Script Release Protocol

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

More traditionally, it seems to me that practically every script released on these boards has been released on the mission editing and scripting board.

More recently however, I've noticed more and more of these getting released on the addons & mods complete board. Some of those have been by the old big names around here as well.

For example:

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....=67012;

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....=66978;

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....=66542;

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....=65132;

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....=63838;

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....=62784;

There's many more, but I think that's sufficient to illustrate the point.

I'm hoping that maybe we can reach some sort of consensus on this matter since ATM we seem to be doing half&half. In my personal opinion, the mix is worse than either possibility.

I really don't particularly care what the outcome is, but for what it's worth, I'm of the general opinion that the addons board should be limited to stuff along the lines of external and internal tools and utilities, units, islands, sound mods, texture mods, etc.

I know there will always be grey area stuff on occasion, but to my mind, the stuff linked above simply isn't in that region.

[hoz 0]

I would agree with your suggestion that we either have to pick one place or the other, with the exception of the wall addon, its an actual addon although the magic happens in the script.

I think the reason people release them in the addon complete, is they get more visibility.

[Doolittle 0]

Nice find! I usually ignore the addon forums as my interest is scripts.. but these are gems. Can we maybe make this a sticky and add to it?

Maybe give names to each link too?

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

That perfectly illustrates my point. If we don't decide one way or another, people won't know where to look for something that may be usefull.

I can see the argument that the editing and scripting board should be reserved for scripting topics, help and that sort of thing, but not releases due to the clutter of the editing and scripting board in general.

I can also see it the other way, as I mentioned above, as well.

[dr_eyeball 16]

I think the reason people release them in the addon complete, is they get more visibility.

To elaborate on that, the reason is that there are 2 Addons & Mods forums: one being for completed work, the other being for discussion. The Mission Editing & Scripting forum, unfortunately does not have any "completed work" forum and does not even have a sticky thread to list all of the larger and more complex completed scripts available.

Currently I'm using about 30+ different bookmarks of some of the more interesting scripts in this forum just to keep track of them. It's rather disappointing that there is no local listing.

And you can't use the logic that scripting is simpler than modding, since some of the mods out there are only 30 lines long (UI mod) compared to some scripting projects which are thousands of lines long.

Here are also some of the external sites which are maintaining not only add-ons, but also some of the larger scripts:

<ul>[*]Armaholic Scripts - well sorted with versioning

[*]Stavanger's ArmA Addons & Scripts - site down atm?

[*]OFPEC - unfortunately, it doesn't have many approved ArmA scripts yet, but has many OFP scripts. Edit:It's Beta scipts forums has more.

Not aware of any others.

Another example is when I spent ages trying to locate the UPS thread (heard of it? ) in the early days. It's title is "The 5-Minute Mission Maker" and it's in the "User Missions" forum.

For the really big scripts, I think it would be justified to put it in the completed work forum and have the forum renamed to include scripts or else set-up a sticky here locally.

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

Just to toss the idea out there, perhaps what we really need is a Completed Scripts section, similar to the addons & mods complete section? Only release topics and the like allowed.

Edit:

Also, as a simple argument against a just using a sticky thread, try to find anything of use in the evolution 3.0 release thread . Nobody reads a 30+ page thread unless they're *really* bored.

[dr_eyeball 16]

If a Completed Scripts forum was set-up, what would you do with the "historic" completed scripts? It could be a problem because the concept is being introduced so late.

Would you use the same rules as the Completed Mods forum? - which I think is, once a mod (or script) is completed, the author must request a moderator to move it to the completed forum.

Some good scripts would be overlooked because the authors are not around or active anymore.

If you were to consider the sticky thread concept, I definitely would not want it to be like a normal sticky thread, which you need to wade through.

Instead people would post their link and a moderator would periodically add the link to the first post in a summary list.

Not sure whether it could/should be sorted or categorised? Also, perhaps include keywords or a description?

Eg:

String Library - string handling functions (collaboration by Kronzky, ColonelSandersLite, Kegetys & T_D)

[malick 0]

BIS community lacks a good place where all scripts are stored.

Maybe we can use the BIS WIKI as a storage or redirecting place ? Or we'll have to wait for OFPEC to catch up with ArmA's scripts...

People creating and releasing scripts do it wherever they feel it fits : User missions, Addons & Mods, Mission Editing... As long as there won't be 'Scripting : Released' and a 'Scripting : Discussion' dedicated sub-forums, things will remained cluttered.

Note that ArmA Editing subforums are hardly visible for any user. You have to search for them on the drop list. I feel they should be rattached to ArmA main subforum.

Malick

[zyklone 1]

Isn't this whole - 'complete' thing essentially pretty useless.

The idea that something ever is finished is flawed.

It should probably be renamed to 'RELEASES' or something like that and at the same be changed to allow scripts.

[baddo 0]

Or we'll have to wait for OFPEC to catch up with ArmA's scripts...

Submit scripts for beta testing at the OFPEC beta testing forum boards. Then once your script has been proven to work and you decide it is ready, it will find its way to the Editors Depot.

That way you will get more ArmA scripts to the Editors Depot at OFPEC.

Notice that you should check the OFPEC forum if you want to see how many ArmA scripts there are at OFPEC. Just looking at the ED is not enough, as there is a mandatory beta testing phase.

[Balschoiw 0]

I don´t see any reason why there shouldn´t be an "Arma scriptbase - only post working and finished scripts here" section somwhere in the forums. Imo it would be a good thing as some scripts simply go unnoticed for editors when placed in the addons section. At least that was the case for me.

