Question for everyone about installing add-ones

[stiz]

Hello,

This is a big question for me that i'd like everyone to answer  :)

How far are people willing to install an add on??

Explination of the poll:

All the way = Creating a new CFS2 install from the disks after renaming the old one, deleteing files and folders, creating new shortcuts then running an auto installer

Most the way = just the new install then the installer

Normall way = just the installer

I would like everyone to answer this please if you'd be so kind  :)

[james007]

All the way Stiz. I prefer to install things manually. But on the other hand if you can make it a self install. Thats alright by me as well.

Thank you Stiz

James007

[Hagar]

I suggest the best way is to make it optional. Upload the files as zipfiles or auto-installers as you wish but if they're auto-install make absolutely certain these have been tested on your own system & also by reliable beta testers first. If you can't do this for any reason stick with the zipfiles. Whichever method you decide on please include easy to follow instructions.

PS. This is how we've always done it at Fox Four. We've had very few complaints over thousands of downloads. The majority of the few problems so far has been from people who did not read the simple instructions.

[Falcon500]

I am not sure, but i think i am confused by the question, when i download something new i dont mind copy and pasteing files where they need to go...  

[Corsair Freak]

I prefer to install EVERYTHING manually... not only is it part of the fun, it helps people who arn't so familiar with the way CFS2 works, to get some practice installing add-ons, that way, if they run into any problems (hopefully) they can troubleshoot it themselves. Also, I like to know what I'm installing and where it goes.


Good Hunting,
Brandon

[H]

Since I seperate by three categories -- CFSWW1, CFSWW2 and CFSHSF (my own air force) -- using a self installer usually winds up the same as making a temporary folder and redistributing, anyway.

[Hagar]

Since I seperate by three categories -- CFSWW1, CFSWW2 and CFSHSF (my own air force) -- using a self installer usually winds up the same as making a temporary folder and redistributing, anyway.

I would usually do the same myself unless I'm testing the actual auto-install to make sure it works properly. As this involves a new version of CFS2 each time I do this I try to make sure I get it right the first time.

There seems to be a misconception about self-installers which work on basically the same principle as extracting zipfiles direct to CFS2 or any other sim. The install/extract path can usually be redirected to any location you wish so installing the files to different versions of CFS2 should not matter, even if they're on different drives. What is often unclear with these auto-installers is the location within CFS2 itself the extract path should be redirected to. To install properly they must be set to overwrite existing files/folders so if the person configuring the files got it wrong or didn't test it properly there no way of telling which files are overwritten.

Auto-installers are popular among the CFS community & although some are just as complex they seem to give less problems than those posted for FS. Unless you know & trust the person who configured it I would generally recommend redirecting the install path of any self-installer to a Temp folder so the files can be installed manually.

PS. I configure all the Fox Four files myself as this is something I've been doing for a very long time now & I wouldn't trust the job to anyone else. All our "auto-install" files are configured as simple self-extracting zipfiles. These will either auto-extract by clicking on the EXE file or can be unzipped in the usual way with the right-click mouse options. The auto-install path is set to extract the files to the root directory folder of CFS2 in the default location but this can easily be changed by the end-user. Our policy has always been not to overwrite default files.