Need some help and advice.

[xkcon]

I'm very close to releasing my mod now, but I need a little help from you guys...

I want to make my own webpage to host my MOD files and I want to make it so you can download individual components of the MOD instead of one big download. (ie: download specific Folders, like the Campaign folder, Entities folder, Gui folder, Locale folder, Sprites Folder, Tiles folder, and the Tables folder.) And for these downloads, I want to make Fallout style buttons for the webpage interface like in this next screen shot

But instead of the Buttons saying Load, Save, Quick keys etc, I want to make buttons that say Tiles, Entities, GUI, Locale, Campaign, Sprites, Tables .... What would be the easiest way to make these buttons so that I could overlay them on various different background images...


Also, what web host do you recommend for this webpage, keep in mind I am mostly broke and have limited cash. I want to make a nice page like RedTec's page or something similar.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Felipefpl]

idk if you can make something like this but moddb.com seems to be a good place to host it.

 

[nadeauhugo]

I suggest mod db too, specially because you want to give you mod by parts and that is really in a modder way of thinking.

For the buttons, you simply have to go to the file core/locale/gui/gui_text.txt and temporarily change the menu titles there by what you want. You hit Print screen and then you cut the buttons (easy because they are rectangles) in a image editor to create buttons images online in .png or .jpg. That's it.

 

[xkcon]

Okay thanks, what photoshop tools do I use to cut and save like you said? The rectangle button or the magic lasso? can you explain with more detail? Sorry I am just not very good with photoshop ...

 

[nadeauhugo]

In photoshop, press "m" on the keyboard for rectangular selection tool. You select a button (use Ctrl + and Ctrl - to zoom in and out, also hold Spacebar to use the hand cursor and move around you zoomed image as you like). When the selection is good, press Ctrl C, Ctrl N, Enter, Ctrl V. That will copy your selection and paste it in another document of the right size. Do that for all the buttons, save them and you're done!

If you want the buttons to not be square, but imperfectly rounded, you can remove the "background" layer from each button file, then use the lasso (press "L" to get it) to select one corner at a time and delete it with backspace. Each time you have a selection and you want to get rid of it, press Ctrl D. You'll get buttons with transparent corners. You save all that to .png and you can use the images in your site.

 

[xkcon]

Hey guys, I am still on pace to release my MOD before the end of the year, but I need a little more advice and help to finish my project.

I want to make some big 'comic book' letters for my webpage ... You know the fonts like you see on Amazing spiderman or other comic books, kind of a slanted block letter or something like that. How can I make something like that ? Is it easy or ? Are there already existing fonts out there that I can just download or ? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am out of my element.

Also, I would humbly like to ask any sprite-maker out there if you can help me out? (anyone heard from Redmetal??) anyways I'll post the images here, if someone call help out, that's awesome, if not... that's cool too, then I'll figure out something else.

Really, I just need one crown and one puzzle-box both scaled to appropriate levels. If any one could help me out I'd be mighty grateful...

Lastly, and this isn't really about my mod ... it is more about me supporting the community. I want to donate to DAC and NMA to help them. and also, I have become aware of certain crowd funding projects that I want to support. How do I donate ? do I use a credit card or Paypal ? I am leery of using a credit card online, and I would prefer a safer way. can any explain a little about paypal? do you have give all personal info to paypal or can you remain anonymous?

Well, the lack of response here speaks volumes to me... Well, I guess I can understand that, as many have probably given up on me. I've taken far far to long to finish my mod, so I suppose people just don't want to help me, because they don't believe I will ever finish.

Ah well. So I eventually took it upon myself to figure out all that stuff on my own. After much banging of my head against the wall, I typed into google "how do I draw a straight line in photoshop" and Bang!! a whole new world was opened to me. You can literally go on youtube and type "how do I... ?" and dozens of tutorial videos will come up. I learned about concepts like 'paths','layers', 'alphachannels' etc...
It's so much easier to learn when you can just watch someone doing it as opposed to learning from a book by yourself. with my own Video teacher, I've become highly proficient at photoshop now, and.... I've finally learned to make my own sprites!!!

