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OTTD GFX website needed.
Posted: 02 Jul 2005 15:09
by Alltaken
http://ottd.mudpuddle.co.nz/ottdsiteproposal.pdf
that was a proposal for the site i wrote a long time ago for another user who said he was keen to do it.
basicly we have the webspace for a website, (Orudge gave it to us) and we need a method to maintain GFX once the GFX are finalised. (we are getting closer and closer to finalising them)
the website will need to be intergratable with OTTD towards the future somehow, so that should be kept in mind.
anyone interested in tackling the challenge at some stage?, we need a coder for it
Alltaken
Posted: 02 Jul 2005 15:29
by White Rabbit
Hmm, sounds great. You could use php to organize it all, and have user reviews and ratings. Look at this site:
http://www.jazz2online.com/J2Ov2/downloads/ and click on some of the links, and you'll see what I mean. It's just a suggestion, and it may be too compicated.
Posted: 02 Jul 2005 18:09
by peter1138
Any restrictions on the programming language for this?
Posted: 02 Jul 2005 18:33
by Alltaken
peter1138 wrote:Any restrictions on the programming language for this?
whatever works.
it should be automated (so without much admin intervention) so no restrictions.
however i assume the servers are running linux, so i doubt anything like the .net stuff would work (if its windows only i doubt its a good idea)
from my personal knowledge php would be ok to do it. but if somthing else works then i am open to it.
Alltaken
Posted: 02 Jul 2005 20:49
by orudge
Yep, PHP and MySQL... Perl, Python are also available if you desire.
Posted: 02 Jul 2005 22:04
by lucaspiller
That shouldn't be too hard to do, as for the game being to download it I made a simple function to download stuff from webservers in my login patch, so this could probably be used. I suspect some sort of in game interface would be needed as well. Would it be preferable to have a program running to serve content to the game (as in the master server), or just have the game access the website?
If I have a chance tommorow I will give it a go, but I have a lot of work to do for college (anyone can contact me on the IRC channel: _Luca_).
Posted: 03 Jul 2005 06:01
by Alltaken
lucaspiller wrote: Would it be preferable to have a program running to serve content to the game (as in the master server), or just have the game access the website?
well the important things first is to have the website working with manual downloads.
then IMO the server has a database file that litterally lists all the sprite sets it has. the game asks the server for the date that the last change. sends the server the date of the computers last database lookup. then the server sends the additions/ changes to the list.
i.e. if i release Grass-set.01.OTG and i update it to Grass-set.02.OTG all people with the original will have it redownloaded and installed replacing the old one.
much easier to maintain support for new features in the game.
but yeah i think the game potentially just knows a URL to contact and download database files from,
but manual download and upload is what is the priority, we first need a place to put our stuff before we can access it
Alltaken
Posted: 03 Jul 2005 12:07
by White Rabbit
Wasn't Perl really really really complicated to work with? :/
Posted: 03 Jul 2005 12:10
by toholio
White Rabbit wrote:Wasn't Perl really really really complicated to work with? :/
It can be but it doesn't have to be.
Perl programers don't seem to have grasped the second half of that sentence though...
Posted: 03 Jul 2005 19:07
by mkxx
If people like this idea, I can make PHP (+(My)SQL) application for it.
This is inally the idea that I am able to easily do it. ;))
BTW: Do we have some internet-storage now? It would be great to use something like ngfx.openttd.com ;))))))) when we release a release.
Posted: 04 Jul 2005 13:27
by Alltaken
mkxx wrote:If people like this idea, I can make PHP (+(My)SQL) application for it.
This is inally the idea that I am able to easily do it.
)
BTW: Do we have some internet-storage now? It would be great to use something like ngfx.openttd.com
)))))) when we release a release.
yes we do, we have
http://graphics.openttd.org
if you are able to do it then it would be great.
Alltaken
Posted: 04 Jul 2005 14:19
by White Rabbit
New tree graphics?
Posted: 05 Jul 2005 00:18
by belugas
if you are able to do it then it would be great.
I volunteer, two hands up.
I have some experience in PHP-MySQL
grf website
Posted: 05 Jul 2005 13:55
by mkxx
So... Okay. I'll do it. But I'll need some specification about - what will it do...
If I undestand good, you will have a web where
- NGRFs will be uploaded.
- Everybody can manually download NGRF. (Or upload new NGRFs?)
\- This will need some user authetification
- Auto-ngrf-update - OTTD looks to web for new GRFs and downloads them (?)
...hmm... my English's terrible, hope you will undestand ;)
Posted: 05 Jul 2005 16:08
by Alltaken
I got an offer via PM from a professional website designer. so if he can make it to specs, then it is probably the best thing for OTTD, and he will most likely be able to do it fastest.
however if there are any problems there, i.e. he gets a job which takes priority etc.... then i will call all you guys in.
once the website is made however, we will need OTTD to be able to interface it, so some coders will be needed to do that.
sorry for anyone who was keen on doing it. we might need you guys still.
Alltaken
Posted: 05 Jul 2005 20:44
by White Rabbit
And you are paying him how much...?
Posted: 05 Jul 2005 21:19
by Alltaken
i am paying him nothing, he is a OTTD fan like any of us.
his portfolio of websites is very impressive. and very relavent to what we are trying to achieve for ottds GFX website.
Alltaken
Posted: 05 Jul 2005 21:34
by Jump
Alltaken wrote:I got an offer via PM from a professional website designer. so if he can make it to specs, then it is probably the best thing for OTTD, and he will most likely be able to do it fastest.
however if there are any problems there, i.e. he gets a job which takes priority etc.... then i will call all you guys in.
once the website is made however, we will need OTTD to be able to interface it, so some coders will be needed to do that.
sorry for anyone who was keen on doing it. we might need you guys still.
Alltaken
via XML? Something like that:
Code: Select all
<graphics>
<set>
<name>Testset 1</name>
<descr>Small description for display list</descr>
<author>..</author>
<version>1.0beta</version>
<date>2005-07-05</date>
</set>
<set>
<name>Testset 2</name>
<descr>Small description for display list</descr>
<author>....</author>
<version>1.0alpha</version>
<date>2005-07-05</date>
</set>
</graphics>
anyway, you'll get the point
Posted: 05 Jul 2005 21:57
by Alltaken
yeah somthing like that is probably the best. however i would possibly go for somthing simpler.
OTTD remembers the date it last checked, then it looks up a directory on the server which has the editions to the database witha time/date stamp. OTTD just downloads all the editions since its last upload.
there would also be a full database file for first time lookups.
its a matter of keeping the local database and the remote database in time with each other. i don't know how big the database list will get. so i don't knwo if bandwidth or download time will become a problem.
but yeah the database basicly needs to store all the info in it that the website knows.
name
description
year
set
type
artist
rating
...
..
so the OTTD downloader can filter it.
Alltaken
Posted: 06 Jul 2005 08:50
by mkxx
I think that the best would be to use some format, which is used in OpenTTD now: Maybe some .INI format.
or... something more more more simple like .NFO from .GRFs.