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A word about Locators + Dropbox Links
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Post Reply  0 Observer
2016-12-16 03:52:39  
The public folder is kind of a legacy thing anyway. Newer accounts haven't had the public folder for years.

I don't know what their justification is for getting rid of it. Some guesses...
- Perhaps they don't want to confuse people by having two different things? Public folder + sharing from any folder.
- Maybe they just don't want to support this legacy thing. The public folder was created at a time when you couldn't share files from other folders in your dropbox account. Now that you can share from any folder, they don't have a good reason to keep it.

But yeah, it's gonna break a ton of direct links all over the place! Locators for signs/mods/skins/music/... the list goes on. :( I'm pretty frustrated about it too.
Site Leader
Location: US
2016-12-16 05:57:31  
Hmm, I got this email too.
Well, I'm not that "network" guru at all but what about the actual and
different cloudservices like "livedrive, SecureSafe ....

They are called as alternative dropbox tools. Are they really an alternative ?
The Db public folder is/was such a nice thing to have and like eyebo said,
tons of links will be dead for Db basic users after 03.15.17.

I read about one main reason to end this nice possibility, because google can
browse and "use" our public folders too. Hmm, at a first glance - who cares but
after all ..... I think some stuff inside should better NOT have the flag "public" :p

Anyway, most of my maps wont work beyond this date and I hope we can find a solution
which is not too complicated to use and in addition - cheap.

We will see .... I hope ;)
Last edited by |[X-v]|Slow, 2016-12-16 06:02:45
Speeeed
Location: DE
2016-12-16 12:41:15  
To clarify because there seem to be a misunderstanding of dates: for Dropbox Basic (free) users, the public folder will be made private earlier, on March 15th. The next date, September 1st, applies to Dropbox Pro users.

Well that's a shame.

I do admit I use the service less lately as I tend to keep the default music, but I do use it and I still have a script running which alternates what music is played for some of my maps. For images, imgur has taken the role, and I believe I'll find a different host when I need to hotlink files and show HTML content in the future. 8-|

After exploring a little, I found out that it isn't possible to update/patch a map without MX wiping out all the records of it. See the following example:
  • I drive a record on the original map
  • I update a sign on the map and upload the new version (all existing replays disappear)
  • I upload the replay from the original map on the new one (it does work, same checksum since no blocks are altered)
  • I upload the original map back
  • The replay, set on the same map, has disappeared, and can't be uploaded again because it exists already
Now we have no way to prevent both links and replays from dying (unless you have been smart and used a link manager and been lucky with how Maniaplanet handles forwarding). It's an issue which maybe even Nadeo could take on by having
  • multiple links (mirrors) for single files
  • better dead link handling (e.g. play standard music when music fails to load instead of silence)
  • embedded signs and sounds in the map
Right now, the way both the game and this site works makes it difficult to use custom content in a sustainable way. :-w
Last edited by Voyager006, 2016-12-16 20:01:11
Moped Racer
Location: NO
2016-12-17 15:36:05  
Thanks for the detailed post Voyager007!

I'm a Pro user, so that'd be why my email said September.
Site Leader
Location: US
2016-12-17 22:14:12  
Hi there are very good solutions instead of dropbox!

1) https://about.maniacdn.net/
12 Communityservers especially for uploading Maniaplanet related content.
If 1 server is down there are still, 11 other servers will still host your content.
Servers from people as Xymph, Toffe, Oliver8, TheBigG etc

2) Google Drive
In Dropbox it was very handy that you could change the link in a force-downloadlink because that is what you need in Maniaplanet. Well thats also possible in Google Drive!

Sharelinks usually look like this:
Code:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx0m4lXACmehWk1FUHdyaW9CUzQ

Change that link into
Code:
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0Bx0m4lXACmehWk1FUHdyaW9CUzQ


Good luck!
Last edited by HaagseSmurf, 2016-12-17 22:36:57
Old Age Caravanner
Location: NL
2016-12-18 18:51:43  
Jep, and thx ... some more workarounds are given ...

I dont wanna copy over the work from other guys so check this out.

External link :cool:

Greetz
Slow
Speeeed
Location: DE
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