File Archive Work - COMMUNITY INPUT APPRECIATED

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Chernobyl

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I've recently spoken to a few of our more high-profile content creators, and also to Asgardianhammer, who's in charge of our Division Identity Guidelines. regarding the File Archive and the content within it.

I've been toying with the idea of combing through the Archive and removing less-accurate files. This doesn't mean that I'll be single-handedly going through the Archive and purging any files that don't meet a highly-scrupulous and unreasonable quality expectation - I value the contributions of every modeller that's made the effort to produce content for the community. Nor does it mean that only files produced from game resources will be maintained in the Archive - custom-made content can sometimes exceed the quality of our raw game assets. With that said, now that our Deployment process is active and running, it's worth looking at our resources with a critical eye and ensuring that our resources are of the highest quality we can provide.

Put simply, my logic for this project is as following: higher-quality files result in higher-quality costumes. Again, this doesn't mean I'm going to be combing the Archive and removing all files that don't meat an unreasonably high expectation. Nor does it mean that the files we offer will gradually become more and more complex and difficult for our newer members to use - I still want to try and keep our resources accessible to members of all skill levels. However, in the interests of making sure that our available content ensures our builders are working with only the finest-quality materials, it means (again) looking at files with a critical eye and saying 'this file isn't especially game-accurate'. It's worth considering files to be 'community-approved', such as certain foam files or even RobotChicken's Mk VI remodelling project - certain files that are used so often by the community that they've become a staple standard for a certain costume type.

Looking further down the line: I'm hoping that the forum upgrades Art Andrews and FANGS have been mentioning recently will bring with them a revamped Archive system, that will give me a broader set of permissions to better enable me to filter and sort the content our community produces. One of those tools will (hopefully) be the ability to remove Archive categories - my plan in this instance is to move away from files sorted by title (Halo: CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, etc) and instead into faction and generation (Covenant/UNSC/Forerunner, Mk IV/V/VI/G2). This should (hopefully!) begin to remove some of the issues the community has been having with locating files, by making the files more easy to locate. For example:

Current: Archive > Halo Universe > Halo 4 > named armour set
Proposed: Archive > UNSC > Mk IV/V/VI/G2 > named armour set

This would have the added benefit of consolidating the Halo 4 and Halo 5 armours into one location - currently, several people have found confusion in why I haven't added returning Halo 4 armour categories, such as Scout and Recon, to Halo 5.

I'd also like to move away from separate 'OBJ Archive' categories, and instead include the raw assets for a certain set in with the rest of the files relevant to that set. For example:

Archive > Halo Universe > G2 > Mk VI (Multiplayer) > (Mk VI (Multiplayer) OBJ Files Pack) / Helmet Unfold File / Torso Unfold File / Forearms Unfold File)

This should reduce the number of 'I can't find Asset XYZ! Where are they?!' requests - modellers and unfolders looking for raw files to work on would be able to simply look up that set to find the files they need, rather than hunting down the files in a different category.

Please let me know what you think, and provide input for anything I can do to streamline the Archive and provide the best content for our users. Again: the higher-quality our content is, and the more accessible it's made for our newer users, the more we'll see some excellent-quality costumes going up.
 
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May the God-Emperor protect thee. *Bows* Happy Birthday, Chernobyl! er... belated birthday...

We're about 38,000 years too early for His blessings, I'm afraid.

Anyways, update time: UNSC Archives are more or less sorted and settled down. There's some minor work to do with sorting out the extended universe stuff (Halo Online/Forward Unto Dawn/Halo Legends files), and I'm also moving on with the Covenant stuff. Forerunner stuff will come last of all, since it's the smallest category of the three factions. I'm considering leaving the OBJ Archives as they currently are, but giving them their own unique area instead of splitting the files off as I'd earlier considered - this may come in the form of a 'Modeller's Resources' Archive, where all raw files and 3D print files will be stored away from the generic Pepakura/foam files.

Permissions work is also coming along well - unregistered members are now unable to view most of our content, which means they won't be able to leave bogus file reports for me to constantly deal with. This should have the knock-on effect of file reports from here on being a lot more relevant, and it'll allow me to more accurately deal with 'problem' files as and when they crop up.

As always, if you have any thoughts on how I can better tailor the Archive to the community's needs, please let me know!
 
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The aim is, instead, to try and look critically at the content we have in our Archive and say 'these aren't very accurate to the source material, and we have better files available - let's try and keep the relevant material here and clear the stuff that isn't'.

I like this idea. I've often wondered while looking through the archive why we have 2 or even 3 unfolds of the same exact armor piece, same definition. They will often have download counts in the hundreds and I wonder, why hasn't someone decided which one was the most game accurate and/or easiest to assemble? I get that people don't always like to be the same, but that is why there are many games and armor sets to choose from. Is that something you'll be addressing in your consolidation? In any case, I hope it is going well enough for you!! Good luck! And Thank You!!!
 
