Looking for feedback

Hey all.

Some of you may have seen my text-based PC plugin conversion tutorial (some of you may have even been subjected to it!). I've finally gotten around to making a new fancy version of it with images and the like, so that instead of posting that huge honking text document every time, I can simply post a link to the page. The guide may be found at

http://evn.wikia.com...ersion_Tutorial

Questions, corrections, comments, suggestions, et cetera are desired.

Go Belthy!

Looks great
Just a couple of comments:
- StuffIt is not the staple for macintosh anymore. It was for OS 9 but since OS X most things are distributed as compressed disk images or zip archives (though I know this isn't really important to the topic).
- .bin archives and MacBinary files are both the same thing (well strictly speaking there's no such thing as a .bin "archive" - they can only contain single files). What you're trying to distinguish between is a MacBinary encoded archive file (.sit, .sitx, etc) and a MacBinary encoded plug-in file.

This post has been edited by Guy : 29 April 2006 - 08:15 PM

@kitkut, on Apr 30 2006, 11:31 AM, said in PC Plugin Conversion Tutorial:

Go Belthy!

@guy, on Apr 30 2006, 12:08 PM, said in PC Plugin Conversion Tutorial:

Looks great

Thanks.

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Just a couple of comments:

Excellent.

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- StuffIt is not the staple for macintosh anymore.

Ah, yes - I was going to comment on that in the guide, but it looks like I forgot somewhere along the line.

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What you're trying to distinguish between is a MacBinary encoded archive file (.sit, .sitx, etc) and a MacBinary encoded plug-in file.

Yah, that would be it. Both changes are in line for my next update.

@belthazar, on Apr 29 2006, 04:17 PM, said in PC Plugin Conversion Tutorial:

Some of you may have seen my text-based PC plugin conversion tutorial (some of you may have even been subjected to it!).

And some of us have even posted it ourselves.

Anyway, the new tutorial looks good! I only have a couple of comments:

1. It's not entirely clear what the "third type of zip archive" you mention is. You state that "the remaining two types are Mac archives", but you then only explicitly mention the MacOS X built-in zip utility.

2. My browser, for some reason, is blocking the image "Stufftime.png", but nothing else in that tutorial. Now, I doubt this is going to cause anyone any problems (I'm using Camino, a Mac-only browser, and Firefox loads the image perfectly well), but I'm somewhat curious as to what is different about that image. I'm also curious as to where this browser has hidden its preferences to block or not block images...

Edwards

@edwards, on Apr 30 2006, 02:46 PM, said in PC Plugin Conversion Tutorial:

1. It's not entirely clear what the "third type of zip archive" you mention is.

I might have to change the wording to make that a little clearer. The other two types besides PC archives are Mac archives which have been correctly compressed, and Mac archives which have not been correctly compressed.

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2. My browser, for some reason, is blocking the image "Stufftime.png" ... I'm somewhat curious as to what is different about that image.

Nothing that I'm aware of. Maybe it's taking objection to some rude word which may be hidden in the title, but I'm not spotting anything.

It's great! The only drawback is that it's a little long. I don't blame you, the matter is already complicated enough by itself, but this means some people may give up before the end. You might wish to also put a simplified version for the most common case: simple .sit(x). Looks good otherwise. Because I'm paranoid, I will check the instructions one by one myself (on a school PC).

They don't need to read the whole thing, just the relevant portion relating to the particular archive they want to expand. Mind you, it'd be nice if .sit really was the only option available...

Edit: My text tutorial is my attempt at a bare-bones guide, but every second person gives me a metaphorical blank look and goes "huh?". Although I'll admit that zapp probably isn't a good representative sample. That said, I was trying to use as plain English as I could, which unfortunately leaves it a little wordy. Possibly I could just squeeze in a simple one-line-each step-by-step procedure somewhere.

This post has been edited by Belthazar : 30 April 2006 - 06:22 AM

Ok, I've made the above suggested changes. Tell me what you think - even if you didn't post the first time around (possibly especially so ).

Looks good to me.

Very nice guide, Belthazar.

@belthazar, on Apr 30 2006, 07:17 AM, said in PC Plugin Conversion Tutorial:

Mind you, it'd be nice if .sit really was the only option available...

I have a question for you, and anyone else on Windows who cares to answer.

If I'm going to distribute a plug-in through the ASW EVN addons page, should I upload just a Mac (npďf) version, both Mac and Windows (rez) versions as separate downloads, or one download containing both an npďf and a rez file?

And in each of those cases should I use .bin.zip or .sit—and for that matter, for the Windows-only file should I use a .zip without the .bin?

Just upload it in whetever format you created it in - on Windows, upload it in .rez format, and on Mac, upload it in "npif" format. In the former case, simply .zip it, and for the latter .bin.zip. .sit = bad.

Yah, .bin.zip is the preferred option, as that lets us do away with Stuffit altogether. Uploading two versions just clutters up the addon pages - those pre-converted plugins already available (such as SAE or Polycon) are special cases. When I wished above that .sit was the only option, I was referring to the .hqx and .bin archives specifically.

Here is my take on the matter (linked by pipeline in his official uploading guidelines). Basically, only upload one version and be sure to give clear directions on how to convert for the other guys. In my opinion, uploading two versions isn't great as it means, among other things, there are two items in the add-on files for what is arguably the same plug (does Universal apps come in two downloads, one for Intel and one for PowerPC? of course not, they come as one Universal download). As for putting one archive containing both versions, do not even think about it. it doubles the size of what will have to be downloaded for no real benefit and increases confusion.

Okay, I'll stick with .bin.zip for Mac OS, and .zip for Windows. Here's the situation: I made a plug-in, Full Screen Map, which must necessarily have different Mac and Win versions. Not just different formats, but actual differences between the plug-ins. The Mac version has a base plug-in and twelve accessory plug-ins, only one of the twelve to be used at a time. The Windows version has but single file which contains both the base and the only accessory file needed. The installation instructions are different, and they have different readmes. For all purposes, they are different plug-ins—except that they do the same thing. So I'm going with separate uploads. Full Screen Map for Mac OS is one, and Full Screen Map for Windows the other.

Well, I think they do the same thing. I don't actually know if the Windows version works. May I have a volunteer to test it? All you have to do is load WinNova with my plug-in, enter a ship, view the map, and tell me if it works. If the map fills the screen, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't.