Author Topic: [PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.54)  (Read 487163 times)

Iros

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #525 on: 2014-08-16 18:23:10 »
Extra Folders is listed as:
Code: [Select]
music direct

Are they actually on the same line? They should be on separate lines really.

Luigi Brosse

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #526 on: 2014-08-16 20:14:35 »
I am just testing the catalogue of EQ2Alyza and it is impressive so far.

However, I would like to suggest something when downloading from the catalogue. Could it be possible to precise the size of the .iro to download (in GB)? That would avoid some nasty surprises to some people. Also, it would be nice to be able to pause / cancel an on-going download.

Iros

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #527 on: 2014-08-16 21:08:35 »
Showing size of download (in the Catalog tab) would mean a change to the catalog file format, but it would be quite easy to do. It would mean catalog authors had to specify the download size, but I suppose that is not too bad.

(I don't want 7H to go and work out the download size by actually starting the download and seeing how big it is - imagine if you had a catalog with 100 mods in it, does it go and try and start downloading 100 files at once just to give size estimates?!).

Cancel download should be easy too. Pause/resume will not be so easy, as it will mean writing a bit more code ... so probably not in the next version.

Although I am a bit surprised that 6GB+ downloads are working fine without resume! That seems very, very big to me - I am surprised that a mod needs to be that large.

EQ2Alyza

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #528 on: 2014-08-17 00:03:01 »
There isn't any single mod that's 6+GB. We have 2 field texture mods now, each over 3GB in size. Next in line are movie mods, where some can top just a little over 1GB. The reason the catalog has some 6+GB downloads is because I created categories and combined mods that fit that category. So the Field Textures category is downloading both of them for over 6GB combined, and the Media - Movies, Music, and Sound likewise is just as large. This doesn't even cover all mods that are at Qhimm or any future mods.

I don't have internet issues, so downloading takes me about 15mins from start to finish, and the bulk of that is with the two categories mentioned above. I haven't considered the fact that people around the world have different limits to their internet, so I may need to create a 2nd catalog to compensate for that. The 2nd will have to be each mod individually packed and put into the catalog, giving the benefit to having smaller downloads for those with limited internet. The big problem I see with that is organization and documentation. That catalog will be The Big List of Mods type huge, and perhaps confusing to navigate for first time users. And of course, if some people can't pick it up and play it in 5mins, then we create a flood of posts on the forums asking for silly help like "what's the best mods?" and...ugh, Bootleg Q&A all over lol.

My idea behind creating the categories was so that I could lump all the mods into a single download, thus creating a smaller and more organized catalog list, and providing less Readmes to explain the mod details. And even though the mod categories are larger in size to download, they only need to open the Configure and select a different option to test what they like. With the 2nd catalog, if you don't like the mod, you're back to having to download another one anyways because you can't access Readme files to describe the mod until AFTER its downloaded. Like I said above, if they're not aware of what it does, they come here and ask. Even creating a mod details thread like Tifa's Package has proven overall ineffective in answering questions because...it's still an overwhelming wall of text that's difficult for first time users to navigate, so they skipped the reading and went straight to asking on the forums. I love helping people, but not by myself or alongside others who all have conflicting information. I've grown tired of Bootleg like Q&A.

Anyways, long post. Sorry! It'll be more work on my end and will delay the release of the official catalog, but if it's a good idea to make a 2nd catalog for those with internet restrictions, I'll get working on it now.

Kaldarasha

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #529 on: 2014-08-17 00:55:43 »
Do you see now how good it would be to abuse Bootleg as a mod manager for 7th Heaven?
If the user set the mods for the game up without to download anything and after she/he hit's the download button the mods will be downloaded.
This looks for me like the best way. The Bootleg team has to deal with mod compatibility anyway.

Maybe it would be good to create a mod familiar list, from which 7th Heaven can read the correct load order.

EQ2Alyza

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #530 on: 2014-08-17 01:17:52 »
Yes, I understand completely. You want Bootleg to be a mod organizer that creates a single IRO from a selection of chosen mods. It's an identical concept to Skyrim Mod Combiner. That's a lot of work initially, and something that will have to continually be updated whenever new mods are released. I will talk to Vgr and Insight to see if our time is better spent on something like that.

