Announcing a complete rework of the 3rd party system. The updated guidelines can be found at the
usual place. The notable changes are outlined below.
95% less permissions: You now submit ONLY the permissions that are not already listed as open on the
spreadsheet. For the majority of packs, this will be less than five or so. The exact procedure is in the guidelines, but we DO NOT ACCEPT spreadsheets or any form of a full list of permissions. We ONLY want the mods that aren't open on the spreadsheet.
Bigger spreadsheet: I have added a LOT of new mods to the spreadsheet. Seriously, go look. I'll be adding more over the next couple weeks.
New submission method: I'm not going to link directly to it, but we have this nice fancy form page where you submit your pack now. Once you hit the submit button, it will take you to a thread in a private forum section. You'll use this exactly like the conversations are used now, submitting updates, asking questions etc. But it makes it worlds easier for us to organize things.
No info.txt: Everything goes through the form now, permissions included. If you want to change any of the details, give the new ones in your update message. We will ignore any notes or other files included in the zip.
No more weekly updates: We have improved our workflow to the point where we are changing the update times. We will guarantee a pack will be updated within 72 hours of submission, though extreme circumstances might change this. The majority of the time it will be much faster, usually within 24 hours. However, we will frown on people who update too often. Hotfixes, or even hotfixes for hotfixes are fine, but we're not going to allow people to update every two or three days for weeks on end. Test your stuff before submitting.
What you need to do: Everyone will have to RESUBMIT their pack under the new system. No getting around this. Look through the guidelines, get your couple permissions and fill out the form. Should take all of 5 minutes. One minor change, we want all the your permission images hosted on imgur. We might make exceptions for established packs, but you'll need a good reason. If you have multiple packs, you will need to submit each one individually.
Use the same code as your existing pack and post after you have submitted that you are updating an existing pack.
Thank you to everyone who has used the 3rd party system over the year and a half I have been working on it. I've been working on these changes for a long time now and am glad they are finally here. It has always irked me that the ATLauncher, and even the Technic platform, was a more attractive option for hosting your own pack. I'm hoping this changes that.
Lastly, a huge thank you to @
tfox83. He has taken all the burden of updating packs and checking permissions off my back so I had time to do all this. He will continue to process the majority of the new packs and updates while I go around fixing problems, and doing homework.
