ABOUT THE OFP EDITOR - Read This !!!

[CareyBear]

I don't really make addons apart from playing around with O2 and getting annoyed at it. I also don't know where everything is in the editor, and it actually does bug me a bit that the various packs make things quite difficult to find at times - but at least the addon tags have some sorting effect - all the SEBv units are together, all the WWII infantry are together etc. That only becomes annoying if I want the original units & have to search for them (esp since the WWII pack created duplicate Editor names with new sounds.. grrrr)

My two cents on this is: I would like to see sorting by genre. With the number of organised mod packs developing different mods - and the fact that I enjoy making missions in different genres, I think that would be a good class idea. Since the genres are (relatively) small in number as compared to the number of TAGs, something like (to pick a bunch out of the air):

"Car", "Armoured", "Everon Cartel Units", "Everon Cartel Vehicles", "Falklands Units", "Falklands Air", "Falklands Vehicles", "Vietnam Units", "Vietnam Armoured", "Vietnam Air", "WWII Units", "WWII Car", "WWII Armoured", "WWII Air" etc etc etc.

Within that, we can continue to use the current TAG naming convention. I know it's kinda weird to see 'SEBv Medic' under your crosshair, but really, I'd prefer than than having a class list I had to scroll through for five minutes.

If you're payin attention you would have noticed that some of those examples above was mod specific and the others were genre specific. I'm not too fussed.

Doing something like this would make things easy to find - and it's very intuitive. Admittedly, some vehicles etc are from multiple eras / genres, but generally the skin is quite genre specific - often even unit specific. The above approach (possibly even including more specific genre elements if warranted, such as "WWII Sea", or "WWII Buildings"...

And to solve the Beta problem.. A BETA class?

Anyway, if we simply set up the recommended list to include these sorts of things, just the fact that the list exists will encourage people to use it - and again, you can find what you want in seconds. If I want a Tiger tank, I know damn well it's East/WWII Armoured, and once I'm there DWRTiger sticks out a mile. What I don't necessarily know two months after installing it is that it's East/DWR I have to go to, and we end up with the same problem.

Anyway, that's my two cents. I'm just interested in it being as usable as possible.

[Tomb]

Sorry for the delay, folks - been shot down, caught leprosy and had'a bury my parrot  :-\ ( )


Just took a readthru & paid att. to this :

If you think an addon creates a new class without any need, just put the addon to it's rightful place: the recycling bin.

It's almost impossible to create a complete system of classes. There may be good reason for some classes that are listed nowhere. What if you have created an addon pack with 30 different types of bridges (for example)? You can put them to "buildings" but if everyone does that, you won't find anything in this section. If you create another section "bridges" it won't be a problem to quickly access the bridges.

Yes, we can make suggestions about addon classes and 95 % of the addons may fit to the given classes. But I'm against chaining the addon makers to a fixed system of addon classes that may not be suitable for the remaining 5 %.
I am a Lama
This is my personal opinion by the way, not an official OFPEC statement  

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...and this :

what i will hate the most is every1 inventing their own class ...

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...and this :

...I'd want Military Buildings, Civillian Buildings, and so on...  

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...and this too :

Men->Female->Naked->With Hat->On Drugs->TMB_Jill

  ( sheez, seffy!!!!  :noo: ;D )

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So in short :

As I tend to be a stubborn b*stard, I still wanna see this list of classes!  

And since it gotta start somewhere I'll start below. Feel free to put up your own ideas, all  

(the list is not alfabetic... yet )

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Suggested/Recommended list of custom classes


1.) MAIN STUFF :

Motorcycle  ( ) what?!... it's a good idea!!!   ;D

Sea

Bunker

HeadQuarters

Tree

Fence/Wall ( which one... ? maybe two diff.)

Bush

Road

House (civ)

Airport ( -stuff, mainly buildings & objects of all kinds )

Harbor ( same as above )

Bridge (c'mon - we won't get 20.000 diff. bridges, one class is enough!! )

Store/Shop  ( ? - will ppl make civy shops with time? or should it just go in "civ.house"? )

Signs  ( the "objects" class needs a hand, thus: sign(s) of all kinds )

Sound  ( am I wrong or is it in kelloggs editor addon? )

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My hope is that by time, this list will be a userfriendly guide for all addon makers in where
you can get inspired on how to avoid those confusing/annoying tags and keep the editor as
close to the orig. interface as possible (identical names in the editor won't cause conflicts).

