[AnyOS] KSP Mod Admin v2 - Mod install with a few clicks

[MacTee]

oh, I think I got it, when a mod get's added, it's checked by default, and when "Selected Mods" is chosen, it installs that mod. when you then uncheck that mod and click "Selected Mods", it uninstalls that mod.

Yes thats exactly how it should work

I think that was what wasn't clear. maybe you should use the word "Process" or "Process Changes" instead of "Proceed". Proceed is too vague, too bland. It isn't specific enough, but also it wasn't immediately clear to uninstall parts or all of mods by unchecking them and then clicking the button. You should put that somewhere, maybe a help file. Maybe I'm just slow, too, or wasn't paying attention.

There is a "How to use" guide in the first post and the readme file in the KSPMA Zip-file.

But i'll add a "?"-Tab where i'll show the "How to" guide from the readme and the "Process changes" sounds good

Another feature for the next version is a chackbox to turn on/off mutiselection in the mods tree, that should increase the performance (if turned off). (EDIT: this won't be implemented cause i've found a way to speed up the multiselection =)

Well, it seems quite a few of the mods I am trying to install, are just plain packaged incorrectly, and do not extract into the proper folders like they should, and require manually tweaking them.

Like the CORE-ANVIL mod (misses a 's' on the Parts folder).

No wonder an All-In-One installer might have issues getting everything installed properly... NOT that KSPMA has issues...I'm just saying would it be a surprise to anyone for a program of this type to have issues installing things properly, when those things its supposed to install are not properly packaged IN THE FIRST PLACE.

I give my best to handle all variation of mod packing, but its not so easy

Edited August 9, 2013 by MacTee

[MacTee]

Some more detailed answers of the last questions:

Don't get me wrong, colors are nice, but there can be issues with all kinds of things when looking at colors

(colorblindness, laptop LCD acting funny, strange color scheme in windows, highlighted programs don't display correctly...)

that can make it difficult or impossible to see.

Colors: i hope that the color values that i took are different enough so even someone with red-green weakness is able to determine the difference. I don't know anyone how could test this for me, may be there is one in the community.

Sometimes it's just nice to see a bit of text saying "Installed" or "Removed" or "New Mod" or "Installed with problems" or "Could not install",

something to make it a bit easier to understand what just happened when you clicked the button.

I totaly agree with that! But for now its not possible to add a column to the TreeView (mod selection) its not implemented yet.

I have to extend the functionality of the TreeView like i did for the MultiSelection.

(MultiSelection: only ctrl + click will be supported, no shift - i had some problems with the implementation =(.

When i have more time (maybe during my holiday) i'll redo the MultiSelection.

I realize that there is the bottom text area, maybe if there is an error, the column says to refer to error number in list below.

Just some thoughts. Anyways, good work, I think I'm going to stick with your program, it seems to be way better than KSPMM.

Thanks for you suggestions!

Oh, and here's something else, what can you do with something like this?

This is a nice script! I have contacted the author of this, i hope he can help me to create such a script for KSPMA!

oh, I think I got it, when a mod get's added, it's checked by default, and when "Selected Mods" is chosen, it installs that mod.

when you then uncheck that mod and click "Selected Mods", it uninstalls that mod.

Yes thats how its ment to work.

1. add a mod (per drag & drop or press add and choose a mod archive via FileBrowser)

2. un/check what you need from this mod.

3. press "All mods" or "Selected mod" (if the mod ist highlighted (blue)).

I also noticed that I would sometimes get different colors of text, for the same mod, at different times?...

One time it would be green, another it would be black, then again it would be red...??I had no idea what functions did what, or what happened when I pushed a button...

The meening of the colors or buttons are discribed in the "How to use" Guide in the ReadMe or in the first forum post.

But here is a short explanation:

Black: Not installed, ZipFile found and ready for install.

Grey: No destination folder detected, choose a destination manualy.

Green: Folder/file or subfolder is installed. (The tiny green + sysmbol is for installed folders or files only)

Red: No ZipFile found only deinstall of mod possible. (or use the zip function to zip the installed files of this mod

(ContextMenu-> Zip Source -> Create Zip of indstalled mod).

Yellow: suspicious path identified -> check needed!

Edited August 9, 2013 by MacTee

[MacTee]

Sorry for the 10 downloaders who already got the KSP MA 1.3.1, i discovered a small bug and erased it already but those who downloaded the version befor 18:35 (GMT+1) and where the welcome screen don’t shows up right. Redownload the KSPMA zip.

