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What can I do to improve pcgamemods?


Sergio-pcgs

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Originally posted by ChangKhan[RAVEN]

How about just making sure the .zip file is valid? That shouldn't be too hard. Just have the upload program verify the .zip is a valid .zip and, if not, delete it.

 

Hey Change, good to see your opinion on this, I didn't make the java program, and I can't modify it without paying about $400 for it, and it's not possible to verify zip files in php.

 

Count - Carl is right, popups are the only way to make money to pay for the bandwidth, if you are a member however they are virtually eliminated.

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Most of what I would suggest has been covered already (sorting, letting us know about screenshots, etc), but I'd like the ability to read the readme before downloading. Could that be added somehow? It might solve other problems, such as people posting comments about whether or not botroutes are present on JA maps.

 

One other thing, that others may strongly disagree with, but I think modders should not be allowed to vote on mods they submit. I've seen utter crap thats started with high scores because the modder and two friends gave it 10s. With so few people voting, its hard to get accurate rankings when the modder automatically gives himself a 10.

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Some people still don't have pop-up blockers? :p GET ONE

I don't mind 'that much' about some things having a lack of screenies since i usually only download things which get a good rep or I need it to get on a server. Still, if i was running a server, I'd probably like to be able to see the maps.

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Originally posted by Greymon

One other thing, that others may strongly disagree with, but I think modders should not be allowed to vote on mods they submit. I've seen utter crap thats started with high scores because the modder and two friends gave it 10s. With so few people voting, its hard to get accurate rankings when the modder automatically gives himself a 10.

 

Yeh, that is a really good idea.

 

There has definately been some deliberately low scoring of files too, but it would surely take an enormous amount of time and effort to monitor for people who always score files as 0 or such.

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Sorry if this is an unpopular answer, but frankly I much preferred the old format for the website. It seemed less cluttered and easier to navigate. I also greatly appreciated being able to list maps by rating, author, etc..

Originally posted by Darth Kaan

Eldritch has a pompous attitude at times which his posts and demeanor reflect. Since he is an admin, it sets a very poor example.

I couldn't agree more. I've lost count how many times I've bit my tongue rather than criticize Eldritch for his attitude. Case in point was that "Trade Federation Droid Control Ship" map by Breath. Now I don't know Breath personally, but I thought Eldritch's comments regarding his map were ridiculously arrogant and hypercritical, especially given his own, dare I say it, mediocre contributions.

 

I also agree with several of the other posters, screenshots (where appropriate) should be a must have. Indeed, for me, it was one of the original selling points of pcgamemods - I could take a good look at a map before committing it to download. Also, especially for items that aren't applicable for screenshots, an extensive readme/description would be nice.

 

Lastly, the distinction between the various categories such as "mod" or "skin" could stand to be a little more rigorous. Too often I'll glance by category and find things completely out of place (or simply missing that IMHO should be there).

 

All said, I greatly appreciate your site Sergio! Please don't mistake these minor criticisms as anything but suggestions from an ardent fan. Thanks for the valuable service you afford us!

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Kaia thanks for your input, I'm glad you were honest. Couple things about what you said. First off, I'm sorry you don't like the old site, with the given space allowed the old site was simply not optimized for the type of data driven site that pcgamemods is so on that arguement I can't really offer a solution aside from deal with it, sorry if that sounds rash. The listing by rating and such will be rectified so no need to talk about that further. As for Eldritch, the deleting of files is being worked out right now, so unless you put something up that is really offensive or doesn't directly offend someone then it won't get deleted. But for Eldritch's opinions in the comments, it's something I can't control just as I can't control what others say. It's his opinion and he's allowed to feel that way if he wants, if you honestly have a problem with the way he says things, you can email him about it (his email will be up tomorrow (monday)). For the screenshots, yes I understand that there are less screenshots than before, but the trade off is that modders can release their maps quicker. As you can see we get several files a day and I simply (as I have said before) don't have the time to take screenshots for all of them as I did before.

 

I would however like to make a point

I used to do all the screenshots before for everybody's mod, so everytime someone would submit something to pcgamemods, it was a guarantee that you would get screenshots of your mod before it went up. I didn't have time to do the shots, so I instilled this system of allowing the authors to submit their own screenshots. People have commented on saying that EasyThumbnail is a pain to use. Well guess what, I had to take over 14,000 for all of you, EasyThumbnail is free so people won't have to pay for software to batch process their screenshots. I used the EasyThumbnail system and it really isn't that bad, heck I think only 10% of the people who use it actually use it correctly by reading the instructions which aren't to hard to comprehend. It got to the point where I went out and purchased batch processing software specifically for the site, but I know that people aren't going to pay for something they will only use a couple of times so EeasyThumbnail it was. What really angers me however is the fact that people tell us that we should put screenshots up for the mods. Hypothetically, if the upload system for the screenshots works for the author why don't the authors do it themselves? They know where all the good parts of their map/mod are and what does that say about the author who can't take 5-10 minutes to put up screenshots of his own mod? Is it even worth downloading if the author doesn't have enough pride in his work to take some screenshots? I'm sorry but I did screenshots day in and day out, it was a fairly arduous task involving little or no thought, just plain grunt work. But regardless of the amount of effort I put in, other sites were still getting more mod submissions, and maybe it was because I couldn't keep up with other sites having 10 or more people on staff, but I wanted to keep the quality of the site up. Can you believe that I actually had people complain about the shots I took for them. Such complaints would include "you didn't take a shot of this part of the map". Hey if I suck at taking shots of your map, take them yourself, and that's exactly what I did. Now we get people submitting things who don't even put in the effort to taking screenshots of their own work, so what exactly am I going to do?

