Be Aware, VideotMaps Mod Tampered With

[WanderingAries]

12 hours ago, Snarky said:

Yes, with physics! And, as Luminara suggests, a yam bag as well.  AND and aNd … sliders!   But just for the yam bag.  
 

 

 

If you're gonna do That, then you'll need to be fair for everyone:

 

 

[High_Beam]

Oh Wait!

[AboveTheChemist]

22 hours ago, WanderingAries said:

Did that GDrive archive help any?

 

It helped me, at least. Although the newest upload I see there is from 2020. I don't see anything recently uploaded to that folder, but I might be mis-interpreting something. It did include the original CoH Modder vidiotmaps (version 1) which is definitely a helpful reference point.

[AboveTheChemist]

Thanks to uploads from Solarverse and WanderingAries, plus a little extra digging on the forums, I think I have pieced together a crude picture of what happened.

 

It appears that vidiotmaps was tampered with during the early months of CoH Modder's existence. WanderingAries provided a copy of vidiotmaps version 1 (dated August 6, 2020), which is clean. The version Solarverse provided is version 5 (dated December 15, 2020) which contains the tampered files. I don't have any versions between those two, so I can't say exactly when the tampered version was uploaded, but it seems clear that it was after version 1 but at or before version 5.

 

On December 31, 2020 PK posted in the (old) vidiotmaps thread that vidiotmaps version 6 was available in CoH Modder and contained an "important bugfix". He was not specific as to what exactly was fixed, but I'd wager a princely sum that the bug (discovered by forum user Grim Lynn) was the two nude costume textures. Note also the next post wherein I asked if the bug was isolated to CoH Modder users, and PK said it was. This leads me to think that the tampering wasn't present in an original pre-Homecoming vidiotmaps source (like sourceforge), but was only added to a version uploaded to CoH Modder.

 

So the tampering had likely been fixed in version 6, and as far as I can tell the next vidiotmaps update was the one I uploaded in Feb 2021. As I stated previously, I never noticed any of the added costume textures among the vidiotmaps files when I took over. Given the way the texture files are organized by folder, it would have been quite obvious that they were there, so I am confident vidiotmaps had been cleaned of the nude costume textures before I came along.

 

If you have an old version of vidiotmaps kicking around from late 2020, I'd highly recommend updating it to the latest version, which is available here. There are install instructions there for both the City Mod Installer (which I strongly recommend), or for manual installation. There are also instructions for removing older vidiotmaps installations, which in this case I definitely recommend following, and I added instructions for removing the nude costume textures if you happen to be using a tampered copy of vidiotmaps.

[Stellarverse]

@AboveTheChemist this is so awesome of you to be of so much help! thank you so very much! I cannot express my gratitude enough!

[WanderingAries]

8 hours ago, AboveTheChemist said:

 

It helped me, at least. Although the newest upload I see there is from 2020. I don't see anything recently uploaded to that folder, but I might be mis-interpreting something. It did include the original CoH Modder vidiotmaps (version 1) which is definitely a helpful reference point.

 

The files (original creation) would be dated to that era, but I did upload the one talking about modder before linking. Give or take how long Google takes to make things available globally, it should have been the last thing uploaded.

[Solarverse]

6 hours ago, AboveTheChemist said:

Thanks to uploads from Solarverse and WanderingAries, plus a little extra digging on the forums, I think I have pieced together a crude picture of what happened.

 

It appears that vidiotmaps was tampered with during the early months of CoH Modder's existence. WanderingAries provided a copy of vidiotmaps version 1 (dated August 6, 2020), which is clean. The version Solarverse provided is version 5 (dated December 15, 2020) which contains the tampered files. I don't have any versions between those two, so I can't say exactly when the tampered version was uploaded, but it seems clear that it was after version 1 but at or before version 5.

 

On December 31, 2020 PK posted in the (old) vidiotmaps thread that vidiotmaps version 6 was available in CoH Modder and contained an "important bugfix". He was not specific as to what exactly was fixed, but I'd wager a princely sum that the bug (discovered by forum user Grim Lynn) was the two nude costume textures. Note also the next post wherein I asked if the bug was isolated to CoH Modder users, and PK said it was. This leads me to think that the tampering wasn't present in an original pre-Homecoming vidiotmaps source (like sourceforge), but was only added to a version uploaded to CoH Modder.

 

So the tampering had likely been fixed in version 6, and as far as I can tell the next vidiotmaps update was the one I uploaded in Feb 2021. As I stated previously, I never noticed any of the added costume textures among the vidiotmaps files when I took over. Given the way the texture files are organized by folder, it would have been quite obvious that they were there, so I am confident vidiotmaps had been cleaned of the nude costume textures before I came along.

