OpenRA

Hi everyone, I'm new here but long time supporter of mods and creator of moddb.com. I'm posting to discuss something which I believe could be a great addition to the OpenRA project.

For the past year we have been working on a mod API called mod.io. Our goal is to create an open modding platform, that provides an easy-to-use interface to browse and install mods on the web and in-game. It would be amazing to see mods play a much larger role in OpenRA by making them super accessible, which is the objective of mod.io.

You can take a look at a demonstration i've setup (with entirely faked data so please excuse it) to get an idea of how it all works. Please ask me anything and if a developer from the community is interested in integrating mod.io - we'd be happy to assist and help take modding to the next level.

Awesome! Looking great. That will definitely help our ongoing effort of improved Mod Support.

Oh brilliant, I missed your tasks regarding mod support. Would it be a bit cheeky of me to include mod.io on your issues board, as something to include in your roadmap?

The https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRAModSDK is more of Paul's personal quest, so I would like him to decide on that.

Correct me if I am wrong, but that SDK is for mod developers to use to create mods for OpenRA right? mod.io does not help with creating mods, our SDK / API is a platform for sharing and installing mods in-game. So a developer would build it into their game, to make an official central store of mods that players can install and play at the click of a button.

Yes, I meant Paul is the lead developer (we are a meritocracy) and the initial design vision of OpenRA or rather the NZ students ~10 years ago was and always has been to make the original games even more moddable.

Awesome, i've spoken to Paul briefly on ModDB will wait for this thoughts.

For those who don't follow the IRC channel, here is a summary of our plan forward.
We won't be able to integrate the one-click install support, but this still offers a great solution for integrating custom mods into the server listings and website.

1. (phase 1) Projects that use the mod SDK will be able to register with the mod.io API (process to be determined) and generate an ID that they add to their mod.config plus private authentication details.
2. (phase 1) The ingame and web server browsers will query mod.io for unknown mod details and provide a link to the mod's website instead of just reporting "Unknown Mod".
3. (phase 2) When the project pushes a new release to GitHub the Travis CI automation will update the mod.io profile with the new release details and installer files. We may also provide a make command to manually do this.
4. (phase 3) The main OpenRA website adds a Mods page that lists all approved mods and provides download buttons for the Windows/macOS/Linux(AppImage) installers.

The first phase should be relatively easy, we would hope to push it in the first OpenRA/SDK release that comes out after mod.io goes public. The later phases will be trickier, so may take longer to implement. I plan to start working on a prototype after we release the next playtest.

At some point in the future we should discuss adding support for auto-mod installs and what is needed to get there. But this sounds like a great first step, looking forward to helping with and promoting the implementation.

Also, if you want to talk to the team live about the API, SDK get questions answered quick we just launched our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/DVqv2zS

Hey all, good news from us. Our test environment is up: https://test.mod.io - a great place to try out the API, get everything up and running before switching to production and launching mod.io support with us.

Have you been able to make any progress with your mod integration?

That is good news!

Unfortunately no progress here. Changes in my work commitments mean that I have little time to spare for OpenRA, so this has had to go on hold until somebody else volunteers to take it over or my schedule frees up.

That isn't a problem, there is no rush - we will be available when the time comes, you have our support regardless.

I may be able to help with this, I'm an automation/integration guy at my day job. I had a similar frustration with OpenRA mod system, and this seems to be a smart way to address it. My schedule is erratic right now, but I'd be glad to see what I can do to help move the ball forward here.

Hey jballou thanks for reaching out. We've got a test environment running now, which you are welcome to access and starting playing with.

https://test.mod.io/?user=openra&key=cd ... c535ef9e30

It should contain absolutely everything you need to get started, and is what a number of other game development teams are using to get setup.