BMS-Form.txt for all mods, please!

[lazystone]

BMS-Form.txt for all mods, please!

A lot of addons, like skins, models, terrain textures, etc.
has been released by various PPL over the past years,
and those addons are very appreciated by the community.

Some of them has been released with less to no info
inside the .zip, .rar, … or whatever.

Posting release info about a mod in the forum only isn’t
enough, because at least when forum move those infos
might not be available anymore.

Sadly, after a couple of days, months or even years,
you can’t remember what this mod was, for which Falcon/ BMS version,
who is the autor, is it even free to modify and can it be used
for further mods? (a model in an addon theater for example)

In fact, the more mods you DL, the more chaos you’ll get on your HDD.

Also the autor himself might have created his mod not just for the
actually BMS version. He might be even happy if his mod will be used
in a future versions of BMS (if compatible) or an addon theater.
But how should one know if permision is granted?

Usually, every mod should provide such infos about it,
but many mods for BMS don’t.

And there I remember back when I was palying the racing sim GrandPrix4 a lot.
Every mod for that game included a GP4Form.txt with several infos
about the mod.

IMHO a similar Form.txt for BMS mods would help to get rid of those “problems”,
and for the autor it shouln’t be to hard to fill the form.

For example I did a “fake” BMS_Form.txt for a skin mod.
(Format is a little shifted due to CODE tags, see original in attachment)

04/11/2015  (dd/mm/yyyy)                                 Version 0.9.8
=======================================================================

Requirement    : BMS 4.33    https://www.benchmarksims.org

Title        : Genius F-16N Skin

Author        : Jon Weltan

Email Address   : [email protected]

Homepage    : http://burnerskins.com

Description    : F-16N Splinter Camo skin

Other Works    : F-16 Agressor grey NSAWC skin

Thanks to    : Jim Hirn for his great template,
          Lauromo for the walkaround pictures,
                  and many others for their support :)

=======================================================================

* Installation *
  Just extract the zip-file to a folder of your choice.

  Before you'll copy the 4 *.dds from the extracted folder to
  \Data\Terrdata\Objects\KoreaObj and overwrite, Backup those 4 *.dds files.

* Uninstall *
  Copy your backup files to \Data\Terrdata\Objects\KoreaObj and overwrite. 

* Copyright / Permissions *

  You are free to use and modify this skin for non profit purposes,
  to work with an BMS version only.

* Disclaimer *

  I'm not responsible for any damage caused by this addon.
  Always make a backup of your files.

=======================================================================
Jon Weltan 2015

What does the community think about such a form?
(always a BMS_Form.txt included in mods)

Ohh, … and feel free to suggest changes to the form by posting
your idea(s) in CODE tags or attach your BMS_Form.txt.

Cheers,
LS

[Blu3wolf]

you know, if the mods used a standard .json format, a mod manager of some kind could take advantage of that.

[Arty]

json? f4patch might even handle it.

[lazystone]

@Blu3wolf:

you know, if the mods used a standard .json format, a mod manager of some kind could take advantage of that.

I’ve never looked at the standard .json format, or mod managers, yet.

Sure, someone could also write an “F4Patch” or similar,
but mods are rarely released this way due to addionally effort
or other reasons. … would be nice though.

Mostly addons are for copy/paste, whereat some .zip include just two .dds files,
without further info.
A simple .txt is a lightweight, easy to fill for anybody and can be read
anytime, anywhere, without a mod manager installed (if necessary).

Cheers,
LS

[Blu3wolf]

My point was more about future accessibility. Its not really necessary without a specific program being in the works anyway. That said, json is a text format anyway.

[lazystone]

@Blu3wolf:

My point was more about future accessibility. Its not really necessary without a specific program being in the works anyway. That said, json is a text format anyway.

About future accessibility, a simple .txt will do it all the time, if we are talking about info of the mod.

If we are talk about info and install methodes like json, F4Patch, etc. then
that’s another thing. … and slightly OT here.

I did a quick google about json, … looks java.
Would an autor have to code Java to make his mod working?
Would there be just one .json file additionally to those four *.dds files?
… which could be easily read in editor, or would that .json look more like Java code?

Just to be clear, the idea is … browse your HDD, double click on .zip, .rar, … whatever,
once the archive is opened double click on BMS_Form.txt and get all info in an eyeblink.

Cheers,
LS

[molnibalage]

I always will make a much more detailed release notes but it can included this kind of information. Now because of separated \sim dic. any mod can be 100% independent from core theater as I can judge.

[lazystone]

Molni, I know you do a much more detailed release notes.

There is no need to include all your info into a BMS_Form.txt,
but you can if you want to do so.

The BMS_Form.txt should be mainly for those who usally don’t provide
any info at all within the .zip, .rar, … to provide at least the minimum info.

Having a BMS_Form.txt in every mod, would be great IMHO,
but I guess that’s wishfull thinking.
… considering the viewcount of this thread, LOL.

Cheers,
LS

[Blu3wolf]

A simple .txt file will only do it for human readable format. As there is currently no demand for another format it doesnt matter too much…

[Metalhead]

Lazy, Thank you for this tip, I will include one, in my own mods here. Never thought about that before… Sorry community members…
Regards Metalhead