Allow mod authors and power users to set mods' initial "recommended" group: a new keyvalue in the ini metadata would write it's value to the Mods-Assignment file if the mod is not already present there, or is yet unassigned/default.
Add an option to disable the delta update warning checkboxes as they are just an annoyance (for now?). I'm not sure any mods I use or ever saw have only a directory at the root; they all have an unnecessary copy of weidu.exe, or a readme.md to supply git project page details. Have I misunderstood the cause of the update fault?
Allow mod authors and power users to set mods' initial "recommended" group: a new keyvalue in the ini metadata would write it's value to the Mods-Assignment file if the mod is not already present there, or is yet unassigned/default.
Agree on forcing default group. You can already move 'default' group into desired place and all new mods will be added there.
Ability to set mods' initial install order group will be available when the order of the groups will be taken from online source and contribution will be possible.
Add an option to disable the delta update warning checkboxes as they are just an annoyance (for now?). I'm not sure any mods I use or ever saw have only a directory at the root; they all have an unnecessary copy of weidu.exe, or a readme.md to supply git project page details. Have I misunderstood the cause of the update fault?
Every mod which display such warning has support for delta updates. But the way how it was stored locally prevents even checking for new updates(it's how git works, it needs extra dir). It's really hard to explain to non-experienced user that he should move main "cdtweaks" mod directory into extra top-level directory of any name, eg: cdtweaks-extra. A better solution would be to fix this via one click. Something like a popup with some explanation what's current mod dir structure is and how it will be after applying fix.
Ah, I see. Not for power users then. But yeah, a yes/no dialog "Enable delta updates for this mod?" with a sentence about the side-effect would be better than the current confusing message. Please also explain this prerequisite on the project wiki page about delta updates.
Will you please add an option to disable the delta update checks, or maybe a feature to.. switch to manual mod updating? If you can read the datetime of the latest commit (and/or pull request?), store it and a flag variable somewhere, you have the data needed to notify power users that there has been a update that they should consider applying.
Ah, I see. Not for power users then. But yeah, a yes/no dialog "Enable delta updates for this mod?" with a sentence about the side-effect would be better than the current confusing message. Please also explain this prerequisite on the project wiki page about delta updates.
Will you please add an option to disable the delta update checks, or maybe a feature to.. switch to manual mod updating? If you can read the datetime of the latest commit (and/or pull request?), store it and a flag variable somewhere, you have the data needed to notify power users that there has been a update that they should consider applying.
I'm not goona offer such option o disable the mod delta update checks because modders expect that the players update their mods, otherwise they might loose motivation to provide updates. But I will remove annoying and confusing message and I will try to make whole operation more streamlined.
The feature which you describable (force update to the latest commit) would only be used by power users - if they know what the 'commit' is, they can pull latest commit themselves via any 'git client'. They will probable clone mods (as I do) instead of downloading them. Giving normal user an ability to get latest commit for mods with releases would probably lead to lot of bug reports. Also notice that because mod versions are not changed after commits, modders would scratch their heads wondering what's wrong.
I'm new to Baldur's Gate modding outside of Big World Setup, but I followed your instructions and created the load order in CSV format. I thought I'd share them for others to use. Attached are text files that can & should be copied and pasted into an excel document or CSV file. I couldn't attach the actual CSV files. If anyone notices that I did anything wrong, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know.
Since, I'm kind of a noob with modding, I'm hoping I can post a few questions here. Back when Big World Setup was supported, every new mod had to install the BWS Fixpack, BWS Textpack, and these two Weidu mods (I think). For a moderately sized load of mods, could someone tell me if I need to install the previously listed mods, a substitute of some kind, or if I'm okay to ignore these mods for a Project Infinity load?
I'm also wondering Alien, is there a way to change the name of the mods when listed through Project Infinity? Like rename cdtweaks to Tweaks Anthology? Or will that mess up the installation order?
I ask because some mods have recognizable names but the folder names aren't. If it's possible to change the names that would be awesome.
I have one more question, or maybe it's more of a request. For a mod like CDTweaks or SCS that can be used on both BGEE & BG2EE, I noticed when I extracted it to my BGEE folder that I can see both BGEE mods and BG2EE mods. If I were to click a box relating to BG2EE while doing a BGEE load, will that cause any problems or will it just fail to load? In the future, is there anyway that maybe for mods like CDTweaks or SCS, that depending on the game folder it is extracted to hide certain options?
