| Which idea do you like the most? |
| Klasodeth - Rogue Stormtrooper (New Character and Story) |
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47% |
[ 8 ] |
| Lucius - Dark Forces Prequel (History of Kyle Katarn before DF) |
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17% |
[ 3 ] |
| Burning Gundam - Tales of a Mercenary (Side Missions of Kyle Katarn and open-ended) |
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17% |
[ 3 ] |
| Taton - DF: Operation Aftermath (Direct sequel to DF) |
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17% |
[ 3 ] |
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| Total Votes : 17 |
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| Author |
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Burning Gundam
Kell Dragon
Joined: 28 Sep 2003
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 Posted: Jan 26, 2009 22:03 Post subject: DXL Community Project - POLLS CLOSED |
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Okay everyone, deadline for ideas has been reached. if you have any other ideas that you wanted to propose you may still have an opportunity to encorporate that into one of the ideas voted upon.
I'll run the poll for a week or so. Anyone can vote including people who do not want to be involved in the project's production.
To recap, here are the ideas proposed:
klasodeth wrote:
[Proposal]
Name: Rogue StormTrooper
Story summary: You are an Imperial StormTrooper stationed on a remote planet. After witnessing continuing Imperial atrocities at a nearby city, you make the decision to defect to the Rebellion. After saving innocent civilians by killing the rest of your squad, you return to your base to destroy it. You flee to a nearby community to find passage off-planet, while avoiding StormTrooper squads sent to neutralize you. After escaping from the planet either by stealing a ship or by performing favors in exchange for passsage, you travel to another planet to attempt to contact the Rebellion.
After dealing with Imperials and/or mercenaries, you eventually locate a Rebel contact who wants you to prove your loyalty. After proving yourself by attacking a local Imperial facility, you go on another mission to recover or repair the Rebel agent's ship, which is carrying supplies vital to Rebel operations in the area. Once you recover the agent's craft, the two of you leave the planet to meet with local Rebel leadership.
The higher Rebel officials already have a mission planned for you. They want you to use your Imperial knowledge and access to help engineer the escape of several imprisoned Rebels who have been sentenced to death at a high-security Imperial outpost. After fighting Imperial patrols and perhaps the hostile natives/wildlife, you penetrate the outer defenses and fight your way inside to rescue the Rebel prisoners. After rescuing the prisoners, either you steal an Imperial transport or you clear a landing zone for a Rebel transport which arrives to extract you and the prisoners. Upon your return, a celebration is thrown in your honor. Congratulations, you're an official member of the Rebellion!
Possible environments & missions: There are a lot of possibilities for mixing levels here. The story could start in a local community where the player witnesses Imperial atrocities and decides right then and there to turn rogue. From there the player fights inside an imperial base, then moves to an outdoor environment leading to a large community. Fighting could occur in back alleys or in a spaceport depending on how the player acquires off-planet passage.
Once off-planet, the player could find himself in either a major city or a backwater town. During the course of locating a Rebel agent, the player might find himself fighting in back alleys and generally dealing with the seedier elements of the area. The mission proposed by the agent marks a return to Imperial architecture. This could be anything Imperial, provided it is not a prison or anything too similar to the Imperial base attacked earlier. Recovering the Rebel agent's craft could involve remote areas teeming with dangerous wildlife, a secured impound lot at the local spaceport, or breaking into a factory or warehouse to locate an important part. This all depends on whether or not the ship was seized or damaged. With this done, the player and the Rebel agent leave the planet.
The mission to rescue the Rebel prisoners can start in the wilderness surrounding a remote Imperial prison. Once inside, the player fights through an Imperial prison to locate the prisoners. Upon locating them, it is necessary to disable the outer defenses. With that done the player goes back outside either to clear a landing zone for a Rebel transport, or enters a moderately-sized craft to clear it out so that the player and the Rebels can steal it to make their escape.
