18-07-2004 15:46									#1
	ModMan Bug Reporting Thread Tired of ads?

ModMan is an automated mod swapper for SMAC and SMAX. So no-one should be copying their SMAC dir 500 times just to play different mods!

http://apolyton.net/upload/view.php...ModMan-1.07.rar

code:

+-----------------------------+
|ModMan - The SMAC Mod Manager|
+-------------+---------------++
|Version: 1.07|Author: #endgame|
+-------------+----------------+

Last edited by #endgame on 06-09-2005 at 07:55

	18-07-2004 17:16									#2
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Run.bat can take one argument, the name of a mod to launch.

example:

code:

Run Aldeb205

code:

Run Aldeb205 -S

Will disable the splashscreen.

Just for making it compatible with shortcuts.

Also note the 8.3 limit on mod directory names and the 8 char limit on .SM file names.

As always, back up the smac dir before testing.

Okay, 3 major bugs with run.bat and the above feature :
These will only apply if running it in the method outlined in the previous post:

1. It will spam like crazy, since ModMan.bat turns echo off, and run.bat would be run independently from ModMan.bat.

2. I am 99.9% sure that it will run out of environment space in its current state on machines < WinNT.

3. ModMan.bat modifies the path environment variable and run.bat does not. This will cause major problems if run in the above method.

I therefore put forward that you DO NOT try the above method of using run.bat until ModMan 1.01 is released (a day or so). The ModMan.bat method should still work.

	19-07-2004 05:47									#3
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

ModMan 1.01 is fixed and will be uploaded along with changelog in about 8-10 hours from now.

	19-07-2004 12:29									#4
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Edit: No, I was wrong in my complaint below. It works perfectly. I just didn't get the checkbox system correctly in my first attempt to get it going. Brilliant.

It worked perfectly. But it ran Smac, not Smax Good thing the mod works with both. I couldn't find the .exe variable to change it to terranx.exe. Maybe I'll go find that now. Very impressive stuff. I found a whole load of DOS commands I didn't even know about from my cursury study to get Fileswatter working. Too big a list to publish.

Now to try just running it without modman, and after setting it to Smax instead of Smac. Great stuff #endgame

Last edited by smacksim on 19-07-2004 at 12:39

	19-07-2004 12:31									#5
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

yeah, like you suspected, just running it produced a dead end. It looks like it finished clearing the environment variables and then just sat there. Looking forward to 1.01 and the chance to idiot proof mods for all time.

-S

One thing I did notice was that it swapped 500+ files. I suppose this is taking into account the possibility for project movies, voices, etc. being in the mod? Can I get that behaviour to shut off? It wasn't obvious how to say yes/no in the ModMan main menu. I'll give another try.

Further clarification: It swapped initially 84 files, then launched. On close it claimed to move around (copy) 500+ files. What's the deal? It's hell-a fast though.

Last edited by smacksim on 19-07-2004 at 12:41

	19-07-2004 12:55									#6
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

To get it to run SMAX, use the Expansion mod variable (it's about halfway down the add/edit screen).

The enormous amout of copying is due to me having to use xcopy *.*, since standard copy will clobber long filenames under command.com, as will using a for construct. So xcopy *.* it is.

Movies, voices etc aren't swapped unless swapping them is enabled in the .SM file.

ModMan 1.01 is attached.

Attachment: modman-1.01.zip
This has been downloaded 7 time(s).

	19-07-2004 15:22									#7
	Suffering from ads?

Getting what appears to be 5 'out of environment space' errors when I try to run 'run.bat aldeb206' from a shortcut, even after properly creating the .sm file with Modman. Any ideas? I'm running ME, as you remember.

Yes, I've got the shortcut in the ModMan directory....hm. What could it be?

a Dos-graphics box pops up as the errors come tumbling down. It says Aldebaran and has a little [x] demarking it as a Smax mod (I guess that's what it's for). Clicking the box produces the 5th and final out of environement space error. No other keys produce any effects.

