hey folks. I've been hearing everyone asking about a mod manager and so I made one. I call it New Vegas Community Mod Utility, or NVCMU, for those who want a shorter version. I call it community because i want it to support what the community wants versus what i care to implement. Here's what i have now, what else do you want?

-archive invalidation tool

-scriptless installs - even for multiple versions

-right-click explorer context link for open with...NVCMU and send to...NVCMU

-tracks per mod resource overwrites and resources used

-automatically backs up existing resources rather than overwriting

-automatically imports and saves readme's. So no more 8 trillion readme.txt in your data folder

-can get mod information from the new vegas nexus if file id is given or can be found

Planned additions:

-nexus explorer - specially made with nexus in mind. Browse, search and download a file and have it automatically installed when finished

-will support XML based scripted installs

- mod autoupdater

so?

Having a script checker somewhere would be super, super useful. GECK telling me it's broken but not where/how it's broken is driving me slowly insane.

Thank Cipsis.

http://www.cipscis.com/fallout/utilities/validator.aspx

Excellent! Thanks for the link.

If an autoupdater turns out to be too difficult, a version comparison (current version & Nexus version) would be very good to have..

I can definately add an interface to that. Let me look into it. For now, i'll add a button to open that site in a new window.

@azchar111 - it can actually already do that if i can find a file id for the mod on the nexus or you give the program one. I'm hoping i can get a list of filenames and id's somewhere.

Right after I posted my Ambient Temperature mod to the Nexus, DarkOne posted a comment asking if something like this was possible, given a Nexus based database of the most recent mod versions that the Nexus folks would develop and maintain. At the time I was sort of hung up on the idea of it being a normal plugin that messaged you with mod updates when you launched the game, but it makes more sense to have it be part of a mod manager (plus you wouldn't have to wait for FOSE's IO functions to implement it). I'd PM him about it to see if he's still interested (obviously it's something they'd want, since it would help promote their site).

Thanks man, I hit up DarkOne over on the Nexus forums.

In unrelated news, I figure it's time for a description of the install system.

The NVCMU Install System!

Simple Installs:

So, Simple installs can be done anyway you want. See, My install system is radically different. It doesn't personally care how you arrange your files. If you don't add folders for organization, it's not going to organize anything. If you throw all your textures in with your ESP, it's going to throw them all in the textures folder and the ESP in the data folder. This presents two ways to install.

• Simply Throw everything into the zip file's top level
  
• Organize

We'll start with the first one. That one is the easiest. Basically, as a mod maker, you can literally throw EVERYTHING into the top level of a zip file and it will be installed. However, I am NOT responsible for ensuring that your ESP knows to LOOK for those resources in the base Meshes folder for example and not the Meshes/MyMod/DarkBats/. However, for a simple mod, this is perfect and saves you time as a mod designer.

Now for the organized way. You put your resources in their own folders. You don't even have to do the asinine Meshes/MyFolder/, no, you can just throw MyFolder in with the ESP. It will detect automatically what's contained in the folder. This brings up an important point, What happens if you put Meshes AND Sounds in a single top level Folder? Well, while I would recommend against, this tool exists for you and therefore, it will separate them by type and then put them in MyFolder. For instance, a mesh will go into Meshes/MyFolder while a voice will go into Sounds/Voice/MyFolder.


Multiple Path Installs:

So what if you have a mod that has version A and B? Well, I can deal with that two. There are Three types of Multiple Path Installs.

• Multiple ESPs and Common Resources
  
• Multiple ESPs and Multiple Resource Packages with no Common Resources
  
• Multiple Resource Paths with a Common Resource Bucket and a single ESP

So, again, start with the first one.

When you have Multiple ESP's but the same resources, then all you need to do is name your ESP's the same but with an extra letter or number to identify it. For example, MyESP would be MyESPA.esp and MyESPB.esp. Note however that until scripted installs are hammered out it relies on the user either A) knowing which version to use or B) my nexus api getting lucky and finding your mod on the nexus or C) the user giving me the FID. Hopefully, we can make this a thing of the past latter.
Also note that with Multiple ESPs, they appear in the load order list as a group Mod, that is, the mod name will be the top level and moving that in the load order changes the write dates of both ESPs, however, the one you activate is the one that gets installed. That's pretty much it. It's a simple interface.

