PoP1-Total Pack: New version development

[Norbert]

Hey, nice to see you plan to upgrade the (now 6 year old?) Total Pack.

(Assuming programmer no longer has plans to code the following, that he thought of...)
Maybe instead of including all mods in a larger and larger package, you could make your program download the mods from one of at least two available mirrors.
One mirror is already available: http://www.popot.org/custom_levels/soft ... umber>.zip (where <number> is a 7 digit mod number; add leading zeros)
If you would mirror all these files somewhere else, your Total Pack would have two mirrors the user could pick from to download any mod the user wants to play.
I'm not sure if that would work with all the functionality in the Total Pack though, it's just a thought.

[starwindz]

Hey, nice to see you plan to upgrade the (now 6 year old?) Total Pack.

(Assuming programmer no longer has plans to code the following, that he thought of...)
Maybe instead of including all mods in a larger and larger package, you could make your program download the mods from one of at least two available mirrors.
One mirror is already available: http://www.popot.org/custom_levels/soft ... umber>.zip (where <number> is a 7 digit mod number; add leading zeros)
If you would mirror all these files somewhere else, your Total Pack would have two mirrors the user could pick from to download any mod the user wants to play.
I'm not sure if that would work with all the functionality in the Total Pack though, it's just a thought.

I think it is technically possible to implement the feature about on-line custom levels to the total pack.

In order to work with all the functionality of the total pack, major update of total pack is needed as follows.
1. Custom data and launcher program should be separated completely.
- This means that all the custom data including custom levels and graphics of the total pack should be updated via on-line without modifying the launcher program itself.
- Altered data information should be included to some kind of configuration file

2. User-selected custom data(Levels) download feature should be included.
- Mirror site for this is needed.

3. And other related features

Any ideas or comments?

[Norbert]

Any ideas or comments?

A port to Java, with programmer's help, to make it cross-platform? Neh, that would be so much work, plus it works okay in Wine (which runs on Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, and so on). By the way, see this. While it may not be wise to have your program interact with that web-based XML file, you may be able to use it locally to import files (screenshots, packages) and information, or you could download and include the most recent version of the XML file in your package in order to retrieve and display certain things. Will be a couple of days before that XML file is available; when it's available, I'll mention that in a post in the thread about popot.org.

[Jakim]

I think connecting with popot.org database is a great feature that Total Pack must have. If you have MikTeX see how it's done there - that's the way I imagine downloading new levelpacks.

[starwindz]

Any ideas or comments?

A port to Java, with programmer's help, to make it cross-platform? Neh, that would be so much work, plus it works okay in Wine (which runs on Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, and so on). By the way, see this. While it may not be wise to have your program interact with that web-based XML file, you may be able to use it locally to import files (screenshots, packages) and information, or you could download and include the most recent version of the XML file in your package in order to retrieve and display certain things. Will be a couple of days before that XML file is available; when it's available, I'll mention that in a post in the thread about popot.org.

Splendid work! Total pack will be upgraded with this XML system.

[starwindz]

I think connecting with popot.org database is a great feature that Total Pack must have. If you have MikTeX see how it's done there - that's the way I imagine downloading new levelpacks.

Thank you for your comment. I think that Total pack needs some kind of major change for this feature.

[Norbert]

If your plan is to access the XML file from the application, it would be best to make sure popot.org doesn't become a single point of failure.
You could mirror not just the mods but also the XML file. (Jalal may be willing to put everything on popuw.com. Also, I could make princed.org a third mirror, if necessary.)
Mirrored copies of the XML file wouldn't need to be 100% up-to-date all the time; they could, for example, be updated on a monthly basis or whenever a new mod has been released.
Improvements of mod descriptions (or whatever) are of course welcome; let me know in a private message and I'll update them.

[starwindz]

If your plan is to access the XML file from the application, it would be best to make sure popot.org doesn't become a single point of failure.
You could mirror not just the mods but also the XML file. (Jalal may be willing to put everything on popuw.com. Also, I could make princed.org a third mirror, if necessary.)
Mirrored copies of the XML file wouldn't need to be 100% up-to-date all the time; they could, for example, be updated on a monthly basis or whenever a new mod has been released.
Improvements of mod descriptions (or whatever) are of course welcome; let me know in a private message and I'll update them.

Okay. Mirror sites are needed to avoid 'single point of failure'. Option for selecting mirror sites could be added to the total pack.
Regarding the improvements for mod.xml, I am going to send a PM about this.

[starwindz]

Screenshots of 'PoP 1 - Mod Manager: v0.1' are shown as follows.
This is a VERY primitive prototype and many features would be added in the next version.

[Norbert]

Looks nice.

[starwindz]

Total Pack 3.0 is being totally redesigned based on .xml system from popot.org. (Thank you, Norbert) And the concepts of this development are 'Simple' and 'Straightforward'. Any comments and suggestions would be welcome.

[New screenshots of PoP1-Total Pack: V3.0] - Beta 0.1

[Norbert]

You're on a roll...
I don't have any suggestions, this too looks nice.

[Jakim]

It's great. I would like to use it even in this form. Is there a possibility to read prince.exe for details such as time, starting/max HP et cetera?

[Norbert]

Is there a possibility to read prince.exe for details such as time, starting/max HP et cetera?

diffpop can do this using the CusPop XML, so in theory Total Pack could run that tool in the background and print the output in a tab/pop-up.
If "diffpop.exe -l -c <executable>" (or "diffpop.exe -l -c -b <executable>") is being used, it shows additional location information and continues even after failed checks.
Could be useful, but it's not crucial functionality. starwindz may already have enough work on his hands...

[starwindz]

Is there a possibility to read prince.exe for details such as time, starting/max HP et cetera?

diffpop can do this using the CusPop XML, so in theory Total Pack could run that tool in the background and print the output in a tab/pop-up.
If "diffpop.exe -l -c <executable>" (or "diffpop.exe -l -c -b <executable>") is being used, it shows additional location information and continues even after failed checks.
Could be useful, but it's not crucial functionality. starwindz may already have enough work on his hands...

Thank you for your comments, Jakim. And thank you for your advice, Norbert.
I would consider this feature for total pack, but it's priority may not be high.