With the release of version 23, a profound change has occurred in the way that OOTP handles names. Gone are the csv (comma-separated values) text files that have been a part of the game for decades. In their place is the names.xml file. This file contains all of the names and nicknames that the game uses when it creates players and personnel.
Because the names.xml file is in a different format, all of the previous names.txt files are now obsolete. They cannot be used in version 23 or, presumably, any subsequent version of OOTP. Which also means that all of the mods in the csv format are likewise obsolete.
I have posted a step-by-step tutorial for converting the csv files into the new xml format. You can find it
here (scroll down to the fifth post). Even though the tutorial is in that thread, I'd like to keep conversations about the new format - and about the challenges it poses - in this thread (the thread with the names lists should be reserved for posts regarding the lists themselves). Also, if you have any questions about the tutorials, or if you have suggestions for making them better, please post those thoughts in this thread.
So, what does everybody think about the big change?