[Official] We Need Your Help - Launcher Ideas

[unv_annihilator]

Hello there, for those who don't know me I am unv annihilator, one of two main launcher developers. I come here because our launcher was made for the community by the community. As many of you might know we (JJW and myself) are working on a complete rewrite of the FTB launcher. With that said I want to make sure that what we do is what YOU, the community, want.

Now obviously there are limits to what we can and can't do, but don't be afraid to suggest anything, just don't be sad if it's not implemented. I'll impose a few guidelines for this thread, but nothing too crazy.

Things I'm looking for:

• Ideas/pictures for launcher layout (Pictures are best here)
• Features to add (be as in-depth as possible)
• Bugs/Issues to correct from the current version of the launcher
• Constructive feedback on suggested ideas, and layouts. Try to be kind on this and try not to get into a flame war about it, if you do I'll be sure to show you the way out

Things I'm NOT looking for:

• Flame wars
• Repeated ideas. Please attempt to read through previously suggested and/or accepted ideas. If you wish to support a prior idea that's fine but try and expand on it or explain why you might want it. Posts that are just "Yes I like this" or "No this sucks" will be ignored and possibly removed if this thread gets too spammy.

NOTE: Any ideas regarding private packs should be held off until a later time as we have some big changes in the works. However, I am not going to promise anything at this time either since it hasn't been finalized

Below will be a list of ideas/features we've talked about wanting to implement, I'll try and update this as to make duplicate ideas less frequent:

• Vanilla/Snapshot support.
• Instances of modpacks. (Think multimc instances)
• Completely new look.
• Better filter options/ability to resort modpack lists locally. (only display installed, hide select packs, etc)
• Skin-ability
• 'Smart' downloading/updating. Will reduce download amounts and will allow resuming of downloads in case it's stopped for any reason.
• Ability to pass parameters on start-up to allow quick launching/shortcuts.
• Changelogs on the launcher.
• Better/fixed news pane, make it so it's not cut off. (word wrap/show more)
• Ability to remove installed files
• Ability to backup worlds, saves, etc.
• Backup manager of sorts

- unv annihilator
FTB Launcher Developer
Code Monkey

 

[LO17]

This is really small & I apologize if this isn't the kind of thing you're looking for but I really like the "News" tab on the current launcher. The only thing I do not like about it is that it gets cut off.

Like I said, I'm not sure if this only happens to me but, I'd love the option to have it fit the screen or have a bar at the bottom to allow us to scroll across.

This, being that you're planning to bring the "News" tab back.

 

[Darth Sith]

Even better would be a "Show more" button so it won't have to render as much.

This is really small & I apologize if this isn't the kind of thing you're looking for but I really like the "News" tab on the current launcher. The only thing I do not like about it is that it gets cut off.

Like I said, I'm not sure if this only happens to me but, I'd love the option to have it fit the screen or have a bar at the bottom to allow us to scroll across.

This, being that you're planning to bring the "News" tab back.

 

[Darth Sith]

Since there are different types of packs with different mods (most of them have a lot) it would be nice to see an option for recommended and minimum specs for the pack. Most people would download packs thinking they can run just fine but in reality they'll lag (Feed The Beast Ultimate). I was thinking the option can be integrated into the info file, please note that if modpack creators leave it blank and the specs option/section won't show up. The best place to put the specs is either make it-it's own section or include it in the pack description. The result should look like this (Not exactly of course):

• Intel Core i5 Quad Core / AMD A6 Quad core / or better.
• 8GB RAM Dedicated graphics card:
• Nvidia GTX560 / AMD 6950 / or better

I'm terrible at Photoshop so I can't provide you a picture but hopefully you have an idea to what I'm saying. If you have any questions be sure to ask me and I hope the new launcher turns out well!

 

[Keleko34]

The ability to choose a custom mod pack would be nice, example would be that it has its own interface of the mods that feed the beast supports and you choose which ones you would like to use in your client/server, if you choose a mod that is not compatible with another than that other one will gray out so that it can't be selected. Creates the ability to customize a mod pack even if the person does not necessarily know how.

 

[unv_annihilator]

-snip-

-snip-

Both great ideas, will mill them over and see what we can do.

-snip-

Now this is a little harder to be done sadly. It's a little more complicated to say 'recommended requirements' when it's also based on what is on the map. With that said however I hear performance should go up a lot in 1.5+

-snip-

Something along these line MIGHT be possible with nana's new modpack backend, however since I don't know the full details on it I can't say for sure. Because of this I'll just hold off until he's finished and we'll see what is possible then.

 

[Keleko34]

Something along these line MIGHT be possible with nana's new modpack backend, however since I don't know the full details on it I can't say for sure. Because of this I'll just hold off until he's finished and we'll see what is possible then.

I thought it might I had noticed that on all your modpacks that you include all the cfg's for many different mods even if they are not in the pack. which gave me the idea in the first place and which has made it a breeze with installing mods and not having to worry about crashing id's. I love your guys launcher, it is very smooth when it comes to running minecraft, I had attempted to run modpacks off of the original launcher and always ended up with bugs whereas the same packs played on the ftb launcher would run more smoothly than ever. keep up the good work!

 

[Darth Sith]

Here's another idea that I believe most people would enjoy, a backup world feature integrated into the launcher. Users can easily backup worlds by selecting any modpack and clicking the backup world option. This can be helpful for people who have problems with Windows explorer (not me), the option should only work to back up SSP worlds for obvious reasons. It would also be nice to allow the user to select where they want to back it up to, but by default it should be in the FTB folder.

