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Steam Workshop Testers Needed!


Chris

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We are looking for people to test out our Steam Workshop mod implementation before it goes live! There's two main categories of people we're looking for:

  • You create mods and want your mods to be compatible with Xenonauts V1.5 & Steam Workshop
  • You like Xenonauts and know your way around the Experimental Steam branch

We're not going to be able to officially launch Steam Workshop until we launch Xenonauts V1.5, otherwise it will appear for the public but won't function for anyone who is playing on the main branch (most people) and they'll get annoyed / confused about it.

I'm therefore going to create a Steam usergroup for people who want to have pre-access to it. You will need to be on the Experimental Steam branch to take part. Hopefully this will mean that when the upgrade happens, the best mods will already be set up correctly on Steam Workshop and will be available for download immediately.

If you're a mod creator, you'll be able to follow these instructions to create a Steam Workshop mod once you've been invited to join the group: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/12311-How-to-upload-your-mod-to-Steam-Workshop

All you need to do to take part is to join this public Steam Community group (and remember that all of this is still in beta): http://steamcommunity.com/groups/XenoSWT/

To download a mod:

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Have joined. Also, a question: does v1.5 include all of the additional externalised variables and other mod-related changes which don't impact on the vanilla game but were included for modding purposes? (E.g. ability for bases to grow independently of the alien ticker?). I'm assuming so, but I wanted to check before trying to upload anything so I know if I need to make any changes/know not to upload mods that won't work.

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Yes, it should do. V1.51 will be coming out soon which will correctly enable many of the missing features from V1.5, too.

I've given the Steam Workshop thing a test and it all seems to be working and have uploaded a sample mod of my own now. I've also added instructions to the OP on how to download a mod.

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Can you attach the files and I'll try and upload them? I had something similar briefly with one of my own mods but it uploaded fine for Giovanni and for me the next day, so there may be a bug in the process somewhere that we need to iron out.

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Okay, it's 20.42 MB in total... which apparantly exceeds the forums maximum attachment size. Le sign. So I've uploaded the version I've tried to Steam-ify here. It's all the files and the fancy graphic.

I've tried to upload it, and the process ended succesfully. (It just took hours, thanks to my great internet connection)

Would you mind trying again in a few hours? I sincerely don't know what can block the upload process and steam is not giving back much info from its APIs either.

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Right, it's 19:33, just tested again. This is the result:

errorscreen.jpg

The pic is 512x512. I'll try shrinking it to see if that's the problem.

EDIT: Nope! Here's a blow-by-blow of what happens.

error1.jpg

error2.jpg

Then the error message.

EDIT 2: Tried the following: renamed zip to LorePlus, removed fancy graphic. No effect.

EDIT 3: Okay, tried everything I can think of. I don't know what the problem is my end, but at the moment it looks like my mods are never going to see the Workshop, which is an arse.

EDIT 4: Thought it might be the firewall. Explictly allowed ModManager through. No dice.

errorscreen.jpg

error1.jpg

error2.jpg

errorscreen.jpg.75931bcb4deb4d7683c18866

error1.jpg.a4689aa63930588308a0841e22932

error2.jpg.0a186d8087223c48d0aac83bba0aa

Edited by Max_Caine
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I just tried the package there and it worked fine for me once I'd removed the image from the zip and used it in the Mod Manager instead (I didn't test with the image still in the zip).

For me it works even without modifying the zip. We're dealing this via private messages with Max BTW, we'll fix this soon.

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More work for Giovanni...

Copied verbaitim from the bug report thread of the same name:

[Ex 1.51. Modding.] Mods aren't appearing on the mod launcher

I've tried installing the soviet weapons pack and my Lore+ mod. The mod install button tells me the mod is successfully installed, but neither appears in the left-hand screen, which I presume it should after being installed. On loading the game, neither mod was active.

EDIT: Okay, that's interesting. If I run 1.51 from the Steam overlay it doesn't appear. If I go to steamapps and directly execute the .exe, it appears. How bizzare!

dpelectric also noted this problem.

EDIT: Would I need to be subscribed to the mods if I wanted to run them from the overlay? Given what Giovanni and I have been doing previously, that might be the problem that the overlay is only applying subscribed mods.

