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Steam Workshop Testers Needed!


Chris

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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?

No it wasn't. But should be fixed if you're using the mod uploader bundled with v1.52

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.

The browser should automatically open on mod upload completion. Another cause not letting you see it is if you've not accepted the Steam Workshop Legal Agreement. You have a warning for this if you're using the latest mod uploader tool.

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.

I was already planning to fix this by separating mod name from source folder.

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No it wasn't. But should be fixed if you're using the mod uploader bundled with v1.52.

Doesn't seem to be working, then, as I was using v1.52 (couldn't have been an earlier version as this was the first time I transferred to v1.5x and I verified files a few times over the weekend so it should have been up-to-date).

As an aside (since most of the above seems negative/was related to bugs), I really like the mod activation system (really - if nothing else it makes testing individual mods much simpler than having to go edit filenames every time you want to turn something on/off) and once I figured out the legal agreement thing the uploader is really easy to use.

Also (completely random point) thank you to whoever set the quick battle start-up to automatically place the player base before loading GC.

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Doesn't seem to be working, then, as I was using v1.52 (couldn't have been an earlier version as this was the first time I transferred to v1.5x and I verified files a few times over the weekend so it should have been up-to-date).

Probably wasn't recompiled before releasing it on steam then. I will tell Chris, will be fixed in next version. (Probably preview image will work too)

Also (completely random point) thank you to whoever set the quick battle start-up to automatically place the player base before loading GC.

X:CE guys :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Max is right of course - I just wasn't aware this might be something within your (Goldhawks) responsibility instead of Steam's.

Generally, the behavior of Steam (or the game launcher) regarding the workshop objects (mods and map packs) is very unclear and unintuitive for the user. To point out what I mean, I'll describe my user-experience here.

Please note that I never used Steam workshop before...

First of all, after I subscribed to various Workshop objects (mods and map packs), there was no indication that Steam is downloading anything. But somewhere I had seen the hint that a start of the game might be necessary, so I started the game launcher out of Steam.

I didn't see any mods in the list under "Modding Tools" nor did I see any download progress bar, so I was checking the Steam workshop pages again and after a while closed and reopened the launcher.

This time I had one mod in the list, which I could install and activate.

I waited around five minutes to see if more mods would show up in the list, but nothing happened.

So, I closed the launcher again and started it again via Steam.

Now I had a second mod in the list, which again I could install.

Ok, I thought, Steam seems to do the downloads in the background and the launcher obviously isn't updated in realtime if downloads are complete, so I closed the launcher and waited a while (which normally should be sufficient to download some hundred MBs), so that Steam could complete all its hidden downloads.

But when I opened the launcher, I again had only one new mod in the list.

So I was repeatedly closing and opening the launcher - always giving some seconds (up to a minute) to do the download - and each time I had the next mod in the list.

Don't know if this was just coincidence, but something like a progress bar would be great!! ;)

Ok, second issue I want to report (not to say: complain about :D) is that there seems to be no pop-up information for new Versions of a mod. I understand that it's maybe not a good idea to have an automatic installation, because of incompatibilities, but a hint about the availability of a new version would be great.

And a minor one:

If you have activated a mod/map pack and then close the launcher again without actually starting the game, it will forget the activation and you need to repeat the procedure.

So hopefully there is something you can do about these issues. Even though it is more a comfort thing... ;)

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Max is right of course - I just wasn't aware this might be something within your (Goldhawks) responsibility instead of Steam's.

Generally, the behavior of Steam (or the game launcher) regarding the workshop objects (mods and map packs) is very unclear and unintuitive for the user. To point out what I mean, I'll describe my user-experience here.

Please note that I never used Steam workshop before...

First of all, after I subscribed to various Workshop objects (mods and map packs), there was no indication that Steam is downloading anything. But somewhere I had seen the hint that a start of the game might be necessary, so I started the game launcher out of Steam.

I didn't see any mods in the list under "Modding Tools" nor did I see any download progress bar, so I was checking the Steam workshop pages again and after a while closed and reopened the launcher.

