Status of the BWS at end of July 2017
- Attempt to clarify -
The BWS tool has two major components:
1) the tool itself, i.e. the software and GUI that do the job of constructing a modded game.
2) a database of configuration files for mods, download links, install sequences, conflicts and dependencies for various supported games.
Apart from this, BWS depends on two outside resources, over which BWS has no direct control::
3) Weidu
4) Fixpack
concerning 1)
In April, the last rremaining maintainer for BWS has made this announcement (http://www.shsforums...206#entry594820). The reasons for it are partly technical due tor BWS software itself and partly due to having no control over e.g. Weidu or other prerequisites (Alien has given his reasons in various posts, they are understandable and I will not repeat them here).
This means that the tool itself and its functionality will not further develop. Take it as a functional *freeze*. That does not mean BWS is dead, it only means whatever we do with it in the future has to be within the limits of what the tool currently can do.
Unless somebody with the required skills steps up OR a new tool is developped.
concerning 2)
Maintaining the living database for the various games within the limits outlined above is still possible and (partly) performed. This however requires teamwork and contribution. BWS is hosted on bitbucket (very similar to github) and is open to the public. Anyone can contribute, request updates, provide mods etc. You clone BWS to your PC, make changes, make a pull request - it will be accessed and checked and if everything is technically okay, it will be merged into the BWS and update it. All you need to know is published in the BWS readme that is in every download of BWS.
Currently only two *subsets* of that database are actively maintained
- EET (BG2EE may at times participate from updates that fall out of EET maintenance)
- PSTEE
This is done by volunteers from the modding community who have struggled to acquaint themselves with the topic and provide what they can within their limited skills.
Again, anybody with an interest to contribute or even *adopt* one of the other games (BGT, BG2, IWD...) is free to do so. In case, nobody does it, the status quo is preserved.
concerning 3)
You find any information you may seek on their forum.
concerning 4)
Fixpack is maintained independently which may lead to situations where it can be out of sync with BWS temporarily.
Currently some EET mods still require a fixpack patch to make them compatible. If modders update such a mod, they are supposed to include the EET patch - if they do not...there is nothing either EET or BWS can do, other than remove them from the selection, unless the modder has done some coordination with BWS.
I hope this summary makes the current status of BWS a bit more transparent.
This situation is considered to be temporary, i.e. when the activities summarised under 2) either stop or are expanded, the situation will improve or degrade.
Edited by Roxanne, 23 July 2017 - 12:37 AM.
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