Ranger Tent - Carry-able Home

Released and ready for download at My Mod Site!

This is a carry-able tent home. Buy one from Ra'Virr the Trader. Drop it into the world to pitch your tent. Click on it to pick it up, or enter. This started out as a part of the Circle of Rangers mod, but Stormy and I have decided to release it ahead-of-time as a stand-alone mod.

First the new meshes:
Ranger Tent - Exterior
Interior

Tent itself is a set of brand new meshes and textures by me. Since the beta I've changed the mesh slightly. Raised it up a bit, and finally got my vertex shaders working. Exterior has a companion pulsing light, making it glow gently at night, giving the impression of a fire within. Click on the exterior to get a choice of entering the tent, or picking it up.

Interior has some new container hanging sack meshes (modified TES ones) These are scripted to swing gently back-and-forth. Two baskets, a small chest, and a pot in the fire provide further storage. Hammock and fire-pit add a homey feel.

Some more shots:
Camp by Day
Camp at Night
Really looks sweet at night lit up. Hard to tell from the shots.

Some cool spots to camp:
Mountaintop Camp
Mushroomtop Camp

Technical Details

A solid activator gets spawned for the tent exterior when the inventory dummy gets dropped. This is so it has collision. It goes in front of the player by 512 units. A light gets spawned into the player's inventory, then dropped and moved to the tent pos. This is so it lights the world correctly from the go-get. Both get permanently deleted and the dummy added back to the player when it's picked up. I did not notice any weirdness with non-deleted lights.

Interior is, of course, a standard cell. So the player's items are safe when left in there. To exit we go first to a known exterior cell (16, 16) then to the stored float var. This does not use any Mark spots, so recall/multi-mark/other "pocket home" mods will not be harmed.

I've prevented pitching the tent; while in an interior cell. This is to prevent clipping issues, it's a pretty big mesh. Also the scripting gets much easier if you only have to send the player back to the exterior. I've also prevented dropping one while underwater, and while levitating. I had tents disappear in both those cases, prolly to 0, 0, 0. Sometimes the game decides 512 units in front of the player is not a "safe" spot, so it moves the tent someplace odd. I check to make sure it didn't go too close, or too far, and if so give it back to the player. I now check to see if the tent is pitched in the game-world or not, and if the player recalls, or CoCs, to the interior I send them back to where they made camp last.

Weight is 150, cost 1,275. I want it to be fairly heavy to carry, to offset the convenience the player gains. At 150 even a player with the lowest possible strength, 30, can carry it provided they drop everything else. This is so they don't get stuck after buying one, because you can't drop it indoors.

Companions set to AI follow will not teleport into the tent with you, don't think that's possible. It's fairly cramped and you prolly wouldn't want them in there anyway. They will wait outside the tent for you.

Requires both the expansions, or GotY. This is because of the updated scripting functions. Can't be helped.

Thank you to the folks who beta tested for me; Mechafox, Shadow_user,
Redds, Korana, and Coleen. And also to Nigedo for the exit-tent script (on the old board)

Released and ready for download at My Mod Site!

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I can now safely go on a journey with my vamp character and my new horse without having to worry about the sun because I can now camp anywhere.Great job dongle!

Yay

Downloaded it and looking forward to using this

Great mod, just what we have been needing.
Downloaded and on its way to Australia.

Very cool!

Downloaded...now to go use it.

Excellent work

One question though, the glowing at night sounds very, very sweet, but if you re-texture the tent will it affect the glowing inside? I'm thinking about re-texturing with the Guar Skin texture for myself, but don't want to lose such a nice feature.

Im guessing it wont affect it, but just wanted to to check

This post has been edited by TheFalcon: Sep 16 2004, 07:33 AM

Yay! Now it's time to actually start my ranger character!
BTW- Sorry about not getting back to you on the beta test, i've been kind of busy... but everything looks like it should be released

Very awsome mod man

The glow is from a separate light object that gets placed with the tent when you drop it. It'll light up whatever is under it.

If you want to re-texture it for your own use, fine. What I would like folks -not- to do is modify and re-release this, combine it with other mods, or cut-and-paste the scripts. There is too much potential to break -my- mod if more than one of these scripts run on the same objects.

