Mod-Header Discussion (PLEASE READ)

[daniel34]

Should I upload a mod at some point, I'll try to make the topic look as good as possible to a human reader. I don't give two damns whether a bot can parse the topic or not, and your suggested header is ugly.

Exactly. I don't write mods myself (other than personal quick fixes/addons) but have updated a mod to 0.12.20 and was already looking for a mod template then. As there was no official one, I just went with a human readable layout: [0.12.20+] Steampunk v0.2.0
As long as it has a good description (can be split up in short and long description), information on what versions it works or if there are prerequisites to other mods and maybe some pictures, it's fine with me.

Should I upload a mod at some point, I'll try to make the topic look as good as possible to a human reader. I don't give two damns whether a bot can parse the topic or not, and your suggested header is ugly.

Once there actually is a significant mod portal, everyone will upload new mods to it instead. There's no need to automatically add all the old ones.

I don't think this is a good mindset, the mod portal will need somewhere to start off.

Personally i use a mod header, filled with the essential information, and then make any sort've elaborations underneath that, for example: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/viewtop ... 93&t=18879

FFF #102 said they will collaborate with FactorioMods, so there's your start for the mod portal.
They'll also need to have some way for the mod authors to include all the essential info, and requiring the authors to add a header to their mod post to be included in that mod portal isn't the way. It's much easier for all involved to create a platform where mod authors can input such information and keep the forum posts for human readers.

[ssilk]

That was, what I've tried to do... I think the current state of the usage of this mod-header is really o. k. as a good base for all. No need to discuss it further.

What I'm currently dreaming about is an automated testing of mods, to see, if they follow minimal requirements. So to check more the INTERNAL state of a mod (is it still working with current version?) instead of the layout of a mod-descroiption. Well ... just dreams. (*)

(*) We need a virtual machine, where a mod is installed, the game started and you are then for example a savegame or a replay to start a short test. The result should be somehow testable.
So that every mod-programmer can do his own integration tests automated inside of a virtual machine.

[Zeblote]

I don't think this is a good mindset, the mod portal will need somewhere to start off.

An official mod portal would gain traction almost immediately, simply because it is official and integrated in the game.

So far there are only community made sites that aren't integrated and don't really make it any easier to get and update mods. So people don't use them.

[ssilk]

And to add one more word: Someone who creates a modding portal needs some kind of basic scanner to fill the first 200-300 mods from here. The scanner can read some infos from the article, but basically it is a lot of work, no matter, how far this is automated and how good the pages are organized, cause - for example - Mod X has a patch, which make it work with v0.11.22. Mod Y works only, if you patch into control.lua line 47 XXXXX.
And so on. It's a mess. But once it's done, it is more or less easy to do it the other way: Create automatic articles for each mod, so that it can be used as discussion board.

[Zeblote]

And to add one more word: Someone who creates a modding portal needs some kind of basic scanner to fill the first 200-300 mods from here.

It really doesn't. Having multiple mod portals is a waste of time, so there will likely be only one, that being the official one. An official mod portal would be announced here way before it is actually launched, giving mod authors enough time to add their stuff to it if they want to stay relevant.

[acryinshame]

Hello everyone,
I spend some time looking through all of your suggestions and things u look for in a mod page and i think i came up with a solid page. Tell me what you think.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADER [MOD __FACTORIO_VERSION__] __MOD_NAME__ (this is name of post and not on page itself)

MOD NAME OR PICTURE

Description:

• This is just to show, how a mod-thread can look like. It should not be longer than one line, cause everybody will read only one line here.
  The above line is just exactly 140 chars, which seems to be good length. A second (third?) line (like this one) can follow, but the core
  should be in the first line.

