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DesktopMMD3 is actually quite an awesome program, but why the programmer was gone, and what's the motive for me to write a helper for it? This is a sad story that explains everything.
You can call me bias in the writing. I don't really care.
The author of DesktopMMD3 is the owner of xdesktop.com. If you check the domain info, you will see that the domain was first registered in 2003. It's an one-man-operation. So you can be sure that he had been working as a programmer since 2003, almost 19 years ago. There is no doubt that he is an expert in desktop programming. Just download a program from xdesktop.com and you will see. His programming level is way way above me.
In 2020 he made the first version of DesktopMMD. We call it MMD1 here.
The program was a hit and the subscribers shot up to the roof. In a very short time he kept updating it and fixing bugs. Everything seemed rosy until he hit a major setback: A component he used in the MMD1, which is called MMD4Mechanim, has copyright issues.
Before we continue, I have to explain what exactly is MMD.
MMD stands for MikuMikuDance. It was a free program designed to let Japanese cartoon style girls perform dancing and posing. The first version was out in 2008, 14 years ago. Over the years it got lots of improvement and features, even formed its own culture. Many Japanese are obsessed with making great looking model with this program. So it generated many nice looking models. You can search MMD in deviantart.com, and you will find lots of them.
Japanese people are strange. They crafted beautiful MMD models with emotions, dances, poses and clothing. Then they posted the models online and telling everyone, "This is my baby. You can download it, but you are not allowed to share it." Yet, Internet is all about sharing. Therefore, later when more and more people share their purchased MMD models online, some even modified them into nude models, the MMD composers started to be angry of those issues. Honestly I understand their frustrations. However, I feel like the MMD makers were like living in their own bubbles.
Obviously the programmer of DesktopMMD hadn't realized the toxic environment he was about to step into. The author of MMD4Mechanim was not happy that DesktopMMD3 used his code in a commercial program ( For God sake it was only $3.99 ). He filed a complaint about it to Steam. The programmer realized that he was in the wrong. So he contacted him and tried to find an agreeable solution. Yet it seemed the MMD4Mechanim's author was pressured by his friends not to make any deals. It seemed the angry MMD makers regarded this program as a platform to distribute unauthorized MMD models. So they wanted to take it down. No bargain was allowed.
In the end, on May 21st. 2021, DesktopMMD was taken down from Steam platform. Believe it or not, this is just the beginning of the trouble.
After just 6 days, the programmer had heavily modified the original DesktopMMD (MMD1) and use his own modules to solve "the problem". I don't really know which module was the copyright infringer, but I guess it was the VMD (dance) import module that caused all the trouble. Because for the new modified version, you have to use Unity to convert the VMD dancing data into Unity's .anim format.
Since there was no more MMD4Mechanim modules in the new DesktopMMD, the programmer released the app again on Steam. Here we call it MMD2, even it has the same name "DesktopMMD". At that time, trouble started to pour in. Many users were not happy about the sudden deshelving of MMD1. Once they saw MMD2 was out. Everyone was asking for refund. Yup, you read me right. People who has been using the $3.99 program for a full year, and they were asking for refund. Ask yourself, if you bought a teacup from supermarket, used it for a year, will you be able to return this teacup and get a refund? Well, some people don't think this way. I mean, actually a lot of them.
The programmer, being an one-man operation, had no money for that. So he gave out coupon codes for the new MMD2 as the compensation. He gave out thousands of those codes. Those people got the code, went to Steam, and found out that Steam would charge a minimum like $0.99 for MMD2, even with the coupon. That further aggravate the situation. Many of them started to write bad comments, bad reviews all around the net. It was a storm that few could really survive. Yet the programmer navigated the vicious water and went through it. I have to give my respect for him, for I know I probably wouldn't go through with all the damage that storm gave.
Everything seemed gradually quiet down after 6 months. The programmer had a plan for a better DesktopMMD:
- Use HDRP for better realistic texture.
- Use Magica Cloth and Dynamic Bone for better soft body representation and fix the penetration problem.
- Use better lighting from Unity and shading effect.
So he started an ambitious new project, which was the DesktopMMD3 that we all see today. The core content of the program grew from 180mb to 430mb. Even today, I still don't know how he combined the regular MMD4Mechanim textures with HDRP textures and made them work at the same time. He just did it, no doubt with lots of effort. And the finished product, which includes a girl called "Miss Fish", perfectly demonstrates how you make a desktop mascot comes alive with latest anti-penetration technologies.
Therefore, I guess when he presented the new MMD3 to the world, he was expecting quite a different public opinion.
People, who got the coupon code and spent extra $0.99 to get the MMD2, started to berate him, calling him a "money grabber".
Even though the visual results of models were clearly different, because the controlling interface was almost the same, those people regarded MMD2 and MMD3 were the same product. So once again, they asked the programmer for coupon code, and want the MMD2 upgraded to MMD3, for free.
The programmer replied, "They use very different formats. So I don't think this upgrade is possible."
As you can guess, the reply further enraged those people. Sadly, those people, who are supposed to be on his side, turned on him. I have read lots of negative reviews to see how bad the situation was for the programmer.
Those people took advantage of the programmer's fault once and forced him to give out thousands of coupon codes. They wanted to do it again. They didn't really care about what the programmer said, or the vastly different appearance between MMD2 and MMD3. They just wanted their share of blood. For $3.99, they showed me the worst of human greed. It was not about copyright infringement. It was about once a vampire sucked your blood, he always wants to do it again.
So guess what happened next ? The programmer disappeared. The last update of DesktopMMD3 content was on Jan 26th, 2021.
One year later, as a junior programmer, I wanted to make my own desktop mascot program, until I met DesktopMMD3.
Very quickly I knew there was no point in making the desktop pet program. There was already one that's way better than what I had planned.
Then very quickly I noticed the reviews and discussion section were full of toxic posts.
A little search in Chinese website, I found out the whole story, as you are reading now.
That was a moment I was not proud to be a Chinese.
I admit that the bad things happened to the programmer was partly his own fault, but I didn't expect my own people would have done things like that, to one of our own.
Aren't we supposed to band together in difficult times? Aren't we supposed to be more forgiving and considerate than the greedy capitalists? What a circus I had seen thorough the whole process!!
Of course I know those are just a small number of people who did this, yet even today, some Chinese still come and give out bad reviews to MMD3, quoting "money grabber". SHAME ON THEM !! I use my worst language against those guys. They lost their own souls for a mere $3.99 !
So here I am, knowing the programmer was long gone, and still want to right some wrongs. My effort has borne some fruits. Now I finally know how to control MMD3 in some limited ways. I want to make a MMD3_Helper so we can extend the MMD3 with some extra useful features.
If only the programmer were still here, he would have improved MMD3 to an amazing level. I wouldn't even have a chance to do all this.
Well, what can you say? As Trump once said, "This is life." (Sarcasm, in case you didn't notice)