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Now is this the one with the decreased weight?

As indicated in the above post; weight 150, cost 1275. With a strength of 30 (the minimum possible starting stat) you can carry it, if you drop everything else.

Anyone who has the beta should prolly delete those files, install the release version, and delete any saved games using the beta. Both meshes and scripts are changed for the release version.

And thanks again for testing, I did gain some useful insights.

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I like everything but the weight - it is prohibitive and unrealistic. Please, please, please lower it. A mage/thief character (not to mention a ranger-archer is at a distinct disadvantage. A tent, medieval style, if simple could probably have been carried and put on a flexible wood frame without exceeding 40-50 pounds. Have you ever backpacked? That is a large amount of weight for just the tent... and I've even increased the poundage.

Anyway, I'm psyched (!) that you released this, I just wish the weight would be lowered.

Thx,

J

its easy to change the weight in the cs, i will be doing that for my own game.

i didnt look at the wip thread for this cos i thought it would be like the old exterior only static style tent that has been released before, this is far far better it looks great!

Good job, isn't there a teleport script, people could add to their companions or npcs? to get their companions in the tent?

Boy, that auto-quote function on the new boards is annoying.

It's -supposed- be a disadvantage. Because it adds a huge advantage. IE; load the tent up with all your items, and carry them all them all with you without any added weight penalty. I offset that with a substantial weight penalty. That's how balanced gameplay works.

Anyhoo, it'd take you two seconds to edit the weight down for you own use, if you see fit. Item you carry is; Misc Item - DGL_RangerTent_Dummy_01.


Ever carried nine, 17-foot-long, six-inch diameter wooden poles? I could easily see that being 150lbs. But it's not about reality anyway, 80lb claymores? It's about balancing.

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As Dongle explained above, the weight isn't meant to be realistic, but a balance to the fact that you can loot every object from every daedric shrine, dwemer ruin, and bandit cave, put it in the tent, and drag it all over with you without being overburdened.

I have the 200lb beta tent on a level 10 huntress/ranger character and she STILL has poundage availiable with the tent, bow, arrows, spears, and her armor.

But if it still bothers you you can change it in the CS.

EDIT: Well, Dongle beat me to it...oh well.

This post has been edited by mechafox: Sep 16 2004, 09:07 AM

This has been a "holy grail" of sorts. It may be possible with MWSE, but since virtually nobody understands how to use MWSE, it is unlikely.

I honestly can't see why anyone would want an NPC in there with you? The interior is just big enough to take three steps forwards, and one sideways. An NPC trying to stay a step away would be as annoying as all get out.

The exterior mesh is too big to imagine carrying with you, and the interior mesh is already 175% the size of the exterior. Any more size adjustments and it just won't be realistic.

But yes, I could prolly custom code a companion to work. Going outside is a two-step process, and might be buggy. Since I don't do companion mods I won't attempt it. What I'm not able to do is make it work with all existing companions, at least I can't see a way, someone correct me if I'm wrong.

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Wow, this is awesome Dongle. Thanks.

Did you make the interior smaller since the beta? It seemed fairly large enough to me (at least large enough to allow me to have a scrib inside without either of us getting in the way of the other).



It's bigger on the inside than it is on the inside... *shifty eyes*

IT'S THE TENT ON ASH TREE LANE!

*runs screaming*

does this mean you cant pitch the tent anywhere in mournhold?

Great mod by the way, your script is very useful, no need for teleport rings wich had the disadvantage of not taking you back to your previous location.

Yes, thanks for the compliments everyone! I appreciate it.

Sorry I'm sounding all negative in my other responses.


Yeah, it's an optical delusion thing. If it's the same size, it seems smaller when you go inside. Yes, it's the same size as the beta.


Sadly, yes. If I could check for the "acting as exterior" flag I would, and allow it in those cells. I'll explain this away by noting that Almi is so pissy she won't let you levitate near her, I'm sure she wouldn't be happy if you camped on her nice green grass.

