Allow WG region owners to auto-suggest texture packs

[Mumberthrax]

Many minecraft players love their texture/resource packs. A different texture pack can completely change the overall feel of a build.

 

Currently if a player wanted to encourage use of a specific texture pack when viewing their build, they would have to give visitors a notification via signs or a message upon entering the WG region, at which time players have to follow a url (or in the case of signs type the url manually), download the pack, put it in the right folder, activate it, then open the game back up.

 

Contrast this with custom texture packs for a server, which gives the player a prompt upon login which allows the client to automatically download, install, and enable the pack while connected to the server. It's a very nice interface.

 

This plugin allows worldguard region owners to set a flag which prompts players entering the region to automatically download/install a texture pack just as a server has the option to do.

 

http://dev.bukkit.org/bukkit-plugins/worldguard-texture-pack-flag/

 

The plugin itself is very simple, as far as I can tell. I don't know if it works on the latest spigot, haven't tested it.

 

https://github.com/mewin/WGResourcePackFlag

 

When I suggested this a while back to sirtacoface and jchance when they were CAdmins the one issue brought up was that it might be annoying to constantly get these prompts upon entering regions. Given the simplicity of the plugin, I do not believe it would take very much to add in the ability for players to disable the prompts for themselves.

 

Edit: clarification, if i recall correctly, it will only prompt you to download the pack - once you have it downloaded it would automatically switch to the pack upon entering a region with the flag set without prompting. Again, if this seems like something users ought to have greater control over, it does not seem that sticking a few lines in the code for such preference options would be too difficult.

 

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That's the meat of the request. Here's why I think this would be extra cool: texture packs that use unused data values of blocks in order to add additional textures to the game, expanding the palette of options for creative builders. The conquest texture pack is one such pack that has done this: http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/resource-packs/1242763-conquest-wip-weekly-updates

 

The first half of this video demonstrates a little bit of what can be done with this sort of resource pack:

 

 

(this is the plugin he's using that lets players use a stick to change the data values, though worldedit could also be used - it would be slightly more tedious but it could be done: http://dev.bukkit.org/bukkit-plugins/monster-blocks/)

 

This video also shows a neat build that uses the features of the pack, and at time index 16:51 shows what the build looks without those features. The second cart he made looks ok, but the first one just looks weird without the pack enabled:

 

 

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Please let me know what you think of this idea. I don't play on C much at all, and I'm not a very good builder, but I've been stunned by some of the things I've seen C players create, and I would be very excited to see what they could do with the ability to prompt and automatically switch to specific packs for a more seamless integration of resource packs into the game.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Mumberthrax

[tobylane]

What are the limits on size and nsfw-ness of texture packs? Have you seen any plugins to help with either issue?

[Mumberthrax]

The plugin places no restrictions on what resource pack is used. you can take a look at the code to see how it works - I am not even a Java programmer and it's pretty easy to read it.

 

Therefore it would likely be something moderators would need to approve, where a region owner could modreq the pack be added for their region.

[Guest Former Staff]

This looks like fun. I wonder how often people would request it for their builds but a trial of some sort couldn't hurt.

 

The biggest concern for me would be downloading something that could be dangerous, however since these resources packs could only have a download prompt if a moderator checked the url and set up the flag, as such, then that eliminates my concern:

 

So simply use the usual worldguard region command, like this:

/region flag <region> texturepack http://www.example.com/texture-pack.zip

 

 

[Mumberthrax]

I could be mistaken, but as far as I am aware the resource packs include only media and no executable code which could pose a threat to a system. But yeah, moderator approval ought to catch anything that might be an issue.

[Guest]

I'm a bit worried how fast this would get annoying. Getting a random prompt several times when you're just travelling. Yes I know you can disable it from settings, but then that would mean missing the server event resource packs.

 

Seeing a certain place with a certain resource pack is more of a one time thing, not a "everytime I pass this area of the map" thing.

