The All-in-One Guide to OXZ Packaging and Distribution

[Redspear]

Thanks Dizzy! (et.al.)

How I needed this a week or so ago

Very deserving of a sticky thread but should it be in 'Discussion' or in 'Expansion Pack'?

Expansion Pack
Discussion and information relevant to creating special missions, new ships, skins etc.

[Diziet Sma]

should it be in 'Discussion' or in 'Expansion Pack'?

After seeing it get stickied (thank you, whoever that was!) I was kinda wondering the same thing myself..

[mandoman]

I realize I'm kind of stupid at certain things, which is why I was so happy to be able to make oxps, and actually make them work in the game. I've been out of circulation for a bit due to personal matters, so imagine my surprise when I came back to find that my 70 something ship oxps will have to be made into oxzs, even though most of my oxps are already zip files. Here I've been fretting over finishing several ships that I've had saved for months, and I feel like I just hit a beryllium wall.

I've been reading through Diziet Smas guide, and it looks like it should guide me through, but I keep finding out that what I thought I understood as one thing, is not that way at all. Fatleaf asked if I was going to update my ship oxps to oxzs, and make them more competitive in the game. Um, I was already labeled UBER ship builder of the Century, but now my ships are not even up to speed?

This is not meant as a complaint. I'm just overwhelmed, and frustrated. I installed 1.80 to try it out, and immediately got all kinds of flags about what was wrong with what I had. I was already more than frustrated at my inability to write scripts, and AIs that worked. I was reaching the point where I wanted my ships to do more than I knew how to make them do. Shoot, I can play with Blender all day, making all kinds of stuff (though no where near Staer9), but the funnest part was making something that worked in a video game. I'm not sure I'm up to it any more. I'll keep studying the changes for a while, but if I can't figure it out, I guess I'll go back to 1.77, and just play the game the old fashion way.

[Smivs]

Good to see you back mandoman.
Don't worry too much as the old OXPs still work just as before. The main advantage of OXZs is that they can be handled in-game by the manager. An OXZ is really just an OXP with a manifest.plist included, so is really not much different to what you are used to.
Put simply, have all the usual folders (Config, Textures etc) plus a manifest.plist and zip it up. Not the folder they are in though like an OXP, just the individual files and folders. I highlight them all, right click and go for the 'Compress' menu option. I expect it is the same or similar on Windows This produces a .zip file which you then rename with a .oxz extension.. As always, ask here if you need any help, and Good Luck.

[Diziet Sma]

Smivs is right.. there's no "have to" about it, mate.. they'll still work just fine as OXPs.

now my ships are not even up to speed?

If anything, thanks to the combat changes in 1.80, they'll be even more dangerous than before.. (but don't sweat it, that's being sorted out as we speak)

[mandoman]

Okay, thanks. I guess that makes feel a little less rattled. I understood how to make the manifest.plist, and even zipping all the plists together without a folder, but do I have to do that with all of my previous releases? I suppose I could do a few at a time.

[Smivs]

...but do I have to do that with all of my previous releases? I suppose I could do a few at a time.

That's more or less what I did.
Firstly I took a long hard look at my portfolio and decided that some OXPs shouldn't be updated/converted for various reasons. This obviously limited the work to do. Then I just did the others one by one - there was (is) no hurry. In fact I still haven't finished (says he looking at Xeptatl's Sword and wondering 'How'?).
It is also well worth updating other aspects as well while you are sorting out, such as the 'roles' as there are several new roles in v1.80 and this will ensure that your ships are spawned with an appropriate role and AI.

[Cody]

... says he looking at Xeptatl's Sword and wondering 'How'?

<chortles> Good luck!

[Smivs]

... says he looking at Xeptatl's Sword and wondering 'How'?

<chortles> Good luck!

Thanks, mate! Don't worry, I'll let you know when I start

[Fatleaf]

I must apologise to Mandoman for the misunderstanding about 'updating' your work. I was trying to say that there are new things you can do with them with very little change. The Friendly Gourd put it better than I did. Also now if you have any side lasers they will get used as well. As in 1.77 they never got used.

If you want a hand with anything drop me a PM. It's been a while since I really dealt with the code but I'm sure I will pick it up again soon enough.

[mandoman]

Hmm, that might explain some of the problems I've been having with lasers on my ships.........but no, it's the aft lasers I'm having problems with. Mainly, they just don't fire. Probably some mistake in what I typed somewhere, so I'll keep looking.

[Fatleaf]

Zip it up and send me a link. I'll take a look.

[Smivs]

The manager doesn't actually have a dedicated thread, so here will have to do....

How do we handle alternative dependencies in the manifest.plist?
Things are fine if an OXZ has one or more dependencies as you can list them in the manifest, but there doesn't seem to be a way of listing alternative ones.
This came up when I released the Classic Variety Pack earlier today. This OXZ needs either the Addition or Replace version of The Classic Ships - you need one or the other but (of course) not both, and there doesn't seem to be a way of handling this, so I had to leave the dependencies section empty and put a note in the descriptions field, which is not ideal.

[cim]

That's the best you can do for now. I shall try to think of a sensible way to handle that sort of case that doesn't lead to excessively complex dependency handling code in the manager.

[Diziet Sma]

I ran into a not-entirely similar situation with the two variants of Paradox's Snake Charmer, which has the case of requiring you to install one or the other, but not both together..

In this instance I was able to use a combination of putting a note in the descriptions of both, and declaring them as conflicting with each other in the manifest.plist, but it is still not an entirely satisfactory situation, IMO. And at the time, I do recall wondering how this might affect add/replace shipsets.

A more elegant solution would be a good thing..