Before I get into the topic of this post, I must say, the work everyone is doing to produce mods for Assetto Corsa is amazing, especially on this forum. Below, I'm not complaining--rather I'm offering tips to help everyone, both modders and those that enjoy their incredible work.
For anyone providing mods, skins, config, data files, etc., first, a more descriptive zip/rar name definitely helps to identify your mod, and it helps even more if there's a folder structure inside the rar or zip file, like content/cars/car_folder_name/skins/teamskin01, or content/cars/car_folder_name/extension/ext_config.ini. This makes it very clear exactly which mod the rar or zip is for.
When I first sit in my rig each day for some sim-racing sessions, I usually check for new mods and updates. After downloading a dozen or more new mods, besides the usual installation time, then moving the rar files to my archive drive, I probably spend at least an additional 20 minutes a day renaming or revising rar and zip files, or "re-packing" them with a folder structure, or doing "research" to figure out exactly what skin, config, or update goes with which mod, especially after I download several mods in my download directory that look like the examples below.
Can anyone on this forum tell what these rar files are for?
01RockstarRacing.rar
05Lemans88.rar
AlphaGroup.rar
content.rar
content(2).rar
content(3).rar
croft.rar
croft(2).rar
skin.rar
skin(2).rar
The "content" files at least have a directory structure inside them, but I do have to rename the rar file so it can be identified and easily found before moving it to my archive drive. The skin files are usually more difficult, and may take a few minutes to discover exactly where they go. Of course I usually rename them as they're being downloaded, but there's still a chance that these may be matched to a different mod with a similar name, or the names and rars might get mixed up.
For the "croft" files, one could be an actual track mod, and the second could be an ext_config.ini update. With their existing names, this increases the likelihood that the original mod could be overwritten by the config update when they're archived.
The other additional suggestion I'd make is to add a version number (ie. v1.1), or a revision date (ie. 20-1216a), and your name, initials, or other identifier (ie. by JoeModder) at the end of the rar or zip file name.
Here's an ideal example:
RAR or ZIP file name:
Porsche_964CarrRSR_SKIN_01VortexTeam2020.rar
-or-
Porsche_964CarrRSR_SKIN_01VortexTeam2020_v20-1216a_by_Maxim.rar
Yes, this is longer, but it's easy to identify the mod, the version or date of revision, and who created it.
Folder/directory structure inside the rar:
content/cars/porsche_964_carrera_rsr/skins/vortexteam2020
This concludes this Public Service Announcement--take these suggestion as you will. Just trying to make everything easier and save some time for everyone.
Happy modding and sim-racing everyone!
