Advice for beta testing scripts?

[Bat66wat6]

BC is just too dynamic for any one person to cover all eventual use cases, as such public testing is inevitable.
I am looking for any insight or knowledge that could be passed from someone who has passed off their scripts for BETA testing in BC.

One of the few things I know for sure is that testing scripts in BC can be is a pain in the ass.
When I come round to testing I want it to be the least painful for everyone, especially me.

First things that spring to mind are:
Where would I upload to for BC users to test it?
How would I get good console reports out of people?

[CyAn1d3]

Where would I upload to for BC users to test it?
How would I get good console reports out of people?

this i can answer:

start by archiving your scripts into a rar archive, with the file structure in place (BC/scripts, BC/Data, etc.)
this allows for seamless drag and drop installation for your testers.

also include a readme file (Rich text format) with general instructions, and install requirements, that way you can inform your testers as to how you want the test report to be presented.
make it a requirement that a "clean" console report is sent in.
(meaning they clear out their console dump file before they boot up BC)

if you want to embed a security code into the rar archive, you can do so as well... just inform your testers what it is >.<

you can then upload your script package to any hosting site, and simply PM the link to your testers.

beings ive only done ships, a console report was never a report requirement from me unless they reported issues.

thems the basics,
ill let one of the "script gods" answer the rest for you.]

hope this helped!

[Bat66wat6]

Thanks for the insight 

There is a day or two of work to be done before beta, a feature to smooth out and a bit more personal testing.

I imagine KM would be the main testbed as all my work has been in a barely custom 1.1.
There is one mod I know won't be compatible with mine so I must remember to include that in the documentation.

[Mario]

BC is just too dynamic for any one person to cover all eventual use cases, as such public testing is inevitable.
I am looking for any insight or knowledge that could be passed from someone who has passed off their scripts for BETA testing in BC.

Small mods I distributed to people and waited for their feedback, if they reported some logical errors then we discussed on possible solutions for the problem. This is something you should expect too and obviously console reports cannot help here. For script errors I obviously asked for a console report if not provided, which can happen sometimes even to the best of testers.

For larger mods I did pretty much the same of course. It took a little while longer though and I had a larger beta team, over dozen testers at a certain point in the development process. The difference was that the beta testers were involved in the development process from the start. DS9FX is the best example I think. I wrote a dedicated program for the developers and the beta testers which automatically updated their DS9FX installs to the latest most available alpha\beta. Beta testers were encouraged to give as much feedback as possible and of course to post suggestions. Many suggestions ended up being implemented into the final product. I think we all had a lot of fun during all those months of development hidden from the public eyes.

I also had trustworthy beta testers most which are no longer at the community but who knew their jobs very well. From my list this guy is the only one who has very recently logged in, if he's available you're in luck because he's one of my best and most loyal testers: FekLeyr Targ.

Where would I upload to for BC users to test it?

Dropbox, Filefront. Lots of options out there.

How would I get good console reports out of people?

Mostly by ensuring you recruit good and experienced testers.

I imagine KM would be the main testbed as all my work has been in a barely custom 1.1.

It always helps to test your script in a diverse environment, so you might consider recruiting people with custom installs as well as KM based installs.

There is one mod I know won't be compatible with mine so I must remember to include that in the documentation.

Be prepared for questions if you can make it compatible with that mod ;)

[Bat66wat6]

Thanks Sovereign.

Some very good info there but total conversions do not compare to DS9FX. Obviously I can't argue that less testers is better but I would not expect to need more than 2, 3 or 4 people with different installs (KM, variants of KM or just souped up 1.1s).

I wrote a dedicated program for the developers and the beta testers which automatically updated their DS9FX installs to the latest most available alpha\beta.

:serious:

Be prepared for questions if you can make it compatible with that mod ;)

Those people will be swiftly silenced without mercy as compatibility is unattainable without altering the conflicting mod 

[Mario]

Some very good info there but total conversions do not compare to DS9FX.

I don't think I follow.

:serious:

100% serious.

[Bat66wat6]

I don't think I follow.

That's because I screwed up English. It doesn't make sense. English is my first language, promise! 

[Mario]

Well, English is not my native language