Update pdmod to U104 and add contribution guide

[polarathene]

This is an easy task usually to do but usually a bother for me due to hardware and time/bandwidth constraints. As the user base for BigLobby is no longer what it used to be and development is slow, I'll add a guide on how to do these patches for the pdmod so PRs can be made. The updates and breakage have become too frequent.

[gametoon]

Thanks @polarathene .

[OsmoticCosmos]

So are you abandoning the project due to those constraints or are you simply giving us a guide so we don't need to wait for updates?

[polarathene]

@OsmoticCosmos I'm just too busy with work even sometimes doing work related stuff in time off. Until I have more time to commit to BigLobby with actual development I don't want to let anyone down when I don't get around to pushing an update/fix just so the mod continues to work in it's current state.

It's usually easy to update:

• Download the game(takes 3-5 hours+ for me usually and I need another 30GB on my small SSD drive which barely has this much free).
• Extract the assets with Bundle Modder to get the network.network_settings file.
• Use a diff tool with the same file in BigLobby source code to find the new/changed network functions and add those to the BigLobby one(+any biglobby__ prefix version if needed).
• Use Bundle Modder to make the new pdmod file.
• Commit changes to your fork of the git repo, push changes to it and create PR to mine.

If anyone wants to save me the download time/space issue and provide me with the network.network_settings file, I can do the rest.

As far as the actual mod development goes, I'd love to get it to a proper release eventually. I currently have about 200 tabs almost in Chrome(16GB RAM maxed, can't play games :( ) full of research that I'm making notes of now, and about 400-500 tabs over several browsers at work(again maxed RAM) that I've built up over past 2 months that need to be documented. It's insane but that's how I learn new things fast :) Documentation aside I still have lot of decisions to make and code to write until we get more developers(hopefully in a month or two), might have more time for BigLobby then :)

[gametoon]

@polarathene For u104 i think we need to edit in lua files too. I already try to make new mod yesterday but it's not work. Everything look fine (Biglobby + every function work + game not crash anymore) but my friend cannot join me. ( May be search key problem?) I try to edit lua files but there are lot of function so i don't know which files i should edit. Any advice?

[RedLeo]

@gametoon I think you need to fix the .pdmod

@polarathene

If anyone wants to save me the download time/space issue and provide me with the network.network_settings file, I can do the rest.

So you just need the network.network_settings?

[gametoon]

@RedLeo I already make the new one (.pdmod) with new network.network_settings that extract from original U104 and then find the different thing between u104 (Original) and Biglobby one and replace it. And use this file to create the new .pdmod. I think i didn't miss something. So what did you mean "Fix" ? And if you take a look on this repo you will know that on u103 @polarathene also edit some lua files too. So that is not mean you only need to edit "network.network_settings" to get this mod work. There might be some other file that need to edit.

Like he said "It's usually easy to update:" "usually" is not "Alway".

[polarathene]

@gametoon Sorry about the sloppy commits. The other stuff was just improvement far as I recall, last few updates are just network settings updates and fixing mistakes I make like typo or version update.

You're right though that some lua change might be required, I forgot to mention new network method need to be added to this file. I may not have done this for new method on last update or so either :(

Make sure that everyone uses the new pdmod(and any lua changes) if you want to use the improvement you make.

[polarathene]

@RedLeo yes I just need that file and I will create update. If anything else cause the crash I need proper bug report with crash log. I haven't been able to start download U104 yet, so if you can get that file to me I will release patch for U104.

[gametoon]

Thanks @polarathene and i didn't blame you. I understand that is not easy to describe everything in one post.

[RedLeo]

@polarathene
https://mega.nz/#!XZVwhb4S!1NSGg0_SWjzY_hbgbykLk2N4CmpKX_qzM_Sbt0wd2xU
the network.network_settings file

[polarathene]

@RedLeo thanks for that, sorry about the delay, I've pushed the release, you can find it here .zip file at the bottom as per usual. Let me know if you run into any problems, I've not been able to test on my end.

@gametoon I'm not sure how similar your diff is or how you did your merge to update the pdmod, my diff wanted to remove </rpc> for the new function which would not be good :) You can see the network.network_settings diff commit here. There was nothing special about the new or modified methods, if you're still having problems follow the step by step instruction on the updated ReadMe, you might just have to verify cache and reinstall the pdmod for example. I will help further if you can provide more information about any problems.

[gametoon]

Thanks @polarathene . I already know what cause this problem. Look like my source miss some lines. Not sure what cause this problem may be the original network.network_settings is not clean or some misplace copy. This problem have been solved.

[gametoon]

@polarathene I think u104 update cause network problem on biglobby. (Failed to Join and Disconnect problem.) I'm pretty sure that this is not user error. it's random error.

I have try with 7 friends. (Same files + Method + has play this mod before u104 update (Confirm that everyone know how to install this mod properly.))
I create 1 lobby and invite my friends to join. Some can join but some can't. So i try to create new lobby again the one that can't join can join me now. And some that can join before now cann't join me anymore. And Some in lobby has disconnect problem and cannot join lobby anymore after disconnect. (There are lot ppl try to join our room too but no one cannot join in.) So i go back to play without mod but everything is work fine. (So it's not my network problem.). Is it only me and my friends that got this problem?

[gametoon]

I just remember some thing. I think the lobby cannot contain more than 3 players for now (My lobby and other lobby that i found on crime net.) If someone can create more than 3 players , tell me pls. Now i guess that new update might decrease player to 3. (Found some lines that might cause this problem but i don't have time to test it yet.)

[polarathene]

@gametoon There is code in BigLobby to handle normal lobbies without disabling mod but this should not be active yet. There is a settings option for lobby size, if for some reason it is not at the default of 8 for the host then it might be at a low number by mistake?

You can confirm for me that your friends join your lobby via crime.net and see it there, or they join by steam invite? If they join on crime.net then this should confirm they using same version as you should all be using same search key defined here. If you disable that line, then you will see all normal lobbies on crime.net, and they will see you(players will try to join without mod and fail). I have done this to join older biglobby versions being hosted in the past.

Maybe I should enable this line again. It would at least tell people in game that they have the wrong version when joining via steam I think.

If another player also have this problem it would be good to know that limit is 3 like you say(no 4th player like normal lobby? or just mean 3 player can join?). May require me to go through lua source in update for changes or new code that might cause it. This will have to wait for weekend if I can find time.