Outdoor environments can be anything that is interesting and unique. They do not call for specific environments and ideally should NOT involve well known planets such as Tatooine, Hoth, or Endor. Ideally outdoor environments should seem new. For instance, cold environments should have enough foliage to suggest winter, not perpetual cold. Hot, dry environments should incorporate water, much as Egyptian civilization relied on the Nile. Lush environments should depict plants previously not seen. Fruit-bearing plants with strange, exotic fruit, as well as plants with unusually colored leaves, would be useful to depict an alien environment and to avoid excessive use of green.
lucius wrote:
[Proposal]
Name: Defection
Story summary: The starts in Kyle's early years, working for the empire. As the first couple of mission unfold, Kyle becomes increasingly disillusioned with the empire. We play through the events that cause Kyle to leave the Empire and begin working for the rebellion. The early missions can present an interesting view from the Empire's point of view with the Imperial propaganda - think Tie Fighter. And see as Kyle understands what is really behind the propaganda and lies - betrayed by the Empire he becomes one of its worst enemies.
Possible environments & missions: Environments can include Imperial bases and starships, interesting towns and planetside environments that the Empire operate in. Then we move over to Rebel bases and settlements and mercenary hangouts. You can include a sequence of missions if you want at this point, but its not required. This can be worked on more later.
Burning Gundam wrote:
My Proposal
Dark Forces: Tales of the Mercenary
Kyle has had a tough job destroying the Dark Troopers, eventually going on to fight his darker side and become a Jedi, and so on and so forth. But what about his little in-between jobs before and after the Dark Trooper conflict?
Plot Ideas
This leaves the most room for people to be creative, because they don't have to follow one plot and can go about their various ideas. You want Kyle to subvert a spy operation for an underground gang against another? Go for it. You want him to do a smuggling operation only for it to go horribly wrong? It's yours.
Locations
Everywhere! Starships, planets, spaceports, etc.
Lengths
Creators can make their levels in a series or as one large level. If the plot (job) they want to work with takes place in two separate areas and the only way to convey it is through 2 or 3 levels, that is fine.
Restrictions
Pretty much anything goes. But if the idea is WAY out there it may not flow well. Keep it (watch for the irony here) fairly realistic.
That being said, Im pitching a few ideas that I would do if we did it in this way.
1) Kyle is hired by a contractor to find out why their people have been getting killed at a research facility. Willing to pay handsomely... but at what cost to you?
2) While doing a basic cargo shipment to Sullust, his ship is jumped and boarded by an unknown attacker. Find out why and fend off the attack.
3) Kyle somehow gets tangled in some conflict between two rival gang factions.
4) Etc.
Taton wrote:
Dark Forces: Operation Aftermath
After stopping the Dark Trooper Project with the destruction of the Arc Hammer, Kyle works with the Rebel Alliance to create an elite guerilla unit. The unit's first mission is to investigate and neutralize any remaining infrastructure
related to Project Dark Trooper.
Plot Ideas
As they investigate and neutralize various outposts, a plot by General Mohc to challenge the Empire comes to light,maybe tying in with Admiral Zaarin's Rebellion from Tie Fighter game (both Mohc and Zaarin were working on developing advanced technologies, so there's good chance they could have been in collusion with each other).
Locations
The Galaxy. I have running through my head High Altitude Orbital Insertions, sabatoging a Grav Train carrying Dark Troopers, EVA infiltrations, Automated Factories, Tie Fighter Factories (If the whole Zaarin idea was integrated)
Lengths
I think length of levels would vary slightly. I think some levels could be run and gun excitment, blasting enemies while setting explosives to demolish the place. Other missions would be slower, having to rely on teammates to neutralize defenses, or giving you covering fire.
Restrictions
I think the idea here is to smash any restrictions left. We've worked on Dark Forces filled with restrictions, be it limited Logics or HOMs. My proposal for a story includes instances of intense visuals, complex INF sequences,
and custom Logics.
Notes
Its fairly Obvious that the Guerilla Unit refers to the famed Katarn Commandos. What little is written about them seems to indicate that they were formed shortly after the Dark Trooper Incident. Beyond Glory II did a good job of conveying a team working to tackle a target, but I think we could do so much more with DarkXL. I also think that having some kind of team makes a good nesting ground for storytelling. One of Dark Forces strengths is that pretty much all of its level have a story to tell in a thought out Universe. I think we should focus on this strength on the project.
_________________
I don't think outside the box... I customize it.
Last edited by Burning Gundam on Feb 01, 2009 20:48; edited 1 time in total |
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Taton
Trandoshan
Joined: 25 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Jan 27, 2009 04:15 Post subject: |
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I voted for myself. I hope that didn't shock anyone...
Maybe we should put up a news post on the front page about the voting.
