For all mod authors - mod/patch/readme naming

[Spirithawke]

Just something I would like all mod authors to think about.

 

How often have you went to download something that had an obscure file name that may or may not be decipherable in relation to the mod name as posted? How often have you downloaded a patch for something named just patch? How often have you ran into a readme named just readme? How often do you look at an esp file and wonder what it is for due to it's odd file name, or what version it is? It is no longer 1990. We can have longer filenames now. If someone releases something named My Awesome Mod 1.0, how about naming the zip file My Awesome Mod v10.zip or My_Awesome_Mod_v10.zip? How about naming the readme My Awesome Mod v10 ReadMe.txt? If you release a compatibility patch for your mod to some other mod, or if you make a compatibility patch to some other mod not yours just to be nice/helpful, How about naming it Mod1 Mod2 Compatability patch.7z or Mymod Hismod Compatability patch.7z? Months down the road when someone goes looking in their hugemongous download folder, someothermod compatibilty.rar do not tell the whole story of what is in that rar file, nor what it does. Also naming your rar file myawesomemod.rar do not make it easily searchable by keywords. You could not do a search of the download folder on awesome and expect to find your mod. Naming it my awesome mod.rar or my_awesome_mod.rar DO make it easily searchable by the keyword awesome. I tend to rename over 80% of the zip files I download and I bet I am not alone.

 

Here are some examples of things I have gotten Win7 to swallow as filenames:

 

Advent Children Clouds Sword_second_Relfecting_with_sword_breaks_and_one_vs_twohanded(esp only).7z

Ambient_Town_Sounds_Morrowind_v14.rar

Ambient_Town_Sounds_Morrowind_v14_01_Like a few other characteristic places, Suran's House of Earthly Delights received a special sound treatment.jpg

Building_Up_Uviriths_Grave_v11.zip

Building_Up_Uviriths_Grave_v11_05Some faction buildings, The Fighter's Guild Training Pit (with working dummy), Fast Eddie's Manor, Flintmoth Legion Keep, and a Thief's Hideout.jpg

Building_Up_Uviriths_Grave_v11_06More faction buildings, The Tribunal Temple, Mage's guild outcast, Morag Tong Guild House, and Imperial Cult Shrine.jpg

 

Now I realize it is not likely the upload sites will swallow such a long file name as what I did to the pics (I wanted to preserve their comments by the original author), I just throwing it out there to show what is possible.

 

Ok, I will get down off my soapbox now. As I said...it is something to think about.

 

Spirithawke

[Lanceor]

Hi Spirithawke

 

I agree with you 100% that your concerns are sensible and legitimate. This topic has actually been discussed to death in the Mod Authors' Forums, and pretty much all recent and/or experienced mod makers will stick to these best practises when naming their files.

 

The problem (especially for Morrowind) is that some of the mod authors are no longer active and haven't been to the forums for a while. There are also probably a handful who upload mods but never visit the forums, often those who don't have English as their first language.

 

So your message is well understood, and anyone who's currently active will probably already know about it. But for the older mods, emailing every retired mod author to rename their files probably wouldn't go down to well. ;)

[Tchos]

I expect the main cause for the filename issue is that the upload form is not very intuitive or informative. There is a "file name" text field, but some people may not understand that whatever you put into that field replaces whatever the original filename may be.

 

Additionally, the filename is restricted to contain only letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens and underscores. No apostrophes, for instance, which causes a lot of my mods to have improper grammar in the mod name and filename. And no parentheses or commas, like your picture filenames have.

Edited January 26, 2013 by Tchos

[Spirithawke]

The problem (especially for Morrowind) is that some of the mod authors are no longer active and haven't been to the forums for a while. There are also probably a handful who upload mods but never visit the forums, often those who don't have English as their first language.

I fully realize old mods most likely will never change. I just would like people to think a little about how long their mods may be around and so name the zip files and the esp's better before they post their mods.

 

Additionally, the file-name is restricted to contain only letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens and underscores. No apostrophes, for instance, which causes a lot of my mods to have improper grammar in the mod name and filename. And no parentheses or commas, like your picture file names have.

Improper grammar etc on the zip/rar/7z files due to restrictions the upload site imposes I could deal with. Having a mod named patch.esp inside a zip file named abc123.rar kills me. (extreme example yes I know, but you get the idea)

 

 

Here are my key points from a larger, more lively discussion elsewhere:

 

1. 
    
   
2. The esp should be named at least halfway decently, i.e jac_jasmin_landscape_patch.esp for some patch made by a 3rd party to change something about jasmin's esp. This way it will group with her esp and you will have at least a vague idea why it is there (In this case you would know something was done with the landscaping)
   
3. The author should make sure to edit in their name, the version number, and a short description to the esp itself so that these things can be seen when looking at it with with Wrye Mash or the view details option of the CS.
   
4. The zip file should be more descriptively named, i.e. Advanced_Development_Toolkit_v091b.7z instead of adtv091b.7z (just an example, I don't know if that author really did that or not, I cannot remember)
   
5. The ReadMe should be named to follow along with the esp name, i.e. A Good Place To Stay.esp and A Good Place To Stay v18 ReadMe.txt (putting the version number on the ReadMe hurts nothing)
   

[IanBitterss]

Yeah excellent point indeed. Anyone who makes a mod should follow naming examples closely in TEC. It makes quick searching of objects much easier when you can type half of you object name and move down to that object. This is somthing I do in TEC. But I also am guilty of bad naming of my ESPs and rars, and will be sure to be more professional. When mods lack these details, I believe it is due to laziness, or inexperience with the "extra" details. I tend to leave out or have bad names for things when I "rush". If you think your mods ready, maybe wait a day and take another look. You may find somthing you don't like or that is wrong.