Looking for a way to skip the launcher

[Solariz]

Yeah, I already realized and fixed that, go try again =]

[davidlallen]

To be honest, I have never used nexus mod manager, which is supposedly one of the nexus site's main selling points.

 

How does this compare with NMM for xcom2? For other games which have been out longer, is NMM more heavily customized to do more?

[Solariz]

For xcom 2, NMM is basically a mod downloader and installer. It will still run the normal xcom 2 launcher where you have to activate all mods again.

 

For e.g. Skyrim it can set up different mod profiles / installations which is pretty nice, but not too useful for XCOM2

[davidlallen]

Is NMM completely different for each game? Can your work, or a derivative of it, become the NMM for xcom2?

[Solariz]

NMM is one program for all games (it's plugin based I think).

When / if they finally put it on GitHub, I might integrate portions of this into NMM.

 

So... does it work? :D

Edited March 11, 2016 by Solariz

[Dragon32]

Well it runs and looks like it could be just what I need.

 

But...

 

Settings > Paths > ModPaths

Is set as (Collection) and so the main window points to the Steam Workshop mods. I've subscribed to a bunch of mods there but I like to manually install mods from here on Nexus or create my own directories under Steam\SteamApps\common\XCOM 2\XComGame\Mods and populate with mods downloaded from Steam. I guess I'm weird.

 

So... I click to Edit > String Collection Editor > Add

 

And we get an error: "Constructor on type 'System.String" not found."

 

Also, I'd say flashing the exclamation icon is annoying (main screen, mod details pane at the bottom), the mod name is red anyway. Why not a separate text box populated by the warnings? Perhaps some text to explain why these things are bad too..?

 

Seems that if I create a new mod group and then remove all its members that group is removed. Possible to keep an empty group and only delete on user action?

 

I haven't tried the Fix Warnings, don't some mods need a ModShaderCache so deleting them automatically may cause problems..?

 

When I click "Run" without Steam running: "Could not connect to steam"

 

"steam" should probably be capitalised. Maybe the path to Steam.exe could be auto-discovered for use with this Run command? Or would "steam://rungameid/268500" work? (Checking my other shortcuts)

[Solariz]

So... I click to Edit > String Collection Editor > Add

And we get an error: "Constructor on type 'System.String" not found."

Also, I'd say flashing the exclamation icon is annoying (main screen, mod details pane at the bottom), the mod name is red anyway. Why not a separate text box populated by the warnings? Perhaps some text to explain why these things are bad too..?

 

 

fixed

 

Settings > Paths > ModPaths
Is set as (Collection) and so the main window points to the Steam Workshop mods. I've subscribed to a bunch of mods there but I like to manually install mods from here on Nexus or create my own directories under Steam\SteamApps\common\XCOM 2\XComGame\Mods and populate with mods downloaded from Steam. I guess I'm weird.

 

The paths listed there are only for the mod launcher to know where to look, so for now you'll also have to edit XComEngine.ini and add your path so it will work ingame, too, e.g.

[Engine.DownloadableContentEnumerator]
ModRootDirs=../../XcomGame/Mods/
ModRootDirs={{ steam path }}
ModRootDirs={{ your path }}

This might be automated in the future, if I've got a good solution for ini files... :D

Edit: I just realized that your path probably corresponds to ../../XcomGame/Mods/, so you should be able to skip this step, sorry :smile:

 

Seems that if I create a new mod group and then remove all its members that group is removed. Possible to keep an empty group and only delete on user action?

Not with the way that i have implemented it right now :/

I might change it in the future...

 

I haven't tried the Fix Warnings, don't some mods need a ModShaderCache so deleting them automatically may cause problems..?

 

Hmm. Quite possible. I'll have to do a few tests..

 

When I click "Run" without Steam running: "Could not connect to steam"

"steam" should probably be capitalised. Maybe the path to Steam.exe could be auto-discovered for use with this Run command? Or would "steam://rungameid/268500" work? (Checking my other shortcuts)

 

Well, it doesn't look for the steam executable but tries to connect to the steam service in order to register as the xcom game so I can skip the xcom launcher (see first post of this thread).

Did you not have steam running when you tried this?

Needs some additional testing, I guess...

Edited March 11, 2016 by Solariz

[Dragon32]

v0.03

<snip>

Hrm 0.03 crashes for me. Checking Event Viewer after the first crash there's a .NET Runtime error and an application error for XCOM2Launcher.exe

 

.NET

 

Application: XCOM2Launcher.exe

Framework Version: v4.0.30319

Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.

