HowTo publish self-made oxp-modifcations?

[GGShinobi]

Hello everyone!
I've searched the bulletin board and the wiki, but I was unable to find the answer... So:

I recently stumbled upon OOLite. I really like the game and am stunned how many mods (OXP's) there are and with how much love for detail and background story they have been developed... awesome!

But some of the mods I downloaded seemed a little buggy to me (they didn't work out of the box), and others didn't work the way that I wanted, so I modified them a little bit. I then wanted to make my changes available to everyone, but I can't find a way to edit the wiki (http://wiki.alioth.net - how can I register there?). So here is my question: What is the preferred way to make modifications available for everyone?

Here is a description of the small changes that I made (and which work for me):

01. keyboardCobra_v1.2.oxp (http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Keyboard_Cobra): added missing chars (";"); added support for Griff's AWESOME Cobra (griff_normalmapped_scuffed_cobra_mkIII_multidecal_player from http:// wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Griff_Industries). Btw, I do NOT RECOMMENDED this oxp when playing with a mouse, since it slows that down, too!

02. Nuit.oxp (http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Nuit_Space_Station_OXP): made it appear sometimes in systems techlevel >= 7 and in random orbit around main planet (in contrast to ALWAYS directly beneath the main station)

03. SniperCameraSystemv1.1.oxp (http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Sniper ... System_HUD): added support for Griff's AWESOME Cobra (griff_normalmapped_scuffed_cobra_mkIII_multidecal_player from http://wiki.alioth. net/index.php/Griff_Industries)

Regards
GGShinobi

[Diziet Sma]

Probably the first and best thing to do would be to contact the authors of the OXPs concerned, and offer the fixes/modifications to them, so they could be included in the next update that's released. If for some reason they don't wish to include the changes (perhaps it's something that goes in a different direction to where they want to take their OXP, for instance) then the thing to do would be to ask if they mind your making the changes available publicly.

Multiple released variants of a single OXP can lead to several problems down the track.. such as maintaining the variants, every time a new 'official' version is released, bugfix problems, and so on, to say nothing of the confusion that can result. This is why Thargoid requests that custom mods to his OXPs not be made publicly available, but only posted about, such that they can be made available on request via PM. As he said, write and let him know about it.. if it's an improvement, it can be incorporated into the next update.

Yes, most of the OXP licences allow you to do whatever you like with the code, but courtesy suggests the above would be the way to go.

[GGShinobi]

Hi Diziet Sma,

thanks for the reply. I will do that!

[Smivs]

But some of the mods I downloaded seemed a little buggy to me (they didn't work out of the box), and others didn't work the way that I wanted, so I modified them a little bit. I then wanted to make my changes available to everyone, but I can't find a way to edit the wiki (http://wiki.alioth.net - how can I register there?). So here is my question: What is the preferred way to make modifications available for everyone?

Hi, and welcome to the Friendliest Board this side of Riedquat
Although not the case for those you mentioned it is worth noting that some OXPs are betas, in other words test or development releases, and so may have issues.
Others will be designed with the core ships in mind and as you have found may not work with other ships such as Griffs or the Neolites as these can have different names in the code to distinguish them from the core ships. This is likely to happen more with the 'Addition' sets than the 'Replace' sets.
As has been suggested, contacting the author of an OXP you have modded is probably the best first step, but if you think your mod is worth sharing one option is to post on the OXP's own thread detailing the changes you have made so that others can try them for themselves.
If you want a Wiki account, contact Maik by PM. He is the resident Wiki Wizard and will be happy to help you out.

[tinker]

As was said the first thing to do is contact the oxp author, do not assume an oxp is an orphan if you do not get a reply the same day, some people do other things. There is another thread about orphan oxp's which you may find useful.

As for the wiki, there is a wiki fairy guru you can contact here. Once again though, before editing anything of an actively maintained oxp it is best to check with the author.

[GGShinobi]

Thanks Smivs and tinker for your replies!

This community is awesome!

do not assume an oxp is an orphan if you do not get a reply the same day, some people do other things.

same here, I'm not the fastest either! And I do other things, too! And I have to play the game, also So please don't be surprised if you sometimes don't hear from me for a while, this might happen

Although not the case for those you mentioned it is worth noting that some OXPs are betas, in other words test or development releases, and so may have issues.

Regarding the nuit.oxp: as far as I know it is still a beta, at least the code which placed (up to 2!) nuit-Stations directly beneath the main station states that this is only for testing purposes. Docking on a Nuit-Station is very tricky imho, although it does not rotate - but just slightly scratch it and you blow up! But I really like how it looks, so I *needed* Nuit-Stations in my game! So I altered the code a little bit with the help of another oxp (I think it was superhub?)

[spara]

Note that there seems to be no licencing info on Nuit station, so without a permission from the author, you can't do anything with it.

[GGShinobi]

Note that there seems to be no licencing info on Nuit station, so without a permission from the author, you can't do anything with it.

Whoops! Too late. I already modified it and have it running
But I already sent the author (I think) an email, I hope he won't sue me!

But thanks for the advice, I will carefully check that out in the future. I thought all oxp's are automatically something like GPL or so

[Thargoid]

Nope. Most OXPs now come with licences which are often GPL or variants thereof, but not always. And to be strictly technical then an OXP with no licence in its files has to be assumed to be under the strictest licence. That would mean it basically couldn't be used at all.

As already noted most makers are happy to get feedback and ideas or bug reports. Many (myself included) would look a lot less kindly on others just tweaking and reissuing their work without at least some consultation. It leads to version forking and make sensible support for other bug fixes and updates impossible. The general exception is tweaks and mods for your own use which are not for republication and are normally fine (although generally done at your own risk and would not be supported).

[GGShinobi]

Thank you, Thargoid, for the information. I will keep that in mind.

I noticed that I forgot another modification that I made:

I made a little modification to the Updating TSC (http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Updating_TSC), so that it can be turned on and off. I did that because I am also using ChupacabraHUD.oxp, and at least with that, the constant updating of the destination info made it impossible to read some important notifications. I don't know if that problem occurs with other HUDs (or the default HUD), too.

My modifications allow the player to select the "E.T.A. Updated TSC" with shift-n and then toggle it on/off with the n-key. The last state will also be saved with the game.

I already sent the author, spara, a message

Hmm, now that I read the wiki entry again, I wonder if my modification is really needed:

By editing variables from script.js file, user can

change distance unit shown
choose different unit basis
toggle "distance unit permanency" on or off
toggle "constant update on green" on or off
toggle "show target when switching to front view" on or off

I should have tested the behaviour when switching constant update on green off...
Will do that now and report back soon

EDIT: After some testplay (which cruelly ended when I encountered some "Rogue Cobra MK???" with brutal 3 or 4 (colorful) front lasers and deadly turrets everywhere), I found out that being able to switch the Updated TSC on/off works best for me since I like it to see constant updates when flying towards a destination. So my modifications where not in vain!