 

If you have an old version of vidiotmaps kicking around from late 2020, I'd highly recommend updating it to the latest version, which is available here. There are install instructions there for both the City Mod Installer (which I strongly recommend), or for manual installation. There are also instructions for removing older vidiotmaps installations, which in this case I definitely recommend following, and I added instructions for removing the nude costume textures if you happen to be using a tampered copy of vidiotmaps.

 

AboveTheChemist, you have no idea how much this means to me. I cannot thank you enough.

My credibility means a lot to me and when things were being said that directly contradicted my initial statements in this thread, I felt my credibility was in question. I hold two things dear, my honor and my credibility, the prior gets me in to trouble from time to time, but the latter is unwavering. So thank you, you have helped ensure that my credibility (at least in my mind) is still intact.

I know I am not everyone's favorite poster, I can be combative at times, I know that I can be confrontational at times and I know that I have a bad habit of not walking away from a fight...all bad qualities, however, one thing that I hold dear is my credibility and I thank you for working with me to get to the bottom of it. @Stellarverse had to hear about this for the past few days, so she greatly thanks you too, lol.

 

I owe you one, @AboveTheChemist. You've earned a friend in me. Thank you.

[Snarky]

11 hours ago, AboveTheChemist said:

Thanks to uploads from Solarverse and WanderingAries, plus a little extra digging on the forums, I think I have pieced together a crude picture of what happened.

 

It appears that vidiotmaps was tampered with during the early months of CoH Modder's existence. WanderingAries provided a copy of vidiotmaps version 1 (dated August 6, 2020), which is clean. The version Solarverse provided is version 5 (dated December 15, 2020) which contains the tampered files. I don't have any versions between those two, so I can't say exactly when the tampered version was uploaded, but it seems clear that it was after version 1 but at or before version 5.

 

On December 31, 2020 PK posted in the (old) vidiotmaps thread that vidiotmaps version 6 was available in CoH Modder and contained an "important bugfix". He was not specific as to what exactly was fixed, but I'd wager a princely sum that the bug (discovered by forum user Grim Lynn) was the two nude costume textures. Note also the next post wherein I asked if the bug was isolated to CoH Modder users, and PK said it was. This leads me to think that the tampering wasn't present in an original pre-Homecoming vidiotmaps source (like sourceforge), but was only added to a version uploaded to CoH Modder.

 

So the tampering had likely been fixed in version 6, and as far as I can tell the next vidiotmaps update was the one I uploaded in Feb 2021. As I stated previously, I never noticed any of the added costume textures among the vidiotmaps files when I took over. Given the way the texture files are organized by folder, it would have been quite obvious that they were there, so I am confident vidiotmaps had been cleaned of the nude costume textures before I came along.

 

If you have an old version of vidiotmaps kicking around from late 2020, I'd highly recommend updating it to the latest version, which is available here. There are install instructions there for both the City Mod Installer (which I strongly recommend), or for manual installation. There are also instructions for removing older vidiotmaps installations, which in this case I definitely recommend following, and I added instructions for removing the nude costume textures if you happen to be using a tampered copy of vidiotmaps.

look at you! getting to the bottom of this and exploring everything you get your hands on

[Solarverse]

On 9/29/2023 at 12:13 AM, Solarverse said:

Update, it would seem that nasty little side-mod that came with the videotmaps mod was removed before it was transferred over to the new CityMod. so the only way you could possibly have that mod is if you downloaded it during the CoHModTool days. @Captain Fabulous has helped verify that the newest version of the videotmaps mod is free of the side-mod. Thanks for checking it out, Captain.

 

@MyriVerse

 

So before I say anything...nice name you've got there. I am just really confused as to what in the hell it is in this quoted statement that I could have possibly said that has earned me a good ol fashion down vote from you? I mean, excuse the hell out of me for looking out for the community here. In fact, excuse the hell out of me for a lot of things that I have done for the community over the years. I have always said over my time on these forums, that thumb down button is nothing more than a troll tool. That is all that it is. When people thumb down but do not explain why, it's nothing more than a tool for trolls.

