Some suggestions for the next version

[Silverhawk]

Hi,

I'm new here and really like this game but I found two things that could be improved in my opinion.

1. I found a typo on the worldmap in the german translation. In the north of the map stands "Erzgebierge". The correct traslation is "Erzgebirge" without an e after i. Mountains have nothing to do with beer (bier = beer).

2. It is very aweful if you want to install a few or all expansions, when you start with the vanilla version of the game. If you want to install for example all epansions you have to click on each seperately. A function to preselect all expansions you like to install and download them at once would be nice. Now you have to click on one expansion wait until its downloaded, click, wait until the epansion list is downloaded again, select the next expansion, and so on.

[Iris]

2. It is very aweful if you want to install a few or all expansions, when you start with the vanilla version of the game. If you want to install for example all epansions you have to click on each seperately. A function to preselect all expansions you like to install and download them at once would be nice. Now you have to click on one expansion wait until its downloaded, click, wait until the epansion list is downloaded again, select the next expansion, and so on.

This has been on our to-do list since 2005.

[Silverhawk]

Then you have to do it.

[Dugi]

Why aren't there simply more campaigns by default? There are some highly known add-ons most people download after installing the game, such as Invasion from the Unknown or Fate of a Princess.

[Iris]

Then you have to do it.

The point is that you shouldn’t hold your breath on it since many years and development cycles (1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8 and 1.10) have passed since the idea was first proposed. It just hasn’t been technically feasible for all this time — although that appears to be changing just now in trunk.

Why aren't there simply more campaigns by default?

Because campaigns aren’t included in mainline based on their popularity. The people in charge of this have also been rather inactive as of late.

In my opinion, we don’t need more mainline campaigns after the one addressing drakes (Wings of Victory) is completed.

[Silverhawk]

Ok, I'm patient.

[Crendgrim]

1. I found a typo on the worldmap in the german translation. In the north of the map stands "Erzgebierge". The correct traslation is "Erzgebirge" without an e after i. Mountains have nothing to do with beer (bier = beer).

Already noted, but not yet fixed (not even in trunk).
GermanTranslationErrors#Generelles

[TheGreatRings]

Then you have to do it.

The point is that you shouldn’t hold your breath on it since many years and development cycles (1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8 and 1.10) have passed since the idea was first proposed. It just hasn’t been technically feasible for all this time — although that appears to be changing just now in trunk.

Why aren't there simply more campaigns by default?

Because campaigns aren’t included in mainline based on their popularity. The people in charge of this have also been rather inactive as of late.

In my opinion, we don’t need more mainline campaigns after the one addressing drakes (Wings of Victory) is completed.

I disagree. Their are huge gaps in the Wesnoth timeline that are covered by no mainline campaign (including pre-Rise of Wesnoth and between Son of the Black Eye and Under the Burning Suns). Moreover, the game refers to an entire continent or region (where the Wesfolk come from) that is not included in any mainline campaign.

[Iris]

I disagree. Their are huge gaps in the Wesnoth timeline that are covered by no mainline campaign (including pre-Rise of Wesnoth and between Son of the Black Eye and Under the Burning Suns). Moreover, the game refers to an entire continent or region (where the Wesfolk come from) that is not included in any mainline campaign.

And how is this a problem?

[Jarkko]

I disagree. Their are huge gaps in the Wesnoth timeline that are covered by no mainline campaign (including pre-Rise of Wesnoth and between Son of the Black Eye and Under the Burning Suns). Moreover, the game refers to an entire continent or region (where the Wesfolk come from) that is not included in any mainline campaign.

Yes, and because they aren't covered by mainline campaigns means, they can be whatever you want them to be. It's more like an opportunity of a player, not a flaw of the game.

Our real-life (hi)stories don't fare any better. The gaps are large enough to drive a tank battalion through.

[TheGreatRings]

Well, I'd like to be able to play a mainline campaign in those periods and locations.

[Crendgrim]

Why don't you just play a UMC one?
The problem is that with each mainline campaign added, the size of the game increases (at least when our awesome artists come around and create an unique set of portraits just for that campaign — sorry, sprite artists, but your files just aren't as big :p ). It's already the case that several users complain about Wesnoth being too big; and this would become even worse. Also, having more mainline campaigns means more work for the developers to keep them all up-to-date; and it means that UMC campaigns who want to follow mainline lore have even more campaigns to considerate.
I actually think there are plenty of mainline campaigns, and with the add-on system being very easy-to-use, you can download a ton more if you want to.

[Jabie]

Why don't you just play a UMC one?
The problem is that with each mainline campaign added, the size of the game increases (at least when our awesome artists come around and create an unique set of portraits just for that campaign — sorry, sprite artists, but your files just aren't as big :p ). It's already the case that several users complain about Wesnoth being too big; and this would become even worse. Also, having more mainline campaigns means more work for the developers to keep them all up-to-date; and it means that UMC campaigns who want to follow mainline lore have even more campaigns to considerate.
I actually think there are plenty of mainline campaigns, and with the add-on system being very easy-to-use, you can download a ton more if you want to.

Might I suggest the following: The Battle for Wesnoth Expansion Pack.

This pack should contain extra music, extra art and the best add-on campaigns. Having a separate expansion pack diminishes the file size issue as its a separate download. A different team could maintain the expansion pack material. The precise material for inclusion should be voted on by the Wesnoth fan-base, with the provisoes that:

• The campaign has been downloaded at least X times.
  The current maintainer is an active poster in the add-on development forums.
  The material fits into the established BfW timeframe.

[Dugi]

The number of downloads might be very irrelevant. The add-ons that are lower on the list have a lesser chance to be picked, and it results that no matter how awesome a campaign may be and it is not in the first 100, it can never beat the first ten. IftU has 4000 downloads, Nightmares of Meloen have 30000. And it is far from truth that Nightmares of Meloen are better than IftU.

It should rather be so that there has to be X add-ons of the same type Y times less downloaded in previous Z add-ons on the list.

Also, some add-ons should not be taken if they are too large (loads of storyline pictures and most of all music causes them to get large as hell), maybe with some size-heavy things removed (missing music and large pictures never cause add-ons to crash).

[taptap]

Old add-ons aren't downloaded from the new server, because many people played them under 1.8, 1.6, 1.4 already, and of course replay value for campaigns is usually more limited than that of MP eras so comparing them does no good. E.g. IftU has >200k cumulative downloads if you take the real numbers and thus is by far the most popular add-on.

In my opinion an expansion pack just leads to unnecessary politics (which one is included which one not and for what reasons, look at something like Galuldurs Journey it compares well enough to mainline in gameplay, but has pretty few downloads for some reason, likely the reason being the sheer number of other elvish campaigns out there and in mainline already). What would be more useful were some unbiased easily accessible reviews (as opposed threads about the best and worst UMC) that allow you to choose what you want in a better way.