Kaldarasha

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #531 on: 2014-08-17 01:32:50 »
Yes, I understand completely. You want Bootleg to be a mod organizer that creates a single IRO from a selection of chosen mods. It's an identical concept to Skyrim Mod Combiner. That's a lot of work initially, and something that will have to continually be updated whenever new mods are released. I will talk to Vgr and Insight to see if our time is better spent on something like that.

It don't need to create one iro. This would only create complications when changing settings in Bootleg. Only sorting them and maybe creating compatibility patches (but these can be also made as small iro's to download).

mystery_editor

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #532 on: 2014-08-17 01:39:12 »
Are they actually on the same line? They should be on separate lines really.

Yep, that was the issue all along >_>
Thanks all, figured it was just me. Sorry for bugging you EQ2Alyza so much with this one issue D:

Kaldarasha

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #533 on: 2014-08-17 02:21:10 »
Yep, that was the issue all along >_>
Thanks all, figured it was just me. Sorry for bugging you EQ2Alyza so much with this one issue D:

If not you another would has come up with this.

EQ2Alyza

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #534 on: 2014-08-17 02:35:13 »
Nah, I asked for volunteers to help test. No bugging involved in that :P

cmh175

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #535 on: 2014-08-17 03:12:55 »
I'm definitely falling behind in 7H advancement. I notice a new settings option that check for 7H updates. Does this mean 7H can update itself when a new version is released? If so that's pretty awesome. Just swapping out the folders and stuff isn't much trouble, but in some cases I have to delete the temp files so it can take more time. If that's what this does though it doesn't seem to be working, mine still says v1.32.

EQ2Alyza

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #536 on: 2014-08-17 03:28:48 »
After you check the box to enable updates automatically, hit OK and close 7H. Next time you open it, there will be a message about updating.

Luigi Brosse

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #537 on: 2014-08-17 08:49:39 »
OK, finally downloaded everything. My ff7 folder is now over 16 GB. It took roughly 3.5 h to download it on a good ADSL line (1.5 MB/s). So beware :)
Some warnings before would actually be good. If I remember correctly, there was some thoughts about being able to only re-download the updated part (like a patch) of an iro in the future. Maybe this can be used to track the size to download (I don't know, maybe my suggestion is stupid).

A suggestion (maybe not realistic), would be to download only the description and config tab for each mod and only when validated to really download it. For example, this would allow cutting in half the size to download for field texture.

And being a noob, I try to activate all mods from the catalogue. This crash ff7.exe. I will try to debug what is wrong. Any log file or thing that I can check rather than activating / deactivating every single mod?

EDIT: Just noticed that if you don't have any mod activated, you cannot start the game. Why not?

EDIT2: The mouse wheel is also not working on the various tabs when you have to look through all the list of mods. I have to use the lift on the side.
« Last Edit: 2014-08-17 09:05:51 by Luigi Brosse »

Luigi Brosse

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #538 on: 2014-08-17 13:48:26 »
Also, it seems that the OpenGL configurator is not saving properly. I tried to set the audio on VGMstream as requested by EQ2Alyza, but this option is not saved when I close the window.

EQ2Alyza

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #539 on: 2014-08-17 14:33:32 »
OK, finally downloaded everything. My ff7 folder is now over 16 GB. It took roughly 3.5 h to download it on a good ADSL line (1.5 MB/s). So beware :)
Some warnings before would actually be good. If I remember correctly, there was some thoughts about being able to only re-download the updated part (like a patch) of an iro in the future. Maybe this can be used to track the size to download (I don't know, maybe my suggestion is stupid).

A suggestion (maybe not realistic), would be to download only the description and config tab for each mod and only when validated to really download it. For example, this would allow cutting in half the size to download for field texture.

And being a noob, I try to activate all mods from the catalogue. This crash ff7.exe. I will try to debug what is wrong. Any log file or thing that I can check rather than activating / deactivating every single mod?

