Making Gameday/Improptu Maps use the Workshop

[Leminnes]

I wasn't quite sure how to phrase this thread title, but there she is! Now I'll try to make more sense.

So, I played on a server the other day that does something super nifty. They play maps from the workshop and the server downloads them directly from the workshop. I believe it does it by using the item id from the workshop.

Now, I know this wouldn't work for all maps, as people usually don't put maps on the workshop until they're mostly done, but it would be a good way to test the maps that are.

The only reason why I bring it up is because when we tested my map the other day, somehow we ended up testing a broken version. Unfortunately, that broken version was the same lettered version as the non-broken one. So, when I wanted to give my non-broken version it was too late because people would've had map version conflicts if they tried to play it because they had downloaded the wrong one.

Using the workshop to get the map avoids this problem and would make it so improptu/gameday organizers wouldn't need to reupload each new version of the map each time a test happens.

Alright, I hope that make sense (it doesn't, but I tried...) I'm not sure how this works on the server side, but I thought it'd be nifty. Cheers!

Edit: Got specifics from the guy who ran the server last night. It seems to be stupid easy.

Just edit the maplist file to include something like this:

workshop/SOME_MAP.ugcID

or more specifically:

workshop/pl_corrode.ugc546577989

Once the server runs that map, it will DL it automagically and the players will DL it right from the workshop as well if they haven't already. You don't necessarily even need to include the map name, it can just be:

workshop/ugc546577989

But the mapname is there for clarity, obviously.

It doesn't necessarily need to be in the mapfile either. You can just put "map workshop/pl_corrode.ugc546577989" into the console and the server will DL and run it automatically from that too.

Super easy!

 

[Leminnes]

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[JMaxchill]

Can you do !sm map workshop/pl_corrode.ugc546577989 and have it work just as well? If not, I don't see why we don't already do this, especially for _rc or _final versions

 

[worMatty]

You can load Workshop maps on the test servers using !map and !setnextmap workshop/123456789 but the feedback system doesn't work well with them. It's up to Geit when he wants to make it compatible.

 

[Leminnes]

You can load Workshop maps on the test servers using !map and !setnextmap workshop/123456789 but the feedback system doesn't work well with them. It's up to Geit when he wants to make it compatible.

Ah, that makes sense. Would need to find some way for the feedback to parse the map name from the ID#, I suppose.

 

[worMatty]

The feedback thing finds the map name okay. It gets it from the map's filename, which the server resolves when it tracks and loads the map. But it interprets the forward slash as a directory, so if I remember right, you cannot view the feedback for the map. It would need to be updated to handle different file versions, too, because the Workshop does away with the need to use a new filename for each map version, meaning the map author can just stick to a simple filename if he chooses.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

To be honest, its also easier to remember pl_corrode_rc1, than it is to remember workshop/52647958589.

 

[JMaxchill]

To be honest, its also easier to remember pl_corrode_rc1, than it is to remember workshop/52647958589.

If someone pasted it in chat or put it into Fanta's bot, you could load it from there without having to remember it

 

[YM]

Wait, you can start any workshop map live from a server now and it doesn't have to be predownloaded and in a maplist???

Does sourcemod have a nice hook for doing this?

If we can just copy/paste a string into ingame chat to launch any workshop map at all, that'd be amazing and we need to sort that out.




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However....

It still seems stupid to put in-development maps onto the workshop that aren't very late beta or release candidates. Since putting the map onto the workshop IS your release, the first version you put up there is the one you want to be ready for the world to see and judge. And usually by that point they're largely beyond the scope for imps and gamedays.

 

[Leminnes]

That is accurate YM.

I do wish there was a way for us to hook it up to the workshop even for in-dev maps, but you mentioned the exact reason not to do that.

It's a shame, really. It would make a lot of things very, very easy. Would be nice to have a separate in-dev workshop somehow. But I imagine Valve would have to do that.

 

[YM]

would be nice if the workshop had development and release sections, and moving into the release section put you in the "new" section so it showed up like a product launch rather than just a tag change.

 

[Leminnes]

would be nice if the workshop had development and release sections, and moving into the release section put you in the "new" section so it showed up like a product launch rather than just a tag change.

Who's boot do we have to lick to get that to happen?

I'll start preparing the chasers right now so we can mask out the taste of shame.

 

[YM]

Jill would probably be the most direct contact, but Eric Smith is a reliable email source, Dunno Jill's email

EDIT: Jill's email is on his site: http://www.kinofnemu.net/ but it's a personal email not a work email, so maybe not the best?

 

[worMatty]

You can 'hide' your Workshop maps using the Change Visibility drop-down menu, but servers can't download them. It would be nice if there was an option to keep a map hidden but allow it to be downloaded. Perhaps also to authorise only specific servers to do so. If that existed, then we'd also need the ability to put a map into that state from the first time we published it, so it didn't show up on the Workshop publicly until we changed its visibility.