Template talk:Model info

Necessity of this template

Hello. While I haven't been too active on the Wiki directly, and solely focusing on doing something else outside of it (my GitHub HLMV Repo), it came to my attention of this template's existence by a friend of mine. First off, while I appreciate the new user who has been editing the files to include this template, and that I respect his contributions as a whole, I'd like to point out some of my opinions in regards of this template:

• The first thing is that, I don't see the reason as to why this template was made. The vast majority of regular readers will check a paint variant by clicking from the table, and the gallery viewer will show up (zoomed in). I'd assume that very little actually go to the "More details" button, that leads what would have this template on.
• The Rotations page already servers this function. It includes the camera related values on HLMV, as well the model path (including submodel, if it's loaded alongside a player model).
  • It's also a way better page as it includes extra details like _materials that need to be installed, styles as Skins (like the Tosslecap), and so on.
• Experienced image creators that would use HLMV would probably have a least some grasp of how items_game.txt work. Even if not, the Rotations page is mostly up to date, missing only a couple things here and there.
• The information presented on the table is not very helpful for most readers. A lot of people probably don't really care what is the model path for those items. Even if that was the case, why is the model path not included on the page itself instead of having to put this on an absurd amount of paint variants we have on the Wiki? Not that I would still agree upon, as I don't find much use on the model path in general for regular readers.
  • The inclusion of an item model path was previously suggested by another user, which got declined as it had too little use by most readers. The idea was that it would be included for modders, but modders in general would probably already have knowledge on how to find these file paths. Regular players don't need to know this information too.
    • In addition, while I hasn't been participating in Discussions on the Wiki, I was not made aware of a potential discussion related to this template and its implementation on pages. From what a friend of mine said, there was no discussion beforehand, and only a couple talks on the IRC about it. I believe that Discussions for projects like these should exist, before someone ends up editing thousands and thousands of image files for then to get reverted if the idea was rejected.
• While I appreciate the work and dedication of trying to make the Wiki more "living" (as in, not leaving summaries empty), there are some instances where this isn't exactly needed. While Wikipedia usually have summaries on images, here, I don't see much point. Yeah, sure it's cool, but it would get old very quick. Just imagine if every single infobox image had like "A RED Engineer wearing the Brainiac Hairpiece", "A RED Engineer wearing the Mining Light", "A RED Engineer wearing the Sheriff's Stetson", and so on. Same thing for paints. In fact, the name of the paints themselves are already on the table. If a user clicks to zoom in, is most likely that the user has already read the paint's name before.

I don't think every edit made so far related to this should be undo'd, but personally, I would pause these contributions, and only resume if it passes on a TFW:Discussion topic. Personally, I would vote No, as stated with my opinions above. - ▪ - 23:54, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

I personally don't really see a reason why a template like this shouldn't exist, especially if we continue to do it on future uploads and re-uploads (provided we actually add the upload script to the painted variants help page and people use it). As mentioned in bold in the very first section of the documentation, the template is entirely optional and not required. A more generic version of this already exists under {{Information}}, but I don't think anyone would argue it should be deleted.

The main purpose of this is to just have the model directories available in another place, the rotations page only contains them for paintable cosmetics and not every cosmetic item in the game. I am going to make a proper directory list, though, but like I said this is just an extra small little thing to add to an otherwise completely empty section. Ideally it would also be added to the infobox images for the generic models and everything, but I don't see much wrong with having this template.

The reason I don't think this information is suitable for the main article is because it would be required on every single page (unlike this template). One has to only look at the Minecraft wiki on a random block's article to see how much technical clutter is on the page. Even when I had to use this information, it still felt extremely cluttered and just not useful. I believe this template does no harm and most future painted variants will contain them, while someone else voluntarily adds it to the rest.

As for the discussion part, I don't believe there needs to be an extensive discussion for a template like this when actual important discussions barely get any kind of reaction unless requested anyway.^{1 2 3 4 5 6}
| s | GrampaSwood (talk) (contribs) 00:24, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

 Agree I agree with all of Gabrielwoj's points. I simply don't think this serves much purpose. I struggle to see what real value it brings. The cosmetic name, style name, and paint are all already included in the paint variants table and included in the filename of the images themselves. If you've managed to get to the more details page you've already encountered all this information, multiple times in most cases. The only "new" tidbit the template provides is the model path which the overwhelming majority of users won't ever really need or care about. Adding a bunch redundant/superfluous information to all these images that 99% of readers will never even see just seems extremely pointless to me. Seems like unnecessary filler. If the main purpose is to have the model paths in a different location than we should just have the model paths in a different location. I don't think the model path needs to be plastered on every new image or that we should be digging through litterally tens of thousands of older images to add it. I would prefer to just have all the model paths in one location in a way that's nice and organized and essentially just scrap this because I personally don't see a need for it or what purpose it serves. Mediarch ♥ Talk ♥ My Edits 02:25, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

One last thing that I'd like to point out is regards to the "optional" use of this template. I don't necessary agree on the idea of "maybe using it". I believe that the Wiki should be consistent all around, and if only a few handful paint variants (or other images) would have this template, why wouldn't the rest also be added? It makes sense for users, old or new, to start including the template everywhere since they might think that's how it should look like. One of my earlier contributions on this Wiki was making everything consistent between pages, which was a process that happened by closely looking at the pages and seeing where they should be more consistent, something that was severely lacking back in 2014. I believe that in cases of this, it's either "yes" or "no", not "sometimes" or optional. Currently, my stance is still towards "no". That's my 2 cents. - ▪ - 20:10, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

Rotations and Translations?

I think it would be a good idea to add the rotations and translations to the template because it provides more information and it could be useful for people that need the rotations and translations immediately. I also would like to add an "Extra Materials" section for the same reasons.
Talk Contribs Steam 20:15, 18 March 2025 (UTC)