Jump to content

Kerbal Stuff, an open-source Space Port replacement


SirCmpwn

Recommended Posts

Today I came back to KSP forums after a pretty long period of dormancy after hearing of Kerbal Stuff's abrupt shutdown. From what I last heard, wasn't Majiir helping Kerbal Stuff hosting as a reward for the winner of the Majiir Challenge? (That was two years ago, can you believe that?)

What happened to Kerbal Stuff should not have happened. First, a system should have been implemented in order to make sure that an archive of mods could be properly hosted in case KS ever had to shut down. Yet we tripped on the licensing problems yet again because we allowed mod authors to prevent archiving in their licenses, and this mistake will be perpetuated as the KSP mod websites balkanize after the fall of KS. And one by one they will shut down, and others will spring up and we'll be back with the mess we started after Spaceport shut down. I applaud SirCmpwn for posting a torrent of the archive.

Second, there should have been express warning that without donations KS would have reached the point of shutting down. Granted, I never went to KS to see for myself, but last time I checked, everything looked fine. But if everything's not fine and finance endangers KS, one should not humble himself over it. Communication is key. Word about KS's shutdown had never even reached out to me until 3 months after it happened. Actually, I had not found out that KS had shut down until about an hour before I wrote this post.

Third, what happens to all the dormant (but otherwise stable) mods? Every time a shutdown happens, the impact increases almost exponentially, with more and more authors hoping that a new rising mod site is "better" and "more stable" than its predecessors and thus more willing to put their (figurative) money on it. I have no data to prove this, but I hypothesize that it falls in line with the amount of effort that goes into the making of such mod sites such as KS. It is so disappointing to see tens of thousands of lines of good working code go to waste due to its abandonment. Even if someone uses KS's code for their own continuation, they will not know how to improve or maintain the system. KS was unique and I thought it to be the alpha and omega of KSP mods; I thought in the beginning that once SirCmpwn was done with the site, it's done. Nobody ever has to do this again, and the site will go on to the end of KSP. But ultimately I was wrong. I fail to understand that often times things, despite being taken for granted or looking "okay", can get shut down overnight for just about any reason in the world.

This is not aimed to be a criticism of SirCmpwn or the decisions he took. I understand that they are properly justified. Rather, I simply express my disappointment that there could have been an alternate course of events which could have prevented KS from shutting down altogether.

I have few remarks on SpaceDock. I wish VITAS good luck, but my hopes on it seem rather grim right now.

That is all I have to say. See all of you after exams.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, longbyte1 said:

(...)

Third, what happens to all the dormant (but otherwise stable) mods? Every time a shutdown happens, the impact increases almost exponentially, with more and more authors hoping that a new rising mod site is "better" and "more stable" than its predecessors and thus more willing to put their (figurative) money on it.  (...)

Wise words. I hope Squad reads this and realizes that they have an obligation towards the modding community to provide some kind of platform where you can host mods. Something that is professionally ran, so its existence doesn't rely on attaboys from the community (and immune to hate mail). Something that is well funded, so that it doesn't drown in bandwidth cost. It doesn't have to be particularly liked; it's there to host mods, after all, not to invite everybody in a big circle and sing kumbaya.

If only, if only, Squad would step up to the plate and do something like that...

 

 

[/sarcasm]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Kerbart said:

Wise words. I hope Squad reads this and realizes that they have an obligation towards the modding community to provide some kind of platform where you can host mods. Something that is professionally ran, so its existence doesn't rely on attaboys from the community (and immune to hate mail). Something that is well funded, so that it doesn't drown in bandwidth cost. It doesn't have to be particularly liked; it's there to host mods, after all, not to invite everybody in a big circle and sing kumbaya.

If only, if only, Squad would step up to the plate and do something like that...

 

 

[/sarcasm]

sad part, if memory serves at one point oh around .21 or so, they had a mod repository, cannot think of what it was called, but, then, they tilted the boat, went with curse, people got mad, kerbal stuff was our retort to curse, then stuff and things, KS went down, a new site came up, it decided it wanted to support multiple games, ppls feathers got more ruffled, and here we are.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

sad part, if memory serves at one point oh around .21 or so, they had a mod repository, cannot think of what it was called, but, then, they tilted the boat, went with curse, people got mad, kerbal stuff was our retort to curse, then stuff and things, KS went down, a new site came up, it decided it wanted to support multiple games, ppls feathers got more ruffled, and here we are.

You are thinking of Spaceport, yes? But my biggest concern right now is how long this SpaceDock will last. It doesn't matter how many games it offers mods for if it simply does not survive the first six months due to lack of popularity due to the reluctance of people to invest on a new mod site that has not proven its stability since there is absolutely no guarantee and no tangible proof that the sysadmins are capable, competent, and responsible. The only way this reputation can be achieved, then, is by surviving.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, longbyte1 said:

You are thinking of Spaceport, yes? But my biggest concern right now is how long this SpaceDock will last. It doesn't matter how many games it offers mods for if it simply does not survive the first six months due to lack of popularity due to the reluctance of people to invest on a new mod site that has not proven its stability since there is absolutely no guarantee and no tangible proof that the sysadmins are capable, competent, and responsible. The only way this reputation can be achieved, then, is by surviving.

We're surviving just fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, longbyte1 said:

You are thinking of Spaceport, yes? But my biggest concern right now is how long this SpaceDock will last. It doesn't matter how many games it offers mods for if it simply does not survive the first six months due to lack of popularity due to the reluctance of people to invest on a new mod site that has not proven its stability since there is absolutely no guarantee and no tangible proof that the sysadmins are capable, competent, and responsible. The only way this reputation can be achieved, then, is by surviving.

Why don't you fund them to improve their chances?

https://www.patreon.com/spacedock?ty=h

A buck or two every month won't hurt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The staff of any website can log in "as" any user anyway. Reset the password, cracking the hash in the database, or modify the code to allow it. And remember the code that actually runs the website doesn't have to be the same as what it says on github or another public repository. So that feature in Spacedock doesn't allow anything that's not already possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I must be out of the loop. Since KS went down and that is final, what is wrong with SpaceDock as a replacement? I think it's a fine site for downloading KSP mods; I've never had a problem with it. Am I in the minority? What are peoples' issues with SD? Between SD and Github, I never have a problem finding the mods I desire.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Delta_8930 said:

Even though the layout of SpaceDock's site is different finding and downloading mods is just as easy as KerbalStuff

That's because it was (maybe still is?) based on KS's code. In fact, when Spacedock first launched it was a carbon-copy since the KS code was open source or some such.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

UPDATE: this domain name seems to have been taken over by malware of some sort. There is no legitimate version currently available. Do not attempt to visit the old site, and the links have been removed from our forum. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...