User:DoubleYou: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 05:15, August 14, 2014

I got hooked initially when I was younger playing various old games Windows 95 style like Aliens Ate My Babysitter and Frogger. First addicting game I played was Age of Empires, and second was Railroad Tycoon II, which I pretty well mastered. I was away from games for awhile, than got hooked when I got my first computer which had a trial version of Fate pre-installed. I modded that a little, but not much. Then I found Skyrim, and modding really opened on a large scale, and here I am.

I am DoubleYou on STEP, Vuud on the Nexus, and DoubleYouEmSee on Steam.

System Specs

My Laptop

Experience

I started modding Skyrim mainly because of the bugs. I used Nexus Mod Manager all the way up until early this year (2013). It took me awhile to add Wrye Bash to my list of tools, although I started using BOSS right away. Then TES5Edit came along and thanks to Gopher's video, I learned how to clean mods, and followed BOSS for when to clean dirty mods, etc. I found STEP in about May 2013, and started using some mods from it along with switching over to Mod Organizer. Quickly I found Skyrim Revisited and found even more must-have mods. Thanks to Skyrim Revisited, I learned how to use TES5Edit for more than the occasional cleaning job, and also started using BUM, Automatic Variants, and DDSopt. I'm still rather fuzzy on Creation Kit and scripts at the moment, but I currently have over 300 mods working perfectly together with over 200 esps and no conflicts, so I'm a happy modder.

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Building Mod Organizer from source (WIP!!!)

Install Prerequisites

Visual Express 2010

Install Visual Express 2010 from here (direct link offline installer). You need at a minimum C++ and C#. Not sure if Basic is needed or not.
Update via Windows update.
(Optional I believe) Install Windows sdk 7.1 (see here for more information on installation). Direct link offline installer ISO here.

Notes:

Qt 4.8.6 does not seem to compile on later versions (am I wrong?).

Qt Libraries

Version 4.8.x from here.

i.e. "Qt libraries 4.8.6 for Windows (VS 2010, 235 MB)"
tested: 4.8.6
Install according to instruction

Qt 5 Compatibility: MO compiles and mostly runs correctly built with Qt 5.3 and VC++ 2013 but

python plugins haven't been rewritten to use qt5 yet
pyqt5 isn't distributed as binaries for python 2.7 so this needs to be set up and built first
tutorial doesn't work because it seems to be impossible to create a transparent Qt Quick control...
the previewdds plugin only compiles with the opengl variant of the qt 5 distribution
Qt5 is a bi*** to distribute

Boost

tested: 1.55
Build according to their instructions (using vc++): http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_54_0/more/getting_started/windows.html
A few of the boost libraries need to be built (the rest is header-only). The only compiled libs MO needs (at the time of writing) are boost_thread (for everything that links agains bsatk) and boost_python (for pythonrunner). You can disable the others to save yourself compile time (even on a modern system compiling boost can easily take an hour)

Boost Python library

1. Create user-config.jam in root directory for Boost (e.g. C:\code\boost_1_55_0)
2. Paste the following inside it:

 # Configure specific Python version.
 using python : 2.7
 : C:/Python27/python.exe
 : C:/Python27/include #directory that contains pyconfig.h
 : C:/Python27/libs    #directory that contains python27.lib
 : <toolset>msvc ;

3. Open Command Prompt and run Bootstrap.
4. Run .\b2 toolset=msvc-10.0 --with-date_time --with-thread --with-python --user-config=user-config.jam --build-type=complete stage
5. Watch an episode of your favorite TV show while that is working.

Nexus Mod Manager directory code for NCC fomod installer plugin

here?

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Sandbox

Mod Organizer (MO) allows the user to create shortcuts to launch applications through it. Shortcuts may be placed on the Start Menu, Desktop, or the Toolbar within MO itself.

To place a shortcut on the Desktop (or to remove it if it is there already):

Select the application from the executable drop-down menu.
Click the Shortcut drop-down menu.
Select Desktop.

To place a shortcut in the Start Menu (or to remove it if it is there already):

Select the application from the executable drop-down menu.
Click the Shortcut drop-down menu.
Select Start Menu.

