Talk:Vorticon Mods

Infobox template

I think there should be an infobox template for Keen mods. --Genius314 13:26, 23 June 2007 (GMT)

New Subcategories

I was just thinking: The number of vorticon mods that do not have Keen as protagonist is increasing. Should we make 2 new subcategories on this page like "Main character Keen" "Other main character"? --Keenfan 20:49, 26 May 2010 (GMT)

Probably not a good idea to split up the main list on this page, however it's certainly a good idea to do it with wiki categories instead. These could show up as subcategories on Category:Mods. -- Malvineous 09:14, 14 June 2010 (GMT)

I agree that we shouldn't tear up the table. But a generic phrase like 'not starring Keen' could be added in the comment column for all those mods, so that the table could be sorted. Another possibility would be an extra column named "main character" or "protagonist", subsequently adding 'Keen' or the name of the other character for all mods. If there are several mods with a certain non-keen character, the extra column might be preferable. I'm not sure if we need another category. Tulip 08:23, 19 June 2010 (GMT)

Adding an extra column with the name of the main character is a good idea, let's do that. Wiki categories are fairly cheap, so don't be afraid of adding in new ones (just make sure the new categories are themselves categorised so that we can find them again!) -- Malvineous 10:22, 19 June 2010 (GMT)

Unfinished Mods

There are quite a number of unfinished and abandoned beta mods in this list of mods. I suppose a category unfinished mods would help to make thing a bit tidier. All unfinished mods would be moved there, so you can see whats finished and what's in work (or abandoned) in one click. What do you guys think? Tulip 12:39, 27 January 2009 (GMT)

Yeah that sounds fine - probably good to have the unfinished/abandoned heading listed under each engine (so Keen 1 unfinished, Keen 2 unfinished, etc.) -- Malvineous 08:17, 31 January 2009 (GMT)

I am all for separating the unfinished and abandoned mods from the complete mods. --Syllypryde 23:17, 31 January 2009 (GMT)

Now that there is a sortable table, anyone who wants to "remove" those mods from the list can simply choose the appropriate sorting settings. For the record, I don't really lean either way about removing from this page those mods that haven't been released at all. But I am against removing "unfinished" mods that have actually been released in some form - simply because some of those are better than "finished" ones. Snortimer 07:29, 24 August 2009 (GMT)

KeenDroid is listed as Abandoned/Unfinished on this page but on it's own page it's listed as "Complete" - which one is correct? -- DHeadshot (talk) 18:07, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

@DHeadshot, a) There are currently two mods by the name "Keendroid". I'd like to ask you for future conversations to please link to the mod you are referring to. This would make things a lot easier to follow / track down.

b) Please feel free to add the missing information yourself after you've double checked everything.

-- Nisaba (talk) 10:16, 18 May 2020 (UTC)

Table

I think this page would look nicer if the content was organised in a table rather than just a list. With columns for title, author and release date/year (if available). What do you think? --Grandy02 15:50, 30 July 2009 (GMT)

Good Point --DHeadshot 18:31, 30 July 2009 (GMT)

Agrees --Shikadi 22:15, 30 July 2009 (GMT)

Okay, as requested. I made it sortable like the List of fan-games. I also added some more mods from Beyond the Pogo that seemed to have been missed. However, I think we need to make another separate page for levelpacks. Snortimer 07:16, 24 August 2009 (GMT)

Missing Download links

Some of the mods don't have any download link, if someone has these mods, I'd be happy to upload them somewhere. The mods in question are the ones that have an empty download box in the table, not the ones with 'n/a', I know those haven't been released yet. Also Comrade Keen, and The Lord of the Rings have a broken link. Tulip 21:01, 17 September 2009 (GMT)

If you're interested in cleaning this up a bit I'd be happy to give you an FTP account on shikadi.net to upload all the mods, so they can be kept in the same place as the wiki itself. -- Malvineous 22:42, 20 September 2009 (GMT)

Sounds good, I always fear some of these links might disappear one day or the other. If you need my contact address it's in the PCKF profile. Tulip 14:13, 21 September 2009 (GMT)

Done, you now have FTP access (see my e-mail) and I've also granted you sysop access to the wiki in case you need it. Good luck! -- Malvineous 11:02, 25 September 2009 (GMT)

Can't help but notice my Keen3 level pack is missing. Intentional or not? MrBlack 18:51, 21 February 2011 (GMT)

