New Mod Portal

[Solarius Scorch]

Well, a CMS is a given, we're not in paleohtmlthic any more
As for the pro/con question, I can't really say anything before Jo5hua states openly if he wants to maintain the current site or not. If yes, then I'm in favour of waiting a bit more for the portal to get fixed (but not more than, say, a month). If not, then there's not really much to discuss, since we need this portal - I believe that otherwise we'll fail to grow as a community.
If Jo5hua doesn't respond, I'll take it as a no.

[CanadianBeaver]

It does not matter... let be a CMS. But, the bottom line - let it works!!! And please, fix the error in the message editor (when change and save first message of the topic).

[The_Funktasm]

Dunno if this would work or really appeal, but we could ask for a mod section on one of the major modding sites like the Nexus or GameBanana.

The former has supported games in development like Starbound, and the latter has had as underpopulated a section as the mostly unmoddable initial Resident Evil 4 PC release. I think the community has enough mods already out to justify a section to anyone reasonable enough to see how it could work out well.

EDIT: On the topic of forum errors, while I haven't had anything that centric around the first post in a thread, I have had a problem posting responses or edits of posts, getting some kind of error instead. What's most irritating is that I have gotten in the habit of copying my posts before I hit submit so I can actually post them if they fail. For reference though, I'm in the anachronistic hell of 56k territory. Even when it's almost 2020.

[Meridian]

Please add your ideas and arguments pro/con or alternative options.

All you have written is correct... I don't think we need to have a big discussion about it.
It's more or less intuitive what is good and what is bad.

Maybe just one more thing, which probably a lot of people (including Jo5hua) are not so aware of:

This is not about mod portal being "useful" or "not useful"... if it was only that, I wouldn't even say a word. We however have 3 states here: "useful (positive)", "not useful (neutral)" and "damaging (negative)". The mod portal as it is now is DAMAGING... it's damaging OpenXcom project actively and constantly! Many people who wanted to play OpenXcom and its mods have already turned their backs to it/us, because of the portal. This is a sad reality... and for me a reason to immediately turn the mod portal off... too bad we can't even do that

And please, fix the error in the message editor (when change and save first message of the topic).

I have no problems with that... tried on several of my posts.
I have also never heard about any problems from other people... can you try on a different computer? Maybe the problem is in your PC.

[Yankes]

Another solution could be using https://www.moddb.com/

[CanadianBeaver]

All you have written is correct... I don't think we need to have a big discussion about it.
It's more or less intuitive what is good and what is bad.

Maybe just one more thing, which probably a lot of people (including Jo5hua) are not so aware of:

This is not about mod portal being "useful" or "not useful"... if it was only that, I wouldn't even say a word. We however have 3 states here: "useful (positive)", "not useful (neutral)" and "damaging (negative)". The mod portal as it is now is DAMAGING... it's damaging OpenXcom project actively and constantly! Many people who wanted to play OpenXcom and its mods have already turned their backs to it/us, because of the portal. This is a sad reality... and for me a reason to immediately turn the mod portal off... too bad we can't even do that

I have no problems with that... tried on several of my posts.
I have also never heard about any problems from other people... can you try on a different computer? Maybe the problem is in your PC.

[hellrazor]

I made a small conception a while back.
Maybe it is useful?

Conception of new Mod portal for OpenXcom Mods:

Framework: probably Codeigniter (PHP5+)
Database: MySQL (Files will be stored in a Directory on the Server)
Templates: HTML / CSS only (ifpossible no Javascript
Maybe customizeable CSS files
Project will be Opensource and shared for participation on github repository

Filetypes:
Screenshots: jpg or png only
Modfiles: *.zip only
both need specific File verification
should we have a size for uploadable files restriction?? -> Soundmod with very huge sound files!)

Database:
   Entity Relationship Model
   Relational Table Model
   Logindata for Users should be the same as for the Forum

Views:
   Users, Authors and Admins:
   Default Site (News, Basic Search, Updated Mods, Newest Mods)
   Searchsite
   Modsite
   Statistics

   Authors and Admins:
   Add new Mod
   Edit existing Mod
   Upload Screenshot
   Upload Files
   Mod specific Statistics

   Admins:
   Add and Edit News Site
   Reassign Authors and Mod Ownership
   
Formfeatures:
   Searchsite:
      Keywordsearch
      Search by Author
      Search by Modname
      Search by Gametype (UFO, TFTD, Total Conversion, Exe Mods (OpenXcom Extended for example)
      Search by category (Maps, Graphics, Weapons, Additional Aliens, etc..)
   
   Add new Mod Site:
      Textfields (Mod discription (short/long)
      Upload for README.TXT
      Upload for CREDITS.TXT
      or alternativly Formfields for c&p

      Upload Screenshots
      Sort Screenshots / Rename Screenshots
      Add Forum Thread Link
      Add Modfile
      Add Changelog entries for new to upload file
      Select Licence (from Database List) or
      Add Licence Terms (Formfield)
      Add manual Keywords
      Set Keywords from List (from Database)

   Edit existing Mod:
      Basically the same ass Add new Mod
      But with ability to include other Authors (in case of abandoned Mods (Admin only)

   Mod Site:
      Draw Short and Long Description
      Draw Screenshots (Gallery)
      Draw README.TXT
      Draw CREDIT.TXT
      Draw Changelog entries (last 2)
      Draw Licence information
      Draw Mod filelist (with download links)
      Draw Commentbox (maybe it is better to add a link to the appropriate Forum Link?)
      