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I like this idea. I've often wondered while looking through the archive why we have 2 or even 3 unfolds of the same exact armor piece, same definition. They will often have download counts in the hundreds and I wonder, why hasn't someone decided which one was the most game accurate and/or easiest to assemble? I get that people don't always like to be the same, but that is why there are many games and armor sets to choose from. Is that something you'll be addressing in your consolidation? In any case, I hope it is going well enough for you!! Good luck! And Thank You!!!

Yes and no. I'm doing my best to remove duplicates - I've come across a few of Hugh Holder's files that existed as stand-alone downloads and as part of a pack, so I've consolidated those items into one upload to save on space and enable users to download the complete set at once. However, as I mentioned to peterthethinker, we're not aiming to just throw out the lowest-quality files and keep the best. We realise that our members have varying levels of skill with handling and using these files, and we don't want to exclude our newer members (who may just be learning the processes for themselves) by giving out files that are beyond their capabilities to construct.

Files will be considered on a case-by-case basis and compared against what the end result should be. Again, I don't intend to be ruthless and throw out files that aren't up to some unattainable 'gold standard' of modelling - the vast majority of our files are of an appreciable quality. We're looking purely at files that are rough, blocky or inaccurate to source materials.
 
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Yeah, I do get that. I wasn't referring to low def against hi def. But like here, there are four Commando helmets from Reach. Three of them are labeled "Carter" helmets, but one of them is clearly different from the others. Two of them are the same low/med definition and look almost identical. Just seems silly sometimes, but you're the one who gets to manage it. :D

Question, how are the Reach files categorized now? Also, there seems to be a duplicate category.. MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor - Mark IV, and MJOLNIR Mk VI Armour

As always, much love and respect.
 
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Yeah, I do get that. I wasn't referring to low def against hi def. But like here, there are four Commando helmets from Reach. Three of them are labeled "Carter" helmets, but one of them is clearly different from the others. Two of them are the same low/med definition and look almost identical. Just seems silly sometimes, but you're the one who gets to manage it.

I'll also be taking a look at duplicate files, certainly.

Question, how are the Reach files categorized now? Also, there seems to be a duplicate category.. MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor - Mark IV, and MJOLNIR Mk VI Armour

Mk IV features files from Halo Wars. Mk VI features files from Halo 3. The categories aren't duplicates at all.
 
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Mk IV features files from Halo Wars. Mk VI features files from Halo 3. The categories aren't duplicates at all.

Gotcha, you can say it, I'm just a moron. :facepalm I guess I'll just mosey on over to my old elementary school and learn my Roman numerals again. Lol. Thank you Chernobyl.
 
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Gotcha, you can say it, I'm just a moron. :facepalm I guess I'll just mosey on over to my old elementary school and learn my Roman numerals again. Lol. Thank you Chernobyl.

Ah, don't worry about it. I can expect far more questions and comments before people adapt to the new Archive structure.

As it stands now, most of the major work is now done - UNSC and Covenant sections are in a state I'd be happy to call 'ready-to-go', and all that needs to be done now is a little jiggling around with things here and there.
 
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As I said - I LOVE the new File Archive categories.

I prefer to search preferred after armor and not after games, it tends somehow to lead to confusion sometimes, so I love it that there is Mark IV, V, VI and GEN2 than rather after game titles. :)

Amazing job, Chernobyl!
 
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Thank you so much for all of your hard work, Cherry. It is very much appreciated.
 
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As I said - I LOVE the new File Archive categories.

I prefer to search preferred after armor and not after games, it tends somehow to lead to confusion sometimes, so I love it that there is Mark IV, V, VI and GEN2 than rather after game titles. :)

Amazing job, Chernobyl!
Thank you so much for all of your hard work, Cherry. It is very much appreciated.

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

I'm not quite done yet - I'd like to try and truncate some of the category names somewhat (MJOLNIR Gen-2 Powered Assault Armour is a little bit of a mouthful, when you have ninety or so categories all featuring that naming convention), and I need to work out some sort of method for providing modellers with the raw textures they've been asking for. It may be that I end up working with two packs - one for the base armour and associated textures, and the other for skins - or, that I simply focus on the base armour plus diffuse, normal and colour control maps, since those will be the most relevant to modellers.

I've also decided that perhaps having the OBJ files spread out between categories might be a bad idea - it's a benefit in that the OBJ files are located in the relevant category, but it also means they're spread out rather than accessible in one location. Which is a pain in the backside, since my first order of the Archive restructuring was to delete the Halo 5 OBJ Archive, and now I need to re-upload all the work... ah, well. Hindsight is 20/20, I guess...

I've managed to cut down on the number of categories in general, however - the Archive has been consolidated by roughly 20%, currently, and I'm hoping that, as we move into the future and new assets become available, we won't see our system going back to being a bloated, difficult-to-navigate mess.
 
