Requested Client features

[Nard]

During the recent developers-players meeting several questions concerning the client(s) arose. As there is no Forum about them I open this thread to allow some feedback to be published about them. I dont intend to initiate any flame war here, If it happened this thread would be closed and we would be back to the actual point which is not satisfying in my opinion.

[Nard]

One of the nice features of manaplus is that it has a "local" folder which allows you to "customize" your client very easily: You can also test any kind of outfit, haircut... you just have to put in local folder the replacement graphics at the same place it should have in the Client data that is shown on the git repository. or on the one you could have cloned on your hd.
This feature is very useful when you start with graphics and don't understand that much how git works.

I think it should be integrated in mana client along with the debug windows of manaplus.


The same approach would be nice in both Mana and Manaplus about music: replace in the "local" folder original music by the one you prefer. the problem is that, like replacement graphics , the files should have to ne named after the original ones.
A workaround could be that all music files are named after the map they are attached to i.e.: 001-1.ogg 001-3.ogg and so on and that the titles and credits are referenced elsewhere in an XML file for example, or simply on wiki (where they should be referenced anyway, but i have little information about the tunes :/). If I remember well iPods work this way.

[Freeyorp101]

You can use a local customdata folder in mana as well.

What does the debug window do in manaplus?


---Freeyorp

[Nard]

You can use a local customdata folder in mana as well.

What does the debug window do in manaplus?


---Freeyorp

local customdata : Then this feature should be documented.
debug window do in manaplus: It contains at least 3 times more information than the mana one

[tux9th]

this feature is documented
try this

Code: Select all

mana --server localhost --port 6901 -u -d ~/tmw-ea/eathena-data/client-data

whereas the path "~/tmw-ea/eathena-data/client-data" is the path to your custom client-data

[Nard]

That's not what I meant, tux9th : no need to specify a path to a specific user data folder, (which has to be complete, just drop the file ( a sprite for example) in the folder ~/.local/share/mana/updates/updates.themanaworld.org/local/graphics/sprites/ and you're done, the "local" sprite will substitute to the regular (updates) one. No need to have another client data set.

Capture du 2012-12-07.jpg (102.34 KiB) Viewed 3471 times

[Crush]

I created the customdata feature years ago. I decided to make it use zip archives so that people can distribute them as mods. But I agree that it would also be a nice feature when the customdata directory would also accept uncompressed files.

[Nard]

I did not know this feature in mana. I do not regret the thread, at least ot points out the necessity of a better documentation. Maybe it will help to make mana better too.
Will the customdata work with music too?

[Crush]

It works with anything which can be distributed as updates (it uses the same virtual filesystem).

But to have a different music on a specific map, you would also need a modified version of the map file.

[Nard]

It works with anything which can be distributed as updates (it uses the same virtual filesystem).

But to have a different music on a specific map, you would also need a modified version of the map file.

or rename with the name wich is refered to by the map file as for the items; ok. this is why I suggest to rename the music files a standard way and put the titles and other credits somewhere else, such as a XML.

[o11c]

Are symlinks enabled in the PhysFS? I recall there being a security-related option that disabled symlinks in the *real* filesystem...

If so, we could change the map files to all specify their music as 001-1.ogg and in default client-data ship symlinks to the real music. This might cause problems running unzipped, though.

This is assuming PhysFS's zip reader support symlinks (or the 7z one does, which we really *should* be using - it's been supported by PhysFS since forever by now)

[Crush]

Do all our target platforms support symlinks? I remember symlinks to be quite shaky on NTFS, especially on some older versions of Windows.

[o11c]

Do all our target platforms support symlinks? I remember symlinks to be quite shaky on NTFS, especially on some older versions of Windows.

It's not (theoretically) necessary for the underlying platform to support symlinks, in order for PhysFS to support them in zip or 7z files.