[wookieejedi]

It is with great sadness and regret that we inform the HLP community that long-time member TopAce has passed away. A few days ago, his brother informed us using TopAce’s Discord. Known as the ‘Stalwart Contributor’ in our community, TopAce has worked on many projects since first joining HLP in 2003 at the age of 17. For those interested in seeing the long list of highly impressive accomplishments there is a complete account on the wiki:
https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/User:TopAce.


TopAce was also one the founding members of Fate of the Galaxy, and was even on the team of the earlier Star Wars Conversion mod. On behalf of all of us in the HLP community I can say how very missed he will be. To honor our fallen wingman we’ve put together a tribute video:

Rest in Peace, TopAce, and May the Force be with you. 

[Zacam]

My sincerest condolences go out to the family and friends of TopAce.

This is made especially all the more poignant as they would be celebrating a birthday soon, according to their profile.

In light of this, a special commemorative Member Group has been created, by suggestion of our dear chief1983 who also supplied the Badge used for it.

I have, with deep sadness, added TopAce to that member group "In Memoriam". May their contributions and spirit continue to light the way.

[Assassin714]

Wow. Sad to hear that. He was so young too. 

[X3N0-Life-Form]

His Stalwart Contributor title was well earned, he was an upstanding modder.
Farewell TopAce 

[Mobius]

Rest In Peace, TopAce. You truly were a Stalwart Contributor.

[Iain Baker]

RIP. Taken way too young   

[Fusion]

RIP. A Titan of the modding community is no longer with us.

[Goober5000]

TopAce made a large number of valuable and significant contributions to many mods, including several missions for The Scroll of Atankharzim.  I admired the quality of his work, his persistence and diligence, and the sheer quantity of his output over many years in many areas.  He was also a regular and consistent wiki maintainer.

My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.  He will be missed.

Rest in peace, TopAce.

[Colonol Dekker]

Gawd,

[Colt]

Rest in Peace, TopAce. I offer my condolences to his family and friends.

A pilot never leaves their wings when they move on to the next life -- they instead get better ones. Fly well out there.

[JCDNWarrior]

Rest in Peace, TopAce.

This is definitely not the kind of news I was expecting. The amount of contributions is huge, the FRED and lore wiki entries he wrote helped me the most, he will be sorely missed.

[Mongoose]

Very sad news. I can remember TopAce being around HLP for as long as I've been here, and his list of community contributions speaks for itself. I remember playing Renegade Resurgence very early on in my time here. Rest in peace, and thank you for everything you did for us.

[Vidmaster]

I have been part of this forum for half of my life now, which is a weird thing to realize. Which seems to be long enough that these kind of things happen and, again, it is strange because I feel like I know people here despite never having seen their faces or even real names.

My condolences to friends and familiy.

[0rph3u5]

His journey is over now. I hope he got see whatever he wanted to see, to hear words that made him feel welcome on this road, and to nurture what he wanted to see grow.

Thankfully, he has left us a tangible legacy through which we can celebreate and appricate him.

So let's raise a toast to him and how he can live on through his work.

[CP5670]

Sad to hear. I remember him from the early days of HLP and the Star Wars conversion project.

I've sometimes wondered how many people from that era are gone without the knowledge of anyone here. It has been 25 years now since FS1 was released, a lot can happen in that time.

[Colonol Dekker]

Aldo14 and Axem, Zero-Cool, fair few.

[CP5670]

I meant people who passed away. I'm sure there are some we never heard about.

[Colonol Dekker]

Oh definitely, 22 years it's sadly a huge amount of time.  I often think about my old squadwar squad.   

Flicking though the member list by date registered, there are a few names I recall from the volition watch days too.

https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?action=mlist;sort=registered;start=0

[jg18]

Still in shock. It's a terrible reminder that tomorrow is never promised.

Rest in peace, TopAce. You will be missed.

[Vector Leader]

Oh, my gosh... TopAce passed away?! I can't believe it... he was so young, too. My sincerest condolences to his family.

It's been a long time since I've been on these forums, and I'd been wondering how this project was coming along. This is heartbreaking news to come back to.

Rest in peace, TopAce. You leave behind an amazing legacy.