Mod Distribution/Automation Program

[dose206]

I have an exam tomorrow and so far I've spent the entire day getting set up and running to mod XCom

 

Dear god, man. Start studying!

 

What class is it for?

 

It's just Financial Accounting, and I'm pretty comfortable with the material.

 

On another note, I think I will start with GUI, since we will eventually need it and it is what I'm most comfortable with ATM. I'm thinking I'll start with a GUI for "settings" which will be stored in a config file. Stuff like "where is your xcom installation located". Do we have a preference in terms of language? I suppose I'll start with Java, but don't imagine I'll get far enough to make changing languages too much of a hassle.

[Daemonjax]

Sounds good!

 

No rush.

 

I'll set up the project on google code tonight.

 

We'll have a beta release by the end of the week :D

[dose206]

Sounds good!

 

No rush.

 

I'll set up the project on google code tonight.

 

God, I can't make up my mind. I can either work on the GUI right now, but I actually would do it in C# (I forgot how poorly Eclipse handles GUI design, VS is much easier), or I can do it command line style in Java, and worry about GUI later. I've seen the suggestion of having separate command line programs cobbled together with a GUI. What do you prefer?

 

We'll have a beta release by the end of the week :D

 

I don't see why not (famous last words)

Edited October 21, 2012 by dose206

[ellgieff]

 

 

No. Modpatcher patches the exe with ini settings, because the game doesn't actually look at the DefaultGameCore.ini file on your hard drive. I don't see how you can confuse that with what we're talking about, especially since it appeared you had such a good understanding so far. :D

 

Unless you mean how modpatcher is essentially a program that reads and modifies file(s)... Then, yes, they're essentially the same. ;)

 

 

Anyways, I guess we better start this thing rolling. I don't think any more contributors will show up at this point.

 

Let's hold off on the GUI part, as that'll take longer than anything else.

 

Are you familiar with using version control software like SVN?

 

If I wanted to be most useful, what language should I pick up?

[Daemonjax]

If I wanted to be most useful, what language should I pick up?

 

Whatever language you're best at! :D

 

We'll find a place for you.

 

Unless you mean you have no programming experience whatsoever... then:

 

1) Java is relatively easy to pick up compared to some other languages

2) You can be our alpha tester :D

Edited October 21, 2012 by Daemonjax

[Daemonjax]

God, I can't make up my mind. I can either work on the GUI right now, but I actually would do it in C# (I forgot how poorly Eclipse handles GUI design, VS is much easier), or I can do it command line style in Java, and worry about GUI later. I've seen the suggestion of having separate command line programs cobbled together with a GUI. What do you prefer?

 

There's advantages and disadvantages to doing it either way. Take a day to decide what you prefer. :D

[ellgieff]

If I wanted to be most useful, what language should I pick up?

 

Whatever language you're best at! :D

 

We'll find a place for you.

 

Unless you mean you have no programming experience whatsoever... then:

 

1) Java is relatively easy to pick up compared to some other languages

2) You can be our alpha tester :D

 

I'm best at coding in SAS. I doubt that these skills will be of any use for mods ;)

 

I'm happy to do testing, I have some skills there too.

 

And I'll go learn some Java. BRB :P

[dose206]

Okay, I've gotten a very rough shell of a GUI built, and at this point it doesn't have ANY overlapping functionality with anything else, so it could easily become just a GUI used to run .bat files. Since I wanted to learn about .bat files, I also started creating a .bat file to do the job, although I'm undecided if that's the way that I want to go. Anyhow, I've successfully managed to devote nearly all of my day to this, so I'm off to study a bit before bed. I'll get back to work tomorrow afternoon, most likely. Have a nice night (or good morning) everyone!

 

Also, if anyone is bothered by the fact that my posts don't have much substance, just tell me to shut it and post when I have some real updates. I can take it, I promise.

[Daemonjax]

http://code.google.com/p/xcom-modmanager/

 

Project is up.

 

Simply calling it XCOM Modmanager, or XM for short.

 

I don't know how this will/could fit in with the Nexus Modmanager.

 

I'm not thinking about that right now.

 

Once we get to beta status, we can make a new thread.

 

I PMed dreadylein, and he says he's in.

 

@dose206 PM me your google email (gmail) address so I can add you as a contributor.

 

 

Okay, I've gotten a very rough shell of a GUI built

 

What programming language did you choose for the GUI?

 

C#?

 

Does dreadylein know C#? If not, this will be interesting. :D

 

I can learn C# or whatever as the case need be.

 

 

I'll work on a sample mod folder... the stuff that a modder would have in a folder to be processed by the modmanager.

 

UPDATE: It really just should be a folder (the name of the mod or something like that), containing:

 

1) the modified file (i.e. Executing.State for this mod here: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/811009-the-next-step/page__view__findpost__p__6491427)

2) a configuration file (config.xml) generated by the modmanager which contains all the other information needed

 

Modmanager then parses the files to create a mod file, which is what's shared. None of the information in the original file should be in this mod file.

 

There's no reason this couldn't be integrated into nexus modmanager, but that's something for another day.

 

Thoughts:

 

1) We'll have to work out the configuration file structure. We should use xml for it, so it stays human readable.

2) We can easily integrate hexeditor, notepad++, and ue explorer support into the GUI.

3) I'd like to tackle this from the mod-maker's perspective first. By the time we get to the mod-user functionality, the necessary gritty details will already be worked out.

4) C# has standard libraries for XML afaik, so you should be good for that.

5) We can use modpatcher, and xshape, gildor's decompresser, and one of the unpackers as-written (or close to it) for that functionality.

6) We don't need permission from any authors as long as we don't distribute their program with the modmanager. The user can just download them on his own.

 

 

 

I'm sure we'll discuss things in further detail once I get your gmail email addresses.

Edited October 22, 2012 by Daemonjax

[dose206]

 

Okay, I've gotten a very rough shell of a GUI built

 

What programming language did you choose for the GUI?

 

C#?

 

Does dreadylein know C#? If not, this will be interesting. :D

 

 

Yup, C#, although I'm not committed to it, I haven't gotten very far in yet.

 

 

 

UPDATE: Lol.. it really just should be a folder (the name of the mod or something like that), containing:

 

1) the modified file (i.e. Executing.State for this mod here: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/811009-the-next-step/page__view__findpost__p__6491427)

2) a configuration file (config.xml) generated by the modmanager which contains all the other information needed

 

 

Don't we run into an issue with 1) by distributing game assets? Are we abandoning the index position/hash value idea? If we don't distribute the modded files themselves, then the information on which file(s) are to be modded as well as where within the file(s) and change(s) to be made will need to be in the configuration file, but we would only need that one file.

 

 

 

1) We'll have to work out the configuration file structure. We should use xml for it, so it stays human readable.

2) We can easily integrate hexeditor, notepad++, and ue explorer support into the GUI.

3) I'd like to tackle this from the mod-maker's perspective first. By the time we get to the mod-user functionality, the necessary gritty details will already be worked out.

 

C# has standard libraries for XML afaik, so you should be good.

 

Pretty sure you're right about C# XML libraries, and I agree that XML is a good format.

I hadn't considered integrating hexeditor, notepad++ and ue explorer support, I was approaching it from a mod-user standpoint, but I agree that it makes more sense to view it the other way around. I don't have much experience integrating with existing software programs, do you have any suggestions on where to start looking at it?

 

The mod manager will need its own configuration file that tracks (at least) where the XCOM installation root folder is as well as where to put/find the backups. This will theoretically be different on every user's machine, but shouldn't change through the life of use for individual users.