 

I created this thread, trying to warn others of a rogue mod embedded in an otherwise harmless mod and instantly I was told, "That never happened" as if I am some idiot who doesn't know jack. Nevermind that I have created countless mods for this game, nevermind that I have proven that I know a little bit about how these things work. Nah, who cares, I was basically called a liar with that statement whether intentionally or not. That very statement that completely was an underhanded, "You're a lair, that never happened." was bad enough though, I must admit, it hit me hard. I could not believe that somebody would even think that I would come to these forums and just straight out lie. That statement that was made towards me, that turned out to be completely false, sure did get a lot of attention though, didn't it? It sure did make me look like some village idiot, didn't it? That's actually pretty funny though, given my intelligence, it is actually quite insulting to my intelligence. But hey, I see you gave that one a good ol thumbs up though, didn't you!

So I can only use my abilities of deductive reasoning and say that chances are you read my post, then read theirs, then decided that my post was trash due to what they said and gave it the ol down vote without even continuing to find out how that story ends, didn't you? Want to know what is even more insulting than that though? Come a little closer, I'll tell you...but this is just between you and me, okay? After my statement was proven true, there was not one single acknowledgement that what I said was truth from this person who called me out as being untruthful. In fact, when I tried to discuss it with this person in PM's to avoid any forum conflict with this person, they didn't want to hear about it and they shut me down immediately. I even offered them to be involved in the conversation, inviting them to the conversation, they wanted no part of it. They felt it would cause "Drama" and said that they felt that it was going behind people's backs, even though they were being invited to the conversation of everyone involved! Imagine that, right? they said that they wish to avoid drama...and I get that. Maybe it seemed risky to them and I can understand that. But then I got to thinking...wait, you want no drama but yet had no problems calling me a liar publicly? Hmmmm, fascinating. Easier to bury your head in the sand I suppose instead of being shown that what you said was wrong. But hey, it is what it is, people are going to be people, right?

Well guess what, "MyriVerse." I appreciate you...I mean I really really appreciate you. Why? Because you taught me a valuable lesson today. You have finally got it through my hard head that these forums are a complete joke. These forums had great potential at one time and can even be helpful at times, but like all other things with great potential, humans had a part in it and has since completely corrupted these forums. Want to know what's funny though? Had you continued to read this thread to the end, you would have discovered that my warning to the forum community...the community that I used to actually give a shit about, was completely valid. You would have known this had you read on, you would have seen that the evidence supports my warnings. But nah, you couldn't be bothered I'm sure.

But hey, thanks for that. That was the straw that broke the camel's back for me, pal. You made me realize that after a really long and tough week stressing the hell out trying to deal with this crap and working hard with the help of somebody who I admire greatly to prove that what I said was valid and not some lie, you made me realize that I just don't want to be a part of the forum community any longer. I love the people I play with in game, but these forums have seemed to attract some of the worst kind of players. It's toxic to the core.

 

Why is it toxic? Well, strawman arguments is one reason. This forum has a lot of people who love to put words in your mouth and argue points that you never made. And they stick to it and well, they keep it going and going so that it literally placates what you actually said. It causes an environment in which where any poster who does not read the entire thread, just kind of believes the strawman argument and they will even chime in rally with them and attack the original poster right along with them! It's a really neat trick...even better, it works! It is the absolute best way to destroy somebody's argument! I have seen it happen time and time again. What a great tool to use as a weapon against somebody you don't like the opinion of, right? It's wonderful!

 

Secondly, the people on this forum know how to lock threads that they don't like. All they have to do is pick a fight with the original poster and POOF...conversation is over. Boy oh boy is it a really dirty trick, but it works! So why not, right? Have a poster you don't agree with? Pick a fight with him! It will lock his thread every single time! I have seen it happen countless times over the years, even had it done to me a few times here and there...it's the Ace up the Sleeve and boy, does it work! lol

 

Thirdly, that damn thumb down button....nothing but a tool for trolls. It's an abusive tool when used without some context. But for whatever reason, here we are, it still remains today and it still does its job!

 

Lastly, and most importantly, because of the exact situation we have had here on these forums...where I came here to help others out, out of concern for my fellow gamers, I was indirectly (or was it indirectly?) for all intents and purposes called a liar, and then when my innocence was proven, there was not a single peep. Silence. Crickets. Complete and utter void of sound. This is common on these forums too! Somebody says something, then somebody else tells them how wrong they are, then when that first person is proven right, guess what, all people who told them that they were wrong, are just suddenly nowhere to be heard from! It's cowardly and lacks character. One thing you can see from me time and time again on these forums is that I can admit when I am wrong...I am a 48 year old man, admitting when you are wrong shows intelligence and confidence and shows good character. Sadly, it would seem that only a select few people on these boards are capable of doing this. Want to know which posters you can listen to and trust? I'll give you a hint...it's the ones who can admit when they are wrong.

