Simple fix needed

[berto]

My question "...or is this a big deal?" was a bit loaded. It was based on my knowledge of web programming languages and programming in general, not C++, so I can't be 100% assured, more like 95%, so I politely asked. Berto's comment was unexpectedly different. Instead of saying it will take months of coding and testing he basically said, no, I don't want to. Politely. I can't with argue with that. If he had said yes it's time-consuming and difficult and you're a moron for even bringing the matter up, I could call him out, since I know it isn't and I'm not. I don't want to is completely different. Shut me up. 

I like the evolution the game has taken with ME, and soon, VN...but I prefer the history of WWII. So JTCS is most relevant with players like me and I don't care that it doesn't have the bells and whistles the new versions will have. I don't want to have to wait many years, I suspect, for CSIII to make fixes and updates to the current game, still being sold. So, yes, I don't mind saying I'm disappointed and I sincerely hope a little second-thought reasoning can come into play. Keep your customers happy. Listen to them and cater to their needs and desires and you'll have a customer for life. Jeez. It's just a simple text box change. 

What would have been a "simple" fix in 2014 -- the last year of JTCS' active development and JTCS' 2.02 release -- what would have been "simple" then is not so simple now.  In order to release a "quick fix" release now in 2019, the Dev Team and I would have to:

-- Retrieve the JTCS codebase from archive.  The modern, currently maintained CS(ME) codebase is quite distinct and changed from the 2014-and-before JTCS codebase.  In no way is it possible to make a "simple fix" in the current, active codebase and crank out a JTCS 2.03 EXE.

-- Reconfigure the JTCS Visual Studio (VS) project files to the latest version.  JTCS 2.02 was built with VS 2008.  Since then, I had migrated to VS 2015 (belatedly!), then VS 2017, then now currently VS 2019.  This too is no trivial task.

-- Apply the core, admittedly simple, fix.  Then rebuild the EXE (also push-button easy).  Note:  The Victory Dialog is embedded within the EXE, is not a stand-alone, external BMP.  [edit: Or maybe not so "push-button easy".  Every time Microsoft released a new version of Visual Studio, each time I had to wrestle with making changes in the code to achieve successful EXE rebuilds.  From VS 2008 to VS 2019 -- that's 11 years of change and potential pitfalls.]

-- Test and QA the "quick fix" patch.

-- Coordinate final packaging and release with Matrix/Slitherine (M/S).  We ourselves don't digitally sign the EXEs; M/S does.

(In early 2018, around the time of CSME's 2.0* releases, I had the foresight to invest in VMware and set up a virtual machine with a snapshot of the CSME development environment from that time.  It would be relatively simple to fire up that virtual machine and crank out CSME "quick fixes".  Unfortunately, I have no virtual or way-back machine to take me back to the last used JTCS development environment.  As I suggested, attempting to recreate the 2014-era JTCS dev environment would be a major hassle.)

All of that for the "simple" fix.

And for what?  Due to legacy licensing and royalty arrangements among Slitherine (before that, Matrix), JT, and the Campaign Series Legion (CSL), the early members of the CSL -- among which I am not one -- get a mere pittance for every copy of JTCS sold.  "Your customers"?  Don't confuse the publisher, M/S, with the developer, CSL.  The publisher (the license owner) gets the lion's share of the revenue.  After other subtractions, for JTCS, some members of the CSL development team get close to nothing.

And what do I get?  Because I was late to the JTCS party, as the coder I get:  Not a dime, zilch, nada!

When I first joined the CSL in 2013, we made the decision to gift the player base one final, unplanned (not in the business plan) and free (no charge) JTCS release, the JTCS 2.0* releases.  This delayed CSME's development and release by over two years.  That is two years of my life laboring on JTCS for which I personally gained nothing.  (Except satisfaction etc., I suppose.)

Now, five years later, I am to devote time and effort to support a product we had officially end-of-lifed?  From which I personally profit nothing?

For just one simple fix?  One thing leads to another.  If this one "simple" fix, why not another?  Then another?  It's a slippery slope.  The further we slide down that slope, the more and more delayed the already quite delayed CSVN becomes.  And the more delayed CSEF III etc. (also CSME updates) will be.

I have to say I am dismayed that my brief, "polite" response has elicited so much snark bordering on outright animosity.  What have I/we done to deserve that?

Seriously, with so little reward we get from slaving over the games, then the hostility we experience from some quarters (some; most players are appreciative), I sometimes wonder:  Why bother?  Do I really need this (devoting the time and effort, the expense, the grief)?

It also makes me think:  What do we get for being so open and honest and actively involved with the player community?  I can see the wisdom where some developers hide away and decline to participate in player fora, never responding to player questions.  I regret now answering the OP question.  I will probably regret making this latest post right here.