Steam updating mods to A15

Started by Orion, August 26, 2016, 02:53:34 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Anvil_Pants


Ludeon can solve this thread by enforcing minVersion and maxVersion fields in About.xml, and adding dependency graphing to the mods portion of the game launcher.

Mod authors can follow that with choosing to break up their code blocks with conditionals, when new code demands a newer game client than the whole package does.

MDN solved the versioning problem in their install manifests for Mozilla extensions. It's very common for Mozilla extensions to receive only a manifest (XML file) update to modify the wildcard version number after the extension author verified that their code was unaffected by its parent software (generally Firefox or Thunderbird).

It goes both ways. Sometimes the maxVersion field is incremented, and other times the minVersion goes up. It's on the author to commit to supporting a release range, or only the newest stable. That's generally a practical decision. Code doesn't change, or new code doesn't interfere with old clients, then minVersion doesn't increment.

Same goes in code. The author isn't required to go either way. They choose to either do version number checks as if() conditions, or overwrite known good code because the foundation (client) shifted.

Arma 3 game launcher went in a similar direction as where Ludeon needs to go for Steam Workshop mod handling. They're using the launcher to handle mod dependency resolution and download directory.

Dingo

Here's my 2 cents on this issue as a mod user and a Steam user.. I agree with Sam and Fluffy for the most part, I think they raise the most valid points when it comes to users of Steam and what they are used to / prefer. I would add one caveat for mod authors who do want all versions of their mod on Steam:

If mod authors want to publish versions of their mods for previous alphas in the Workshop, the best course of action is to create a separate mod file in the workshop for the PREVIOUS version. The mod page you used for your first workshop release should always be up to date with the latest release of your mod.

For example, if Fluffy released Work Tab for A14 on Steam, he should update that page to be the A15 mod in-place. He will then create a completely separate page for "Work Tab for Alpha 14 (OUTDATED!)" or something along those lines. Users who want to play on A14 can switch to that. Users who auto-updated to A15 and were subscribed to his mod will have the latest release automatically