Primer on how to Announce your Custom Scenario or Campaign

[edward77]

I have noticed that my Pacific scenarios have been removed from the OOB-WW2 Single Customer Scenarios section and I am fairly certain I have not received any communication about updating for Order of Battle changes. I thought perhaps the exclusion might be due to the 64 update, however I now have the 64 update and for the scenarios I have checked so far, (Eastern Solomons, Takimnobo, Coral Sea 42 and Battle of Santa Cruz), all function perfectly sven without resaving them in the 64 version. Please advise.

[bru888]

I have noticed that my Pacific scenarios have been removed from the OOB-WW2 Single Customer Scenarios section and I am fairly certain I have not received any communication about updating for Order of Battle changes. I thought perhaps the exclusion might be due to the 64 update, however I now have the 64 update and for the scenarios I have checked so far, (Eastern Solomons, Takimnobo, Coral Sea 42 and Battle of Santa Cruz), all function perfectly sven without resaving them in the 64 version. Please advise.

Your links were down and I sent you a PM to inquire. After two weeks of no response, I figured that you had left the community so I removed your posts. If you have working versions of your scenarios that you would like to share again, please use this thread to announce them and I will post them to the Custom Scenarios thread. Please read the blurbs at the bottom of the opening post above and make sure that your links work and are updated as needed. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I did try to contact you.

P.S. - I just sent you a test message. Please see if you got it. If not, then perhaps you need to update your profile on this forum?

[edward77]

Thanks for the reply but I still do not understand. Why remove them if they work? When you say the links were down, do you mean the e-mail or dropbox or both? I have been regularly sending in scenarios for P&S, FoG and OoB without any problems. To make it easier can I send you all of them directly to your e-mail via dropbox as I do with Richard. ?

[bru888]

Thanks for the reply but I still do not understand. Why remove them if they work? When you say the links were down, do you mean the e-mail or dropbox or both? I have been regularly sending in scenarios for P&S, FoG and OoB without any problems. To make it easier can I send you all of them directly to your e-mail via dropbox as I do with Richard. ?

Don't worry edward, we will work this out so that your stuff can be posted again. We certainly want it up there! Let's start from the beginning.

As you know, when you "Announce your Custom Scenarios and Campaigns" here by using VPaulus' template, one of the things you provide is a link to your scenario or campaign in an online storage service like Dropbox. Here's an example:

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I sort of inherited this job of maintaining these threads from VPaulus, bless him. So, one thing I do is to periodically go through and test those Dropbox links to see if they still work; that is, whether people are still able to download the scenario or campaign. If not, then there is no sense leaving the post up there forever because, as I am sure you are aware, modders can come and go, lose interest in the game, and disappear.

This is what I thought in your case because your links were not working and when I sent you a private message, you did not respond for two weeks and I thought you were gone. Even now, you have not opened the test PM that I sent you yesterday, which has me curious; the message is still in my Outbox:

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When you first sign on, do you see a "1" here, indicating that you have a new message? That's me, trying to contact you. (You're also supposed to get an e-mail sent to the Inbox of whatever e-mail address you provided when you set up your Slitherine account):

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So anyway, I was asking in the PM whether you could provide a new set of download links. No response for two weeks; thought you were gone; took the posts down.

Again, I apologize for the inconvenience but you can see how this happened. If you will kindly post your scenarios here again, one post for each scenario using VPaulus' template and with working download links, I will move them to the Custom Scenarios thread.

Here's the thing, though. Please heed this blurb from VPaulus' template because I have a feeling, now that I know you did not leave the community, that this was the cause:

Note: At times you will want to update your Custom Scenario/Campaign with a new version. If you just upload your new file to your cloud storage provider and go to share it, an entirely new link may be created. This will not be the same link as the one that you originally posted for the old file. That link will either be out-of-date or broken if you remove the old file from cloud storage. So whether your provider is Dropbox, Google Drive, or some other service, look for instructions on how to manage versions. This will allow you to upload a new file version and preserve the original link to it.

Plus, as a modder, you do need to keep an eye on your private messages. No obligations, of course, but it would seem important if you want people to enjoy your work especially if a moderator needs to contact you about it.

[edward77]

I have not used PM because at the very start of contributing scenarios I was advised not to use it as it was unreliable. Frankly this is becoming very difficult and time consuming. I removed all the Pacific scenarios from Dropbox some time ago so I will have to use new ones. I have spent the last half hour trying to find something on "manage versions" in Dropbox without success. I`m stuck and fed up.

[bru888]

I have not used PM because at the very start of contributing scenarios I was advised not to use it as it was unreliable. Frankly this is becoming very difficult and time consuming. I removed all the Pacific scenarios from Dropbox some time ago so I will have to use new ones. I have spent the last half hour trying to find something on "manage versions" in Dropbox without success. I`m stuck and fed up.

Ok, listen. I have an idea, inspired by this situation and a similar one with Duplex which produced a partial solution. Hang on while I try to rearrange things to make them easier.

[bru888]

Ok, listen. I have an idea, inspired by this situation and a similar one with Duplex which produced a partial solution. Hang on while I try to rearrange things to make them easier.

So here is what you do, if you will:

According to New Procedures for Announcing Custom Scenario/Campaign, please make a new Discussion Thread in the Scenario Design forum. You can call it "Edwards Scenarios" if you want to group them, or you can have an individual thread for each scenario, your choice. In the thread(s), talk a bit about your scenarios (name, year, description, theater of war, version, and above all, provide working links.

