Proposed development of YR 1.002 Community Patch

[Marshall]

I haven't had a chance to look at your new assets yet, Blade, as I'm on 28k dialup atm.
But I'm all for including them in the proposed CRP DP, if not in the UMP DP itself.

[Marshall]

A thought occurs:
A sizeable amount of the resources in the UMP are updated versions of files that already exist in ra2.mix/ra2md.mix.

I've also been noticing a lot of 'blue-edged-buildups' lately that could do with fixing but that is a huge fileset.

What if the perma-UMP simply patched the 2 mix files? It should reduce the filesize significantly.
I assume different SHP/HVA files wouldn't cause any problems for network/internet games?

langmd.mix would be patched for the YRPM CSF strings

Further more, the singleplayer maps could be patched by prompting the user for their YR CD.

Then the UMP Launcher (or the perma-UMP's expandmd02.mix) would only contain ini files.


I so wish there had been an official 1.002 patch. Hey pd, you've got the ear of Apoc - any chance you could pimp the UMP to him?

[DCoder]

I, being an advanced user, don't mind letting this patch modify my installation, but I bet some people just aren't comfortable with that idea.

Also, you can be sure there will be people who try to use the wrong version, and when it fails, blame you for "bad coding" and spread that rumor everywhere they see a discussion about it.
Remember, for most users "the default answer to every message/dialog is `Cancel`", they don't bother to read what the message actually says. Even if your message says ("Wrong version, please download the <correct language> version of the patch from <link>").

Not to mention this way you're going to hit an even bigger rock should you decide the mixes need another round of patching. Or if the user played DZ's mod and now has a patched langmd.mix. Or if TFD (First Decade) includes yet different mix(-es).

One possible way to avoid that would be to have the patcher set the "read only" attribute on the mix, so that other patchers can't toast it. not very reliable, but still an option.

And let's not forget people _will_ want to uninstall this pack for one reason or another, adding one more layer of problems...

Quite a dilemma, indeed. I am curious to know what filesize are we talking about, if you don't patch the files?

And I wouldn't count on Apoc, honestly. Because if he does help with this, next thing you know people will start pushing him to do the same with Generals and ProGen, and whatever else... it would open a whole new can of worms for EA.

[Bobingabout]

isn't this what expandmd.mix was originally created for.

[Marshall]

All good points.
Sigh. I just wish this was so much easier.

Patching/depatching is no problem in itself, but relying on the user to get things right, as you say, is pretty stupid.

The real problem is that the UMP will never be used by the majority of YR players (most probably don't even know that there are mods and third party tools available). As such, it has to be compatible with existing stuff.
Unfortunately, the INI files preclude that.
And because the UMP is built mainly on INI fixes, there's little point in having a separate distribution of graphics files.

The perma-UMP may not be such a good idea.

What if the graphical improvements (that did not require INI code) went into the TX?
The TX already contains some building SHPs, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to add some more would it?
And with some form of patching I may be able to significantly reduce the size. I'm not making any promises, but it may be possible to even shave a few more KB off the TX:


In order to reduce filesize, I'd have to do the following:
1. Extract and use XCC MIX CLT to extract all the files that need updating (including TX files).
2. Extract and use a command line backup tool to put all files UNCOMPRESSED into a single file. No idea how I would do this (command line WinZip?)
3. Use file patching to turn said file into expandmd06.mix


The UMP (mod) could still include the files, but it depends how big they are.
Modders could still include the files if they were provided with the DP.


I really don't know what to do.



EDIT:
Maybe I should just stop worrying and shove everything in the UMP.
And be more critical of this blue-edged stuff: just focus on the really annoying cases.
If anyone feels like going through all the buildings and letting me know which buildings they find annoying that would be helpful, I will do the same and then only fix the cases that most of us agree on.
It seems to me that the problem almost always exists on the buildup animation, and rarely anywhere else.
The Allied Barracks is the most obvious example I've seen so far.

As always, I appreciate everyone's help and patience.

[Blade]

What size are you looking at with the UMP if you just dump the modified assets into expandmd02.mix? Thats the method I'd stick with for anything other than the csf.

[Marshall]

Uncompressed, about 10MB.
(excluding all but the Allied Barracks blue-edged buildup fix)

Maximum compression zip is about 2.6 MB

LZMA may shave a couple hundred KBs if we're lucky.

File patching could potentially cut the size in half, if I could figure out exactly how to do it (that won't help modders who use the DP of course)

[Bobingabout]

just stuff the graphcs fixes and the new ini codes in the same mix. if a mod doesn't agree with the changes, they don't have to use it. imo, the UMP is stand alone anywat, since modders usually select which parts they want, and a mod would overite the other parts anyway.(like ini files)

Expandmd02.mix would be ferfect, assume nobody else has claimed 02 already...

TX is 06 isn't it?

[DCoder]

Bumping this topic into 2006 (and pinning it at the same time)... Status reports, testing requests, anything?

[DJBREIT]

If you guys have some graphics fixes. I can add them to the TX since I plain on releasing version 1.02a this weekend

[Marshall]

I would have to go through the pending UMP stuff to see if there's anything that would be worth putting in the TX. To be honest, I think it would be better if the TX left out a couple of the things it already has (like the Bio Reactor fixes), to stop duplication with the UMP. Just my opinion.

I don't think the Community Patch is going to happen - there are just too many variables.
What I think will be of more use is the Community Resource Pack, which is basically a compilation of the most important third party things shoved into one comprehensive installer.
For full UMP fixes, you'll have to run a UMP mod. Maybe there is some duplication in download resources, but it's the simplest answer.
As soon as I'm done with the next version of the UMP I will see about getting the CRP sorted out.

[Blade]

What about a community resource installer that will check what versions of cerain resource packs you have and fetch what you don't have from the net? Ideally it would be part of a mod packaging program that you could tell what version of a resource is needed at a minimum and as part of the install of the mod would prompt you to get the extra bits.

[Marshall]

That's a great idea. However, I don't know how to make such a program - the net connectivity is beyond me, although I will explore the possibility.

[Blade]

What ever happened to saber's XML mod creator/launcher? Its that kind of program that needs this sort of functionality.

[Marshall]

MIM will probably be capable of being a Mod Launcher all by itself.
MIM could really use that functionality, rather than a CRP. I'll look into it, but I doubt I'll be able to get such a feature working.