Edited by Max_Caine
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A more serious overlay issue here. I'll quote directly from the chap who had the problem:

So i tried using you mod, but i noticed no change in game, and after going to mod tools and clicking install this message came up"Error: unable to open zip. File corrupted or not supported." clicking okay yields "can't open file 'assests/mods/assets/mods/LorePlus/zip'(error 3: the sustem cannot find the path specified)" So.....as far as i can tell you either have the path doubled or it automatically puts in the path? (i know practically nothing of modding, this is my best guess)

So I went and tried subscribing and running it from the overlay and I experienced the same problem.

EDIT: And yes, that did fix the previous problem I had mentioned. I guess?

Edited by Max_Caine
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A more serious overlay issue here. I'll quote directly from the chap who had the problem:

So I went and tried subscribing and running it from the overlay and I experienced the same problem.

EDIT: And yes, that did fix the previous problem I had mentioned. I guess?

Where is this bug report? on the steam forums perhaps? I can't find it on this forum.

I already noticed the problem and fixed it, I'm waiting for chris to hotfix it on steam. I don't know if this also fixes the problem you had, since I can't test it before it's out on steam.

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I'm also thinking it might be useful if someone who understood the modular mod stuff better than I wrote a basic introduction to how it worked. llunak's documentation is extensive, but in many ways it's more like a reference sheet for people who already understand the principles and I feel we also need an introduction to accompany it. I know I struggled to wrap my head around some of the principles and kinda had to do trial and error until everything worked...and obviously I understand the structure of the game better than most!

Kabill, Max, anyone else - does anyone think they'd be able to do that?

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If kabill's willing to collaborate. I'm happy to write an intro.

EDIT: Let me be more clear on that. kabill and I have generally different approaches towards modding. I would say that in general I provide content such as Lore+, Project Mercury, Drone Strike etc. which adds new things to the game within the existing ruleset. kabill provides mechanics - Fire in the Hole, Dynamic UFOs, Modular Ufos among other things. I think our different approaches to modding would make collaboration a fuller, more useful document.

Edited by Max_Caine
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I have thought about doing this before and actually tried once but didn't get very far. I was aiming for a comprehensive guide rather than just something for beginners, though, so maybe trying the later would be more manageable? Am happy to be involved, in any case.

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1.52 seems to have sorted all the problems and now the mod works swimmingly. I'll upload a few other mods I've done and see how it works with several mods at once.

@kabill. Tell you what. I've got today off. If I write a few things and PM them to you, could you take a look over them?

EDIT: C'mon people, let's see some more mods on workshop. Giovanni needs bugs to squash!

Edited by Max_Caine
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@kabill. Tell you what. I've got today off. If I write a few things and PM them to you, could you take a look over them?

Sure, yes. Assuming I can muster some enthusiasm, I have the weekend free for dealing with Xenonauts stuff (this applied to uploading mods to the Steam Workshop, too).

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C'mon people, let's see some more mods on workshop. Giovanni needs bugs to squash!

It's really worth saying that steam workshop works great even with translations, so users can simply subscribe to a certain translation in the workshop page instead of downloading it and unpacking it manually over the game folder.

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Having a go at uploading a mod now. I've noticed that in the mod uploader it won't let me add in new lines (i.e. the return key does nothing and copy-pasting text with extra lines doesn't work). Is this intentional?

EDIT: Also, I just uploaded a mod which the uploader said was done successfully. But I can't find it on the Steam Workshop page and when I use the uploader to go to it's Steam Workshop page it says it can't be found. I guess I have done something wrong - any idea what?

EDIT 2: Sorted it. Apparently I needed to log into Steam using my regular internet browser.

Edited by kabill
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So, a thing I have learned: the folder name for a mod needs to match exactly the name that is given to the mod in its modinfo file, otherwise it won't work.

It might be worth putting this somewhere for modders as it's kept me busy for a few hours trying to work out.

EDIT: Also bug report (kind of):

The Soviet Weapons mod changes the weapon images but doesn't seem to change the unit sprites like it says in the mod's description.

EDIT 2: Minor Issue:

It's not possible to edit the 'cover image' of a mod once you've uploaded it (or else I can't find a way to do it in Steam). Hardly a critical issue, but it would be useful if that could be done somehow in the mod uploader.

EDIT 3: Possibly worth noting somewhere as well that the mod uploader doesn't like dashes (and I assume some other characters) in the folder name.

Edited by kabill
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