Yeah I was gonna say there is discount to students, but what if someone isnt a student on a media course?

[IBS]MattY writes...You only need a student id card. Doesn't matter what you are studying.

Now here's the rub - I know about the Student discount: it gets you the very latest edition of Maya 2010. Not 6.0 or 8.5. And Maya 2010 wont work with the COD Maya export tools. The COD2 tools only work with Maya 6.0 and the COD4/WaW tools only work with 8.5 (or 8.0 if you hack the version number in the exporter file).

The only way to get those versions of Maya is to steal them, as they are no longer available to purchase. You cant even get them second hand. I know - Ive tried.

Also, you can get the 8.5 PLE of Maya for free (I have it) and hack the export tools and a certain file in Maya and get the exporter to work properly. Over at CustomFPS we have a professional 3D artist on our staff team (Gheist) who knows how to do this. The thing is, he isnt in the frame of mind to release the method to the community, so we're back to square one.

As I said, its the prohibitive cost of Maya which raises the alarm bell when you see some teenager with a $3,000 copy of Maya. Its not even in the same ball court as a $50 game or even a $300 copy of PS (which actually you can get second hand on EBay). Its THREE THOUSEND DOLLARS!! Its like seeing a teenager driving a Porshe or a Farrai - it just raises the alarm bells, which is why teenagers get pulled over by the Cops all the time if they are driving such a car.

However, to my way of thinking being asked to prove you have a genuine copy of a piece of software isnt a big deal. Its no different than having to show a valid Passport or ID card evertime you open a bank account, or apply for a job to prove you arent an illegal immagrant. Its a fact of life that the unsavory members of our society make all this proving business a burden for the rest of us law-abiding members. But we accept it as a necessary evil, because without it, the alternative is that they ruin things for us even more if they get away with it.

In just the same way, in order to make the modding community a better place, free from the pirates, we need to stamp them out. The developer studios are now beginning to cite piracy in the modding community as a reason not to release mod tools (which is the excuse Kaos Studio used in not releasing any tools for Frontlines: Fuel of War, and John Carmack cited rife piracy in the modding community as a reason why he wont release any more modding tools for his newer games).

If we do nothing about it, if we just sit back and try to ignore it, eventually the studios will have the perfect excuse not to give us any more mod tools for any games. Where will we be then? I'll tell you where - sitting here on a dead forum complaining that the pirates took away our tools/

The studios are already having to jump through hoops to give us games because of piracy, and IWNet was born out of the need to avoid the cracked servers and pirated copies of the PC game. BC2 only has authorized dedicated server providers because of the need to thwart the cracked server guys. So dont think for a second that piracy in our midst is just an issue of the owners of the software companies prosecuting the pirates. It affects us all. Every one of us.

But as foyle says it is time consuming, and I can understand why he doesnt want to be bothered with it. As for me, I will remain vigilant because I dont want to give them an excuse to stop providing mod tools. I enjoy it too much.

I'll add this as a footnote to my rather long winded diatribe above:

I remember looking at the IW official forums back when COD4 came out, and seeing everyone whinging about the cracked servers, and how IW werent doing anything about them.

Then IW laid the IWNet bombshell on us, which stopped all the cracked servers, and now everyone is whinging about IWNet.

IW themselves have admitted that IWNet wasnt exclusively conceived to combat pirates and cracked servers, but it was certainly part of the thinking. Those that were whinging about them not doing anything about the cracked servers got what they wished for. It just turned out not to be an answer they particularly liked.

I believe it is the same with the modding communities whinging about little tards using pirated software to mod with, and bringing the good name of the communties into disrepute. The answer we will get wont be one we will like - they wont give us any more tools. There are already less and less studios spending the time and trouble to put them out, getting zero return for the effort (except perhaps Valve). And rife priacy amongst the modders will simply be the final nail in the coffin.

Some people might ask why a game studio would even be concerned with what happens to a product from a company like Autodesk. The answer is that all software engineers are a "fraternity" - they watch each others backs. And they do s because they recognise that piracy in one quarter of the industry ultimately affects them as well. After all, most studios use Maya for development, and if Autodesk hike the price up to compenstate for lost revenue through piracy, it affects them directly.

R.I.P. MOD TOOLS!!
('twas Piracy that did you in)

While piracy could very well be a reason for the decline in mod tools, a few years ago, this was not the cited reason. I was told by more than one development studio that they wanted to support mod tools but they could afford to do it because of the extra time and man-power. The time consumers they mentioned were:

- answering questions in any way
- putting together a package for the community
- releasing additional material if needed

Not only did they state they didn't have the money to pay someone to make this all happen, they stated they didn't have the time. Studios don't put out a game and then sit back and watch how well it does. They move onto the next game. There is no time for rest.

Of course, with the gaming industry as young as it is, a few years ago studios were not as big as they are now. Small studios work in a forever-crunch state of being. Now that there are larger studios, I can't say what kind of resources those larger studios have available that could be put forth to the modding community.

Infact you can still buy a Maya 8.5 license, simply contact Autodesk and with a proof of purcahse they will send you a download link. Possibly because your in the UK this result doesn't show up.

http://cgi.ebay.com/AUTODESK-MAYA-Unlimited-8-5_W0QQitemZ270557727115QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3efe7f498b

The reason for the lack of mod tools is business of course. Does it promote a great deal of piracy? I have no idea. Does it greatly shorten the lifespan of a game and ensure that anybody wanting new content must open their wallets? %100.

In any case, interesting comment about cracked servers. I forget where but playing cod4 within the last couple of evenings some people (probably kids) openly laughed that they would buy (or maybe just 'get') MW2 only when cracked servers were available. Some forums have "please help!" posts from kids experiencing the well-known problems trying to install a cracked copy of cod4. Its always the same problem and typically people know not to reply.

I guess the biggest example these days: Providing a torrent to illegal software is questionable legally. But since there are many legitimate uses for the torrent system is telling someone how to use a such a program questionable?

lol i dont know how you all got so off topic - you can get a free trail for any version of maya at the moment i think from autodeks website - or it could just be for the new one. I had a copie of call of duty 2 which i bought and paid for - infact i've had 3 i've broke them all in the end i got bored with buying them and couldn
t wait so i just got a torrent and downloaded it.


-----------------------------ANYWAY---------------------------------------------
Dont stress yourself on maya i tried it for a long time had countless errors - got it working with all xanims and things in the end i gave up because i was just bored of it. so if you are gonna stick at it good luck if you were like me try it untill you get bored them just leave it

ukdjaj writes...

You obviously didnt read anything? The cod plugins only work for certain versions and they cannot be trial or PLE versions. They have to be the full licenced version of either, 6.0 for Cod2, or 8/8.5 for COD4/WAW... these versions are no longer buyable from Autodesk.

I found 2 Maya 8.5's on E-Bay awhile ago, for only $200 unlimited license, sadly they sold within a day.