_________________
"A fight should be clean and elegant, without waste"
-Asuka Langley Sohryu, Evangelion |
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The MAZZTer
Death Star
Joined: 25 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Jan 27, 2009 05:38 Post subject: |
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What is this "front page" you speak of? 
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http://www.mzzt.net/ | I am a respectable admin with a respectable sig. |
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dinohog
Dianoga
Joined: 02 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Jan 27, 2009 06:51 Post subject: |
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Rogue Stormtrooper for me. Should be a fun project.
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klasodeth
Trandoshan
Joined: 03 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Jan 27, 2009 07:16 Post subject: |
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The_Mega_ZZTer wrote:
What is this "front page" you speak of?
Probably this.
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The MAZZTer
Death Star
Joined: 25 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Jan 27, 2009 16:10 Post subject: |
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Oooh that's pretty neat! Gonna have to check that site out sometime! Though I think I've been there before, a long time ago... >_>
I was just kidding, geez. klasodeth fail.
_________________
http://www.mzzt.net/ | I am a respectable admin with a respectable sig. |
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sheepandshepherd
Trandoshan
Joined: 01 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Jan 28, 2009 01:30 Post subject: |
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Ehh, this is a close one . . . I'd have to pick between Rogue Stormtrooper and Tales of a Mercenary. They'd both be a lot of fun, both to make and to play.
Mercenary might be a little more difficult creatively, and it may not flow as well if everyone has their own plots, UNLESS we stick with something like each level is a separate contract Kyle picks up from different people. It does, however, allow the modders to fully express all of their ideas and creativity, more so than Rogue Stormtrooper would.
In the end, I'd have to vote for Tales of a Mercenary. Personally, I wanna see some more unique ideas made possible with the editor, and besides, the project I've been working on for a few months is also about a rogue stormtrooper. I don't wanna get repetitive, haha.
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Burning Gundam
Kell Dragon
Joined: 28 Sep 2003
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klasodeth
Trandoshan
Joined: 03 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Jan 28, 2009 09:22 Post subject: |
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I noticed some of the other DarkXL-related polls peaked out at 24 votes. Should we try to keep the poll open until we see about 20 votes? That wouldn't preclude the possibility of shutting the poll down earlier if enough time goes by with no activity whatsoever.
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Burning Gundam
Kell Dragon
Joined: 28 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Jan 28, 2009 09:47 Post subject: |
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Just to keep things moving along, I'll have the polls open until next monday. The sooner things get decided on, the sooner we can move on to the next phase which is starting to mold a plot(s) together.
Whoever wins the poll will have to be a director of sorts with the project as a whole while either me or Lucius helps to supervise. Everything else as far as levels and other items will have to go through the director for approval or can choose a level or levels to work on that the director provides. So for Klasodeth, Lucius, and Taton, start thinking of ways you want this to work in your idea should yours be the one that is ultimately chosen.
_________________
I don't think outside the box... I customize it. |
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klasodeth
Trandoshan
Joined: 03 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Jan 28, 2009 10:19 Post subject: |
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Sounds good. Hopefully we don't find ourselves at a four-way tie when Monday arrives! Could you imagine trying to roll elements of all four concepts into the same mod?
As for The_Mega_ZZTer...
The_Mega_ZZTer wrote:
Oooh that's pretty neat! Gonna have to check that site out sometime! Though I think I've been there before, a long time ago... >_>
I was just kidding, geez. klasodeth fail.
I had no idea! I wish I had known that before I typed my lengthy two-word reply, complete with a carefully researched and accurately coded hyperlink. Oh, if only I had recognized your grievous failure to select the proper emoticon. The reply your feigned "old skool confusion" prompted took seconds from my life that I will never get back. How could you do that to me? There are cute, cuddly animals of some sort that you would have actually liked that died because your fatally tragic misuse of emoticons.
And to add injury to insult, you explain your ruse with a font so tiny that it probably used less pixels than the Windows cursor, inducing a nearly Migraine-class headache when picked out of a sea of
2,304,000 pixels. Oh, mighty Excedrin! Save me from the dry wit and scathing put-downs of The_Mega_ZZTer!
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Burning Gundam
Kell Dragon
Joined: 28 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Jan 28, 2009 16:36 Post subject: |
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Come on guys, cool it. We don't need to be flaming other people over trivial things.
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I don't think outside the box... I customize it. |
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The MAZZTer
Death Star
Joined: 25 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Jan 28, 2009 18:23 Post subject: |
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I smell sarcasm.
