1. Will you enjoy creating a patch?

If you're not doing because "you want to", then the rest of it is irrelevent.

My guesses in answer to your questions:

> 1. How many people would really download new patches

Depends on the patch. If it's to fix bugs like the one mentioned in this topic, most people will download it so they can play the game. Bones wrote the patch for MM9 that I used when I played MM9. I've downloaded patches from Germany that fix broken things in MM6-8 to improve my gameplay.

If a person is going to go through the effort of downloading MMv1.1 or a character editor to get past some bugs, they'll download the patch to do the same.

> 2. How many people play MM6-MM8 currently or in the future

Currently, a lot of people keep replaying MM6-8. This will continue to be the case until something better comes out, which still hasn't happened in the last 6 years.

> 5. How much interest there would be by the time I have any changes finished. For all I know, MMT or MM10 would be out

Maybe. Then again, it's also possible that MMT or MM10 will never come out. It's also possible that something better could come out (Morrowwind wasn't "it," so we're all still waiting). It's equally possible that, even if they come out, they'll be a disappointment.

> 4. Demand for new content in MM6-MM8. If I could change anything, it would be to make the same skills in MM6 as in MM7 and MM8. I'd love to add in fan-requested new classes, but I have no idea what your Level Editor is capable of

Kinda goes with the rest of it. We all love the games. We've played them to the point that we're inventing new goals (play the game through in 6 game days with only a 0-level peasant). Is that because we think the ideal game is a 0-level peasant speed game? Nope, it's just that we're trying to be creative within the bounds of what's possible. I think most of us would much rather see brand new level content we could play with normal characters.

The goal of my editor is to create new maps/quests rather than change any of the game mechanics. Adding new classes is probably beyond the ability of my editor (although it might be possible in MM8.). On the other hand, there's a group in China working on doing that very thing for MM7 (changing the game mechanics). So it could be possible in the future with their mods.

It's also true that the really GREAT games never seem to go out of style. Ultima 4 was written in 1985?, 86? 84? It's now 20 years old, give or take a year. People are still playing it, and are working out a system for creating new content for it.

http://xu4.sourceforge.net/

I think working with MM6-8 has a lot of advantages over U4. Five years after U4, the game industry had significantly advanced what a good game worked like. It's five years after MM6-8, and that's not the case. Most of us still prefer MM6-8 over MM9 or Morrowwind or anything else that's come along since. Sure we'd like to see minor tweaks and changes, better AI, etc, but the basic gameplay is GOOD! We want better content, but not a new game system.

The fact that we're even having a discussion on this in an active forum for a five-year-old game should tell you something.