Community Filename Prefix Reservations

[mickabouille]

Wondering if this forum there is the best host for a community resource if posting is so difficult...

[suy]

Since I'm unable to complete the registration either (tried it resending the confirmation email, waiting, checking spam folder, etc.), I'd like to ask a generous soul to post for me on the BWL forum.

I want to register the "S_" prefix for suy. I am aware of someone named Echo asked for it on 2013, but I don't know of any mods from that person, and I volunteer to adjust my file names if Echo's mods happen to clash with mine (to the best of my possibilities).

[Guest]

8 hours ago, suy said:

Since I'm unable to complete the registration either (tried it resending the confirmation email, waiting, checking spam folder, etc.), I'd like to ask a generous soul to post for me on the BWL forum.

I want to register the "S_" prefix for suy. I am aware of someone named Echo asked for it on 2013, but I don't know of any mods from that person, and I volunteer to adjust my file names if Echo's mods happen to clash with mine (to the best of my possibilities).

 

I can make the request on your behalf.

 

But it would be good to have a replacement if S_ isn't accepted, I see that SY seems to be available , what do you think ?

[suy]

6 hours ago, JohnBob said:

 

I can make the request on your behalf.

But it would be good to have a replacement if S_ isn't accepted, I see that SY seems to be available , what do you think ?

Thank you for the effort, JohnBob. I see that you've done a few requests on behalf of G3 forum members, and I appreciate the time you took.
 

About the alternative: I would try to push the "S_" one first, even if it's duplicated. The reason is that I'm skeptical about the whole process, for many reasons. I don't want to bore anyone, and I don't want to cause controversy, so I don't want to elaborate on it too much. But let me briefly state something. Many file names need to follow a convention that the engine recognizes, and can't be with the modder prefix naming anyway. The process for registering, as we can see, it's problematic, given the state of the BWL forum. I don't see a way to check out who a modder on the list of reservation is, or where to reach them, or check out the mods published to see the details of the conflict, etc. I don't see a way to take back the prefix from the modder if actually did not use it in the end. And probably the most important, this naming convention helps somewhat at avoiding installation conflicts, but not all, and does not improve mod compatibility in other areas.

In short, I see it OK enough to just state that one will go with putting their own file names with that prefix, but I don't like being forced to choose one that is unused because someone came first. Specially because the list of free two letter ones is just gonna run out soon anyway, and even without the slots being exhausted, there already plenty of duplicates...

[Guest Graion|Work]

Strictly speaking, the minimum amount of combinations are 936 (that's 26*36, 26 ASCII characters and the 10 numerics after them, I decided to not collect the various ASCII regexpable glyphs, like _ # or § for my full estimation). The current amount of registered prefixes (including duplicates and overlaps) are 799. The system started in 2004.

According to math, that means in average ~43 prefixes are registered yearly. However, 2023 only saw 21 entries so far, 2022 20, 2021 another 21, and 2020 just a measly 15, so while the trend is stagnating, the median of the recent years are axctually half of the lifetime average.

This means that even with my safe assumptions, there's a minimum of 3 years, a median of 6 before we need to actually consider filtering out the duplicates and/or consider dealing with them, with every glyph character used either adding another year or atleast a half to my very rough calculations. I'm not fully convinced of the system reaching it's limits yet.

[Guest]

Request submitted !

 

[jastey]

On 9/27/2023 at 3:48 PM, suy said:

I want to register the "S_" prefix for suy. I am aware of someone named Echo asked for it on 2013, but I don't know of any mods from that person

Sorry for being late, but it didn't click right away. Echon is the author of the mod "Fields of the Dead" at PPG: https://www.pocketplane.net/the-fields-of-the-dead/

It was mainly for oBG1, but I think it was adapted to at least an earlier version of BG:EE, the current status is unknown to me. Echon is still actively checking in on PPG forums (at least).

EDIT: Echo / Echon - maybe I mixed something here ...

[suy]

Thank you for the warning, jastey. I could not find any file named "s_something" inside Fields of the Dead, and I searched to see if anything starting with that prefix was generated, but I couldn't. I suppose is a different person? There is no "echon" mention on the list of registered prefixes either.

[suy]

And now I see it's added. Thank you for the favor, @JohnBob!

[Guest]

Your welcome, it really isn't much.

[Saphael]

Hello, 

It seems the issue with the registration email on the BWL forum is still here. After many unsuccessful attempts, I would like to know if any of you would be willing to pass on my request to reserve the 1S prefix. I'm currently creating an NPC mod for BG2EE. 
Thank you in advance,
Saphael