I think I am going to take a line from another good friend who once posted these forums, ThePhiloticKnight. He changed his name to NOPE much for the same reason I am just done with this forum community. If I were to also change my name, I think you could stick a fork in me because I'm DONE.

You all can have these corrupted forums. There is an element here of posters who have made these forums a very passive aggressive toxic community...and that is sad, considering this is City of Heroes, not City of A-Holes. These forums had such great potential but sadly these forums are completely corrupted...the community has made it this way. These forums contain a bunch of bullies and when somebody fights back by either defending themselves against them or digging around to show proof that they were not being dishonest, suddenly they want to play passive aggressive and be dismissive. That is the absolute worst kind of bullying...and Now. I'm. DONE.

 

 

Edited October 13, 2023 by Solarverse
Reasons

[lemming]

Not that this helps since you've quit @Solarverse, but despite your stridency, your posts have value.  Translating tone is a bit difficult since not everyone writes well enough to convey intent, so my way of dealing with it is to try to strip any emotional intent I may put into it that the author may not have meant.

With little emoticons, there's always a chance they hit the wrong one, though there do seem to be some people who will disagree with something you said, then hit a bunch of recent posts and serially thumb them.  (which seems silly to me)

Anyway, take care.

[Snarky]

6 hours ago, Solarverse said:

 

@MyriVerse

 

So before I say anything...nice name you've got there. I am just really confused as to what in the hell it is in this quoted statement that I could have possibly said that has earned me a good ol fashion down vote from you? I mean, excuse the hell out of me for looking out for the community here. In fact, excuse the hell out of me for a lot of things that I have done for the community over the years. I have always said over my time on these forums, that thumb down button is nothing more than a troll tool. That is all that it is. When people thumb down but do not explain why, it's nothing more than a tool for trolls.

 

I created this thread, trying to warn others of a rogue mod embedded in an otherwise harmless mod and instantly I was told, "That never happened" as if I am some idiot who doesn't know jack. Nevermind that I have created countless mods for this game, nevermind that I have proven that I know a little bit about how these things work. Nah, who cares, I was basically called a liar with that statement whether intentionally or not. That very statement that completely was an underhanded, "You're a lair, that never happened." was bad enough though, I must admit, it hit me hard. I could not believe that somebody would even think that I would come to these forums and just straight out lie. That statement that was made towards me, that turned out to be completely false, sure did get a lot of attention though, didn't it? It sure did make me look like some village idiot, didn't it? That's actually pretty funny though, given my intelligence, it is actually quite insulting to my intelligence. But hey, I see you gave that one a good ol thumbs up though, didn't you!

So I can only use my abilities of deductive reasoning and say that chances are you read my post, then read theirs, then decided that my post was trash due to what they said and gave it the ol down vote without even continuing to find out how that story ends, didn't you? Want to know what is even more insulting than that though? Come a little closer, I'll tell you...but this is just between you and me, okay? After my statement was proven true, there was not one single acknowledgement that what I said was truth from this person who called me out as being untruthful. In fact, when I tried to discuss it with this person in PM's to avoid any forum conflict with this person, they didn't want to hear about it and they shut me down immediately. I even offered them to be involved in the conversation, inviting them to the conversation, they wanted no part of it. They felt it would cause "Drama" and said that they felt that it was going behind people's backs, even though they were being invited to the conversation of everyone involved! Imagine that, right? they said that they wish to avoid drama...and I get that. Maybe it seemed risky to them and I can understand that. But then I got to thinking...wait, you want no drama but yet had no problems calling me a liar publicly? Hmmmm, fascinating. Easier to bury your head in the sand I suppose instead of being shown that what you said was wrong. But hey, it is what it is, people are going to be people, right?

Well guess what, "MyriVerse." I appreciate you...I mean I really really appreciate you. Why? Because you taught me a valuable lesson today. You have finally got it through my hard head that these forums are a complete joke. These forums had great potential at one time and can even be helpful at times, but like all other things with great potential, humans had a part in it and has since completely corrupted these forums. Want to know what's funny though? Had you continued to read this thread to the end, you would have discovered that my warning to the forum community...the community that I used to actually give a shit about, was completely valid. You would have known this had you read on, you would have seen that the evidence supports my warnings. But nah, you couldn't be bothered I'm sure.

But hey, thanks for that. That was the straw that broke the camel's back for me, pal. You made me realize that after a really long and tough week stressing the hell out trying to deal with this crap and working hard with the help of somebody who I admire greatly to prove that what I said was valid and not some lie, you made me realize that I just don't want to be a part of the forum community any longer. I love the people I play with in game, but these forums have seemed to attract some of the worst kind of players. It's toxic to the core.

