Data distribution ideas

[thelusiv]

bump, this needs some more discussion.

Some people have brought up the problem of offline installs. I guess with this method we're expecting folks to use the data manager on an internet-connected PC and then move the data offline if they like. We'll have to provide instructions on how to do this. Does anyone see problems with this?

I know, this all works against the instant gratification nature of the internet...

Another way to do this is to split the cars and tracks up into groups, like TORCS does, and provide packages for each group. However this seems even worse to me. The user still would have little idea what they're getting when they download the packages. They may still be downloading a bunch of data they don't want.

I don't know if this idea will satisfy everyone but I can't think of anything better.

[joevenzon]

Why not provide a full package for people who are offline? Or does that miss the whole point?

[TerraRoot]

if i don't have any net access, i have to go to the nearest cafe, and they all run windows, so how would i get the linux version with your data manager? a small problem, but one that really annoys me with apt-get and other data managers.

[charlieg]

Why not provide a full package for people who are offline? Or does that miss the whole point?

==obvious answer==

Net install for online PCs
Offline install for burning to CD or offline PCs

[reece146]

I'm kinda keen on the idea of automatic transfer of tracks & cars if they are selected. Use svn or whatever in the backend. Make sure that a proxy server setting is easy to incorporate. The nice thing about this is that everytime a car is updated, the selection screen can go out and query for new data if enabled.


There are a number of cars in vdrift that I would never pick due to lack of interest (FWD, the BMWs, Mazdas - a sizeable number). Would I try them in the future? Maybe, but if I have been playing the game for a number of months and only then download one or two new cars there is a deferred bandwidth savings in that manner.

I have run every track though only typically frequent a half dozen or so.

[thelusiv]

reece146, good point on the proxy server setting idea.

You demonstrate well the idea of how people will probably use a data manager if we had one. People could ignore/remove the data they aren't interested in and this would certainly save bandwidth in the long run.

What if for offline installs we provide a function to create a .zip file of the data directory? Then the user could simply copy the file to their offline computer, unzip it into their VDrift installation, and that's it. Those of you who have slow/no internet connection commonly, what do you think? Would that be a good solution for you?

[FFuser]

reece146, good point on the proxy server setting idea.

You demonstrate well the idea of how people will probably use a data manager if we had one. People could ignore/remove the data they aren't interested in and this would certainly save bandwidth in the long run.

What if for offline installs we provide a function to create a .zip file of the data directory? Then the user could simply copy the file to their offline computer, unzip it into their VDrift installation, and that's it. Those of you who have slow/no internet connection commonly, what do you think? Would that be a good solution for you?

I think I have a better idea:
Available cars and tracks are read out from sourcefile(s) (somewhere in svn or on cdrom depending on what is available) These media contains this cars/tracks and the user can select which one he does want to "download" (in case of cdrom copying to harddisk)
With this method someone could spread cdroms with all data without requiring that the user should install them all.
Another plus point: Other data distributers could set up their own servers (I f they dont want that their data is under GPL for example)

Edit: the data manager should be able to create such a source file (depending on what the user selected) and burn it on cdrom

[thelusiv]

I'm interested in the CDROM idea, but how would the manager know to check for data on a CD? I suppose this could be triggered by the internet connection failing. Or it could be tested for regardless. In this case it'd be nice to be able to compare the version on of a given data item on the cd to the version on the internet, that is to see if there is a newer version available.

As for burning CDs I think that's a little out of the scope of this program, especially considering there might not be a good cross-platform way to do it. I suppose creation of an ISO file might be more in order, but still a bit of a stretch considering that most people wouldn't know what to do with the file. I think starting with a compressed archive is good because it not only saves disk space but also the user can put it on a CD or something if they wish.

[FFuser]

I'm interested in the CDROM idea, but how would the manager know to check for data on a CD?

User could define their own sources (like you can do in synaptic for example)

Default sources are the vdrift site + cdrom drive (if cdrom is empty or a required file isn't found source is empty)

each car/track should have its own ID so that checking on version could be done among different sources.

[thelusiv]

So we'd have to add something to the data manager program's setup that asks the user if they have some other data source(s) to add. This will give them a chance to see where the data manager will try to get the data, confirm that it's right, or change it if not.

[thelusiv]

Talking with Joe on AIM the other day, we came upon the notion that it would be way easier to develop the features available to cars and tracks (for instance, moving objects in tracks, or fully working interiors and animated drivers in cars), if we only had one track and one car to worry about. For this reason I've already moved all the data to VDrift SF.net SVN, and that is where it will stay.

We have not chosen yet which car/track will be the one to develop on. It is likely we will use a car that was created by a VDrift developer. We would like to have an original track to use instead of one of the imported ones. Our best original car models are the TL2 and XS (in my opinion). Whichever car we do choose, will get the full development effort focused on it. What that means is that we will do our best to make sure that it drives as well as we can possibly make it. Since we won't have to worry about 27 other cars we are supporting, it will not be necessary to waste development time applying new features to all the cars when they don't even drive all that well anyway.

We will still provide the cars/tracks we have in our data set right now, but the only ones that come with the game will be the one car and track we choose to focus on. The other cars will be imported manually by the user or use some data management application as mentioned before in this thread. As some of the other cars/tracks progress, and support all the new features that the official car/track do, we will include them in releases as well.

Please comment on these ideas. Soon, I'll post a poll giving the community some choices on which car we should focus our future development efforts on.

[joevenzon]

Going along with this, we'll also start increasing the focus on polishing the features we've got and improving playability and usability. The idea is to make the game a bit more directed, focused, and polished.

[thelusiv]

Anyone have comments on this new one track/one car direction? Love/hate it? Feel free to praise or flame it. I don't like making big changes without feedback from the user/developer community...

[reece146]

Anyone have comments on this new one track/one car direction? Love/hate it? Feel free to praise or flame it. I don't like making big changes without feedback from the user/developer community...

I think it is a good idea. Those that want to work on other cars still can but it would be good for the focus to be on one car/track and get them as refined as possible. A lot will be learned and it can trickle through to the others.

[TerraRoot]

one car/one track, i like, let the community take car of the content while you guys get on with whats important.