Note: LucasForums Archive Project
The content here was reconstructed by scraping the Wayback Machine in an effort to restore some of what was lost when LF went down. The LucasForums Archive Project claims no ownership over the content or assets that were archived on archive.org.

This project is meant for research purposes only.

[UTILLITY]Star Wars: Empire At War Mod Manager

Page: 1 of 1
 Quickshot14
02-24-2006, 9:11 AM
#1
Hello all,

Since the orignal post was getting cluttered and old it was suggested i start a new one and i'm doing so now. This is the new post for the mod manager i ask that an admin/moderator please lock the old one (http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=159918) and post a link to this new thread.

Current Mod Manager Version/Release: BETA 2.0
LINKS:
SW: Empire At War - Mod Manager BETA 2.0 Release (http://lsinc.orgfree.com)
SW: Empire At War - Mod Manager BETA 1.0 Release (petroden mirror) (http://www.petroden.com/eaw_mod_tools.shtml)
SW: Empire At War - Mod Manager BETA 1.0 Release (eawhq.de mirror) (http://www.eawhq.de/index.php?go=downloads&dl_id=40)
SW: Empire At War - Mod Manager BETA 2.0 (EAW heaven mirror) (http://eaw.heavengames.com/downloads//showfile.php?fileid=12)
SW: Empire At War - Mod manager BETA 1.0 (Filefront mirror) (http://files.filefront.com/eaw+modmanagerzip/;4927366;/fileinfo.html)

The empire at war mod manager is for the RETAIL and DEMO versions of empire at war. It is a utillity used to easily activate/use and orignizae the various mods for empire at war. The mod manager is very simple to use and does all the work for the user for them to use the mods they choose. The mod manager is also very usefull and easy to use for the modder as well, in making there mod compatible with the mod manager is simple and makes it very easy to distrubute for others to use. No more juggling or renaming directorys. Simple select the mod from the list click activate and play. When your done, select the mod again click deactivate and eaw returns to normal. No muss no fuss.

You will need the .Net 2.0 or higher framework for the mod manager to work. This is still a beta release so bugs/issues could be present. If you find any please reply in this thread. A very detialed help/manuel file is inlcuded but if you have questions or have suggestions please post them in this thread. All feedback/suggetions/bug reports are welcome and encoruged. Also if anyone would like to mirror please do so and post a reply with a link. I will add that link to this post as I see them.

If there are any updates/new releases I will post them here in this top most thread and bump the thread. Thank you and may the force be with you!
 Quickshot14
02-25-2006, 1:27 PM
#2
*bump*

Quick bump because of a new mirror added i hope this makes it easier for everyone to get the mod manager now as theres more and more mirror links, again if you want to mirror by all means do so and post a link here when i see it and verify it i'll add it to the list.

Also bumped cause it's getiing burried again lol again any questions/comments/feedback please just post here thanks :)
 DonBilbo
02-27-2006, 5:33 AM
#3
sorry man, couldnt make it sooner ... going 2 do a download with the latest version today ;)
 Arc9
02-27-2006, 5:37 AM
#4
hmm...Ill try it.
 Jay1717
02-27-2006, 5:56 AM
#5
I'm having difficulties with getting the program to recognize the mod, do they need to be in the .mod format, and if so, how do I do that?
 MakrO
02-27-2006, 6:27 AM
#6
Yes, the mod has to be in .mod format. And it's very well explained in the SW:EAWMM help file how to make one ;)
 Tokakeke
02-28-2006, 1:30 PM
#7
Won't recognize my mod. Here's the .mod file:

This is a template mod file, it will not show up in the mod manager this will help modders in how to setup there mods for use with the mod manager, everything in this template is commented and explained.
Anything outside of code lines are ignored by the mod manager ie there comments spaces you can place them anywhere as long as there before or after code lines
Bellow is a code start and code and then a code break, all code lines must be in order. You can place any comment lines before or after the code lines but not in them!


