Simfile Database

[JohnnyLeven]

Originally Posted by Charlo

Whoa, cool, that's pretty much exactly what I would have come up with, except I would have made (in his terms) a "linkGenreSim" table to allow for files to have more than one genre. Does this guy want to help code too?

PS I'm on AIM right now. Right at this very moment!

I'm the mystery guy and yeah I'd love to help code as well. I'm a bit busy at the moment, but I'll have some time after this Wednesday if we want to get together on AIM and think things out. I'm also willing to chip in for hosting costs.

[Charlo]

Awesome.

I'm just taking this for granted, but I expect we'll be building this with PHP and MySQL, since that seems to be the platform that the most people are familiar with. Is everybody in agreement on that?

[JohnnyLeven]

Originally Posted by Charlo

Awesome.

I'm just taking this for granted, but I expect we'll be building this with PHP and MySQL, since that seems to be the platform that the most people are familiar with. Is everybody in agreement on that?

I assumed that as well. I'm actually not familiar with it, but I've worked with ASP.NET and mssql for a few years and I'm not worried about picking up something new. PHP and MySQL are fine with me.

[Rebirth0]

That's about what I would expect.

Keep in mind this is a database where you will have to have an account to use. That account will be based out of the forums. So I'm not sure what you'll need to do to link those together throughout the site.

[- ...]

Originally Posted by Rebirth0

Keep in mind this is a database where you will have to have an account to use.

Just to upload to it, or will people have to register to download too? I hope it's not the latter.

[cedolad]

I was under the impression it would be just to upload.

And PHP/MySql would be ideal simply because what Rebirth is trying to explain, would be easier to implement using a PHP forum etc.

edit: when are we all gonna get on AIM to work on this thing? I've been pretty busy with work lately, picked up a lot more hours and I barely have time to breath haha.

[Charlo]

It might be easier to set up some kind of forum or something for communication, since there's now four of us involved in the project. I don't know if it would be possible to all get on AIM at the same time, lol.

From what I gathered in this thread, the new site shouldn't be a new community, but I agree that using a PHP forum like vBulletin could simplify the membership process. That's what Bemanistyle does. But I'm not sure how easy that is to implement. I have previously written a simple membership system in PHP, with the ability for different membership levels, but it would need to be fleshed out further (there's no password reset system, for example).

I agree that we shouldn't make people register just to download.

[Kingdaro_]

Originally Posted by Charlo

I agree that we shouldn't make people register just to download.

Definitely this. For uploading, it makes sense because you can't really get credit for your work if you're anonymous.

[cedolad]

Originally Posted by Charlo

It might be easier to set up some kind of forum or something for communication, since there's now four of us involved in the project. I don't know if it would be possible to all get on AIM at the same time, lol.

From what I gathered in this thread, the new site shouldn't be a new community, but I agree that using a PHP forum like vBulletin could simplify the membership process. That's what Bemanistyle does. But I'm not sure how easy that is to implement. I have previously written a simple membership system in PHP, with the ability for different membership levels, but it would need to be fleshed out further (there's no password reset system, for example).

I agree that we shouldn't make people register just to download.

I went ahead and already started out test site. It was actually pretty easy to implement the PHP forum, and I actually think it IS vBulletin.

And this host is actually pretty good, I think we should look into sticking with this host for awhile. I'll get the information for the site, including access to the CP so we can start making some progress.

[Rebirth0]

I haven't quite decided on if an account is required for downloading only. I know it will certainly be required to upload anything, or to make comments or reviews on files. I can't remember what FFR and BMS required for downloading


Also, I think the Red Fraction forums were SMF (simple machines forum), so I'm not sure how easy that would be to link up.

[moches]

I really, really don't think we should make an account required for downloading. That's going to cut off a bunch of potential community members who can't be bothered to make one, rendering the purpose of an accessible, comprehensive simfile database irrevelant. I'm all for requiring it for upload, but we should also think about how this is going to center resources for the game and make it easier to integrate newbs, too.

[ScylaX]

Not saying that basically forcing the member to register to get the files will make the database full of hollow and inactive accounts and may potentially be a brake to the potential enlargement of the community. (It's better to avoid the risk of making a member think he registered because one said to do so, when he takes the initiative I think he's more prone to engage a more personal investment in the community because he'd consider he did it because he wanted to and not because it was told by him, it would be a 100% personal initiative so, yeah.)

[Choofers]

FFR didn't require anything to download simfiles, although to post comments/upload/play on resonce, you had to have a username.

BMS requires you to log in to download, which is gay as shit.


I agree with moches and ScylaX, requiring an account to download will shy people away from signing up and will bloat the database with unused accounts. If someone wants to comment on/rate/upload files and post on the forums, then they can make an account.

[Rebirth0]

Sounds fair then. No account will be required for downloading, but accounts will be required for uploading, posting comments/reviews, etc

[Staiain]

I'd still like to see it possible to see what you have already downloaded with a user account logged in etc

[Rebirth0]

Perhaps. But it seems a little unnecessary

[cedolad]

That may be proven useful, just to see what you already downloaded and such. Maybe we could have a feature that would show what files you already have on your computer, so you don't accidentally download more than one of the same file.

[Charlo]

Bemanistyle had that feature and I did find it useful, since I don't keep very close track of my "singles" folder and probably would have ended up with a lot of inadvertent duplicates.

[JohnnyLeven]

Originally Posted by cedolad

That may be proven useful, just to see what you already downloaded and such. Maybe we could have a feature that would show what files you already have on your computer, so you don't accidentally download more than one of the same file.

That's a really cool idea. I'm not sure how we'd pull that off, but it's worth looking into.

[Choofers]

Anything new?