Anyways, thanks for your time and attention. I would appreciate any and all answers.
I think the program needs better handling of errors. I just started a new fresh installation, and I was growing nervous because the minutes were passing and the program hadn't still even asked for my language preference. After half an hour I finally decided to wade through the console output and was amused to find out I had made the silliest mistake: I forgot to update the path of my game.
I think the program would be much more user friendly if it managed this kind of very common errors directly, maybe giving you a pop up in red letters that says clearly "YOU HAVE MADE DUMB MISTAKE 43, DO A QUICK FIX AND COME BACK".
I think the program needs better handling of errors. I just started a new fresh installation, and I was growing nervous because the minutes were passing and the program hadn't still even asked for my language preference. After half an hour I finally decided to wade through the console output and was amused to find out I had made the silliest mistake: I forgot to update the path of my game.
I think the program would be much more user friendly if it managed this kind of very common errors directly, maybe giving you a pop up in red letters that says clearly "YOU HAVE MADE DUMB MISTAKE 43, DO A QUICK FIX AND COME BACK".
EDIT: Basically, you right. But such 'user mistake detection' was enormous part of BWS and it was really problematic. I don't know how much of this I want to replicate.
Question to metadata and mod structure for PI:
tp2 still on level with the setup.exe is ok? ini file with metadata into the mod folder would work even if mod-setup.exe and modfolder have different names? How would I call the ini file, then?
I'm referring to the Edwin Romance, I am doing an update but @Wisp suggested not to change the mod's structure, wich is setup-edwinromance.tp2 and setup-edwinromance.exe in the game folder and mod folder called "edwin".
What's the rule for Project Infinity picking up the 'Read Me' entry for a mod?
I checked the Wiki and there's no mention of the Readme there... trying to make custom metadata for a mod that doesn't have, and has a readme with the name 'Readme-<mod id>.txt' in the same directory as the tp2, but I don't know how to make PI pick it up?
There's no "Readme" entry in the Metadata.ini, is it? At least is not mentioned in the wiki and I haven't seen it used in any of the mods that come with metadata already
Also, I'll take the opportunity that I'm writing this post to also bother you with a few suggestions for the future
I really dislike the "mod bloat" of having all and every mod for every game in the same folder, so PI can pick them up, and no way to hide them in the UI, so, what I did in the end is having different installs of PI (three for now, one for each of BG1, BG2 and IWD) + a central repository of extracted mods (so I can easily updated them if I need to) and then, each PI installation has a local Mods folder where I make "links" (i.e. windows junctions) to the actual mods I want to have enabled in that particular installation.
So, I thought I'd ask for an enhancement, maybe? A way of having a single installation of PI and different mod repositories, i.e. by just switching the INI you use... I thought that you might add a way to have different 'profile' INIs and have a way to switch them, either while PI is running, or, if that's too bothersome, just having a command line option to specify which INI to load at launch is totally enough. That way you can launch any setup at will by using a shortcut and specifying the named INI there.
Unless there will be some other way planned to deal with the huge mod list bloat in the future! If that's the case, just ignore this request
EDIT: Why I always spot a typo immediately after I click Post Comment
I have a couple of questions.
1 - What, if anything, am i supposed to do when it warns about duplicate tp2 files?
2 - Mod specific this one, im having a problem with Almateria's Restoration Project
Version 8.4. I've extracted the mod, it shows in the list of extracted mods but im unable to expand it to select any options. I've tried extracting it to a folder by itself and point Project Imnfintity to it with no change, repeated that with BW fixpack as well, also no change. Deleted and reinstalled Project Infinity and it still does the same, any ideas?
3 - Having just re-installed it, can i just copy and paste the installation order into the program and it'll run or am i going to have to re-order and reselect all the mods again first?
Thanks
@Nathan82
1 - For now, you should move those duplicated 'mods' outside of the main directory with extracted mods. I scrap my hear wondering why I didn't include this info
2 - You have to wait a lite longer for new weidu version. It has bugfix for specific case of this mod.