1.5B


Above is the first code line, it is the version of the mod manager this mod file is compatible with. This is very important!! Modders should place the version number of the mod manger there using in this line. Ther version should be #.#X where the # are the version numbers, and the X is A if Alpha, B if beta or F if final. in the above template it's version 1.0 Alpha. DO NOT USE THE ABOVE VERISON NUMBER IN YOUR MODS!! The above version number is ignored by all mod managers versions over Alpha 1.0!


1.02


!!!LINE OF CODE ADDED IN BETA 1.0!!! The above line of code is the empire at war version information. This is important as it tells the mod manager witch version of Empire at war this mod is for. Above in this example, DEMO has been stated this tells the mod manager this .mod is only vaild for the demo version of Empire at war. If this was for the retail version the number of the retail version would go here. For example at the time of this writing the version number of Empire at War retail is 1.02


Just Another Space Mod


Above is the next code line, witch is the Name of the mod as it will appear in the catagorey view. Please try to keep all names under 325 charachters or it will be cut off to fit in the mod manager


jasm\


The above code line is the folder path. This is the folder that contains all of this mods files. It's important to add the backslashs after the folder name, you do not have to place the full path just the folder name of that contains the mod files.


Tokakeke


The above code line is the list of authors that will be displayed when the user selects the mod in the mod manager. If there are multiple authors just seprate them with , Do note do not add multiple lines or have the author list to long or the entire list will not show properly in the mod manager.


N/A


The above code line is the http url for the mod. In this case this template mod has no url so a N/A is added, otherwise a full url would be placed here ie: http://www.website.com) . IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A URL FOR THE MOD AND DO NOT WANT THE USER TO BE ABLE TO CLICK ON THE URL TEXT YOU MUST BUT A N/A IN THIS CODE LINE!


N/A


The above code line is the http forum url for the mod. In this case this template mod has no forum url so a N/A is added, otherwise a full url would be placed here ie: http://www.website.com) . IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A URL FOR THE MOD AND DO NOT WANT THE USER TO BE ABLE TO CLICK ON THE FORUM TEXT YOU MUST BUT A N/A IN THIS CODE LINE!


This is a Template Mod File used to show modders how to create the .mod files needed for there mods to function in the mod manager.


The above code line is the text that will show up in the information box when the user selects the mod from the catagoreies list. You can place whatever you like here even a mini-readme or whatever you feel is important for the user to see. The charcter max is 32,767 witch should be large enough for you all :)

[SUBCATDEPENDT]
NO
[/SUBCATDEPENDT}

The above code line states weather or not this mod uses a sub-catagories dependent. This is mainly usefull for creating mods on-top of mods. For example say bryants mod is under a sub-catagory called bryants mod and depented is turned on/set-up. If you were to have YES and this mod was placed in the bryants mod sub-catagorey then it will activate bryants mod before activating it's self. This can be probmatic if this is stated to yes and moved to another mod subcatagory with a dependent this mod was not designed for, hopefully in future versions this will be refined/better done. For now place a NO or YES if you want the mod to make use of any sub-catagories dependents it's place under.



0 = Default

1 = Tech 5 (Test)



The above code line is optional and does not have to be included in your .mod file. However what this allows is advanced options for a mod. For example bryants mod would be a perfect .mod file that would use the options code line. Each option is designated by a number then and equals and then the name of the option. Make sure you do it exactly like the example is shown or your options may be ignored by the mod manager! Try to be descriptive but to the point of what the option does. The charachter limt on the name is 150. After that is the folder or path name. This is simlar to the path name before the only diffrence is this is pointing to another folder in this .mods path folder. In the example above the folder would be test\tech_5\ where test\ was the orignal path name and then tech_5\ would be the folder contained in it. The file structures are exactly the same in fact like with brayants mod it would perfect for various options in a mod that would have to overwrite another file. How this works in the mod manager is the user selects to activate the mod and is presented with an options dialog. IN this example if they click on Default the mod would run normaly as the N/A tells the program there is no folder to use. If the user clocked on the Tech 5 (Test) then it would use the files in the tech_5\ folder specified. It's important to note unlike the path code line you only need to place one backslash at the end of the folder name. You can have upto 10 options (0-9) if there is a need for more then I may add more but as of this writing 10 is your option limit anything over that will be ignored in the mod manager.

