Announcement/Idea: Certified Author Program

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  • #208687
    Ralf
    Keymaster

    Hey Guys,

    Not sure how much (actually: if any at all) interest exists for this, but considering the large amount of profiles available in the cloud with varying degrees of quality I’m thinking about some program that could add a bit more quality assurance to user profiles than what is possible with the existing endorsement votes while still being entirely open for everyone.

    In a nutshell: with the certified author program user profile authors – if they want to – could become officially certified by meeting a certain level of quality with their profiles. I’d review two or three profiles and then would assign the certified author status if the profiles work well enough. Simple enough to not make this some bureaucratic process.

    And of course I could give some hints in case a first attempt doesn’t meet the requirements or someone maybe just wants their profiles to be closer to how I would do it for official ones. So no need to be afraid of applying. Despite just getting ‘certified’, if you want to you could also sharpen your skills in direct contact with me.

    ‘Normal’ users would also benefit since profiles of certified authors would be made more visible in the download list.

    Let me know what you think about such a program. Feedback of all kind is welcome, regardless whether you are a profile author or a ‘normal’ user. As a first step I’d like to use this thread to gauge whether pursuing the idea any further makes sense or not.

    #208690
    CrazyDolphin
    Participant

    Ralf,

    The idea certainly has merit, as long as the ‘Acceptable/Needs Work/Unacceptable’ Criteria is in place.
    For example (based on my perception only):
    – Is Full VR supported within the game? If not, does Immersive Mode allow for 360 degree head tracking?
    – Does the profile support Direct VR? If not, what profile settings provide the most stable image (e.g., Letterbox, 3D Strength)?
    – Does the game/profile require a specific DX setting (e.g. DX9, DX11)? As a side note, if the game upon launch allows a specific DX setting (e.g., Aliens Vs. Predator), or it can be changed in game, how can you change the DX setting otherwise (e.g., -d3dx11, or -force-d3dx11)?
    – What in-game graphical settings are required for a smooth experience? Or should this be ‘baked in’ to the profile itself? This is only mentioned because with the official vorpX profile, I do not alter any graphical settings
    – Whenever you update vorpX, do the profiles undergo recertification?
    – If the game is updated (e.g., via Steam), should the game build associated with the profile be listed? Should there be a recertification process for that?
    – Is the profile impacted by hardware capabilities (or is this game specific)?

    In looking through cloud profiles, some folks already do a great job detailing the capabilities/requirements that would match up nicely with what I think you are trying to accomplish.

    For some of my prior work experience, getting a ‘certified program’ started is usually not as big as a deal as making sure how the program is maintained/updated over time.

    I hope the above helps in some way.

    #208691
    Ralf
    Keymaster

    All very valid points. Doing this on a per profile level would clearly be best from a user’s perspective, but that would be an awful lot of work, and potentially also annoying for creators in the long run.

    The only way to make it work that fine grained would be making it more or less entirely community driven, with a community member overseeing everything. That’s also a double edged sword though. Naturally people lose interest in such forms of engagement over time, so keeping that up and running would be a task on its own.

    What I have in mind is something more general by granting the ‘certified’ status to authors after checking two or three of their profiles. That’s what I would be able to handle myself, I think. If someone would be willing to overssee a more fine grained program, that would be cool, but I’m realistic enough to consider that fairly unlikely.

    #208700
    CrazyDolphin
    Participant

    Your perspective of certification for authors, rather than an individual game (for example), is an interesting one.
    For your consideration, could the ‘pass/fail’ criteria be included when an author is uploading a profile (e.g., like a spreadsheet attached to each profile, that contains your criteria, for which each uploader ‘should’ fill out when submitting a new profile). Then at your leisure, you could review the specific profile, and if it meets your criteria (and the spreadsheet is accurate), you give your blessing (e.g., alongside your official ‘voprX’ profile, there would be a ‘vorpX 3rd party certified’ title to it).

    Please keep in mind this input is from somebody who has yet to create a profile, and I do appreciate those profile authors (e.g., RJK and Paradise Decay; my apologies for anybody I may have slighted by not including their name here) who provide enough profile information to fully let me know what I’m getting into.

