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diff --git a/docs/packages.txt b/docs/packages.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..cbcd3406 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/packages.txt @@ -0,0 +1,122 @@ +----------------------------- +THE MANA WORLD PACKAGE SYSTEM +----------------------------- + +1. INTRODUCTION +2. LOCATION OF DATA +3. CONTENTS OF DATA PACKAGE +4. TYPES OF DATA +5. INITIALIZING PACKAGE MANAGEMENT +6. LOADING A REQUESTED RESOURCE + + +1. INTRODUCTION + +The Mana World is expected to grow continuously with updates to the game world +occurring relatively frequently. More often so than for example new releases +of the game client. To make sure players don't have to update their data +manually all the time, by for example downloading the latest from the website, +the TMW client should be able to automatically obtain new data packages from +the server. + + Note: To reduce the load on the server (which isn't expected to have huge + free uploading resources), the idea is that the server will only send a + torrent file to the client and that the file is subsequently downloaded from + several locations that have volunteered to spread TMW data files. Ultimately + a simple option on the client will even allow players to contribute their + excess bandwidth to help other players get the updates faster. + + +2. LOCATION OF DATA + +There are two locations where TMW can look for game data. The install data +directory and the data directory in the user's home directory. The latter one +doesn't have to be used for Windows users, but is required for dynamic updates +for UNIX users, who generally won't have write permissions to the install +data directory. So for UNIX the two locations are: + + /usr/local/share/manaworld/data/* + + ~/.manaworld/data/* + +While for Windows all the data will be located at: + + C:\Program Files\The Mana World\data\* + +In the UNIX case it doesn't matter in which order the data directories are +examined. + + +3. CONTENTS OF DATA PACKAGE + +The contents of the data packages are strictly categorized and all packages +share a single root, similar to the paths on a UNIX system. The name of the +package is irrelevant. An example of the contents is given by: + + /graphics/sprites/forest/pinetree.png + /graphics/sprites/furniture/bed.png + /graphics/tiles/dark_forest.png + /graphics/tiles/city.png + /music/eagles_are_watching.xm + /music/silent_rose.xm + /sound/battle/sword1.ogg + /sound/battle/sword2.ogg + /maps/deep_desert.tmx + /maps/desert_town.tmx + /tilesets/dark_forest.tsx + /tilesets/city.tsx + /scripts/Portal.rb + /scripts/PawnShop.rb + /scripts/Fountain.rb + + +4. TYPES OF DATA + + png - The preferred format for images + xm - The preferred format for music (or other kinds of module formats) + ogg - The preferred format for sound effects + tmx - The map format (to be implemented) + tsx - The tile set format (to be implemented) + rb - A Ruby script file (application to be discussed) + + +5. INITIALIZING PACKAGE MANAGEMENT + +When TMW starts it will scan its data directories for both packages (archives) +and directories. When a directory is found with the same name as a package, the +directory is the preferred location to load data from as it is assumed to be +more up to date. + +Each package will have an ID and a file listing associated with it. Having made +a list of all packages they are processed in the order of their IDs. A mapping +is made from file to package, as follows: + + /music/eagles_are_watching.xm -> /usr/local/share/manaworld/data/musicpack + /music/silent_rose.xm -> /usr/local/share/manaworld/data/musicpack + /sound/battle/sword1.ogg -> ~/.manaworld/data/patch1 + /sound/battle/sword2.ogg -> ~/.manaworld/data/patch1 + ... + +Because the packages are loaded in the order of their IDs, it is made sure that +each file will always point to the package in which is was last updated. The +package IDs make sure that there is an absolute ordering of the packages. + +To allow the client to get rid of old packages, a package can declare an +arbitrary amount of packages with a lower ID than itself as obsolete. These +packages will then be ignored by the client, and optionally they can be +automatically deleted. + + +6. LOADING A REQUESTED RESOURCE + +When the game starts and during the game, resources will continuously be asked +for. A resource manager will take care that each resource is only loaded once. +It also makes sure that the resources are loaded from the right package using +the constructed mapping. + +As noted above, the resource manager makes sure directories are preferred +to package files when resources are loaded. The presence of directories is +only expected in the case of developers that will relatively frequently update +the data while working on the next package to be released. + + |