EDIT: Just noticed that if you don't have any mod activated, you cannot start the game. Why not?

EDIT2: The mouse wheel is also not working on the various tabs when you have to look through all the list of mods. I have to use the lift on the side.

The patch feature is already implemented, so if any updates are added to the categories, it will come in a patch form and you will only be downloading what is being added instead of the entire category.

Downloading the Readme and Configure to choose individual options to then download wouldn't work in the catalog you're using. The mods are already packed into a single IRO and can't be pulled out during a download. It would work for a 2nd catalog that has every mod as an individual download, but it's up to Iros what he wants to do with that idea.

All mods have either a No Change option in the drop-down menus or a check box to turn on/off. Choose those options instead of deactivating.

Also, it seems that the OpenGL configurator is not saving properly. I tried to set the audio on VGMstream as requested by EQ2Alyza, but this option is not saved when I close the window.

I assume you clicked the X to close the window. Click the OK button and it will save the settings.

Luigi Brosse

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #540 on: 2014-08-17 16:52:42 »
I assume you clicked the X to close the window. Click the OK button and it will save the settings.

Just tried it out. No, I am dutifully using the OK and nothing happen.

And it seems to be the menu overhaul that is breaking it for me. I will have a look at it more in detail.

Iros

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.33)
« Reply #541 on: 2014-08-22 19:56:02 »
v1.34: https://mega.co.nz/#!7RUSzSoY!MD3SkysyHVOmpBl_ru5pHrz2vE0a_imClkV9L547n0s

...or auto update should work, I hope.

Changes:

-Cancel option on downloads
-Fix/improve subscription link registration failing if not running as admin
-Show size of downloads - if catalog lists them

To specify the size of a download in a catalog add a <DownloadSize> entry to the mod version (latest version) entry listing the size of the download in KB.

e.g.

Code: [Select]
      <LatestVersion>
        <Link>iros://Mega/!PMtjVbCZ!e_qbdzRzAc_01Rd28u1E_z,#!jVEF3YqQ,Testing.rar</Link>
        <ExtractSubFolder></ExtractSubFolder>
        <ExtractInto></ExtractInto>
        <Version>1.1</Version>
        <ReleaseDate>2014-05-31T00:00:00</ReleaseDate>
        <CompatibleGameVersions>All</CompatibleGameVersions>
        <ReleaseNotes />
        <DownloadSize>5000</DownloadSize>
      </LatestVersion>

That mod will show in the catalog list with an estimated download size of 5000KB (will display as 4.9MB).

mystery_editor

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.34)
« Reply #542 on: 2014-08-23 05:38:19 »
Autoupdate isn't triggering for me, FYI. Running v1.32.

(As a side note, the Mega link isn't currently working, but this will fix itself I suspect) <-- EDIT: Yep, as I hoped, fixed itself :P
« Last Edit: 2014-08-23 11:27:25 by mystery_editor »

EQ2Alyza

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.34)
« Reply #543 on: 2014-08-25 02:54:38 »
Autoupdate isn't triggering for me, FYI. Running v1.32.

- I get the message to update to 1.34, but it doesn't update after I click YES. First time this has happened for me with the auto update feature.

- Possibly a small bug I found is that I cannot pack and overwrite/replace an IRO anymore. Clicking the Go button doesn't start the process. I just created a new IRO and renamed it afterwards for now. This isn't the case everytime though. I created a brand new mod today, but wasn't able to overwrite/replace it, however older mods I did awhile back were fine. It's odd and I'm not sure if it's a problem with the tool or my end.

- Strange bug with the download size. Two of the mods in the catalog are displaying odd values for the size. They are close, but giving obscure decimal amounts.

Catalog: iros://Url/http$pastebin.com/raw.php?i=yhR721Kh

Gameplay - Difficulty and Story = 115008
World Textures = 106789

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I have some questions about patches. The catalog will have everything released as version 1.0. Whenever I want to update a mod, do I have to upload the new latestversion and update the download link + version # to it, along with updating the patchversion each time I want to release an update?

