i personally think it should be up to the game-devs to have an up-to date ValidAIs.lua... fetching this information from an ai imo is much more complicated. also there should be some setting to use all ais in the lobby and ignore that file.

(added my thoughts to the feature request: http://springrts.com/mantis/view.php?id=2923)

I am fine with this.

I've added my own suggestion, basically extends what Abma proposes with a validgames.lua that provides a default for if validAIs.lua doesn't mention anything. That way I can still add support for games with no maintainer or mid-release cycle, but a game dev can still say No as validAIs.lua has the final say

if validAIs.lua has the final say, and doesn't include your AI, how does validGames.lua help you?

edit: nvm skimread and missed 'deafult if validais doesn't provide anything'

That seems to assume validAIs includes a blacklist as well as whitelist?

Validai for a dated project can be covered with a mutator. That is of course presuming the project still works.

@Flozi yeah, a blacklist would also save the game dev the testing hassle. By default if an AI is not mentioned in the game, and the AI makes no attempt to declare support, then no support of any kind should be assumed.

Indeed, but for bleeding edge "Smoth hasn't woken up yet" or "I have 100 mutators because AF was rather prolific one week", it lets AI devs iterate fast.

Mutators and validGames.lua are a more permanent thing since releasing and installing a new game then distributing it amongst all players is more hassle than me pressing rebuild and hosting a game.

Mutators also induce coupling. My AI now has a proto-game to go with it, though that could be useful in its own right on some occasions

ValidAIs.lua is mainly intented to prevent newb from accidentally adding non-working AI.

I wouldn't want extra complication and multiple files of conflicting shades of grey for cases that don't even happen.

Also, if you're devving, you probably know how to unpack mods and edit configs

If you're a content dev you need only ever concern yourself with validAIs.lua, validGames.lua is an AI developer thing, and I'd much prefer to have a flag in settings saying "ignore both on this machine"