Naming the galactic regions

[Wildeblood]

If you've got the latest nightly build of Oolite 1.81, you can set the title of the chart screen specifically according to which system is currently selected as your destination. So, e.g., if you select any of the systems near Tianve on chart 1, the screen title could change from "Galactic Chart 1" to "The Pulsar Worlds".

I've uploaded an OXZ to demonstrate this, which is available through the download manager under the title "Distant Realms" (because "Regional Chart Titles" sounded too bland). It adds the regions described on the wiki for charts 1 and 2. Before I continue to add more to it, I thought some discussion might be in order (lest great swathes of the galaxy become known as Wildeblood's Empire).

[maik]

Are you using the names from the vector maps?

[Wildeblood]

Are you using the names from the vector maps?

I copied from the region pages linked from here, not from the maps directly:
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Sector ... ector_Maps
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Sector ... ector_Maps
Whoever set about making the wiki pages seems to have given up after chart 2.

[cim]

If you want a list of the system IDs covered by all the regions from the ClymAngus maps, have a look in the startUp method of Scripts/cargotyperegional.js in the New Cargoes OXP.

[Diziet Sma]

I've just noticed that in the Expansion Manager, the descriptions for Distant Realms and Galaxy Names are identical, even though they perform slightly different tasks..

[Switeck]

As far as naming...
There's always the Rift Worlds in Galaxy Chart 7 as well as the "unreachables" in Galaxy Charts 3, 6, and 8 as well.

[ClymAngus]

If you want a list of the system IDs covered by all the regions from the ClymAngus maps, have a look in the startUp method of Scripts/cargotyperegional.js in the New Cargoes OXP.

A feat of identification I'm still quite in awe of sir. I thought painting them was bloody annoying but you went and programmed them into an oxp. Formidable sir formidable.

[Wildeblood]

Are you using the names from the vector maps?

I copied from the region pages linked from here, not from the maps directly:
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Sector ... ector_Maps
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Sector ... ector_Maps
Whoever set about making the wiki pages seems to have given up after chart 2.

Well, I see the galaxy guide on the wiki now covers all 8 sectors, so I finished this.

(1) May I upload the completed file to the OXZ manager, to replace the incomplete version there? How do I go about packaging this into an OXZ?

(2) Any suggestions how to describe what this file does, in one sentence? It seems to me that it's one of those things you either know about, or you don't.

[Cholmondely]

Well, I see the galaxy guide on the wiki now covers all 8 sectors, so I finished this.

That's thanks to Phkb.

(1) May I upload the completed file to the OXZ manager, to replace the incomplete version there? How do I go about packaging this into an OXZ?

Phkb also assigns the logins for the Expansions Manager. I think that a_c can as well.

As for packaging OXZ's they are just zip files with manifest.plists added in. See Dizzy's "The All-in-One Guide to OXZ Packaging and Distribution" and possibly the other stuff linked at the bottom of this page: OXP howto

(2) Any suggestions how to describe what this file does, in one sentence? It seems to me that it's one of those things you either know about, or you don't.

Unsure if your OXPs just affect the "long-range" or also, now, the "short range" too. We could probably do with more helpful names for the F6 & F6F6 screens. But it would be such a hassle to change everything... (vanilla game code, OXP descriptions, wiki etc.).

Distant Realms: Names the various regions inside each galaxy, replacing the Galaxy Number (on the F6 charts/F6F6 system location screen).
Galaxy Names: Names the eight galaxies instead of numbering them (on the F6 charts/F6F6 system location screen).



Re screen names, the differences between the F6 <> F6F6 seem to me to be these: F6 toggles system colour between sun-colour/economics/politics/TL which is lost in the F6F6 which incorporates the "system finder".

How about
F6: system analysing chart
F6F6: system finding chart

[Wildeblood]

Yes, I suppose my real question was is there a definitive list of what fields to include in the manifest. There used to be a handy-dandy tool on the oolite.org website.

My new question is has anyone considered deleting the XML example from https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Manifest.plist - or at least - moving it below the GNUStep example. Added: actually, now that I've read it, the GNUStep example there is a shocker anyway.

[phkb]

You're right, the OpenStep example is a dogs breakfast.

This is pretty much all you need (taken from my Station Dock Control OXP):

Code: Select all

{
	identifier = "oolite.oxp.phkb.StationDockControl"; // required
	version = "1.1.28"; // required
	title = "Station Dock Control"; // required
	required_oolite_version = "1.80"; // required
	description = "Adds some realism and depth to the game by giving each station with NPC traffic its own list of docked ships that launch when their scheduled departure time lapses."; // important but not actually required. Best to include something though
	category = "Mechanics"; // not required per se, but again, worth putting in
	author = "phkb"; // required
	information_url = "http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Station_Dock_Control"; // not required, but if there is a page available it's good to have a link. even if it's to the BB, not the wiki
	license = "CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0"; // required
}

There are some optional properties, but that's the basics.

[phkb]

Phkb also assigns the logins for the Expansions Manager. I think that a_c can as well.

That was before the old website died, and we moved away from the DB and onto the GitHub Expansion Manager. Updating the Expansion Manager is... well, let's say "tricky" for now. I have more thoughts about it, but this isn't the right place for them. If you can upload your OXZ to the Wiki, using the same name as the current one, but with a new version number in the manifest file, I can trigger the process that rebuilds the index.

[hiran]

You're right, the OpenStep example is a dogs breakfast.

This is pretty much all you need (taken from my Station Dock Control OXP):

Code: Select all

{
	identifier = "oolite.oxp.phkb.StationDockControl"; // required
	version = "1.1.28"; // required
	title = "Station Dock Control"; // required
	required_oolite_version = "1.80"; // required
	description = "Adds some realism and depth to the game by giving each station with NPC traffic its own list of docked ships that launch when their scheduled departure time lapses."; // important but not actually required. Best to include something though
	category = "Mechanics"; // not required per se, but again, worth putting in
	author = "phkb"; // required
	information_url = "http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Station_Dock_Control"; // not required, but if there is a page available it's good to have a link. even if it's to the BB, not the wiki
	license = "CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0"; // required
}

There are some optional properties, but that's the basics.

I guess the examples are there to demonstrate the syntax. From the comments you can see that it is not a full or partial template.
You need to read the rest of the document to understand which properties are required and how they get used.

Or should we take the above now and add it as minimum template?

[hiran]

(1) May I upload the completed file to the OXZ manager, to replace the incomplete version there? How do I go about packaging this into an OXZ?

If you have an OXP, turning that into an OXZ is not much work. It should be pretty much described here:
https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/OXP_howto

Once you have an OXZ file, you want to publish it. That means you make it available somewhere on the internet. Some people use their own websites, some Microsoft Box, some people prefer sites like Github but apparently most OXZs are hosted on the Oolite wiki. Cholmondely can probably tell how the files end up there.

Once you have published your OXZ you want the expansion manager to find it. This process has changed since we moved to the new domain.
So to add your download URL to the catalog of expansions, raise an issue at https://github.com/OoliteProject/oolite ... new/choose

Someone from the catalog-management team will then add the url and rebuild the catalog. From then on the Oolite builtin Expansion Manager or OoliteStarter can download the new catalog and help users to get the expansion installed.

If you are wondering where all the metadata goes that describes the expansion to all the pilots - well, that comes from the manifest.plist directly.

[Cholmondely]

Presuming that the update is this: https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/File: ... _Space.oxz

I've downloaded it and hope to try it out over the weekend (current activity is back at Digebiti in G1, but have some Jameson's further afield...)

Looking forwards!!