Bedtime for bonzo. I hope my feedback helps. Let me know if I should try something else. All I need is one running shortcut and I'm gold, provided it works on all Winblows versions. Oh crusty DOS, why are you so strange?

Last edited by smacksim on 19-07-2004 at 15:29

	19-07-2004 15:59									#8
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

That's actually a list box, with Aldebaran being the only mod that you have a .SM file for. It shouldn't be bringing it up if you provide an argument. hm. will look into it.

	20-07-2004 00:15									#9
	Increase the size of your Attachments

keep in mind that the box comes up after 4 'out of environment space' errors.

	20-07-2004 10:17									#10
	Suffering from ads?

Run.bat is being completely rewritten to be abolutely minimal on the environment space usage. Your problem sounds like it is failing to call itself correctly, since if it found the mod you specified, it shouldn't build the list, but I'm fixing it all up now anyway.

Expect ModMan 1.02 sometime late this evening if I get a chance.

	20-07-2004 12:37									#11
	Support Apolyton

No matter what happens, you are imparting knowledge on a Dos newbie. I'm forever grateful for the experience I just made a whole bunch of new graphics for the game. Maybe we can start a Smac revival!

	20-07-2004 16:46									#12
	Support Apolyton

Why not allowing multiple seafaction in the game?

	20-07-2004 17:14									#13
	Get a bigger avatar today!

?

	20-07-2004 17:55									#14
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

Well, simply put more then one seafaction in the alphax.txt #CUSTOMFACTIONS section...

Then the player can choose or has a random chance to have more then one seafaction in a given game.

	20-07-2004 18:29									#15
	Inflate your Upload Space

I just don't see where we were talking about sea factions This is the ModMan thread for the installer. What is going on? It's already possible to play with pirates and nauticon. Is this what you mean?

	20-07-2004 18:43									#16
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

Oops, forgot about the Pirates. I still got the idea about SMAC(X) having only 1 seafaction.

	21-07-2004 07:20									#17
	Got spare money?

ModMan 1.02 beta is here!



This is a debugging update that actually does nothing.

It's much lighter on the environment space and should fix the problem
regaring run.bat once and for all.

Instead of messing up your SMAC dir when trying to swap, it instead prints
debugging messages.

Add/Edit/Delete mod still works.

Run.bat was completely rewritten, but still takes arguments of the same form.

That is to say:
Run.bat [ModName] [-S]

[ModName] The filename of the mod's .SM file, with or without extension. If omitted, builds a list of mods and the user selects one. e.g. Aldeb205

[-S] If a ModName is specified, will disable the splashscreen.

Could anyone who tries this post/PM everything within the two -- Debugging Message -- labels on the command window, along with their OS.

Thanks,
-#

	21-07-2004 07:38									#18
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

quote: Originally posted by Smacksim No matter what happens, you are imparting knowledge on a Dos newbie.

I went a little overboard on comments for a reason . Good to see that it gets used.

Also, I might just explain this line, since it took a while to get working:

code:

find "%modtitle%" *.SM | find /V "%modtitle%" | ..\lmod [$!] >> MMTemp.bat

	21-07-2004 07:53									#19
	Tired of ads?

Obscure bugs in Dos? Naaaaaa

I was really rather shocked to learn how goofy the Dos development has been over the years. Commands not working between versions, broken commands, etc. And all this in one very powerful (in the sense of erasing your Hard Drive) scripting language with only 10 native commands (batch) and a handful of matching statements. Dos makes Perl look organized

I'll be studying up when I go on vacation in a few weeks. No sense working in the Winblows world without good solid Dos backing and hacking....

	21-07-2004 09:19									#20
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

I learned most of what I know from studying Bart Lagerweij's ModBoot Modular Bootdisk, of www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/modboot.

quote: Originally posted by Darsnan FYI.

