Archive for March, 2009

RTB3 Progress

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

The online downloads manager is nearing completion. I recently completed file commenting and issue tracking for files which were two of the big ones. There is still a substantial bit to do regarding the downloads manager (such as packs/presets and the rating system which will be a pain in the ass) then users will be able to register on the forums and upload their add-ons into the new system. I’m also taking a vacation for 2 weeks starting tomorrow/saturday so I obviously won’t be touching/thinking about RTB in that time.

I’ve also been working on the new ingame mod manager and its shaping up really well. After more optimizations of the API it uses I’ve managed to bump the average page loading time down to only two seconds. Feel free to post suggestions for RTB3 in the comments and I’ll check them all when I get back. As far as release targets go, we have none. I do hope to have it done this half of the year though.

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Posted in Development | 2 Comments »

RTB 2.03

Monday, March 16th, 2009

RTB 2.03 is now available if you’ve updated to Blockland v11. Basically this update is to fix a thing in v11 that breaks RTB 2.02. I’ve also added a few fixes in for a couple of things, here’s the changelog:

- Modified joinServerGui to work with v11

- Fixed isReadOnly being used improperly

- RTB now auto-generates a default colorset.txt if you don’t have one

- Fixed the bug where you can’t see the files you download

RTB should auto-update when you run the game with v11. If it gives you any errors, as usual just head over to the Download section at the top to grab it manually.

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Posted in Updates | 628 Comments »

RTB3 Progress

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

Recently I’ve been working on the new add-on scanner. Basically this works by cataloguing all the add-ons uploaded and keeping lists of the core bits like files, datablock names and uinames. Then when someone uploads an add-on with the same datablock name as a default add-on or an add-on someone else has submitted, this will be flagged up during the reviewing process. Here’s a little shot of Weapon_Bow and JVS_Doors after being broken down by the scanner:

tabledump

This means we’ll be able to detect conflicting add-ons much easier. The scanner also verifies file paths to make sure you’re not trying to include textures or shapes that don’t exist.

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Posted in Development | 7 Comments »

RTB3 Progress

Sunday, March 8th, 2009

Its your periodical progress post again! I’ve been working primarily on the online downloads system these past couple of weeks since this is the feature we plan to go public with initially. I have just added a bunch of moderator tools like editing, moving and failing files and i’ve also been implementing the new “Holding Tank” concept explained in the post below which seems to be fitting in really nicely. I also got file reporting and screenshots working. It would appear that this is very nearly done, here’s a quick list of things left to do before we can let you guys loose on it:

  • File Comments
  • File Ratings (Complicated because we need to come up with some clever algorithm to calculate them)
  • Download/Usage Statistics
  • Issue Tracking (Moderators raise an “issue” with a mod owner about an add-on and it cant be approved until the issue is resolved)
  • Ability to submit music add-ons (They need exception routines which are a pain)
  • “RTB Mod Bot” functionality (waiting on Badspot for this one)

Each of those are fairly hefty tasks so we’re probably looking at about a month of work before its good to go. As I mentioned earlier you will be required to re-submit your add-ons to the new system - this acts as a nice method of purging out the bad stuff and its less work for me instead of trying to integrate the old database into the new structure which would be a nightmare.

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Posted in Development | 1 Comment »

Changes to RTB

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

Basically it is irrefutable that the number of terrible add-ons people are submitting is on the rise and the current way in which RTB works allows an idiot to upload a broken add-on and by the time one of the reviewers finds it, 200 or so people have downloaded it - so there are going to be some changes to make this harder to do.

First off, You will not be able to download unapproved add-ons anymore. So the moment you submit an add-on it will be hidden from users and placed in a new area called the “Holding Tank” where it will wait for a reviewer to approve it. However we realise there are many users who we can trust to submit quality things and these people will be added to a “trusted users” list - this means their add-ons won’t have to go into the holding tank and will instead show up as an unapproved add-on.

Secondly, There will be some new options in RTB3 to do with failed add-ons. RTB keeps a list of all the add-ons that have been failed and by default, RTB will check to see if you have any of these add-ons and automatically disable them and then notify you. Of course you can disable this if you want, but it’d be in your best interests not to as any bug reports coming from users who have failed add-ons are immediately deleted.

Finally, I am writing a more thorough add-on checker which will be able to verify you have the correct file structure, unique datablock names, the right files for Blockland to recognise it as an add-on, the correct files being referenced from scripts, and the correct file extensions. Basically .cs, .gui, .png, .jpg, .ogg, .wav, .txt, .dts, .mis, .dif, .ter and .dml are all the files allowed. This is to prevent silly people with macs screwing up the zips.

Basically we’re hoping this totally prevents bad add-ons gaining any exposure to ingame users. Let us know your thoughts on this by either commenting or heading to the RTB Dev Thread.

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Posted in Development | 14 Comments »
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