History of the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Project?

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History of the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Project?

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Demis_Russos
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Post by Demis_Russos » Tue Nov 17, 2020 10:41 am

Apologies in advance if this is a topic that has already been canvassed.

I'm wondering if anyone has done, or has considered covering, a history of the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade project.

I bought my first Windows PC back in '98 and XWA was the first ever game I purchased. It's amazing to me that 22 years later - with this incredible project - I'm still playing the game with as much enthusiasm as I did when I first bought it.

I would love to know the history of the project and the brilliant minds that brought it to life.

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Forceflow
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Post by Forceflow » Wed Nov 18, 2020 10:08 am

Unfortunately there really isn't much of a recorded history of the project. There's the Newspost and the forum, though especially from the early years a lot has been lost. I don't think anyone from the original team is even active anymore. I know Saxman pops up from time to time and decoy has been spotted, but that's pretty much it. (While I was involved early on I did join later and the original project wasn't hosted by me)
Some of the biggest improvements have of course been done in recent years when the team learned how to modify, or maybe better expand, the engine itself to allow for better visuals and to add more functions. Those have mostly been done by JeremyaFR and blue_max. Though many others have contributed over the years.
All in all I do admit it is a crazy ride and I cannot believe what we are still here. Looking back there where some years were we didn't really publish anything. Things really started to move again in 2018, picked up in 2019 and 2020 is probably the most active year we ever had.
For some nostalgia you can view the whole newsarchive here:
https://www.xwaupgrade.com/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsall
Though I must say some of those posts are rather cringy... I was a lot younger then ;)
Murphy was an optimist! I am a pessimist!
And always remember that a smile is cheaper than a bullet! (District 9)
Webmaster of the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Project

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Demis_Russos
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Post by Demis_Russos » Thu Nov 19, 2020 9:04 am

Haha! Thanks for that! The story behind this project really fascinates me.

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WildstarBlue9
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Post by WildstarBlue9 » Wed Dec 23, 2020 12:30 pm

The Internet Archive's first crawl of the site for the Wayback Machine is dated Aug. 31, 2000 and can be found here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20000831052 ... grade.com/

Other captures can be found by browsing the timeline provided.
Wildstar, Red 2 (XO) (Ret.)

Not the Wildstar that authored IMCGen.

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Forceflow
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Post by Forceflow » Wed Dec 23, 2020 4:08 pm

We didn't have that domain from the beginning. The project itself must have started just before the end of 1999. Decoy wrote me about it in January of 2000 and by that time he already had joined up. I think I joined sometime between then and April and took over the page. I bought the domain end of July 2000, the one we used before that doesn't appear to have been indexed by the way back machine. (xwaupgrade.cjb.net)
Murphy was an optimist! I am a pessimist!
And always remember that a smile is cheaper than a bullet! (District 9)
Webmaster of the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Project

dreddnott
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Post by dreddnott » Sat Jan 16, 2021 7:34 pm

It's only really possible to understand the history of the XWAUP in the context of the end of Datamaster's Website, which really screwed things up for everyone. You'd definitely want to talk to Saxman, Nob, Eliminator, Darksaber, Lt. Hag, Defiant, Sheldon, Argath, etc. Unfortunately Rogue_62095 (Erai_Hiryuu) passed away recently and I left so long ago that I've forgotten all the details.
I may make you feel, but I can't make you think.

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ual002
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Post by ual002 » Sat Jan 16, 2021 9:58 pm

So strange to go from a lurker to a contributing member after all these years. I was just a child then. But it definitely serves as an anchor for me in that its a game I will keep coming back to especially since the very first real spiritual successor took almost 20 years to come out and it fell short of anything close to a replacement for XWA.
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