Problems with add-ons

[ultifd]

I can't load any "tech" addons right now. I also have a resolution problem with GAE. Till that/those problems are fixed I'm testing Imperial on MG/GAE for now.

[Zoythrus]

then go to your hard drive > program files > gae > share (or whatever) and put it in there directly

[ultifd]

I know, I've decided that I'll do that after I finish testing Imperial. What's the point of addons then? 

[John.d.h]

What's the point of addons then? 

They're great when they work.

[ultifd]

Well, yeah. They just don't seem that great to me when I almost always extract the mod to see the models and etc...for the ones I don't, yes it's great.

[-Archmage-]

They work fine for me......

[ultifd]

(I'm using Git-Master)

[Omega]

Addons work perfectly fine in STABLE versions. If you're using an unstable master release, you should not expect it to be stable. You cannot judge a game by an unstable release. Wait till it's stable before you judge addons.

[-Archmage-]

Ultifd: Do you want help from the Constellus Team, or GAE Team? Take your pick.

[ultifd]

My opinion with addons won't change, it doesn't change whether it works or not. I also find Git-Master to be more stable than 0.3.2. (And I have the same problems with 0.3.2) (Same thing with MG.) You guys should try building either, I'm sure you would find the same thing.

Ultifd: Do you want help from the Constellus Team, or GAE Team? Take your pick.

You asked what was the problem, so I answered. I don't really want help from anybody now...already asked them. I'll just wait for the addon manager or something. That should fix it.

[-Archmage-]

My opinion with addons won't change, it doesn't change whether it works or not. I also find Git-Master to be more stable than 0.3.2. (And I have the same problems with 0.3.2) (Same thing with MG.) You guys should try building either, I'm sure you would find the same thing.

Ultifd: Do you want help from the Constellus Team, or GAE Team? Take your pick.

You asked what was the problem, so I answered. I don't really want help from anybody now...already asked them. I'll just wait for the addon manager or something. That should fix it.

Well dude............you're going to have to wait a long time......
I'm going to send you some stuff to help....... If you want use it, if you don't want to just say so. I'm just gonna toss the option out to you anyway.

[ultifd]

Not really, it should be there by 0.4. Maybe it's already there, I don't know.

[John.d.h]

Addons are working flawlessly for me in git-master.  Are you building with -DGAE_USE_PHYSFS=ON for cmake?

[tomreyn]

Can someone point me to a working / correctly formatted example add-on? I'm just asking because I'm not into the concept, yet, and would like to test drive them, too.

[ultifd]

Addons are working flawlessly for me in git-master.  Are you building with -DGAE_USE_PHYSFS=ON for cmake?

I'm using windows though. But, I think so. Normal addons work, like Project Green. Others don't...

[hailstone]

Others don't...

Such as?

[ultifd]

Imperial and a version of Constellus that Zoy gave me.

[Omega]

The addon format and its proper structure is explained here:
https://docs.megaglest.org/Addons

[Zoythrus]

i will say this: the addons folder doesnt work for me when i just drop .zip files into it, i have to unpack them for them to work.

[Yggdrasil]

Don't expect that any zip file you stuff into the addons folder will just work "automagically". It needs to have the right folder structure in the archive. Most common problem seems to be a root folder inside the archive which then contains techs/ and the rest. techs/ needs to be at top level, no arbitrary parent folder above. Imperial has this problem too. Just extract it in the addons folder. Even this is better than fiddling around in the install folder.

I'll probably add some kind of packager in the addon manager as it seems to be more difficult than i imagined. Then you just need to hit a button with your pointer device and it throws an addon friendly zip file at you.

[will]

The glest_mod_pack.py is addons-compatible

[Omega]

I'll probably add some kind of packager in the addon manager as it seems to be more difficult than i imagined. Then you just need to hit a button with your pointer device and it throws an addon friendly zip file at you.

I do hope you mean addon friendly 7-zip file. Zip is evil, and 7-zip is conveniently open source and well documented, so should be possible to make a compressor using existing libraries.

[hailstone]

Perhaps there should be a manifest file that was talked about before to load as a proper addon.

[Omega]

Perhaps there should be a manifest file that was talked about before to load as a proper addon.

I only have the five minute knowledge wikipedia gave me, so can you explain how a manifest file would help?

[will]

I do hope you mean addon friendly 7-zip file. Zip is evil, and 7-zip is conveniently open source and well documented, so should be possible to make a compressor using existing libraries.

Intriguing, why is ZIP evil?

The choice of format was well thought out on this thread and particularly this post here.

The mod packing script (which is not popularly used) does offer both ZIP and uncompressed-ZIP+XZ compression, and describes the trade-offs these choices make for the user downloading and playing:

There are two formats for packaging mods, and these choices affect file size:

• ZIP compression is very portable, and suitable even for Classic Glest users
  ZIP files will also take less space on GAE players harddisks
• XZ offers smaller downloads, but GAE users will use as much diskspace
  as MG and Classic Glest users. XZ is intended to be used eventually by the
  automated mod managing tools (which I plan to write).
  It offers better partial-update download sizes too, if you are making an
  upgrade of an existing mod. Power users will be able to use these files
  manually, but most Classic Glest players will be unsure what to do with them!
  (XZ takes a lot longer to pack, so if you are impatient go with ZIP)

Of course the bigger problem is the incompatibility of total-conversions.  At the moment the addons/ folder mounting is arbitrary.  The mod packing tool tried to get get modders to explain their compatibility clearly in the name so it would be obvious which to mount in a compatible way.  I hope then the addons/ is changed to use this extra info.