Plug-in management and organization

[cheesecurd 0]

I love downloading all the great new bats, lots and mods that the many talented developers out there are putting out. I hate managing all those downloads and I find the STEX to be rather cumbersome (not a rip on Simtropolis at all, what an awesome site and amazing team running it, but being a Swiss Army knife has its drawbacks). 

Wouldn't it be great if there was a much, much slicker way of downloading files, automatically determining dependencies and dynamically building packages that include all the necessary dependencies if they are not already on your system, management system for the authors of all these great plug-ins, etc . . .? Here is where I'd like to step in and give something to the SimCity community -- I have a thought out plan of attack and the software development skills to make such a thing possible. 

However, its undoubtedly  a good amount of work, so is there any interest in this? Would plug-in developers be willing to cooperate and make their downloads available on such a potential site? I can provide more details if there is interest.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Not sure if I got you correctly... so you basically say the site should be configured in a way that it automatically sorts out stuff for you (e.g. I click to download the Strawberry Cheesecake Tower, the site checks on my HD if I have the dependencies, sees that I'm missing BSC CSX Cheesecake Props Vol07 and that my NDEX Strawberry Cream Essentials is outdated, dynamically adds them to the download and shoves the stuff on my PC)? And you have the skills to program such a huge project?

[cheesecurd 0]

Yes, that is what I envision.

[deKoven 0]

Not all that far-fetched. I have at least one other game which has just that capability. In addition to the "official" system there have been two other highly successful efforts by members of the communities. The largest problem(s) is/are that the STEX doesn't have the official capacity to designate the dependencies nor does it always have those same deps. Anyone working on the system would have to have an "entree" given by the STEX maintainers so that the structure and system can be fully understood. I really do hope it happens.

[wouanagaine 83]

A program can get all stex to maintain the whole list of TGI, publishing the list somewhere on the net, then the installation program will get the list of dependencies needed when you download something and add missing one to the download process. That's kind of a huge work. But can be done, but I see 2 reasons for not doing it

1 - there is a lot of dependencies that are out of the STEX, ( japanese bats etc.. )

2 - checking to see if you have the dependencies on your hard drive will take age once you reach a huge number of lots/bats etc..( this can be cached but if you download from another site you'll have to reparse the plugin directory )

But if you go on that, I'll surely by pleased and I offer my programming skills ( and a little spare time as I prefer playing sc4 than programming )

[cheesecurd 0]

What I am thinking of a is a repository other than STEX, I would write a totally new (and very efficient) backend that is an effort independent of STEX. This would require plug-in developers to upload their files to a new site.

[Andreas Roth 604]

Such a feature sounds nice indeed, although I doubt the prop developers want to upload their stuff twice (on the STEX and your site). What about a database that includes STEX links instead of the files? I'm not sure if the STEX supports downloads that are initiated by a download manager (such a tool you're outlining will be some kind of download manager, I'd say), but if it really works, it could save you (and the creators) a lot of redundancies.

I suggest to contact simrolle, the creator of SC4Tool. It has a powerful dependencies scanner, and we already discussed a way to include a list of dependencies right into the lots (which works much better than the LD files that doesn't list texture packs, for instance). So what we need now is a database that holds TGI IDs for all dependencies and STEX links in particular.

[jackel.22 3]

imo it doesnt have to be all that drastic,

they could have a check box by each dependency so that you could check the boxes on the dependencies that you need and when you down load the main item the dependancies would be down loaded too

[cheesecurd 0]

I agree with you Andreas, a big issue is having to upload the files to two different places. The STEX links idea is one potential work around to mitigate that.

One thing to keeep in mind for everyone reading this thread is that this is more of a project than just simply making download dependencies, etc . . . easier to manage. I view this potential project as a complete interface for browsing, searching and downloading plug-ins. A very streamlined interface to acccomplish very specific goals.

All this being said, I do realize that nothing can be perfect, and there may well be some caveats, nothing is perfect but something is better than nothing.

[wouanagaine 83]

What can easily be done, but with some works of uploaders is to give them a tools that parse their upload and generate an html with links to dependencies. Still there is a need to have a list of everything that is on STEX and a way to to map from props etc... to dependencies

But I agree that something is better than nothing. As I've start downloaded in the stex for only 3 months, I must say that the first couple days were really a pain to get everything working and such a tool would have been invaluable.

[Andreas Roth 604]

Originally posted by: wouanagaine What can easily be done, but with some works of uploaders is to give them a tools that parse their upload and generate an html with links to dependencies. Still there is a need to have a list of everything that is on STEX and a way to to map from props etc... to dependenciesquote>

 

Well, you can do everything you mentioned with SC4Tool, you only have to insert the STEX links later manually. So if cheesecurd can create such a database, integrating an interface into SC4Tool shouldn't be too hard. I have pointed simrolle to this thread, maybe he can explain a bit better what would be needed for such a SC4Tool feature.

[joelevan 0]

I say go for it guys! As a user and not a programmer I would LOVE to see this type of tool. Tracking all of the dependancies can be a real bear!

[north country dude 202]

As a new plug-in maker and 'kit-basher', I think it is a wonderful idea.

The concept doesn't have to be as involved as T-Wrecks explains, in other words, it doesn't have to search the user's HD, just look at the uploader's file, see what plug-ins are needed for it, and then give the download/user an option to select the plug-ins they don't already have. Then the site packages and sends it.

I wouldn't mind sending plug-in type files twice. But couldn't the STEX just have that as an option to host one copy and send a second copy to the 'plug-in repository' ? It would also have to do this each time a plug-in creator updates their file . 

It could also eliminate the need to create 'mega-packs' by combining the plug-in creator's files into one file. The plug-in creator would also have to define what class or type of file they wanted combined, eg; props, textures,  or models.

ncd

[wouanagaine 83]

I'm not sure that removing the need of mega pack is a good thing. I followed the test the BSC Team made and it seems to me that mega pack tend to speed up the loading process. I'm actually thinking of a tool that will take my plugins folder and produce one and only one huge mega pack from all the file. But for now it's only an idea, I have to find some spare time to do it.

[Andreas Roth 604]

Originally posted by: wouanagaineI'm actually thinking of a tool that will take my plugins folder and produce one and only one huge mega pack from all the file. But for now it's only an idea, I have to find some spare time to do it.quote>

This tool is already available - use the FileMerger in SC4Tool for this purpose. The included tutorial file provides a brief explanation how to use it.