I'm trying to think of scenarios where someone might get stuck patching. For example, someone starts with the initial release of the catalog at version 1.0, but then they disappear for a long time. When they come back, one of the mods (or multiple even) have gone through several patchversions and it now sits at version 4.0. If my catalog is updated how I described above, then the catalog xml will have a download link for latestversion 4.0 and a download link for patchversion 3.0_to_4.0. How would the returning user bridge the gap between their 1.0 to 4.0?
« Last Edit: 2014-08-25 08:01:46 by EQ2Alyza »

Iros

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.34)
« Reply #544 on: 2014-08-25 10:50:05 »
- I get the message to update to 1.34, but it doesn't update after I click YES. First time this has happened for me with the auto update feature.

Hm, it works for me today. Perhaps the Mega download server was busy...? See if it works today :)


- Possibly a small bug I found is that I cannot pack and overwrite/replace an IRO anymore. Clicking the Go button doesn't start the process. I just created a new IRO and renamed it afterwards for now. This isn't the case everytime though. I created a brand new mod today, but wasn't able to overwrite/replace it, however older mods I did awhile back were fine. It's odd and I'm not sure if it's a problem with the tool or my end.

Well, sort of a bug here. Nothing has changed in the recent version, you should be able to overwrite a IRO fine. What MIGHT be the problem is that you can't overwrite a file that is open. And if the IRO is a mod you have installed, and you have opened the configuration window in the past few minutes, 7H still has the file open to read the mod.xml and config images from it.

Next version will improve this - it will close the file as soon as you close the config window in case you need to delete/overwrite it.

- Strange bug with the download size. Two of the mods in the catalog are displaying odd values for the size. They are close, but giving obscure decimal amounts.

Catalog: iros://Url/http$pastebin.com/raw.php?i=yhR721Kh

Gameplay - Difficulty and Story = 115008
World Textures = 106789

Well, not exactly a bug, a MB is 1024KB so the values displayed are correct :) But, there is no need to display them to such precision so I will change that in the next version.


I have some questions about patches. The catalog will have everything released as version 1.0. Whenever I want to update a mod, do I have to upload the new latestversion and update the download link + version # to it, along with updating the patchversion each time I want to release an update?

I'm trying to think of scenarios where someone might get stuck patching. For example, someone starts with the initial release of the catalog at version 1.0, but then they disappear for a long time. When they come back, one of the mods (or multiple even) have gone through several patchversions and it now sits at version 4.0. If my catalog is updated how I described above, then the catalog xml will have a download link for latestversion 4.0 and a download link for patchversion 3.0_to_4.0. How would the returning user bridge the gap between their 1.0 to 4.0?

Well, this can be made to work if you set up the catalog correctly.

First of all: If there is no patch available for the version the user has installed, then 7H will download the full mod again. So if it is set up like you say above, then 7H will download the full v4.0 file and replace the v1.0 file with it, so this will work fine, they just have to do the full download.

Second: You can have multiple patches listed in the catalog. For example:

Code: [Select]
      <Patch VerFrom="1.0" VerTo="4.0">iros://Url/http$www.myserver.com/7H/Update_1_to_4.irop</Patch>
      <Patch VerFrom="3.0" VerTo="4.0">iros://Url/http$www.myserver.com/7H/Update_3_to_4.irop</Patch>

...and 7H will pick whichever patch works (if any of them do!). Of course this is a lot of work if there are a lot of different versions released...

Third: It is possible for a single patch to upgrade multiple versions to the latest. This depends a lot on what changes have been made so it cannot always work, but you may be able to make use of this.

For example. Version 1.0 of your mod contains the following files:

flevel.lgp\ancnt1
flevel.lgp\ancnt2
flevel.lgp\ancnt3
flevel.lgp\ancnt4

(so, it's a field mod that changes 4 locations).

You release a version 2 that fixes some spelling mistakes in one of the locations. The only file that has changed is ancnt1, so if you make a patch v1->v2 it will contain that one file.
Then you release a version 3 that fixes some mistake in ancnt2. Obviously you could make a v2->v3 patch and it will contain only the file ancnt2.