Then follow the procedures and templates shown above and announce your custom scenarios here. Where it says SCENARIO DISCUSSION THREAD, put in the URL for your Discussion Thread(s). I will then move your announcement posts over to Custom Scenarios for people to find and enjoy them.

Remember, it will be up to you to maintain your own links in your Discussion Thread(s). The good news? You don't have to worry about "manage versions" in Dropbox (I don't think they offer that feature, anyway). When your links change because you have uploaded a new version of your scenarios, just edit the links in your Discussion Thread(s) accordingly. If you even change cloud storage providers, just edit the links accordingly.

Again, it's simple: 1) Make a Discussion Thread(s) in the Scenario Design forum. 2) Post your Announcements here in this thread using the template above and linking back to your Discussion Thread(s).

Hopefully this will be easier from now on, for you and everybody.

[Duplex]

Yeah, I like the change. Thanks bru. I know it must've taken a long time to change everything one by one.

[bru888]

Yeah, I like the change. Thanks bru. I know it must've taken a long time to change everything one by one.

Thanks for your appreciation Duplex. Yeah, you can tell if you look at the times of my first response to Edward and my next: with a few breaks about six hours of work, I don't mind saying. The things I do for this game!

Well, it wasn't just for Edward; it was for you and other modders, in appreciation for your own contributions to this community. Now you guys and future folks should have an easier time in making them.

[Erik2]

Great work, Bru.

[edward77]

Thanks bru888. Will do as you outlined but will run all the scenarios to check and perhaps improve. Many thanks again for your help.

[bru888]

Thanks bru888. Will do as you outlined but will run all the scenarios to check and perhaps improve. Many thanks again for your help.

My pleasure. Whenever you are ready.

[edward77]

Bru888. Right in middle of doing what you asked. Where it says SCENARIO DISCUSSION THREAD, put in the URL for your Discussion Thread(s). How do I get the url for the discussion thread?

[bru888]

Bru888. Right in middle of doing what you asked. Where it says SCENARIO DISCUSSION THREAD, put in the URL for your Discussion Thread(s). How do I get the url for the discussion thread?

Create a new thread in the Scenario Design forum. Name it Edward's Scenarios (this is what I recommend rather than creating a new thread for each individual scenario). Just say some stuff in the opening post about what you did, the version numbers, and include the links to your cloud storage. I will edit it and set you up with how I did Erik's and Duplex's (and my own) which I think will work out well.

Copy the URL address for the Edward's Scenarios thread (it will look something like this: http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 74&t=78762) to where it says SCENARIO DISCUSSION THREAD in your announcement post here. Don't worry about goofing it up; I will come by later and take care of things.

So, it's: 1) Make an Edward's Scenarios thread; 2) Talk about them and provide links to them (by the way, each scenario should be in a zipped file containing the scenario folder for people to quickly extract and plop into their game's scenarios folder - if you are not sure, look at how other modders have prepared their zipped scenario folders for downloading); 3) Make sure your download links work; and 4) Come back here and Announce your Custom Scenarios, one post for each scenario, with each linking back to your Edward's Scenarios thread. I will take care of the rest.

Two things:
* From that point on, you will be responsible for updating your version numbers and links because you will be able to edit your own post in the Edward's Scenario thread. If the links change for some reason, you can update them as needed.
* Remember that once you put something out there, you are responsible (morally, not legally - it's up to you, of course) to maintain your work or ask to have it taken down if you no longer wish to be bothered with it.

Someday, of course, all of this will be obsolete and forgotten - if these forums are even still accessible at that time - but until it does turn into yet another ghost town, think about some schlub downloading your stuff and wondering why it doesn't work. Each time the developers release a new version, something can happen to your handiwork as you know. That's when you should either step up or step back.

[edward77]

Copy the URL address for the Edward's Scenarios thread. Repeat How do I get the url for the discussion thread? Where is it? Where do I copy it from?

[bru888]

Copy the URL address for the Edward's Scenarios thread. Repeat How do I get the url for the discussion thread? Where is it? Where do I copy it from?

My friend, it's sink or swim after this. I don't know how much plainer I can make this process and I don't get paid to give custom tutorials. Or to forum moderate, come to think of it! But that's another story.

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I don't mean to sound snarky, but you've got to be able to do this on your own. As it is, I feel that I have written a primer here which you may want to print out if you need it because I am thinking I should return this thread to the pristine state it was in when it was delegated to me by VPaulus (whom you may need to contact next if you have any more trouble). That means deleting all of these how-to posts. [Actually, what I think I will do is to move them into the main forum under a different title in case they are useful to anybody else.]

I deleted that demo "Edward's Scenario" thread because you should have your own thread with your forum name and avatar on it, not mine. These are your scenarios and you should be proud of them. You also need to take care of them and your thread because nobody is going to do that for you.

Now c'mon. You can do this. Can't you?

[edward77]

Bru888, Ok I think I have eventually done it correctly. Please point out anything I have done wrongly. Sorry to have been such a pain but it is the first time i have used this method. Thanks again for your patience and perseverance.

[bru888]

Guys, these are just some posts that I felt the need to move here to return "Announce your Custom Scenarios and Campaigns here" to the single-post arrangement which I think was intended when it was set up. Basically, you post there to have a moderator move it to one of the Custom threads. So what is shown above is just a bit of information on the process moved here rather than deleting or banishing these posts to the netherworld.

[GabeKnight]

As always, thanks for all your patience, effort and "tranquility" as moderator .

Never could do something like that myself. Always the same questions about the same trivial things...I'd go nuts

And I agree with leaving these posts as "tutorial" for further use...