So now I've used my new skills to completely finish all the object sprites I needed and I've also made really cool artwork for webpage.

I just wish somebody could've told me to just go on youtube and type "how do I ... ?" , it would've saved me a full 5 weeks of fucking around and I could've finished my project way sooner... heh...

At any rate my Mod is 'COMING SOON'

 

[nadeauhugo]

Happy you found some ways to figure out how to get some resulte using Web ressources. I would have lovee to help you but at this time months past since I was able to work on my own mod and visit this page, I was too occupied with other art projects. But this said, I'll be back before christmas that is certain and I'll assist you then with pleasure if you still need some photoshop tricks.

 

[Zerginfestor]

Oh wowie, didn't know this even existed, pretty cool thing you've got going on, OP, never give in to despair!

 

[xkcon]

I have a few more questions, if anyone can help me out...

Hugo I like your Webpage, what service did you use for it? Wix or godaddy? or something else? or did you make it yourself ?

also...

My mod is 1.86GB do I need to zip it or can I just upload as is... It is 8 folders from the 'core', the folders are 'campaign','entities','gui',local,'sound','sprites',tables','tiles'...

Would it better to up/download them separately as separate files or altogether in one big archive...

any suggestions?

 

[nadeauhugo]

Hi there!

I really suggest you put all the files together for a sigle download. Today 1.86GB is not that much and most Internet connections can get the file in a relative short moment without errors. My mods are all heavier than that and I didn't really have problem with somebody trying to access the mod. And if you put the files to be downloaded separately, there will be mistakes somewhere and you will never finish uploading your content.

As for my websites I use Godaddy for hosting and the .com. As for creating the pages themselves, I either do them myself from scratch (like hugonadeau.com) or I simply use Blogger (thesum.hugonadeau.com). Blogger is great because you really can customize everything, you will never have to pay to access your content and it is really simple to use. Of course you have to work a little to get something to look nice, but it is achievable.

Have fun uploading your things!

 

[xkcon]

Ok, cool, I'm glad you responded, Ok, I started with godaddy too, and here is my website

http://www.xkcon.net/

The problem I have now, is that Godaddy can't host my files... when I signed up, I told the dude I want to host a 1.8 GB file and he said no problem, so I made my site, and then go to link the files for upload and it says sorry can't load files bigger than 30MB!!! Ugghhh!!! a lousy 30MB won't get you shit nowadays. I talked to support and they said (of course) there is no solution, except if I learn 'wordpress'... Man I'm so sick of having to learn shit... So I asked why can't they just readjust the parameter for the size of files and of course he says it hard coded or something... sigh...

So as usual another kick in the pants for my plans.

anyways I want to release the MOD to NMA here, how do I do that ?

 

[nadeauhugo]

Okay... Are you actually trying to upload your file via godaddy Website or a FTP client? Because if you use the Website I am not surprised there is a limit to the transfer. I suggest you download an application like WinSCP and setup your Website there with all the connection informations provided by Godaddy (ftp adress + login + password basically). When you are connected within WinSCP application, just upload your files to your site and you will have no problem. Other thing, you may have a maximum bandwith with your hosting account. If that is the case, you may have to pay extra money if many people are downloading your files. Just check that with the guys from Godaddy.

Great idea to create a site anyways, you are almost there!

 

[xkcon]

Ok, I downloaded winSCP and installed it. I entered FTP address 'www.xkcon.net/" then I entered my Godaddy account and entered password.

Now it says connection failed '404 not found'. I also got another error that says connection failed because I was refused...

What am I doing wrong ?

After Talking to support again. they told me that winSCP won't work with thier 'website builder' and that I will have to rebuild my site with traditional hosting methods.

So now I have take down my site and learn some more new shit. I highly doubt I will be able to learn the process to get a website up within the remaining 5 days to my Nov 14 deadline.... However , the mod is done and I want to release it regardless of my website status. what is the easiest way for me to get my mod into you guy's hands?

