Suggestion: READMe labeling for mass downloaders

[dragonarts]

I decided to stop lurking in the underbrush today and ask a question/make a suggestion/air a gripe. I was trolling for hacks and mods that are awesomely updated or created for FreeTime, and once again encountered the "everybody labels their documentation the same" syndrome. Yes, even here where people tend to more more awesome than average.

This is what I'm talking about: when I troll for downloads, I typically grab anywhere from three or four to a couple dozen before I unzip/unrar anything and install it. Then I select a bunch at once, unzip them all, and drag and drop them into my downloads folder. This works great except one tiny and annoying problem. I read readme's, and when you unzip several downloads at once, you get this long string of messages informing you that a file README or rtfm already exists and do you want to overwrite it. This makes it necessary to unzip one file at a time, and change the name on the documentation before proceeding to the next download. Very time consuming. Very annoying.

Is there some unknown rule that says that creators can't label their documentation with a unique filename that gives a hint of the download associated with it? Something like "rtfm-coffeecuphack" would do nicely. Then I can actually *read* all the rtfm's without laboriously unzipping each one and relabeling them manually myself.


I don't know; maybe I'm the only one this bothers. It's possible that I'm the only one actually reading these things, but since the nice creators went to all that work to write the things, I figure they might even have something useful to say, and I should do them the courtesy of reading the thing.

[BattyCoda]

As an aged and actually properly trained software engineer, I say "Hear! Hear!". While I do understand the
engineer mentality of "I'm the only one who is important here.", proper documentation ( including naming conventions )
really does add value to a product. ;

Fake edit: I'm sure there are punctuation errors in that paragraph, just so you know.

[bowrain]

That's why I always unzip them to their own folders.

[Jelenedra]

Not a viable option for the Director's Cut.

[J. M. Pescado]

I never actually read the manuals, so the manuals are written and maintained with all the care and attention of someone who never reads manuals unless something goes wrong. I suggest you do likewise.

[Zazazu]

I always look up new hacks before I download them. 

[Sivany]

The hacks here are always zipped so even if you download a bunch at the same time it's only one extra double click to open the zip file once you've downloaded it and read the manual. That way you can still unzip the whole lot at once (to save on copying and pasting) but you've already read the manual so it doesn't matter if it's overwritten. Or you could rename them yourself before unzipping them to the destination folder.

I know this doesn't work for rar folders though sadly.

[morriganrant]

Eh, I will either get the directors cut and pull the ones I do not want. In which case I know what I am getting obviously, or I will download the files separately and open the rar, pull out the readme, rename it and then pull the other file out. Long, but does what I need.

[kuronue]

I keep the zips in a big folder someplace, in case I ever need to RTFM

[jolrei]

I'm with Morriganrant - hacks tend to be "load and forget" files.  Either I get a director's cut and know what I'm getting ahead of time, making a manual/rtfm file superfluous, or I'm looking for an individual mod, which means I would read the readme/rtfm before installing.  In any case, I would never want to download the rtfm file for a mod into the Downloads directory.  Clutter.

[GTADaddy]

I have never had too much of a problem with that. Maybe because I keep my downloads organized in folders named for what it is. For me it is much easier to keep track of what I have, than just installing everything to the same folder. As far as the Director's Cut, I downloaded it, but didn't install it, only because I wouldn't use everything in it. I came up with the system I use after first installing everything directly into the downloads folder, then scratching my head to figure out what was in there when my game had issues with something.

I did try the a couple programs made for handling the installation of custom content, but the files did not seem to be that organized to me.

What I ended up having, is, one directory for everything in zip or rar form, and an identical folder structure in my downloads folder with the package files (so far I have not had any issues with something that needed to load before something else). To keep things simple, each folder in the directory with the zips and rars has a "1 installed" folder for what I installed in my game. If something does not work correctly, it is very easy to remove it from my downloads and move it out of the "1 installed" folder.

Anyway, that is just my 2 cents on it.

[witch]

On the desktop I have a hack folder, inside this is a folder for each creator plus one for misc. This is my 'to be processed' folder. I unrar the files here. The unrared files go in the game in the same hack folder structure. The zipped/rared files, once they've been processed, go in a folder on my C:Drive. The C Drive folders keep the hacks in a folder corresponding to the current EP. When a new EP comes along I make a new folder.

I usually only read rtfms for hacks that are new to me.

[SpaceDoll]

I rename each rtfm as I unzip, so that I have a copy of each.  I guess I like to have them in case I need to refer to them for some reason.  Also, I keep my little sister updated on the hacks here, and e-mail her anything new she needs, so it is nice for her to know what she's getting.  Not that she reads them.  Anyway, if anyone wants my renamed rtfm's, I have most of the Director's Cut, plus a few more.  Here ya go.