This is how you create a .mod file, to create your mod folder make sure its the same name as your path code line you indicated above, then use the same file structrue as empire at war
 Quickshot14
02-28-2006, 3:35 PM
#8
1.5B



Thats the reason why, it should be 1.0B instead of 1.5B change that and it should work/show up just fine. (1.0B as in BETA 1.0 ;)
 Tokakeke
02-28-2006, 3:49 PM
#9
Oops, I thought you meant version of the mod.

Thanks.
 Dirk Pitt
03-02-2006, 6:37 PM
#10
will this work the release of the new EAW(as in the one that came out on the 16th?
 DonBilbo
03-04-2006, 10:05 AM
#11
finally ... did the download now ... Mod Manager Beta 1.0 (http://www.eawhq.de/index.php?go=downloads&dl_id=40) .. please add this link to the top ... the old one now is broken
 Quickshot14
03-05-2006, 7:25 AM
#12
Done and done, thanks as always for the support don :)
 wswordsmen
03-13-2006, 8:39 PM
#13
This thing is way too useful to have this low.
 Sithman1138
03-13-2006, 9:33 PM
#14
True. Hey dude. Go to eaw.heavengames.com and tell 'em to post it in the downlaod sectiobn. Also post a thread and send it to lucasfiles...this will help the opularity. Also, any new versions? I don't like having to make that funky file. The program should let you make one in the interface. Thanks for the program.
 Quickshot14
03-14-2006, 10:52 PM
#15
sithman:
eaw.heavengames.com has it in there downloads utillity section i uploaded it there a while back so i'm not worried about it. I was going to do that *submit to lucasfiles* and i just got distracted by another mod/program i'm working on. So if anyone would like to submit/post about it on lucasfiles by all means go ahead. No new version yet, your not the only one with that problem/idea a reviewer posted in eaw.heavengames that suggestion i will defintly look into it and more then likely add it in a new version.

When that will be i'm not sure i'm in the middle of programing a wallpaper manager/changer so i want to get that done first. When i do start work on it/release it with it i'll let you all know of course.

Thanks for the encourgment and feedback/support. Always appricated rember to post feedback/suggestions/bugs here i check it reguarly :) May the force be with you!
 Three60
03-21-2006, 8:27 PM
#16
I'm adding it to my EaW site.
 Quickshot14
03-29-2006, 10:52 AM
#17
Hey All,

Teaser Shot (http://qwc.web1000.com/eawmmdl.htm)

I have an update for you all, above on the mod manager download page i have added a teaser shot of what will be added in the next verson of the mod manager. Since a lot of you have been asking for something like this i'm adding it :) A .MOD File Editor, as you can see in the teaser shot, its a notepad-like editor intergrated into the mod manager. There will also be a step-by-step wizard that will allow you to easly edit or create .MOD files or of course you can edit them directly via the notepad-like editor show in the teaser shot.

In short, basicly everything you had to orignaly do outside the mod manager or manuely you will now be able to do in the mod manager using the .MOD Editor. I am hoping in a future version update to also add a check/correct method for .MOD files to find errors/problems in them and fix/notify the user about them. That feature of the .MOD Editor will not be in the next version but hopefully a future one.

Hopefully this new .MOD Editor should make adding new mods easier and much more simpler for the modders out there as with the wizard there should be less room for error. So what do you all think? I'd really like to hear anything else you might like to see/included in the .MOD Editor as i'm doing this for you all :) So please post lets hear what you have to say about this.