(Everyone who downloaded the 1.3.1 prerelease have to download KSP MA again!)

Change log:

• 7zip & rar support implemented
  
• Sort for the mod selection implemented (see ContextMenu)
  
• Ships will be installed to "KSP_Install\Ships", only there ships will be loaded from KSP.
  The type of the ship will be autodetected.
  
• Automated deletion of older KSPMA config files ("c:\ProgramData\KSPModAdmin\KSPModAdmin\vx.x.x.x\KSPModAdmin.cfg").
  
• Mod Selection performance increesed
  
• "Read Zip Structure" Bug fixed -> Thanks to "MorisatoK" & "cy-one"
  
• Flag import works again -> Thanks to "Reisu79"
  
• Renew checked state bug fixed (Gamedata folder got checked even if no child was installed).
  
• Flag list don't clears on KSP Path change - fixed
  

[Stone Blue]

Like the CORE-ANVIL mod (misses a 's' on the Parts folder).

I give my best to handle all variation of mod packing, but its not so easy

Well, not just that. The dev follows the new /GameData folder stucture properly WITHIN the .zip. But when you extract the .zip, you end up with an UPPER level folder being created EITHER inside OR outside the /GameData folder, that has the name of the mod with the version number. You have to manually go in after install, and basically pull out that extra folder level, if it was extracted into the /GameData; and if it was placed in the root folder, you ALSO have to move the sub-folders into the /GameData folder.

I dont know if this extra folder level in the /GameData folder matters or not, but my OCD wont let me keep it that way....

As to the different colors I mentioned, I DID read the instructions , just wondered why the color changed at different times for the same mod when I dont think "I" specifically changed anything?...Oh well, it might just be something I did, what with trying to get 65 mods installed together...

Also, as to the MultiSelection, I can understand that you cant get the Shift/click implemented. But since that is a BASIC Windows thing since WIndows 3.0, maybe just a small line of text above or below the "Selected Mods"/"All Mods" buttons saying something like "CNTRL-Left Click to select multiiple items", may be enough to clue us in, who do not always read the instructions right off the bat... LOL

And again, Good Job on staying on top of things! :tu:

[MacTee]

Yes thats right, iam aware of the problem that KSPMA creates a extra folder with the name of the zip.

Normaly that shouldn't be a problem. But it's one of my next tasks.

The color of the mods will be updated at every repaint of the TreeView.

So for example when you have installed a mod and then move or delete the zip.

KSPMA will paint the mods red when you focus it (KSPMA Window) the next time.

My problem with adding to much into the GUI is that it could get overloaded.

I think a Help tab will be the solution

Maybe someone with Video creating skills could make a YouTube video (i would link it on the first post).

A fancy Icon for the KSPMA.exe would be great too!

[Stone Blue]

Yes thats right, iam aware of the problem that KSPMA creates a extra folder with the name of the zip.

Normaly that shouldn't be a problem. But it's one of my next tasks.

Wait, its not just KSPMA that does this...This happens even with a completely separate MANUAL install...

The color of the mods will be updated at every repaint of the TreeView.

So for example when you have installed a mod and then move or delete the zip.

KSPMA will paint the mods red when you focus it (KSPMA Window) the next time.

Ahhh...OK...so it MUST have been me somehow modifying things after install...I know I sometimes deleted readme's or source files, or useless folders...Like I said, I started with a mess by trying to do 65 mods at once, so my brain was mush by the middle of it, and I sometimes wasnt even sure what was going on...lol At least till the last time that I did the clean, batch install after I got everything figured out...

My problem with adding to much into the GUI is that it could get overloaded.

I think a Help tab will be the solution

I understand...but its JUST a FEW, SMALL, yet IMPORTANT words...lol

[Benzschwagel]

The meening of the colors or buttons are discribed in the "How to use" Guide in the ReadMe or in the first forum post.

But here is a short explanation:

Black: Not installed, ZipFile found and ready for install.

Grey: No destination folder detected, choose a destination manualy.

Green: Folder/file or subfolder is installed. (The tiny green + sysmbol is for installed folders or files only)

Red: No ZipFile found only deinstall of mod possible. (or use the zip function to zip the installed files of this mod

(ContextMenu-> Zip Source -> Create Zip of indstalled mod).

