New Mod Manager Appliction: alpha tester needed

GreenAsJade · September 16, 2003

I am in the process of writing a new Mod Manager application.

(McMMM: "Martin's Combat Mission Mod Manager").

An overview from the help file is appended below.

What I would really appreciate is someone who would be willing help alpha test.

Of course, anyone who's interested and understands that it's a work in progress is welcome to take a look - all feedback appreciated.

But most of all I need someone who's willing to spend a little time trying things out & swapping emails with me to figure out what (if anything) is going wrong.

The current state of McMMM is that it seems really stable when I run it. My kind brother has been alpha testing for some time, and was having no problems also till recently, when his machine started playing up... at the same time that I did some significant changes to McMMM. Something went wrong for him with McMMM at this time... so we don't know if the problems are McMMM or his machine.

Drop me an email if you're interested and/or willing to help.

Thanks,

Martin.

<h2><a name="Preamble"></a>Preamble</h2>

"Haven't you heard of CMMOS? Why do we

need McMMM, whatever that is?"

Actually, yes, I have heard of CMMOS, and it sets out

to achieve "Great Stuff" .

Unfortunately, it doesn't do what I would like it to

do.

I looked at "The CM Mod Manager", too. It

didn't do what I wanted either.

That's why I'm writing McMMM. It does what I want,

and maybe does do what lots of other people want too.

"Hah - fussy! Well, what is it that McMMM does

then?"

Glad you asked. This is what McMMM sets out to

let you do... quite simple really:

You download a Mod
from anywhere, with a couple of clicks McMMM installs it and backs up the
original BMPs.
McMMM keeps track of what Mods are installed at any given time.
If you don't like a Mod, at any time, McMMM can uninstall it
again (restoring the original BMPs in the process), with only a click or two.

That's it.

Oh, it also lets you look at the BMPs in the Mod, and

look at the instructions, and pretty JPEGs in the Mod, without messing around

with Zip programs, but that's just an added extra.

<h2>Overview</h2>

Well, the preamble pretty

much gave the Overview!

McMMM is a program that is intended to help you

install, keep track of, and un-install Combat Mission Mods.

It needs to know:

<ul>

[*]

where you will be putting the Mods after you

download them, and

[*]

where the Combat Mission game files are installed.

If both these are the "normal" place, then McMMM will

find them on its own. Otherwise, you need to tell it: a job that is

a couple of mouse clicks and you're done.

Then, you simply download Mods at your leisure, load

them into McMMM when you are ready, and play around with installing and

un-installing them as you like.

GJK · September 16, 2003

That sounds like what I want a mod manager to do! I'm game to alpha test.

<rant> Stoooopid Dallas Cowboys!!!! </rant>

Ok, sorry, interrupted.

Yes, please send my way, all my originals and modded bmp folder is already backed up.

Platform is Win2k server if that matters.

GreenAsJade · September 16, 2003

Thankyou thankyou thankyou!

Shadow 1st Hussars · September 16, 2003

But does it work on a mac? If not take it back. I should be a poet......

ColumbusOHGamer · September 16, 2003

What language is it written in? Have you tried converting it to a Java app using MS.Net???

.Net is *SUPPOSED* to allow you to write an app in C, VB, Java, whatever, and convert it to whatever type code you want.

Haven't seen it work myself, but if it does, then your app could be converted to a Java app and be available for both PC and Mac!

Just a thought....

Pzman · September 17, 2003

Originally posted by Shadow 1st Hussars:
But does it work on a mac? If not take it back.

Agreed.

WWB · September 17, 2003

Originally posted by ColumbusOHGamer:
What language is it written in? Have you tried converting it to a Java app using MS.Net???

.Net is *SUPPOSED* to allow you to write an app in C, VB, Java, whatever, and convert it to whatever type code you want.

Haven't seen it work myself, but if it does, then your app could be converted to a Java app and be available for both PC and Mac!

Just a thought....

Not quite. .NET lets you write .NET apps, using the .NET framework. These can be in a littany of languages (yes, you can do object-orientated COBOL.NET. Really you can). It has C#, which is kind of like Java on .NETroids. It also has J#, which is the MS take on Java.

Now, I dont know Java but as I understand things the basic syntax would work, but the underlying calls to the framework would not as you will be calling the .NET framework, not the java class library and there are probably some different terms.

On the other hand, one can wait a bit and Mono (.NET framework for *NIX) should be out, which could theoretically run on OSx. Then again, CM does not run on OSX . . .

WWB

GreenAsJade · September 17, 2003

Originally posted by Shadow 1st Hussars:
But does it work on a mac? If not take it back. I should be a poet......

OK.

Here is an Honest-to-God Fair-Dinkum I-am-not-

kidding-even-if-you-were cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die-if-I-ever-tell-a-lie offer:

Someone provides me with a Mac-based GUI development environment that includes a Zip component and I will make it work on a Mac.

Can't get fairer than that, can I?

GaJ.

The Graeme · September 17, 2003

Speaking as someone who has never been able to make head or tail of CMMOS or any other way of installing mods, and thus has ignored mods completely, what you are creating sounds like something I maybe, just maybe, might be able to figure out.

There's probably a horde of computer illiterates like myself out there who would benefit, who would be willing to enter the world of mods if only they knew how, or rather, if their computer program knew how.

