Graphics Mod Forum Libraries

pdescobar

Moo, baby. Moo.
Joined
Nov 30, 2002
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CFC or playing DyP
Edit (1 Mar 2003): I've decided to start this project. The first library (Section 3, Interface) is up at http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46100 . It is mostly complete with regard to the list (one section to go), but there are no screenshots listed yet (aside from a few placeholder test graphics). Please let me know, in this thread what your comments/suggestions are with regard to the layout of it or any other issues. Thanks!

Original text follows:

Recently I went through the entire graphics mod forum looking for stuff to download. In the process of doing so, I catalogued pretty much everything since there isn't a real neat library here like LabMonkey's unit library. Although I can't commit to becoming the librarian here, I can at least post what I have in a temporary library for future improvement by whomever takes on the job.

Before doing so, though, I'd like to see what people's thoughts were on whether this is a good idea, and if so, how it should be organized. My thoughts on organization are to divide it up into the following three main sections:

I. Leaderheads
There are approximately 9,000 of these but there are two outdated libraries to help and some of the authors, like sween, have their personal collections organized pretty well. I was thinking that mods which add a civ to the game should also be listed here if they include a leaderhead not already in the library. As this is the largest list, I rank it first here but it'd probably be the last one up as it's the hardest to catalog. Internal organization could go by Author, Leader's Name, and/or Civ Name as existing collections seem to use those.

II. Terrain & Resources
I have this one broken into Full terrain mods (e.g. Sn00py's) and modifications to those mods (there are about 2 dozen total of these), followed by mods that focus on a single terrain feature such as pollution, roads, mines, or cities (there are about 30 of these), and finally mods which only add/change the resource icons. Resources are separate because there are 20 or so different postings of these alone.

III. Interface
This is basicly "the rest" and contains full interface changes like the Colors and Chrome Mod, partial interface changes like buttons or the title splash, wonder splashes, advisor heads, additions to the "build queue" unit/building icons, and modified citizen heads. Each of these rough groupings has about 6-12 different postings.

So, I raise the following questions.

1) Is this a useful, needed thing?

2) If so, is the proposed organization sound? If not, what should be changed? Also, should the main sections be separate threads or part of single library thread?

3) Should the libary lists have their own preview images or do people just want a description? And should they link directly to files, to the exact post containing the download links, or simply to the thread where the mods were posted?
 
Good luck if you decide to do that...we'll see you in a few years. :)
 
Well, with the encouragement of a couple of people I respect and with the overwhelming apathy of everyone else, I'm saying, "Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead!" and going ahead with this. The first section to be posted will be section 3 (interface) later on today. I picked that one because it's smaller and I have more complete info on it than the others so I can get some feedback before moving on to sections I and II. Once it's up, please restrict comments to this thread; I'd like the library itself to remain clean so it's easy to browse for people.
 
Sounds good pdescobar, you know I was only joking on the "see you in a few years" right?
 
Originally posted by Procifica
Sounds good pdescobar, you know I was only joking on the "see you in a few years" right?

Of course. We both know it'll only take a couple months, tops ;)
 
Why did you use the Science Advisor from my ACW scenario for your "preview" screens????? At least you could have used the latest version, where they don't look quite like such a total mess! :)

Anyways, library looks REALLY REALLY good.
 
And how did you get those screenshots to load like that?
 
Originally posted by Procifica
Why did you use the Science Advisor from my ACW scenario for your "preview" screens????? At least you could have used the latest version, where they don't look quite like such a total mess! :)
Ha-ha. You're probably the only person who will recognize them :p Anyhow, I used them because I needed a nice quarter-size screen capture and the only 2 I had handy were "problem-shots" from an early version of your mod sitting around in my Temp directory :) I tried to find something of like size in some of the relevant threads, but struck out, so I had to use that one.
And how did you get those screenshots to load like that?
I uploaded the screen using the Forum's "Upload File" thingy and then inserted it all over the place with [ img ] tags.
Anyways, library looks REALLY REALLY good.
Thanks. Formatting's a huge PITA with this crippled pseudo-html we have so I'm trying to come up with something decent. Hopefully it'll both look nice and be useful to people when it's done.
 
Well at least those things had a use I suppose.
 
Good luck :)
I'd like the leaderheads to be catalogued by civ. An example is that I'm looking for a chinese leaderhead to replace Mao, but not any specific chinese, almost anyone would do. So; I don't have any name to search for, nor a creator, China is what I'd be searching for.
And if some one of you knows of a nice chinese leaderhead, please PM me.
 
