Addons at ease

[theavonlady]

BIS and everone else, regarding version upgrades and patches, would this free product be better than MSIs:

Patchwise Free

No, I've never used it but Toadlife used it to create small patch files to update the beta versions of his mission Lojack 2. From the patch end user side, it was great!

[WhoCares]

Suchey:</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">yeah...Im just saying that if they are going to "recomend" certain addons, it would make things MUCH easier on Muliplayer servers if they would also put all of the "recommended" files into a single installer so there could be a standard pack of sorts for use in &#39;on line&#39; play.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
whisperFFW06:</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">- addonRequired : so far, the propositions seems quite OK. Would it be possible to add some auto download feature? Like, let&#39;s say addon X is required but missing, make a pop-up appear askig "Addon X is required, but appears not to be present on your system. Do you want to download it? Yes - No". Further, this way, this would solve the issue raised by Suchey about single addon pack for dedicated servers, as the only thing required for such a pack is an addon just stating the correct addonRequired sections.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
I think those two ideas put together would be a great solution. The server provider would make his own (empty) installer, referencing to the various addons used by the server.

[bn880]

I personally do not create addons, but I have experience using them and answering questions on how to get them going. Therefore I will say:

I think this is a very good idea. Look at one of the greatest (IMO) addon packages (Seb Nam Pack), it is such a pain in the back to install for even very experienced computer users because of the lack of an installer.

[SelectThis]

Great idea&#33;

Some other issues which may be relevant.

For custom models
- certain standards regarding face counts,resolution lods and their use. Verification could be time consuming especially if the models are binarized.
-texturing standards (eg, use of pac/paa rather than jpg).

re: Installer, not too keen on the idea but if it works and allows flexibility (eg install into a non-ofp folder) then it should be ok.

re: One installation file (exe or zip) but what about the number of pbo files? My preference has been to make lots of small pbos rather than one big one, basically on the assumption that a pbo is not fully loaded unless it is actually needed.

SelectThis

[earl]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (theavonlady @ April 10 2003,17:37)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">BIS and everone else, regarding version upgrades and patches, would this free product be better than MSIs:

Patchwise Free

No, I&#39;ve never used it but Toadlife used it to create small patch files to update the beta versions of his mission Lojack 2. From the patch end user side, it was great&#33;[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
I&#39;m happy with Clickteam&#39;s installer and patch maker - it&#39;s the standard for Ghost Recon mods, and you can create addon subfolders if you want to. You can also use the Flashpoint registry entry to find each user&#39;s install path, so it&#39;s a perfectly brainless procedure for a user to install from the executable.

[Eviscerator]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Suchey @ April 10 2003,15:54)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Maruk @ April 09 2003,20:28)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Our intention is to establish a submission and evaluation process and select the best addons (solely from BIS perspective) and recommend it at our official websites.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
It would be GREAT if BIS would wrap up these files which they select as being &#39;best&#39; in a single installer package (say once every month or so)...this would allow a single package of addons to be used as a (BIS) standard and make things ALOT easier on multiplay servers&#33; ***Its alot easier to say "you need the latest update of the user addon pack from the BIS website" than to say..."you need this list of items to play". ***With a single package in place, addons may actually becomes useful for dedicated servers&#33;[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Also if once there are quite a few addons in there how about offering them up to several PC Gaming magazines? OFP never gets much attention on their demo CD&#39;s so adding something like, say, the Nam Pack, BAS work, Kegetys work and all the other great addon makers work, we may be able to give the ofp community not able to access forums/news sites something to play with, because if a million people bought the game (and 200,000 bought res) there are a lot missing out on all the addons which greatly increase the gameplay, may just give the ofp community the boost it needs

[theavonlady]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (earl @ April 10 2003,19:22)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I&#39;m happy with Clickteam&#39;s installer and patch maker[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
That was the 2nd one I had in mind.

Here&#39;s another important concern: intentionally and unintentionally malicious MSIs.

Someone could come out with an MSI the clobbers other official and unofficial addon files.

Any way to prevent this? This could be a more prevelant problem if support for mod folders is added, since mod folders can have any name. So if someone creates an AAE MSI with a folder structure of &#92;Res&#92;Addons, for example, this can happen.

A minor solution is to institute a unique mod folder naming convention - at least as far as AAE goes. For example, forcing mod folders to start with a unique character (I personally use "@") would assure that no official files could be overlayed.

Am I being overly concerned?

[Tactician]

I&#39;m glad BIS is taking initiative towards addons, and if anyone wants a sample mission made for their addon, I think there should be a pool of mission editors to volunteer and make something for those who don&#39;t have the means to do it themselves. I, for one, will volunteer.

[Dinger]

This is very sensible and long-overdue.
I know people like to tinker with models and publish their toys to the world.
As someone who&#39;s done both mods and missions, I can tell you some of the main reasons why such products don&#39;t get more circulation:

A) Missions that require a bunch of individual mods don&#39;t get downloaded or played.
B) Individual mods without missions don&#39;t get downloaded until there&#39;s a reason to do so.

AAE facilitates modmakers&#39; releasing missions and addons together. Guys: an addon isn&#39;t complete without a mission. Besides, addons need "field testing". How can you say you&#39;ve fully tested an addon without making a mission?

And we&#39;ve got the other generic problems:

C) Every step we take up front to simplify the process will increase its distribution. This is a game. I know many people (and many very smart people) who will download something, fire it up, and if it doesn&#39;t work, just throw it away. Others will just be uneasy.
This is a principle that I use in making addons with respect to the mission editor&#39;s load (keep it simple), and it makes sense to extend it to the addon system.

D) Increasing support of the OFPEC TAG System makes sense. Avoid unintended consequences.

E) It&#39;s optional folks. I don&#39;t see for a moment releasing an addon only in AAE format. If someone wants to do it "the old way", that will still work.

F) I don&#39;t think BIS should engage in the mire of selecting "officially sanctioned addons", on artistic merit. That&#39;s our job. They can do what they&#39;re doing right now: releasing standards and incentives for adherence, and encouraging the ocmmunity as much as possible. But we&#39;re the ones who end up voting on stuff. You want an "addon pack" of stuff adhering to a certain standard of quality? Contact the addon makers and put one together.

[Suchey]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Dinger @ April 10 2003,02:31)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">You want an "addon pack" of stuff adhering to a certain standard of quality? ***Contact the addon makers and put one together.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
There have been quite a few servers that have done this...unfortunately it hasnt taken off very well in most cases. Most players cant seem to figure it out. Having a pack of all the addons which BIS considers as high enough quality to be linked from their page gives them a stamp of approval and a common downloadable file facilitates an easy method of ensuring that players have a similar set of addons available for multiplay. Server could be labeled as &#39;AOE pack&#39; servers...or something similar. This certainly doesnt mean that different packs cant be put together individually and if a server wants to add additional items, no one is stopping them. So far addons and multiplay dont mix well...if you search back through the forums you&#39;ll find a variety of topics in which individuals have attmepted addon packs for their servers and report that their servers were reduced to very few players because they cant find all the addons (even if they are in a single pack somewhere). Having a standardized pack bound by the &#39;AOE&#39; standards overcomes some of the obstacles currently present in bringing addons to the table in multiplay...and the "AOE" stamp facilitates an instant standardization of items included on a server. People dont have to travel a ton of web sites and download packs for every server...it simply makes thing easier on server admins and players alike. Imagine having an addon pack of items that can be downloaded from a variety of sites and yet it contains the same items...multiple servers running that pack gives the player choices in where to play and opens the door to mission makers to use a variety of addons in a single mission for on-line play without worrying about the ability of the players to find all the addons included.