=][= DOWNLOADS CHANGES =][=

[Brother Tyler]

As we prepare for the upcoming software upgrade and server migration, the mods and admins have discussed how we can improve some of the other areas of the site. One area that is under-utilized is the DOWNLOADS capability, which allows members to share files that support the hobby. Within the downloads members can find a wide variety of decals, tokens for Kill Team, homegrown rules, etc. We’ve identified a number of areas in which we think that we can improve:

• STRUCTURE of the categories and sub-categories
• ANNOUNCEMENTS of new files (which also provide a mechanism for feedback)
• FILES AVAILABLE

STRUCTURE

With the expansion of the site from covering just Space Marines to covering the entire scope of the hobby and games set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, expanding the structure of the categories and sub-categories facilitates finding files more easily. We’ve adjusted our categories and sub-categories to more closely align with the discussion forums; so if you’re looking for homegrown rules for the Kill Team game, instead of searching through all of the homegrown rules for all of the games, you drill down into GAME SYSTEMS and open the KILL TEAM category. This kind of compartmentalization makes it easier to find files in those areas where there are many files (e.g., instead of one DECALS category, there are now sub-categories for the different meta factions, factions, and sub-factions). If you’d like to see the structure of the downloads categories, simply click this link or click on the DOWNLOADS tab at the top of the page. Many of these categories/sub-categories are currently empty, but this structure is built for the future and the kinds of files that we hope and expect to see becoming available via the B&C.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Previously, any time a new file was uploaded and approved, an announcement (“support topic”) would appear in the News, Rumors, and Board Announcements forum. This wasn’t an issue most of the time, but it became an issue when multiple files were uploaded at the same time. Some announcements will now appear in other forums. So rules for other games (e.g., Adeptus Titanicus) will appear in the appropriate forum. Similarly, all of those Kill Team token files will now be announced in the Kill Team sub-forum.

 

FILES AVAILABLE

We’d like to ensure that other games set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe continue to be supported. To that end, we plan to add the official files for a number of games. Most of these were the games that fell under the Specialist Games category. When Games Workshop closed shop on these games, they converted the official forums to the Specialist Arms website and allowed them to distribute those files. Other websites such as the Conclave and Tactical Command (now Net Epic) also maintained the files for games such as Inquisitor and Epic Armageddon. Later, Yaktribe picked up most/all of the files for these games. While most of these sites remain active (and we hope that they flourish), Specialist Arms appears to be dying and the other sites, like the B&C, are seeing a diminishment in activity. So we hope to help these games by making the official files available here, too. That way, if any of the other sites die off, hobbyists will still be able to get the files via the B&C.

 

The only files for these games that we’ll have available here will be the official files that were originally available from GW and later from Specialist Arms. We won’t be poaching all of the homegrown stuff that hobbyists submitted to these sites. We hope that hobbyists will upload any homegrown material that they develop for these games, however, expanding the files available for these games.

 

Also, we will continue to link to those other sites because we think that they are very useful and deserve to remain active.

 

We won’t be adding these files just yet, however, as we’re trying to ensure that the database is manageable during the upgrade/migration. Images and files in the downloads take up considerable space. Members are welcome to upload appropriate files in the meantime; and we’ll take care of the official files later.

 

DOWN THE ROAD

This is just the first step in improving our downloads capability. There are probably numerous ways that we can improve upon this. One thing we’re definitely looking at further down the road is cleaning up the tags and descriptions for files, especially anything with rules – we need to include game editions in file descriptions, and we might consider further sub-categories for files supporting previous editions. As with the discussion forums, if you have suggestions for further improvements, feel free to post your ideas in The Suggestion Box.

[Lord Raven 19]

After the upgrade, do you think it would be worth adding a dedicated section for STL files for 3D printing. Thingiverse seems to be losing some support and there is not, to my knowledge, a dedicated gaming terrain stl repostitory. Could the B&C fill that gap?

[Brother Tyler]

That's certainly worthy of discussion. The mods and admins will have to discuss that.

[Dosjetka]

Was able to "test" some of the aforementioned changes a minute ago and they work. Great stuff, thank you.