id's Graeme Devine updated his .plan on the just released editing docs, as well as id's stance on the DLL vs. Virtual Machine debate for game mods. Here's the deal:

Mr Elusive just put together some bot editing documents, the file is available on our ftp server:

ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake3/tools/Q3ABotEdit.zip

We've been following the whole DLL vs. VM debates, and id is firmly on the side of using VMs for game mods. We will be addressing the "auto swap" VM depending on which server you go to quickly (this was a bug) but I think we will be strict on saying that people should use VMs over DLL files. The next executable release will probably have a warning screen come up that you will need to agree to and click through if the game is about to load a DLL.

Programmer Robert Duffy simultaneously updated his .plan on the same issue, as well as on the fs_game bug (for which they will be issuing another point release patch within a week) and the possibilities of auto-downloading mods. Here's the scoop:

We will be releasing a point release within a week that addresses the fs_game problem that exists in the current executable. This problem forces clients to start with the same fs_game parameter as the server. It does not affect normal game play but keeps the server from specifying which "game" directory to use. This is a bug. Mod authors do not have to wait for the fs_game patch to get started as the code will be the same either way on their end.

There are two other basic issues for mods that have come up:

1. DLL use for mods
Our position on DLL use for mods is that it is a bad thing. DLL's are not multi-os compatible and they pose a much greater security risk than qvm's. Note, I did not say that qvm's are totally secure, they are not, but they are definately more secure than DLL's. DLL's are for debugging only and qvm's are the only official supported way to produce and distribute a mod. Period.

2. Auto-downloading
We are currently exploring several options for auto-downloading. There will support at some level for mod surfing and downloading. This support is geared towards the "mod" type of add-on as opposed to downloading maps or models ( or skins ). The goal is to not consume server bandwidth for downloads but push the bandwidth use to some sort of a dedicated "mod" server or something.