Topic: Auto downloading of maps ?

giskard Knight Group: Junior Member Joined: Sep. 2002 Hello all. I was wondering, does MTW autodownload maps online ? I cannot remember seeing it happen in my online games. If it doesnt it might be worth some site making a map pack. So users can download a bunch of maps at once. I will certainly support such a project on my own site. Giskard Back to top

Vanya Group: Junior Member Joined: Nov. 2000 GAH! No. Doing such would be a safety hazard. The risk of viruses and such being automatically slapped onto your PC would open the software maker to civil liabilities. Forcing you to go download them yourselves absolves them of this risk by passing the buck off to the customer. (Like sales taxes ). GAH! Back to top

Kraellin Shukan Group: Senior Member Joined: Nov. 2000 Here vanya, that's like saying that an isp is liable for any viruses you pick up because they provided you a link to the net....silliness. the only one responsible for the virus is the one who made it. but, courts do do odd things at times, so maybe yer right. i do know that a few game devs have done this though and it is a nice feature. K. Back to top

GilJaysmith Programmer Group: Senior Member Joined: Aug. 2002 Creative Assembly / Littlehampton I thought about doing that, but I didn't have enough time. Still, I know how to do it if there's a next time. Gil ~ CA Back to top

Vanya Group: Junior Member Joined: Nov. 2000 "As long as the sun rises, the grass grows and the rivers flow... there will be a next time..." -- Vanya GAH! Back to top

giskard Knight Group: Junior Member Joined: Sep. 2002 Thanks all. I just wondered why I had never seen it happen. Still I know of way to get Maps on peoples drives. Distribute them with campaigns and add them to campaigns Only one problem though. What happens if a person joins a game and doesnt have the map. Does the game give a friendly "you dont have the map2 message or throw a fit ? I do like to avoid such unpleasantries or atleast advise people in a readme that problems may occure. Giskard Back to top

GilJaysmith Programmer Group: Senior Member Joined: Aug. 2002 Creative Assembly / Littlehampton Quote Originally posted by giskard: What happens if a person joins a game and doesnt have the map. Does the game give a friendly "you dont have the map2 message or throw a fit ? You can't join an MP game if you don't have the map in the same place with the same name and contents. Gil ~ CA Back to top

Mithrandir Tavern Group: Moderator Joined: Oct. 2001 --==The Elf Lands==-- How come you can download a virus like that? In all my 3 years of daily UT playing, Auto map & Mod downloading, I never once received an inapropiate (read other than map or mod) file... I hate it when I cant join just because I dont have the time (read feel like) downloading the latest maps and installing them... please enable autodownloading... Back to top

GilJaysmith Programmer Group: Senior Member Joined: Aug. 2002 Creative Assembly / Littlehampton It depends on the system the game uses to download and use files. A game which automatically downloaded script files associated with a custom map, and which ran some standard entrypoint function to initialise the map, and which didn't have suitable sandboxing to stop script functions from messing with your machine, could be vulnerable to virus-like functions. But I can't think of any game that does that sort of thing. There's practically no reason to allow a game script to mess with the file system in that way. As for autodownloading in MTW: not now, maybe later, maybe not. Gil ~ CA Back to top