Originally posted by mrtn
Good luck :)
I'd like the leaderheads to be catalogued by civ. An example is that I'm looking for a chinese leaderhead to replace Mao, but not any specific chinese, almost anyone would do. So; I don't have any name to search for, nor a creator, China is what I'd be searching for.
And if some one of you knows of a nice chinese leaderhead, please PM me.

Yeah, I figure I'll try to do all three indices but I really should come up with a way to automate the creation of the initial library. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a Chinese head. Other Asian nations such as Japan and Vietnam have heads but if a Chinese one has been posted here, it is extremely well hidden :)

BTW, for anyone lurking in the thread, Section III is essentially done, complete with screenshots, and I'll be moving on to section II, so if you have any comments or suggestions on the layout, the use of previews, or anything at all really, now's the time. keep in mind, they should be posted in this thread. Thanks.
 
Thanks TF :D I guess this means I should finish the other 2 sections :lol:
 
Simply beautiful, pdescobar! :thumbsup:

If I had seen this before Thunderfall, I would have stickied the library myself! :D

Let's see, LouLong has agreed to build a similar library for User Created Maps. Now if I could just find someone to build/maintain a library of Utility Programs. ;)
 
Looking real Good pdescobar. What a great idea! It's nice to have everything categorized and in one place. I think that:

1. It is a useful thing

2. The proposed organization is sound

3. I think that if you could include a screenshot of whatever image is to be downloaded that would be cool. I don't belive you really need the small images since their kinda hard to see (although I must admit it gives you an idea of what it is). If say I want to view leaderheads or an interface image, I would want to view a full screen shot for details and better image quality. You could have both the thumbnail image and a link to the screenshot for those who want better detail. A description along with it is very nice too. :)

4. Finally I think that you should link both directly to the files and also link to the original thread so that those interested can get comments about what their downloading.

Ok, thought you might like to hear my views since ya asked. ;)


Telgar........[dance]
 
Originally posted by Telgar
Looking real Good pdescobar. What a great idea! It's nice to have everything categorized and in one place. I think that:

1. It is a useful thing

2. The proposed organization is sound

Yay! Some real in-depth feedback. Thanks Telgar! :)

3. I think that if you could include a screenshot of whatever image is to be downloaded that would be cool. I don't belive you really need the small images since their kinda hard to see (although I must admit it gives you an idea of what it is). If say I want to view leaderheads or an interface image, I would want to view a full screen shot for details and better image quality. You could have both the thumbnail image and a link to the screenshot for those who want better detail. A description along with it is very nice too. :)

What I have tried to do so far is just give a quick, small overview screenshot which saves both diskspace and screen real estate; the latter being important to me in keeping the library useable, the former just being polite. When there is a suitable screenshot available inside the thread, I have used a cropped/resized version of that and have tried to minimize the creation of new screenshots myself. The idea is that the library gives you a quick look and if you are interested then the full thread would give you more and bigger screenshots. Having my small previews link directly to those images might not be a bad idea, but I could only do it in cases where there is such an image. There are cases, such as the advisors, where my preview is a smaller composite of several posted previews where such a thing wouldn't work. For consistency, I like the current setup, but I will consider a way to link to larger shots.

4. Finally I think that you should link both directly to the files and also link to the original thread so that those interested can get comments about what their downloading.

I very much considered this, but have not yet done so for one reason: upgrades. The majority of the mods are downloaded from the extremely useful File Upload area at CFC, but the way this is implemented, every new version would have a different filename. So the librarian would have to keep a watch on everything and make sure the direct download pointed to the newest version. Being fundamentally lazy and not knowing whether or not that would be difficult to do, I have initially not done so. In general, most people update the first post of a thread with a link to the latest version, so a full thread link is still pretty direct; in cases where i know of updates further along in the thread not included in the first post, I have added links to those posts directly underneath the thread link. Perhaps I could add direct download links with a caveat that it may not be the most recent version, or perhaps updates won't be frequent enough to really matter.

Ok, thought you might like to hear my views since ya asked. ;)

Yes, thank you very much. The current library is based simply on my own opinion of what would be useful and attractive, so I very much appreciate hearing another viewpoint.
 
pdescobar: Yes, thank you very much. The current library is based simply on my own opinion of what would be useful and attractive, so I very much appreciate hearing another viewpoint.


Your very welcome pdescobar. Keep up the good work, you are doing everyone a good service by compiling this library. :goodjob:

Telgar.......[dance]


P.S. Just to give you more work, how about a rating for each download? heehee :D
 
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