LONG DESCRIPTION

Here is the long description, not really needed for Big mods with their own forum, since they can make a new topic about it

Details:

• Name: name here (this should be exactly the same as in info.json!)
• Category: Optional (One of Alpha, Helper, Item, SimpleExtension, Gameplay, Convenience, Compilation, CompleteOverhaul, ModPack, Lib, Other)
• MOD Version: 0.1.0
• Factorio Version: 0.12
• Ltest Released: 25 Feb 2016
• Dependencies: None (OPTIONAL!)
• Website: WEBSITE URL (OPTIONAL!)
• Author: ACryInShame (this is optional, and recommended, if you are not the orginal author)
• Contact: Website or whatever(also optional)
• Tags: E. g. Textures, User-Interface, Vehicles, fancy tag name) (Optional. comma separated )
• License:
  LICENSE

  Name of license and/or short textual description. It should match to your licence in the info.json-file.
  
  

Pictures

name of pic

There be pictures here

Incompatibilities

Modname-mod version

why it doesnt work or what happens/bugs that occur

Download
Download: Prefered Download / Alternative DL - text whatever makes sense
Past Versions

Version-0.1.0 for 0.11.0

There be links here!! -notes on changes in change log-

Comments and suggestions
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... 89&t=13692

Change Log

Version-0.1.0

Here is the changelog, not really needed for Big mods with their own forum, since they can make a new topic about it

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Code: Select all

[size=200]HEADER  [MOD __FACTORIO_VERSION__] __MOD_NAME__[/size](this is name of post and not on page itself)

[size=200]MOD NAME OR PICTURE[/size]

[size=150]Description:[/size]
[list]    This is just to show, how a mod-thread can look like. It should not be longer than one line, cause everybody will read only one line here. 
    The above line is just exactly 140 chars, which seems to be good length. A second (third?) line (like this one) can follow, but the core
    should be in the first line.[/list]
[spoiler=LONG DESCRIPTION]Here is the long description, not really needed for Big mods with their own forum, since they can make a new topic about it[/spoiler]

[size=150]Details:[/size]
[list][b]
[*] Name:  [color=#5FB404]name here[/color] (this should be exactly the same as in info.json!)
[*] Category:  [color=#5FB404] Optional [/color](One of Alpha, Helper, Item, SimpleExtension, Gameplay, Convenience, Compilation, CompleteOverhaul, ModPack, Lib, Other)
[*] MOD Version: [color=#5FB404]0.1.0[/color]
[*] Factorio Version: [color=#5FB404]0.12[/color]
[*] Ltest Released: [color=#5FB404]25 Feb 2016[/color]
[*] Dependencies: [color=#5FB404]None[/color] (OPTIONAL!)
[*] Website: [color=#5FB404]WEBSITE URL[/color] (OPTIONAL!)
[*]Author: ACryInShame (this is optional, and recommended, if you are not the orginal author)
[*] Contact: [url=https://forums.factorio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=13835]Website or whatever[/url](also optional)
[*] Tags: [color=#5FB404]E. g. Textures, User-Interface, Vehicles, fancy tag name)[/color] (Optional. comma separated )
[*] License: [spoiler=LICENSE][color=#5FB404][url=http://some-licence-website]Name of license[/url] and/or short textual description. It should match to your licence in the info.json-file.[/color][/spoiler]
[/b][/list]
[size=150]Pictures[/size]
[spoiler=name of pic]There be pictures here[/spoiler]
[size=150]Incompatibilities[/size]
[spoiler=Modname-mod version]why it doesnt work or what happens/bugs that occur[/spoiler]
[size=150]Download[/size]
[color=#5FB404][b]Download: [url=http://this-is-stupid]Prefered Download[/url] / [url=http://this-is-another-stupid]Alternative DL - text whatever makes sense[/url][/b][/color]
Past Versions
[spoiler=Version-0.1.0 for 0.11.0]There be links here!! -notes on changes in change log-[/spoiler]
[size=150]Comments and suggestions[/size]
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=13692

[size=150]Change Log[/size]
[spoiler=Version-0.1.0]Here is the changelog, not really needed for Big mods with their own forum, since they can make a new topic about it[/spoiler]

[ssilk]

Looks useful.

