AW Modloader Testing

[TeyKey1 118]

There is now an initial version of the AW modloader uploaded on GitHub. 

Important: Bugs are to be expected, even though most stuff should be ironed out by now. Use at your own risk. After testing a first release will be made (probably in a new thread) which should be working well.

The program does what the name says:

• Load Mods into the program
• Manage mods by activating/deactivating them for the use ingame
• Version control of mods
• Collision detection of mods

Important stuff first:

- Source Code (MIT): https://github.com/TeyKey1/AW-Modloader
- Supported Plattforms: Windows 7-11 (32 & 64 Bit) (Currently only win10 64Bit is tested)  
- Supported Languages: English, German (Other languages can be supported as well but for this I need help see https://github.com/TeyKey1/AW-Modloader/issues/1)
- Supported Installer Languages: English, German, French, Polish, Russian
- Download of the program: https://github.com/TeyKey1/AW-Modloader/releases/tag/v0.1.0-alpha
- Issues: Report here or (even better) https://github.com/TeyKey1/AW-Modloader/issues

 

Making mods compatible with the modloader

Generally lot of mods should already be compatible with the modloader. Though theres some mod distributions with an incompatible folder layout. The expected folder layout for a compatible mod is as follows:

MyFancyMod.zip =>
  sounds/
    weapons/
    ...
  weapons/
  ...

Generally the archive needs to represent the folder structure that is required inside the localization/<language>/ folder.

ThisIsWrong.zip =>
  localization/
    <language>/
      ...

This does not work for example as the modloader directly inserts the file into the correct localization folder already.

modinfo.json

In order to attach more information to your mod that the modloader can use you can create a modinfo.json file. Using this file you can achieve proper version control of your mod in the modloader. The file needs to have the following JSON data (The modinfo.json is not mandatory but recommended):

{
  "name": "My mod name",
  "author": "TeyKey1",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "injection": "localization",
  "info": "This is an awesome mod info\nIt contains all the best tank colors\n\nmore info here: https://armoredlabs.net"
}

Parameters:

• name The name of your mod
• author You, probably
• version The current version of your mod. This needs to follow Semver
• injection Currently only "localization" is supported, so leave as is
• info Some info text about your mod. Can be multiline using escape characters

The modinfo.json file needs to reside in the base of the mod archive:

MyFancyMod.zip =>
  sounds/
    weapons/
    ...
  weapons/
  ...
  modinfo.json

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by TeyKey1
update image to new version (styling fixes) (see edit history)

[Haswell 283]

@Jika You'll be interested.

[TeyKey1 118]

I have been able to cut a new release which is considered stable. You can download the new version of the program here: https://github.com/TeyKey1/AW-Modloader/releases/tag/v0.1.0

I have done some major internal changes which make the app considerably more responsive during loading states. Also featuring actual loading indicators and other cosmetic fixes. Stuff I did a while ago but just did not find the time to actually release until now.

Changelog:

Spoiler

Styling issues:

• App help page dialog no longer clips with top app bar
• Removed small artifact caused by styling of the actions row in the main app view

Enhancements:

• Add UI loading indications for all operations
• All blocking operations are now happening in blocking threads. This leads to a responsive UI even during demanding workloads.

Other:

• Fix missing "ask in forum" button translation
• updated various dependencies to the newest available version

As there seems to be not too much interest in this tool and I do not have time to maintain it further, this is very likely the last release. It should still work well for general mod management (especially if you have a large amount of mods which you want to activate/deactivate/delete frequently) in the future, so do not hesitate to try it out if you think it might be helpful for your use case.

Also, if anyone wants to take this project over or expand it, feel free to do so. Source is MIT licensed and available on Github

[Arto 100]

No support for adding into a.xml, sadge

[tahax 81]

is the work still going on?

[Aaron187 0]

Hello, great work. I am using the alpha by mistake, but have only encountered issues when I deleted a mod from UI that was no longer in the OG directory.

Using the new 0.1.0 non alpha release now. Am probably going to add downloads to all the mods I have converted to use this system.

Thanks for developing this!!