Talk:Datafiles

Shouldn't this page be linked in each game screen? Currently, only one page links to it (documentation) --Md5 19:14, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

I started linking datafiles#paragraph from game pages where it is a little more complicated. For Broken Sword I had to rename some files. It took some time until I found this page. --Matthias 15:29, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

First off, please read below (from the BASS page). You went ahead with all these without looking at the arguments for/against this. It is (IMO) truly pointless to add this to every game page. If anything, it would be better to a) remove datafiles altogether and divide it among the individual games, or b) add a link via the template. -Clone2727 20:12, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

From BASS Talk Page

Is it necessary to put the link on each page? It is linked from the documentation page already. It is a waste IMHO to go through each page and add this. There are too many games that would need to have this. -Clone2727 20:13, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Asking the other way around: What is better: Having a single page listing all datafile requirements for all games; *or* listing the required datafiles of each game? Both approaches have pros and cons, I think. If I am a newbie looking for this information, I might start out by looking at the page for the game I want to play. OTOH if I am familiar with ScummVM and know about the datafiles page, it might be the first place I look at.... Incidentally, this question also crops up when thinking about how to write the manual: Group information by "game", or by the type of information? (think about: datafiles; known issues; etc.) Fingolfin 17:05, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Personally, I like it all clumped together. Before I knew exactly what I was doing, I could still read stuff on the site and figure out how to do it. It's pretty straightforward IMHO. About known issues, that would partly be taking away from the compatibility, TODO, and engine pages. This issue is something that would be better to talk about on -devel -Clone2727 22:39, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

The required data files for all games, should be kept on a single page, for easy access. A central location makes it much easier, then having to browsing several separate pages, when looking up more than a single game. As the number of supported games by ScummVM is slowly growing, I doubt many users would be looking up a single game at a time. We provide a direct link to the required data files page on the web site, but not to any game specific pages on the web site, so I don't see how new users could go looking through the wiki pages, without noticing that link on the way. I don't see the need for an additional link to required data files, on each game specific page of the wiki either. Kirben 23:14, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

I concur. -Clone2727 23:23, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Sorry for the late reply, but I think that Matthias was right in adding links to this page from the game pages. In my opinion, data files are part of each game's description, so linking to this page (with the appropriate anchor) from each game page makes the content of those pages more useful. I also agree that it's better to keep all data files in the same page, but in my opinion it'd be good to link to this page from other pages too --Md5 20:53, 3 April 2007 (CEST)

Ok, but as I said it would be a lot more efficient to just add it to the template. -Clone2727 22:41, 3 April 2007 (CEST)

Sure thing, adding it to the template sounds like a good idea indeed :) --Md5 23:39, 3 April 2007 (CEST) Come to think of it, I had proposed that idea in the GameDescription template discussion page but never got a reply... --Md5 23:42, 3 April 2007 (CEST)

I'm not sure, but is there be a way to form the link using the page name? Then, you wouldn't have to add it to each game. -Clone2727 15:37, 4 April 2007 (CEST)

Good idea :) Data file bit is automatically computed now from the page name. However, some game titles in the data files page have to be renamed, because they're different from the game pages themselves --Md5 16:45, 4 April 2007 (CEST)

Major changes should be discussed, and I had to revert the recent changes. The links (for required data files) shouldn't be auto generated via the template, since they aren't required by all game pages. We only list the required data files for games, which are actually supported by ScummVM. Other disadvantages are the place holders required, and the fact the correct title names couldn't be used. Kirben

Apologies, I should have discussed this before commiting. We could hide the data files bit for the games which are not supported by setting a flag for them (or just leaving it there, it'll link to the Datafiles page only). In any case, the renaming required was not that drastic (e.g. "Dig, The" to "The Dig"). Finally, the placeholders themselves are not required, since if a placeholder doesn't exist, the auto-generated link merely points to the Datafiles page. So, should the auto-generated link be removed from the template, or left there as-is? --Md5 12:50, 5 April 2007 (CEST)

There is probably a way to do it using those pesky if statements. Maybe if we set up a category for supported/non-supported games and then "if" it is supported and then we check "if" the title begins with "The" to move it to the end. Just a suggestion. I'm not even sure this is possible. I would have to learn more about the if statements to do this. -Clone2727 13:07, 5 April 2007 (CEST)

Well, a category with supported/non-supported games would be cool, to make things more organized. Another idea is to check if the "Support" bit is set. If it's not, then we could automatically set it to "Not supported" or something, and hide the datafiles link. In any case, the automatic creation of certain things is certainly useful, and it'll be good if some information could be filled in automatically (e.g. if the publisher is empty, set it to be equal to the developer) --Md5 13:16, 5 April 2007 (CEST)

There is already an 'Unsupported Games' category on the wiki, so might as well add an 'Supported Games' category too. Kirben

Remove the auto-generated links (for required data files) from the template, a link shouldn't be displayed at all, for games which currently don't have details available or for games which aren't supported. The use of templates is good for having a standard layout in specific areas of the wiki, but shouldn't be used for auto-generating the actual information itself. Since this wiki is an information resource, auto-generating the information, makes it much easier for errors to be displayed. It would be simpler to add links (for required data files) manually, if you still want to go ahead with adding links on each game's page. Kirben

Humongous Entertainment games

I think it is an overkill to enlist each game. Especially because those lists are not correct. I.e. many games were ported to more than one version of SPUTM engine, and thus, they have different list of files. I would do it this way: add something like "Generic HE game" and enlist there *.HE?, *.(a), .(b). And then for several games like mustard add additional entry which enlists special resources and/or directories. --Sev 11:36, 9 April 2007 (CEST)

Adding a 'Generic HE game' entry or even a 'Games from Humongous Entertainment' entry, isn't quite as clear to all users, as using the full game title. The other main issue is many HE games and HE games demos were included in a single directly, so it could be more confusing for users if we don't provide the full filenames too. Kirben 02:17, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Static data files

Currently the static data files for BASS, Queen, Lure link to engine-data/trunk, just kyra.dat links to the 0-10-0 release tag. I am not really sure if we should just give the link to the current release file or to the current SVN file. So I want to ask if we should think of adding two links here, one for Release and one for SVN? Or at least if we should tell the user that he probably needs different files for Release and SVN version and tells him where to look for them (Engine pages?). --LordHoto 23:58, 3 September 2007 (CEST)

Yeah, I would add both, one for Release and one for current SVN -Clone2727 02:27, 10 September 2007 (CEST)

Files

I think it would be a good idea to add in some cases the total number of files needed to play a game with ScummVM (e.g. The Feeble Files). So users could check directly if they've copied all necessary files to the folder. march 18:46, 12 October 2009

Do not change game names

As I just learned in scummvm-web issue #121, the sections are linked to from ScummVM's compatibility pages (introduced with f670923 last year), so if you change the game titles, the links will break. --Lightkey (talk) 14:45, 5 April 2020 (UTC)