Cataloging BK mods & maps

[Quintaxel]

There are a countless number of Mods and maps available for BK but how to keep track of all this valuable stuff? Anyone using a database or cataloging software for this?

[bb]

I think the greatest problem is the stuff released after the end of BKP. The custom is ask for the material here in the forums, there are lot of guys who keep everything. Also the people on the spanish portal uses to have backup of everything, by the way, thank you guys!

[Deleted]

Never the less, one database with everything would be quite nice..
Maybe a future project..

[tedi88]

Oct 25, 2013 6:28:44 GMT 1 vonosten said:

Never the less, one database with everything would be quite nice..
Maybe a future project..

That would be superb.  

While i have a big collection of chapters for mods and even a nice collection of single missions for Heimatfront, it (the collection) pales in comparison with what bb has.

[Quintaxel]

The best option I found so far are is a free cataloging software called Data Crow. This package has the flexibility to create different modules and manage these modules as one single database. This means you could create separate modules for cataloging maps, mods, units, skins,... etc. and still manage these modules as a single catalog. So far this is the only program that is capable of doing this. The program is also portable 
The challenge with keeping an inventory of BK resources is the fact that the data fields are different for each type of mod.

eg. for keeping track of maps you would have data fields like Map Size, Authour, AI Side, player Side, season, Mod required, year,...
For graphical mods like units or skins these data fields will be totally different. As I understand it 'Data Crow' could deal with this but still the data fields would have to be defined first. These modules could be shared between users of Data Crow. Also content can be exported and imported.

So Data Crow is a candidate I guess. 

[tedi88]

Count me in.

[Quintaxel]

Nephilim, No, I haven't but this sounds like a valuable idea. Problem is that I'm not familiar with cloud based information sharing and hosting. An excel sheet would be a good start I guess.
For cataloging maps I use a program called Wowbase. I use it to keep track of the maps I played. The advantage of this utility is that it has  a low threshold for setting up and populating a database. This works fine on my personal could, so it should also be possible to share and populate the database with other users. Ill post a picture later so you get an idea of what I'm talking about.

[Quintaxel]

That's correct Nephilim. In my opinion a lot of goods community made content ends up in oblivion.
I made a first attempt to keep units in database using Wowbase. I have a screenshot on ImageShack but don't know how post an image.

imageshack.us/photo/my-images/6/r692.jpg/

The sample database can be found here: BK Map Database

This is just a 'proof of concept'. Wowbase can import data from cvs files. So sharing of records should be possible.

Also made a sample database for keeping units that can be found here: Sample database for units

A copy of Wowbase can be found here: Wowbase 1.36 To open the database use select file> open > and select the file or alternatively just drop drag the file into Wowbase.  

[Folgore]

Do you mean this? www.mediafire.com/download/0d1582bj200lxhr/Blitzkrieg_Unit_Reference.zip

[Quintaxel]

Nephilin, this sounds interesting. Thanks for trying to find out more about this database tool.

regards,

[Quintaxel]

The data in the 'Blitzkrieg Unit Reference.xls' is probably extracted from each units 1.xml file. As far as I understand it the objects.xml file contains all units used in the game (or pak file containing units). So it should be possible to write a routine that reads an objects.xml file and collects the data for each unit contained in that mod file including the icon.tga file, unit description and author. The result could then be exported to an xml file that can be read into a database.

Unfortunately I'm not capable of programming this.

As a concept it would be ideal i guess because the effort for maintaining the database would be limited. 
Maybe I know someone who could help here.

[Quintaxel]

Oct 30, 2013 11:46:36 GMT 1 Folgore said:

Do you mean this? www.mediafire.com/download/0d1582bj200lxhr/Blitzkrieg_Unit_Reference.zip

Thanks for the list Folgore. Not exactly the list I had in mind but surely helpful. I recall that there is a list of all user made content that was posted on BKP. I must have stored somewhere on a CDr, pendrive or Hard disk. I see if I can find it back.

[Jagged Steel]

So much content has been produced since the BKP days that I doubt that list from BKP is of any use.

[Quintaxel]

Nov 13, 2013 22:10:45 GMT 1 Jagged Steel said:

So much content has been produced since the BKP days that I doubt that list from BKP is of any use.

Hmm..., you're probably right. A lot of material has been published since BKP stopped so maybe the list would be far from complete.
I wonder if anyone ever considered to make a "BK Vanilla+" version. What I mean is version containing only the best units, objects and skins that where made. Unit Paks could be split per theater of operation to keep the file size manageable. The same could be done with unit skins. The criteria for deciding what is good enough to qualify for this BK Vanilla+ would be a point of discussion but I'm sure that objective criteria could be established. And discussion is what this forum is about .

It's just an idea and and I must admit that I'm not the right person to judge the feasibility of such an undertaking. I leave this to the veterans of BK.    

[Deleted]

Well it would be an interesting idea.
Quite a bit of work anyway, to place all the content together, but I could make a personal list, what I consider as interesting..