ManOnMunAction Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 I am really excited to announce a project I have been working on for the past few weeks!Kerbal Space Yard is an online KSP Addon repository that allows users to easily find the parts they want for their next launch. You can find parts by module and see their properties on the web, instead of having to download every addon and figure out which part does what in game. Once you\'ve found parts you like, you can easily download the package. You can also see how others feel about the packages based on package ratings and part ratings. There\'s even a (simple) comment system! Furthermore, screenshots for packages and parts can be added so you\'ll know exactly what you\'re getting. You can even see how a part stacks up to the stock version.Addon creators are easily able to upload their packages and tag their properties. Screenshots are also easy to add, and how many views and downloads a package receives are recorded. Addon creators can also have multiple versions available, in case new versions are not compatible with older versions of KSP.This is just a brief overview of the features, and by no means is it complete. I have several exciting ideas that I hope to add in the near future. I am releasing this now though in order to gauge general interest. I would love to hear any of your ideas as to how to improve this. I really want to make this the best website to help the KSP community find addons.The Site: http://www.kspyard.com/Here are some example pages:A package page: C7 Aerospace PackA part list: http://www.kspyard.com/mods/category/fueltankA part page: http://www.kspyard.com/mods/parts/Silisko+Edition-RCSFuelTank2Pictures: (these are screenshots from an old development version but they give you an idea...)Uploading is open to any addon creator! - However, sometimes there are issues. Please email me at [email protected] if you have problems. I am trying to solve this as quickly as possible.At the moment, the site might become unavailable due to hosting limitations. I have to tell my host that I will pay more to host the server, I just wanted to see how much interest there was before I committed to that. If this becomes an issue I will fix this immediately.I hope you like it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panichio Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 It looks very cool, it will be even better once more people upload to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOnMunAction Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Definitely! I\'ve contacted a few addon developers, but I felt it would be good to release this now. Of course, it\'s open for anyone to upload their addons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoDamitt Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Nice work from what I can see on dial up speeds. lol. Uploading Kerpollo now. It might take an hour or two at this rate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomad Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Interesting, i might just move my parts to this so i can have room on my dropbox for other stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOnMunAction Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Excellent! KSP Yard is already getting some good use. :-)It looks like I\'m going to exceed my daily bandwidth limit within the next couple of hours, however, so later today (when I\'m back from teaching class) I\'ll buy more. So if you get an error about quotas and what not, it\'s a very temporary thing! Just minor teething problems... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xzbobzx Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Suddenly: server overload. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt'n Skunky Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 I don\'t think this guy realizes the amount of bandwidth it\'s going to take to operate this site. I hope he has pockets full of cash.Arrr!Capt\'n Skunky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOnMunAction Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Hah, I don\'t... I\'m a graduate student. Hopefully I can make it work!I did just order extra bandwidth right now, so hopefully there won\'t be any quota issues today, as long as the charge goes through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberion Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 One concern:Each part in the package you are uploading must be in its own folder inside the zip file. The file structure should look like this, for example:package.zip - part1/ part1.cfg skins/ * part2/ part2.cfg skins/ * etc.That is not the standard folder layout we have been trying to get people to adopt in their mods. It should be like so:PackName.zip-PackName--Parts---part1----textures---part2----texturesMainly to make it easier to install mods in the Generic Mod Enabler or just keep mods archived in their own folders, without the user having to manually create one. Furthermore, we also sometimes have other files in the zips besides the parts folders, like ship saves, alternate skins, readme files, or whatever. So if you\'re going to scan zip files and propagate a parts list, you must limit it to a specific subfolder. (perhaps require the PackName folder on the top level to match a field you enter on the upload page)Also, I see you have imported SundayPunch already - two things:1: Several items in the last SP release are broken due to game updates. I can\'t really recommend using it anymore.2: Since many many items in the NovaPunch pack retain the same name even if the part folders are renamed, its going to create a lot of clutter in your parts list. I don\'t think it would be wise for me to put up NovaPunch if SundayPunch is there, it\'s just going to create confusion.Anyway, looking good otherwise so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOnMunAction Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 I wasn\'t aware there was an emerging standard. KSP Yard can actually handle any reasonable format, including that one. All it requires is that each part have a separate folder. I will change the upload screen to match your standard.As for the Sunday Punch issues, yes, that is a problem and I\'m not sure of the solution. I would like to encourage people to give