	21-07-2004 10:53									#21
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

Want to attach the file endgame?

	21-07-2004 16:45									#22
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

You have got to be joking! That's the last time I try uploading from those complabs

After getting my own access to a WinME machine, I discovered that its version of DOS can't handle more than one pipe, so it would've wasted your time anyway.

Will test on Win98 and follow up with ModMan 1.02 final.

	21-07-2004 16:47									#23
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

So is that a rule of thumb would you say? 1 pipe per Dos Environment under ME? Gads dos is weird.

	21-07-2004 17:24									#24
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

I expect w9x as well.

	21-07-2004 17:31									#25
	Remove this text

ModMan 1.02 final with the file actually attached!



You know the drill. Go break it!

Attachment: modman-1.02 final.zip
This has been downloaded 9 time(s).

	22-07-2004 06:44									#26
	Inflate your Upload Space

It works with the shortcut method under ME, and of course works with the original menu-method. Great stuff.

Feedback: I still have to click on 'launch Aldebaran' once the shortcut fires up Run.bat . Could we bypass that step?

Secondly, I did see some error messages: didn't write them down, but something like 'Unable to create directory '.' ' Then it seemed to pause, then it moved a bunch of files. I thought it had crashed the first time, but after about 5 seconds it moved the files, and my hitting a key launched the game. This may not be a big deal. It ran fine.

Thirdly, I need to devise a way to preserve the AlphaCentauri.ini file so that Aldebaran, after closing doesn't cause the 'Hey that's funny, there's no faction to load' error when you try to run Smax Vanilla after just having played with Aldebaran factions. Likewise, it would be nice to preserve the Aldebaran version of the .ini after playing once, but that's not as big a deal.

Great work Endgame.

-Smack

Last edited by smacksim on 22-07-2004 at 06:49

	22-07-2004 08:15									#27
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Stick the -S switch after run.bat:

code:

run aldeb207 -s

code:

if not exist %1 mkdir %1

(or the code might be)

mkdir %1

	22-07-2004 09:22									#28
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

I'll be at a Win 98 machine in a few weeks to test it if you don't get to it.

So the -S switch is for your splashscreen, or the one from Smax? I think I get that you mean yours. I'll try it. If that works, well, I'm satisfied that we have an idiot-proof installer as well as a very handy mod-swapper.

	22-07-2004 09:27									#29
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

quote: Originally posted by #endgame Fix the Alpha Centauri.ini file you say? I'll work on making that swap tonight, but it's not as critical an update as the prior showstoppers, so it might not be for a couple of days. One temporary workaround would be to backup the current Alpha Centauri.ini to the mod directory during install, but that won't preserve changes.

No, not a big deal. It would be nice, though I don't know how to shelve the initial run of Aldebaran and then keep swapping it back in. A little too complicated methinks.

	26-07-2004 07:09									#30
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

Alpha Centauri.ini swapping is now in.

Free yourself from the traditional ways of swapping mods with...



Modman 1.03!

Changelog:ModMan ChangeLog
=--------------=

1.02 final->1.03
=--------------=
- Separate Alpha Centauri.ini files are now maintained for each mod
- Fixed an LFN compatability issue in SwapIn.bat and SwapOut.bat

1.02 beta->1.02 final
=-------------------=
- Debug messages replcaced by functional swapping
- Swap routine is much faster and more efficient
- Tested under WinME,Win2K

1.01->1.02 beta
=-------------=
- Run.bat is completely rewritten and much more efficient
on the environment space
- All environment-heavy batches now called from within their
own command.com instance
- Run.bat does nothing at the moment, except spit debug messages
so 1.02 final will work
- PM me all debug messages

1.00->1.01
=--------=

- ModMan.bat clears all environment variables on termination
- Run.bat disables local echo
- Run.bat now correctly handles arguments
- Remove.bat now correctly deletes the .SM file

Attachment: modman-1.03.zip
This has been downloaded 4 time(s).