64 replies to this topic

[belakor502]

My suggestion is to give Merc Units and individual Players the possibility to upload their own Skins and Decals for In-game currency that is bought with real cash. In Battletech every Mech looked uniqe and every Mercenary Unit had their own paint sheme, so adding the possibility adds alot to the atmosphere and to the roleplaying factor.Also being able to name your Mech Pilot would be awesome.

Of course the skins have to be checked by moderators thirst for inapropiate or other content that is not allowed. The system for Players is simple. You upload the skin/decal , a mod checkes it, gives the OK and then you pay with in-game currency. After you pay the skin/decal is available in the Mechlab and ready for use.

However with Merc Units I see 2 possible ways to handle it:

1.)Every Merc Unit should have their own fund where the Players in the Merc Unit can donate their In-Game Currency. The Leader of the Merc Unit can then upload a Skin and pay with the Units ing-game currency. The Skin then is available to every Merc Unit Player and can be used by them without paying additional money. In-game currency can only flow into the Unit and not out, so that the Leader cannot take the money for himself. Of course the price for uploading a Merc Unit Skin should be alot higher then the price for a skin which a Player buys for his personal use. This gives Players of merc groups to have a common skin that marks them as a unit without letting out the Players that dont have the financial possibilities to add their own skins.

2.)Every Player has to upload the Skin themselves with the normal system. This has a few flaws: The mods have to check more and the players without financial possibilities cant use the skin.

Please discuss and vote and show the devs that you want this!

I apologize for the bad english and mistakes!

[Viper69]

I want all decals and skins player side. I dont want to download merc skins and decals. All that crap is going to take an *** load of room. Give me a choice if i want to see your hello kitty clan with rainbow ppc guns.

[Xathanael]

The problem with decals is that the game will have to download each logo & skin and store it in local cache. at first that will be no problem but after 1000+ matches and encountering up to 24000+ players it would eat your PC. With a preset emblem and skin system the colors and images can be stored like numbered coloring pages. Saving space and rendering time. But I'm sure some tech savvy Guru will correct me or tell me the better way

[ChargerIIC]

I would like to see custom skin and decals, but there would need to be a strong moderation system. I don't want to fight waves of mechs with public hair and I've seen that problem happen a lot in other games that used an open system. Allowing a guild to use an offical skin/decal editor and uploading the results would be nice...the smaller pool would be easier to moderate and the fact thier you guild's reputation with developers would be on the line should help reduce the offensive ones.

Painting our minis was a huge part of the joy of Battletech and I would like to see if captured here. I can only hope we will get more information on the skin/decal system soon.

[Viper69]

Like i said if its client side im all for it (as in you only see your skins not me)but i will be damned if im loading your clans skins on my computer, unless your going to pay rent for the space.

Edited by Viper69, 23 July 2012 - 08:47 AM.

[belakor502]

Viper69, on 23 July 2012 - 07:58 AM, said:

I want all decals and skins player side. I dont want to download merc skins and decals. All that crap is going to take an *** load of room. Give me a choice if i want to see your hello kitty clan with rainbow ppc guns.

Xathanael, on 23 July 2012 - 08:07 AM, said:

The problem with decals is that the game will have to download each logo & skin and store it in local cache. at first that will be no problem but after 1000+ matches and encountering up to 24000+ players it would eat your PC. With a preset emblem and skin system the colors and images can be stored like numbered coloring pages. Saving space and rendering time. But I'm sure some tech savvy Guru will correct me or tell me the better way

Viper69, on 23 July 2012 - 08:46 AM, said:

Like i said if its client side im all for it (as in you only see your skins not me)but i will be damned if im loading your clans skins on my computer, unless your going to pay rent for the space.

I would make it a temporary download. The decals and Skins are downloaded while the map is also loaded and after the game are deleted again. Kind of like in Css.

ChargerIIC, on 23 July 2012 - 08:36 AM, said:

I would like to see custom skin and decals, but there would need to be a strong moderation system. I don't want to fight waves of mechs with public hair and I've seen that problem happen a lot in other games that used an open system. Allowing a guild to use an offical skin/decal editor and uploading the results would be nice...the smaller pool would be easier to moderate and the fact thier you guild's reputation with developers would be on the line should help reduce the offensive ones.

Painting our minis was a huge part of the joy of Battletech and I would like to see if captured here. I can only hope we will get more information on the skin/decal system soon.

That is what the Devs would be for. They will have to check every upload to see if it is not inapropiate or violates copyright ( so no ponys there ). My personal Opinion is that Players should not be able to upload their own skins. Decals maybe I would really love to have my uniqe Decal on my Mech. However I insist on the Devs to implement Skins and Decals for Merc Units because believe it or not but that would change ALOT of the Atmosphere and playing experience for me.

[Redshift2k5]

Selling pretty paint and cool decals will bea money-making pathway for MWO

free client-side skins and decals is money out of their pocket

Paul will be a hungry troll :<

[belakor502]

Redshift2k5, on 23 July 2012 - 09:05 AM, said:

Selling pretty paint and cool decals will bea money-making pathway for MWO

free client-side skins and decals is money out of their pocket

Paul will be a hungry troll :<

In my Suggestion it is neither Client - Side nor free so I see no problem here and a good Money Source for the developers.

[Jost]

belakor502, on 23 July 2012 - 09:02 AM, said:

That is what the Devs would be for. They will have to check every upload to see if it is not inapropiate or violates copyright ( so no ponys there ).

Sadly, checking for copyright violation is not a dev's job. It's a lawyer's job. Specifically, a copyright lawyer's job. Figure several hours of lawyer's time at let's-call-it-USD300-per-hour. That's to check one upload.