However you can instead make a v1->v3 patch. Of course it will contain ancnt1 and ancnt2 since those two files have changed between v1 and v3. But the important thing is that the exact same patch file would also be able to upgrade v2->v3! It contains ancnt1 (which people running v2 don't need, they already have that version, but it's OK to apply the change again) and ancnt2 (which people running v2 do need to upgrade to the latest version.

Now it does mean that the patch is a bit larger than necessary: if you already have v2 you are downloading a patch for two files but one of those files isn't needed. It makes the job of the mod/catalog author a lot easier though: instead of maintaining a lot of different patches you may be able to just have one patch file that can upgrade any mod version to the latest.

(The way to specify this in the catalog is:

Code: [Select]
      <Patch VerFrom="1.0,2.0" VerTo="3.0">iros://Url/http$www.myserver.com/7H/Update_Any_To_v3.irop</Patch>

Does that all make sense? :)

Kaldarasha

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.34)
« Reply #545 on: 2014-08-25 13:07:42 »
I think it would be a good idea to give the mods IDs (to torture Alyza a bit :evil:).
The concept I imagine gives 7H an idea about the nature of the mod, so it knews if it's a texture mod, a model mod, a gameplay mod, etc.
I think the ID should look like this: k.m.p
k = a value to define the kind of the mod (1 models, 2 textures, 3 menu, 4 gameplay, 5 translation, 6 miscellaneous)
m = the number of the mod itself
p = 0 is the original mod, everything above is a patch for it

As example Chaos would get this ID:
1.24.0
and a patch for it get this ID:
1.24.1

If you could make a new download window with separate tabs for these 6 mod categories, it would sort things out a bit better and gives a much nicer overview.
We also need a mod familiar list where we can predefine how the mods has to be sorted. New unfamiliar mods should be placed on the top but needed to be marked as unknown (with a yellow warning symbol?) and has to be sorted manually. However 7H shouldn't start the sorting by itself, the user has to click on a autosort tap (I guess you can use the custom GL button for this - I don't think we need this feature).

Edit:
One last thing: if we use the ID-system for the mods is it possible to check this ID by a mod to auto-activate a compatibly patch?
« Last Edit: 2014-08-25 13:31:48 by Kaldarasha »

cmh175

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.29)
« Reply #546 on: 2014-08-25 18:15:27 »
New version v1.30: https://mega.co.nz/#!SVlVWD4A!49almnriOetNxk0Y7vZXiMHGwLwUxH3jPgJPJg5BPaY

If you have v1.29 installed then it will hopefully offer to update automatically.

Fix: Catalog refresh didn't update UI straight away
New: Compression support for IRO archives
New: Patch support for IRO archives

Explanation:

1) Compression. When you create a IRO archive you can choose whether to compress the files in it. This makes the IRO smaller (faster download or install, smaller disk space) but COULD mean it slows things down when running the game - because it will have to wait for a file to be decompressed, when it tries to access the file...

The options when creating a IRO are:

Never: Do not compress files at all.
Always: Always compress files. Probably not a good idea.
By Extension: Do not compress PNG, JPG, MP3, OGG files. Compress all other files. Probably a good idea, there is no point trying to compress a file which is already quite well compressed.
By Content: TRY to compress every file, but if it saves < 10% size, then do not bother. Will take longer to create the archive but should only compress files, which will actually benefit.

I have tested this and it works for me, but, like always, perhaps there are bugs so please try it and tell me :)


2) Patch support.

Imagine you have a big IRO file - music, movies, lots of PNGs, could be anything - and it is 1GB to download. Well, OK, it has to be that big if the files are high quality/long. Then you find a bug and want to release a new version - maybe a few of the PNGs need to be updated with a transparent fix. It is not very good for everybody to download the new 1GB mod again, when you have only changed 5MB of PNG files...

