired Community Relations
    Apex_ - Retired IRC Moderator
    Bailey - Retired Forums & IRC Moderator, Community Relations
    BigEvil - Community Relations (currently on leave)

    We also would like to thank our community for their continuous support. Thank you for being awesome.

    Closing

    Of course, none of this would be possible without our community. It is very rare to find such a dedicated group of people that has supported us every step of the way, that stuck by us even when we were down. A huge thank you, from each and every member of this Staff, thank you for your support, thank you for your donations, thank you for your patience, thank you for being the heart and soul of SWGEmu. Thank you.




    --The SWGEmu Team
    Last edited by Vlada; 01-16-2012 at 04:58 PM.

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