supporting zipped extensions

[digdug]

What do you guys think of Transcendence supporting zipped extensions ? Just drop a zip in the Extensions folder and the game will pick it up and run the extension.
For newbie, I think that this might be useful.

Discuss

[AssumedPseudonym]

 There are some extensions — RPC’s “ODM Civilian Crafts” comes to mind — that require a bit of editing for customization purposes. You sort of need to unzip it for that, which might cause issues if you customize it and keep the original .zip file of it. I suppose it wouldn’t really matter all that much, though, as long as it wasn’t kept in the Extensions folder. Or, alternately, if an extension is present both in .xml format and in a .zip file, have the uncompressed version take priority to avoid potential conflicts.

[pixelfck]

My first thought is: very nice suggestion.
The issue raised by AssumedPseudonym should somehow be fixed though, I'm not a fan of having to edit anything in an extension before it works (default values should be 'good enough' for casual use).
I think that -in order to minimize confusion- any double existence of extensions should cause an error.

Cheers,
Pixelfck

[Atarlost]

This is what the tdb format is for.

[Song]

This is what the tdb format is for.

Which given I don't know how to use it, at least 30% of newbies are gonna have the same issue.

[Atarlost]

Making them is advanced, but if you download one other than from the multiverse you can just drop it in the collection folder. If you download one from the multiverse it goes there automatically.

[pixelfck]

Making them is advanced, (...).

It isn't that hard to compile a basic* mod into a .tdb file; a nice tutorial would make it accessible to just about everyone.

~Pixelfck

*just don't start messing around with libraries.

[TVR]

Documentation is often the weakest link in modding Transcendence.

For example, to extract the contents of a .tdb such as the Osaka extension, it must first be renamed to "Transcendence.tdb" and in the same directory as TransData.exe, before it will be recognized by "TransData.exe /decompile"

[Atarlost]

Making them is advanced, (...).

It isn't that hard to compile a basic* mod into a .tdb file; a nice tutorial would make it accessible to just about everyone.

~Pixelfck

*just don't start messing around with libraries.

Making them is advanced compared to someone who can't decompress a zip. Using them isn't.

[pixelfck]

ah, sorry, thanks for the perspective