 

[Darth Sith]

One needed feature for FTB that would make our lives easier is the option to delete 3rd party modpacks. Currently to delete them you go into the FTB folder and delete that modpacks folder. The option can be called "Remove" and can be located as a small but visible button in the modpacks section directly next to the modpack you want to delete.

 

[Ashzification]

I'd like to see a "Hide" Feature, so I don't have to look at packs I don't play as often.

 

[Darth Sith]

Already suggested

Speaking of never losing things, how about that one click backup? If you are giving us instancing, yes I could just make a new copy before launching every time, and if that goes fast I'll accept it, but I'd love some peace of mind.

 

[unv_annihilator]

-snip-

There has been talks of this for a while now, it's something I certainly want to do, but I'd also like to have it done properly so it'll take a little more time. But if I have it my way it should be in on the release of the new launcher.

-snip-

Yea, completely overlooked the fact that people might actually want to remove modpacks, it'll be something added for sure.

-snip-

This is certainly something that will be possible. I'm not sure how we'll accomplish it yet since there have been a lot of good suggestions of how to do it, but this functionality would be available.

-snip-

Filter option is a really good idea, that will be implemented as well as remembering filter settings between usages.

As stated above backups are something I want to do and it's something that should be making an appearance.

By up to date lwjgl, what do you mean? Just want to make sure I know what you're talking about before I comment on it.

And the whole server <---> client config syncing, that is something talked about but I'm not sure exactly where we stand on it seeing as it's being talked about by the backend web/server guys, so I don't really have any input on it currently.

-snip-

Something as a backup manager would be needed for sure, how much functionality is there is what's unsure. It might be rather basic and manual at first, but as the launcher progresses I'm sure we'll add in more functionality and more automation.

And on the note of easy cfg editing, this is something requested a lot, but due to the fact that all configs are different (layout, file type even sometimes, naming of settings) it's pretty hard to make something abstract enough to work with everything.

 

[Darth Sith]

In web developer terms yes

Darth, code monkey?

 

[Jinbobo]

Speaking of up to date, config files. Now, kol mafia has implemented a SVN versioning system that can intelligently detect the differences between your copy and the same version number on the server, and then merge those changes into the updated on. ... I have NO idea how this works. (something about "Subversion, a version control system") I could see how some bits of script that are out of date causing trouble, so this would need an obvious way to overwrite this behavior (debug option?).

Method 1: rsync. No DVCS required
Method 2: diff and patch, this method could possibly save user changes to configs (but won't do it cleanly). No DVCS required too

Edit: If you want to go with the DVCS path, I'd suggest distribute git with the launcher and pull from a central repo. Again this method could possibly save user changes to configs, but will require the user to resolve conflicts by themselves.

 

[Darth Sith]

[Suggestion] One of the best features about the FTB launcher in my opinion is the option to customize modpacks by taking out mods and adding some. I noticed that the way FTB edits modpacks is copied from MultiMC. MultiMC has the same feature but allows you to add texturepacks as well when editing instances, even though this can be easily done in-game. I still believe this is a great feature and will be nice If you add it since it is a small change.

 

[BanzaiBlitz]

[Suggestion] Been mulling over a concept of config alignment. Kind of a mod for MC but deals specifically with easing the issues of resolving ID conflicts. Basically, a small external program that will first read through all configs in your MC folder or just the one labeled configs, then list what it was able to find and indicate all conflicts either in a full ID list form or calling out only the conflicts themselves and the configs involved. Possibly even having the ability to automatically resolve conflicts all at once after the list is built, intelligently moving conflicting mod's ID sets into their own sections of ID ranges, evenly spaced via a requested spacing of empty IDs to account for mod updates and not need to break saves. If not automatically, simply being able to allow the user to make needed changes in the generated list and then save the changes to the respective config.

Honestly, I'm a little surprised I've not heard of anyone trying to make a basic program like this now that I think of it. I'd be taking a crack at it myself but presently far too new to code and would be a long way off from knowing how to do it yet.

Hope the idea is useful.

 

[Keleko34]

[Suggestion] Been mulling over a concept of config alignment. Kind of a mod for MC but deals specifically with easing the issues of resolving ID conflicts. Basically, a small external program that will first read through all configs in your MC folder or just the one labeled configs, then list what it was able to find and indicate all conflicts either in a full ID list form or calling out only the conflicts themselves and the configs involved. Possibly even having the ability to automatically resolve conflicts all at once after the list is built, intelligently moving conflicting mod's ID sets into their own sections of ID ranges, evenly spaced via a requested spacing of empty IDs to account for mod updates and not need to break saves. If not automatically, simply being able to allow the user to make needed changes in the generated list and then save the changes to the respective config.

Honestly, I'm a little surprised I've not heard of anyone trying to make a basic program like this now that I think of it. I'd be taking a crack at it myself but presently far too new to code and would be a long way off from knowing how to do it yet.

Hope the idea is useful.

Actually this has been done, [link]http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/366377-151id-resolver-finally-updated/[/link]

 

[nukedpiggy]

A great feature would be a option to added more ram because honestly 1 gb is not a lot that's vannlias default maybe like up to 10 or you pick how much ram you dedicated Beacuse some computers have terra bites now and people could have even more ram so basically the option to add more than 1 gb of ram

 

[nukedpiggy]

Sweet thanks

 

[Ashzification]

Hate to embaris you nuke, but if you where not using 32 bit java to launch FTB you could slide that slider quite a bit higher.

Check the post just above yours for a link to a way to get it if you think you have 64 installed, but FTB isn't trying to use it.

Or, he could just uninstall 32 bit Java. It's remarkably easier that way.