    #208712
    Demosthenes
    Participant

    https://imgur.com/a/XFyT2iJ

    I like the idea, but I’d also like some kind of current page that is a popularity tracker for current profiles, if they are recommended by users, and if they still work. Sometimes I discover official profiles don’t work and I do not want to bother you with asking to check them. [cough] Tomb Raider Anniversary menus [cough].

    #208725
    RJK_
    Participant

    IIRC for TRA there is a setting called Extended Mode or something similar which may fix this.

    #208745
    CrackerBrand00
    Participant

    pop up window in vorpx to upvote/downvote a particular profile, more people would be more like to participate than the current method where you have to import a profile, then later if you think about it, go back to cloud profiles and search it out to upvote. Then the number of upvotes/downvotes could qualify a profile based on percentage of upvotes to downvotes.

    Just an idea

    #208749
    Ralf
    Keymaster

    @ Demosthenes

    That is clearly a case that would have to be considered. :)

    @ CrackerBrand00

    Moving the voting from the config app to ingame sounds like a good idea. Would probably lead to more qualified votes than currently. I’ll definitely keep that in mind. User votes in general have a bunch of drawbacks though, hence the idea to have something in addition to them where I actually review profiles.

    #208752
    CrackerBrand00
    Participant

    you could hide the number of downvotes to avoid trolling

    #208783
    Jey123456
    Participant

    i think some kind of usage tracking of profile might be more viable and give a better idea of which profile are good. Maybe just tracking rough figures like, “this profile was used for 2000hours of gaming 200hours in the past month” kind of thing

    I believe it would be more reliable / realistic to support and give a rather decent way to compare multiple profile for a single game, usually profile that are playable end up having more time played with.

    #208792
    mr_spongeworthy
    Participant

    I would love to see something like this. Currently there are lot of custom profiles out there, but all I can rely on is the number of upvotes.

    Personally, I would really, really like to see more G3D profiles that work properly; like 100% properly. So far I’ve seen zero of these. While I’m sure some of this is just bad luck of not playing games where G3D works 100% accurately, it’s still my only real disappointment with vorpX, which otherwise I get happier with every time I use it. Even the best profiles I’ve used (Fallout 3, for example) have issues with certain elements (bring up the Pip-Boy and you’ll see what I mean). The vast majority of other titles I’ve tried have issues with shadows, lighting, or both.

    Even though G3D take so much overhead, in the vast majority of cases I would choose G3D mode in Virtual-Cinema way down at 30fps over Z3D in VR at 90fps (also, many of the games I play aren’t suitable for VR anyway.)

    Maybe a program like this would promote more G3D authorship.

    (And, as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t think it would be a bad idea for Ralf to charge a nominal fee for full G3D support. I would happily, no, I would JOYFULLY pay a few dollars per game for perfect G3D.)

    #208793
    jjensson
    Participant

    I would JOYFULLY pay a few dollars per game for perfect G3D.

    If you mean G3D with *fully working shadows*, i’d completely support this. []-)

    #208794
    Ralf
    Keymaster

    Some profile authors already offer donation information in their profile descriptions. As far as I’m aware with fairly lackluster success. So if you encounter a user profile you like and wish to support its author, you might already be able to do that if you want.

    #208800
    Jey123456
    Participant

    G3D support is pretty much entirely dependent on vorpx implementation for specific engines, custom profile have very little they can do about it unless the game in question use same or very very similar engine to an officially supported game.

    And even if they do, theres usually gonna be some glitch and theres nothing the author can do about them other than masking/removing the 3d on whatever shader layer contain the glitch (and sometime even that isnt possible).

    At least as far as im aware, we have no other control when making a custom profile to try to get things to work.

    #208805
    CrackerBrand00
    Participant

    Fully in support.. the current flaw imo.. is when there is several user profiles for one particular game.. Let’s say there are 5 profiles for one game.. obviously there are many upvotes for the profile on the list.. and a few less for the next.. makes me wonder if we’re missing the best profile because it’s stuck in the middle and most people try the first one or two, and then stick with it

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