I'm not an expert on the ins and outs of what's been occurring, but speaking from that somewhat outside perspective, this entire conundrum seems farcical.

I understand that there may be annoyance about why such a popular mod as TSLRCM needed to be removed over something seemingly so minor. Indeed, since I think rules against porting are something of an antiquated defense against anti-modder thinking which has by-and-large passed with the years (certainly so for games so old as these), I might even be counted among those annoyed that this rule is being applied at all. Yet the rule against porting is still just that: a rule. Unless one wishes to forego all modding conventions and standards of behavior, it should be followed unless and until it's removed; no modder here would appreciate me uploading their mods elsewhere without permission or authorial attribution, and it's the rules and standards of the community which offer such protections. You take the good with the bad.

But the complete lack of dialogue and progress since the removal occurred is both striking and, in my view, unjustifiable. Although the mod is available on ModDB and the Workshop, not all users are aware of the former archive and not all users have access to (or the desire to use) the latter. Moreover, there's been incredible confusion among the broader community about whether or not the new version will be just the audio fix or include other minor changes which might need to be tested for. I've had to put the testing of the new mod builds off for months in the hopes that the new version would be released in time for testing--but it hasn't been. No word, no progress, no indication of anything about the new version. And, worse still, no indication of whether this is a matter of intransigence or simple slow progress. People rely on TSLRCM, and I, at least, rely on transparency to do the work which I do, to know if I have to account for mod updates.

This fix, by all rights, should be minor. The work of splicing necessary audio, so far as I've seen, has already been done. That leads me to the conclusion that intransigence is the problem, not slow work. To which I must ask: why? If the concern is one of porting, a real stance that it should be allowed, then a discussion on the matter should have begun over a month ago. But if it's simple bull-headedness over TSLRCM itself having the rules enforced against it, I can't see a way to conscience such a stance. I would love to have it explained to me.

 

This fix, by all rights, should be minor. The work of splicing necessary audio, so far as I've seen, has already been done. That leads me to the conclusion that intransigence is the problem, not slow work. To which I must ask: why? If the concern is one of porting, a real stance that it should be allowed, then a discussion on the matter should have begun over a month ago. But if it's simple bull-headedness over TSLRCM itself having the rules enforced against it, I can't see a way to conscience such a stance. I would love to have it explained to me.

Administrators are the online equivalent of the Police.  The Police are supposed to prevent crime and punish people who have broken the law, same things apply here. The Administrator is to prevent online chaos and punish people who have broken the site rules.  In this case, TSLRCM is a car that has driven at 100 in a 60 zone and the driver Zybl2 and his passenger Hassat Hunter are really famous Hollywood celebrities.  In real life, the Police should give the person driving a ticket and possibly inflict a punishment related to the driver's license.  If Sith Holocron didn't remove TSLRCM it would be the equivalent of the Police Officer betraying his duty as a Police Officer and pretending it didn't happen because Zybl2 and Hassat Hunter are famous celebrities.  But because Sith Holocron is a good Administrator he has taken TSLRCM down like he is supposed to do regardless of his feelings towards it.  (I apologize if that made no sense. Law enforcement when it comes to speeding is different in other countries so I reduced it to being very simple)

When M4-78 updates it will include new features which are currently being beta tested but TSLRCM has no real excuse as to why it's delayed is taking so long since all the new stuff going into 1.8.6 is the new credits and possibly a VO correction.  One can assume Zybl2 and Hassat Hunter want to release both mods at the same time.

I agree with both comments here.

I get that choosing and cutting the new credits music takes some time especially if one is busy with real life etc. But it really shouldn't take TWO MONTHS. So the only logical reason why these mods haven't been brought back is that the authors are working on a bigger update with some new fixes/content and don't want to release a minor version for the music fixes. That'd be completely understandable but from Hassat Hunter's posts it seems pretty clear that no such update is in the works. Which leaves only one implication for me: The authors are sulky that someone removed their mod and that they have to obey the rules, so they "punish" us by not bringing the mod back. I'm NOT saying that this is what's actually going on but it's the impression I get and since we aren't told what's actually going on, that's all I have. And even though I know that it's only an impression, it sadly still lessens my opinion of the mod authors :/

So I really hope that this all gets resolved soon with the mods being re-uploaded to this site and ideally a short statement on what went on during their down time.

Go here for an update.  As I learn more information, I'll also place it here.