[Graives]

With a little thought I think they can streamline the copyright check. I assume we're talking about logo's/decal's? If they don't charge money for it and it's not exactly the same, it shouldn't be a problem at all. I think it could go either way whether they charge for custom paint jobs, but odds are they will only charge in C-Bills for something like that, where as actual vanity items will probably be purchasable with cash. The details have yet to be seen though I believe.

I do believe at the very least, an application process for both custom skins and logo's/decal's should be investigated and if possible, established. Both for House Units and especially for Merc Corps. As House Unit's already have easily identifiable banners under which to gather, Merc's are not being allowed to take up the banners of most of their favored existing corps, and therefor are in need of some compensation. A vague black and white image of 3 random mech's just really doesn't cut it. And I'm sure individual House Unit's will also want to wear their individual Unit's colors/logo's/decal's as well, right?

At the very least, I think this needs to be explored more.

[John Clavell]

Already confirmed I believe. A matter of when not if.

[Viper69]

Hopefully its an option i can turn off on my end brcause i could care less what any of your groups insignias look like.

[Graives]

I believe it is something that will have to be controlled server side, not player side. Say someone sets their mech up with camo. They'll want to make use of it, not stick out like a big flare in the night sky. It wont really be serving it's purpose. Not all skins are purely vanity.

John Clavell, on 23 July 2012 - 10:47 AM, said:

Already confirmed I believe. A matter of when not if.

Can you link the confirmation please?

Edited by Graives, 23 July 2012 - 12:12 PM.

[Roster]

It is eraly days folks
Let's walk before we run marathons

[belakor502]

Viper69, on 23 July 2012 - 11:12 AM, said:

Hopefully its an option i can turn off on my end brcause i could care less what any of your groups insignias look like.

Roster, on 23 July 2012 - 01:18 PM, said:

It is eraly days folks
Let's walk before we run marathons

Even if the devs would see it now and decide immediately that they want to implement this it would probably still take at least 3 months untill its in the game. So its never too early for suggestions.

I also dont understand this blocking of new content and possibillities. It wouldnt hurt you if the other have merc unit skins and insignas and you see it would it? And the danger that some merc groups have bright pink skins is given yes but you have the possibility to have pink camo anyway ingame. Just look at the MechLab 6 DevBlog.

[WiljamiDzay]

I was first going to vote no personal skins for individual players, but that'd be somewhat unfair as all the singles are, in effect, a merc corp of one anyway. Obviously wouldn't want to see hellokitty-genital-rainbow -covered mechs, so moderation would be required.

As to how to pay for these, I think the in-game cash (and cashpool for merc units) would be a sensible option.

[Viper69]

belakor502, on 23 July 2012 - 11:31 PM, said:

Even if the devs would see it now and decide immediately that they want to implement this it would probably still take at least 3 months untill its in the game. So its never too early for suggestions.

I also dont understand this blocking of new content and possibillities. It wouldnt hurt you if the other have merc unit skins and insignas and you see it would it? And the danger that some merc groups have bright pink skins is given yes but you have the possibility to have pink camo anyway ingame. Just look at the MechLab 6 DevBlog.

I personally dont want to see it. If you want to, great but why should I have to see your skin and insignia? I dont care what house or unit you are in, sounds a bit vain to me to want to force people not in your group to know who you are. Keep them on your computer so you see them and the other people who do not dont have to. Seems simple and not forcing me to see it.

[belakor502]

Viper69, on 24 July 2012 - 04:56 AM, said:

I personally dont want to see it. If you want to, great but why should I have to see your skin and insignia? I dont care what house or unit you are in, sounds a bit vain to me to want to force people not in your group to know who you are. Keep them on your computer so you see them and the other people who do not dont have to. Seems simple and not forcing me to see it.

I would not midn to keep them on my computer however there is one problem. If I change the skin for example for the Catapult, then every Catapult will have the skin and thats not what I want. Also it seems that you dont like the skins and camo patterns that the game will provide either, because what is the difference between a skin made by the devs and a skin made by the community? I try to understand your point of view but I can not get to any solution. From my point of view the system has one flaw: The checking of the uploads will be time consuming for mods.

I mean just imagine. My Merc Unit the Skjaldborg has been paid by the Lyran Commonwealth to capture a Planet named Altair in the Draconis Combine Territory.Our Dropships land and the Mechs spread out. I am running in my raven at Top Speed when I spot an Mech. But whats this? The Insigna is not of the Draconis Combine! Its of the Dark Sabres! They are helping the enemy!

Now with the Skins and Insignas I actually feel like fighting the Dark Sabres! Without them I would be fighting some random Mechs with them I dont feel like fighting some mech but the Dark Sabres! I guess its a bit of a roleplaying that I want to do too I dont want just a Mech Team Deathmatch game.

*The Clan Dark Sabres was used because it was first in the Mer Corp recruiting forum, nothing personal

[Graives]

I think Belakor has an extremely good point. Information is Ammo as we say, and you can NEVER have enough ammo! Plus, making things personal can really add a lot of fuel to the fire, and fun to the game. Helps you identify a level of importance with each fight, and feel more connected fighting battles that mean something to you personally.

And hell, if someone wants to be spotted right from the start because of shiny pink armor, better for me, lol.

[belakor502]

Graives, on 24 July 2012 - 01:28 PM, said:

Helps you identify a level of importance with each fight, and feel more connected fighting battles that mean something to you personally.

This sentence is exactly what i wanted to tell you with my wall of thext before