I'm not sure what more can possibly be said on this. The amount of time involved with this program is stunning. Over 4 years a lot has been done with it. I don't forsee much more on the vpinmame side - if there is it will mainly be rehashed/revised tables, where the materials are still free for the taking. I do think the remaining 'modders' should keep in mind that stuff that hasn't been done already probably took a lot more to produce something than the average existing release. Some things to consider in play - a manual can cost anywhere from $10-$25, which isn't that much, considering most users don't even donate $1 to their forum of choice to download the end result. Don't misinterpret this as a fund drive, or anything of the sort, jsut realize what you get for free is not created from 'free' stuff. The average romset will cost from $20-$600 depending on the board, availability, and vendor pricing, including but not limited to, long distance phone calls to a supplier, attending events to meet owners, visiting their homes, purchasing equipment to read the roms, months or years of emails asking for reads and locating them. As far as the internet, I'm fairly sure we have downloaded everything readily available from sites all over the world already. Then there is the work involved in obtaining any picture of the machine, and doing the layout, organizing the pictures, modifying the core code and bugtesting the roms, all that just to get it to fire up and resemble a playable piece of work. Now with most games remaining coming out of foreign countries, there is work translating the manuals to something we understand, and consulting owners who don't know english to try to get more information.
In short, a lot of time, money, and effort has been expended to get these other games playable in vp - that users can download for free and submit bug reports or feedback, as much as they always have. You can see how someone could get upset with a mod, posted without any warning or notice, and never seeing the table before it is released, only to find what I'd consider 'minor' modifications solely to add their name to the authors list and make it look like they did more than at first sight. Maybe I've turned too cynical, too selfish, too uncaring, or I've turned into a bad person overall - but I just thought somebody would tell us, or make clear their intentions, or perhaps send a table to look at before replacing an existing table. I'm not sure if I'm under too much stress with all this, or if I'm not thinking clearly about my own priorities. The balance is swayed in any case and I find it difficult to choose the 'correct' response - on one hand modders are good, on another hand there is the enormous effort involved as mentioned above - which is right? Kristian sent a copy of a table before he released it, even after getting permission, Pinball Ken did too, and so did Jive, and I was able to give some feedback and look the thing over first. After a few tables, I trust their judgement on the machine. Solely saying "anyone can mod destruk's work" and expecting that to fly anymore, I feel the hands clenching at the throat a bit as it usually affects other people aside from myself who assisted in getting it out in the first place. You won't know if you don't ask, and why you can't ask everyone listed in the authros field, or on AJ's for a specific table, I don't know. The more real communication, the better, and there's no time pressure, so I don't understand why that still can't be done.
People like racerxme saying there are bugs, but why bother, makes me think as well, why bother? Not helpful if you want more games.
Not meant to be confusing, I'm just trying to vent some thoughts, and decide why I keep doing this stuff.