Now for the second one.

Multiple ESPs and Multiple Resource Packages are kind of annoying to deal with, especially when trying to do scripted installs, but i've taken the worry about of that. Just name your ESP MyESPA and MyESPB as above and have ResourceA and ResourceB folders in the same zip file. If they activate A, ResourceA is added to the data directory and vice-versa. That's all there is to this one.

The third one is my favorite. It's pretty sweet in my opinion.

So, you have Multiple Resource Paths, a common resource bucket and a single ESP? Well, that's okay. We at NVCMU understand your pain and no longer is it necessary to write a script for install! No, all you need do is follow the format below.

-Zip File Mod
--CommonRes
---Folders or no Folders and Resources
--ResourceA
---Folders or no Folders and Resources
--ResourceB
---Folders or no Folders and Resources
--MyESP.esp

That's all it takes and we'll give em a choice. If they activate A, then CommonRes + ResourceA gets installed and vice-versa. So you may be asking, what if I have TWO ESPs? Well, fret not, for this method will work with more than one ESP by following this format.

-Zip File Mod
--CommonRes
---Ditto
--ResourceA
---Ditto
--ResourceB
---Ditto
--ResourceA2
---Ditto
--ResourceB2
---Ditto
--MyESPA.esp
--MyESPB.esp

So, the big question now would be, do I have to use your naming scheme? The short answer is no. The long answer however is that the Resource Folders MUST follow that naming scheme for multiple levels of install resources. The ESPs are not bound by such rules. Simply make sure that they have a COMMON NAME and I will find it and recognize they're multiple choices.

IE: These examples are correct

- ApplesNOBLOOD.esp
- ApplesBLOOD.esp

The above is correct.

- AlianaCompanionNOCGear.esp
- AlianaCompCG.esp

Yes, even those two are correct as Aliana is the common name.

IE: These examples are wrong

- ApplerBlood.esp
- ApplesNoBld.esp

The above is wrong. It has no common name between them.

- AliCNCG.esp
- AlianaCCG.esp

Again, wrong, no common name between them.


Anyways, I hope that you all enjoyed this sneak peek of the scriptless install system. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions go ahead and post them. I'm building this for all of us after all.

Edit: I thought of an important question someone might ask and wanted to post an answer to it.

Question: So, if I have ResouceA and custom folder names inside those, how are they installed?
Answer: Same way as if there was one ESP and one Resource bucket. //

Question: So, If I just throw them in ResourceA?
Answer: They get throw into the folders without any organizaiton.

To clarify, while multiple install paths have a different folder structure, the actual process by which the destination is decided is the same.

Question: What if I have MyFolderA/MyFolderB/MyFolderC?
Answer: It will be installed in ////

To clarify, I only look for the resources in the folders and then build their destination path by backtracking until I either A) hit the top level or B ) hit an folder name like Meshes,Textures, etc.
Note: For this system, Texture is the same as Textures.

I've been holding off on DLing mods until there is a mod utility like FO3 had FOMM is this the closest thing we'll get to a NVMM? Is this available yet? The two links you provided in your sig seem to be dead.

Nice!

I appreciate you making the effort as do many of us. :goodjob:

My only input / request would be one of Simplicity and ease of use. One of the biggest things I loved about FOMM was that it was so straight forward and simple to use for changing the load-order of mods in our lists. We simply launched the tool and dragged mods up or down the list to where we wanted them, and it was just that simple. No "Okay?" or "Go" buttons, it just worked as soon as you dragged the mod and dropped it. That kind of simplicity to me is key for the functions that will be used the most in a mod loader. Merging mods and all that other stuff is fine and good, but I think the ultimate success of your tool will come down to how well the core functions is done (for any mod manager). The basic mod manager functions are not sixy or exciting, so making it super-easy, quick and simple will be important to how well we the people can ultimately use them.