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http://www.mzzt.net/ | I am a respectable admin with a respectable sig. |
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klasodeth
Trandoshan
Joined: 03 Mar 2008
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Burning Gundam
Kell Dragon
Joined: 28 Sep 2003
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Emon
Ree-Yees
Joined: 10 Aug 2007
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| Posted: Jan 29, 2009 20:25 Post subject: |
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Rogue stormtrooper is a good one, although I really like the idea of doing Kyle's history. I voted stormtrooper.
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Burning Gundam
Kell Dragon
Joined: 28 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Jan 31, 2009 18:23 Post subject: |
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Looks like (unless by some sheer cosmic act a whole bunch of people vote for a different project in the next day) it's gonna be Klasodeth's idea of Rogue Stormtrooper.
Klasodeth, now would be a good time to start coming up with level ideas. Once we've got a general layout we can start the planning processes.
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I don't think outside the box... I customize it. |
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klasodeth
Trandoshan
Joined: 03 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Feb 01, 2009 05:52 Post subject: |
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I've been giving that some thought, and I think it will be possible to come up with some parallel versions of the plot that will allow people more flexibility when designing individual levels, without requiring substantial plot changes. For instance, while the beginning of the plot has the player stationed on a planet, the plot could be easily changed so that the player is stationed on an Imperial starship that is sent to a planet to quell an uprising. This gives the creator of that level the choice between a land-based facility or a starship. Having to escape from the starship via escape pod puts the player right back on the planet, maintaining the need to arrange for transportation off the planet. Or the player could use some sort of non-hyperdrive-enabled craft to fly to a large orbital space station, from which the player makes the appropriate travel arrangements.
As long as the plot follows the basic "Stormtrooper goes rogue--Stormtrooper seeks Rebel contact--Stormtrooper proves self to Rebellion" framework, I think just about any type of level can be made to fit. Fortunately, the plot framework already has suggestions for most of the levels, so it shouldn't be hard to flesh it out to 14 missions if people are happy enough with the existing framework. I'll work out a level list and bare-bones plot according to the framework, and depending on what kinds of levels people want to make, changes can be made as needed.
Fortunately, this is something I've been wanting to work on anyway, so even if last-minute voting causes the Rogue Stormtrooper idea to lose, the beginnings of a mod are still there.
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Burning Gundam
Kell Dragon
Joined: 28 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Feb 01, 2009 06:35 Post subject: |
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Good plan, but just remember to keep in mind that (unless the levels are short) more levels mean more work and time. I think a story like this can easily be conveyed in 6 or 7 levels without taking too much away. And seeing that we may only have a few people on board for this this may be the best course of action.
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I don't think outside the box... I customize it. |
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klasodeth
Trandoshan
Joined: 03 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Feb 01, 2009 06:57 Post subject: |
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I figured each level wouldn't be particularly long. One thing I noticed with some of the mods I've played is that levels tend to be longer than they should be. Keeping levels small should limit the problems associated with running out of lives mid-level, and it makes it easier to separate different environments.
It will probably be a while yet before level creation starts in earnest. By then we should have the preview build of the editor at least. Once we have access to the editor we can evaluate how much effort will be required to build levels, but I suspect that making levels won't be nearly as difficult or as time consuming with DarkXL as with WDFUSE. The tools will probably dictate the scope of the levels.
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GreggD
Gamorrean
Joined: 05 May 2008
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| Posted: Feb 01, 2009 07:23 Post subject: |
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I vote Rogue.
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"If they were created by man, then we can solve them by man." -Tim Sabien
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Marley
Gamorrean
Joined: 30 Sep 2003
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Burning Gundam
Kell Dragon
Joined: 28 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Feb 01, 2009 20:41 Post subject: |
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It's the end of the week and I doubt there'll be anymore votes at this point. Thanks for everyone's participation and congrats to Klasodeth.
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I don't think outside the box... I customize it. |
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lucius
DarkXL Developer
Joined: 17 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Feb 02, 2009 01:09 Post subject: |
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This poll is over so it is no longer a stickied post. Burning Gundam has made a new topic about the winning mod idea, which is now a stickied.
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DarkXL....http://darkxl.wordpress.com |
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Burning Gundam
Kell Dragon
Joined: 28 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Feb 02, 2009 05:03 Post subject: |
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Thanks 
_________________
I don't think outside the box... I customize it. |
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