A suggestion to improve the OOB Manager

[MarkSheppard]

There are several custom OOBs out there (e.g.) the Warhammer 40K mod I've seen floating around and have looked at, and a few others which have their own SHP files attached to the OOB, I was wondering if it was technically feasible to extend the (Backup+Copy) feature of OOB Manager to SHPs so that managing custom OOBs with custom graphics can become easier.

[DRG]

Maybe but I'm not in love with the idea.

To do it so that it would be totally idiot proof would be next to impossible as there would need to be a link between the custom OOB and it's own subfolder of SHP files so the ease of being able to load a custom OOB then restore the original set again quick and easy would be lost. There would also have to be a "restore" set of SHP files and if we included the entire SHP set it would add 60MB to the game size. A "restore" set of Icon SHP files would be less of course, around 3MB or so but what people would want is to be able to copy over the custom OOB's and the custom SHP's in one go and I cannot see that happening. It also creates extra work for us. Believe it or not keeping two sets of OOB's in sync during game development is a PITA. Keeping two sets of SHP files would be a bigger PITA. That's how the West German OOB got screwed up when ver2.5 of WinSPMBT was released. To ensure everything was copied would require installing the custom SHP files automatically with the custom OOB's and when the stock set of OOB's was restored the SHP files would need to be restored as well. ( and THAT will bite someone working on their own custom Icon sets you can bet the house on that when they restore the stock set of OOBs and overwrite all their SHP work )

All in all it really doesn't sound like a lot of fun for Andy and I just to save a very few people who would actually use the system the trouble of making their own Icon restore folder and copying the custom SHP's into the game by hand

Don

[MarkSheppard]

Many good points Don, I see that keeping things "idiot proof" is a key design parameter for you guys.

Anyway, I think I may have a solution that will satisfy everyone and make modders' lives easier.

There's a freeware program out there developed to manage Silent Hunter III mods which would work excellently for SPCAMO products; Jonesoft Generic Mod Enabler.

Link to a Download from a Rome Total War Fansite



You uninstall the file in your WW2 or MBT folder, creating JSGME.exe, JoneSoft.txt and the MODS folder.



Running JSGME.exe for the first time reveals a blank slate. We gotta make some mods.



We go into the MODS folder and create folders matching where the modded files would go.

E.G. SHP Files as part of the MOD would go into

MODS\ModName\Game Data\Graphics

LBM files would go into

MODS\ModName\Game Data\Pictures

OOB files would go into

MODS\ModName\Game Data\OOBs

And So on.



We now have a mod on the list. To install, you just select the Mod, then hit the ">" button. The program will then copy the appropriate files into the matching directories; if it encounters a file that's already there, it makes a backup of that file to the !BACKUP directory.

To uninstall the mod, you select the mod from the Activicated Mods side and hit "<". It restores the original game files that were overwritten from the !BACKUP directory and deletes any files that were added.

[Double_Deuce]

Thi looks a lot like the MODSwapper for SPWAW. I mean it does the same thing. It basically makes installing/unistalling Mods a 2 click deal (select --> swap). It could be useful BUT probably only by a small #, at least until/if it catches on.

[junk2drive]

I use Modswapper to try to make SPWAW look like SPWW2. Also to swap uniform colours depending on the terrain to make it easier to see the troops.

The graphics in SPWW2 might be good enough to negate the need.

Most mods, like the ID flag mod, are a love/hate thing. You install them or you don't.