3 - If by 'installation order' you mean the lines from 'installation sequence' then yes, you can simply paste it and click "Start-Installation" as long you have the same mod version (you didn't update the mods between)
1. The reason of the lack of README inside metadata was: avoid duplication of the weidu README. But now I see that the use-case might be for online readme. Updates regarding this topic are coming.
2. How about drop-down menu with different Extracted Mods folders? Anyway, kudos for creativity, if it took so much effort in order to deal with the mod 'filtering' then I guess i need to find a way to make this part of the experience much better.
The problem with easy approach to the mods filtering:
many mods supports more than one game and there is a risk that people will make copies of those mods and they wont be updated simultaneously. A design which forces people to have multiple copies of the mods is awful.
@ALIEN
Any idea how long? Not rushing you or whoever is doing the fix, just wondering, as i'll delay doing full install until then, got plenty of other install issues to fix first.
Also, does that mean i cant install it at all? Could i pause install at right point, manually install that mod then resume installation?
Or guessitmate lines to add to install sequence and see what happens?
Thanks again,
1. The reason of the lack of README inside metadata was: avoid duplication of the weidu README. But now I see that the use-case might be for online readme. Updates regarding this topic are coming.
Ohhh right! I should've guessed It's probably the mod's tp2 that doesn't reference its own readme, then...
In case you wonder, the mod I was mentioning was Kulyok's IWD NPCs... it comes with a bundled readme txt but even after adding the metadata PI doesn't seem to recognize that it's there. Now I kinda guess it's because the actual mod's tp2 doesn't declare it?
2. How about drop-down menu with different Extracted Mods folders? Anyway, kudos for creativity, if it took so much effort in order to deal with the mod 'filtering' then I guess i need to find a way to make this part of the experience much better.
That would work too! I guess what you're in need of is a way to tell WeiDU what game is supposed to be targetted without actually installing the mods, right? That way you could evaluate which mods/components are visible to the current setup and which don't?
I'm probably the only one with this problem, and it's mostly due to OCD
I tend to download and add to the pile any mod I think it's cool, whether I'd end up using it in my next installation or not... because if I don't I will forget about it.
That way I managed to 'collect' a repository of total ~100 mods in my "expanded" folder (and many more that aren't yet expanded from ZIPs,) which are way too many to keep track of inside PI's UI (at least IMO) when I'm fiddling and tinkering with an new install.
The way I "solved" it, each install is more manageable, and only my EET installation (which is a big mod installation) has more than ~50 mods active, all of them included in the installation, and which were added in stages... not all at once!
The problem with easy approach to the mods filtering:
many mods supports more than one game and there is a risk that people will make copies of those mods and they wont be updated simultaneously. A design which forces people to have multiple copies of the mods is awful.
Yeah, I totally agree! That's why I went with this junction business... which in Windows works perfectly! That way I was still able to keep them all in one place together, and thus I can update them just once when needed, and each installation just has a link to it, that I normally add manually when I decide to include the mod, so it isn't cluttering the list all the time.
The only con of my approach is that I have to update PI three times when you update But it's not a big deal at all!
@leeux
1. Yes, the README keyword must be present inside tp2, that's requirement. It would be easy to scan mod folder and find all readmes but not every mod readme has 'readme' and many mods include old readmes which are not intent to be read by players. As I mentioned, the ini way of defining readme is on the way.
2. Too early for discussion about implementation.
@ALIEN
Hello
I added those lines to the install sequence before starting new install and they worked fine, thanks for that.
I have more questions now though.
1. Pausing/Resuming installation - is there going to be a feature, or have i missed existing, where installation can be paused, program closed etc and it resumed at a later time?
I did manage it myself;
clicked the pause install button, waited til it finished what it was doing and made a note of where the install had got to, then when i restarted project infinity the next day i just copied the install sequence from the next point and pasted it into the window, clicked start install and it carried on. The install completed (with errors but not i think related to this) and the game loads.
Just not sure if its meant to work like that and whether it could cause problems? Is there a better way of doing it?
2. Generalised biffing - this is still used right? I havent missed something? I extracted the_bigg_biff to extracted mods folder but when i launched project infinity program, it wasnt listed. Is this a similar problem to the one with Almateria's Restoration Project or is it not supposed to be used or should i just run it manually after install complete?
