Folders

[kevinkin]

What's the functional difference between:

user data/mods

and

data/z

Thanks

Kevin

[IanL]

Stuff in data/z would be loaded before stuff in data/mods.  The only difference is last in the alpha sort wins.

[kevinkin]

alpha = alphabetical Ian? And the mod tag text file(s) will direct the program to start in Z and then move to mods? 

Thanks.

 

[IanL]

Yes, sorry for the gratuitous short form.  I cannot even claim to have been on my phone.

Correct, I have a mods sub folder under data, under that I have folders like ui, u, v, etc. (ui for User interface, u for uniforms, v for vehicles) so I can keep things organized.  But I also have a sub folder z for just odds and ends and one zz for when I need to make sure a mod wins over anything else I might have.  My setup is probably way over kill and paranoid but there a go.

[PhilM]

Stuff in data/z would be loaded before stuff in data/mods.  The only difference is last in the alpha sort wins.

Picky, but just to clarify ... that should be (my bold bit of your post) "after", not "before" ... The point being, as you later clarify in your post, that "z" will be last loaded, and thus supersede, anything with the same name in"mods" ... ??

[IanL]

My guess is that only one file is actually loaded and it is last one found in alphabetical order so "before" is correct. Having said that my language was not very precise and I see how that could be interpreted back to front from my intention.  Here is a rewrite:

The mod that is loaded and used by the game is the one that is last in the alphabetical sort order.  So, for any file name that appeared in both data/mods and data/z directory the file that would be loaded and used by the game is the one from the data/z directory. 

[PhilM]

My guess is that only one file is actually loaded and it is last one found in alphabetical order so "before" is correct. Having said that my language was not very precise and I see how that could be interpreted back to front from my intention.  Here is a rewrite:

The mod that is loaded and used by the game is the one that is last in the alphabetical sort order.  So, for any file name that appeared in both data/mods and data/z directory the file that would be loaded and used by the game is the one from the data/z directory. 

Well, OK: but the only reason I commented was because kevinkin had already replied:

alpha = alphabetical Ian? And the mod tag text file(s) will direct the program to start in Z and then move to mods? 

Thanks.

 

My reading of that (may be just me!) is that he also "interpreted it back to front" (my bold bit in the quote), taking the before to mean "z" is looked at first?

But logic suggests to me that, as the programme is loading the files, it will not "know", at the time of reading "mods", that there is a "z" folder, nor what it might contain: so, it loads all in "mods" first, and then replaces any files so loaded with versions found later in the sequence. So in kevinkins words, it starts in mods and moves to z, ie the other way around from how he interpreted your response. It was just that I was trying to clarify for anyone reading the posts.

Apologies if it sounds like (or if I am!) "getting on your case": just the way my mind works.

[IanL]

No no worries.  We all create a mental model of how it works and then use that when we explain it.  Mine is that when the game needs to load a file the game searches the file system under data and finds the files with the required name and then picks the one that is last in the sort order and loads it.  I am pretty certain that the game does not load data files it does not actually need.  But what do I know? My way of thinking about it is why I wrote it that way .  You are picturing it done differently and therefore noticed a problem with my explanation.  Hopefully the longer version makes it clearer.  I sure hope I have not made things more confusing for anyone.

At any rate the main point is mod files in a "z" folder will be the ones used by the game over those in a "mod" folder or a "ui" folder etc.  As long as we get that in the end it is all good.

[kevinkin]

Thanks guys. I have it now. Separately, its nice the mod system is very forgiving and misplacements won't crash the exe leaving you with a trouble shooting headache.

Kevin

[sburke]

To clarify, I suspect it isn't that it chooses what to load, but rather it overwrites as it loads.  So in your BRZ you have a file for a camo outfit, and in your data directory you have a folder steve's mods and there is a file for that same camo outfit and finally you have a z folder with another file for that same camo outfit.

I assume it loads the brz then the steve's folder and then the z folder overwriting each time and leaving at the end the camo outfit as the one from the z folder.  I honestly don't know which it prefers data z over mod z, but if they were identically named I'd guess the mod z folder would load last.  It's be easy enough to test that.

Now why have two folders to load from?  Granted it was caused by Microsoft, but there is an upside.  This is one I really like about the new structure.  If you do multiple installs they will have separate data folders, but all use the same mod folder.  So if you always want a particular sound mod or always have tank's a lot buildings, you have one place where all the CMBN installs would grab it from.  At the same time in the data folder you could have unit specific stuff so your PBEMS for battle A where your guys are 1st Infantry Division has the unit markings appropriate and all your preferred sound and terrain mods while a pbem from another install would have 2nd ID and still have the same terrain and sound mods without having to use additional drive space.  Pretty cool actually.

Another aspect is despite it having a default documents folder I can still put all my mods in the Data folder if I want.  My games are installed in a separate SSD than my OS.  I can manage my drive space by moving my mods if I needed to.