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Topic: addons.simutrans.com rules and criteria (Read 15488 times) previous topic - next topic

addons.simutrans.com rules and criteria

Hi to all! Perhaps many of you don't know that Simutrans community has an addons repository at addons.simutrans.com. Yes, it's there, check it out! however it was quite abandoned..until now. Some of us have decided to revive it, and hey, now it's close to get back to life!!  :)

The lucky guys that will be in charge of repository management are Silver and me. We have finished the maintenance tasks, therefore it's time to start searching for candidates, but first of all we have to define the rules and criteria we must follow to include new stuff in the repository. That's why this is an open discussion, we would like to know your opinion.

This is what we have until now:
  • We must have the permission from the author to include and release the object at the repository
  • We'll consider only final releases.
  • The object must be well aligned
  • The object attributes must be well defined in the dat file (no missing attributes)
  • The object must not have graphic bugs (wrong pixels with special night colors or player colors)
  • The object attributes must be balanced according to the pakset it was created for (¿optional?)
  • Each object must fit in the scale of the pakset it was created for (more or less)
  • If there're some related objects, they'll be included and released as a set (i.e. set of buses)
  • If the object is already included in a pakset, it won't be included in the repository
  • if a part of the set was included in the official pakset, the rest may be release as an extra addons set.
  • The object must work with the latest Simutrans version available

Any more criteria or case we should consider?

P.S: Btw, if someone wants to join us as addons tester, we'll be glad to make him or her part of the team.. :)

Re: addons.simutrans.com rules and criteria

Reply #1 –
Sounds great!

I think the only thing I'd add is that we probably need language liaisons - folks who can bring add-ons that are only offered in one language (especially Japanese, with their prolific community!) over to the add-ons site.

Re: addons.simutrans.com rules and criteria

Reply #2 –
It's really exciting! I really missed this section so many times!
But I don't see these rules clear enough if you have to explain them to people. See the comments on two of the points:

Quote from: vilvoh – on
  • The object must not have graphic bugs (special night colors) <-- must have?
  • The object attributes must be balanced (¿optional?) <-- I would rewrite like the scale one

Re: addons.simutrans.com rules and criteria

Reply #3 –
Quote from: Zeno – on
The object attributes must be balanced (¿optional?) <-- I would rewrite like the scale one

good catch!! I didn't realize that each pakset has its own balancing criteria. I've added your suggestions.

Re: addons.simutrans.com rules and criteria

Reply #4 –
I think it:
The addon should contain its description:
Availability:
pakset:
Name of creator:
A brief description of the addon

All this because there are variety of addons that do not contain a good level of information, which does not even know for which pakset, is destined

Re: addons.simutrans.com rules and criteria

Reply #5 –
Hi

I am a reluctant user of mods/add ons. Prefer instead to keep the unmodified version so I am on a level playing field for gameplay with others.

What I would like to know is how to remove a modification. So if I used a mod I could return back to basics at anytime.

Regards
Sev.
Regards
Sev.

Re: addons.simutrans.com rules and criteria

Reply #6 –
If you just copied mods into the pak directory (as I am wont to do), the easiest thing would be:
1. Move the current contents of the live pak files somewhere else
2. Extract a fresh copy of the pak files

If you used a mod in a saved game, unless something's changed, it gets a little complex at that point - compat.tab is you friend - to tell it what to convert unfound mods into... but I've never done it, so I can't point you beyond that.

...unless I misunderstood you somehow...

Re: addons.simutrans.com rules and criteria

Reply #7 –
About balance:

Well i think balancing is quite a task, it's hard and time consuming to do. It's also time consuming to check whether it's balanced. And finally it's hard t tell when it's balanced correctly IMO, because some vehicles are more pfrofitable than others.

So it might be better to demand the sources so you can change the values afterwards.

Re: addons.simutrans.com rules and criteria

Reply #8 –
Well, initially I would say, yes..why not but on the other hand, I think it's a task of the author to keep the object, specially if it's vehicle, balanced. I mean, we just manage the repository, which already take us a lot of time, so it wouldn't be appropriate to do some extra work fixing issues just because the author didn't take it into account.

Don't get me wrong, I'm always willing to help, but I think there're tasks that are not part of my post, as a repository manager. I can point out bugs and propose solutions but it's the object's author who must fix them. We have to draw a line between our responsability and author's responsability.

Anyway, as I said before, the balance issue is quite subjective. It depends on a lot of factors, and sometimes is hard to get a balanced object. Therefore, I think we shouldn't be extremly strict at this point, or at least as strict as with the rest. We'll test the object and play several games with it. If we consider it's playable, and this means it's not a bottomless pit but neither it's a pot of gold, we'll include it. In case we realize about something that can be fixable, we can notice it to the author, and he must decide if it's worth to fix it. If not, there's no problem... there're a lot of great addons that are not in the repository, just see Simutrans CZ or JP websites.The world of Simutrans doesn't end at a.s.c.. ;)

Imho, that's all we must do. Evaluate and include the stuff in case it follows the rules. The rest depends on the authors.
 

Re: addons.simutrans.com rules and criteria

Reply #10 –
Any other objection? May we consider that the rules have been approved? If so, then we can start the search of candidates...