@Nathan82
1. Ability to continue paused installation after exiting the program is not currently planned. I might evaluate it later when few other things will change but for now, pasting data from install sequence will do the job.
Regarding the approach which you used: this is usual and fine workflow, nothing to worry about.
2. Generalized biffing should not be used for EE versions. Still, PI should recognize this mod without problems, and it works for me. Let me investigate and get back to you when I will release new version.
Question to metadata and mod structure for PI:
tp2 still on level with the setup.exe is ok? ini file with metadata into the mod folder would work even if mod-setup.exe and modfolder have different names? How would I call the ini file, then?
I know that some modders use top-level tp2 because it's quick and easy to create new mod/test things. PI supports all kind of weidu mod/tp2 locations. If the tp2 is at the same level as exe, the ini filename must exactly match tp2 name: setup-modname.ini. But this extended support is nothing but a proof of concept, no mod currently use it and I strongly believe that is should be treated as legacy - don't use it for actual released mod.
I'm referring to the Edwin Romance, I am doing an update but @Wisp suggested not to change the mod's structure, wich is setup-edwinromance.tp2 and setup-edwinromance.exe in the game folder and mod folder called "edwin".
So after long discussion, the conclusion is: renaming 'main data folder' is the same thing as changing 'DESIGNATED' numbers - it's a flaw but acceptable flaw. I say go for unification, just add big red warring for new release which says 'Remember to uninstall older version first!"
Hi I finally got around to using this program to set up my install and I think I noticed one bug. Apparently when the app is getting the version of the TP2, if another comment has the word "version" in it, the app will append anything that is next to it to the version.
Comments
Agree on forcing default group. You can already move 'default' group into desired place and all new mods will be added there.
Ability to set mods' initial install order group will be available when the order of the groups will be taken from online source and contribution will be possible. Every mod which display such warning has support for delta updates. But the way how it was stored locally prevents even checking for new updates(it's how git works, it needs extra dir). It's really hard to explain to non-experienced user that he should move main "cdtweaks" mod directory into extra top-level directory of any name, eg: cdtweaks-extra. A better solution would be to fix this via one click. Something like a popup with some explanation what's current mod dir structure is and how it will be after applying fix.
Will you please add an option to disable the delta update checks, or maybe a feature to.. switch to manual mod updating? If you can read the datetime of the latest commit (and/or pull request?), store it and a flag variable somewhere, you have the data needed to notify power users that there has been a update that they should consider applying.
I'm not goona offer such option o disable the mod delta update checks because modders expect that the players update their mods, otherwise they might loose motivation to provide updates. But I will remove annoying and confusing message and I will try to make whole operation more streamlined.
The feature which you describable (force update to the latest commit) would only be used by power users - if they know what the 'commit' is, they can pull latest commit themselves via any 'git client'. They will probable clone mods (as I do) instead of downloading them. Giving normal user an ability to get latest commit for mods with releases would probably lead to lot of bug reports. Also notice that because mod versions are not changed after commits, modders would scratch their heads wondering what's wrong.
I'm new to Baldur's Gate modding outside of Big World Setup, but I followed your instructions and created the load order in CSV format. I thought I'd share them for others to use. Attached are text files that can & should be copied and pasted into an excel document or CSV file. I couldn't attach the actual CSV files. If anyone notices that I did anything wrong, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know.
Since, I'm kind of a noob with modding, I'm hoping I can post a few questions here. Back when Big World Setup was supported, every new mod had to install the BWS Fixpack, BWS Textpack, and these two Weidu mods (I think). For a moderately sized load of mods, could someone tell me if I need to install the previously listed mods, a substitute of some kind, or if I'm okay to ignore these mods for a Project Infinity load?
I'm also wondering Alien, is there a way to change the name of the mods when listed through Project Infinity? Like rename cdtweaks to Tweaks Anthology? Or will that mess up the installation order?
I ask because some mods have recognizable names but the folder names aren't. If it's possible to change the names that would be awesome.