Good luck and thanks again!

Miax

how this got repeated twice is beyond me.

It's not dead. The latest this will get released is Sunday. I hope to get it out by Friday. I was hoping for today, but i'm making some last minute changes to the overall program structure that should lead to a smoother user and modder experience. That and I want to hammer out a few things first. Notably, the fact that I have a TESsnip like system (not TESsnip) in my program. The first release will allow viewing and editing of data on the byte level of ESPs/ESMs and the next release will do cut, copy, paste and merge. The only reason that won't be in this release is because I want to do a bit more testing with merging and copying. Copying is already pretty much done, but useless without the cut function righ'?

Anyways, simple is the key. Mods will show up in a list, and in fact be grouped together if they were installed together. Multiple mods (IE: ones with two installs) will be grouped under one heading and you'll have to activate one version or the other. Right now, i'm only going for the one resource folder and up to as many ESPs as you want. The other things are rather complicated and I got to thinking that many people may not use them, at least, not the last example. The first example, ResourceA, B and CommonRes will be implemented. But I'm waiting to see if anyone would ever actually develop a mod with differing ESPs that used differing resources. - I should say, different ESPs with differing resources in the same release file.

But hey, I may release tomorrow. Just depends on how many snags I hit and how fast I can code. Still, I bet you want to know more. So, let's get down to brass tax on a few more features.

TESsnip? Wha's that?

Quite simply, NVCMU doesn't need TESsnip to do any of TESsnip's features. It already does them, inherently and without any need for any extensions. Right click on a mod in the list and click view. End of story.

Also, this is how I generate resource reports. Right click and hit up the reports sub-menu if you just want reports of either Resources used, Masters or settings changed. Want to see it all in one window? Then right click and edit, which will bring it up in a nice tabbed navigation type deal with tabs for settings, resources, masters, etc.

I'm working on trying to find a sure fire way of finding stuff on the nexus, but for now, it tries to find it based on ESP,ReadMe names and google. If it can't, it'll ask you if you want to put it in. This is optional, but it does allow certain other features (like update checks or reading the comments on the file).

Also, Release 2 will bring with it the Nexus Browser. it'll be integrated into NVCMU and be able to detect when you download a mod through it. That mod will be automatically installed. This can be toggled in settings whether or not you want it do that in 2.0.

But yeah, I'm just hammering out and reimplementing things. I'm changing storage a bit and rewriting some of the code. That's all. So it's a little delayed, but it'll give you more features!

:clap:

Most excellent! Looking forward to it!

C89c,

I may be a little confused on the install process, possibly only because, I don't have access to the program yet but, I'm trying to plan my new mod so, I've got a question.

How will this handle mods with core .esm files? I intend to build a "Core Assets Master" and, then build modular updates that rely on it, for my upcoming "NVInteriors Project". This will lighten some of the workload for me and, cut down on the redundancy I had in "DCInteriors".

My plan is to have,

NVInteriorCore.esm, "which contains all new or, custom forms, textures sets and, Meshes."

(Examples, for now and, these are only hypothetical because, I haven't yet finished the game so, I've not decided where to start!)

NVIntBC.esp, "Bolder City"
NVIntFS.esp, "Free side"
NVInt(Whatever) and, so on, which all rely on the NVInteriorsCore.esm

I've always packed my meshes and, textures into there own mod, specific folders so, I do get that part.


This does sound very promising, The auto update and, link to the nexus would be incredible to see. I hope this works and, becomes the standard for the community, just as FOMM has.

I would like to know because I'm trying to build a neat and, tightie mod, which doesn't repeat some of the shortcomings that I had in DCInteriors.

thanks

Cev

Hey Cev,

I hadn't thought of grouping anything beyond multiple esps for the same mod, IE: goodspringshomea and goodspringshomeb. ESMs are just ESMs, they show up at the top of the list and your individual mods will have the ESM listed as the master. If you mean, will i allow a player to start a game without the right masters enabled? Right now, yes, but by next release no. Once my full byte level reading module is finished, I'll be looking for things like that and autoactivate ESMs if an ESP relies on it.

