Existing filters being converted to 2.0 only?

Hi, I bought FF a few months back. I notice that several filters which I have downloaded - some of the most popular ones - are now 2.0. They don't seem to be available to Version 1 users. Shark Tank 1.0 anywhere? Looking through the filter files I see tens of filters are now 2.0. I can't use them any more. Did the creaters update them to 2.0 I wonder, or the company just make them unavailable to download.

If this conversion process continues - and I suspect it will - everytime I log on there will be fewer and fewer decent filters available to me as a Version 1 user. This seems extremely unfair, as when I bought FF it stated that the filter library was available to download, and never said that in a few months, unless I upgrade to V2, I will no longer be able to access a growing section of filters. In other words, that you will act to force me to upgrade to 2.0.

Please 'do the right thing'. Produce new, better filters for 2.0 and leave the old filters as they are - and put the 1.0 filters back. New users will buy the new version, old users will upgrade if the new version earns it - if it's a real improvement and you can do more. No coercion please. That is the kind of thing that gets companies a bad name. I will certainly be posting about it on the sites I belong to.

Krigl

Ahhh...... apologies, my mistake. I'd logged in tried to open a 2.0 ONLY filter and seen it had no option for me to download it. I didn't realise it was a new filter just for 2.0 and thought all filters with 2.0 written on them were now unopenable. So - I can still use old filters, just not completely new ones.

Well... perhaps it would be handy if the thumbnails were labelled so Version 1 users know if the filter is usable or not. Perhaps '2.0 only' on the new ones, and '2.0/1.0' on the older ones. It will save a lot of frustration in the future.

I do hope you are not planning to 'withdraw support for 1.0' in the near future...

Hi CFandM, just saw your post (my reply above was not a response to it). Well, that's grim news indeed if FF authors with 2.0 update their stuff and it becomes unavailable. I only hope that, if they update, they will release the filter as a new, seperate 2.0 version. Not everyone can afford to update to 2.0...
It's very strange that already so many filters have 2.0 written by them...
Thanks for taking the time to explain the situation!

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krigl wrote: I do hope you are not planning to 'withdraw support for 1.0' in the near future...

Nope not from me..
If I submit an update for one of the filters I will submit as a different named filter so it does not replace the version1 filter....I know there are some still using FF1..

Thanks Kraelin and CFandM, your posts are arriving while I'm typing. I won't take more of your time. The legacy section sounds good...

...I guess it all comes down to the attitudes of filter makers. If they see themselves as making their filters for themselves and other filter makers and see people who just use the library but contribute nothing as 'leeches' - then the majority of people (I imagine) who don't upgrade will suffer. If they take non-contributors into consideration all will be well.

I've had a lot of fun with FF and would like to thank all filter makers for their efforts - I very much appreciate them. I hope I will be able to continue using the filter library in the future...

Alright... Thanks again for your time!

I think that most v1 filters will stay v1. I'm sure there's not much that can be added to them that would require v2 except maybe ambient occlusion and this can be done if they remain v1.

However, I think most basic users will find that most new filters will be developed with the latest version of the program since the most active filter developers probably have enough points to get a free update anyway.

I myself have pretty much stopped making filters in version 1.

I do not like the fact that as old filters are updates, the number of filters for 1.0 is now going down, so we are actually getting less filters for 1.0 every day.

Also, in the Filter Libary, when you open a page for a filter that was 1.0 but has been updated, the "Open this filter in Filter Forge" has the following text :

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To open this filter, you should have Filter Forge 2.0 or higher installed on your computer. You can open this filter under Filter Forge 1.0 (this will load an older revision of this filter), but the results may differ from the examples shown on this page.

It's making out like you can use the last version of the filter that was 1.0, however, it's not correct. Unless you have previously downloaded that filter, it will not give you an old version, it just gives you the same 'go to download page' error message that you get with filter that were 2.0 only.

I've been thinking like this:
I have a few filters that have downloads and average usage, but never really hit HU, they have much more downloads than some of my filters that did hit HU. If I can make those a little better using 2.0, they might hit HU. If I made those as a new 2.0 version, I would probably have two filters with good down loads and average usage.

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What would be nice of anyone updating thier filter to 2.0, is to post the old version in the comments thread.

Good point.

I think it's very poor treatment of V1 users. When I spend hard earned money on a filter, I expect to be able to use it for as long as I want to. How long till V2 users are forced to upgrade to V3. Looks like blackmail to me.

just download all of the filters in the v1 library and put them on cd/dvd. then, no matter the changes to that library, you've got everything legacied.