DConda Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Just a quick question, I remember for CMx1 engine games that there was a fantastic software designed to organize and install/remove mods. I believe it was CMMOS. With all the fantastic mods being created for Shock Force, I think it would be great to have one to do the same thing! As I don't have a clue as to what I would be doing, could someone look into creating one for Shock Force? Have it show installed mods with previews and the ability to quickly preview and change mods prior to starting to play? I really am staying away from using the mods as after time there get to be so many and I find it hard to remember what all is what... Thanks for listening. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkEzra Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 There is a real need for this. Mods are just coming into their own with CM:SF. But there is little doubt it will be very active for years to come. The ability to switch out single or whole groups of Mods easily and safely will be greatly appreciated by the CM Community 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpl Steiner Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 This doesn't sound, on the face of it, like it would be too difficult to do. All you need is a program that can copy files from one place to another through some sort of UI that shows the Mod name and, optionally, some sort of preview window. I've been playing around with Visual C# 2008 Express Edition lately and it might do the trick. Any applications written using it can be freely distributed with no license involved but you have to have the .NET framework installed to run them. I'm not necessarily volunteering to have a go as I'm snowed under with other things at the moment but just thought I'd throw out the idea of using Ms Visual Studio 2008 Express for it. I might have a play around with it anyway as I'm trying to brush up on my C# skills. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DConda Posted February 19, 2008 Author Share Posted February 19, 2008 Let us hope that someone will create up a nice little gem of a software for us.... I know I'd use it all the time. Mods would be "cooler" just because I would be able to swap them in and out without too much trouble and play away. Organization is my main wish. I like the idea of playing scenarios that have certain geographical features unique to it, along with different looking forces. I just don't want to have lots of different folders and be trying to remember to swap in and out files to get different results. I was surprised to see all the mods and scenarios already and I'm sure we will have so many mods available soon that it will become quite hard to keep track of them all. Anyhow, I'm all for it and support it! someone else just needs to kindly create it for us... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnO Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Can you just use different z folders for different mods? For example I have the Balkans War Mod, I just name the z folder "z Balkans War Mod" and place it in the data folder when I want to have that mod and when I'm finished I just removed that z folder and place it outside the data folder? Would that work for now? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpl Steiner Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Here's how I'd spec a program to do this. 1. Create a directory in "My Documents" called "CMSF Mod Files"). 2. Create a "Z" folder inside the CMSF "Data" folder. 3. Have a windows form initially display a listing of the files with extension ".brz" in the "CMSF Mod Files" folder, with a checkbox next to each filename. 4. If the file exists in the "Z" folder, automatically set the checkbox to "checked" when the form loads. If the file does not exist in the "Z" folder, automatically set the checkbox to "unchecked" when the form loads. 5. Allow the user to check or uncheck the checkbox. 6. If the checkbox changes from checked to unchecked, delete the associated file in the "Z" folder. 7. If the checkbox changes from unchecked to checked, copy the associated file in the "CMSF Mod Files" folder to the "Z" folder. 8. Add a "Please Confirm" dialogue for the previous two steps. 9. Add a preview button that displays a popup image of the Mod in action for the currently highlighted Mod. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Rock of Easy Company Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 The game Mount and Blade has a mod selector mechanism that works quite well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vergeltungswaffe Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 All we need is for GAJ to update McMMM to include SF. Problem solved. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Those Z folders have turned out to be alot more handy than i expected. Especially when I found you can extend the folder name and they'll keep working. So I've got separate mod folders sitting to one side named Z_Africa, Z_Generic, etc. We may not need a mod manager utility when all we have to do now is simply drag-&-drop. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DConda Posted February 19, 2008 Author Share Posted February 19, 2008 drag and drop vs point and click? I would still prefer the second, though its good to know that some of you have come up with a workable method. I will give it a try tonight and see what its like as I can't really comment on how it works. What about previewing and write-ups on the mods? does this method give you any more info besides just named folders inside a "Z" folder? Again, I'm thinking somewhere down the lines when there are many more mods available than now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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