AngelLoader v1.11.0 - now works better on Wine! (updated 2025/07/24)

FenPhoenix on 19/12/2023 at 20:33

Fixed the mods list bug. It was if the mods list was scrolled any amount and then it was reloaded (as by selecting another FM), all hell would break loose with the positioning logic. The red background on the important mods wasn't working right either. Fixed all of it for the next version.

Midgard on 19/12/2023 at 21:17

Quote Posted by FenPhoenix

I can reproduce. Looking into it.

Click the "Show FMs marked as unsupported game or non-FM archive" button (zip icon with a question mark). See if any of your unrecognized files show up there (including The Black Parade). If so, tell me their archive names.

The usual reasons for an FM not to show up in the list is that the scan failed and it's been marked as "unsupported or not an FM". A common reason for a scan failing is if the FM is incorrectly structured in the zip (like if its files are inside a subfolder inside the zip, instead of starting in the base folder). Apart from that it's hard to say. If your files do show up in the list with the above procedure, you can select them all, right-click and choose Scan FMs... and then when the scan is done look at [Your AngelLoader folder]\AngelLoader_log.txt and see if there are messages in there.

The Black Parade failing to be detected is unexpected though, it works for me.

Are you using the latest version 1.7.7?

I just reinstalled AngelLoader and redid the archive paths and all is well now, or nearly so. Maybe a couple of the zips out of 245 or so aren't being recognized but that's not a big deal. Maybe they're corrupted. I renamed THeBlackParade_v1.0.zip archive to just TheBlackParade.zip and even that's showing up now. Thanks for your help. I really like that you added The Dark Mod support. It's nice to have all Thief and Looking Glass Studios games in one frontend now.

FenPhoenix on 19/12/2023 at 21:48

Quote Posted by Midgard

Good to know. :thumb:

And now that the bugs are dealt with, to the feature requests:

Quote Posted by Twist

And now a feature request! If possible, I'd love to be able to right-click on a mission or campaign and create a shortcut to that mission. That way, for example, I could launch straight into The Black Parade without first launching AngelLoader, then clicking on the campaign's entry. (I'd still want AngelLoader open, though.)

When you say you want AngelLoader open, I assume you mean you want the shortcut to start AngelLoader but then just automatically play the FM through it? Because then AngelLoader can set the last played time and whatever else, which wouldn't happen with a direct shortcut to Thief.

Quote Posted by Midgard

A feature request for future builds: changing the color of fonts if your programming language allows it. The default dark theme looks okay and is definitely preferable to the standard black text on white background but my favorite has always been yellow or green text on black.

I could add custom theming. The code is basically set right up for it already, although the UI for it would take some time.

Twist on 19/12/2023 at 22:34

Quote Posted by FenPhoenix

Exactly! I still want to use AngelLoader to manage my mod config and last played time, etc. I also like being able to alt-tab over to write and save notes/reviews in the FM's comment tab, so I want AngelLoader open and available. But I want a single shortcut that loads AngelLoader, then loads the specific FM without having to search/scroll, select and click the FM within AngelLoader. Yeah, I'm that lazy. :thumb:

Secondarily, if possible, you might also provide the option to create a shortcut which loads the Thief/FM combo directly, without AngelLoader. I wouldn't use it, but I can imagine someone wanting that. But since I'm your biggest fan you should prioritize the first option up there. :p

vfig on 19/12/2023 at 22:40

Quote Posted by FenPhoenix

I could add custom theming. The code is basically set right up for it already, although the UI for it would take some time.

do custom theming via a config file. uis for theming tend to be a pain to create and maintain, and usually have very low value for users. plus if users want to share custom themes, they will want to share the config files anyway. the only ui you really need is (if possible) a button to reload the current theme to avoid restarts.

Twist on 19/12/2023 at 23:10

I like vfig's suggestion.

Also, if you do the shortcut thing, you might make it possible for FM authors to optionally include an icon file, then have AngelLoader use that icon for the shortcut to that FM. Including an icon would be overkill for single missions, but for big campaigns, I can see both authors and players liking the option.

Midgard on 19/12/2023 at 23:28

Regarding desktop shortcuts to Fan Missions, I did figured out the parameter (with a little help from google search) to add to your Thief desktop shortcut to run a particular FM directly without using AngelLoader. It's -fm=name where name is your FM folder. However, it only works with unarchived folders. If I try to create a shortcut directly to the zipped archive, it has no ability to recognize it's a zip/7zip and therefore won't run. Maybe a solution to doing this is using a future build of AngelLoader with this feature to have the program run, unzip the archive, launch the FM then AngelLoader closes itself. In the meantime, you can still create desktop shortcuts to your FMs but they have to be pointing to uncompressed folders, not archives.

FenPhoenix on 20/12/2023 at 00:26

Yeah, decompressing/installing the archive is the job of the loaders. And it's not just a straight extract either: the folder name has to be truncated to 30 chars and have certain characters replaced with underscores. If you don't do that then things may or may not work as expected.

Also, note that you can't pass mods to disable on the command line. They must be passed via the NewDark API (accessible only by loaders), so there's that too.

Twist on 20/12/2023 at 00:28

That's a feature that bypasses AngelLoader and uses FMSel directly. So when you load FMs that way, you can't use AngelLoader to do things like manage mods for that mission. It will just load everything in your cam_mod.ini.

Edit: Whoops, Fen posted as I typed my response. Yeah, what he said.

FenPhoenix on 23/12/2023 at 12:08

(https://github.com/FenPhoenix/AngelLoader/releases/download/v1.7.8/AngelLoader_v1.7.8.zip) AngelLoader v1.7.8 is out.

Mainly a bug-fix release. Still working on future features.

Features and improvements:

* Improved title detector. It now detects "A Keeper of the Prophecies" instead of "KotP Campaign".

Performance:

* NewDarkLoader import now caches its FM archive file list, increasing performance for large FM archive dirs, or FM archive dirs with many subfolders.

Fixes:

* Fixed several misbehaviors of the Mods tab when scrolled:

* If the mods list was scrolled any amount and then another FM was selected, the mods checkboxes would be positioned incorrectly
* The red background behind the important mods was not properly positioned when scrolled vertically
* The red background was also not drawn correctly when scrolled horizontally

* Fixed: The installed ("selected") TDM FM would lose its installed state after settings OK click (in certain instances) and after import.
* After years of pondering why the theme change in the Settings window was so slow, I figured it out: it was doing the theme change twice in a row. Fixed.