EnYB0La on 17/2/2021 at 18:34
Great, thanks. I'll check it because I'd like to be able to build a FMs database with it (JSON format).
FenPhoenix on 17/2/2021 at 18:46
Note that it can't be 100% accurate with everything it scans. Release dates in particular, even with the as-yet-unreleased updates to the date detector, are still just "best effort combined with educated guesswork". Version detection may as well be ignored, little work was done on it. NewDark required version detection is best-effort and hasn't been worked on in years. Supported languages are not 100% accurate (if the mission has no explicit language-named folders, the scanner can't know if it's English-only or some other language-only, and it might miss languages in weirdly named zip files inside the archive, etc.)
Game types are 100% accurate. Titles are 99-100% accurate assuming the title is specified in text anywhere in the mission. Authors are mostly accurate assuming they're specified. Custom resources, size, tags, campaign mission names, descriptions are accurate.
FenPhoenix on 19/2/2021 at 16:57
Thank you! :)
Twist on 19/2/2021 at 23:13
One quick suggestion: It'd be handy to have the "Open FM Folder" option in the right-click context menu. It seems intuitive to have it there. Maybe it could just be optional if you want to avoid clutter. And now on to my not-so-quick suggestion:
What if you incorporated the functionality and accessibility of the mod manager used by the System Shock 2 community into AngelLoader? They have an open-source mod manager that helps players install, enable/disable, and set the priority of different mods (not missions!). Recently, it looks like they've made it work for the Thief games as well.
(
https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4790.0) SystemShock.Org thread on the mod manager
(
https://github.com/pshjt/dmm) Source at GitHub
(
https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4790.msg137223#msg137223) Part of the thread where they start talking about making it compatible with TG/TMA (Spoiler Alert: It
IS now compatible.)
This is handy because with a clean, inuitive interface it helps you see what mods you have installed, easily disable and enable different mods, and prioritize which mods should take precedent over the others. (I'm guessing many players using TFix and T2Fix don't even realize they have any mods installed.)
Since you already seem to have some part of your code account for this sort of thing -- with the disable all mods checkbox, the exclude mods field, and the dml patches applied section -- and the source of the mod manager is available to help you out, what if you integrated that mod manager's functionality and accessibity into AngelLoader so that AngelLoader is a one-stop shop for managing how we play Thief?
This would make it super easy to manage mods on a per-mission basis. I'm imagining most of the function of the mod manager placed into either the Edit FM or Patch & Customize tabs.
This could have benefits for the community as well, as it could help people troubleshoot. If someone is experiencing something odd with a mission and people are having a hard time understanding why, having them be able to look at a clean, acccessible list of installed mods and their current priority could be really helpful.
(I suspect many, if not most, players don't understand how to read currently installed mods and their priority in cam_mod.ini, and for this reason I suspect the "Disabled Mods" field is currently underused.)
I know I'm asking a lot and to be clear I'm just brainstorming and sharing "dream features." I really have no expectation for any of this to happen. I also recognize that the mod manager and AngelLoader could simply coexist side-by-side, but I like to use different sets of mods (or no mods at all) on different missions, and I imagine there are others like me.
To be clear, AngelLoader, as it already is right now, is really awesome and I love it. Thank you!
FenPhoenix on 19/2/2021 at 23:48
Sure, I could put the Open FM Folder option in the menu no problem.
As for the mods, I haven't looked at the mod manager you linked there, but I'm planning to overhaul the barebones mod management system into something much more user-friendly and complete. The way it is now, it's basically a copy of FMSel's which I figured was good enough to get started with at the time. But some things I want to do are:
-Have it list all mods as checkboxes, and tell you the "friendly name" and description of any it recognizes
-Allow both include and exclude
-Allow saying "disable all visual mods but keep fix mods", because right now if you say "Disable all mods" you also disable T2FMDML for example, which is a big gotcha that many people might not know/think of
As I develop it I might think of other things too. Basically I want it to be nice, complete, easily understandable, and inuitive to use, which it currently isn't at all.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm working nonstop to get everything done, it's a big job but eventually we'll get there!
Twist on 20/2/2021 at 22:37
That sounds awesome! Looks like you're ahead of my thinking afterall.
Definitely keep an eye on that thread, through, as you'll probably want to make sure the way you read and change the cam_mod.ini is compatible with the way they do it. As I understand it, voodoo47 plans to incorporate that mod manager with the next version of TFix, and I'm guessing T2Fix will follow suit, so it's likely to become pretty pervasive in the not-too-distant future.
To be clear, I definitely think there's a place for what you're planning, as it involves per-mission mod configuration as well as maybe greater transparency on what mods people actually have installed while playing. As I sort of said earlier and you seem to be well aware, I think many people faithfully use TFix and T2Fix without fully understanding the changes those make to the default Thief install.
I love your work, Fen. Wish I had a way to support you more.
FenPhoenix on 20/2/2021 at 22:52
It's possible I may be able to just read cam_mod.ini and not write it, if I assume the listed mods in cam_mod.ini are the "canonical set" and I just read them all and then selectively decide which ones to pass to the game on load. But if I do have to write to it I'll be sure and study up on what their app is doing. AL has to deal with several other config files that somebody else controls, and it's scrupulously careful to stick to spec and modify cleanly and with precision.
FenPhoenix on 23/2/2021 at 03:01
Thank you :)