Terra Magna Infrastructure / Kushites Mod Integration

[niektb]

You mean Phase 3?

[Servo]

@niektb yes phase 3 if I remember they can't have fort and other special buildings. I will check again later...

I played both factions a week ago and I stopped playing the Norse once I noticed and thought some phase 3 structures are unavailable looking at the structure tree. Now I understand why they don't have those. 

[balduin]

@niektb Do you want to ship Terra Magna without the Kushites since the Vox Populi mod implements them or do you want to implement them as well?

[niektb]

@balduin: personally I don't like it that one dev develops/modifies the civ to his own taste (see the civ traits list he listed f.e.) (tbh I find it a bit weird too that he uses new civs to promote a gameplay mod (cause that is what Vox Populi)). So if you'd ask me, I would like to continue the development like we did before  

[Sundiata]

@balduin Of course, by all means, why wouldn't @niektb continue? The mods leave you free to do what you want  

[balduin]

@Sundiata maybe because he does not want to duplicate the effort.

@niektb in this case I would be interested in helping you to create the mod. I assume all your code is in this GitHub repository: https://github.com/0ADMods/terra_magna

and you commit into the repo. Is my assumption correct? Do you use branches and pull request for contributions? Are you developing the game based on a release or the upcoming version in SVN?

[Nescio]

Although I didn't read everything in this thread, the last three posts were interesting enough for me to jump into this discussion.

As far as I understand it, DE had incorporated the Kushites faction, VP has it, and now you intend to add it to TM as well. From my point of view this is both inefficient (the same work has to be done thrice) and undesirable (mods tend to diverge over time, so it will result in three slightly different Kushite factions). Besides, three copies of mostly the same files is costly in terms of download time and file size on disk. Wouldn't it be better to have a single “Kushites” mod, which could then be loaded by other mods? And mutatis mutandis for other new civilizations?

A “one faction, one mod” principle would also make it easier to incorporate new factions in the default 0 A.D. distribution, provided they are complete and qualitively at least as good as the current twelve factions.

[Hannibal_Barca]

8 hours ago, niektb said:

@balduin: personally I don't like it that one dev develops/modifies the civ to his own taste (see the civ traits list he listed f.e.) (tbh I find it a bit weird too that he uses new civs to promote a gameplay mod (cause that is what Vox Populi)). So if you'd ask me, I would like to continue the development like we did before  

new civ*

If there is potential why waste it due to some little question as gameplay mod or not.

I think if kushites would be strong on both land and sea they'd be op. So make them require a hero for the sea, this way on land they can't be that strong. Also since there is no concrete evidence of african naval might it could be appropriate. As for the other "traits" they were only a sketch, anything can turn out of that.

 

Regardless, you should continue the development and not worry about little things such as this one.

[LordGood]

That 'one mod' was supposed to be Terra Magna, as far as I'm concerned VP and DE run experimental 'leaked' versions of the Kushites.

[Hannibal_Barca]

I asked @Sundiata prior to any actions (supposedly the "head" of the Kushites mod) and he had no objections, was happy to have it added.

So if it's leaked by the main guy then it's all fine

Also since Vox Populi comes with other welcome changes I think it'll be more frequently played there.

Personally I didn't follow this thread at all due to having no time so I'd not make assumptions

[niektb]

Ah fair enough, the others (or at least some of them) didn't know so all we knew is that you just shamelessly copied the stuff from DE

1 hour ago, Hannibal_Barca said:

As for the other "traits" they were only a sketch, anything can turn out of that.

Well, I reckoned so but I didn't notice any kind of discussion / debate on these so I consider it to be completely your own interpretation of the civ  

[Hannibal_Barca]

7 minutes ago, niektb said:

Well, I reckoned so but I didn't notice any kind of discussion / debate on these so I consider it to be completely your own interpretation of the civ  

I was and open to suggestions but I'd not like them to be the new op civ

[Sundiata]

Yeah, Hannibal was kind enough to ask me wether it was ok with me, and asked me some follow-up questions to fill some gaps/corrections for the civ.

I didn't see a problem with the faction being present in different mods. Every mod is different by definition. I look forward to Terra Magna for very different reason than why Vox Populi is so interesting.

@LordGood weren't you the original source of the leak?  

@wowgetoffyourcellphone also repeatedly said that people could use his developments in DE for their own mods.

Anyway, the main reason I like the civ in different mods is it's the best way to test it out. Mistakes are easily found and corrected, and what still needs doing also becomes a lot more clear.

 

[balduin]

@niektb or any other person involved in Terra Magna, can I get an answer to my technical questions?

[Stan`]

@balduin What do you want to know ?

[Lion.Kanzen]

4 hours ago, balduin said:

@niektb or any other person involved in Terra Magna, can I get an answer to my technical questions?

mostly of programmers involved in CoM.

And svn, not , the answer is no.only 0.A.D does this because is counterproductive as an older programmer suggest in early Aristeia stage.

[balduin]

@stanislas69 Those questions:

On 10/9/2017 at 8:42 AM, balduin said:

I assume all your code is in this GitHub repository: https://github.com/0ADMods/terra_magna

and you commit into the repo. Is my assumption correct? Do you use branches and pull request for contributions? Are you developing the game based on a release or the upcoming version in SVN?

 

[Stan`]

1. yes all our code is in that repo.

2. We do even though we don't often receive pull requests

3. It's SVN which means right now it's not compatible with A22 anymore

[balduin]

@stanislas69 thank you.

[Notsonoble]

So I pulled this from github today. The mod works, but spams me with error messages during the game. It looks like I've got the files in the wrong place.

Ubuntu 18.04

0ad 0.23

 

Any ideas?

[Loki1950]

Have had a look at https://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/GameDataPaths see the .local/share/0ad/mods that's where mods go under Linux see if you have cache file at .cache/0ad BTW the "dot" as the first character defines the folder as being hidden just toggle the "show hidden files" option in your file browser's view menu.

Enjoy the Choice  

Edited May 10, 2018 by Loki1950

[Stan`]

Else that just means we are are relying on stuff there isn't in the main game. Maybe it's missing some of Alexandermb's files.

@Notsonoble Did you build the game yourself ?

 

 

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

@wackyserious @stanislas69 I think you should look into the resolution of a lot of TM's textures. A particularly egregious example is this 512 x 512 spec map texture that is all one solid color. A 2x2 image would have worked just as well.

Similarly, unit spec maps don't need to be full size in order to convey specular. I suggest 128x128 for unit spec maps [while keeping normal maps full size]. I also think diffuse textures should be proportional to the size of the mesh just as a general rule in any mod or even the core game. For instance, if unit textures are 256x256, then helmet textures don't need to be 512x512. The same proportionality can be applied elsewhere.

Just some thoughts.  

[Stan`]

Yeah I went a bit overboard when I did those. ^^ I'll check.

[Lion.Kanzen]

On 8/7/2017 at 6:55 PM, LordGood said:

Down with the merger!

For mod independence! FOR FREEDOM!

Santiago, Cantando y en procesión.