One thing that really determines how much you see custom maps and mods is how easy players can automatically get the files. I look at games like Warcraft 3 and Starcraft where custom maps are automatically downloaded on joining the server and see that they have a plethora of custom maps and people playing them. Most other games don't have this feature and even if the maps are readily available in some official archive it still means that no one plays them. Automatic downloading of mods is very important to how often mods actually get used!
Let's say I have tons of mods and I'm hosting a game. I've got lots of little gameplay mods that are simple XML files. I've got new custom dungeons, quests, and items, as well as the more expensive new units with new 3d models. I host a game.
Here's what I think would be the best option here when people join the game:
-People can join the game regardless of if they have any mods.
-A list of every mod activated can be seen with a single click. Clicking their description gives more information on the mod, author, homepage, etc.
-Elemental automatically checks the official mod database for these mods and downloads any with required client files (probably just art).
-Elemental then looks for any remaining mods at the address the host (me) decided to specify (i.e. ftp.personal-storage.com/elementalmods). This allows for way faster downloads than the host themselves could offer.
-Any necessary remaining mods ,maps or other content that aren't found elsewhere are uploaded from the host to players. Ideally p2p could be used with all the players in the game who currently have that file or part of it.
-Once everyone has all the required mods downloaded, the game can begin. Players can view the download progess with easy simple bars or %'s.
On another note, is the directory structure for these mods going to include them actually having their own directory? After playing a month or so I'm sure I'd have tons of random XML files all over the place from various mods if there weren't some sort of structure. Being able to delete a mod with a simple delete of the mod directory would be ideal.
