GameData folder and other questions

[NermNermNerm]

Can somebody point me to documentations about the wheres and hows of the layout of folders within the GameData folder?  I've got these questions:

1. Having just discovered the wonders of ModuleManager, I've found I can inject my stuff into other mods.  This is great stuff.  But I see lots of examples of mods that actually place files in the other mods' GameData subfolder.  What's up with that?  (In my case, I don't need to, I don't think.  I'm tweaking .cfg files, that's all).
2. In other cases, I see a complete sub-image of the other mod, up to & including DLL's.  Really?  Shouldn't I just declare a dependency to CKAN and let ModuleManager figure it out?
3. Is packaging ModuleManager.DLL still a thing?

Finally, does anybody have automated tools for releasing to GitHub, SpaceDock, CKAN?  Seems like they ought to exist...

[Val]

Seems like this deserves a topic of it's own.

Moved from PopupDialog and the DialogGUI classes.

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

11 hours ago, NermNermNerm said:

This is great stuff.  But I see lots of examples of mods that actually place files in the other mods' GameData subfolder.  What's up with that?  (In my case, I don't need to, I don't think.  I'm tweaking .cfg files, that's all).

Hi don't know who is doing that but they should stop it at once. No seriously the whole idea of module manager is that you don't  have to mess physically with any other folders,  all you need  is the part name in  a simple MM (ModuuleManager) cfg which with any other assets, textures FX etc,  can be placed anywhere,  most sensible types have their own little folder called  MyAwesomePatches  or whatever , which keeps everything neat and tidy.

11 hours ago, NermNermNerm said:

In other cases, I see a complete sub-image of the other mod, up to & including DLL's.  Really?  Shouldn't I just declare a dependency to CKAN and let ModuleManager figure it out?

Sounds like somebody trying to make life easy for users, by including all dependencies,  not something I'd do, or for that matter imo desirable,  but if you attempt to cater for all types of user it's something to consider, new users can struggle with getting the correct versions of mods together.

11 hours ago, NermNermNerm said:

Is packaging ModuleManager.DLL still a thing? 

I personally hate it ( and for that matter the plague of miniAVC) .  I have seen so many logs that have multiple copies of module manager, admittedly not as many as there used to be,  fine  OK it doesn't actually cause any real problems,  but somewhere in the game loading process  the game will have to decide which one of the multiple MM's its going to use, and with a game that loads slow enough for a user to grow a beard, (and when modded you can seriously mark up and fit a bathroom cabinet within the loading time) anything that  slows the process should be avoided

.  Pretty much everyone who uses mods will have module manager already, as 99%  of mods use it in someway.  I 'd go so far as to say that if you intend  adding mods to a game MM is the first thing that should be downloaded.  It certainly doesn't need to be distributed like confetti in every mod that uses it. 

[SpinkAkron]

Something to keep in mind that still burns me from time to time. Module manager config NEEDS looks for named dlls or folders. Sometimes another mod adds a folder with the same name as a mod, contract packs for instance. If you're not careful with installing/uninstalling, a folder can be left behind making it look like a mod is installed when it isn't.  Drives me nuts til I do a search in the gamedata folder and find I got tripped up by it again.

Edited February 25, 2019 by SpinkAkron