Please understand that my intent when publishing lots of individual mod pages isn't to spam the Nexus. There is no way to publish a page but have it hidden from the front page of search results. I am trying to trickle out the pages slowly, but I have 40 to upload so if I upload 5-8 per day as I have been doing it is still going to take me most of a week to do it. Preparing all the materials for all the pages took me upwards of 80 hours over the last week, so believe me if there was a viable alternative I would have taken it. That isn't counting the time it took to prepare the optimized textures, testing etc.
Some people have accused me of click-baiting. I am using descriptive titles, it is not my fault some views truncate the titles, but it only takes a mouse over and you have a clear description too if you are using a tiled view.
Optional files isn't designed to handle 120+ current "optional" files and I will most likely have more than that soon enough.
Version numbers for optional files downloaded in NMM are set at the time of download based on the version number on the options page, bottom right of each file entry, or from what is in the FOMOD (I don't use Fomods for this project). When NMM does a version check it compares that number with the current version number of the mod as a whole. So for mods with lots of options such as Armorsmith, you get lots of triangle warnings even though you are up to date on all files. It causes me no end of frustration on multiple popular mods with lots of options.
Here is an example of what it is currently like using the main SWOP file and some older patches that are still "current" because I haven't retired them yet (the guns have their own pages).
Just imagine what a block of 20 or 30 seclected texture mods is going to look like... a wall of triangles with false warnings, and no idea when an actual warning is true.
It causes what I like to think of as "warning blindness" - half your mod version column ends up full of warning triangles for optional files which are actually up to date. As a mod author changing the version number on the page doesn't help the people who have already downloaded the files.
What NMM should do is compare filename downloaded to filename on server, and if you have the latest filename then the 2.1 optional file is still current, even if the main file is at 2.2. But it doesn't.
It kinda works for real optional files that change every time a primary file changes, such as some of the landscape/grass retexture projects that also offer upscales/downscales with every release, and it works for some option patches for guns that get updated frequently to reflect a current version.
Unfortunately it can't possibly work for my project.
Creating all these extra pages is a considerable investment in time, but eventually every single page will have it's own optional files, and maybe also optimized versions of retextures, thus multiplying out the amount of files considerably. It also has a negative marketing effect. If someone downloads an optional file, they can endorse the parent. In my case I only get endorsements on the main project if someone downloads the main project instead.
Ultimately I am thinking about the long-term usability for my users, whereas a few are thinking about the short term inconvenience for them of clicking a link to look at a second page. So much so they troll my comments on multiple mods.
If you look at the discussions for the gun itself, the author tried a more traditional configuration, but there were serious clipping issues. Plus I can see how a difference in the angle of feed actually makes a technical difference in the design.
Fallout is a different timeline, technology develops differently.
And if you clicked the link, you would see that there are plenty of real world 2x drum configurations, and there are also 100 round more conventional double stacked clips, but I am sure those would have clipping issues too.
Thanks for doing this project. I started using the IF-54 in particular yesterday and while it is a really great gun the long time to switch to it in combat can be dangerous for me.
I am glad I am helping people. As I mentioned on the main project page this can be a real issue.
Hopefully the main project is going to get more visibility too from releasing individual packages. No need to have all the guns installed, and for many with fast internet easier to maintain a single line in their mod manager.
Even the "story" example I gave is based upon my own game play, though with my mod setup when heading to Fort Hagen early in the main quest I now get a bunch of raiders in addition to the mole rats and ghouls on the railway track (there may be a few less ghouls in reality)
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Please understand that my intent when publishing lots of individual mod pages isn't to spam the Nexus. There is no way to publish a page but have it hidden from the front page of search results. I am trying to trickle out the pages slowly, but I have 40 to upload so if I upload 5-8 per day as I have been doing it is still going to take me most of a week to do it.
Preparing all the materials for all the pages took me upwards of 80 hours over the last week, so believe me if there was a viable alternative I would have taken it.
That isn't counting the time it took to prepare the optimized textures, testing etc.
Some people have accused me of click-baiting. I am using descriptive titles, it is not my fault some views truncate the titles, but it only takes a mouse over and you have a clear description too if you are using a tiled view.
Optional files isn't designed to handle 120+ current "optional" files and I will most likely have more than that soon enough.
Version numbers for optional files downloaded in NMM are set at the time of download based on the version number on the options page, bottom right of each file entry, or from what is in the FOMOD (I don't use Fomods for this project). When NMM does a version check it compares that number with the current version number of the mod as a whole.
So for mods with lots of options such as Armorsmith, you get lots of triangle warnings even though you are up to date on all files. It causes me no end of frustration on multiple popular mods with lots of options.
Here is an example of what it is currently like using the main SWOP file and some older patches that are still "current" because I haven't retired them yet (the guns have their own pages).
Just imagine what a block of 20 or 30 seclected texture mods is going to look like... a wall of triangles with false warnings, and no idea when an actual warning is true.
It causes what I like to think of as "warning blindness" - half your mod version column ends up full of warning triangles for optional files which are actually up to date. As a mod author changing the version number on the page doesn't help the people who have already downloaded the files.
What NMM should do is compare filename downloaded to filename on server, and if you have the latest filename then the 2.1 optional file is still current, even if the main file is at 2.2. But it doesn't.
It kinda works for real optional files that change every time a primary file changes, such as some of the landscape/grass retexture projects that also offer upscales/downscales with every release, and it works for some option patches for guns that get updated frequently to reflect a current version.
Unfortunately it can't possibly work for my project.
Creating all these extra pages is a considerable investment in time, but eventually every single page will have it's own optional files, and maybe also optimized versions of retextures, thus multiplying out the amount of files considerably.
It also has a negative marketing effect. If someone downloads an optional file, they can endorse the parent. In my case I only get endorsements on the main project if someone downloads the main project instead.
Ultimately I am thinking about the long-term usability for my users, whereas a few are thinking about the short term inconvenience for them of clicking a link to look at a second page.
So much so they troll my comments on multiple mods.
Any constructive comments regarding this I am happy to entertain in this dedicated forum post on the main SWOP mod page.
Any similar discussion here henceforth will be deleted and reported to moderators as per the terms of service.
It is certainly more realistic than having "tardis" like 50 round ammo clips with no visual representation.
People can do crazy things in real life. I have seen 100 round double mags for Glocks, and how about this 80 round drum for a Makarov
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013/11/06/magazine-makarov-pistol/
Drum Magaines search
Also, take a look at this: https://christopheraschmitt.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/gun-maagazine.jpg
Plus I can see how a difference in the angle of feed actually makes a technical difference in the design.
Fallout is a different timeline, technology develops differently.
And if you clicked the link, you would see that there are plenty of real world 2x drum configurations, and there are also 100 round more conventional double stacked clips, but I am sure those would have clipping issues too.
Hopefully the main project is going to get more visibility too from releasing individual packages. No need to have all the guns installed, and for many with fast internet easier to maintain a single line in their mod manager.
Even the "story" example I gave is based upon my own game play, though with my mod setup when heading to Fort Hagen early in the main quest I now get a bunch of raiders in addition to the mole rats and ghouls on the railway track (there may be a few less ghouls in reality)
I have known 30 second gun switches