Slipstream Mod Manager v1.9.1 (2018-01-07)

Discuss and distribute tools and methods for modding. Moderator - Grognak
Vhati
Posts: 792
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:01 pm

Re: Slipstream Mod Manager v1.2 (2013-09-08)

Postby Vhati » Sun Sep 08, 2013 11:09 pm

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v1.2 has been released:
  • There's a commandline interface (which can zip named folders as it patches).
  • The main window's geometry is saved on exit.
  • Periodic checks for SMM updates.
  • Runs FTL after patching on Linux.
  • Fixed critical bugs in InputStreams returned by my FTLDat.
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  • The first post's broken flattr link has been replaced with a sourceforge donation page.
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  • Behind the scenes, all text will be converted to Windows-1252 ANSI encoding, because apparently that's what FTL expects (on all platforms, ignoring all hints to the contrary, even though vanilla resources claim to be UTF-8. :x ).
    Only non-ASCII characters are affected, as in the "Spanish Mod".
    Modders don't need to do anything different.
    This nuisance is only relevant for people manually altering dats.


But the following is what makes this a *major* update.

During patching, SMM will now try to understand and interpret all the XML in mods.
This has several effects:
  • A custom sloppy parser will be used if strict parsing fails.
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  • Common typos will be overlooked and effectively 'repaired', as the meaning of the XML is used to re-generate text to go in the dats.
    This repair means mods won't make the SavedGame Editor crash anymore. 8-)
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  • If there's a bug in the custom parser, that could possibly cause legitimate XML to be misinterpreted without an error. :|
    .
  • It adds SPECIAL TAGS FOR ADVANCED APPENDING!!! *Kermit flail*


For example, you can reach into the Mantis ship, remove all its existing weapons, and insert your own.

Code: Select all

<mod:findName type="shipBlueprint" name="PLAYER_SHIP_MANTIS">
  <mod:findLike type="weaponList">
    <mod:findLike type="weapon" limit="-1"><mod:removeTag /></mod:findLike>
    <mod-append:weapon name="LASER_BURST_3" />
    <mod:setAttributes count="1" />
  </mod:findLike>
</mod:findName>



You can insert extra events into eventLists.

Code: Select all

<mod:findName type="eventList" name="NO_FUEL">
  <mod-append:event load="MAL_FALLS_DOWN" />

  <mod-append:event>
    <text load="FUEL_NOTHING_LIST"/>
    <choice>
      <text>*Yawn*</text>
      <event/>
    </choice>
  </mod-append:event>
</mod:findName>



Or you can chain-load events instead of replacing. :ugeek:
  • Find an existing event, and change its name to something obscure.
  • Append your own event with the normal name.
  • Then load= the renamed event from choices in your event.
  • See the "Engi Scrap Advantage" demo mod, and "readme_modders.txt", for details.


There's also a built-in text editor to experiment with the new tags (under the File menu).
Pick a resource from the dat, write a snippet, and it shows what would happen.
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dalolorn
Posts: 532
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2012 8:06 am
Location: R.S. Dominator

Re: Slipstream Mod Manager v1.2 (2013-09-08)

Postby dalolorn » Mon Sep 09, 2013 3:17 pm

Vhati wrote:[*]Periodic checks for SMM updates.

Does this just notify you that an update is available, or download (not install, as you said it's a bit tricky to do, but just download) it?

Also, neat function. I should take a look at this some time soon.
Vhati
Posts: 792
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:01 pm

Re: Slipstream Mod Manager v1.2 (2013-09-08)

Postby Vhati » Mon Sep 09, 2013 6:08 pm

dalolorn wrote:
Vhati wrote:Periodic checks for SMM updates.

Does this just notify you that an update is available, or download it?


Every few days, it fetches info about what's available.
After I release an update, that button will enable and turn green.

Clicking it will provide a changelog for any versions higher than what you have, and direct links to download the latest one.

Code: Select all

What's New
Version 1.4: [Forum] [Mac/Linux] [Windows]

1.4:
- Added flying cars.
1.3:
- Bugfix to prevent Y2K14.
Vhati
Posts: 792
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:01 pm

Re: Slipstream Mod Manager v1.3 (2013-09-19)

Postby Vhati » Fri Sep 20, 2013 2:24 am

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v1.3 has been released:
  • Fixed advanced find tags' panic arg (was "true" all the time).
  • Fixed advanced selector tag not narrowing results when it had a value.
    (<mod:selector>this was ignored</mod:selector>).
    .
  • Fixed perpetually green "Update" button in some environments.
  • Added --global-panic commandline arg to show mod devs typoed find tags (finds that'd have no results).
  • Fixed sloppy parser Validate error about things not allowed at root (extraneous closing tags).
  • Added a Preferences dialog as an alternative to editing modman.cfg.
  • Added a troubleshooting note about Java 1.7.0_25 to readmes.
  • Added support for embedded descriptions in *.ftl files.


