11 réponses à ce sujet

[DarthParametric]

I tried a search for this on the forums and wiki, but nothing came up.

I was under the impression that before release Bioware had said that the toolset was seen as being best utilised by groups of modders rather than single individuals, and that it was set up so that it could be used in a similar manner to they way Bioware themselves used it. I gathered this meant that a single shared database with a single set of resources could be set up so multiple people could work on a single mod, checking out resources and modifying them as needed and then checking them back in to be made available to everyone else.

Is this actually the case? If so, how do you go about setting it up?

[Nitro9a]

I was just looking at this...



http://social.biowar...a_live_database



From the wiki:



"Though this is fully possible in principle with the existing toolset, the specifics for how to accomplish this outside the BioWare intranet haven't been tested yet so we don't have documentation for it yet. "

[DarthParametric]

Ah, thanks. Didn't see that.

I had looked at the config tool before, but hadn't paid attention to the specifics of the database location because I wasn't interested in a remote database at that time. Will have to investigate its possibilities.

Modifié par DarthParametric, 21 décembre 2009 - 06:08 .

[Nitro9a]

Great. Do share if you figure it out.

[Proleric]

The method that Bioware showed us at the Builder Event back in July didn't require a shared data base.

One builder had the master copy of the module. Work was parcelled out to other builders, and subsequently reintegrated into the master, in Builder-to-Builder format. The export files were shared on the team project on this social site (actually, my team used a USB stick, but later we wished we'd done it properly).

[DarthParametric]

Sounds kind of half-assed to me. If you are going to do it, better to do it properly.

[Primogenitor]

I think youll need a Microsoft SQL server setup somewhere everyone can access it. This is based on the fact that the toolset installs one on the local machine when the toolset itself is installed. IIRC, Microsoft SQL server is not cheap...

[DarthParametric]

Heh yeah that wouldn't surprise me given the way the rest of the toolset is set up. I wonder if it can use Express Edition, which is free?

[Gocek]

You definitely have to set up a MS SQL Server, probably the 2005 edition as well and make it accessible form the "outside". As far as I'm concerned it IS possible to use the Express Edition, the same which came with the toolset installer.
I've found a pretty nice-looking how-to in here: link . Here's something similar: link . And here are screens: link

Be aware of the limitations though:

When delivered in SQL Server Express form, Microsoft has limited SQL Server in several ways:
§      A database cannot exceed 4 gigabytes in size.
§      SQL Server Express may be installed on a multiple CPU machine, but it will execute (run) only on a single processor or a single processor core if multi-core processors are used.
§      SQL Server Express may be installed on a server with any amount of memory, but will use only up to 1 GB of available RAM memory.
  
But I don't think you have to worry about any of those, actually.

So to sum up: setting up a server doesn't seem very difficult. You basically just follow the instructions, forward ports(s) on your router and you're done. What I would worry about is the security of such shared database. I'm still learning about DB management, so I can't help you here - but be aware of the dangers
Oh and keep in mind that the host computer should be up all the time, as people live in various time zones. No server means no data whatsoever in user's toolset.

EDIT: Oh, one more thing. I think I read somewhere that the check-in/check-out system works a bit differently. What I recall is that mutliple people CAN check-out one resource at a time and when they do the check-in (modified version) it's merged with the exisitng version. A bit like SVN if you're familiar with that. But I'm not sure, I have no link to confirm my theory The very cool feature is that you can add comments to your "commits" and revert any resource to any state it was in the database before - that's pretty much exactly what SVN gives you as well.

Modifié par Gocek, 23 décembre 2009 - 12:05 .

[Gocek]

Turns out it's very easy to share your database. I've managed to use one database for two users on my local network and had no bigger problems with setting it up.

Here's a screenshot how it looks like:



I just followed instructions from my first link and then added a "custom user" with it's own name and password. The default behaviour of the database is to allow logging only users from Windows domain. All you need to do is to change the rule to "mixed mode" to accept also "SQL Server Authentication". That's a very brief description, if you are interested I can write it a bit more step-by-step.

But the biggest issue is that any mod group that wants to share their database like that, but over internet needs a PC with properly configured SQL Server (which isn't difficult, example above), preferably static IP address and it should be turned on all the time. If you have one - you're ready to rock :>

Modifié par Gocek, 25 décembre 2009 - 12:08 .

[DarthParametric]

Yeah I was planning on setting up a dedicated server.



So it does indeed limit items to being checked out by one person at a time? That's what I was hoping for.

[Dutch Master]

I was rather hoping the toolset would support other databases, such as mysql... But I haven't managed to set this up yet, I expect that it just doesnt work.