For what it's worth from the founder of The Grey Wolves Project / GWX and out of respect for the crazy-awesome crew that built it....
Do you remember the scene in Das Boot near the beginning of the movie, where the Old man, his Chief Engineer, and the war correspondent made their way inside the pen to their U-boat?
Do you remember when a moment later they are standing on the deck with the crew, and the looks they gave each other? Those looks said, "This is our boat. There may be others that look like it, but this one is ours, and WE are its crew." In the movie, U-96 belonged to them.
Now imagine if the captain of U-791052 a few pens across, strolled over on that day and said, "Refitting your boat seems to be taking too long. I think I'll be the captain now." Well, even if that captain was the nicest guy on earth, he runs the risk of becoming fish food.
I wouldn't DREAM of stomping onto the deck of the U.S.S. FotRS with that intention in mind. I will say that the day I was invited into the control room by propbeanie and s7rikeback was an awesome day. I may never know what valve transfers what. Heck, Jeff Groves and I used to joke about inadvertently crashdiving in the harbor independently during our old noob days. I may only have the steam to cheerlead when different challenges are being worked and/or when different elements are completed, but I respect the boat they built. I shall not operate the toilet on the U.S.S. FotRS because I haven't received any training on said device.
We all like different amounts of salt and pepper. Some of us like Dunklegrau 50. Others enjoy chartreuse yellow and fuchsia.
In a lot of ways, as a prospective new modder the world is your oyster. However, ya GOTTA respect the old heads and the work they did. Thousands of very real hours spent thrashing rigs and keyboards over years of neck-aching work was spent building this block of ships or those million plus lines of campaign code. Even the thought of Joe Random swooping over at the end of that process to snatch it all up while saying, "This is mine now" makes you want to catch fire.... and in reality it happened a LOT.
We learned lessons by stepping on toes and taking our lumps... and we taught lessons too. Neither was any fun at all. As Chief Jimbuna says to Jeff above... I'll say it too... AMEN.
I stand firmly with propbeanie and s7rikeback. The name Fall of the Rising Sun / FotRS is taken. It is theirs and I also KNOW by personal observation that work on it has never stopped and they hold the keys to the conning tower hatch. They decide when that hatch is open and they decide when that hatch is closed.
That concept doesn't keep anyone from making mods. However, it does protect the name they chose for the body of work they produced and the work they were entrusted with. Heck, as I recall it, GWX releases were about a year apart. ("It will be ready when it is ready." Got said about a bajillion times in between.)
It has been a minute or two ago now, but Neal Stevens once gave me a sweet and sour pill and it went like this:
'Think about it Kap. It used to be that everyone wanted to make mods for Silent Hunter III, and now they all want to make mods for GWX.' (If I remember correctly, I was on his back porch right after Hurricane Ike when he said that to me.) He meant it as a compliment, but it was also medicine. He also later defended our right to keep our name when a truly nasty someone thought to take it away sometime later. Today, I still have the keys to the The Grey Wolves Project / GWX hatch.
I don't want to pour cold water down any modder's neck. SH3 and SH4 no longer enjoy the ranks of experts they once could call on, but the miles and miles of trails blazed must be respected by those who look to sail in those waters now.
In an effort to offer a bit of encouragement, can tell you this: A guy here once told me, "If you don't like it, build your own damn mod!"
.... and that was the birthday of The Grey Wolves Project / GWX.
Almost anything is possible if you are determined enough. Libraries of knowledge and boxes of tools were created on the old journeys if you spend the time to find and understand them.... but the name "Fall of the Rising Sun" is taken and still in use.