When did you add it to the page? ;-) -- Malvineous 22:16, 21 February 2011 (GMT)

Don't worry, Mr. Black, many levelpacks are missing, but I'll add yours right away when I can get online from my home again, in about 2 weeks. Tulip 11:55, 22 February 2011 (GMT)

I already sent "Mars Kingdoms" to Tulip. Besides that one, I also have the abandoned mods "Keen Redemption" (sequel to Allstories's The Last Moon) and Najawa's "Lord of the Rings" mod. Then there is also a level pack by bp. Please tell if you want me to send them to you as well. --Grandy02 18:12, 14 November 2011 (GMT)

I've stumbled upon this topic, "Bloogs First Mod". Apparently it was a Keen 1 mod called "The Revenge Of Koop 1: Return to Mars". However, the file hosting website (Hotfile) linked there has been shut down. Does anyone still have this mod? --Grandy02 (talk) 18:16, 10 June 2014 (GMT)

Missing features in this list's replacements

Hi there, I notice that it's proposed to replace this list by automatically-generated pages with screenshots. In principle, this is more attractive, because one is more likely to try a mod if one sees a screenshot of it. However, I am wondering if there's any way to add a few things that are available in this list, but not in the new ones:

• A way to sort by author name
• A way to sort by # of levels
• Links to forum discussion threads (if available)

All of this is in the infoboxes on the dedicated mod pages, so I assume it should be possible, just like authorship and # of levels are listed. In addition, it would be cool if the following info was also included in the new lists:

• New graphics?
• New sounds?
• New music?

This could also be culled from the infoboxes, and would make it possible to see which mods use music, for example. Also, if a "protagonist" entry were added to the infoboxes, that could also be displayed. Snortimer (talk) 11:23, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

It would be nice to do all this, but unfortunately the wiki isn't designed as a database so it puts a bit of a strain on the page to have all this information displayed. I need to limit what gets displayed in each box on the list pages, otherwise the page takes too long to generate. Likewise new sort orders involve the creation and maintenance of a bunch of new pages and categories, so really, it's not an ideal way to list all the mods. In some ways it would be better to have a separate website that harvests the information from the wiki and uses that to display the mod list in rich detail, as it would eliminate the intensive computation required to generate lists within the wiki. I've been toying with the idea of using the Semantic MediaWiki extension instead, but haven't yet figured out how it could work for this situation. But if it could work, I believe it could do everything you suggest. -- Malvineous (talk) 11:37, 15 August 2015 (UTC)

Download link to A.A's 1st Levelpack seems wrong

I clicked at the download link to A.A's 1st Levelpack, and it just leads me to Airefresco's Keen 1 Levelpack. I don't think that's right, especially since the Vorticon Mods page stated the wrong number of levels. Quinton (talk) 18:24, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

It seems like the l.a_a_.k1.1999-08-02.zip is an updated version of that l.airefresco.k1.1999-06-18.zip file, cause it contains an additional 11th level. can you plz confirm that all other levels do look and feel the same?! if so we'll need to change some information.

-- Nisaba (talk) 19:00, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

The 11th level seems to be inaccessible and when I viewed it with VorticonView, there is just infoplanes all over. All of the other levels appear to be the same. Quinton (talk) 19:07, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

aha! level 11 is actually a Keen 2 level! --> LEVEL11.CK2

and looking at the meta-data it seems to be a copy of that level which that l.airefresco.k2.1999-07-10.zip file provides. plz check if these levels are identical.

-- Nisaba (talk) 19:14, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

I checked out both levels, and they appear to be the same. I think A.A's 1st Levelpack should be removed from the wiki, since it has pretty much nothing besides the levels that are found elsewhere. Quinton (talk) 19:45, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

Go for it. -- Nisaba (talk) 19:55, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

Okay, I removed it. I think the levelpack should also be removed from the wiki's server (which, I think only admins can manage it). Quinton (talk) 19:58, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

I'm gonna take care of it. --Nisaba (talk) 20:09, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

Dark Side of Mars seems to use existing levels

I checked out the Dark Side of Mars levelpack, and I would like to report that it appears to contain the levels from Aria AmirYar's Levelpack, with nothing else that is new, which makes the levelpack look like it shouldn't really be in this wiki. Quinton (talk) 18:49, 24 February 2017 (UTC)

Both packs do have indeed the same time-stamps. plz extract all level files via VorticonView and send them over (pm @ pckf). I'll have a look at them. (beforehand I cannot decide what to do.)

