Deus Ex File Archive V2 is a fact!

[Alexander]

Deus Ex Network is thrilled to announce V2 of their file archive.

The new version is entirely written from scratch with a lot new (technical) features.

File uploading by visitors
Visitors can now upload files themselves. A valid e-mail address is required for this, as we will use it to validate the uploaded files and will also contact you on the e-mail address whether the file is accepted or denied.

Search feature
It is now possible to search within our archive. Not only will it search for the name of the file, but also other things such as file description.

ZIP Indexation
ZIP archive files are now automatically indexed and searchable.
(Example: http://download.deusexnetwork.com/DX1/m ... genda1.zip)
When searching for an individual file (for example DarkForce1.u) it will find all ZIP archives with the file.
(Example: http://www.download.deusexnetwork.com/s ... rkforce1.u)

Besides that, there are a lot of technical - background - changes that allows easier maintenance of both the system and files.

The design of the archive will be reviewed & redone by us later on.

If you find any bugs or errors, be sure to report them!

Note: Existing links to our archive will no longer work, but by using the search feature - which is offered when trying to load an older file - it is easy to find the file.

[~DJ~]

epiccc

[ShadowRunner]

File uploading by visitors
Visitors can now upload files themselves. A valid e-mail address is required for this, as we will use it to validate the uploaded files and will also contact you on the e-mail address whether the file is accepted or denied.

Thanks. This sounds great. So we don't waste our time, could you enlighten us on what would cause denial.
I probably would want to upload about 30-40 maps. I guess you are talking about people uploading offensive material or stuff whcih is irrelevant to DX? Or you are advertising a service which is going to be selective?

[chin.democ.]

I'm a little confused, who actually runs/edits this archive, isn't it Alex?

[ShadowRunner]

As far as I know yes.

Which is why I was asking further about the administration "accepting or denying". I wondered if Alex could enlighten us further what he meant by that, it's going to be a selective archive or it's going to just make sure uploads are DX relevant? i.e Politics, finance, lots of reasons why an archive might not be able to upload everything people want to upload. Id' hope that Alpha/Alex would allow the community to decide what's good work and what isn't, but my guess is it's just more of a security feature, to disallow virus upload.

Also is this something that uploaders should donate to? It's good news anyway I guess, an archive will be updated to some degree at least.

It's also going to be extremely useful to be able to search a file and discover what other packages use that file.

[Alexander]

Thanks. This sounds great. So we don't waste our time, could you enlighten us on what would cause denial.
I probably would want to upload about 30-40 maps. I guess you are talking about people uploading offensive material or stuff whcih is irrelevant to DX? Or you are advertising a service which is going to be selective?

Malicious/offensive material, illegal material (the full game DX:HR for example) or unrelated material (other games, random video's, etcetera) would be denied. If it's DX content and not just a small cube with 1 playerstart (Dx.dx anyone?) then it would be accepted.

I'm a little confused, who actually runs/edits this archive, isn't it Alex?

Currently, it's maintained by me and Daedalus, even though - in the future - others will be 'running' it, we would merely 'overlook' it all and handle technical issues. Right now the control panel isn't extended enough for others to use it, some maintenance is still peformed directly in the database.

As far as I know yes.

Which is why I was asking further about the administration "accepting or denying". I wondered if Alex could enlighten us further what he meant by that, it's going to be a selective archive or it's going to just make sure uploads are DX relevant? i.e Politics, finance, lots of reasons why an archive might not be able to upload everything people want to upload. Id' hope that Alpha/Alex would allow the community to decide what's good work and what isn't, but my guess is it's just more of a security feature, to disallow virus upload.

Also is this something that uploaders should donate to? It's good news anyway I guess, an archive will be updated to some degree at least.

It's also going to be extremely useful to be able to search a file and discover what other packages use that file.

The archive is not selective; we aim to supply an archive that is helping everyone. I explained above how we select files. We don't ask for donations (even though they are always welcome!) but we are looking at advertisements to help us fund the archive.

As for uploading your maps. Please place them in a ZIP archive first (decreasing filesize somewhat) and when uploading, type a proper description (not just "Multiplayer map"). Perhaps describe what the map is meant for (Augs, ATDM, zero augs), max amount of players, etcetera.

[chin.democ.]

Somehow I didn't make the connection with Alexander and Alex being the same person.


I think there's only one or two of my maps on there at the moment and I've got a few that needs to go there.

[Alexander]

Somehow I didn't make the connection with Alexander and Alex being the same person.


I think there's only one or two of my maps on there at the moment and I've got a few that needs to go there.

Please, be my guest and upload them! We're more than happy to host them.

[Magus]

How are you handling dependencies? Uploading required files on a per-map basis seems tremendously wasteful (although you've clearly got space to burn if you can afford to open a public archive) - perhaps a better solution would be to save packages only once and then link the maps that require them?

It might even be prudent to write a system to automate the creation of a .zip server-side with all the required dependencies and then send that directly to users...

[Alexander]

Handling dependencies? The system doesn't handle them. All files should be bundled within the same ZIP archive. It does take up more disk size, but it makes it less complex. Currently the archive takes up about 15 GB, which isn't a hell lot.

The dependencies system is a nice idea, but too complex for a 'simple' archive like this. Thanks for the suggestion though!
All suggestions are more than welcome.

[ShadowRunner]

Thanks for answering those questions. I won't put every map, just the ones that are currently hosted or new.

[Alexander]

Thanks for answering those questions. I won't put every map, just the ones that are currently hosted or new.

Great to hear! I'll check the uploads regularly so I can approve your files asap. If you have any other questions or comments/suggestions/complaints, be sure to contact me. I'd PM me over at the DXAlpha forums though, as I visit those more often.

[ShadowRunner]

OK will do. I won't be uploading anything yet, will let you know when.

No comment, just glad to see it being updated.

Good luck with this.