Umm, last I checked this didn't work - if you launched from spring.exe, the menu wouldn't list the version number unless it was rolled into the name-field. Has that been fixed?

[NTAI] section is not used anymore. Remove it.


When was last time you checked? Mine was two days ago. I tested 80.5.2 and 81.0 hard coded menu, as well as TASClient.


The only odd thing is that ingame, Game.modName contained the modinfo.lua's name+version, instead of just the name (which I wish it had).

when does they drop .fbi support?

this is just stupid.. why does it have to be lua?

now we cant play the old mods anymore... great job guys

It's not about .fbi but just the modinfo but tdf (although afaik fbis get internally converted to Lua code already)...

As Tobi said in the News section the change is going to happen in the follow-up release which would be 0.82 as I see it. It's not going to be in what's recently a release candidate and soon to be released...

I can't really explain for what reason this happens though and why there's no tdf2lua converter for this. Still changing it is a one minute job as you sort of can copy paste all the lines and just change a little here and there...

+1

is there a reason to drop support for the old file formats?

Thanks

HOW do i play in LAN ? using spring lobby ?

most of the old mods probably have broken by now anyway without someone to maintain them. Boo hoo.

Is there a reason for you not even reading the first post of the thread?

NTai no longer uses the NTAI section, and it wouldn't be able to read the tag anyway if it was converted, it shifted to using gamename not long ago.

In light of people making unresearched negative comments I'd like to say:
I think this is a sensible step forwards.
My opinion is that the future is what we want to work for with the Spring Engine - focusing on the past would be the way to lead the Engine to it's death.

Agreed. I fail to see any issue here. If you think you can keep modding Spring without a minimum understanding of Lua you are mistaken. If you think unmaintained mods will keep working forever you are also mistaken. If you think the devs will tolerate an engine with 10's of 1000's of lines of legacy code that serves 0.01% of the community you're dreaming.

The problem is that this name is used to identify a mod from everywhere, there are no seperate version fields. This would cause problems when multiple versions of a mod with the same name are installed.

See i have no idea what is going on with development at the moment.

but i dislike you dropping support for the old formats.

i guess "speed up the handling of archives" is a powerfull enough reason.

isnt the speedup just when reading the files for the first time?
and converting if that was the case?

is this the real speedup gain?

if the file support for tdf is not dropped, will it "slow down" the game if the mod does not use it?


I liked the old format because it was simple, and would be cool to be accessible to ppl who does not know lua blah blah.



for starting, all pre .81 mods will be broken. (or almost all).

you will need an old version of spring to use any of those mods.
that means you cant test old balance with new features.

you use old version of mods to check balance.
you use old version of mods for other things too (check models, etc etc).



So is the speedup worth the trouble it generates?

You still haven't read the first post.

This affects exactly 1 FILE. All other tdf/fbi files are still supported.

i have perfectly read the first post.

did you read my post?

why have you not answered any of the questions or commented on the concerns?

Mongus, my good friend from old glory XTA days, long past.

I think by and large people are not replying to your questions, because many of them are based on misunderstanding - which I very well understand is always an issue when "native"* speakers and non-native speakers communicate (as the natives seldom make efforts to keep their language simple - I know I don't...).

The other reason is, that I think most of the active Spring game developers do not think the "break" is a wrong move. And in a way, the Engine itself is targetted more to those, than to players directly.

On your questions/issues I quote above:
- the Lua format for information - as in use in the modinfo.lua file - is actually no more complicated then that of TDF. For newcomers, in any case - of course if you're comfortable with .tdf, you'll have to have a look at .lua files before it's just as easy for you.
- Yes all non maintained pre .81 games will be broken. That this is an issue for players is clear. It just doesn't weigh so heavy vs the benefits that it is enough of a reason not to go forwards regardless.
- As Tobi explains, the issue is less one of speedup, and more of code maintanance Engine side - there is a lot of Code in the Engine (obviously), and often enough, changes to one area, effect others (potentially "breaking" the Engine itself - till someone fixes the bug). The reason then is to save on workload for the Enginedevs, so that they have more time to actually work on new features (or making changes that improve performance), rather than fixing up code that was broken due to new features...

Hope that explains most of the issues, but feel free to ask if there's anything that's still unclear,
Sean

*Yes I know - Tobi is not a native speaker (I think...) but his grasp (and that of many others) of the language is almost equivalent.

Really? you really want to argue this point?

Dude, if you cannot edit a lua modinfo you are too stupid to edit a .tdf.

Please take 2 of these and don't call me in the morning.

There are other changes that will make pre 0.81 mod unplayable. This one is just one more.
Unmaintained mods are dead.

SOOOOOOOOOOO HARD

WHAT IS THIS VOODOO!?