their parts unique names, but that\'s a bit of a challenging thing to enforce...Overall, some work needs to be done on how parts are displayed. If anyone has some ideas as to how to improve it, I would love to hear them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt'n Skunky Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Quick question, do you have permission from Sunday Punch to redistribute his parts pack?On another note, that pack is so outdated and now replaced by NovaPunch, why even have it at all?Arrr!Capt\'n Skunky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOnMunAction Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 I do have permission from him. I hadn\'t realized how outdated it was or that it was superseded. I\'ll remove it. I guess I wanted to keep it around, since it was the first addon I had on the site. :\'( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt'n Skunky Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 No problem, just want to avoid any issues. I hope your project success as we could really use a place that handle all the mods.Does your system allow for a pack to display what versions the mod is compatible with?At some point features that are added for the release version may not be available in the demo version and any mod that takes advantage of such features wouldn\'t be compatible with the demo, so some form of compatibility indication will be needed to prevent a lot of support issues.Arrr!Capt\'n Skunky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOnMunAction Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 It has the beginnings of that capability. I\'m actually working on that, but there are a few other things I want to get done first. It is definitely on the to-do list though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberion Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 I certainly would have renamed the parts except I needed to keep them to retain compatibility with older ships.Novapunch has the backup skins and configs to recreate the original Sundaypunch parts 100% (minus the needed bugfixes to make them work) so there really is no gain in having the old archive there.Semi-related note: Can you support 'addon' of suppliment files for a pack; For instance Novapunch has a separate zip with a Ares-skin, and another with alternate config settings for the tank/engines.They\'re separate because the main pack was already huge. Any way a pack can have subfiles listed, or would they have to be listed as separate mods? (I COULD roll them into the main zip, but its already almost 50MB) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cepheus Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 This is excellent. I love you, sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglasdtlltd Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 I like this idea of it. But I\'ve always used the forums. I\'ll stick with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOnMunAction Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 I certainly would have renamed the parts except I needed to keep them to retain compatibility with older ships.Novapunch has the backup skins and configs to recreate the original Sundaypunch parts 100% (minus the needed bugfixes to make them work) so there really is no gain in having the old archive there.Well, I removed it. There\'s a lot of caching behind the scenes so that probably didn\'t show up right away.Semi-related note: Can you support 'addon' of suppliment files for a pack; For instance Novapunch has a separate zip with a Ares-skin, and another with alternate config settings for the tank/engines.They\'re separate because the main pack was already huge. Any way a pack can have subfiles listed, or would they have to be listed as separate mods? (I COULD roll them into the main zip, but its already almost 50MB)That\'s an interesting idea. A bit challenging possibly to implement, but I\'m considering a major rework of the system (to support cheaper hosting), and I\'ll definitely try to integrate something like this in. I guess I could make it work in a similar manner as the screenshots do. How does that sound? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberion Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 That should work; if not we can always put links in the description section saying 'See also:'Edit: Uploading NovaPunch now; New feature request: progress bar on the uploader, like the image hosting places have. Can be fancy flash applet, or just an xHTML thing? And if you wanna get bonus credit: A remote uploader, so we can insert a URL of the file hosted elsewhere to upload it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOnMunAction Posted January 24, 2012 Author Share Posted January 24, 2012 A progress bar is in the works. I was just looking at some flash stuff to do that yesterday. Handling remote uploads would be tough though. It works better for images, but for large zip files like this it\'s a harder problem, especially with how file sharing places work.EDIT: Also, something broke with your upload. I\'m looking into it now.EDIT 2: Fixed, temporarily. There\'s an issue with certain characters in package names. I\'ll have a fix up later tonight.VVV I am, actually, but it\'s being weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberion Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Looks like maybe you aren\'t escaping out the special characters in the title/name? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOnMunAction Posted January 24, 2012 Author Share Posted January 24, 2012 Do you mind if I use your general description of the addon format for the upload page? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberion Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 No problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsoramaki Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Not a bad looking site. A little suggestion though, if its possible, maybe add screen shots next to the parts listed on the front page, Recent Packages and Highest Rated Packages.So it makes it easier for any users just browsing through to find parts that look cool, rather then just clicking on every part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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