Welcome to the official CWMC project group!

Medic Pack Released + The Future Of This Project

The final mercenary is here. Ready to practice medicine?

GMOD:
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2853793609
SFM:
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2853964768

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This means that all 9 mercs have at least 9 cosmetics that can be used with colours outside the default red and blue.
With the release of the Medic pack, the Cosmetics With More Colours project is officially complete.

This has been a particularly unique experience for me, across these 9 addons. As per most of my addons, what started out as something mainly for personal use, and was created because I needed it, became something that I think has helped a good few people. I've seen it around in a few art pieces, and I may have seen it a GMOD animation surrounding a certain murderous Scout (could be wrong though) which really made me happy to see. I'm happy so many people found these packs useful, or at the least interesting to follow. I'm not a stranger to moderate success on the workshop, but seeing these consistently get a good few subscribers per addon really helped keep me going, knowing that what I was doing was having some kind of impact.

It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows though. There were many points where I was stressed (lightly stressed, but still stressed) and as the packs continued, I found myself getting more critical of my work on the textures. Some classes required drastic changes to the process, and getting used to these changes, often only for one class, was annoying if nothing else. I also understand the frustrations of having to find the colours yourself with the colour tools to use the cosmetics with. It can be daunting for people who aren't familiar with the method, and for those who are it can just be a lot of effort, and I get not wanting to deal with that.

All in all however, I'm pretty happy with how this project turned out. I think this is something many have found useful, and that's what putting addons on the workshop is about at the end of the day, and the reason I set about doing this entire project.

So to everyone who has followed the project, thank you!

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Now, for the part I'm sure all of you have been waiting for...

Let's start by saying there won't be a direct schedule or plan for any future packs. Now that every class has a pack, I will be doing extra for whatever merc I want and whenever I want to. I might not make another pack for every class, or I may never get around to making another pack again. I want to do more packs however, and I have a few ideas for some. Whenever I commit to making a new pack, I will post an announcement here so you all can know what to expect.

Any future packs will be much smaller in size, you will not be getting any more packs of 9 cosmetics. Because it is complete, this project will not be a high priority for me going forward, so I don't want to be worrying too much about it by giving myself too many cosmetics to do. Future packs will be approximately 4-6 cosmetics each, and whilst I would like to keep them consistent, some packs may be smaller or bigger than others depending on which cosmetics I actually want to do.

I recently received a question about packs featuring cosmetics from the workshop - this is already something I have wanted to do, particularly for the Scout. One issue with workshop items that I don't have with in-game items is that I prefer asking for permission when using items from other creators, so that means I'd have to at least try seeking out the creators and asking for permission to alter their textures, and considering how utterly horrendous Steam is for direct contact with creators, especially because they often ignore comments or privatise their accounts to avoid the myriad of dumb people asking for things. Nonetheless, this is definitely in consideration, and is one of the more likely things to happen.

I have also been asked about an All-Class pack - this is also something I have an interest in doing, however due to the amount of models that would need to be included in the pack (one for each class for every single cosmetic) I would also be limiting this to 4-6 cosmetics, if it happens.

I am still open to doing more packs for in-game cosmetics as well. There are plenty to pick from, and I already have some ideas for future packs of these, especially with the recently added ones from the Summer 2022 crate. Another idea I might possibly be doing is updating the existing packs with even more colours. When starting this project, I was slightly mistaken on the material limit for models, and as such limited it to 11 extra colours, 13 skins in total, and because most cosmetics don't seem to go other 2 textures for each skin, this meant a maximum of 22 textures per model. However, I believe the actual limit is 36, allowing for a couple more materials to possibly be added. I'm not an expert with updating addons (especially with SFM, you may know how many blunders I've had with updating those) so this may not happen, but is in the cards for the future.

Lastly, I understand some people haven't known exactly how to use these, and some haven't been bothered to deal with selecting the colours, as I acknowledged earlier. As such, I will be creating a Steam guide in the near future that details tips and tricks for using these items, as well as colour suggestions for every cosmetic in the packs so far. It may also be updated with future packs, and colours. The guide should include images to illustrate the steps, and will hopefully erase most of the doubt or confusion surrounding these addons.

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• Steam guide coming soon, with colour guides for all cosmetics
  
• More packs may happen, though there will be no schedule like there was before
  
• Announcements will be made in this group for new packs when they are happening.
  
• Future packs will be smaller, approximately 4-6 items each
  
• Workshop cosmetic packs are something I am interested in doing, though I will seek permission before publishing them
  
• All-Class pack may be coming, less items than the individual merc packs
  
• Additional in-game cosmetic packs are likely
  
• Updates with more colours may be coming

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That's all for now - at least in terms of this project. I have another enhanced cosmetic in the works, but that might not be out for a while, as I've got some more modelling to do and I still need to ask for permission to publish it.

As for the Cosmetics With More Colours project, this is the end... Well for now. I'll see you all in whatever I make next. I will make sure to keep you posted for future packs and updates.

I'll catch you on the flipside.