I wanted to prevent camping in towns anyway, ie where sleeping is illegal, but I couldn't successfully check for that. I also wanted to prevent entering while in combat, but again no dice.

PS, edit those quotes down folks!

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If anyone wants to use a version of the return-to-float-var script for their own mod I would start with the one posted by Nigedo on the old forums. (like I did)

Scripting for Dummies 8 Addenda Thread

Look at the last post for Nigedo's script. Works perfectly, although it does take a bit. Cutting and pasting my actual scripts could break both our mods.

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Yaay Dongle! Thank you!

This was much fun to test, and *just* the thing I needed for my treasure hunting dark elf. Thanks dongle!

Cheers!

Looks great, Dongle. Doownloading now, and I hope to get the chance to try this out soon.

As for the weight, which some people here don't seem to like, I think it's perfectly reasonable. Even the weakest of my 3 active characters (level 25 Dunmer thief) can handle this easily. Of course, she hasn't worn armor since I noticed the Neuman's Black Leather Armor wasn't compatible with BB 2.0.

However, to anyone who isn't happy with the weight of the tent in their inventory:
The Construction Set was installed on your computer right along with MW, so you can adjust it yourselves.

This post has been edited by baratheon79: Sep 16 2004, 11:28 AM

Heh i had a thought.since the tent weighs 150 and you can store your stuff in it safely....Why not use it to transport anything you wont need imediatly?
Like anything except potions,weapons,and armor.

Heheehehe....im brillant!
Mobile home/backpack coming up!

I have Downloaded this (THANK YOU!), and Will edit it to what I think may be more balancing (higher price and/or lower weight) but that's just me. I will, however, give it a try at your settings. Maybe I'll like them enough I won't even bother re-editing.........

Nonetheless..... A very Good Job!

<- first place


And now:

Great job, dongle. You never stop to amaze me.

This post has been edited by Xanathar: Sep 16 2004, 12:32 PM

The only reason I was asking was I seem to recall a companions mod, somewhere that stated that if your companion got too far away or lost, they would simply teleport to your location after a certain amount of time. By the way great job again, an excellent accomplishment a tent with an interior cell has bin wanted for a long time.

This post has been edited by dereko777: Sep 16 2004, 12:48 PM

That might be Emma's newest Laura release that has improved teleportation. Most companions go back to a fixed start point when they're lost. If you're lucky.

I just downloaded this great tent. By the time Circle of Rangers is released, I'll have the whole mod in bits and pieces. LOL. Beautiful work, dongle!

Sorry - what's MWSE?

See, the problem for me is; knowing who's following you. If I make a companion to go with my mod when you chose to go inside I can send them in there with you. No prob. Sending them -out- is somewhat trickier, because it's not a static location, but wherever your camp is. Still think it could be done.

But, since -I've- never made any companion mods what folks want is for -anyone- following you to go with you. That won't work for pure teleport scripts, although it does for doors and travel merchants. I'd have to check for the guy in Mournhold, check for a scrib named spot, check for a butler named Rambo, etc. Even if I did that for every companion mod out there (and I won't!) the minute a new one comes out it won't work.

I suck at explaining this stuff, sorry if I'm not being clear.

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Hurray, thank you dongle for this wonderful Carry-able Home. I'm getting this immediately, great job!

This post has been edited by brady228: Sep 16 2004, 01:31 PM

I wonder if this mod will clash with Multi-Mark?
Uhh by the way, anybody know how to successfully get rid of Multi-Mark??

Multi-mark, as well as regular mark/recall spells, are not affected! You can enter and leave the tent as often as you want without overwriting any of your marks. It will not affect any of the other "pocket home" mods, nor the sailable ship/home mods.

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ROFL. Awesome. I assume nobody will be using this convenient little thing to cheat now will they?

Think about it. There's a million uses for these things that might not be too kosher. Woohoo!

Great work. I don't need tents just yet, so I'll pass for now, but when I feel like being a rugged outdoors type instead of a castle knight dude, I know what to download.

