Rant against EZInstallers

[foq]

EZinstallers = EZfuckedupregistry

An amazing amount of bullshit? Not really. It only takes me a minute to do. In fact, the EZinstaller creates more problems for me. I remember ezinstallers in the past installing versions of Qrack (outdated versions mind you) and uselsss docs/gpls/etc nobody is going to read.

[spooker]

Slide Installation Instructions:
1. Download pak0.pak from [link]
2. Look in your ID1 folder in your Quake folder. See how many "pak#.pak" files you have and rename the slide .pak file to be the next consecutive number. For example, if you already have pak0.pak and pak1.pak, rename the slide .pak file to "pak2.pak".
3. Put the renamed .pak file into your ID1 folder.
4. Play!

[foq]

Spooker... you don't know what you're talking about. That is a (and I had it bold AND underlined) .pk3 for Darkplaces. You can't just rename a .pk3 to a .pak file.

[spooker]

Slide.pak:

http://www.mediafire.com/?0nnmwimxsm1

This is a crappy, free hosting service which will delete the file soon, so someone should host it somewhere safe.

I dont hate EZ Installers; they fill an important niche, they're just not for me. I'm a control freak with my PC--so much so that if the only option to install a minor mod like this is an EZ Installer, I'd rather not play it. I hate it when applications take control away from me and use unnecessary resources (mainly registry entries here). I have also installed plenty of quake mods so I understand the process. For people unlike me, ie new quakers, EZ Installers are good; but I'd still recommend people avoid using them if possible. What I object to is only hosting EZ Installers and forgetting about the original .zip files. If this website wants to be the center of the whole quake universe (which it does), I think it should host both, so long as storage space is not terribly restrictive.

[Baker]

I have added your Slide.pak to the modfiles section.

http://www.quakeone.com/index.php?in...le&file_id=204

EZinstallers = EZfuckedupregistry

Let's not be saying really stupid shit that isn't true. I can type dumb stuff into forum posts too, but I don't.

[foq]

Newber Freindly: What Newbers?

On noob-friendly.

A very small number of people play Quake. People that havn't played yet most likely won't. If they do, most of THESE people would install the gadgets the easy way with the EZinstallers. Then they start playing... and, since they are noobs, get decimated. Most of THESE people wouldn't continue playing because everyone is just too good.

Now lets say someone uses the installers, plays, gets owned, and CONTINUES PLAYING. He has the will to actually get good at the game, and will probably stay with the game for quite some time. Now let's say there were no EZinstallers...

The noobs that used them, and got owned and left wouldn't have the will to learn how to use the engines/mods anyway. So they were never there from the start. No loss. The noobs that used them, got owned and stayed would have the will to learn how to use the mods, and they would still be playing. No loss there either.

Either way, Quake has been dying, is dying, and will be dead one day. All the EZinstallers do is keep a very small percentage of people interested in the game because it's easy. I am willing to bet that EZinstallers have raked in less than 10 people so far. It helps a little bit, but not by very much. On the other hand, most people that ARE playing Quake are people that HAVE been playing. These people know how to use mods, etc and generally all the EZinstallers do is create an annoyance for vetern players (who make up most of the community). Most veterns would rather pick and choose parts of a file to install (like installing the MOD only, not the docs, not the extra Quake engine that comes with it, etc).

All we're asking for is for .zip variants to be added to files that don't have them, slide is one case (and is being taken care of now).

[Baker]

If I had a chance to do this thread over from my first reply, I think I'd do more explanation instead of being defensive.

(Gosh this hard for me, heheheheh. Not because I don't like explaining, but because I sort of like arguing and those participating in this thread like arguing as well ...)

Here goes:

You guys have a really strong perception that most players know a lot about Quake and the setup.

Part of the reason is that you, Spooker, Sniper are among the most Quake literate guys. You guys have hung around Gunter a lot and forums a lot.

People hanging around forums see a lot of others that know a lot about Quake; you end up thinking this normal.

That's the trap.

You, Spooker and Sniper are among the top of the top in understanding Quake.

So much so, in fact, you don't realize it.

You are experienced, connected and have been using things a long time. You've been installing maps manually, installing Gunter's FVF pak, using different engines and mods.

On the flip side of the coin, there are players who have played since 1996 that never loaded a custom map or barely have done thing beyond that. Who never tried anything except WinQuake or GLQuake until the day they needed to use ProQuake for cheat-free.

There are players who have played a very long time who don't know how to make a commandline for GLQuake so they only use WinQuake.

Many of the players who have played a long time don't necessarily know anything except how to start Quake.

You guys certainly know people who have used Windows for a long time and are clueless on how to solve even the most basic problems? That's normal.

Half the long-time players are afraid of even things like Qrack and can't get anything to work without chatting with Yellow No. 5.

The ProQuake Launcher has been vastly more popular than I had ever imagined. There have been several players who thanked me for that I had no idea didn't know much about command lines.

We all form opinions of "normal" in our heads. But this doesn't mean our idea of normal is right.

One example is that the www.quakeone.com/maps has always had both installer and .zip versions of the major downloads but in all instances, the installer version is downloaded by greater than 2 to 1.

Most people just want it to work so they can play.

However, you guys do have a valid point. A substantial part of the most important and most active members of the community (like yourselves) don't like the installers because of valid the hands-on approach and that need should be met as well.

Not addressing this point and getting into fun and entertaining arguments is the trap I all too often fall into among those I know well.

/Hehe <-- for Canadian Sniper

[Canadian*Sniper]

For the record, I don't use Gunter's version of FVF client pak. It's too much dreamt up into his own little world. And I extract only the necessary files from paks then discard the paks. It's either use nothing but paks or make subfolders. I chose to use folders.

/maybe one day Baker will get my alias right <-- for Bakehead

[Paradi$e]

Either way, Quake has been dying, is dying, and will be dead one day.

It will never die, we will do all thats possible to keep it alive.

[spooker]

interesting to know the download stats from the map section baker. thanks for hosting the zip! this thread also went further than i intended

[foq]

interesting to know the download stats from the map section baker. thanks for hosting the zip! this thread also went further than i intended

Never intend to do less than your best.

[foq]

Hm, nobody fixed the slide .pk3 yet... it's still a .zip file!

[Baker]

interesting to know the download stats from the map section baker. thanks for hosting the zip! this thread also went further than i intended

It was a good discussion so who cares

Hm, nobody fixed the slide .pk3 yet... it's still a .zip file!

I've checked the file and the download page details and even tested the download after you said this, everything is fine and functional.

I suspect you have a WinZip-like application associated with .pk3 files that opens the archive. There is little difference between .pk3 files and .zip files and I believe some archive apps can open them and maybe even automatically do file association.

[foq]

It saves it to my compter as a .zip

[foq]

It seems all of them want to do that. All I have is WinRAR. :-?