Patreon/discord log in integration for 1.20+ and/or possible private sections for paid content.

[ClubJulze]

Because so many creators use patreon and discord to host their content, will there be a way to integrate auto-logging into and downloading from these sites within the game browser? I know the plan is to have downloads from the hub integrated, but all the paid stuff is other places. Just wondering if this is in the works or even possible.

Another suggestion would be giving verified creators a private section on the hub, or, if that's not possible, giving us a webkit for making our own "hubs" where we can host that content and can be used with VaM.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[ClubJulze]

I suppose another option would be to have a sort of "VaM content downloader" external to VaM it could detect certain extensions downloaded from a browser and insta-download/install them and point to dependencies.

Nexusmods has a program called Vortex that has this kind of ability, and I think there are a few open source applications that do this.

Lastly, I suppose the simplest approach would be for VaM's internal browser to store browsing history/cache, etc.

 

[meshedvr]

For 1.20, anything hosted directly on the Hub (via upload) will work best, meaning 1-click download and dependencies that are hosted will also be able to be auto-downloaded. If the resource was done via link and is publicly accessible, then it is likely VaM will be able to direct download that as well, but we will ask users to confirm since it will be a 3rd-party site.

For material behind a paywall, the user will be able to navigate inside VaM via browser (+ login) to get to the content. VaM won't specifically know the exact files you are hosting behind the paywall so this is going to largely be manual approach for the user to get to the actual download link. Once download starts in the browser, VaM already recognizes if a file is a var file and auto-installs it for you (and looks if any dependencies can be found on the hub to auto-download). We're going to try to fix browser so it can also recognize if you already have the var file so it doesn't waste time or bandwidth trying to get it again. Today it re-downloads the var, finds it is already installed, and copies over existing one if it is already there. So I highly recommend everything you have be a var to make it easier for users. We may see about turning on cookies in internal browser to enable session cache so they won't have to keep logging in. User will have to opt-in to this.

We don't really have a way to have a hub extension on external site.

 

[ClubJulze]

Okay, just thought I'd throw out ideas I've seen other apps doing. Seems like VaM will be able to do whatever is needed through in game browser.

 

[CitizenX]

Hypothetically it might be possible to have a secondary directory where access is granted to certain posts via the patreon itself (much like Patreon can grant specific access levels to a discord server). And files hosted on Patreon do have direct downloadable links, though if the post is limited to specific pledge levels, the download link only works if you're logged in on that browser. Certainly not something I'd expect to see any time soon, but there might be avenues to explore down the road to improve the user experience when it comes to downloading and installing paid content.