M4-78: The History of "Droid World"

[Xuul 224]

Hello everyone.
 
It’s been a while since I’ve updated the news and it’s time to remedy that.
 
Today marks the release of the latest episode of the documentary series: “M4-78: A history”. If you are not familiar with the project go ahead and check it out via this playlist HERE. This series is the brain child of our beloved administrator Sith Holocron who has been working on this project for several years now. The documentary aims to tell the tale of every step of the fabled droid planet, from being cut originally, through all the various attempts at restoration to where we are today. While I edited the video all the researching, tracking down modders and digging up old mods most people forgot about is all Sith Holocron. The first few episodes were released several months ago and the delay for this one is all on me. Check out the latest episode of the series HERE.
 
In other M4-78 news zbyl2  has posted an update in regards to the newest version of M4-78 and answered some questions regarding the latest version of the mod being only released on the steam workshop. You can read the full post HERE but if you just want the TL;DR I will summarize. Version 1.3 of the mod was not released on Deadlystream due to several larger updates that were intended to come much sooner, these major changes include: Reduced walking, reduced lag, and expanded ways to experience the planet. Read the whole post if you want more info, it covers the changes in more details.
 
There has been many great mods released since my last post and I will continue my usual habit of posting some that I think are worth checking out.
Honorable mention is Tutorial remover by darthbdaman. This mod removes the awful tutorial section on the Endar Spire by completely removing Trask. You still play the Endar Spire but now you play it your way without his annoying conversations. I showcased this mod in a video HERE but since this is something I have wanted for a long time I had to mention it again here.
 
Another set of mods that are worth checking out is the HD textures series by Dark Hope and Quanon.
These mods all add HD textures for various party members and NPCs. Not only is the attention to detail superb, but it also seems to focus on keeping the spirit of the characters intact. You can check out the screenshots yourself on the mods download pages.
http://deadlystream.com/forum/files/file/1123-hd-canderous-ordo/
http://deadlystream.com/forum/files/file/1133-hd-carth-onasi/
http://deadlystream.com/forum/files/file/1054-hd-yuthura-ban/
http://deadlystream.com/forum/files/file/956-mission-vao-hd-by-quanon/
 
Sorry for taking so long for any updates. Thank you for reading.
Have an excellent day.
-X

[Guest]

Only complaint is I wish it was longer.

[Xuul 224]

Only complaint is I wish it was longer.

Do you mean the video? It was nearly 40 min long at one point. But all the analytics show that most people will click away from anything longer than 10 to 15 min.

[Guest]

Do you mean the video? It was nearly 40 min long at one point. But all the analytics show that most people will click away from anything longer than 10 to 15 min.

 

Most people are idiots.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIIzuqIRB2g&list=PLBF95254D29BEAE15&index=138

 

This channel virtually only does long videos as her popularity has increased.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN1GJLBM8Wc

 

Long format videos that are brilliant from Errant Signal.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkNeZDRuqWs

 

How about that for long? 

Point is, if you do long format videos about a popular but rarely catered to subject- with intelligence and you have personality; your channel can do very well- better than catering to statistics.

[L0ki194 82]

I'm enjoying watching these videos a lot. It's taking me back to around ten years ago when I was browsing Kotor mods on YouTube when all I had was the Xbox versions. I remember seeing a few videos on one of the early M4-78 mods (probably Stoney's version that I saw being played), and being amazed by yet another piece of TSL's Cut Content that I had no idea about when I was a kid.

 

I'm looking forward to the next video...

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

Only complaint is I wish it was longer.

I'll attach a poll on this subject. Folks if you agree or disagree, you'll probably want to put your vote in.

 

I remember seeing a few videos on one of the early M4-78 mods (probably Stoney's version that I saw being played), and being amazed by yet another piece of TSL's Cut Content that I had no idea about when I was a kid.

 

I'm looking forward to the next video...

Stoney's mod will be the next video done by Xuul and I. (Xuul still has his independent review of Darth Shan's mod coming.)

 

In my next video? There. Will. Be. Drama.

[Guest Qui-Gon Glenn]

When Stoney asked me to first test his M4-78 mod, I was both excited and a little bummed out

 

You see, I was developing a mod back then, that was going to hugely expand the Mandalorian role in TSL and make use of the M4-78 modules as.... drumroll.... Mandalore!

 

You see, the various fogs matched up with the history of Mandalore, and had great reasons for a couple Droid-only excursions until some maintenance had been done inside the dome.

 

However, I knew Stoney a little from the TSLRP forums and from LucasForums, so I knew a more talented modder was going to actually see something through with this, so I swallowed my pride and started testing the mod. Besides Stoney, at that point I think I was the only one to play it.

 

It was a bit barren, but there was a plot, the areas transitioned well, and it could be played through without breaking things.

 

I thought it was fantastic! I had mostly textual complaints, mispellings from the vanilla .tlk and a few typos here and there, but it was pretty clean overall.

 

That said, we both knew it was a little empty. And so, it has been enhanced since then, and changed in some ways, but is still a familiar place to me.

 

I watched all the videos, back to back. It was a fair walk down memory lane

[zbyl2 811]

I love the way computer generated voice says Korriban.

 

It really doesn't matter how long videos are, but making them longer just for the sake of it isn't a way to go. I'm fine with them being longer if you can still keep them entertaining.

I honestly feel like the last one would be better if it was slightly shorter; for example, you could easily cut out most of Shem's review, or maybe just summarized it in one-two sentence, as it didn't add much to the video - first part basically repeated what we already know from previous episodes, and reading the "don't forget to let author know what you think!" comment at the end is really out of place in a video.