Only exception is "group mods" or "custom teams", not listed under GROUPS (F2) ;
Say, you make a gang or a squad, the guys could go under "TMB_Squad" and then :
Soldier1, soldier2 etc.  Otherwise, I think tag names suck in the editor.
The tags are great when naming PBO files, but they're not nessesary in the editor,
apart from these "groups" I just metioned.



The plan is to get rid of the "old" editor addons and by time add all roads, trees, objects, vehicles etc. in their (soon) new respective classes; I don't think this is a utopic dream, it just needs a lil' coorporation and some attention, thats all. So share my will to make a reality outta this list of graded goodies   ;D
I know it's perthetic at the moment, but just be part of making it and watch it grow into order & sense!

cheers, folks!  :cheers:

[DG]

Class def in programming is surposed to make things easier ...in that there is no "reinventing the wheel".

 Tomb has pointed out the one thing that bothers me with the Class Def in the addons sect. is the chaos that can come from it. At the moment I find the listings bad enough ...as much as CareyBear does ( and I second his GRRRR! ) .

 I feel that the Admins of this site should get together and hash out a Class Structure for this , release it for Comments and Q&A , revise it , then update it periodically after requests for the addon makers . Essentially , any addon submitted to this site , in the config.cpp file , must adher to the Class Structure so that any downloaded addon follows the pattern .. basically so everyone doesn't start muttering under their breath things like " I hate $%^#&*( scrolling " etc etc  .

 So Tomb , run with this Mate , I be there to nit-pick   when the first rev. comes out...

 cheers

[Tomb]

cool enough, matey!  

 But apparently, this thread should be MOVED ( ) from the "comments" board to
one of the addon boards, as 85% of the ofpec visitors nowadays only visit
the addon boards   Thus: this thread won't see much development as long as it remains here.

 I didn't think of that when I first started the thread  :-\

Mods - am I right here?

[Sefe]

Essentially , any addon submitted to this site , in the config.cpp file , must adher to the Class Structure so that any downloaded addon follows the pattern .. basically so everyone doesn't start muttering under their breath things like " I hate $%^#&*( scrolling " etc etc  .

Sorry, but we already said 'no' to that. We won't force submitters into a fixed set of addon classes.

[DG]

Fair enough Sefe .

 I believe if a guidline is created , the addon makers will follow it as long as everyone finds the structure logicial anyhow. I think that's what you are aiming for given the comments you have made.

 Cheers All

[Messiah]

BAS have used this new function very nicely with the littlebirds.

[Tomb]

  Yeah, I grabbed those birds the other day, and their example made me do
some meditation (on the couch... Zzzz   ;D ), resulting in yet another compromise;
and coz of this and the fact that I'm involved in a bit of a complexed matter myself re. how to define addons in this or that class, I came to the conclusion that group-addons would be best off using their own classes (with or without tags).



Example # 1 :
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I updated an old "uce_E" (may God be on his side) -addon, the "uce_russian" soldiers.
Since he was such a talented skinner (its so sad that he's gone now, he was among the best ever),
and since his "russian" addon contained 12+ units, I made a special "uce_soldiers" class (for private use, 'course).

This way I could simply use "displayNames" like "soldier", "AA soldier" etc.
as they would all be in the "uce" class under UNITS / EAST  

But it takes - in my opinion - a large addon with numerous units to "deserve" a new class.
Mainly because if you add vehicles (like "bas" did), the EMPTY class menu will grow
frikkin long with time, foreseeing dusins of new custom classes.

This is (I think) one of my stronger points re. why we should put together a "recommended" list  



Example # 2 :
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The project I'm involved in at the mo. contains 5-8 units, several motorcycles and a car ( :hmm: )  ;D
This makes it hard to decide wether or not a new class should be made;
on one hand, a custom "xx_gang" class would be nice, as we're talking about a gang!
On the other hand, it would be smart to just throw the bikes in a new class
named "motorcycle" - a class for other ppl to use in the future!!  

The latter would mainly be neat if you think about the EMPTY class issue I spoke of before.

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It is a complicated discussion, I admit that - but it shouldn't scare us from trying to get
a hold on things and put up some sort of "line-of-sense" to hold on to.
But it blows my top to do this alone   I can't predict all on-coming classes and I
cannot put up this list of "useful and handy" common classes (like the motorcycle class) all by myself; I need you guys to throw in your own ideas, your hots 'n' nots!

Maybe a poll of some sort would help  

[DG]

Tomb , can you get this thread moved over to the Addon's section like you mentioned before ? See if Klink and the others have any points ... , might find a bit more support... true ?

[Tomb]

True that, but moving threads ain't my ...uuuum...."board" ( ) it's a moddy-thingy