So, what you can do now is:

-When you upload the first version of the mod, you upload the large 1GB IRO file
-Then you make a new version. You still probably upload a new 1GB IRO file with the latest version - for people who are downloading the mod for the first time - but 7H will also let you create a patch file. This is a smaller file that contains only the changes between the first IRO and the newer IRO, so if you have only updated 5MB of files, it will only be ~5MB in size.
-If you include a link to this patch file in your catalog, 7H will automatically work out if the user has a version which can be patched, and if yes, it will download and apply the patch instead of downloading the whole thing again.

To make a patch file, there is a new tab on the IRO screen in 7H. You tell it where the original IRO is, where the new version IRO is, and where to save the patch. You also choose whether to compress files, same as creating a new IRO.

The catalog should look like this:

Code: [Select]
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Catalog>
  <UpdatedOn>2013-08-08 13:34</UpdatedOn>
  <Mods>
    <Mod>
      <ID>BFAE987C-C1E6-C451-8139-FF039842D72E</ID>
      <Author>Iros</Author>
      <Link>http://forums.qhimm.com/</Link>
      <Name>Test music/patching</Name>
      <MetaVersion>1</MetaVersion>
      <Description>Testing music in a IRO archive</Description>
      <Tags>
        <string>Music</string>
      </Tags>
      <LatestVersion>
        <Link>iros://Url/http$www.myserver.com/7H/Music2.iro</Link>
        <Version>2.0</Version>
        <ReleaseDate>2014-08-08</ReleaseDate>
        <CompatibleGameVersions>Original</CompatibleGameVersions>
        <PreviewImage></PreviewImage>
        <ReleaseNotes></ReleaseNotes>
      </LatestVersion>
      <Patch VerFrom="1.0" VerTo="2.0">iros://Url/http$www.myserver.com/7H/Music_1_to_2.irop</Patch>
    </Mod>
  </Mods>
</Catalog>

The "Patch" line says which version(s) the patch can update and what version it updates you to, and has the link for downloading the patch file 7H has created.

Questions? :)

The Patch feature is confusing. Do I just put together a catalog with a small iro with just the new updated files necessary? That's what I thought, but the create patch tab doesn't make sense. Being able to upload patches so I don't have to update large mods right away would be helpful.

EQ2Alyza

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.34)
« Reply #547 on: 2014-08-26 00:10:21 »
Hm, it works for me today. Perhaps the Mega download server was busy...? See if it works today :)


Well, sort of a bug here. Nothing has changed in the recent version, you should be able to overwrite a IRO fine. What MIGHT be the problem is that you can't overwrite a file that is open. And if the IRO is a mod you have installed, and you have opened the configuration window in the past few minutes, 7H still has the file open to read the mod.xml and config images from it.

Next version will improve this - it will close the file as soon as you close the config window in case you need to delete/overwrite it.

Well, not exactly a bug, a MB is 1024KB so the values displayed are correct :) But, there is no need to display them to such precision so I will change that in the next version.

Well, this can be made to work if you set up the catalog correctly.

First of all: If there is no patch available for the version the user has installed, then 7H will download the full mod again. So if it is set up like you say above, then 7H will download the full v4.0 file and replace the v1.0 file with it, so this will work fine, they just have to do the full download.

Second: You can have multiple patches listed in the catalog. For example:

Code: [Select]
      <Patch VerFrom="1.0" VerTo="4.0">iros://Url/http$www.myserver.com/7H/Update_1_to_4.irop</Patch>
      <Patch VerFrom="3.0" VerTo="4.0">iros://Url/http$www.myserver.com/7H/Update_3_to_4.irop</Patch>

...and 7H will pick whichever patch works (if any of them do!). Of course this is a lot of work if there are a lot of different versions released...

Third: It is possible for a single patch to upgrade multiple versions to the latest. This depends a lot on what changes have been made so it cannot always work, but you may be able to make use of this.

For example. Version 1.0 of your mod contains the following files:

flevel.lgp\ancnt1
flevel.lgp\ancnt2
flevel.lgp\ancnt3
flevel.lgp\ancnt4

(so, it's a field mod that changes 4 locations).

You release a version 2 that fixes some spelling mistakes in one of the locations. The only file that has changed is ancnt1, so if you make a patch v1->v2 it will contain that one file.
Then you release a version 3 that fixes some mistake in ancnt2. Obviously you could make a v2->v3 patch and it will contain only the file ancnt2.