N.I.C.E.!!
To quote Homer Simpson, "WOO-HOO It's groin-grabbingly good!!"
As long as it's used right. Any way to increase the weight if things are added to the interior??
Oh, BTW, after weighing my tent, 8 wooden poles and dragging the hammock onto the bathroom scales What!? I am too normal! And yes I do have alot of time on my hands, this happens to be my vacation...
It adds up to a total of 118 pounds.

There is no way to globally check the weight of items in a cell. I could check for Daedric claymores, then Daedric axes, then on down the line of every heavy object in-game, then add 'em up. That would fail if you were running any mods that add weapons. And would be a pain to boot.

I've heard from some alchemy jar folks that it's very hard to keep track of the contents of a container. So I wouldn't be able to track what you put in your hanging sacks.

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nice mod.... downloading now

This is THE mod I've been looking for! Magnificent work!

Still, I'd like to point out few things...
1) Fire can't be kept in tent unless it's a tepee (designed for smoke exhaustion).
2) MW weight units ARE NOT pounds. They're equivalent to 150 grams or 1/3 pounds. Weight of tent is perfect.

Where is it, I have looked at all 3 pags on your web site and cant find it, am i missing something?

All those ashlanders seem OK with firepits and no smoke vents. Even if their tents are round. . . ..

Tal - Click the link to my mod site in my first post. It should be the first mod at the top of the page.

Great work!

Thanks Dongle, just wanted to check before committing myself. I thought that was how it worked but I thought some DDS file trickery might make it look right or something.

I hope I didn't sounds like I didn't like your original texture, its great but my current ranger enjoys skinning, so a guar skin tent is perfect for her And of course I have no plan on releasing it, just a personal thing.

Once again, great work

This post has been edited by TheFalcon: Sep 17 2004, 01:46 AM

No, no glow maps or anything. Just the light. You can always try it, and if it don't look right, go back? UVW is mirrored on the end flaps, so I can halve my texture size, so another tex may not look so good, but suit yourself. . . .

Morrowind Script Extender. It requires hex-editing and such so it is very difficult to figure out... the documentation is horrible too, which doesn't help much

Suffering from post-mod-letdown here.

An excellent Mod Dongle. Something I've always wanted for my PC, and now I have it. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

An entirely wonderful mod, verymuch needed.

Don't be letdown, I wasn't.

That was just my subtle way of bumping my thread.

Thankyou, I was looking at this earlier when I was at work. Looks good, simple but effective.

Wow, what an awesome idea. I can't believe it wasn't thought of earlier. I can't wait to dust off my ranger for a little "camping". Very nice job, Dongle.

I could swear there -were- other tent mods, but maybe I'm wrong. . . .

Acheron's Camping Gear, perhaps?

I found it over on the summit..... It had a tent, bedroll, several gaurskin Barriers,even a campfire, all portable, packed into a 10lb box..........
Just that you couldn't enter the tent like yours.
That's the only one I ever heard about, Dongle.

Oh, and good job.

This post has been edited by Gold_Dragon: Sep 17 2004, 03:13 PM

Do you mean with new tent models? If not, a favorite of mine - up to now - has been 'Improved Resting' by MangoMan. It uses a standard Ashland tent.

However, I believe this mod will shortly be taking its place. Very nice work, Mr. D!



This post has been edited by Pseron Wyrd: Sep 17 2004, 08:26 PM

Dongle,

Other tent mods yes... Other tent mods that can be used effectively without mark/recall no! You have created something truly unique D, and I am dang proud to have seen it firsthand . This will be an excellent companion to our COR mod and any others out there that have Naturalist themes.

Cheers,

SW

dongle, let me say that in addition to this mod's other excellent qualities - the hanging sacks are brilliant! They're so perfect I don't know why the Ashlanders didn't think of them. and yes, the fact that this doesn't use mark & recall is a major attraction.

Yes, excellent work

But could you make different textures for this tent?
So that we can choose which colour our tent has?

This post has been edited by SoulReaver2105: Sep 17 2004, 09:57 PM

I have one real question... why so heavy? Why should a tent weigh 150 lbs? Now I have to get a packguar if I want to camp anywhere.

I know, I could just open up TESCS... only I can't for some reason after reinstalling windows.

