The contents of release packages

[Relabsoluness]

The release packages of RC1 and RC2 seem quite scarce - there is not much else than the program. Although it is true that many people don't necessarily need anything else, especially those who download OMPT to see for the first time what is tracking, might find it frustrating that there is not even a single example mod to demonstrate how the thing works(not to mention a tutorial and such).

I think the most important thing would be some tutorial or similar, but that of course might require much work, whereas an example mod(and maybe some vsti?) would be quite easy to add.

But anyway, I just thought to lift the matter on table for further discussion.

[Squirrel Havoc]

How about doing what a lot of people do:

"This release is an update, please download and install the latest stable release first."

[speed-goddamn-focus]

I agree, all it takes is for someone to do it.

[Squirrel Havoc]

I agree, all it takes is for someone to do it.

Uh are you agreeing with me or him?

[speed-goddamn-focus]

I agree, all it takes is for someone to do it.

Uh are you agreeing with me or him?

Both. No matter what you update from there's no proper manual or examples.

[Relabsoluness]

How about doing what a lot of people do:

"This release is an update, please download and install the latest stable release first."

Like speed-goddamn-focus mentioned, it is bit useless if there is no package which contained much else than the updates.
But maybe LPChip's comment in thread I'm new to ModPlug... explains all:

The public RC2 build (has all the files you need)

- so no helpfile needed  

Anyway, would a compo whose winner was the example mod to ship with ompt sound good, or should the example mod be specifically created to be 'educational' rather than being 'just a tune'?

[Squirrel Havoc]

Anyway, would a compo whose winner was the example mod to ship with ompt sound good, or should the example mod be specifically created to be 'educational' rather than being 'just a tune'?

Why not both? One to show what good music looks like on the inside, and one to show what a lot of effects can do

[Relabsoluness]

Why not both? One to show what good music looks like on the inside, and one to show what a lot of effects can do

Hmmm, this is hard - how to respond to question 'Why not both?' if you want to say that there is no reason not to include both

Indeed it could be nice that there were two or more mods - some of which would simply be tunes of different genres and some more 'educationally oriented'.

[anboi]

there should definitely be some sort of faq type business going on with answers to the most commonly asked questions on here - how to control vst params, etc. etc.

i'm STILL working on documentation, my flatmate has gone mad with design and is now going to do a database system etc. for it (see www.desktopgaming.com for a site he's done). he also showed me a live search routine thing that he's written for another site that he can convert so it'll be amazingly searchable, i'll press him on it next time he complains of being bored!
content wise i've only covered the general and patterns tabs in-depth so far and there's quite a lot of holes but it'll be useful enough to put up somewhere sometime soon i hope. i'll get back on it cos i've been slacking on that since xmas.

thing is - this is gonna be web-based not packageable (although something could perhaps be generated from the db as html without too much hassle, depends how we do it). what are peoples thoughts on that? obviously we have benefits: easy to keep current, everyone sees the same version of the docs for the newest version of the prog but the downsides are that people may not have access and there's possibility of downtime etc. Is this acceptable to most people? i'm happy web-based is the best choice and will fire on with it but it may be loads of hassle to get it from web-based to packageable in which case is it worth it to do so or are most people fine without?

[Relabsoluness]

.

[anboi]

ok, looks like that won't matter cos it apparently should be possible with not too much effort to generate an html help file from whatever we end up doing.  hooray! etc.

[rewbs]

Cool! What's the main purpose of the system he's developing "for you"? Will it allow for lots of authors (wiki style)? Does it provide anything that isn't provided by exising packages?

[Sam_Zen]

If I have to pay for a program, I expect a complete product, including a thorough manual.
If it's open source, I expect nothing extra. Adding a manual takes time, so money. Which can't be gained back.
So the remedy is, to take personal action to gather as much information as possible, e.g. from the net.

[anboi]

there won't be provision for multiple authors (or at least i doubt it, i haven't thought this over with respect to that yet...). i prefer not to have it wiki to keep it consistent as possible since i'm having trouble being consistent myself even...
its nothing thats tooo fancy - just a database containing the documentation bits linked to a nice clean web page interface which will contain (thanks to using the db system) a live search feature (ie you start typing the word in and it brings up several options immediately). i'm not entirely sure how he plans on implementing all this stuff and i need to work out whats possible and whatnot. i know the basics of php + mysql but not what he does but i know exactly what the docs need and whats up with them so we need a couple more design chats to get it all sorted. i was all for leaving out the db stuff and making it more simple but it will make it more powerful and hopefully more updateable. dunno! i should stop talking about it while i sort the details more. i'm still getting text down regardless since it's all gonna have to be cut 'n' pasted from my current html version anyway.

[Squirrel Havoc]

Is there something wrong with writing it to a text or pdf file and distributing it with MPT? I'm kind of confused here...