[c45y]

My purely technical issues with this:

I would be hesitant to use the plugin, even with moderator approval. Not all staff are particularly technically inclined, and it would be unfair to burden them with the security of our users in this way, if moderator approval is all that is needed the rules need to be stupidly restrictive and clear

From me brief review of the plugin it allows http(s), ftp and local file system URLs to be given, it makes me nervous that it allows such a wide variety of protocols. The plugin effectively allows players to suggest our users open random tabs in their browsers, why that's an issue:

I register puggleston to have a cool resource pack, hosted at http://c45y.com/texturepack.zip

I then set up verbose logging of my logs, pulling geographical information out of every request to that url. This not only allows me to match up alt accounts easily but find out quite accurately where everybody lives, I can give a valid texture pack and nobody is the wiser, not even members of staff.

I like the plugin, I think it's a cool idea. We just need a very clear set of rules as to where the packs are hosted. If we only allowed packs from dropbox.com for example that would prevent a great many issues from arising

(Forgive spelling, typed on a phone at 11pm)

[Mumberthrax]

@c45y:

 

So with the issue of collecting users IP addresses, it seems one solution would be for any resource pack which isn't hosted on a pre-approved file-hosting service (dropbox, mediafire, etc. etc.) could be re-hosted by a moderator/admin. Obviously already we're looking at making the packs require moderator approval, so the use of the flag would be by staff directly - enabling, as you say, strict and clear criteria to be applied.

 

Would you be willing to direct me to any specific lines/functions in the plugin code that pose a security risk? I'm a bit of a noob programmer, and not really experienced with java, so it is somewhat opaque what you are referring to in some of your comments about it opening files in browsers or using local files. I was under the impression that the GUI prompt for resource/texture pack downloads does not open up web browsers, but that the minecraft client itself downloads and sets up the pack without the player needing to do anything. Is this not accurate?

 

What security risks do the packs themselves potentially hold for players that staff would need advanced technical skills to identify? Beyond checking for pixelated genitals or swastikas in a zip file, I can't really think of anything - but I may be underestimating the power of minecraft resource packs.

[Mumberthrax]

I'm a bit worried how fast this would get annoying. Getting a random prompt several times when you're just travelling. Yes I know you can disable it from settings, but then that would mean missing the server event resource packs.

 

Seeing a certain place with a certain resource pack is more of a one time thing, not a "everytime I pass this area of the map" thing.

 

I agree that being spammed with prompts while travelling might get annoying. Maybe it should be an opt-in sort of deal? Already regions can send messages to players entering them, right? like "welcome to hurpdurp city!", or is that only on P? Maybe an alternative to getting a resourcepack prompt in the normal full-screen gui is to get a message in chat that says "this region has a suggested texture pack - click here to set it up!" or " - type /texturepack to set it up!". or "If you want to stop being spammed with these messages, type /nothanks and you won't receive a prompt again until you enable texture pack prompting with /gibmedapretties"

 

Such commands to disable the prompts would only affect the prompting from the plugin, and would not affect your minecraft client's settings regarding texture packs for events and such.

 

Zomise, do you at least think the basic idea is appealing, and just want a refined implementation, or does the whole idea seem terrible?

[Guest]

More worried about the pop up interrupting the gameplay. If it was a link on the chat, then I'd have nothing against it, if secure packs could be somehow guaranteed.

[c45y]

I was under the impression that the GUI prompt for resource/texture pack downloads does not open up web browsers, but that the minecraft client itself downloads and sets up the pack without the player needing to do anything. Is this not accurate?

What security risks do the packs themselves potentially hold for players that staff would need advanced technical skills to identify? Beyond checking for pixelated genitals or swastikas in a zip file, I can't really think of anything - but I may be underestimating the power of minecraft resource packs.

I was using a we browser as an example, the type of request the client would make is the same as that of opening a website in a browser. The user experience is of course different, as resource packs are loaded by the client after a quick pop up

I would have to review how minecraft handles them more than a couple of minutes on a phone to answer that. Once I have Internet again I can do so if it's still relevant