Yellow: suspicious path identified -> check needed!

So, mod entry is green when installed, and within installed mod folders the little green plus means the file / folder has actually been copied into the KSP directory? meaning that most likely the root folder is not copied because it's a placeholder, usually holding \GAMEDATA\... is this correct?

[MacTee]

Theoreticly yes, but as i mentioned above ther is a bug in KSPMA which causes an additional folder with the mod zip file name.

But this bug shouldn't be a problem.

e.g.:

A Zip MyMod_1.0.zip contains GameData/MyMod/Parts/MyFirstPart/...

KSPMA will make:

GameData/MyMod_1.0/MyMod/Parts/MyFirstPart/...

Iam on that on the next days when i find the time

Edited August 9, 2013 by MacTee

[Benzschwagel]

ok, sounds good

By the way, the new version has "process", but it is spelled incorrectly as "procees"

Also, you might want to make that area a little bigger, the "selected mods" button is overlapping the "override existing files" text, and you might want to change "override" to "overwrite" since that is more often used when talking about copying files over other files.

When you right-click in the mod list, the word "collapse" in "collapse all mod nodes" is spelled incorrectly as "collaps"

Just little fixes here and there for this post.

[Stone Blue]

Theoreticly yes, but as i mentioned above ther is a bug in KSPMA which causes an additional folder with the mod zip file name.

But this bug shouldn't be a problem.

e.g.:

A Zip MyMod_1.0.zip contains GameData/MyMod/Parts/MyFirstPart/...

KSPMA will make:

GameData/MyMod_1.0/MyMod/Parts/MyFirstPart/...

Iam on that on the next days when i find the time

Again, are you sure this is a bug in your program?....This happens when I MANUALLY install a bunch of those mods, WITHOUT using KSPMA at all...Unless KSPMA somehow OVERWROTE my ZIPs when I previously used it to install them?

[Benzschwagel]

hmm, it looks like it's using the "extract to [File Name\]..." option of the zip file, then using that since it probably doesn't know how to find the folder name needed because they are all different by nature. They also don't all start inside the GameData folder, some have a Ships folder as well.

[MacTee]

@Benzschwagel:

Thanks, the spelling will be changed in the next version! =)

The path finding algorythem works more or less as follows:

Lets assume we have the zip file MyMod_1.zip that contains MyMod_1.0/GameData/MyNod/Parts/MyFirstPart/<somePartFiles> and MyMod_1.0/Ships/VAB/<aCraftFile>

What would my path finding algorythem do

1. Find all KSP folders in the zip (like GameData, Parts, Ships)
   
2. Go throu the list of found KSP folders. one at a time.
   
   1. 
      
   2. check if the folder has parent folders which have already a destination path ->
      use this parent destination to build the path for the checked folder.
      (e.g: the first folder is GameData, this hasnt a destination now, so go to next step (b.),
      the second folder to check would be Parts, the Parts folder is a subsubfolder of GameData and it has a destination so build the path with this destination path.
      
   3. if its a GameData Folder ->
      normaly here it should copy the content of GameData to the KSPInstall/GameData folder
      but it seems that it works like: use the parent folder of GameData as root folder for the GameData folder. (e.g: "MyMods_1.0") and in this folder "MyMods_1.0" the content of the zip GameData folder would be copied.
      (so the result is GameData/MyMod_1.0/MyNod/MyFirstPart/...)
      
   4. if its a a Ships folder ->
      Copy the content of the ships to the KSPInstall/Ships folder.
      
   5. all other cases ->
      use the parent folder as root folder for the KSPInstall/GameData and copy the checked folder to that rootfolder.
      
      
      
      @Stone Blue:
      I think when u extract my firtual MyMod.zip zip file your structure would look like.
      GameData/MyMod_1.0/GameData/MyNod/MyFirstPart/...
      right?
      KSP MA only overwrites when the "Override existing files" checkbox is checked, otherwise extraction & copy would be aborted.

Edited August 10, 2013 by MacTee

[cy-one]

I would have a small request.

Currently, create zip source is disabled, if there's already a zip detected. As one sometimes want to edit stuff (for example, Kethane: enable debug and disable hexgrid on the starting screen... or of course any other edit), it would be great if one could generate a new zip source out of the existing installation, even if a zip file is already created. So one could have "Kethane 1.7.something.zip" and "Kethane 1.7.something-<own-name>.zip".