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Fantastic job Chernobyl. Thank you for your tireless and apparently, never ending work.
 
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Fantastic job Chernobyl. Thank you for your tireless and apparently, never ending work.

While there are still people in the world to ping my inbox going HEY I HAVE ZERO POSTS AND LITERALLY JOINED TEN MINUTES AGO. I'M TOO DAFT TO USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION, POINT ME TO THIS FILE PLEASE, my work will never be done.

Truly, I am the hero this forum needs. And, to be fair, I enjoy my work. I'd enjoy it far more if I had a mug of something caffeinated and incredibly potent, however - now accepting donations for Death Wish coffee.
 
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would you settle for a picture of it for now? It could take a while for the money to start rolling in......... death-wish.jpg
 
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I don't mean to offend or anything, but something really bugs me... "Mk VI (FUD)" category name.
Why is it named Mk VI? Mark VI didn't exist then, way too early.
It was Mark IV, used in Forward Unto Dawn movie and Halo Legends.
 
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I don't mean to offend or anything, but something really bugs me... "Mk VI (FUD)" category name.
Why is it named Mk VI? Mark VI didn't exist then, way too early.
It was Mark IV, used in Forward Unto Dawn movie and Halo Legends.

I'll get on it at some point. Currently suffering from a chronic attack of the Lazies.
 
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I'll get on it at some point. Currently suffering from a chronic attack of the Lazies.
Lol. I think you're allowed a few laxy days. :)
I wanted to bring up this one www.405th.com/file-archive.php?do=download&downloadid=1160 It says I'm locked out of viewing it. This was from a hyper link when I first started my build, but I'm not able to find the ODST shoulder through the new channels either.

update - I found another one that is a duplicate http://www.405th.com/file-archive.php?do=download&downloadid=900 There are two files there, a left and a right. We only need one and then invert to print opposite. But, on top of that, the extra one isn't even inverted, just the same file with two different names. :)
 
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Lol. I think you're allowed a few laxy days. :)

I can almost feel FANGS looming over me with the rolled-up newspaper, ready to bap me back to work already.

I wanted to bring up this one www.405th.com/file-archive.php?do=download&downloadid=1160 It says I'm locked out of viewing it. This was from a hyper link when I first started my build, but I'm not able to find the ODST shoulder through the new channels either.

Uhm... depends on what the file was. A lot of the stuff has been consolidated into packs based on the modeller - particularly in regards to ODST files, since we have three or four different sets from members out there. There's Hugh Holder's files in one pack, SKG's WETA ODST set, Kirrou's set, Nightshade's set... in all likelihood the file you're after has just been allocated to a pack to reduce space. I haven't deleted any files during the re-organisation work, I've simply worked to consolidate things as best I can into logical, easy-to-locate packs - in the above examples, members now have a one-stop trip to an entire project's worth of files by one author instead of having to comb through for individual pieces.

update - I found another one that is a duplicate http://www.405th.com/file-archive.php?do=download&downloadid=900 There are two files there, a left and a right. We only need one and then invert to print opposite. But, on top of that, the extra one isn't even inverted, just the same file with two different names. :)

With regards to left and right: some members prefer to have a different file for each side, so generally speaking, if unfolds exist for either side, we'll keep them around rather than force people to figure out the whole 'file flipping' process. However, I'll check out the problem and get it sorted, thanks for letting me know.
 
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Uhm... depends on what the file was. A lot of the stuff has been consolidated into packs based on the modeller - particularly in regards to ODST files, since we have three or four different sets from members out there. There's Hugh Holder's files in one pack, SKG's WETA ODST set, Kirrou's set, Nightshade's set... in all likelihood the file you're after has just been allocated to a pack to reduce space. I haven't deleted any files during the re-organisation work, I've simply worked to consolidate things as best I can into logical, easy-to-locate packs - in the above examples, members now have a one-stop trip to an entire project's worth of files by one author instead of having to comb through for individual pieces.

Got it. I didn't realize there were full suit pages. Nice work.


With regards to left and right: some members prefer to have a different file for each side, so generally speaking, if unfolds exist for either side, we'll keep them around rather than force people to figure out the whole 'file flipping' process. However, I'll check out the problem and get it sorted, thanks for letting me know.
I do get that, it's only a two click process though, maybe three. But, they would still have to invert it, because like I mentioned those two are the same exact file. Nothing major, just thought I'd mention. Thanks!
 
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Got it. I didn't realize there were full suit pages. Nice work.

It'll take some getting used to for our older members who are used to individual downloads, but for our newer members, it'll mean less time searching for parts - which means more time spent building.

I do get that, it's only a two click process though, maybe three. But, they would still have to invert it, because like I mentioned those two are the same exact file. Nothing major, just thought I'd mention. Thanks!

Exactly. As above: less time fussing, more time building. Plus, it eliminates the 'why does this file only have one side?' questions.
 
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