So please persist in what you are doing. From the sound of it, you are not merely reinventing the wheel, but turning an oxcart into a dragster so to speak. Cheers!

Pzman · September 17, 2003

Originally posted by wwb_99:

On the other hand, one can wait a bit and Mono (.NET framework for *NIX) should be out, which could theoretically run on OSx. Then again, CM does not run on OSX . . .

WWB

That doesn't matter, you can still change the bmp.s in OSX.

WWB · September 17, 2003

Originally posted by Panzerman:
<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by wwb_99:

On the other hand, one can wait a bit and Mono (.NET framework for *NIX) should be out, which could theoretically run on OSx. Then again, CM does not run on OSX . . .

WWB

That doesn't matter, you can still change the bmp.s in OSX.

Pzman · September 17, 2003

True enough, but for those of us who run OSX most of the time its not much of an issue. Get your mods before you want to start playing and then switch over. Its better than having to hunt through the BMP files (which can cause problems with the system because there are so many BMPs; at least on my computer when I open the BMP folder it causes major slow downs)

[ September 17, 2003, 12:27 PM: Message edited by: Panzerman ]

Midnight Warrior · September 18, 2003

That sounds pretty cool!

I was thinking that when you have the Mod Manager up and running you might add a scenario manager function. It would allow you to sort through your CM scenarios based on chronology, nationalities, type of engagements, if you have played it or not, point size, etc. A selected scenario could then be dumped in the CM scenario folder by the scenario manger with a AAA prefix added to its file name so that it would be at the top of the scenario list when CM is run. It could also be removed and the original file name restored.

Midnight Warrior · September 18, 2003

Another thought.

The scenario manager could also have a list of mods that go with each scenario so with one mouse click you could select a scenario and load in mods that go with it.

GreenAsJade · September 18, 2003

Originally posted by Midnight Warrior:
Another thought.

The scenario manager could also have a list of mods that go with each scenario so with one mouse click you could select a scenario and load in mods that go with it.

This goes on the to-do list. Just have to get over the hurdle of getting the existing thing to work on everyone else's systems! (It works fine on mine

)

GJK · September 18, 2003

Hey GAJ, I think it's working fine on mine now with that last release, I plan on giving it a good run through this weekend and will keep you updated. I like what I see so far though!

Mies · September 18, 2003

Hi GAJ, could you also look into somesort of a uploading-all-mods-I-have-in-a-certain-directory feature. What bugs me with CMMOS is that I have to select each and every mod one at a time to get them "registered" in the mod list of the tool. This is OK if you do it once but I move around and re-install stuff a lot on my machine which makes me have to go over the whole upload thing again every 2 months.

Just a thought as hey say

Mies

Lou2000 · September 18, 2003

I've given McMMM a run through today and it seems to be working well on my PC

(XP home / P4 2.4Ghz / 256ram)

I like Mies idea, but it may be on GAJ's list of things to do under the 'immediate install option'. It would be nice if eventually it could scan the selected mod directory and import (preferable giving the user the choice) new mods into the 'uninstalled mods' area.

For me McMMM has already replaced CMMOS ...Why ?

Simple ...it works with all mods not just 'compliant' mods. That means all the mod on cmmods.com :cool:

Keep up the great work GAJ

Midnight Warrior · September 19, 2003

This goes on the to-do list. Just have to get over the hurdle of getting the existing thing to work on everyone else's systems! (It works fine on mine )

Cool!

Another neat feature might be to make it be able automatically create a list of any mods that it couldn't find for a given scenario. That way it could cue one what mods he needs to go find and download.

GreenAsJade · September 22, 2003

Originally posted by Midnight Warrior:
<blockquote>quote:<hr /> This goes on the to-do list. Just have to get over the hurdle of getting the existing thing to work on everyone else's systems! (It works fine on mine )

Cool!

Another neat feature might be to make it be able automatically create a list of any mods that it couldn't find for a given scenario. That way it could cue one what mods he needs to go find and download.

GreenAsJade · September 22, 2003

Originally posted by Mies:
Hi GAJ, could you also look into somesort of a uploading-all-mods-I-have-in-a-certain-directory feature. What bugs me with CMMOS is that I have to select each and every mod one at a time to get them "registered" in the mod list of the tool. This is OK if you do it once but I move around and re-install stuff a lot on my machine which makes me have to go over the whole upload thing again every 2 months.

Just a thought as hey say

Mies

This is on the "definitely must be done" list.

At the moment you do have to tell McMMM which Mods you want to consider. (McMMM calls this 'loading' the mod).

Then you get to choose to install the Mod(IE actually put the BMPs in place) and uninstall it (IE replace the Mod BMPs with the originals) whenever you want.

It is unanimous that McMMM should automatically know about ('load') all mods in the Mod directory that it is pointed at.

This is the kind of thing I will do once I'm confident the basic functionality is working.

Most people seem to be finding it OK, but oI have one tester who is trying it out is still having problems... I need to get to the bottom of that before declaring it "ready" and making improvements.

GaJ.

Mies · September 22, 2003

I for one am looking forward to v1.0 (or what the first release will be called).

It seems to be a good effort here!

Mies

New Mod Manager Appliction: alpha tester needed

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