[Xuul 224]

 

It really doesn't matter how long videos are, but making them longer just for the sake of it isn't a way to go. I

 

I cut out at least half of what Shem said, some entire questions are gone and I cut around a lot more exposition. 

 

 

In my next video? There. Will. Be. Drama.

 

The next video is going to be great

[zbyl2 811]

I cut out at least half of what Shem said, some entire questions are gone and I cut around a lot more exposition.

 

Cool. It still seemed bit long and out of place, especially the "leave the comment" part.

 

Looking forward to the next one.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

I really did like the video, very informative, however, why would you use a google robot voice and not Xuul's actual voice? I feel like that will be a good idea in future video's if you ever run out of actors to play roles. 

 

 

Another set of mods that are worth checking out is the HD textures series by Dark Hope and Quanon.
These mods all add HD textures for various party members and NPCs. Not only is the attention to detail superb, but it also seems to focus on keeping the spirit of the characters intact. You can check out the screenshots yourself on the mods download pages.

Reckon you could make a mod review of these reskins all in one 4 minute video?

[Mellowtron11 180]

I was watching one of your mod highlight videos yesterday, and the latest M4-78 video appeared in the suggestions column. Very glad I clicked on the link. I'm also very impressed on how well you've dove into the history of this subject. Beforehand, I thought the only M4 mod that came out before the current M4 EP mod was Stoney's older mod. Didn't know that there were other iterations of the dorid world, like DarthShan's mod.

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

I really did like the video, very informative, however, why would you use a google robot voice and not Xuul's actual voice? I feel like that will be a good idea in future video's if you ever run out of actors to play roles. 

 

1) At the time that I put that together, I believe Xuul was in the middle of a move from his old place. He hadn't set up his computer yet.  I thought I'd go with something different than hiring a voice actor so I went in opposite direction: I went with a cheesy computer voice.  (It amused me at least.)

 

2) I have feelers out for voice actors for the next video.  The lines that aren't voiced by the speakers themselves will have other folks doing them.  The fun part?  The voice actors won't know which person in the modding scene they're doing until after they are finished.

 

3) Xuul's voice will likely be limited to his mod reviews in this series from now on. That isn't a insignificant part of this series, mind you.  A mod review from Xuul of Darth Shan's version of M4-78 will be coming along eventually.  (No deadline on that, of course - this is me you're dealing with.  LOL)

[Xuul 224]

1) why would you use a google robot voice and not Xuul's actual voice? 

 

2) Reckon you could make a mod review of these reskins all in one 4 minute video?

 

1) I actually hate my voice in all my videos. I know nothing about sound and everything I do makes it sound awful, the less of me you hear the better. Also since I was originally already voicing my review in the video that wouldn't work, among other reasons.

 

2) I actually worked on this for a while but struggled lining up the party members in good enough lighting to do the swipe transition I like to do when showcasing texture mods. I'll probably just go ahead and do it, since I am not worrying as much about perfection.

 

 

 

 Xuul's voice will likely be limited to his mod reviews in this series from now on. That isn't a insignificant part of this series, mind you.  A mod review from Xuul of Darth Shan's version of M4-78 will be coming along eventually.  (No deadline on that, of course - this is me you're dealing with.  LOL)

 

This part should be out next week. I have to redo a bit of it still since the old one was baked into the video above and I had cut it a bit short so as not to be redundant. I am going to flesh it out a bit more and make it into a full length video of its own. 

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

 

This part should be out next week. I have to redo a bit of it still since the old one was baked into the video above and I had cut it a bit short so as not to be redundant. I am going to flesh it out a bit more and make it into a full length video of its own. 

Xuul's review of the "Droid World" mod is out now.  Check it out here!

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

Just a little update . . . 
 
We already have folks contributing their (audio) parts to the next chapter.  I'm still waiting on some people - no rush, fellas.  Of course, I'll have to record my stuff as well.
 
I have one line for the next chapter that needs to be read out in a very obnoxious way.  (The sort of obnoxious that makes you want to repeatedly slap the person that said it.)  Do you think that sounds like fun?  If so, send me a PM entitled "I want to be annoying" if you'd like to audition.  If I don't get enough (or any) auditions, I'll just read this particular line myself in the style of the Chamberlain character from The Dark Crystal.


The Chamberlain from The Dark Crystal

Update: I wound up doing it myself.  You'll discover that I sound a bit sarcastic when doing it. 

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

Next chapter isn't ready yet but ...

 

It should be close to a half hour long.

[Hassat Hunter 571]

And here I was getting my hopes up a bump of this topic was the new vid.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

Next chapter isn't ready yet but ...

 

It should be close to a half hour long.

This might sound dumb to ask but what is the next subject of your M4-78 vid? I am eager to watch it.

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

 

 

This might sound dumb to ask but what is the next subject of your M4-78 vid? I am eager to watch it.

Darth Stoney's M4-78. (Not the EP.)

 

And here I was getting my hopes up a bump of this topic was the new vid.

When the next one is ready, either Xuul or I will make a new post. Probably it'll be Xuul as he'll be the one uploading it.

 

Plus, maybe there will be some new site news by the time the movie gets released to the public.  There's that to consider as well.

 

Edit: Merged my posts.

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

Hello ladies and gents,

 

Xuul has sent me what may be the final draft of the next chapter of the documentary which I'll need to check for sound issues.  Unfortunately, I am at work so I haven't had the chance to watch and listen to it yet.  But we're rounding the final corner, folks.  As soon as it's ready, either Xuul or I will be posting information in our Status Updates to let you know you can go watch it.  I am very interested in your reaction to it.