Easily install and launch Quake maps with the cross-platform This is an old revision of the document!
Table of Contents
How to package and release a file
Naming
Early autumn
Map
Text file
You must add a text file to your release, documenting at least the title of the work and your (nick)name. You should also include a release name, the intended purpose, contact details, release date and the like. Without this, your file(s) might be lost in "who on earth made this and when and why?!" limbo.
Best practice would be using the good old base.txt template: base.txt
Name the text file exactly like your zip file and/or your bsp file and/or your mod directory! For example the readme file for abc123.bsp would be abc123.txt. For the mod qwe456/ the readme file would be named qwe456.txt and placed into qwe456/ : qwe456/qwe456.txt!
If you name your text file readme.txt, it will conflict with everyone else's same-named file and no one wants to overwrite other people's files.
If you have creativity oozing out your pores, well, some mappers include short background stories too.
Packaging
Package your files into a standard zip archive. Not rar, not a self-extracting exe, just a plain zip. Zip is widely supported, Windows natively can handle the format since Windows XP. MacOS and Linux have no trouble either.
If you release a single file, put it (and its readme) directly into the zip file. Do not add a directory. If the user extracts the file straight into his maps/ directory, it should be correct.
If you release a mod, put a directory into the zip file so if the user extracts the zip into his Quake directory, the mod will be properly installed. Remember to mind the character rules, lowercase only, a-z and 0-9, no special characters except maybe - and no spaces whatsoever. Put all your files inside that directory.
If you are releasing a single file, name the zip the same as the file. For example abc123.zip would be the archive for abc123.bsp and abc123.txt. If you release a mod, try to do the same.
Hosting
If it is a finished work, you can contact Spirit to get it hosted at Quaddicted. Feel free to mail it straightaway.
If that is not an option, if it is a work-in-progress, you do not want to wait a week before Spirit replies (though he is quick if you packaged everything well and send a direct HTTP link to the file) or otherwise you want to host elsewhere, http://www.quaketastic.com/ is there for you. The password for uploading is "ZigguratVertigoBlewTronynsSocksOff", the username "quaketastic".
For permanent hosting you can also freely use https://archive.org/.
Do not use services that do not support direct download links. And please do not use volatile hosts like Dropbox, Google Drive or any ad-financed free hosting providers.