I have one more question, or maybe it's more of a request. For a mod like CDTweaks or SCS that can be used on both BGEE & BG2EE, I noticed when I extracted it to my BGEE folder that I can see both BGEE mods and BG2EE mods. If I were to click a box relating to BG2EE while doing a BGEE load, will that cause any problems or will it just fail to load? In the future, is there anyway that maybe for mods like CDTweaks or SCS, that depending on the game folder it is extracted to hide certain options?
Anyways, thanks for your time and attention. I would appreciate any and all answers.
The "BG1EE Load Order (BWS)" is fine but "BG2EE Load Order (BWS)" has wrong formatting.
You don't need BWSFixpack unless you use some very old mods.
If you want to see "Tweaks Anthology" as the name for 'cdtweaks', poke CamDawg. Display Name doesn't matter for install order.
Filtering mods by supported game is not possible due to missing WeiDU feature.
Avast is blocking the installation of ProjectInfinity.exe, due to a "potential" thread : IDP.ALEXA.51
Is it to be considered as a thread or just a mistake from Avast ?
If you think about any kind of 'mod list' then no because it's impossible.
I think the program would be much more user friendly if it managed this kind of very common errors directly, maybe giving you a pop up in red letters that says clearly "YOU HAVE MADE DUMB MISTAKE 43, DO A QUICK FIX AND COME BACK".
Do you mean I should display "Error 37"?
EDIT: Basically, you right. But such 'user mistake detection' was enormous part of BWS and it was really problematic. I don't know how much of this I want to replicate.
tp2 still on level with the setup.exe is ok? ini file with metadata into the mod folder would work even if mod-setup.exe and modfolder have different names? How would I call the ini file, then?
I'm referring to the Edwin Romance, I am doing an update but @Wisp suggested not to change the mod's structure, wich is setup-edwinromance.tp2 and setup-edwinromance.exe in the game folder and mod folder called "edwin".
Powershell 5.1 on the first page links to 404 - Page not found, btw.
Thanks for reporting, fixed.
I checked the Wiki and there's no mention of the Readme there... trying to make custom metadata for a mod that doesn't have, and has a readme with the name 'Readme-<mod id>.txt' in the same directory as the tp2, but I don't know how to make PI pick it up?
There's no "Readme" entry in the Metadata.ini, is it? At least is not mentioned in the wiki and I haven't seen it used in any of the mods that come with metadata already
Also, I'll take the opportunity that I'm writing this post to also bother you with a few suggestions for the future
I really dislike the "mod bloat" of having all and every mod for every game in the same folder, so PI can pick them up, and no way to hide them in the UI, so, what I did in the end is having different installs of PI (three for now, one for each of BG1, BG2 and IWD) + a central repository of extracted mods (so I can easily updated them if I need to) and then, each PI installation has a local Mods folder where I make "links" (i.e. windows junctions) to the actual mods I want to have enabled in that particular installation.
So, I thought I'd ask for an enhancement, maybe? A way of having a single installation of PI and different mod repositories, i.e. by just switching the INI you use... I thought that you might add a way to have different 'profile' INIs and have a way to switch them, either while PI is running, or, if that's too bothersome, just having a command line option to specify which INI to load at launch is totally enough. That way you can launch any setup at will by using a shortcut and specifying the named INI there.
Unless there will be some other way planned to deal with the huge mod list bloat in the future! If that's the case, just ignore this request
EDIT: Why I always spot a typo immediately after I click Post Comment
I have a couple of questions.
1 - What, if anything, am i supposed to do when it warns about duplicate tp2 files?
2 - Mod specific this one, im having a problem with Almateria's Restoration Project
Version 8.4. I've extracted the mod, it shows in the list of extracted mods but im unable to expand it to select any options. I've tried extracting it to a folder by itself and point Project Imnfintity to it with no change, repeated that with BW fixpack as well, also no change. Deleted and reinstalled Project Infinity and it still does the same, any ideas?
3 - Having just re-installed it, can i just copy and paste the installation order into the program and it'll run or am i going to have to re-order and reselect all the mods again first?
Thanks
1 - For now, you should move those duplicated 'mods' outside of the main directory with extracted mods. I scrap my hear wondering why I didn't include this info
2 - You have to wait a lite longer for new weidu version. It has bugfix for specific case of this mod.