It just crashes.

You might want to rethink that weight dongle. I'm not sure what mod I have that does this, but at 30 strength, my carry capacity is only 100. Maybe WGI or something. I couldn't carry this bad boy if I WANTED to... not even outside to a packguar.

Edit: Well nevermind, it's still 150... but if I get the least bit fatigues my str falls due to a plugin of mine (falling down). But still.... I can't even carry some saltrice if I have a tent in my inventory...

This post has been edited by Leadf007: Sep 18 2004, 01:13 AM

Put the saltrice in the tent, and then carry the tent.

What an attractive tent!

Now I can have passing Bretons washed, oiled and sent to it

Just as soon as I finish completely reloading my computer

Not too useful when I'm about to die to whip out the tent, dive in, and grab some healing potions.

I'll use this plugin once MadMax gets Pegas Ranch up and running right... The horse should be strong enough to carry the damnable tent.

ah. An alternative solution suggest itself ...

one question: wont this unblance the game abit beacuse you could fill it up with heavey items and then you could just carry it with the same weight, beeing its a normal interior cell?
myabe im not maing alot of sense

Well yeah... but the only place you're gonna find alot of heavy loot very often is inside.... and you can't do anythig with it while it's inside. You can't pitch a tent in the middle of a daedric ruin or anything.... not that I'd realistically WANT to.

Wooo! time to make a camp on the Khuul island! :heh

Looks brilliant, thanks m8

M()()C()w

I want to camp in Daedric ruins...and do. See? Of course this isn't Dongle's. This is mostly the "Adventurer's Tent" by Dereko. I'm wipping up screens of the portable Ranger Tent as we speak though. Don't complain that they're dark. These are desktop background quality, with 1152x864 res, and as big a file as Cuneo will allow, no huds. You can't see the sweet lighting effect if I jack up the brightness, so if you can't see them, wait until tonight, or when you're in a dark room. You've been warned lol. These look much much better dark. That's the way they were intended. You can't look at them in a bright computer lab, library, or office =P

brb

This post has been edited by Illtempered: Sep 18 2004, 02:57 AM

This is great... ever since I saw a thread on an interior tent cell ( minus mark/recall) and my Azuralia horse totes my gear... ALL my gear.. The weight is fine if you use it that way. And best yet.. it's my only home/resting mod that is compatible with NOM!! Thanks for the great mod. I know this hits the spot for a lot of us!

this is really cool. much appreciated!

It's a really cool tent! It's very useful when I'm traveling through the fridged terrain of Solstheim, especially when I'm finding treasures here and there and I dont' have to go back all the way to Vvardenfell to put them in a house I killed someone for. I don't suppose you could make it visible on your character like make it look like a backpack?

Thanks again for the compliments everyone!

Doing multiple tents in multiple colors would require a new interior and complete set of scripts for each color. Then I’d need to de-bug them all. Doable, sure, but tedious. Unfortunately I’ve got a ton of other stuff lined up, more than I’ll ever finish, prolly. Just enjoy the one color for now.

I kinda meant INSIDE the ruins... but hey whatever

This post has been edited by Leadf007: Sep 18 2004, 07:47 AM

True, and touche. I have actually camped inside Norenen-dur before too =P

Here is a thread I put together for ranger mods. Links are now provided.

Dark pictures of the Ranger Tent are at the very end of the thread if you don't want to read the whole thing. They are accurate depictions of the way it looks at night ingame, so if they're too dark, wait until tonight when your room is dark to look at them, or turn up your gamma. The thing really does look awesome ingame at night, especially when you're up on a hill looking down on it.

This post has been edited by Illtempered: Sep 18 2004, 10:17 AM

Neat little illustrated story you have going Illtempered. As you can see I pump the heck out of my gamma before posting shots, personal taste really.

Once more on the weight:

I put it at a fairly heavy setting, but carry-able at the minimum possible strength of 30. Not use-able, but carry-able, so you don't get stuck indoors because you can't drop it. It becomes more useable as your strength grows and you can carry more battle gear. I'm trying to offset the advantage of being able to store all your stuff in the tent and have it available anywhere you pitch camp. Offsetting advantages with disadvantages is what balancing gameplay is about.