 

Why is it toxic? Well, strawman arguments is one reason. This forum has a lot of people who love to put words in your mouth and argue points that you never made. And they stick to it and well, they keep it going and going so that it literally placates what you actually said. It causes an environment in which where any poster who does not read the entire thread, just kind of believes the strawman argument and they will even chime in rally with them and attack the original poster right along with them! It's a really neat trick...even better, it works! It is the absolute best way to destroy somebody's argument! I have seen it happen time and time again. What a great tool to use as a weapon against somebody you don't like the opinion of, right? It's wonderful!

 

Secondly, the people on this forum know how to lock threads that they don't like. All they have to do is pick a fight with the original poster and POOF...conversation is over. Boy oh boy is it a really dirty trick, but it works! So why not, right? Have a poster you don't agree with? Pick a fight with him! It will lock his thread every single time! I have seen it happen countless times over the years, even had it done to me a few times here and there...it's the Ace up the Sleeve and boy, does it work! lol

 

Thirdly, that damn thumb down button....nothing but a tool for trolls. It's an abusive tool when used without some context. But for whatever reason, here we are, it still remains today and it still does its job!

 

Lastly, and most importantly, because of the exact situation we have had here on these forums...where I came here to help others out, out of concern for my fellow gamers, I was indirectly (or was it indirectly?) for all intense and purposes called a liar, and then when my innocence was proven, there was not a single peep. Silence. Crickets. Complete and utter void of sound. This is common on these forums too! Somebody says something, then somebody else tells them how wrong they are, then when that first person is proven right, guess what, all people who told them that they were wrong, are just suddenly nowhere to be heard from! It's cowardly and lacks character. One thing you can see from me time and time again on these forums is that I can admit when I am wrong...I am a 48 year old man, admitting when you are wrong shows intelligence and confidence and shows good character. Sadly, it would seem that only a select few people on these boards are capable of doing this. Want to know which posters you can listen to and trust? I'll give you a hint...it's the ones who can admit when they are wrong.

I think I am going to take a line from another good friend who once posted these forums, ThePhiloticKnight. He changed his name to NOPE much for the same reason I am just done with this forum community. If I were to also change my name, I think you could stick a fork in me because I'm DONE.

You all can have these corrupted forums. There is an element here of posters who have made these forums a very passive aggressive toxic community...and that is sad, considering this is City of Heroes, not City of A-Holes. These forums had such great potential but sadly these forums are completely corrupted...the community has made it this way. These forums contain a bunch of bullies and when somebody fights back by either defending themselves against them or digging around to show proof that they were not being dishonest, suddenly they want to play passive aggressive and be dismissive. That is the absolute worst kind of bullying...and Now. I'm. DONE.

 

You let someone with 65 posts get under your skin?  C'mon man!  That is not even a travelled tourist of the boards.  Probably some B over from Reddit.

[_NOPE_]

Of all the things to be pinged in... I come to find this. Oh, what a legacy I've left behind... ugh!

 

At least the jokes are funny. Keep it up @Snarky!

[tidge]

[WanderingAries]

On 10/10/2023 at 2:26 PM, _NOPE_ said:

Of all the things to be pinged in... I come to find this. Oh, what a legacy I've left behind... ugh!

 

At least the jokes are funny. Keep it up @Snarky!

 

I wasn't gonna 'cause I thought we had it fleshed out

[Without_Pause]

Sometimes people need to understand when to walkaway as at the end of the day it is only an internet forum.

[Neiska]

@Solarverse

 

”Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

 

- Mark Twain

[Oubliette_Red]

Seems appropriate here...

 

 

[srmalloy]

25 minutes ago, Neiska said:

@Solarverse

 

”Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

More anonymous, and evolved over time, but from 1878:

"Don’t argue with a fool, or the listeners will say there is a pair of you."

[Snarky]

5 hours ago, srmalloy said:

More anonymous, and evolved over time, but from 1878:

"Don’t argue with a fool, or the listeners will say there is a pair of you."

Never argue with a butthole. The crap they spew is endless.  

 

-Snarky Oct 2023

[battlewraith]

Yeah I don't think there was actually an argument here. Just a single intolerable downvote.

[kelika2]

On 9/29/2023 at 1:21 PM, Clave Dark 5 said:

Do uh we have any screen shots of this mod in action?  Asking for a friend...

If you can imagine Tomb Raider 2 tier nude mods from  back in the 90s its pretty much that.  5 polygons max each nipple.