Mod Distribution/Automation Program

[Daemonjax]

Heh... yeah. ;)

 

Server: chat.freenode.net

Channel: #xcom-mod-manager

 

 

That's all the info you need, honestly. Other than that, I'd google how to use irc.

[dreadylein]

@taleden

 

First of all, good luck with your project :)

If you need anything just drop me a message.

 

But as i pretty much put together the same thing you are doing yet, some days ago after daemonjax mentioned it would be nice, as a prototyp please think at the following problems which could occure

 

As you already done you have to count the lines like the engine or count variable with the same name

You need some checks for the right Version, as we dont know if they will make balance changes

Withouth them you cant decide the vanilla values, and withouth this the main purpose of adding multiple mods could be a problem

You need to make sure that the standart file has the same linecount as the file were it was developt at or it could heavly mess up

 

This things were the cause why i didnt made it, modpatcher should work on every version withouth updates as long as they dont completly put the ini to another place like hardcoded in the binary or as a file

[Iluvatarwc]

Interesting... When I first set out to create my little program, I was essentially going to build on the existing .ini modifier and just add a nice GUI in WPF with some help functions for the less savvy with the .ini scripting structure, and simplifying the options to radio buttons, tickboxes, combo boxes, etc...

 

You guys are way ahead of me here xD Or rather, you're going much deeper...

 

I'd like to help your effort if at all possible... I'd say I'm mildly competent in C# and C++ (I'm a 2nd year on a Computer Games Programming award at Uni, and I'm now on placement), plus I have a plethora of other programming based skills and some knowledge on C, Java, etc.

 

I work 9 to 5 every day, so I don't know how much I can contribute, but I spend my lunchtime working on personal projects, and I could put a couple of hours a day on this if it's necessary. I also spend my days working on a C# project, with a GUI based on WPF and XAML. Besides, some of the libraries I'm compiling for our DLL are C++, Java or Python-based, but .Net handles these multi-language projects quite well, as long as they're all static libraries.

 

Either way, if you want an extra hand, I'd be glad to help, where do I sign up?

 

I realize I'm a bit late to the party. I was making my own version of the modded .ini for personal use, and in the process ended up making one for a friend, who asked me if I could simplify the process to a point where he would be able to do it. I thought about it, and decided that, apart from being tedious, it would actually be quite easy, so I set off to talk to some people in the XCOM modding community and ran into you guys... Daemonjax pointed me here, and here I am xD

 

Sorry about the long post. Yes, bottom-line, I'd love to help, I think it would really help the community grow if we had a more comprehensive set of tools, and so far, Firaxis just said they're "aware of the modding community, and that they don't have any plans to release any tools just yet, but they might offer their support in the future", so no help from them for a while...

 

So, good luck with the project, either way, and do let me know if my help would be appreciated\necessary\wanted, 'cause I'd be glad to help ; )

[Daemonjax]

Sure, why not? PM me your google account name, and I'll add you to the project.

[bokauk]

I'm not sure how you've decided to do it, but I'd like to suggest a feature allowing configuration of individual mods. Instead of the modder hard coding the value into whatever file format you decide upon, it would be good to allow the user to change that variable without having to know bytecode or hex.

 

The mods could come with a config file allowing controls such as textboxes etc. to be created at runtime to display a GUI. If you've used Unity, then something similar to adding variables to the inspector view.

 

For example, a mod to change the amount of grenades :

Config.ini
// Datatype - Control  - Name - DefaultValue
int Textbox grenades=10
bool Checkbox enabled=True

Or just have a specific control for a each datatype.

 

That might be making it too complicated, especially for an early version, but you could just do it without the GUI and the user could edit the config file manually:

 

Config.ini
grenades=10

 

Anyway, not sure what your planned implementation is, but a similar feature like this would be great :)

[tsanford01]

How are full size textures associated with UPKs handled by your patcher? It may help me with my project. Thank you for your hard work !

[Daemonjax]

@ tsanford01

 

We've been focusing on bytecode changes.

 

You've raised a good point regarding textures, and that's something we'll have to think about :D

 

 

@ bokauk

 

That's a great suggestion, and it's something we'll get around to doing, but won't make it into the first beta.

Edited October 26, 2012 by Daemonjax

[Iluvatarwc]

Right, I'll be heading to London for the MCM Expo, so I'll be away for most of the weekend. I'll jump straight in on Tuesday and you can brief me on the current To-Do list.

[taleden]

I have a working beta of a new INI patcher that can read/write the INI embedded in the EXE just like modpatcher, but can also apply multiple inidividual patches at the same time, without them overwriting eachother. It works so far for me, but I'd love some beta testers to try it out too before I release it into the public.

 

@dreadylein: I believe I've solved the issues you describe, but if you'd be willing to help test and poke holes in the algorithm, I'd be much obliged.

 

There's a new thread up too.

[Daemonjax]

Project Update:

 

 

Still on track for first beta release today.

 

We won't get everything we wanted in, but it will create and install xcom mod files, and have a functional GUI.