If anyone doesn't agree with my choice they can open the editor and make their own choice in two seconds. I'll even offer to make a custom version for anyone's personal use that doesn't know how to work the editor.

If you run a mod that specifically reduces your strength to make the game harder, then complain that you can't carry everything you want, I really can't help you.

BTW there is a basis in fantasy literature for magical backpacks that contain huge tent-homes that don't get any heavier no matter how much you store in there. (just can't remember -where- I read that, Silverberg perhaps?)

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I wasn't really complaining....

Okay so yeah I was. Yesterday I was kinda grumpy

I really like your tent, but it's near impossible for me to use. I WOULD just open up the CS and set the weight to 100 or so but for some reason I get a CTD every time I try to open it up

If you could release a weakling's version, possibly with reduced storage space (weight wise, not container wise) or something to balance it out, I would be so grateful.

Hehe...I use the rogue mod as well as this, ended up with 3 bandits camping with me. In the process of evicting them (though I fear I must run too often). Aside, awesome tent!

It's a tent of holding

No clue why it would make the CS crash? I'll PM you a version when I get off work this evening. . . .

i was look at your others on the page then i saw mourhold arena, is mournhold an original citie or does it come in an exspansion?

Mournlhold comes with tribunal.

I believe there was one mentioned in Salvatore's "Servant of the Shard," too...at least a tent that grew in size once placed on the ground and, when entered, transported the user to a different realm...damn...hang on, lemme see if I can find my copy of it...

It's not your mod that crashes the CS. it's ANY mod

The CS just plain doesn't work.

And EXTRADIMENSIONAL tent

Darn, I should have named my mod that!

Found the book I was thinking of; Glory Road by Heinlein. It was actually more of an extra-dimensional backpack, that tents (among other stuff) were stored in. But I guess it's a pretty common theme. So I feel better about making a mod of one.

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Neat mod, Dongle. Do those baskets happen to be bottomless? I'm sure many purists frown on that kind of thing, but I like containers that I can put an unlimited supply of stuff in.

I hate small containers too!

Didn't make 'em bottomless, but did up the capacity somewhat. Large sack can hold 1,000lbs, small one 500lbs.

that reminds me of cartoons where people pull pianos out of thier back pockets lol...

hey i downloaded its in the folders but i cant activate in the data fies menu is something wrong?

this mod kicks the stuffing outa the houses in morrowind i especialy like the camp fire idea i am temted to DL the children mod and start a boy scout mod.

Meh......guess I probably should've did a search before congratulating you, being one of my first few times here in six months or so.


Well, it's new to me.

And I like it a lot.

Thanks!!

personally, I think this mod was a very good idea, and, umm... ROCKS!!

Well, this mod is on my must keep for sure. Hope you don't mind, dongle, but I cracked it open in the editor and added a full set of ashland chimes... I love how they sound

Any thoughts on doing a portable ashland yurt?

Dongle, if you do a portable ashlander yurt, there was someone who released a Modder's resource of several sizes and colors of the yurts.

Yeah, something's wrong.

What it is, you'll have to tell me. Can you see a mod called "Ranger Tent" in the mods to select? If so double-click in the square next to it. If you can't do that somethin's bad wrong, and it aint my mod. If you -don't- see it listed you got the files in the wrong folder. Maybe you ended up with a second "Data Files" inside the main one? If so move it up a level. . . .



Being more of a modeler than a modder I'll leave the portable yurts to others. There is a link to Nigedo's script in one of my posts above.

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*laughs* And I'm a modder, not a modeler Only thing that's stopping me from doing it myself is I have no idea how to make the yurt and yurt door into a single model in Max! Guess I'll have to ask my husband to help me out there...

*oh honey....*

Regardless... I'm one happy camper.

Oh, WOW!

I've been anxiously awaiting the release of this.

THANK YOU DONGLE!!!

You're welcome!

I'm glad everyone is having as much fun using this as I had making it.

The "lightweight tent for weaklings" version is ready for download. If anyone would like a link to it please PM me.

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