You know.... pigs gotta fly, birds gotta swim... etc.

Edited by - Indy11 on 05-11-2003 01:20:35

@ Imagine.

Ummm. Not that I am in a hurry or anything but I have been holding back from asking you for a while.....

Any news. Does it seem like it will work or have you been put on a fool's errand?

<jumps and waves hands> I'm still alive!
No, this is still a great idea and still working on it, just slowly since I have so little time right now. The part that needs the most time is to brute force it through the mods dloads and link/categorize them and find their maker. The UI is easy. I should do this open source so many ppl can work on it.

@Imagine:

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I should do this open source so many ppl can work on it.

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Wouldn't it be ironic if someone used it and didn't give you credit.

Sir Spectre


... No more signature.

NOOOOO! My credit!!
Actually, I don't really want credit, it's yours and Indy's idea. Also it's not the code that needs work, it's the adding and cataloging of mods.

how do we address mods that change a bunch of stuff?
Link it multiple times in whichever groups it applies? Then you need to know everything that the mod does to put in right groups.
Make special categories for them? Then how would those cats be organized?

@Imagine

*Comes out from behind boulder.*

I've been in hiding obsessing over this problem .

Is it possible to create reference markers in the catalog that link you back to the mod? Each marker located in the appropriate section of the catalog labelled appropriately?

My feeling is that if we don't do it this way, we end up dissolve the catalog structure.

Edited by - Indy11 on 15-11-2003 16:28:33

@Imagine.

Ummm. We would need to create a way to permit modders to update
other's mod entries in the catalog to acknowledge use of that mod in their own and to help avoid confusion.

I mean. The Rebalance mod, for example, makes use of tons of ships created by others. Michael Dan needs to be able to access the APS ship mod lines, for example and enter a note about using them in Rebalance.

Which then raises the next item: Versions. Rebalance has gone through many iterations. I think that it should be cataloged but once in terms of main location in the registry but some method of stringing notations about changes represented by each version or release may be necessary.

BUT. First things first. Let's see if we can get close to filling out the ships on your test site!

*cracks knuckles and scratches head, looking for template*

The templates are at the top of each category's page. I need to go and make more templates as I only have them for the ships...<erk>

About the refernce markers: you mean like a link in a specific ship's entry back to the package it comes in? I can do that.

Aknowledgements: I really need a database to do that. I suppose it's possible to accept emails from people saying they have used this and that so I can add their names to the entries, but will get to be a hassle.

Versions: maybe just another field in each entry for version history and links to download each one.

@Imagine.

Got the Ship templates. Ummm. Did Spam really do all those ships?

Yeah, that kind of linking is good. Ummm. Versions. Sounds good except that some of these versions add new ships. I can't figure out if that matters to anyone though.

E-mails for crediting. Well that's more of a traffic problem that would have to wait I guess. It might be more of a procedural problem in the end.

Also, uh, I don't know where to find some of those data items, like meshes, textures, etc. Do I need to look inside the zip files for that? I am afraid I know too little to be of assistance at this point .

well, anything you can't find just leave a ? by it, and whoever made the mod may notice and fill it in.

That's a roger. That I can do.

One thing I'm not clear on is: Is this by file type (cmp, ini ... etc) or mod description (ships, systems ... etc)?

I know we were talking descriptions earlier, but it may be easier the other way.

Sir Spectre