Exception Info: System.FormatException

at System.Number.StringToNumber(System.String, System.Globalization.NumberStyles, NumberBuffer ByRef, System.Globalization.NumberFormatInfo, Boolean)

at System.Number.ParseInt32(System.String, System.Globalization.NumberStyles, System.Globalization.NumberFormatInfo)

at XCOM2Launcher.ModInfo.loadFile(System.String)

at XCOM2Launcher.ModList.loadMod(System.String)

at XCOM2Launcher.ModList.loadMods(System.String)

at XCOM2Launcher.Program.ImportMods(XCOM2Launcher.Settings)

at XCOM2Launcher.Program.initializeSettings()

at XCOM2Launcher.Program.Main(System.String[])

 

app

 

Faulting application name: XCOM2Launcher.exe, version: 1.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x56e335ed

Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 6.1.7601.19160, time stamp: 0x56bcd73c

Exception code: 0xe0434352

Fault offset: 0x000000000000965d

Faulting process id: 0x77c

Faulting application start time: 0x01d17bde00dc7dbf

Faulting application path: C:\Programs\XCOM 2 Mod Launcher\XCOM2Launcher.exe

Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\KERNELBASE.dll

Report Id: 3f026ecd-e7d1-11e5-81bd-f46d0420e527

 

I saw there was a "settings.json" file not included in the archive, thought maybe settings from 0.02 were messing things up and deleted that file. Ran it again, no .NET error but a similar app error:

 

Faulting application name: XCOM2Launcher.exe, version: 1.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x56e335ed

Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.19160, time stamp: 0x56bcd74c

Exception code: 0xc00000fd

Fault offset: 0x0000000000028986

Faulting process id: 0xe1c

Faulting application start time: 0x01d17bde316acf96

Faulting application path: C:\Programs\XCOM 2 Mod Launcher\XCOM2Launcher.exe

Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll

Report Id: 8a1a57f2-e7d1-11e5-81bd-f46d0420e527

 

 

<snip>

Seems that if I create a new mod group and then remove all its members that group is removed. Possible to keep an empty group and only delete on user action?

Not with the way that i have implemented it right now :/

I might change it in the future...

<snip>

 

Ah! No worries.

 

<snip>

When I click "Run" without Steam running: "Could not connect to steam"

 

"steam" should probably be capitalised. Maybe the path to Steam.exe could be auto-discovered for use with this Run command? Or would "steam://rungameid/268500" work? (Checking my other shortcuts)

Well, it doesn't look for the steam executable but tries to connect to the steam service in order to register as the xcom game so I can skip the xcom launcher (see first post of this thread).

Did you not have steam running when you tried this?

Needs some additional testing, I guess...

 

No, Steam wasn't running. Should've tried it with Steam running I guess :blush:

[Solariz]

Thanks for the stack trace. Try v0.04.

 

The settings.json is created locally, btw.

Edited March 11, 2016 by Solariz

[Dragon32]

0.04 has fixed the crashes

 

Can confirm Edit > String Collection Editor > Add now properly loads a dialog

 

Nice to see both my Workshop and manual mods are recognised and loaded by default

 

Just got time for a little play around, some additional thoughts:

 

Ability to rename mod groups.

 

Ability to force a refresh of the display. I manually deleted a src directory I'd missed on installing a mod, would be nice to be able to have that reflected in the UI. "Reset" does this but appears to disable any enabled mods. Oh. "Reset" also removes all the Mod Groups I've created, perhaps add an "Are you sure?" dialog to that which details what it does.

 

Mod-specific "Fix warnings", perhaps right click the mod and "Fix warnings" will delete the shader cache and/or src directory for that mod only

 

What about the ability to hide mods? Hidden mods shouldn't be enabled for playing the game but maybe someone wants to not use a mod in this playthrough but not delete it. Would need some "Show hidden mods" menu item and when that is selected some visual difference between hidden mods and unhidden in the main pane. Italics? Grey background to the mod's row?

 

 

[Edit:

 

Game launches with Steam client running

 

I've added the "-nostartupmovies" parameter in Steam, is it possible to add that (and any other similar switches) to the Mod Launcher somehow.

 

Really rather excited about this, btw :thumbsup: ]

Edited March 11, 2016 by Dragon32