Another option might be a double authorship. But therefore some heavier researches need to be done...

-- Nisaba (talk) 08:55, 25 February 2017 (UTC)

Thanks to the 2007 discussion on the Isis II source code, there is proof that Aria AmirYar is simply an earlier nickname of MRC Marky. In said thread, MRC Marky asked Geoff to send some Isis II artwork to him, Geoff's answer was "Sure I can email it... what was your nick when you were working on Isis [...]?" Marky responded (on the next page) "That would be A.A." Indeed, the name A.A. (Aria AmirYar) does appear on the team page of the old Isis site. "AEWorld" is yet another nickname of him. The credits section of multiple old newsletters includes "MRCMarky/AEWorld" and eK stated "Marky (aka AEWorld) did some of the enemies" here. Should the page be moved to "The Dark Side of Mars"? At least it's the more creative title.

--Grandy02 (talk) 13:41, 21 May 2019 (UTC)

Nice find. Thanks for the detailed update. Yeah, I think we should move the page to a more creative title like "The Dark Side of Mars". I am onbaord with all of this, you have my vote.

Nisaba (talk) 15:27, 21 May 2019 (UTC)

Done. :-) --Grandy02 (talk) 20:41, 21 May 2019 (UTC)

Flyingmouse's Level Pack download link is wrong

I clicked at the download link to Flyingmouse's Level Pack, and it just leads me to Flaose's Original Level Pack. The level pack appears to be in this topic, but both of the download links don't work for me. Quinton (talk) 20:24, 24 February 2017 (UTC)

Can you reproduce it? cause over here everything looks just fine. plz retry it and tell me your results.

-- Nisaba (talk) 08:47, 25 February 2017 (UTC)

The first download link doesn't seem to have an actual download button. The supposed download button just takes to me some page about TV. The second download link just leads me to an error page. :( Quinton (talk) 00:22, 26 February 2017 (UTC)

You were talking about external download links, weren't you?! Why not use those files hosted on the shikadi.net server? They do work properly. Plus each link is unique, meaning that I cannot spot any redirection from Flyingmouse's LP to Flaose' Orig LP.

-- Nisaba (talk) 01:05, 26 February 2017 (UTC)

I have checked out the shikadi.net link before, and it took me to Flaose's Original Level Pack. However though, I checked it out today, and it took me to Flyingmouse's Level Pack. I guess I clicked at the wrong link. Quinton (talk) 01:16, 26 February 2017 (UTC)

Note on translation mods

Malvineous endorsed the inclusion of the translations in a 2015 discussion. I don't know a better place at the moment so I added them here (though I actually like it this way). --Grandy02 (talk) 11:00, 29 June 2019 (UTC)

But on a second thought... see Talk:Translations. --Grandy02 (talk) 15:01, 30 June 2019 (UTC)

External links

Under "External links", there is the unmaintained site Beyond the Pogo, which ceased to work some months ago. Its files are still online, but the non-static parts can only be viewed with Wayback Machine now. Anyway, there are no (working) mod downloads newer than March 2005. The second site is Zap|Zot|Net, which lacks a list of mods at the moment, but it contains the non-shareware Keen episodes. Should these links just be removed? The same goes for the section on the Galaxy Mods page. --Grandy02 (talk) 20:44, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

After a conversation with Nisaba about this, I removed the links. Both Xtraverse and ckguy have been inactive since years, it's rather unlikely that one of the two sites will be updated in the near future. But if one gets revived, the respective links can always be added again. --Grandy02 (talk) 21:24, 28 October 2020 (UTC)

Zap|Zot|Net is no more. Well, the files will remain accessible under the same URLs "for the indefinite future". The reason why this matters to the KeenWiki is that the Keen 1/4/6 Versions pages contain several Zap|Zot|Net links. --Grandy02 (talk)

Can Botafloria be put on Keenwiki?

The Keenwiki guidelines say an abandoned mod can be put on the wiki if it's notable enough. The development thread had 9 pages, so I think it qualifies as notable. Pandakeen (talk) 18:13, 7 August 2021 (GMT)

Of course, go ahead. Personally, I have nothing against an entry for Mura, either. --Grandy02 (talk) 20:57, 7 August 2021 (GMT)