Sharing Wherigo Files

[+JohnE5]

I enjoy building my cartridges but I'd love to see the inner workings of other's games. And share mine alike.

So maybe we can get a swap meet going on here?

I suggest we upload or link our .lua in a .zip password protected file and others can PM for the password.

You could choose not to give the password or not, it’s your file. But if you do it would help others.

Maybe if we all share, there will be more available to the non-Wherigo areas.

For example: That person that wants to build still learning might get overwhelmed and never publish.

But if helped out and given permission to change and publish someone else's game in their area, they would continue to build and share.

And it might find new players and ultimately, builders.

[+cantuland]

Sounds like the same idea as when a geocacher wants to publish a puzzle-cache that is similar to a puzzle from somewhere else. Proper etiquette is for Geocacher-A to ask the original puzzle owner Geocacher-B if it would be okay if Geocacher-A created a similar puzzle in the vicinity of Geocacher-A's maintainable area.

 

I haven't published one yet, but I've learned quite a lot from these forums. I'd say that I'm close to publishing one, but I've been "close" forever. Trashed two big projects just to start over, but starting over is so easy now. Just last week I got the "Lua programming bug" again...so I'm close to publishing my first Wherigo.

 

I plan on publishing one that blocks the downloadable player, but then making the code available here for those who frequent the Builders forum.

 

...someday.

[Ranger Fox]

Usually, when I don't mind sharing, I add Creative Commons licensing to my cartridge so people can download the source. The only drawback is when people in my area get Wherigo-savvy: they could always download my cartridge and know the final cache location without doing the cartridge.

 

The only way a swap meet would be successful is to know who has access to your source. The only way to do that, really, is to set up a system where authors request access to another author's source and the author must validate it. I guess you could call that a source control by invitation system, allowing some authors write access and only others read access. It might be good for collaboration.

 

I wonder if such a system would be popular and how much value it would add to Wherigo collaboration. Alternatively, I considered creating two threads on this forum. One thread would have cartridge samples, showing how to do things. It would be locked using my mod powers so only cartridge samples are listed. The other thread would be the conversation and request thread; request a sample in there and it will appear in the locked thread. The reason I wanted that first thread locked is so only samples are there and because of that, it's easier to skim through.

 

But I digress. So, back to the main question: I wonder how much use and value a Shared Wherigo Repository System would receive. I also wonder, for that matter, if a source control system is already available that would handle this functionality.

 

(At the moment, I can see this being a hard-sell to the Groundspeak founders compared to the mountain of other web site features I can dream up. Don't expect it as a site feature any time in the near future.)

[+Delta68]

Usually, when I don't mind sharing, I add Creative Commons licensing to my cartridge so people can download the source. The only drawback is when people in my area get Wherigo-savvy: they could always download my cartridge and know the final cache location without doing the cartridge.

 

When I start coding a cartridge I base it on the one before and add bits to it so our last three are pretty similar in the way they work:

 

They can't be played in the emulator

The instructions are all jpgs rather than text so they cannot be seen by opening the file in notepad

The final cords are derived from answers entered during the walk - wrong answer will give the wrong co-ords (I added a checksum to the last one though so it actually tells you if you've made a mistake ;-) )

 

Would I share my code?

Well I uploaded the entire source for one of them about a year or so ago and got no feedback whatsoever

 

Although our Wherigos work, I wouldn't really want others just to copy them - I'd rather they figured out their own way of doing things so as to keep new ideas coming

 

 

Mark

[+Team GPSaxophone]

I tried creating my own cartridge back in 2008, but gave up on it because the builder wasn't easy enough to figure out. There are now a whopping two (yes, two) Wherigo caches in my area, neither one is mine. These do draw cachers from far away as it is a very rare cache type. I'd like to add another to the area, but still haven't figured out the builder. If cartridges were shared so that all I had to do was edit it with my coordinates and descriptions, it would help better than the tutorials out there. I started a new post on this subject before reading this thread, so it might be best to reply over there.

[+sTeamTraen]

There are two better builders.

[+JohnE5]

I will share my games with anyone out of my area or those nearby that have already played them. I just published a rest stop Wherigo- GC2KAG7

 

There are plenty of rest stops all over the country making it very easy to replicate. It would require some editing to fit your area though. If anyone is interested in the source file, please contact me.

[+JohnE5]

HELP!

 

I had someone contact me asking for my files and I'd like to send them but I can't seem to get my .gwz file that I downloaded from Wherigo.com to open in either URWIGO or the standard builder.

 

And yes, I renamed the .gwz file to .zip and extracted.

 

Is this normally an issue when you build with URWIGO? That you can't open the source code after compiling and uploading to the site?

 

Here's a photo attached.

[+sTeamTraen]

Urwigo is not backward compatible with the Groundspeak Builder. Its Lua file format is utterly different.

 

Earwigo can generate a Builder-compatible Lua file. You just lose a couple of cool Earwigo-only features.

[Ranger Fox]

HELP!

This post might have your answer if you're running a 64-bit OS. You have to force the Builder to run in 32-bit mode, then it'll open your cartridge files again. You probably got a new computer between the time you created your cartridges and now, and that new computer is 64-bit. Try this solution first, please, before I suggest anything else.

[+JohnE5]

I just created the cartridges this week. Then complied the .gwz and uploaded to the site. Then downloaded the source .gwc file renamed to .zip and extracted. Opened urwigo and tried to import the .lua file. FAIL. Same with the Wherigo builder.

 

I believe I dealt with the 32 bit vs. 64 bit problem when I first installed urwigo and it should be running in 32 bit mode. But how can I check?

Edited January 14, 2011 by JohnE5

[+sTeamTraen]

Earwigo can import most Builder-generated files, and when it fails, it tries to do gracefully, by dropping just one line, not crashing.

[Ranger Fox]

I believe I dealt with the 32 bit vs. 64 bit problem when I first installed urwigo and it should be running in 32 bit mode. But how can I check?

Just create a test cartridge and try to open it again.