3 - If by 'installation order' you mean the lines from 'installation sequence' then yes, you can simply paste it and click "Start-Installation" as long you have the same mod version (you didn't update the mods between)
1. The reason of the lack of README inside metadata was: avoid duplication of the weidu README. But now I see that the use-case might be for online readme. Updates regarding this topic are coming.
2. How about drop-down menu with different Extracted Mods folders? Anyway, kudos for creativity, if it took so much effort in order to deal with the mod 'filtering' then I guess i need to find a way to make this part of the experience much better.
The problem with easy approach to the mods filtering:
many mods supports more than one game and there is a risk that people will make copies of those mods and they wont be updated simultaneously. A design which forces people to have multiple copies of the mods is awful.
Any idea how long? Not rushing you or whoever is doing the fix, just wondering, as i'll delay doing full install until then, got plenty of other install issues to fix first.
Also, does that mean i cant install it at all? Could i pause install at right point, manually install that mod then resume installation?
Or guessitmate lines to add to install sequence and see what happens?
Thanks again,
Thank you
Ill add the bits i need into the install sequence and see what happens
Ohhh right! I should've guessed
In case you wonder, the mod I was mentioning was Kulyok's IWD NPCs... it comes with a bundled readme txt but even after adding the metadata PI doesn't seem to recognize that it's there. Now I kinda guess it's because the actual mod's tp2 doesn't declare it?
That would work too! I guess what you're in need of is a way to tell WeiDU what game is supposed to be targetted without actually installing the mods, right? That way you could evaluate which mods/components are visible to the current setup and which don't?
I'm probably the only one with this problem, and it's mostly due to OCD
I tend to download and add to the pile any mod I think it's cool, whether I'd end up using it in my next installation or not... because if I don't I will forget about it.
That way I managed to 'collect' a repository of total ~100 mods in my "expanded" folder (and many more that aren't yet expanded from ZIPs,) which are way too many to keep track of inside PI's UI (at least IMO) when I'm fiddling and tinkering with an new install.
The way I "solved" it, each install is more manageable, and only my EET installation (which is a big mod installation) has more than ~50 mods active, all of them included in the installation, and which were added in stages... not all at once!
Yeah, I totally agree! That's why I went with this junction business... which in Windows works perfectly! That way I was still able to keep them all in one place together, and thus I can update them just once when needed, and each installation just has a link to it, that I normally add manually when I decide to include the mod, so it isn't cluttering the list all the time.
The only con of my approach is that I have to update PI three times when you update
1. Yes, the README keyword must be present inside tp2, that's requirement. It would be easy to scan mod folder and find all readmes but not every mod readme has 'readme' and many mods include old readmes which are not intent to be read by players. As I mentioned, the ini way of defining readme is on the way.
2. Too early for discussion about implementation.
Hello
I added those lines to the install sequence before starting new install and they worked fine, thanks for that.
I have more questions now though.
1. Pausing/Resuming installation - is there going to be a feature, or have i missed existing, where installation can be paused, program closed etc and it resumed at a later time?
I did manage it myself;
clicked the pause install button, waited til it finished what it was doing and made a note of where the install had got to, then when i restarted project infinity the next day i just copied the install sequence from the next point and pasted it into the window, clicked start install and it carried on. The install completed (with errors but not i think related to this) and the game loads.
Just not sure if its meant to work like that and whether it could cause problems? Is there a better way of doing it?
2. Generalised biffing - this is still used right? I havent missed something? I extracted the_bigg_biff to extracted mods folder but when i launched project infinity program, it wasnt listed. Is this a similar problem to the one with Almateria's Restoration Project or is it not supposed to be used or should i just run it manually after install complete?
Thanks
1. Ability to continue paused installation after exiting the program is not currently planned. I might evaluate it later when few other things will change but for now, pasting data from install sequence will do the job.
Regarding the approach which you used: this is usual and fine workflow, nothing to worry about.
2. Generalized biffing should not be used for EE versions. Still, PI should recognize this mod without problems, and it works for me. Let me investigate and get back to you when I will release new version.
So after long discussion, the conclusion is: renaming 'main data folder' is the same thing as changing 'DESIGNATED' numbers - it's a flaw but acceptable flaw. I say go for unification, just add big red warring for new release which says 'Remember to uninstall older version first!"
Here are some pics: