» Wed Mar 30, 2011 3:38 am
First off. Blade Of Mercy, this is an incredible addition to the FCOM info out there. I, too, love this game, but have been out of it for a little over 6 months. The last thing I tried to do was to install FCOM. Over the course of a month or so I made a ton of mistakes, took too many short-cuts, and instead of RTFM, I more like STFM (Skimmed The F------ Manual). Inevitably, I became frustrated and gave up. (I also started a new job at the time, so there _were_ other, more important factors. I know, I know... more important than gaming? Crazy talk...)
Anyway, during my hiatus, I did read up a lot on some of the things I did wrong before. I've finally taken the time to understand modding a little better (from a player's point of view, that is). As I write this, I am PyFFI'ing my Oblivion meshes. I'm in no big rush to get this install done... I really am taking the time to do everything as completely and thoroughly as possible.
Like I said, this is a _great_ addition to everything I have read over the past few months. Besides enjoying the best game ever (IMHO), I am a software developer by trade, so I can really appreciate the time it took to put this together, and especially to make sure it is all accurate. Seriously, from a software point of view, your documentation is exceptional!
That said, I would make one humble request... prefaced by an explanation. RTFM, while considered rude and unprofessional by many, definitely serves it's purpose. I use it myself in the rare instance I can get away with it. However, the utterance of the acronym implies that there is a definitive Manual for one to read on the given subject. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Sometimes there is no manual, only a collection of forum posts that people have agreed upon to represent "the manual". Sometimes there are multiple resources that could be considered "the manual".
Please don't misunderstand; it's not your responsibility to make a decision on what "the manual" is in any given situation. However, I do feel that if you are going to use RTFM, it would be helpful to provide some link(s) to the resource(s) you feel is(are) applicable in that particular situation. If for no other reason, it would help to ensure that people following your recommendations will stay on the same page as you from one step to the next.
I hope this is not taken in the wrong light. I really do appreciate everything you have taken the time to do here, as I am sure many, many others do. I just think it might help if the RTFM references were less ambiguous. I sincerely apologize if you feel my comments are out of line.
Thanks again,
veg