This time I had one mod in the list, which I could install and activate.

I waited around five minutes to see if more mods would show up in the list, but nothing happened.

So, I closed the launcher again and started it again via Steam.

Now I had a second mod in the list, which again I could install.

Ok, I thought, Steam seems to do the downloads in the background and the launcher obviously isn't updated in realtime if downloads are complete, so I closed the launcher and waited a while (which normally should be sufficient to download some hundred MBs), so that Steam could complete all its hidden downloads.

But when I opened the launcher, I again had only one new mod in the list.

So I was repeatedly closing and opening the launcher - always giving some seconds (up to a minute) to do the download - and each time I had the next mod in the list.

Don't know if this was just coincidence, but something like a progress bar would be great!! ;)

Ok, second issue I want to report (not to say: complain about :D) is that there seems to be no pop-up information for new Versions of a mod. I understand that it's maybe not a good idea to have an automatic installation, because of incompatibilities, but a hint about the availability of a new version would be great.

And a minor one:

If you have activated a mod/map pack and then close the launcher again without actually starting the game, it will forget the activation and you need to repeat the procedure.

So hopefully there is something you can do about these issues. Even though it is more a comfort thing... ;)

Thanks for the report. I was aware of the missing feedback to the users (except the multiple mods download, which is a bug), I just didn't have time to fix it before putting it up on the experimental branch.

In the development version (will be shortly the definitive stable version) I already added the 'download in progress' mods to the list, so you'll be able to see which mods are downloading. Unfortunately Steam APIs are not that much user friendly and I can't read the download progress while a download is in running.

The multiple mods bug is also fixed, now downloads are queued and downloaded correctly.

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Unfortunately Steam APIs are not that much user friendly

yeah, most of us have known that for ages now. like years.

so... why not bite the bullet and open up development to all platforms, simply by adding a link to a standard ftp site here, and encouraging people to post mods on Nexus?

someone will end up developing a nice little mod manager all on their own, and you'll get a ton more feedback than just relying on steam.

win win.

why keep banging your head against this wall? Sounds like you're engaging in a kind of Concord fallacy to me.

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yeah, most of us have known that for ages now. like years.

so... why not bite the bullet and open up development to all platforms, simply by adding a link to a standard ftp site here, and encouraging people to post mods on Nexus?

someone will end up developing a nice little mod manager all on their own, and you'll get a ton more feedback than just relying on steam.

win win.

why keep banging your head against this wall? Sounds like you're engaging in a kind of Concord fallacy to me.

While still not friendly from an API point of view (so it's a problem for developers, more than for end users), Steam does a good job in terms of hosting mods, that is why we're using it.

If you had to implement the whole system on your own, you had to provide an hosting space/web server and to manage the mod download manually (via plain http requests), which is a lot of work for little gain. Not to tell that an entire system developed on our own would cost a lot of implelmentation time and would be more likely to have security pitfalls and bugs.

Steam does its job just fine: you have a web interface (available both on browser and inside Steam) in which you have the mods list, you can see mods description, pictures, discussions, ratings and change notes. And you only need to press the "subscribe" button to always have the updated version of each mod available to the game. So what are the problems with it (despite obiouvsly having a steam license for the game and launching it via Steam)?

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The only real problem with workshop from a user perspective is that there is no uninstall option. Unsubscribing keeps the mods installed, you just never upgrade to the latest version. Whilst "Verify Game Files" is an all or nothing option that reverts the game to default settings so you cant uninstall just one mod. There is also the odd occurence when you subscribe to a mod and it never installs, hopefully that doesnt happen with xenonauts but its rampent in Unreal engine games and others.

btw: have subscibed to a bunch of mods via workshop and so far so good ;)

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Hadnt tried uninstalling and then since the 1.53 update i was getting crashes to desktop :/ so ive kept my saves, did a clean install, and am in the process of adding mods back in. Im using the modmanager and doing the whole restart / exit jig rather than manual install. when its all working agin i'll let you know if there are any issues uninstalling from mod manager but i assume thats going to work fine... since it isnt steam ;p

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