Downloads available to anyone?

Dawg Pack · Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:41 pm Post subject: Downloads available to anyone?

I'm going to be working on the downloads page that I spoke of many
months ago. One thing that concerned me was that the main site does not
require a log on to make downloads available as we have here at the
forums. I just wanted to make sure that anyone submitting content here in
this section would not mind the publicly posted links.

We had an issue a while back about some asian kid uploading a 3D crafters
projects and selling them in asia without permission of the author. I'd just
like some input before putting in the tedious work.

BLaaR · Community Supporter Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 733

Well, I guess it depends on the traffic. If you expect large download traffic it might be better to have it closed to registered users to counter leeching the server to death.

But I think it would be nice to have it open to general public. I hate registering at a new forum just to be able to download one file.

Snow3060 · Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 12:48 am Post subject:

I dont have any ideas on the best way of doing this but one asian kid could have very easily registered first and then sold them.

also registering isnt usaly much of a pain it can generaly be done in 5min or less.

I found that www.mechwarriorleagues.com's 3 stage system sucks and took me pretty much 2-3 days to complete and included answering a page of questions. I was annoyed after to findout that i didnt need to register to see the map downloads area.

YogSolthan · Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 1:42 am Post subject:

As BLaaR said, it's not difficult to create an account in order to download models. If someone wants to use our models, I don't think it's the kind of thing which will stop him. But it may stop an honest user who doesn't want to create another account. I don't think there will be a bandwidth issue since, even if they are nice Battletech paper models are not the most popular.

I don't know if you've planned to make such a thing, it would be great to create a search form, we have more than 50 models. It will add some work but it will be more user-friendly. It's not the most important feature but it could be idea for the future.

Perigren · Community Supporter Joined: 29 Apr 2007 Posts: 657

keep in mind that the paper models are not the only things available for down load here. you have maps, 1.2 patch eop's rez patches and possibly back up .iso's of the game it self.....

FelixTheCrazy · MechWarrior Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 66

I know that I've come across other sites that feel like a bunch of elitists because you have to get approved for registration just to download the content you want. I feel that if the model is free then it should be freely given/gotten without hassle...but that's just my 2 cents. But in the end I think it really should be the choice of the guy who has to pay the bills and might have to pay for more bandwidth...

shiftdel · Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:47 pm Post subject:

IMHO the only way to reduce the piracy over our free models is to make them easily available to everyone, that's way, only the dumbest will pay for something that he/she can get for free, with minimum effort.

So, my vote was yes.

†CMO†Sturm · Galaxy Commander Joined: 13 Jan 2004 Posts: 472

So Dawg... I imagine bandwidth is not a huge issue, but how is the site doing for actual storage space? The models themselves are fairly small, but the skinpacks tend to be quite large, so...

Wulfex · Pilot Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 37 Location: Paradise

Personally, I'd love to see the downloads go public. But I guess storage and bandwidth are an issue. Another thing you have to take into account is how many people still actually play the game and want the downloads. I think that if you are still going to continue to play MW3 and want to do the paper model thing, you might as well sign up for our little community. So either way to me would be fine.

Max Gene · Community Staff Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 1245

Nothing annoys me more than registering a forum account I'll never post with to download something. It clutters up the database with dummy accounts and discourages people to download something in the first place.... and as said earlier, anyone doing anything malicious won't be stopped by simple forum registration. I vote public downloads.

Fred · Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:52 pm Post subject:

Jason2kill · Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:56 pm Post subject:

When you mean downloads do you even mean the tool to mod the game? cause if so then yes lol I mean I dont play a hole lot and if I do then its just for a few days, computer to powerful and puts me in fast mode. I would just love to see what i could make and stuff, and if i join a regular game with that mod the weapons i use wont work as they should in the modded game to the others, tested it with freakos mod.

Nynx · Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:20 pm Post subject:

coffee really is the beverage of champions. Very Happy

Snow3060 · Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:20 am Post subject:

Max Gene · Community Staff Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 1245

The workbench will probably never be widely available, as it's in the hands of only a few people who would rather not see a heavy potential for abuse.

After a brief bit of confusion, I've finally sorted this out. While the main page only speaks of "downloads for everyone", Dawg's original post speaks of people who submit their content to here (the 3D craft section specifically) minding if their work is posted here without needing registration. Meaning we aren't here to discuss crucial game fixes like the 1.2 patch, or EOP's patches... or anything but the paper models. Hopefully if anyone else was confused, that clears things up.

With that in mind, I say knock off my vote on this. While I think it'd be beneficial to allow downloads sans-registration in my opinion, and we know how easy registration is, it's not my work on the line. </soapbox>