Mod Manager?

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masternetra
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Joined: 28 Aug 2011, 21:43

Mod Manager?

Post by masternetra »

I was wondering if a Mod Manager could be Adapted/intergrated? The Nexus Mod Manger ftw is Open-Source: http://www.nexusmods.com/games/mods/modmanager/?

(Also the code is found here: https://sourceforge.net/p/nexusmodmanag ... ault/tree/)
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sjek
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Joined: 22 Nov 2014, 10:51

Re: Mod Manager?

Post by sjek »

they have site design overhaul coming but dunno if they open the servers?

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2687#p30149
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Ravenwing
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Joined: 02 Jan 2016, 02:51

Re: Mod Manager?

Post by Ravenwing »

This is not quite what masternetra was talking about since it sounds like he wants something that will download from Nexus, but I'm thinking it would actually be a very good idea to have some kind of built in mod manager. Since OpenMW is able to handle multiple data directories, it makes far more sense to utilize that than use the “traditional” download-stuff-from-Nexus-and-dump-everything-willy-nilly-into-the-Data-directory method. It essentially is creating the advantages that ModOrganizer did for Skyrim. You can leave all your mods in their respective folders enabling easy install/uninstall and easy reordering of texture/mesh replacements. It also makes troubleshooting mod compatibility WAY easier. I know that we can currently do this by modifying some of the cfg or ini files, but from my understanding, it would be trivial to implement a GUI that would eliminate needing to go in and edit those files manually. Manually editing text files is tedious and makes typos far too easy and hard to locate for the average user. I think if we want the general public to adopt OpenMW, everything should be as streamlined as possible. We could of course continue to add more features into the mod manager beyond this, but I think that would be a reasonable place to start.
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AnyOldName3
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Joined: 26 Nov 2015, 03:25

Re: Mod Manager?

Post by AnyOldName3 »

But if Mod Organiser does everything already, and is a tool that most Elder Scrolls modding enthusiasts are familiar with, surely it's less work and creates a better outcome to just create a Morrowind plugin for MO (or just wait until its developers get around to doing it themselves). This also has the advantage that any tools which Morrowind modders might want to use can be launched as if the data folder isn't spread out all over the place.
roq
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Joined: 30 Dec 2015, 19:04

Re: Mod Manager?

Post by roq »

AnyOldName3 wrote:But if Mod Organiser does everything already, and is a tool that most Elder Scrolls modding enthusiasts are familiar with, surely it's less work and creates a better outcome to just create a Morrowind plugin for MO (or just wait until its developers get around to doing it themselves). This also has the advantage that any tools which Morrowind modders might want to use can be launched as if the data folder isn't spread out all over the place.
MO has no Linux support as far as I can tell. Currently using Wrye Mash till a tool comes around that utilises OpenMW's multiple data folders. I'm yet not insane enough to do that by hand.
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Ravenwing
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Joined: 02 Jan 2016, 02:51

Re: Mod Manager?

Post by Ravenwing »

@AnyOldName3 Are you saying that it would be helpful to use something like MO simply because the modding community is familiar with it? That's certainly a point in MO's favor, but I don't see how that would necessarily be a superior solution than having a built in one of our own. The big claim to fame for MO is it's virtualization technology, which really is just dealing with the limitations of Skyrim only using a single Data directory. (hmm I'm sensing a pattern here ;) ) I see what you mean about allowing 3rd party tools to see our spread out data structure, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most of the popular tools' functionality is supposed to be built into OpenCS, which can also use multiple directories.

@masternetra I was thinking about your suggestion, and it must be possible because MO does that for Skyrim. You can set the NMM files to be read automatically by MO, allowing for super easy install, and we could handle the files using our own mod manager in whichever way the devs think is best.

All I'm asking for initially is some super simple GUI that allows us to pick out the data directories of multiple mods and drag the list around so it reorders them automatically. As roq said, not yet insane enough to do that by hand.
HiPhish
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Joined: 02 Jul 2012, 08:36

Re: Mod Manager?

Post by HiPhish »

I don't think something that depends on an external site should be part of OpenMW. How about a standalone mod manager that can read and edit OpenMW configuration files instead? What I mean by that is that the manager will be able to locate and understand openmw.cfg and find the data entries. The manager connects to Nexus, downloads a mod and adds the directory as another data entry to openmw.cfg again. To keep things clean the manager should only be allowed to add and remove data entries that it created itself, that way users could still use manual mods or other mod managers in parallel.
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Ravenwing
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Re: Mod Manager?

Post by Ravenwing »

HiPhish wrote:I don't think something that depends on an external site should be part of OpenMW. How about a standalone mod manager that can read and edit OpenMW configuration files instead? What I mean by that is that the manager will be able to locate and understand openmw.cfg and find the data entries. The manager connects to Nexus, downloads a mod and adds the directory as another data entry to openmw.cfg again. To keep things clean the manager should only be allowed to add and remove data entries that it created itself, that way users could still use manual mods or other mod managers in parallel.
Sounds good to me! I think that's kind of how I assumed one would be implemented. I imagine it makes it easier to support and debug, having a separate program. It might be a little more intuitive as part of the launcher program, but isn't that a separate program from openmw itself?
Cramal
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Joined: 19 Sep 2014, 13:37

Re: Mod Manager?

Post by Cramal »

It's easy to run openMW without the launcher by adding the right option in the command line.

Such external mod-manager could be used to run directly the game if it is well done
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jayhova4x4
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Re: Mod Manager?

Post by jayhova4x4 »

Has there been any progress on this? As people such as myself come on board because the openMW engine works just as well as the vanilla without the bugs, they will tend to be less amped to use a product that must be installed by hand. Couldn't this be built into the launcher?
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