Allow servers to push add-ons to clients?

[Mumbo]

Hi there!
Are there any plans to let Online-Servers require players to have certain add-ons installed, and/or ask them to download them when they try to join the server? Xonotic does a similar thing - if you try to join a server where a custom map is running, you have to allow the game to download it to join. For STK, this clearly wouldn't work out - as it would delay the start of the game heavily - but forcing the download when a player tries to join should work out.

So, to be clear about what I have in mind. Assume I have a server running where the map "Museum" and "Lost Chasm" are installed, and I activate the option "Require players to install Add-Ons". Upon joining, the player who doesn't have these maps gets a message like
"This server requires you to have following Add-Ons installed:
-Museum
-Lost Chasm

Download | Cancel"

Any chance for such a feature? =) It would greatly improve the support for custom maps - as things are now, you can be sure that in a game with 6 players or more somebody has no add-ons installed.

[Juliancmd]

Hello,

I am also interested in such feature. I have found some information regarding the installation of Add-Ons via the network at the end of this Website. https://supertuxkart.net/Installing_Add-Ons 
Yet I was unable to understand how exactly it works. I am also unsure if I might misinterpret what it means.

On the website it states 'Additionally, /installaddon and /uninstalladdon can be used in networking lobby to install or uninstall Add-ons.'. On my linux installation (~/.local/share/supertuxkart/) those folders don't exist. I am unsure where to create them and if they are supposed to install Add-ons on other clients aswell. I tried setting them up in the addons folder and copying some of my installed Add-ons in that folder. Yet nothing has been installed on the other ends of my friends.

Am I missing something? Is it not well enough explained? Or does the feature not work?

Would greatly appreciate some help or a clue where I could find more information as I'm new to SuperTuxKart.

[Asher3theG]

Some servers, fortunately have this feature. I don't spend much time online, but I think kimden's server has it. I only played it for one time, I think. It said, “Install <map-name> for <number> missing player(s), <users-who-don't-have-the-given-map>”.
Note: This only happens when you have already joined the server

[Alayan]

So, to be clear about what I have in mind. Assume I have a server running where the map "Museum" and "Lost Chasm" are installed, and I activate the option "Require players to install Add-Ons". Upon joining, the player who doesn't have these maps gets a message like
"This server requires you to have following Add-Ons installed:
-Museum
-Lost Chasm

Download | Cancel"

Any chance for such a feature? =) It would greatly improve the support for custom maps - as things are now, you can be sure that in a game with 6 players or more somebody has no add-ons installed.

Something like that could be done for vanilla STK servers, yes (as mentioned above some servers using custom code already have similar requirements, although usually it's in number of addons and not about specific addons).

It's reasonable to want some servers to offer players the possibility to play addons without some random new user coming in having no addon installed and making that option go away.

On the other hand, if a server require 200 addons for people to join, it probably shouldn't show up at the top of the list or be where users using the quick play option are directed to.

Hello,

I am also interested in such feature. I have found some information regarding the installation of Add-Ons via the network at the end of this Website. https://supertuxkart.net/Installing_Add-Ons 
Yet I was unable to understand how exactly it works. I am also unsure if I might misinterpret what it means.

On the website it states 'Additionally, /installaddon and /uninstalladdon can be used in networking lobby to install or uninstall Add-ons.'. On my linux installation (~/.local/share/supertuxkart/) those folders don't exist. I am unsure where to create them and if they are supposed to install Add-ons on other clients aswell. I tried setting them up in the addons folder and copying some of my installed Add-ons in that folder. Yet nothing has been installed on the other ends of my friends.

Am I missing something? Is it not well enough explained? Or does the feature not work?

Would greatly appreciate some help or a clue where I could find more information as I'm new to SuperTuxKart.

/installaddon and /uninstalladdon are not folders, they are server commands meant to be typed in the chat of a server lobby.

[Sauss-Ente]

On the other hand, if a server require 200 addons for people to join, it probably shouldn't show up at the top of the list or be where users using the quick play option are directed to.

Maybe quick-play should only lead to vanilla servers. In the case that no vanilla servers are open, it could start up a standard server with standard settings automatically.

In Ring Racers (another kart-racing game), when playing online, there are two categories of servers: "Core" (Vanilla) and "Modded". The question would be, if that distinction would be necessary for STK or if the game would be able to automatically detect the kind of server.
To join a Ring Racers server that uses mods, they all must be downloaded beforehand (see screenshot in the attachments). Resulting in quite large files being transferred on the first join. But after that, everything is settled and done.

Anyways, in Supertuxkart, there are definetly plenty of players out there who would like to go beyond the standard tracks and feel hindered by the current smallest common ground approach. Thus servers exist that require addons to play, be it specific addons or just a big number of them. So I agree with the original post.

[Alayan]

Maybe quick-play should only lead to vanilla servers. In the case that no vanilla servers are open, it could start up a standard server with standard settings automatically.

In Ring Racers (another kart-racing game), when playing online, there are two categories of servers: "Core" (Vanilla) and "Modded". The question would be, if that distinction would be necessary for STK or if the game would be able to automatically detect the kind of server.
To join a Ring Racers server that uses mods, they all must be downloaded beforehand (see screenshot in the attachments). Resulting in quite large files being transferred on the first join. But after that, everything is settled and done.

Anyways, in Supertuxkart, there are definetly plenty of players out there who would like to go beyond the standard tracks and feel hindered by the current smallest common ground approach. Thus servers exist that require addons to play, be it specific addons or just a big number of them. So I agree with the original post.

Yes, quick play should arguably only lead to servers with standard config and no addons requirement (addons might be available, just not required).

But beyond that, there are multiple different categories that can make classification tricky:
- A server may be running custom code that doesn't affect core gameplay
- A server may require a number of addons from a list, but not necessarily all of them.
- A server may be requiring specific addons (but run standard config)
- A server may use modded settings (such as different powerup probabilities, different kart characteristics...)

The central server that hosts the server list should be made aware of a game server's category and the game itself should be able to use that information when displaying the server list.

Servers opened by recently created online accounts probably should never show near the top of the list or be used for quick play, that way it becomes a lot easier to control cases of servers mis-advertising their capabilities.