Can I just Email it to somebody at NMA? MOD is ready to be released today....

I have to learn a new HTML editor, such as "coffecup", so my old page was yanked down and deleted. I am a slow learner and probably won't be able to have a website up and running in 5 days. But the mod is ready to be released today... Anybody have any suggestions for a quick and easy way to get the mod into the hands of the people ? Quick and easy... can I use the winSCP program to send the MOD to NMA ? If so, how ?

 

[nadeauhugo]

First create an account on MOD DB!!!! Did that myself and I was able to get thousands of views for my mod (more than 20 000 now...) so that is a great asset! You can put files for download there up to 8 gigs which is SO great. In my opinion, only after you did that first step you should focus on your Webpage. You can set that up in an hour or two and your mod will be ready for download.

I think "website builder" MUST work with winSCP. How? As simple as that :

1. ZIP your mod.
2. Transfer the file to your hosting space using winSCP.
3. Place a button in the page you already did using website builder. The link of the button will be this : "http://www.xkcon.net/THE_NAME_OF_YOUR_FILE.zip". That is as simple as that.

What you did wrong with your FTP setup was to enter an incorrect ftp address. Most or all ftp addresses start with ftp, like " ftp.thenameofyourwebsite.com " or " ftp.godaddy.com ". You must find that specific address you paid for, then you try to connect to it using your godaddy login and password. Sometimes, there is a specific login and password for your hosting. That is my case. If your godaddy login and password don't work connecting to your ftp, you have to find your unique login and password associated with your hosting plan.

Don't give up!

Your ftp address should be "ftp.xkcon.net".

 

[xkcon]

I registered at Moddb. Now how do I give them my zip file. I clicked on add a mod, browse and go to select the file, but my zip files don't show up??? I can't select them... what now ??? why is everything so fucking hard???

Ok, I think I got it now at Moddb, I had to be in the category 'files' instead of category 'mods' to upload my zip file. it seems to be uploading.

Man I hope this finally works...

So you are saying that website builder will work with winSCP, I just had my address wrong... Ok I will get them un undelete my websitebuilder page and try it out.

Also what can you tell me about dropbox, would it be possible to use 'dropbox' somehow to link the file download to my webpage ?

Ok now at Moddb I uploaded the fucking file but it says 'This content must be linked with at least 1 mod, game, engine, hardware, software or group." and I can't proceed with the 'save' what to I do now ? Fuck seriously, all this shit, I am ready to give up...

Can somebody go onto Moddb, and see if they can find my mod. I don't think I put it into the correct spot. I'm sure I fucked that up too....

The most frustrating thing is when no one is around to help.

I think I finally got it onto moddb, I got a screen that said my files needed to be authorized before they will be released. they said it could be a few days, however, I could be wrong because I may have done something wrong. we will see...

I tried again with website builder and winSCP and still get an error, that says I am being actively refused...

However I FINALLY got the file hosted on dropbox, and linked to my website.

www.xkcon.net

 

[nadeauhugo]

Ah great. Me too I'll love to give your mod a try when this process is completed!

 

[RobertHouse]

I believe you've uploaded it as a file not as a mod on Mod DB. If you'd like I can setup a Mod profile for you and then give you full ownership and full control of it.

I wish I had seen your posts sooner I would of been happy to help set everything up with you.

I'm buying a domain and am uploading and hosting a few websites myself. I'm paying for unlimited file storage so I'll soon be able to host webpages and files for our little modding community. I'd be very happy to host some webpages, files and mods/projects for people. If you're still having some trouble with uploading and hosting your files and website I'd be happy to host everything for you. I'll be buying the domain here in the upcoming months, I'll let you know and see if you need anymore help. Good luck with all your projects!

 

[xkcon]

Yeah, When I was trying to upload it, for some reason it wouldn't allow me to select 'zip' files when I tried under 'mods', but it worked under 'files'. If you want, you can shift it over to mods instead of files, that's cool.

Thanks for all your help, I like to tell you, that your artwork is high quality and is inspiration for me.