SCS, can you stop this?

[Arayas]

I find in every version more and more materials from the game are labeled in Content Browser as "DO NOT USE", a sign those are gonna be removed very soon. At the moment there are 91 (!!) materials to be removed.
Really? People who are mapping for years are gonna found out now in 2022 that many materials available at the time of creation of something are gonna be removed.
Its such a great disaster to let them in the game? Few MB are gonna be a problem? Is not like you have a limited number of slots or limited number of definitions you can use.
example:
model.dlc_balt_620 -> balt_roadcliff_9 DO NOT USE ???!?? that's from Baltic, is not like it was there from 1900. I have 365 of them placed on the map. I'm sure other maps have the same problem.
BUT, that is just ONE, the list of "DO NOT USE" got bigger and bigger.
Yes, i agree and apreciate the updating process of the game, keep up the great work, but what do you want us to do? In the next version we will have little black skulls instead of materials. And from some reson those are not even open for mass deletion, i am not gonna delete 365 materials one by one by UID.

Is that hard to let them in a game under a different category (like OLD or LEGACY)? Category change will not have an impact on material presence in the maps. I can mass replace them but i have no alternative because a model of exact size as the one deleted is not there. So, i need to make a clone. I need to make a huge number of those because....?

Please consider supporting map mods in this problem. (and no, this is not about a map or another, this is a hit for ALL maps).
Thank you.

[Reinhard]

Every time there is a major game version change, I extract the actual base (+def +all DLC), anyway, like possibly any serious modder does. But then I create a zipped copy of it, name it after the actual version, and store it on a save place.

So whenever SCS deleted something, and may it have been only an "automat" file, I never had a problem to restore it into my map mod. Or any other kind of mod.

Having all these old versions at hand is also very convenient, when I want to check all kind of version changes. Understanding the differences.

[bricksathome]

The ‘do not use tag’ doesn’t mean the assets will be removed any time soon. The name is primarily there to stop SCS mappers from using them in new areas of the map where better alternatives could be used instead. This is the information I’ve heard anyway, and it lines up with the stuff that’s been named ‘do not use’ in ATS for years (since the rescale), it’s been labelled as do not use for years but still hasn’t been removed.

[Arayas]

Every time there is a major game version change, I extract the actual base (+def +all DLC), anyway, like possibly any serious modder does. But then I create a zipped copy of it, name it after the actual version, and store it on a save place.

So whenever SCS deleted something, and may it have been only an "automat" file, I never had a problem to restore it into my map mod. Or any other kind of mod.

Having all these old versions at hand is also very convenient, when I want to check all kind of version changes. Understanding the differences.

I save older versions always, but still...

The ‘do not use tag’ doesn’t mean the assets will be removed any time soon. The name is primarily there to stop SCS mappers from using them in new areas of the map where better alternatives could be used instead. This is the information I’ve heard anyway, and it lines up with the stuff that’s been named ‘do not use’ in ATS for years (since the rescale), it’s been labelled as do not use for years but still hasn’t been removed.

I would like if that's the purpose, but is not the first time i have seen materials vanished, i remember some rocks from Iberia going missing just in the next version of Iberia release. I know options, but the best one is to leave them there.

[plykkegaard]

Materials are removed because they no longer are suitable for the game engine and render
Could be absolete shaders etc
Besides all textures have auto generated names by each release as a modder you need to take appropriate actions as mentioned in the replies

[Arayas]

If SCS removes those materials from the map, engine and render has no importance. Game performance is related to materials used not with the ones unused in database.
Appropriate action is to leave them there atleast for some time not to erase them to gain few mb in game size. I'm not talking about 1 or 2, the list is big.
A removed material leave behind a black little skull who is impossible to delete. You need to save a list of them, go back one version and replace materials.
If you have like in this case a 3 digit number of materials you have to replace.... Some of them are pretty used by all maps, some in big numbers, beeing the only option at that time.
We can reinstate those later, from older versions, but good luck finding all related textures or mat files. The alternative is simple: create a category and let them there to be.

[Some newbie driver]

Engine and render HAVE importance when materials are made a way they look/behave weird when the render working changes substantially.

When they released Black Sea DLC, they told the way lots of 3D models and their materials were done, it was impossible to made them compatible with the DX9 version, for example. When they made the lighting changes, they had to check every single material used in the whole game (and change those necessary) to be sure it will behave correctly with the neg lighting system. And so on and on. All the components of the game are related and changes in one of them can force changes in others. The problems could potentially even be game crashes in some cases; thus a good reason to remove them to avoid confusions or mistakes. It's not the savings on MB what causes those changes.

Max stated recently (in the 1.46 discussion topic) that he knows the way the colors and transitions are applied in the map terrain (something related to vertex) are going to be changed because they are doing some big changes (probably the new render hinted time ago) and because the current system has several drawbacks. You can bet your lungs that will heavily affect tons if not all map mods out there the day this change is released.

Regards

[Arayas]

I've stated my point and your post its in funny people say funny stuff category. Let people who know something about editor and game files talk.
Vertex its a tool who was introduced in editor some time ago, and of course they made a big change to implement that. Its related to terrain not models and its a tool not a game engine "feature".
Saying materials from game database NOT used in map is gonna crash your game... I think you know you have in game database materials pre-Going East....so...your game is feeling suicidal?
So, thank you for your opinion, i will wait SCS to adress this problem, unlike you, i am sure they know about what i am talking about.

[plykkegaard]

I've stated my point and your post its in funny people say funny stuff category.

Please, relax
Replies like this makes it quite annoying to participate

[Some newbie driver]

Saying materials from game database NOT used in map is gonna crash your game...

I said one of the reasons to end discarding materials COULD be weird behaviors included crashings if used. You are asking them not to retire to keep them using. So, I never stated that something will crash the game only by residing in materials DB; that's a fabrication of your anger-reading when not having a response that fits your wish.

As like the vertex example, I didn't said that tool is a material. I said that when they change that it affected how the map is view; and when they change it again it will cause the same. Thus, everything else used in the map, materials included, will have to adapt. And that means you can expect lots more of "do not use" to come that day; like it or not.

You can vent as much as you want; that doesn't change one very basic fact that you don't seem to understand: SCS work for themselves not for moders. Whatever they need to change or they need to get rid of by whatever reason, none of us will have voice against it. If they put those "do not use" labels, you can bet it's not aimed to any moder but for themselves as you have already been told. And that's not going to change because a moder (or ten, or thousands) doesn't like it. So, the only funny thing here is to see yet another person who still doesn't understand how company to customer relations works. Something that it's a common trend in this forums and everywhere.

Regards