As I'm currently not a fan of making a fixed mod-header (because I changed my mind - can be seen during this discussion), I invite you to make a page similar to
viewtopic.php?f=91&t=13835 Forum Example Template Mod Thread v0.0.4
(you may have seen that already).

[acryinshame]

Looks useful.

As I'm currently not a fan of making a fixed mod-header (because I changed my mind - can be seen during this discussion), I invite you to make a page similar to
viewtopic.php?f=91&t=13835 Forum Example Template Mod Thread v0.0.4
(you may have seen that already).

Sure, Where would i put the post?

[ssilk]

Of course where the other is. Gimme a short note, if done.

[acryinshame]

Created Post

viewtopic.php?f=91&t=20513

[Afforess]

A cleaner mod header or an eyesore? I only did this for one particular project, curious if anyone likes or dislikes the badges style.

viewtopic.php?f=93&t=18932&p=122031#p122031

[seronis]

While any single line looks ok, overall its an eyesore TO ME because having the badges unaligned is a distraction to reading the information they contain.

[Roktaal]

The problem with this is that it requires the mod to be on GitHub which is not the case with every single mod.
I do like the badges but they would have to be aligned as seronis said

[seronis]

Why do you think their badges format requires a mod to be on github? It has a generic website link which could point to any hosting site (or just to a dropbox link)

[Roktaal]

Not 100% sure but it seems that total downloads badge is pulling data from GitHub. I may be wrong

[Afforess]

The problem with this is that it requires the mod to be on GitHub which is not the case with every single mod.
I do like the badges but they would have to be aligned as seronis said

I used http://shields.io/ for all the badges. You could write your own download count for non github projects, but then you'd have to keep it up to date by hand.

While any single line looks ok, overall its an eyesore TO ME because having the badges unaligned is a distraction to reading the information they contain.

That's a fair point. I might see if I can get them to have consistent left aligned section names.

[Koub]

I like your mod header, but I'm afraid some modders will find it's too much work : some don't even bother using git (or something equivalent) ou adding a license, because lazy. They surely won't force themselves with building a fancy mod header.

[Outsider]

A cleaner mod header or an eyesore? I only did this for one particular project, curious if anyone likes or dislikes the badges style.

viewtopic.php?f=93&t=18932&p=122031#p122031

I really like it! it does kinda look confusing with the badge labels not aligning, unfortunately i don't think shields.io supports custom width for the badges.. the best we can do is trick it using empty spaces




It does still look odd since the labels are centered, so we'd probably have to fork it, customize the code, and self host it as a service, might be cool for a weekend project but maybe redundant since they mentioned adding their own mods portal

[ssilk]

As code:

Code: Select all

[img]https://img.shields.io/badge/Name%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20-Concrete%20Logistics-red.svg[/img]
[img]https://img.shields.io/badge/Description-Automated%20Concrete%20Placement%20With%20Logistics%20Networks-orange.svg[/img]

That is not searchable, neither phpbb-search nor google will find good relevance with this. But I admit, it would look quite cool.

[daniel34]

As code:

Code: Select all

[img]https://img.shields.io/badge/Name%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20-Concrete%20Logistics-red.svg[/img]
[img]https://img.shields.io/badge/Description-Automated%20Concrete%20Placement%20With%20Logistics%20Networks-orange.svg[/img]

That is not searchable, neither phpbb-search nor google will find good relevance with this. But I admit, it would look quite cool.

Don't know about google (but pretty sure it also finds names in image links), but phpbb has no problem with it:
search.php?keywords=gameplay&terms=all& ... mit=Search

Although the only thing I don't really like about it that it is not easily seen at first glance which of the badges are actual links, and which just information. Only hovering over them with the mouse tells you if it's a link.

@Afforess:
you should replace %20 for the space character with _ (an underline) which is automatically changed into a space by shields.io.
Dashes -- → - Dash
Underscores __ → _ Underscore
_ or Space → Space

EDIT: Forum search will not work for words between %20 characters.