   News Site:
      Chronological News Articles
      Randomly Selected Mods
      Link in News from openxcom.org
      Linklist (project related -> ufopaedia, forum etc..)
      Bugtracker Issue Index

   User Information:
      Email Notifications
      RSS Feeds
      
Filetracking: (Possible Feature)
   Track Resource files of Mods and also Map and Routes files
   via their md5checksum, this would allow to create a really andvanced search feature,
   for Modders to find which files are used in which mod and in which version they are used.

Important functions (Requiered):
   File verification on Upload for Screenshots and zip files.
   Inspecting uploaded files for malicious content. (if possible)
   Thumbnail generator for Screenshot preview.
   Picture Scaler (minimize load times)
   Picture Cache (reduce CPU load)
   Sanatizing Database queries!
   
   Maybe other stuff to add later?

Todo:
   Development Server
   Framework Documentation and setup
   ERD
   Relational Model
   HTML Templates
   Class Definitions
   Maybe UML Model (since we work OOP and need some proper planning?)

[Meridian]

.

Yes, I have noticed some problems too and SupSuper confirmed them and said he will report to Ninex.
Not sure if anything was done.

https://colabti.org/irclogger/irclogger_log/openxcom?date=2016-11-25#l240

[hellrazor]

I will make some planning documents in the next few weeks.

Would SQL be ok for the Database? Or is there something else which could be used which would be better?
Also i would like to try to write it from scratch without using a framework.

[Meridian]

I will make some planning documents in the next few weeks.

Would SQL be ok for the Database? Or is there something else which could be used which would be better?
Also i would like to try to write it from scratch without using a framework.

SQL is not a database, it's a language, but I guess you know that.
If you meant Microsoft SQL Server, than it's perfectly fine... like anything else really.

The choice depends on where you will be able to host this website and what does the host offer, no?

And if you are serious about it, probably start a new thread.

[CanadianBeaver]

Nothing is changed. I think the problem in checking length of message on server side, because the small message can be changed.

[Jo5hua]

Hello!

Very sorry for the MIA. I have read many of the replies on here and I wanted to provide some news on the situation. I spent two months building the website out of my pure love of the game... During a web host move the upload function broke due to a minor issue that can be resolved easily. During this time I had also launched a private business which has taken off. OpenXcom has always been a great priority and love for me and I understand the lack of attentiveness to one of the basic features of the OpenXcom website.. I have worked hard and am very happy to announce the following to solve all of our questions, concerns, and future hope for the website.

The company is fully committed to making the modsite work but also exceed in functionality to the community at wide. The platform is a great template for what we can build together, more expecially with unlimited server capacity. We have hired a 100 percent dedicated PHP Developer that will work on behalf of the company. The first task which will begin immediately and be resolved within the next week is going to be the upload / download function. Afterwards we will have our dedicated PHP developer work on a full administrations and moderation area in which the site will have full moderation and administration functionality. While our dedicated PHP developer will at down the road work on other projects, the main priority will be OpenXcom. So we will resolve all issues and we will make the website far more open for a team of great administrators and moderators can manage and make a dependable area for all things related to OpenXcom files.

At this time while we get our dedicated PHP dev situated we would like all features and requests to be submitted. We have a full time programmer on board now which I am showing the entire modportal so we are now open for full continual development of the mod portal!

Thank you let me know your thoughts and, Merry Christmas,

Joshua

PS: This is cross-posted from another thread:

Hi guys,

Sorry I have been MIA... I started a company this year and it's taken a lot of my time... But I have great news! I have hired an amazing dedicated PHP Developer that will be able to do many things for us... Including 1) fixing the upload / download function... And also 2) begin phase 2 of the website to add full moderator / administrator staff access to be able to work the entire website.

This full time PHP developer will also be able to work on some of our personal projects such as creating a full working website API to the website. This would allow us to create an in-game mod manager interfaced with the modsite. Our PHP guru will be full time and available to allow us to have continual development attention to the website, and also to add areas and features that we all with to see on the website. So please let us know any and all features that you would like to see on the mod portal. We are no longer limited on time and we can make things happen failry quickly now to the benefit of the OpenXcom Mod Portal. =)

Let us know any features or suggestions you would like to contribute, we want hear them all!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone look forward to your comments.

Joshua

[Solarius Scorch]

An anecdote: I uploaded a new mod. Then I tried to download it, just to test it if works. I got the message "mod not found on the server", but at the same time, it downloaded.

EDIT: Now I uploaded another mod and it doesn't even show on the files list in My Mods section. Maybe it's because it's bigger?
Anyway, what a horrible mess.

[Jo5hua]

Hello Happy Monday! We are moving the website to a much faster server and much more space with a dual processor setup. It's very fast and it's on 4xSSD RAID 10 so it's very fast! The website will be going under maintenance and not reachable until we move it to the new server. There we have new upload classes ready to fix this issue.

Solar can you compose me a list of known bugs on the site to resolve? I know about the upload issue and we're ready to test it and patch it to resolve this one bug. I'll keep an eye here so we can iron out any more.

Thank you!

[Solarius Scorch]

Solar can you compose me a list of known bugs on the site to resolve? I know about the upload issue and we're ready to test it and patch it to resolve this one bug.

I am not aware of any other bugs, because to be honest this one makes using the site pointless. If it's fixed, lesser bugs will probably appear.