However you can instead make a v1->v3 patch. Of course it will contain ancnt1 and ancnt2 since those two files have changed between v1 and v3. But the important thing is that the exact same patch file would also be able to upgrade v2->v3! It contains ancnt1 (which people running v2 don't need, they already have that version, but it's OK to apply the change again) and ancnt2 (which people running v2 do need to upgrade to the latest version.

Now it does mean that the patch is a bit larger than necessary: if you already have v2 you are downloading a patch for two files but one of those files isn't needed. It makes the job of the mod/catalog author a lot easier though: instead of maintaining a lot of different patches you may be able to just have one patch file that can upgrade any mod version to the latest.

(The way to specify this in the catalog is:

Code: [Select]
      <Patch VerFrom="1.0,2.0" VerTo="3.0">iros://Url/http$www.myserver.com/7H/Update_Any_To_v3.irop</Patch>

Does that all make sense? :)

I already manually updated. I'll say it was the MEGA server and see what happens on the next update.

I did open Configure on mods, so perhaps it was still reading that. I was packing, installing, and opening Configure quickly to check out preview images I made.

It's not an even 1000 KB, eh? I'm learning new things here at Qhimm :) The numerous decimal places threw me for a loop and looked odd, so I was just assuming bug, Bug, BUG lol Sorry

The patch info makes sense. It's good to know about the multiple patches and the tags for it, otherwise I'd not have known from reading your initial notes. I should be fine updating the catalog now.

Kaldarasha

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.34)
« Reply #548 on: 2014-08-26 00:24:54 »
Well to be exactly 1000Kbit are still 1Mbit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibibit

However this a "new" (1998) compromise and only helps companies to sell their 1Tbit harddrives, while your computer will still read it with 2x bits and will show a much lesser storage for the datasets.

Iros

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Re: [FF7PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.34)
« Reply #549 on: 2014-08-26 08:48:15 »
I think it would be a good idea to give the mods IDs (to torture Alyza a bit :evil:).
.....
If you could make a new download window with separate tabs for these 6 mod categories, it would sort things out a bit better and gives a much nicer overview.
......

Hm. I'm not sure we need a ID system like that: some mods would be in more than one category anyway (it's not that unusual to have a mod that changes models AND textures, right?), so what first number would you use then? Also for the second number, how do you make sure other catalogs don't pick the same ID number as you?

All catalog entries DO have unique IDs for each mod currently, it is just a GUID (which is not very user friendly, but actually is possible to make effectively unique). And of course they can be tagged with whatever tags make sense for that mod.

I am sure the interface could be improved but I am not sure changing the ID numbers is the best way to do it ... if anybody has any suggestions for a better way to show the mods please show us.

Quote
Edit:
One last thing: if we use the ID-system for the mods is it possible to check this ID by a mod to auto-activate a compatibly patch?

Not sure I understand, what sort of compatible patch?

Quote
The Patch feature is confusing. Do I just put together a catalog with a small iro with just the new updated files necessary? That's what I thought, but the create patch tab doesn't make sense. Being able to upload patches so I don't have to update large mods right away would be helpful.

When you release a new version of a mod, you update your existing catalog with a new version number and new download link (a link to the full download for that version. After all there will be some people who didn't install the older version so you must upload a full download for the new version).

You can also optionally create a patch file which contains just the changes between the old version and new one, and add a <Patch> entry into the catalog. It will only work if the old (and new) downloads were IRO files. To make the patch you go into the create patch screen and select:

Original IRO: Tell 7H where the IRO file for the old version of your mod is
New IRO: Tell 7H where the IRO file for the new version of your mod is
Save patch: Where to save the patch file on your computer
Compress: Whether to compress the patch file

(Right now 7H does not really support a mod that only has a 'old' download and a patch link in the catalog, it expects the download link will always point to the 'full' download for the latest version in case it needs to download the mod completely, and you might also have one or more Patch links for people who have older versions installed.)