 

The simple solution I think is to just have an icon on the listings as to whether or not the mod has screenshots included, if not your mod won't 'sell' as well simply because people don't want to waste time downloading something and having it turn out to be utter crap.

 

Here's another thing, people who get their friends to rate their mod high scores will have their rating priveleges revoked, I'm sick of seeing clan skins that are worthy of 3 values showing up as 10.

 

Last but not least are those who spam the download system. This is something I am not going to take. I know who you are because I log every download, and you will be banned. It's usually the author who is doing it too. If you are the author doing this, you are going to get banned, and your files will be deleted from the site. I have a certain amount of sympathy towards those who do this simply because they know their mod is that bad that they need to spam the download script for it to get attention.

 

And yes I agree, I am going to take 0 out for the rankings.

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Hello there, i vist your site at least once a day, and i love it, there are only a few things i'd like to see, and a few ideas i have.

 

-- Allow comments on the page that the mod/map/skin/model is on, for example when i click to go view an info page at the bottem it allows me to post a comment on that mod.

 

-- A way to not force people to use the thumbnail maker is allow text links to the larger image instead and along with a thumbnail. Plus allow a description for a screenshot

 

-- Allow for user submited screenshots, i know this sounds like a bit of filespace but how often have you come across a mod noticed it didn't have shots, liked it after downloading it and figured you could have taken shots for it?

 

Just my 2 cents (1.5 american)

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Originally posted by KaiaSowapit

I've lost count how many times I've bit my tongue rather than criticize Eldritch for his attitude. Case in point was that "Trade Federation Droid Control Ship" map by Breath. Now I don't know Breath personally, but I thought Eldritch's comments regarding his map were ridiculously arrogant and hypercritical, especially given his own, dare I say it, mediocre contributions.

 

Obviously as Eldritch is my friend I'd want to defend him but I'm not going to get into a flame war about it. I just want to say that when he comments on stuff (in Map-Review reviews as well as forums etc) he is putting his critical opinion. That means he is saying what he feels is good and bad about a map from both a gaming and technical standpoint. I don't think anyone could accuse him of being anything less than accomplished as a map editor, and as such his technical opinions come from a position of knowledge. His gaming opinions are as valid as anyone else who plays JO/JA a bit. Some of what he says will be fact (eg "this map has no skybox") but just because the opinion parts contradict what some authors or others feel about a map shouldn't be regarded as hypercritical, nor arrogant.

 

Its not a case of only someone who could do much better can comment on a map anyway, in that case we'd have to have LDJ or someone doing all the commenting? Personally, I can really see that cutting into LDJs famously high map output levels. :) IMHO Eldritch is one of the best editors in the community but at the very least no one can deny he is a knowlegable mapper, and as such his comments carry rather a lot of weight in a community where anyone, map editor or not, gets to place comment.

 

It also has to be said that being a file moderator can be a thankless task, even if 99% of the community believes you were right to remove a certain file say one with stollen content, that won't stop a few people sending you hate mail, viruses and even worse for it.

 

Finally, as someone who is fortunate enough to know him, I'd say Eldritch is most certainly neither arrogant nor a hypercrite. He does what he thinks is right even if he gets stick from certain people for it, some which has been very abusive. He has put in a load of work at PCGM despite having a high workload outside and I think he deserves an awful lot of credit for that. You got a right to your personal opinion on him of course but some criticisms of him just aren't accurate, and some (not yours I might add) have come soley from grudges borne of his deletion of some files which I think almost everyone would agree really did deserve it.

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Sergio I think your site is great, but some things I dont like:

 

The screenshots: I agree with you that everyone should send in their own screenshots. Anything that doesn't have screenshot, should either be put into a new section, NO SCREENSHOTS section. That way, we can filter out anything not worthwhile, because MOST things that dont have screenshots, are not worthwhile.

 

Another thing I see happening is that an author sends in a file then sends in versions 2,3,4,5, and 6, 10 minutes after. And an overflow of clan skins and junk that just clutters it up and makes it harder to get to the good stuff ;). I'm not saying some clan skins arent good, but there's just too many of them, maybe you could filter them into a clan skin section, because if you aren't part of the clan it's useless to you...

 

Other than those two points I think your site is one of the best around. Perhaps you could send out applications once again for admins @ pcgamemods... we could use some more to help with these problems. Or maybe you could start having admins review files and such ;). Just my 2 cents.

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Originally posted by razorace

That's an interesting issue. Maybe set things up so that the newer versions of a file can replace the old listing? Or maybe group all the versions onto one page?

 

I could setup a section to do that, but people are having trouble enough with the screenshots I don't think having a version tracker would work out to well, nor would a lot of people use it.

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Another issue on pcgamemods.com that I just noticed. I tried to post a comment and it ignored it. I think maybe there is a limit to the number of comments or the size of all the comments put together? Anyway, I tried to comment on the melee mod file earlier today and the comment never appeared.

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lol heres a likely scenario:

 

chang give me your email so we can sort out this problem

 

email: to chang@ravenraven.com

 

Now i've been ahving some problems. I've asked you guys to let me join raven but u never answer why?

 

:D

 

jk jk

 

tbh razorace setting up the system to overwrite old versions would be kinda hard, and adding tons of pages more isnt going to help the problem ;)

 

i say we go back to the old way of listing the newest 10 :D that i loved

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Originally posted by Mike Windu

tbh razorace setting up the system to overwrite old versions would be kinda hard, and adding tons of pages more isnt going to help the problem ;)

 

It shouldn't be that hard and I'm not sure how it would add more pages since it would combine all the different versions into a single page.

 

i say we go back to the old way of listing the newest 10 :D that i loved [/b]

 

How about...NO!! That system for lucasfiles.com is just terrible, you often miss things since everything tends to be posted in bursts.

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