tool question

[myke13021]

Well, i don't know if this thread fits in here...as it isn't really a scripting/editing question, nor is it really an addon making related topic...if not, the almighty Admin may move it to it's appropriate place  ;D

I had the idea for a little tool for Mission Makers that use addons (just a few or a bunchload of).

I guess you know the problem..you made an awesome map, which makes extensive use of non-BIS-addons. So once you finished your mission, you have to choose what to do...simply add a text file to the mission, which contains info about which addons were used (and therefore needed to play) and where to get them....or pack all addons together, zip it and put it in webspace. But i guess some of you might have encountered the problem, that sometimes a needed addon was missing in this pack...just forgot to put it in.

And in return, as someone who would like to play a map which contains several addons, you would like to know if you really have to download the addon pack which contains the addons for this map. Since you already have a bunchload of addons, and it might be that you already have all addons needed.

So, let's say the mission maker would have a little tool, which reads the addons list out of the mission.sqm, collects data about the required addons (real addon file name, Version of addon etc), automatically takes the required addons and packs it into a .zip or .rar file and finally genereates a little .exe file. This file could be downloaded by any interested player, executed on it's comp and checks if the needed addons are already present or not.
So the player would know if he has to download the addons pack or not.

Let me put this into short terms for making sure you get my point.

Mission makers can with just a few clicks generate the addon pack for his map.
He also generates an "Addon Checker" which compares the present addons of a player with the needed addons.

I think, this would prevent a lot of people to "forget" some addons in theyr respective pack. And it would also avoid useless downloads for addons which are already present.

Tell me your thoughts about this idea...would this be a useful tool? Is it woth to create such a tool? If yes, which points would need a closer look to it.

Any comments welcome

[Rokket]

It sounds ike a good idea to me.

[ScrubMuncher]

Like an OFPWatch (by John Hammarberg a.k.a Certa) program for downloads?  Where maybe a simple text dump file by the sourcing app shows addons required, and known servers to support them.  The 'OFPwatch'-esque app then scans your system and goes to the servers listed in the sourced file?  Something like  that?  Certa should have a keen edge on this tech and reasonable methods used.  ;D

On second thought, scrap the seperate file.  I bet it would be less cumbersome to just DL the mission, have the app scan the PBO's in your folders, make a list of required addons, and then have it contact a webpage that keeps updated lists of servers that host addons.  I think that would be possible.  I believe OFPwatch goes to the MP sites host servers that support it.  Again, I think Certa would be an overwelming help in this area

(great idea BTW)

Scrub

[m21man]

Why not an online addon reference? You could have a large document, organized alphabetically, that lists the names displayed in the SQM along with links to the correct addons.

[myke13021]

@m21man

A great idea....sadly i can't do this, because this would need more manpower that i can afford. This would need a whole team to regulary actualize the addon list, checking if the links are still working and so on.

What i thought of is more like this: as most mission makers will pack thyer addons they used together in one single pack. This will be managed by this toll i'm thining of. Open the tool, select the mission.sqm and then the tool will automatically take the needed addons and pack them to a .zip file. I had lately the problem with a mission i mad...i collected the addons together and made an addon pack...but i forget to put 2 addons in it. Not a big deal, but then i have to redo the whole package and upload it to the webserver so that people can download the actualised addon pack.

And as these packs can be very large (C&R addons is over 70MB i think, and mine will be around 60MB) uploading from my site will take some moments...even with DSL.

Also does this prog create a little addon checker, which can be also put on a webserver. A player which would like to play the map, can download this little app, run it on its Comp and the app will tell him if he has already all required addons, or if he misses a single addon (which the user can download from an addon site) or even misses several addons. So he can download the addon pack which is specially made for this mission.

So it is basically meant to make life a little easier for mission maker to make sure they don't forget any addons.
And it will make also the life easier for interested players, as he isn't forced to download a big addon pack for a single map, just to see that he already had all addons required.

And i think most peeps don't know every single addon they have. Surplus it might be possible the Mission maker used a newer version of an addon as some people already might have.


I hope i could explain it well enough since english isn't my original language.

[csde-PiLLe]

I am ready to give this a try.

But be prepared, as I will do this in JAVA

I am not talking an applet here. I am talking about a full scale JAVA application, needing at least the JRE (Java Runtime Environment) to run properly. I will be using the J2SE and Eclipse as my IDE.

If anyone is willing to join this effort, just PM me, but do net expect me to get back to you before tomorrow 21:00 (GMT+2).

A short outline of what I am planning:

The Tool (in CREATE - Mode) will accept your mission.sqm. You will have to adjust the path to your OFP-Directory prior to using it. It will then check both res/addons, addons and specified mod-folders in order to find the addons used.

At this part, I will probably need to help as to the PBO-Format and how to check which addons are inside which pbo.

After finding the necessary pbos, the tool is supposed to create MD5 Checksums and will accept URLs for any of the addons. These URLs should always point to a general location, not to the addon file, though the tool will neither check this nor warn if you provide a direct link.

I plan to include a "exists"-check though, and thats another point I might need help with (HTTP/FTP)

Once all this has been done, a simple text file with a propietary extension (.oal? OFP Addon Listing) will be created to go with your mission.zip.

If you run the tool in CHECK-Mode (default, CREATE has to be specified on the command line) the tool will take your .oal and check it against your addon, res addon folders and any mod folders given. If you have all necessary addons (and in the right version), the tool will flash you the green light, or tell you which addons you are missing, with the links to the respective download site.

As .oal is not an extension used in OFP, you will be able to simply extract these files to the missions-folder and have the tool run over .oal it finds in there in batch mode, loggin everything to a human readable .log file, if this feature is requested.

Anyway, any help is appreciated and if someone dares to give me some hints as to the pbo-file-format, I would be quite grateful. (Will not give you a bj, though!).
 
Cheers
PiLLe

[myke13021]

uhm...well....i have someone who can do this tool...my only question is: it is helpful, is there a need (or maybe just a wish) for it.

[csde-PiLLe]

Doesnt matter, ill do it anyway. Need the programming practice

It will be JAVA, as mentioned, so I doubt there would be many people using it Simply have your tool done, I think something like that would make life a lot easier

Cheers
PiLLe