For sure OFPEC still can use them aswell in their depot and I don´t see a problem to have a permanent ressource and location for the scripts. This is what the OFPEC is for me. An alltime ressource.

But I aswell appreciate the platform here on the forums, as there is much more discussion going on about scripts and their editing.

More input -> better feedback

I do not think that the Biki is the right place. For me it´s a bit clumsy to work with and sometimes the results of searches are more than unsatisfying.

At least that´s my opinion.

[NeMeSiS 11]

I do not think that the Biki is the right place. For me it´s a bit clumsy to work with and sometimes the results of searches are <s>more than unsatisfying.</s> horrible.

Even when you know exactly what your looking for finding something on the Biki nearly impossible (Or very inconvenient at best).

[dmarkwick 261]

Here are also some of the external sites which are maintaining not only add-ons, but also some of the larger scripts:

<ul>[*]Armaholic Scripts - well sorted with versioning

Ha ha there's one of my scripts there

(never knew about that page). I just threw up that script as part of another topic here

I've always thought that totally separate script areas away from the general ArmA forums was a little odd. I think that there are people who simply don't come here. IMO these scripting/modding forums should be in with the ArmA stuff, say down at the bottom or something. Might encourage people to post stuff up in the correct areas if they think that people are more likely to find it.

[Doolittle 0]

His site is great: http://kronzky.info/

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

If a Completed Scripts forum was set-up, what would you do with the "historic" completed scripts? It could be a problem because the concept is being introduced so late.

That is a good point. However, if it hypothetically was done, it would be better to do it now than after QG and then ARMA2 come out I think wouldn't it? We could just have people notify the mods of script release threads so they can be moved.

Would you use the same rules as the Completed Mods forum? - which I think is, once a mod (or script) is completed, the author must request a moderator to move it to the completed forum.

No, we post to the complete section ourselves in the addons and mods complete board. No mods involved. Although I would suggest the same basic rules. Release threads only, etc.

If you were to consider the sticky thread concept, I definitely would not want it to be like a normal sticky thread, which you need to wade through.

Instead people would post their link and a moderator would periodically add the link to the first post in a summary list.

Not sure whether it could/should be sorted or categorised? Also, perhaps include keywords or a description?

Oh, I feel that it's worth considering, most def. However, as a counterpoint for consideration, that would put a bunch of added workload on some mod. They'd have to *want* to maintain it.

Both of those ideas have some mod workload attached and they both have their advantages and disadvantages. The possibility of just moving old scripts to a hypothetical completed scripts board would be pretty much purely initial workload, while the sticky would have more workload over time probably.

String Library - string handling functions (by Kronzky)

Um, not to split hairs, but kronzky isn't the only name credited there. Kronzky, ColonelSandersLite, Kegetys & T_D

Isn't this whole - 'complete' thing essentially pretty useless.

The idea that something ever is finished is flawed.

It should probably be renamed to 'RELEASES' or something like that and at the same be changed to allow scripts.

Isn't that splitting hairs over semantics? Either works.

Anyways, it seems that most here are in agreement that we need *someplace* on BI for script releases to go, even if there is still some debate as to what exactly. There does seem to be a general consensus that the BIKI is the wrong place though.

More opinions would be good though.

[baddo 0]

Use http://www.ofpec.com/ and its beta testing forum boards, to get all your scripts eventually into its Editors Depot.

If there has to be a one place for scripts and such, it's OFPEC.

[bedges 0]

ofpec is and always has been the editing center, and our mission to host a library of resources which have been proven to work and are useful to the community has not changed.

we provide beta boards for testing of both arma and ofp resources respectively, and our ed depot staff are always on the lookout for interesting resources so that we can get them into that library.

the problem with the methods discussed above is that a forum is necessarily good at discussion and bad at hosting lists of resources in an easy to access manner. that's why you need a 'depot'.

if ofpec's slogan needs repeating, it's by the community, for the community. if the ofpec ed depot is almost what you need but not quite, by all means make some suggestions so we can improve it and bring it up to the standards that do meet the community's requirements.

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

I have been a user and supporter of ofpec for a long time. When arma came out, I was actually the first person to release scripts on the ofpec forums made specifically for arma (that I know of). This is before ofpec even had an arma scripting resources board. When the board was finally made, the first 5 or so scripts listed in there where mine. Then they all got lost in a forum rollback, along with a whole lot of other user made content.

Having ofpec is fine and dandy (really), but the simple fact is that community sites come and go. Hell, ofpec has gone twice (that I remember) just since I started taking a truly active part in the ofp/arma community and one of those was a pretty lengthy absence. This statement is not meant to cast aspersions at the competence of Ofpec's staff or reliability of ofpec, but state a simple fact. Ofpec isn't the only community site that's left us, and in all honesty, it probably wont be the last when it does go permanently.

Now, around here, we have a saying that goes "don't put all your eggs in one basket." It's common sense really.

While I respect what Ofpec was, is, and is trying to become once again (not there yet in my eyes), we're talking about a place for such things on the BI boards. When you weigh the various factors, it's probably important that we do at the very least, have some sort of standard for releasing here. Wether it's simply release on the mission editing and scripting board, the addons board, a hypothetical new board, or a hypothetical sticky thread, we should have *something* going here.

[sbsmac 0]

My opinion - use the 'Addons Completed' forum for script releases. I don't think the semantic difference between scripts and objects is important enough to justify two separate release streams. I'd guess that most people browsing the addons forum are looking for cool ways to improve their missions and scripts are as good a way to do that as models and objects.

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

The bit about having two seperate release streams is actually a very good point when you think about it.