Modders can set their own descriptions by including a file that essentially says this:

Code: Select all

<metadata>
  <title> ??? </title>
  <threadUrl> ??? </threadUrl>
  <author> ??? </author>
  <version> ??? </version>
  <description> ??? </description>
</metadata>

See the example mods for details.
ApexMods
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun Aug 25, 2013 12:58 pm
Contact:

Re: Slipstream Mod Manager v1.3 (2013-09-19)

Postby ApexMods » Fri Sep 20, 2013 8:41 am

First of all, thanks a lot for your continued excellent work, Vhati!

Just a little heads-up. On Mac OS X 10.8.5, Java SDK 1.7.0_40 (b43), I did a clean re-install of both FTL 1.03.3 and SMM 1.3 and when it says "You will now be prompted to locate FTL manually" SMM seems to hang as that prompt never comes up.

I went back to v1.2, then 1.1, only to find out they behave the same. Then I remembered that I initially used the modman.cfg file created by Grognak's mod manager to get SMM 1.0 to work when it came out, and it looks like the issue is persistent through all SMM releases. The only workaround still seems to be dropping a manually pre-configured modman.cfg into SMM's folder before initial launch.

For the rest, SMM works great. :)
Vhati
Posts: 792
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:01 pm

Re: Slipstream Mod Manager v1.3 (2013-09-19)

Postby Vhati » Fri Sep 20, 2013 9:36 am

ApexMods wrote:when it says "You will now be prompted to locate FTL manually" SMM seems to hang as that prompt never comes up.

Thanks for the bug report!

1) So you do see one popup, but you do not see the dialog to actually select FTL.app?

2) Does it leave anything in the log when that happens?

3) After you give it a good config, does it hang when you try to extract dats, as it asks for a destination?


I did find a little design oversight in those early prompts. Maybe addressing that'll fix this...

Edit: PM sent.
ApexMods
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun Aug 25, 2013 12:58 pm
Contact:

Re: Slipstream Mod Manager v1.3 (2013-09-19)

Postby ApexMods » Fri Sep 20, 2013 11:33 am

Sorry, as a new member of this board I cannot answer/send any PMs (yet?), so I'll answer you here.

Regarding v1.0-1.3:

1) Yes, the first prompt comes up, but the navigation dialog does not.

2) Last log entry is "FTL dats path was not located automatically. Prompting user for location."

3) With the config file in place, the extract dats option opens the nav dialog just fine.

All that being said, the new test version you sent me does work perfectly, i.e. initial navigation dialog comes up. Many thanks for that super fast fix!
Vhati
Posts: 792
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:01 pm

Re: Slipstream Mod Manager v1.4 (2013-09-20)

Postby Vhati » Fri Sep 20, 2013 1:42 pm

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v1.4 has been released:
  • Cleaned up some dodgy code when initially prompting for FTL's location (caused SMM to hang on OSX).
  • Added another common game location: "C:\Program Files (x86)\FTL".

To anyone arriving late: yesterday's announcement of 1.3 was more interesting.
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Scotty
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2013 8:18 pm

Re: Slipstream Mod Manager v1.4 (2013-09-20)

Postby Scotty » Fri Sep 20, 2013 9:29 pm

Hi again Vhati.

could you explain under which circumstances a backup will be loaded from the program dir (\FTL\resources)?
Is it only 1x in the beginning, the vanilla version of the 2 files there, as I suspect? And not afterwards anymore (only if I delete the files from backup folder)?

thx
S.
Vhati
Posts: 792
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:01 pm

Re: Slipstream Mod Manager v1.4 (2013-09-20)

Postby Vhati » Sat Sep 21, 2013 2:12 am

Scotty wrote:could you explain under which circumstances a backup will be loaded from the program dir (\FTL\resources)?

Whenever you click "patch"...
  • It looks for "SMM/backup/data.dat.bak".
    If it doesn't exist, "FTL/resources/data.dat" is copied to create the backup.
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  • It looks for "SMM/backup/resource.dat.bak".
    If it doesn't exist, "FTL/resources/resource.dat" is copied to create the backup.
    .
  • If they did exist, backups will be copied in the other direction, to replace the game's dats.
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  • Any selected mods will then be inserted into the game's dats.

The backups are assumed to be vanilla. This is why it's important to return the game to an unmodded state before starting a new mod manager. Otherwise, its first backups would have mods baked in permanently.

This is also why you need to delete SMM's backup dats when the game itself gets updated: to create new backups. Otherwise backups from the old FTL would continue to be used.

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