Grognak's Mod Manager v1.7 (Updated March 6, 2013!)

[Daichi]

No needless zip files just to make edits.

Well, for minor tweaks I simply use fldat itself :3 Bat-file FTW. > unpack data.dat, open Notepad++ (which already has tabs on all necessary files), alter entries, repack data.dat, start game.
I only use ModManager if I wrote a lot of new stuff and are too lazy to merge it into the corresponding files.

I guess this works if your editing the normal XML files, but not if your editing an append mod file.

[Alblaka]

I guess this works if your editing the normal XML files, but not if your editing an append mod file.

You create your append file. Then you use GMM to install your mod.
Then you can unpack the game data.dat to create an easyly accessible 'current' xml file you can edit and easyly repack to test different values without needing GMM to constantly merge around dat's.
Once you're fine with the values, you simply copy them into your append and have GMM 'install' your mod again.

Easy as that ^^

PS: Whilst we're at derailing the thread, here a sneakpeak of my upcoming mod's APC-10 cannon:

Feanturi love's FTL's style.

PSPS: Damnit... apparently writing posts past 1AM causes retardedness... the PS was meant to be edited into a post of mine IN AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT THREAD >.<

[Grognak]

Two other things that may be system-specific:

1) In Ubuntu with two screens, the mod window spans both windows but only appears on the right screen. Kinda weird, but I didn't see any code specifically setting that.

2) I also had an issue with the system trying to create a temp folder that already existed, which blew up the mod manager until after I added an existence check.

Both of these things probably belong in their respective projects (EasyGUI and Python)'s bug trackers.

Not all mods need to replace graphics. And the ones that don't would benefit a lot if such a method did exist. My method would allow you to just open notepad, make your changes, hit save, then load up the mod manager to apply it. You can keep your notepad window open, and keep making changes while your testing things. No needless zip files just to make edits. How about just using unzipped folders? I just want a way to rapidly make changes without having to worry about small unnecessary things.

You're right, it would have benefits, but I don't think they outweigh the time that it would take to add it/maintain it. It would also add a layer of inconsistency and would make more a prospective developer would need to learn about GMM in order to effectively make mods compatible with it. Sorry.

On the bright side, it should be easier to make quick edits with the developer .zip option coming up.

[Kieve]

PS: Whilst we're at derailing the thread, here a sneakpeak of my upcoming mod's APC-10 cannon:

Feanturi love's FTL's style.

That is sexy as hell. I am in love.

[Icehawk78]

Both of these things probably belong in their respective projects (EasyGUI and Python)'s bug trackers.

EasyGUI, probably.

The "folder already exists" I assume is working as intended - as mentioned, you likely should have an existence check on the folder prior to attempting to create it (and adding that on my system fixed it entirely).

Also, the second quote wasn't from me.

Do you plan on hosting this on github eventually?

[Grognak]

Both of these things probably belong in their respective projects (EasyGUI and Python)'s bug trackers.

The "folder already exists" I assume is working as intended - as mentioned, you likely should have an existence check on the folder prior to attempting to create it (and adding that on my system fixed it entirely).

Mkdtemp is a python function though, it's not mine. It is supposed to create a new temporary folder (with a new randomly generated name each time.) Unless I'm missing something, when it created a new directory with the same name that was a freak 1/10000000... chance that shouldn't happen again. But I probably am missing something, mind posting your edited code in that section? [/quote]

Also, the second quote wasn't from me.

Shh, that never happened!

Do you plan on hosting this on github eventually?

I might, I've never used a system like that though. Don't see too much of a need to?

[Grognak]

Scratch that, we're now on Github. This file is more up-to-date than the current versions but I'll add a couple of things and create Windows binaries for v1.3 tomorrow.

[Alblaka]

New issue: It appears GMM dislikes sub-folders in the root-folders.

I've considered moving all my sprites to img/AW for the sake of not cluttering up the root-img folder of ressources.dat...
But moving the sprites caused GMM to stop loading my mod at all. Putting the files back in place (and removing the AW/ from the animation's filepaths) resumed to normal loading behavior.

You should probably look into this, because it's sort of un-neat if people are forced to throw all their sprites into the ressource/img folder (in case somebody wants to look-up stuff with normal decompiling).

[SSk77]

Very nice thing you have here, a just made my mod compatible with it, it patches the data.dat and resource.dat but when I launch the game it says:

the program requested Visual C++ Runtime Library the end it!

But if I install it manually it works!!!
Please help me.

[Alblaka]

Very nice thing you have here, a just made my mod compatible with it, it patches the data.dat and resource.dat but when I launch the game it says:

the program requested Visual C++ Runtime Library the end it!

But if I install it manually it works!!!
Please help me.

Your files are using UTF-8? If true, then convert them to ANSI format.