[ScoobyDoo]

Vista, suprisingly has one nice thing about this, when you drag and drop the zip contents to the folder, it'll ask you if you want to rename the incoming files if their duplicates, readme(1).txt, readme(2).txt.

Morrowind's mods suffer this same issue, and there you can't put them in subfolders.

[Xuriel]

Vista, suprisingly has one nice thing about this, when you drag and drop the zip contents to the folder, it'll ask you if you want to rename the incoming files if their duplicates, readme(1).txt, readme(2).txt.

I don't have Vista (and I never will) but I use 7-Zip, which lets me auto-rename the RTFMs as I unzip files. Works for me.

[KatEnigma]

I just unzip everything into folders. Sometimes I get forgetful about what a mod does.

[Jess Maree]

I generally phail at organisation and I just unzip EVERY bit of CC I have into the one folder (which contains 523 files, 4 folders for replacements ). The only things that have their own folder are default replacement skins, eyes ect.

I d/l the DC because I know everything in there is good, so I don't fuss about the RTFM. For other hacks, I generally know what it is and what it does, so no fusses there.

[Lorelei]

I find Pescado's RTFMs amusing, though they generally thank the same Usual Suspects, and simply rename the file by using copypasta before moving them to a holding tank outside of the Downloads folder proper. I just copy the name of the hack and paste it over the readme and add RTFM at the end.

This is when I download individual hacks rather than a DC version.

Before I add new shinies, I do RTFMs to see if I want them, even if they are Awesomeware. Generally, I do.

[BastDawn]

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,2086.0.html

Copy the relevant texts, and make your own rtfm for the DC.

[Count Four]

This isn't the perfect solution, but it might help. 7Zip gives you the option to auto-rename when mass-unpacking.  It will rename to readme1.txt, readme2.txt, etc., but at least you don't have to unpack files one at a time and you don't lose the files with duplicate names.

[dragonarts]

Wow, so many awesome ideas for solutions. I liked El Presidente's reply best, but of course he is the supreme awesomeness, so of course he doesn't need to check readme's to see if there's further instructions included that weren't given in the thread. He undoubtedly knows exactly what each mod/hack does by telepathy and shear genius. I, however, am not so awesome, so I need to read stuff.

I do use Vista's rename feature for zips, but if I use Winrar for the rar's, it doesn't rename stuff for me. I may have to try 7zip. That does rar files too, right? Even though my new computer has lots of hard drive space, I'm trying to keep it uncluttered so I've been deleting the zip/rar after I unpack and install stuff. I may have to change that, especially as I've encountered a problem with one of the hacks I use . I checked them all pretty carefully before putting them back in my downloads folder when I installed Free Time, but I didn't go to a vacation hood. Everything looked fine until then. The error log isn't really helping me find the culprit because what it's telling me is the object causing the error is a community lot populator. I yanked my downloads folder, and am going back through trying to figure out which hack could affect community lot populators, and putting stuff back slowly (again) and testing in the circumstances that originally caused the error. I've reread all the readme's I still have, but that hasn't helped much yet.

[Lyra]

I put all my hacks (actually, all my custom content) into their own separate folders. It goes - what it is (hack, CC etc), where it's from, who created it, name. This helps with readmes because they go in the folder with the hack.

I also have a spreadsheet with all of my hacks, when they were updated and a link to it's readme so I can reference when I have to update something without having to click through a bunch of folders.

Works for me

[Count Four]

Yes, 7Zip works on .rar files, too. That's what I got it for in the first place. Besides that, it has plenty of useful features and all. You won't lose anything by giving it a try.

[Invisigoth]

I checked them all pretty carefully before putting them back in my downloads folder when I installed Free Time, but I didn't go to a vacation hood. Everything looked fine until then.

I might be entirely wrong, but this sounds as if you literally placed your hacks from your Bon Voyage downloads folder into your Free Time downloads folder. If you've done this, then I know what your problem is. Many FFS hacks have been updated so you shouldn't use the copy you had before in FT. You should download a fresh copy from the hack directory. If I have misunderstood your post then I'm sorry for wasting your time with this explanation.

[cwykes]

I rename each rtfm as I unzip, so that I have a copy of each.  I guess I like to have them in case I need to refer to them for some reason.  Also, I keep my little sister updated on the hacks here, and e-mail her anything new she needs, so it is nice for her to know what she's getting.  Not that she reads them.  Anyway, if anyone wants my renamed rtfm's, I have most of the Director's Cut, plus a few more.  Here ya go.

that's what I do to - I refer to them pretty regularly when I forget what a hack does.  I suspect the rtfm's tell you what the mod did when it first came out rather than what it actually does these days.  I always go to the forum if I'm wondering about things I know have been updated... harder jobs, saner LTWs....phone hack...

Thanks for the list - I'm checking it against mine next.