Something along those lines would be nice.

[MacTee]

Implemented, will come in the next version...

[Benzschwagel]

so, I just went through all my mods in KSP Mod Admin and reset the directory on all of them and set them to what they were supposed to be, as well as make sure other stuff did not install (like "source" files or change logs and other .txt files). KSP was crashing on loading files before, but it is now working great (so far, at least it finally loaded). I was able to do it VERY quickly and easily using KSPMA. I couldn't find a specific mod that was causing it, but when I looked at the individual files that KSPMA was installing, it was installing "readme.txt" and "changelog.txt" files and "source" folders into the jumbled mess of ksp\gamedata\. It was looking like this: "KSP\GameData\Some_Mod_1.4.0_0.21.1\GameData\Some Mod\Source\C#_file.cs" That's an example of some of the randomness that I was getting. I went through and cleaned it all up so that it now looks like: "KSP\GameData\Some Mod\Part\Structural\Some_Part\model.mu" which is what it is supposed to look like. I understand that the algorithm needs some work, but just thinking of having to do it manually with cut and paste and without KSPMA makes my head hurt. So while it is still a work in progress, it is a very good program indeed.

Thank you for your work,

Benz

[MacTee]

@Benzschwagel:

sry for my late replay, i was/am ill and i wasn't in the mood to get near a screen.

I have fixed the bug that causes the double folders mention above. (release in a few minutes)

The path structure should be more straight now

To avoid problems with the source or text files of a mod, uncheck them in the Mod Selection befor installation.

(Or uncheck them and proceed the mods again).

[MacTee]

Change Log:

KSP Mod Admin v1.3.2:

• Zip creation for all installed mods.
  
• "Autopath detection" Bug fixed (no more additional root folders).
  
• "Not deleted mod folder(s)" Bug fixed.
  

[Benzschwagel]

oh man, I've been busy, sorry to hear that, I hope you get better soon, but thanks for the update

[cy-one]

Moar feature requests

- support for secondary mousebuttons. most browsers (if not all) have the thumb-buttons mapped to "forward/backward in history". I find that very useful.

- either support for the forums/a forums-tab, or the option to copypaste downloadlinks into KSPMA. This would be useful for mods that either have a variant of themselves only in the forums or for mod-fixes/patches from the community, or of course for non-spaceport-mods. I'm just to lazy to copypaste the .zip into the right direction every time

And because of mod-backups, I like to use a specific "downloaded-mods"-directory instead of just my $user/downloads

[MacTee]

Hi cy-one,

i have send you a PM with a link to the next prerelease.

Could you check the mouse thumb buttons please (cause i don't own such a mouse .

I'm just to lazy to copypaste the .zip into the right direction every time

And because of mod-backups, I like to use a specific "downloaded-mods"-directory instead of just my $user/downloads

You can change the download/mods folder in the Options or in the ModBrowser tab ("Folder+Magnifier"-Button).

[cy-one]

Will test it later (~2h), I'm just heading out.

[cy-one]

1) It says a new version is available.... 1.3.2

2) Thumb buttons don't work whatsoever

Maybe you can make a sort of debug function that catches the input? That way, I could give you the log. Maybe your code assumes a different mouse button identifier (or whatever ).

3) downloading something from the forums (in this case OrdanInd telescope) worked without problems, although the progress bar seemed to be buggy. First no progress at all (but working-cycle-animation), then done

[MacTee]

Thanks for testing!

1) yes im lazy there just testing for difference

2) hmm... i guess a log won't help. The functions iam using give me just 2 extra buttons. I thought that this where the thumb buttons

ok when this don't works i have to think about another solution.

3) nice! As i mentioned in the PM forum attachments don't work and till now i have no idea how to fix this

Yes the progressbar is some kind of buggy, sometimes the pregess messages from the iExplorer controll are weird.

Edited August 21, 2013 by MacTee

[Benzschwagel]

Awesome, a forum page as well as the standard space port page!

About thumb buttons, I have them too, but I know that a lot mice don't have them, mainly cheaper ones and laptop touchpads. You'll probably have to google how to add that functionality without having the mouse to test it, but you probably already know that.

Also, when downloading the new KSPMA updates, you should put a button or link to the folder it was downloaded into so that the new file is easier to access.

[MacTee]

I think i'll buy me a new mouse

The open folder button is already implemented and will come with the next version.