AUTHORS: Please use the Mod Portal

[SupSuper]

https://www.corelabrat.com/oxc-mods/

Jo5hua has set up a shiny mod portal for OpenXcom mods for a long while now (supplanting Luke's mod site), and while it's only 97% done, it's never getting to those 100% if people don't use and test it!

I strongly recommend mod authors to take advantage of it. It's a lot easier to use and navigate than the forums, since everything is nicely organized and split up in sections, smoother search, integrated downloads (no dodgy third-party sites), etc. It avoids the annoyances of digging through threads, dealing with forum attachments, making sure the version you have is the latest, etc. Plus in the future it might be integrated with OpenXcom so people can automatically download and install mods from it. So please try it out.

You can still use this forum for discussions if you prefer. To avoid having to keep updating two separate places, I'd suggest just linking the first post in your thread to the respective mod page entry. If your mod is already up on the site under a different user, check with Jo5hua on how to get control of it (original discussion thread is here: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=1835.0).

[Solarius Scorch]

If you don 't mind Sup, I would like to add that while many (if not all) mods from this forum are already uploaded to the site, but they mostly feature under a virtual user's account called "OXCMods" instead of their respective creators/maintainers. This means that these mods are not updated by their authors, not to mention they don't clearly indicate who those authors are.

So people, if you want to distribute your wonderful mods properly, please create an account there and upload your stuff under your own name/nickname. If the mod is already on the website, no problem - I'm sure Jo5hua will happily remove it once a proper upload from you exists. (That's what he did with mine when I notified him.)

And, well, the portal is great and looks great. The sooner we all switch to it, the faster it will be complete. See you all there!

[moriarty]

we should also include a link to it on the openxcom webpage...

[SupSuper]

There is. Lots of makeovers going on behind the scenes.

[Jo5hua]

The modsite is now available on the new domain name openxcom.com .. If you are a mod author please update your links to not use the old www.corelabrat.com/oxc-mods URL. All corelabrat URL links will now redirect to the new openxcom.com URL. Good thing is that now if you are doing a google search for "openxcom mods" (which people are currently doing), the modsite will now show up in the google search results.

If you have any issues or requests please direct them to the modsite forum post at: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=1835.0

Everything is working perfectly, so now the next phase is to implement an in-game mod download feature that will link directly to the modsite ETA: TBA

PS: To clear any confusion - the idea is to keep the forums for mod discussion and development posts as it is now. The modsite is created to make it easier for OpenXcom players to see all the mods in an easy to view place. Mod discussions and development ideas and updates will obviously continue as currently... The modsite is an easy interface for people who are playing OpenXcom to view all mods. So mod authors are encouraged to continue what they are doing on the forums, but they are also now encouraged to add their mods to the official mod site for the openxcom players out there.

[wsmithjr]

Everything is working perfectly, so now the next phase is to implement an in-game mod download feature that will link directly to the modsite ETA: TBA

Umm, not exactly "perfectly".  (No offense intended; the site is really nice, just at least 1 bug remaining.)  Was looking for a good place to post this and I'm hoping this thread is as good as any.

On the Mod Portal, when you select a type of mod you would like to view, say "Weapons" under the "Mods" menu option, as of a few minutes ago, it showed there were 26 files found over 4 pages.  However, if you click any of the page numbers at the bottom or the "Next" button, it immediately switches to viewing all mods, currently 61.  I can't figure out how to view the other pages of just weapon mods.

Not that big of a deal, but as more mods get added, this will become more significant.  Thanks for listening.

[Jo5hua]

Thanks for the report! This is one of the bugs which is being fixed.

[Gifty]

On this subject, I've tried uploading my X-Com soundtrack to the portal but I get the "this mod cannot be found" error every time I go to publish. Any guess as to why this is happening? Perhaps the file (33mb) is too big?

Love the mod portal, regardless. Very slick and easy to navigate.

[Jo5hua]

On this subject, I've tried uploading my X-Com soundtrack to the portal but I get the "this mod cannot be found" error every time I go to publish. Any guess as to why this is happening? Perhaps the file (33mb) is too big?

Love the mod portal, regardless. Very slick and easy to navigate.

Hmm interesting. I'm working on the site I will look into it. Thanks!

[Jo5hua]

On this subject, I've tried uploading my X-Com soundtrack to the portal but I get the "this mod cannot be found" error every time I go to publish. Any guess as to why this is happening? Perhaps the file (33mb) is too big?

Love the mod portal, regardless. Very slick and easy to navigate.

There was an bug which where the site didn't handle mods named with some special characters and punctuation. This has been fixed now and your mod now appears on the site.

[yrizoud]

Posting mods on the mod portal requires giving e-mail and full name and agreeing with unknown "terms of service" (it's a dead link). So is the "privacy policy" (dead link too).

Jo5hua, why do you need real life identity of modders, and what are they agreeing to ?
I reported it in March, and the fact that you still haven't done anything about it makes me think I was right to be untrusting.

[Jo5hua]

Posting mods on the mod portal requires giving e-mail and full name and agreeing with unknown "terms of service" (it's a dead link). So is the "privacy policy" (dead link too).

Jo5hua, why do you need real life identity of modders, and what are they agreeing to ?
I reported it in March, and the fact that you still haven't done anything about it makes me think I was right to be untrusting.

An email is required for activation, otherwise the website is vulnerable to spam attacks. Providing your name only provides further trust that you are not a malicious user trying to upload malicious files on the website. No information is being used for any other purpose. Most websites on the internet require the basics Email/Name/Agreement.

Yes the Terms of Service and Privacy statement are not complete yet, my apologies. There were still many important areas and bugs on website which took priority while in development. I promise they will be on the site during Phase2 Todo list which has begun. The Terms of Service will be pretty much the same one on here on the forums, no abuse, no hacks, no illegal stuff, this way the user agrees not to do anything malicious on the website.

The Privacy Statement will a generic privacy statement. The only time your email will be used is when resetting your password (phase 2 feature), or if you elect to receive newsletter emails (for when/if we do this in the future).

If using your first and last name bothers you, you are always free to use a fake first/last name.

I've added both pages to the todo list of Phase 2 which I'm working on, they just have not been a big priority while building out the core of the site.
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=1835.msg17060#msg17060

Hope this eases your worries. 

[Muukalainen]

I already tried fake name and it never sent me the activation mail, so I can not upload my gun mod.

I only use my real information on the most important services like email address that I really don't want to lose.

[Solarius Scorch]

I already tried fake name and it never sent me the activation mail, so I can not upload my gun mod.

You don't think that the mod site magically hooks up to an NSA server and verifies if your name is real, do you?

Still, demanding a name from the user seems rather silly. You said yourself Jo5hua that we can use a fake, so what's the point? To eliminate any malicious users who are too stupid to think of this? Come on.

On a different subject, the picture management is still unavailable, after months of being "almost done". What's the actual status on this?

[Jo5hua]

I already tried fake name and it never sent me the activation mail, so I can not upload my gun mod.

I only use my real information on the most important services like email address that I really don't want to lose.

Please check your spam email it may have gone in there.

You don't think that the mod site magically hooks up to an NSA server and verifies if your name is real, do you?

Still, demanding a name from the user seems rather silly. You said yourself Jo5hua that we can use a fake, so what's the point? To eliminate any malicious users who are too stupid to think of this? Come on.

On a different subject, the picture management is still unavailable, after months of being "almost done". What's the actual status on this?

This will be fixed today. It's been traced to a Firefox issue and is a bug to be fixed on the current list. My apologies for these minor bugs sir Still some more bugs to iron out! You have my word (the bird is the word - sorry obligatory).