[interface] Notifying players when there are add-on updates available.

Brainstorm ideas of possible additions to the game. Read this before posting!

Moderator: Forum Moderators

Forum rules
Before posting a new idea, you must read the following:
Post Reply
User avatar
PapaSmurfReloaded
Posts: 820
Joined: November 17th, 2007, 1:10 pm
Location: Argentina

[interface] Notifying players when there are add-on updates available.

Post by PapaSmurfReloaded »

It would good if players could have some sort of visual notification in the main screen telling them add-on they have installed has an update available. Like a mouseover or something.
Attachments
suggestion.png
suggestion.png (245.59 KiB) Viewed 3072 times
Soliton
Site Administrator
Posts: 1680
Joined: April 5th, 2005, 3:25 pm
Location: #wesnoth-mp

Re: [interface] Notifying players when there are add-on updates available.

Post by Soliton »

Wesnoth would have to automatically connect to the (last used or so) addon server which people might not like though this could be controlled by a preference setting. Sounds like a good idea to me.
"If gameplay requires it, they can be made to live on Venus." -- scott
User avatar
josteph
Inactive Developer
Posts: 741
Joined: August 19th, 2017, 6:58 pm

Re: [interface] Notifying players when there are add-on updates available.

Post by josteph »

If we do this, we might as well show an indicator on the new campaign / new MP game screens that lets you know if a campaign / map / mod that you're about to start a game with have an update you haven't downloaded yet.
gnombat
Posts: 682
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 8:49 pm

Re: [interface] Notifying players when there are add-on updates available.

Post by gnombat »

PapaSmurfReloaded wrote: July 6th, 2019, 1:36 pm It would good if players could have some sort of visual notification in the main screen telling them add-on they have installed has an update available.
The problem I see with this is that it appears to be really pushing people to always update their add-ons, even though that may cause problems in some cases. If a player is in the middle of an add-on campaign, updating the add-on may cause problems, because there is no guarantee the new version is compatible with the old version.
josteph wrote: July 7th, 2019, 10:31 am If we do this, we might as well show an indicator on the new campaign / new MP game screens that lets you know if a campaign / map / mod that you're about to start a game with have an update you haven't downloaded yet.
That sounds like a better idea (although it would probably be more complicated to implement).
User avatar
PapaSmurfReloaded
Posts: 820
Joined: November 17th, 2007, 1:10 pm
Location: Argentina

Re: [interface] Notifying players when there are add-on updates available.

Post by PapaSmurfReloaded »

Soliton wrote: July 6th, 2019, 5:29 pm Wesnoth would have to automatically connect to the (last used or so) addon server which people might not like though this could be controlled by a preference setting. Sounds like a good idea to me.
Indeed, the idea is just letting people know there is an update they will probably be interested in, and in a non-invasive way.
Not pushing an automatic update onto them.
gnombat wrote: July 7th, 2019, 2:48 pm The problem I see with this is that it appears to be really pushing people to always update their add-ons, even though that may cause problems in some cases. If a player is in the middle of an add-on campaign, updating the add-on may cause problems, because there is no guarantee the new version is compatible with the old version.
I see what you mean, however I do not agree. Especially if it is done as a preference setting as Soliton suggested.

Being notified about an available update does not actually create a new problem, even if there wasn't a notification of some sort about available updates, updating an add-on like you described it would cause compatibility issues. Also, the opposite case is possible too, that the old version of an add-on has some sort of fatal flaw that is addressed in the newest version. I believe the pros outweigh the cons.

On the other hand, it is also possible to address the compatibility issue, allowing the add-on author to write some sort of note with a short text to be displayed when you select to download an add-on. For example, to notify compatibility issues between the newer and the oldest version, and letting the user choose whether to go on with the update or not.
User avatar
josteph
Inactive Developer
Posts: 741
Joined: August 19th, 2017, 6:58 pm

Re: [interface] Notifying players when there are add-on updates available.

Post by josteph »

We should probably point out somewhere (in the documentation about how to create addons) that addon authors need to consider forward and backward compatibility when they upload new versions of addons.

We could even consider having addon version checks in the "Load Game" flow: "This savegame uses addon Foo 1.2.3 but Foo 2.0.0 is installed, continue? y/n"
gnombat
Posts: 682
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 8:49 pm

Re: [interface] Notifying players when there are add-on updates available.

Post by gnombat »

josteph wrote: July 12th, 2019, 8:54 am We could even consider having addon version checks in the "Load Game" flow: "This savegame uses addon Foo 1.2.3 but Foo 2.0.0 is installed, continue? y/n"
But at that point, there's not much the player can actually do about the problem. The add-on server doesn't provide a way to access old add-on versions, so once you've updated an add-on from version 1.2.3 to 2.0.0, you can't get 1.2.3 back again (unless you've manually made a backup of your user data directory).
Soliton
Site Administrator
Posts: 1680
Joined: April 5th, 2005, 3:25 pm
Location: #wesnoth-mp

Re: [interface] Notifying players when there are add-on updates available.

Post by Soliton »

I think a note that an update might non-obviously break existing saves (on loading an old save and/or on update) is the most we can reasonably do. Figuring out what changes break saves is very much non-trivial. I wouldn’t expect every addon author to be able to recognize all the ways that can happen. Infact I don’t necessarily expect mainline content authors to get it right every time and put in compatibility code when possible.

A good way for addon authors to provide update notes if they want to would still be nice though.
"If gameplay requires it, they can be made to live on Venus." -- scott
User avatar
nyov
Posts: 20
Joined: July 7th, 2019, 1:45 pm

Re: [interface] Notifying players when there are add-on updates available.

Post by nyov »

Just adding my 2c, because I'm of the faction who wouldn't like if the game automatically connects in the background, and does so every time it's started.
I already have to reinstall addons with a major release anyway, and checking in once a week -heck, once a month- looks to be plenty often in my case.
That change would also mean each addon would have to remember, on install, from which addon-server it was installed, so that it can check back with the correct server for updates.
I would vote for it it to be an opt-in (disabled by default) feature, if people need this.

I also like that clicking on "Addons" brings up a connect dialog as confirmation (it's non-obvious that clicking "Addons" is an online action, at first).
It might be an improvement, if I connected to an addon-server, that it would then list any updates to installed addons on top of the list. (Though that selection is only one drop-down-click away currently.)


Also, it could be nice to have, say, the 5 last (breaking) versions of addons kept on the server, to be able to revert after an upgrade. This seems not easily possible with non-packaged addons, unless I'm missing something?
Update Notes/Changelog: that seems like a nice improvement.
User avatar
josteph
Inactive Developer
Posts: 741
Joined: August 19th, 2017, 6:58 pm

Re: [interface] Notifying players when there are add-on updates available.

Post by josteph »

gnombat wrote: July 12th, 2019, 1:14 pm But at that point, there's not much the player can actually do about the problem. The add-on server doesn't provide a way to access old add-on versions, so once you've updated an add-on from version 1.2.3 to 2.0.0, you can't get 1.2.3 back again (unless you've manually made a backup of your user data directory).
Now that you mention it, I wonder if wesnoth should backup 1.2.3 before installing 2.0.0 on top of it, so there's a way to downgrade...
Post Reply