for 3.6.12, why couldn't we just add/update to the 3.6.10 MVPs, leaving old assets alone and thus theoretically maintaining compatibility for all mods?
1) Bloat, complexity and maintenance.
2) It is extremely difficult for mediavps to maintain 100% backwards compatibility with earlier releases of mediavps even if old assets are not removed.
3) Mediavps 3.6.10 was not fully compatible with mediavps 3.6.9. Neither was mediavps 3.6.9 fully compatible with earlier release and so on. They forcefully broke a lot of mods when they were released.
4) This is the easiest and most robust solution to mod compatibility until FSO/FSU can together come up with a better system, without sacrificing on high quality standards of mediavps.
I ask because i cant justify the full 3.6.12 download atm due to my 5 gig data limit which I often hit regardless of downloads like this so I'm trying to figure out if I can use them together in a 3.6.10.5 kind of style. but my usage patterns have changed this month so i might be able to do it towards the end of the month.
In that case you will probably miss out on a lot of mod releases, not just mediavps. These include newly released update to BP: AoA and very soon to be released BP2: WiH.
@ Klaustrophobia
It looks like the old issue of FSO being unable to differentiate between conflicting assets with the same file name seems to remain so if you have 2 cains 1 mvp3.6.10 and 1 mvp3.6.12 with the same file name the game don't know which is which and at best loads one at random and there are a few asset changes like textures which could negatively affect the look of some mods calling on mvp3.6.10 textures for models they weren't originally made for
Huh? You're mistaken. There won't be conflicts between assets of same name, loading priority handles that. If your mod.ini has line secondarylist = mediavps_3612,mediavps; then all assets in mediavps_3612 have priority. But it's not quite as simple as that, issues arise in modular tables at the very least. And that assumption is being really generous. I really, really don't recommend mixing different versions of mediavps.
For the sake of mod compatibility, mediavps would become dirty, complicated and really difficult to maintain in the long run. Nobody wants that, least the FSU staff. Robust and clean mediavps are the best for mods. Even if that means keeping more than one version of mediavps installed. Mods using mediavps as dependency is not a right. It's a privilege. Don't take it for granted.