So there seems to be a lot of confusion with regards to public and private mod packs and what is involved in having these packs added onto the launcher. This post is aimed at helping to answer some of the questions on what the difference is between the 2 and what is required when submitting a pack to be added onto the launcher.
Q. What is a Private Pack.
To answer this I think I will just quote Eloraam.
Q. What is the difference between a public pack and a private pack?
A. Essentially there is no real difference between the packs except for the target audience. Public packs are targeted at general audiences and may be designed for either general SSP or general SMP use. Private packs are geared towards a specific single server
Q. Are permissions still required for Private Packs?
A. Yes, any pack that is distributed through the FTB launcher requires permissions for every mod within that pack. The permissions that FTB has been granted extends only to official FTB Mod Packs and not to third party mod packs. This means that any mod that you wish us to distribute on your behalf, you will need your own permissions for (this includes mods we are already distributing)
Q. What constitutes permission to distribute a mod?
A. Permissions come under 3 different types. The first is general permission given. This means that a mod openly gives consents to distribute to all mod packs without restrictions.
The second is Permission from the central repository.
(see http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/ftb-central-mod-permissions.3801/)
This is a thread set up where mod developers can give consent to any pack that is distributed through the FTB Launcher. These consents may come with certain restrictions which need to be adhered to.
The Third is specific permission. This is where you have obtained explicit permission for an individual mod.
When putting a pack together, you need to be able to show that every mod meets one of the 3 criteria.
Q. What type of packs are allowed.
A. With regards to third party mod packs, this is a tool we want to encourage the community to use. However that does not mean abuse it. When it comes to general purpose packs, it should provide a significantly different gameplay experience to the FTB packs. In other words don't make a pack that is FTB with a few mods thrown on top.
Private packs the guidelines are a bit more lenient, however we don't just want to bog down the launcher with a 100 almost identical packs. The idea here is to provide a tool for server owners looking to provide a specialised type of game-play. Dont forget though you still need to be able to show permissions for every mod included.
As well as meeting the general guidelines for pack construction
found here
http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/guidelines-for-posting.1106/
With the addition of adding a text file with a code word. This code word is what you will distribute. Once added into the launcher the relevant pack will be added onto the launcher. This is where I believe a lot of the confusion comes in. There is nothing to stop this code word being given out to everyone. That is not the point of it. Rather is to stop peoples pack lists from being bogged down with a hundred different packs and it will only have the packs that people want.
The situation is somewhat similar when it comes to the general packs. We could easily flood the laucher with a thousand almost identical packs. That isnt the goal though, rather we want to add in quality packs that give users a different style of play. When you look at the packs that we have added so far, the benchmark becomes a bit clearer. (ie voxelpack, Universal Electricity etc.) These are packs that offer their own unique style of play with dedicated teams behind them.
Hopefully this will go some way to answering some of the questions out there.
Q. What is a Private Pack.
To answer this I think I will just quote Eloraam.
Q. What is the difference between a public pack and a private pack?
A. Essentially there is no real difference between the packs except for the target audience. Public packs are targeted at general audiences and may be designed for either general SSP or general SMP use. Private packs are geared towards a specific single server
Q. Are permissions still required for Private Packs?
A. Yes, any pack that is distributed through the FTB launcher requires permissions for every mod within that pack. The permissions that FTB has been granted extends only to official FTB Mod Packs and not to third party mod packs. This means that any mod that you wish us to distribute on your behalf, you will need your own permissions for (this includes mods we are already distributing)
Q. What constitutes permission to distribute a mod?
A. Permissions come under 3 different types. The first is general permission given. This means that a mod openly gives consents to distribute to all mod packs without restrictions.
The second is Permission from the central repository.
(see http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/ftb-central-mod-permissions.3801/)
This is a thread set up where mod developers can give consent to any pack that is distributed through the FTB Launcher. These consents may come with certain restrictions which need to be adhered to.
The Third is specific permission. This is where you have obtained explicit permission for an individual mod.
When putting a pack together, you need to be able to show that every mod meets one of the 3 criteria.
Q. What type of packs are allowed.
A. With regards to third party mod packs, this is a tool we want to encourage the community to use. However that does not mean abuse it. When it comes to general purpose packs, it should provide a significantly different gameplay experience to the FTB packs. In other words don't make a pack that is FTB with a few mods thrown on top.
Private packs the guidelines are a bit more lenient, however we don't just want to bog down the launcher with a 100 almost identical packs. The idea here is to provide a tool for server owners looking to provide a specialised type of game-play. Dont forget though you still need to be able to show permissions for every mod included.
As well as meeting the general guidelines for pack construction
found here
http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/guidelines-for-posting.1106/
With the addition of adding a text file with a code word. This code word is what you will distribute. Once added into the launcher the relevant pack will be added onto the launcher. This is where I believe a lot of the confusion comes in. There is nothing to stop this code word being given out to everyone. That is not the point of it. Rather is to stop peoples pack lists from being bogged down with a hundred different packs and it will only have the packs that people want.
The situation is somewhat similar when it comes to the general packs. We could easily flood the laucher with a thousand almost identical packs. That isnt the goal though, rather we want to add in quality packs that give users a different style of play. When you look at the packs that we have added so far, the benchmark becomes a bit clearer. (ie voxelpack, Universal Electricity etc.) These are packs that offer their own unique style of play with dedicated teams behind them.
Hopefully this will go some way to answering some of the questions out there.
