My one huge, most important request to this community

[Carravaggio]

Sounds ominous, huh? ^_^

Well its not, but it is, i think, a big request, and it is important to me.

Despite all the skins and hexes and fooling about i've done with the FF games, i've never really had it all working nicely with built-ins, hero files, Fx's, AI etc. Ideally i'd like my  :ffvstr: to be a nice neat package with all my customs characters and custom attributes, and all the bells and whistles on my PC, so i can experience this game the way its meant to be.
I've read all the stuff on using FFedit, installing ,maps and mods etc. all the technical stuff. i have a fairly good idea of the ins and outs but my knowledge is not complete, there are some big holes in there.
With the FR archives down (for now at least) getting a hold of all that technical info is difficult, if not impossible.

What i'm aiming to do is a complete reinstall of  :ffvstr: and all the stuff i consider essential. then its time for hero files and built-in characters and custom attributes (like 'martian' or 'classic superhuman'). then it'll be possible for me to start compiling some of the EZScript stuff i've been wanting to do. My FF stuff is currently a shambles, beyond repair. And with the release of the newest build of FFX, i feel now is as good a time as any to get everything in order.

Still haven't got to the request tho, have I?

What i am after, simply, is a 'FF buddy'. Someone who has a working knowledge of the above processes who will help walk me through the bits i can't work out. Sure i could PM and hassle a bunch of people who are knowledgabel in their field, be it voicepacks or maps. But what i want is one person, or a few core people, who will go into the laborious detail I need to undestand it all, a person who will endure a barrage of PMs and followup PMs until i am happy with my FF. I am after someone who is willing to be in contact with me for the long haul, who doesn't mind being asked the inane questions that have been explained elsewhere before.

Now i'm not completely clueless, i can do a lot of the nuts and bolts stuff myself. i can make my own custom attributes, and i  have a decent knowledge of FFedit. So you won't be explaining the most fundamental skills to me. What i need is a go to guy (or gal) who can offer alternatives and ideas when things go wrong.

It seems arrogant, but i don't want to sift thru the boards for bits and pieces of knowledge. the wiki is a great start, and i will refer to it where appropriate. likewsie the info i have on these topics i can reference. But for this thing to happen i am adkin for commitment, someone who will do there best to hang in there and walk me through it, through making built in characters and recompiling strings, to map and voicepack installation to the installation order of the game, modtools and FFX.

I'm not picky it could be a few people like i said. if u have great knowledge of voicepacks and can be my 'FF VP Buddy', cool, thats one section down. If you are a deft hand at making built-in characters and can find your way around FFEdit, thats also cool.

And what can i offer in return? gratitude? the knowledge that you've helped a fellow community member recieve the same enjoyment from this game thats brought us all together that you get? a boatload of skins? Nifty artworks by your truly?

Well, any and all of the above, i guess, i dont think i need to bribe you guys, but i would be grateful enough to offer the above to anyone willing to go the distance to ensure i get my FF how i would like it, if they so want.

So now your probably thinking, "why the hell does this guy deserve special treatment when we all have to sort thru the plethora of info out there?"
well short answer; i don't. but im asking for it anyway. i suppose anyone could have requested this, maybe some of you would have liked to, i guess im just the one naive enough to do it. What im askin requires effort on the part of someone else to make my task easier. and its not easy to ask someone else for help for the sole purpose of easing your own burdens. to me its smacks of selfishness, but it still seems like the best option for my situation.
I'm not asking the community to mobilise and do all the work for me, im just asking for a steady stream of help. And if that help comes from a handful or reliable, committed sources, then im sure i can get my game where i'd like it.

So, in summation, i have two games on my PC.  :ffvstr: and Guild Wars. I still spend more time on FF. To me it is the greatest game, simply because of the options and original content created by and for this community, and after six years, i wanna experience FF like the rest of you do.
If you think you are up to the task, if you have a good working knowledge of  :ffvstr: related skills and processes such as the ones above, and you wanna help a fellow FR member, ill ask you to PM me. I'd prefer for people not to post offers in this thread, for two reasons, 1. i dont wanna scare anyone off from offering their help cos they think i am 'taken', and 2. in case no-one wants to help me, i'd rather you all now know about it...it'd be a lil embarressing  :(
Thanks for your time, i hope someone can help me.

[FLASH_22798]

Hey Carravaggio,
   I really wish I could help you out here.   I know that you pretty much kept the "Avatar Request Thread" alive and donated alot of avatars to new community members, so I would return the favor to you if I could.   Unfortunately, I'm back to my old PC, so I'm stuck on FF1.   Also, most of this stuff is above my head, I usually wait for the install packs to come out and then just go from there and hope I don't mess anything up.   I wish you luck on your quest.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

I'd prefer for people not to post offers in this thread, for two reasons, 1. i dont wanna scare anyone off from offering their help cos they think i am 'taken', and 2. in case no-one wants to help me, i'd rather you all now know about it...it'd be a lil embarressing  sad

[crimsonquill]

I'd be willing to help you out on some levels.. especially the Voice Pack stuff since it's my pet project anyway. Just send IMs to me of what questions or problems you might be having and I'll do my best to help.. since I lost most of my Freedom Force stuff when I transferred my RAID drives from my old Pc to my new one I'm starting over myself on installing the program.

I can't promise that I'll be prompt in my replies in the next week because I'm just getting over a cold and will be out of town on Saturday because of my birthday.

- CrimsonQuill

[Shazam]

Carr! Mate! Buddy! You know you can hit me up on yahoo any time you want to. I'm not as clued up on the new game as I was with the old one, but I'm going to be picking things up again soon. Our time zones are way out, but you can always leave me an offline message, and I'll do my best to get the answer you want.

[Carravaggio]

Thanks, Daz, i know i can rely on you mate ;)