True, but it's not my job (nor do I have the time) to explain all the prerequisites. There are countless tutorials and learning sites where people can get up to speed on those.Serpwidgets wrote:Your tutorial was somewhat helpful but it assumes many prerequisites that I didn't have and I suspect many others don't either. Just because someone hosts a website on a *nix box doesn't mean they are familiar with that OS's command line and syntax.
I understand that, and I'm not frustrated about it. I just repeated the obvious: that people who want to do something they're unfamiliar with, have to do their own homework.Serpwidgets wrote:Would you expect someone who uses a mac and hosts their website on a windows box to be familiar with DOS command line syntax? So that you understand where I'm coming from: I host my sites on that OS not because of the OS itself but because php/mysql come with it, it's necessary for my vBulletin forum software and that's what I used to build my own sites.
Well, technically you paid for the game client and its content/features, and the dedicated server is a free download provided as an extra service. If you're familiar with the upheaval about the lack of free dedicated server files for some other games, then it's easier to appreciate that Nadeo released it (not withstanding that fact that it's an essential part of their strategy to empower users to add so much to the game that they don't have the resources for themselves). So yes, they could have done a better job at updating and including that old server readme. That applies to a lot of aspects of TM2 so far... but taking a missing readme as a statement about how Nadeo feels about its customers is too much of a stretch for me. I have some insight into how hard they worked all year (or longer) to get Canyon released, and let me assure you it wasn't funny.Serpwidgets wrote:Anyway, I downloaded a 130 megabyte file from a forum post with no instructions in the post so I think it is entirely reasonable to expect something like a readme inside it. Even if all the readme contained was the URL to your tutorial or their wiki, that would have been way better than nothing. I spent the first several minutes just searching around the archive trying to figure out where the readme was. Apparently this is what Nadeo thinks of its paying customers.
Neither of those, to me Canyon seems aimed more at attracting new players than previous TM titles. But I also think they bit off more than they can chew with that schedule of releasing a new environment every four (or so) months, especially in two genres new to them. So lots of little things fall by the wayside, or get postponed, because as a business they have to prioritize different things than you or I or anyone posting bug lists in the forums might want them to work on. I don't always like that either, but I do respect it.Serpwidgets wrote:Maybe Nadeo has no expectation of ever gaining any new customers. Maybe they think all of their canyon customers will only be people who have previously been heavily involved with their previous titles. If that's what they wanted they're doing a good job because I'm quickly losing interest.
The game and the ecosystem around it is currently far from perfect but also far from finished. And at the end of the long road ahead it might be complete but still won't be perfect. I understand that and enjoy the parts that are available now, and what they allow me to do (build software, websites and documentation). I find comparisons of Nadeo with vBulletin Solutions (or Blizzard, or Mojang, or whoever) rather pointless, as they're all very different companies, with different resources, priorities and products. I accept that, and in this age of instant gratification it's understandable that other people (I'm not saying you're one of them) find what Nadeo has done with Canyon so far is insufficient, but that saddens me sometimes. I too wish more Nadeo members are as active in the forums as gouxim is, but I trust that they aren't because they're hard at work on improving Canyon and ManiaPlanet, and getting ShootMania ready for beta.
Maybe running a TM server isn't for you then, maybe you can come back in a year and see how TM2 has evolved, or maybe you feel like persisting and learning your way around this stuff now. It's up to you what you want to do with TM. That's part of the beauty of the game, for me anyway.
And sorry for rambling.
Maybe you did mention it before and I missed the hints, at least you made sure I didn't this time. 