To place a shortcut on the Toolbar (or to remove it if it is there already):

Select the application from the executable drop-down menu.
Click the Shortcut drop-down menu.
Select Toolbar.

Template:Warning Small

Advanced shortcut tweaking

It is possible to make a shortcut profile-specific. This only works for Desktop and Start Menu shortcuts. If this is done, it will only run in the profile specified. To create a profile-specific shortcut:

Create the shortcut to the application as outlined above.
Right-click on the shortcut created and select Properties.
In the target field will include two strings encompassed by quotes like this: "<ModOrganizer>/ModOrganizer.exe" "<ApplicationFolder>/Application.exe"
Between those two strings add -p "Name of Profile" replacing Name of Profile with the name of the profile to be used.
- The target field should now look like this: "<ModOrganizer>/ModOrganizer.exe" -p "Name of Profile" "<ApplicationFolder>/Application.exe"
Click Apply.

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Random

So how does Mod Organizer actually provides your modded setup to the game/program?

Mod Organizer does not actually create the virtual data folder. The virtual data folder actually never exists. Rather, Mod Organizer is simply a big fat liar. When you launch the game or application through Mod Organizer, Mod Organizer tells it a lie. It tells the game/program that the virtual data directory exists, and tells it where to find it. Once Mod Organizer has finished telling the program this lie, it does nothing. It has succeeded. The program believes Mod Organizer. Programs are very gullible. Mod Organizer doesn't have to stay active and constantly feed the program the lie. It tells it once, then leaves.

The nice thing about these programs is that they are not only very gullible, but also are great gossipers. They tell everyone else that they interact with the lie as well. This is why if you launch an application through Mod Organizer and then launch an application through that application, that application also shall see the nonexistent virtual data directory.

So what is the lie that it tells the game/program? It tells it that all the files active in the profile are in the data folder, and it tells it that all files in conflict in the real data folder do not exist. Of course, it never mentions the conflicting files, as the program might get suspicious of the lie if it did that. Technically, it also lies about your INI files, plugins.txt, etc., as well.

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Ask (Question Mark)
Bug (Large Bug Banner)
Bug Small (Small Bug Banner)
Clear (Performs a clear to force content to appear directly below floating content)
Construction (Big Construction Banner)
Construction Small (Small Construction Banner)
Delete (Proposal to delete a page)
Fc (Font Color)
Fs (Font Size)
Gallery (Gallery of images)
HoverText (Able to show text upon hovering)
Indicator (Button for if, for example, Dawnguard is required)
No (Big X)
NoFile (Removed, big X)
NoFile Small (Removed, small X)
Notice (Big Notice Banner)
Notice Small (Small Notice Banner)
Quotation (For quotes)
Sidebox (That cool box to float text inside)
Warning (Big Warning Banner)
Warning Small (Small Warning Banner)
Yes (Check mark)

Semantic MediaWiki quick reference

@@ Line 77: / Line 77: @@
 {{Warning Small|Any arguments, lack of arguments, or other options changed in the ''Configure Executables'' dialog will not affect shortcuts made prior to these changes. For the shortcut to receive the new settings, you must delete the shortcut and create it again.}}
+==Advanced shortcut tweaking==
+It is possible to make a shortcut profile-specific. This only works for Desktop and Start Menu shortcuts. If this is done, it will only run in the profile specified. To create a profile-specific shortcut:
+#Create the shortcut to the application as outlined above.
+#Right-click on the shortcut created and select ''Properties''.
+#In the target field will include two strings encompassed by quotes like this: <code>"<ModOrganizer>/ModOrganizer.exe" "<ApplicationFolder>/Application.exe"</code>
+#Between those two strings add <code> -p "Name of Profile" </code> replacing ''Name of Profile'' with the name of the profile to be used.
+#*The target field should now look like this: <code>"<ModOrganizer>/ModOrganizer.exe" -p "Name of Profile" "<ApplicationFolder>/Application.exe"</code>
+#Click ''Apply''.