Also one last addition to the next version will be an autoupdater, i know i know finnaly right ;P *heh* I'm not sure when i'll have this next version ready for you all but of course when I do i will update this post. Thanks and may the force be with you!
 jf3000
03-31-2006, 3:20 AM
#18
Is this programmed in c++ or vb, vb.net, or what?
 Quickshot14
03-31-2006, 9:08 PM
#19
it's in vb.net
 Jmaster3265
03-31-2006, 10:02 PM
#20
Quickshot just a reminder from what i have been told you can not bump your topics especially the very next day you made it....Anyways this sounds interesting. Cool.
 Quickshot14
05-12-2006, 10:30 AM
#21
Heya jmaster, yes i know you can no bump topics on these forums thats why all my quote un-quote bumps ussaly have a vaild post also behind it i do my best never to make just shameless BUMP only posts but still thanks for the heads up.

Update to the first post a new mirror has been added that I found from filefront! So you can download there also important to note EAWMM finnaly has a real home at http://lsinc.cabspace.com) the orignal download has been moved there as well, and there is also FORUMS for the mod manager there so check it out.

I'm still working on the next update for the mod manager you can find out more on the fore-mentioned forums for the mod manager. When the update is ready and out I will of course update this post and let you all know. Thanks! :)
 IonFizzle07
05-12-2006, 7:59 PM
#22
I remember downloading this utility a little while back and finding that it had a lot of potential. Indeed, I have used mod-manager utilities for a number of other games, and they are extremely handy tools to have. I do, however, have one suggestion.

When it comes to programs that a person is going to download and use on a regular basis, a big issue is professionalism. Therefore, typos and misspellings should be kept to a minimum to give the program a sleek, professional, reliable feel. I recall that this utility had a very high amount of typographical, spelling, and grammatical errors. One thing you might do is double-check all of the writing in the program for correctness. It's a small touch, and basically irrelevant to the program's actual function, but it will increase the feeling of professionalism in the release.

Good luck on your continuing work on the Mod Manager.

-Cam
 Quickshot14
05-16-2006, 12:20 AM
#23
Greets all,

With the new release of the patch/map editor and the new option for running mods via command line I wanted to let you all know how this will effect the mod manager. First i'm not stoping the mod manager, I figured if petro did any mod support it would be minmal a command line option is acutally a suprise but really dosn't hurt the mod manager.

If anything it can help it and users, I will be adding an option in the mod manager to run the game using mods in the new mods folder added for this command line option. What this basicly means is the mod manager will have two ways of running mods, the orignal using my .MOD file format and petro's new way. This should make the mod manager much more vierstile. Now for thoese wondering why don't I do away with the .MOD file format and the way the mod manager does things?

Simple the .MOD file format thou can be more complicated gives more feedback and options to the users and modders then the simple command line option that we now have, I feel by having both options in place should make the mod manager much more useable to thoese who do not or will not make there mods compatible with the mod manager and also more towards the possiblity of this becoming the standard for mods. That as I have said before will still be upto the community.

Regardless i'm very pleased by what petro has done here so far and very very encourged, i'm also quite happy that not all my codding has been in vain and will still be usefull. I'm of course still implmenting the things i disscussed before, this will just be a new addition to the next version. I'd of course would love to here your feedback on this issue or any other suggestions/comments on the mod manager you'd feel is relvent. I always read the feedback/comments even if i don't reply so please feel free.

Thanks and may the force be with you! :)
 Quickshot14
08-03-2006, 3:59 PM
#24
*BUMP*
Bumping this because BETA 2.0 is finnaly out!! WOOTT My applogies for it takeing so long all as you may have seen sl and rl and have been eating my life away lol, regardless here it is please download it and mirrors update your links! Thank you and may the force be with you! :)
 Sithman1138
08-03-2006, 7:51 PM
#25
YAY!!!!! Thanks alot!!! This will help out imensleyt!! I was beginign to think you weren't coming.
 Thraka
08-28-2006, 10:12 PM
#26
Is the source included in the zip?
Page: 1 of 1