If you mean, how does the install system treat ESMs, then they just get put in the data folder. I mean, a mod in my system is the entire folder content. They're all connected, just not grouped on the view list that way...though now that you mentioned that I may just do that tonight. Radically change the way they're displayed.

Out of curiosity though, what would you like to see in regards to this?

C89c,

Now I guess I have a few more questions,

I like to build my mod modularly because, it cuts down on troubleshooting headaches, when I can turn off parts to track down specific issues. Also, It gives the user the choice to pick and, choose which parts of the mod they want to use.

Using your system would I have to pack up all new plugins into the same download for them to be grouped properly?

About the Plugin naming convention, Do I have to have the esp name like NVInteriorsA, and NVInteriorsB or, Could I use my standard way of including the districts name like DCInteriors_Georgetown, DCInteriors_Mason? Also, will the user be able to have A,B and, C active at the same time?

Will you have a BSA unpacker? You may have mentioned this before but, I don't remember, to excited about the check for update and, link to the nexus. :celebration:

I think it might be nice to see the .esm's grouped with the .esp's, It would help users notice if they are missing a master, I wasn't all that concerned about users trying to run a mod without the masters (They do have some responsibility to install and, use mods properly after all!) The future update you mentioned, where it checks for masters and, auto activates would be nice though.

There would still need to be a way to manipulate the load order.

Without seeing your interface first hand I don't really have any suggestions for improvement yet.

This does sound very nice, If I'm going to start to work with a new program I want to know as much as I can to make the transition as seamless as possible. DCInteriors ended up to be a massive mod with six individual districts and, a combined version. How will you handle mods that need more than one download? (Because of the 300 meg limit on the nexus!)

Are you going to have a merge plugin feature? It would be nice to have a one stop shop utility. Instead of having to work with FOMM, FO3edit and, FO3 plugin Utility.

Thanks for your efforts and, for taking time to answer my questions.

cev

No. If they have the EXACT same common name as another set of mods I assume they're meant to be together.



Nope. I check for a common name. If you have DCInteriors_ as the beginning of all of your mods or NVInteriors_ then i'll find it and use that to group them.

Hmm. That's a good point there. Guess i'll let the user handle how to activate the separate ESPs! Though, later on, the XML Scripted Install system will likely be able to specify if mods can run together or if they're meant to be separate, but by far the scripted install system is last on my list.



Hmm. Have to look into the BSA file structure. Possibly, don't see why I couldn't. I can read them, so i'll look into unpacking.



Yeah, i'm going to change my view a little. Now i'm going to group by MOD rather than by ESP and ESM. FalloutNV.esm will of course remain at the top of the list, but i'm thinking i'll put that and future DLC into a Bethesda category. I'll have two view modes. Loadorder and Groups.



Oh yeah, that's in. I'm just trying to figure out how to flag a mod as 'activated' to Fallout NV.



Well, I'm not actually going to download mods through an API. That has been put on hold, instead, I'll use the FID to skip through the clutter and open a browser direct to that mod's page. You can download the files from this window. Also, it seems that without hooking, I can't detect file downloads, so until later this won't really be an issue since you'll be using the browser window to download and then going back and adding it. However, if I ever hook, then i'll find a solution to this. Right now...I suppose i'll hack something together in the next release. Probably have it use the same kind of system as the Common Name ESP's.



Yep. With Cut, Copy and Paste, why not merge? I'll also be able to convert (not this release) ESP to ESM eventually. Still working out file structure differences.



No problems. Ask away. I encourage everyone to ask, because I can't know you want something until you ask and your questions help me realize flaws.

Peace out.

Coop

Peace out!

No, "War , War Never changes!"

HeHe! your my hero! This sounds like the mod manager, utility we've always needed!

Keep fighting the good fight and, I'll cover your back!

cev

Good news! Release today! It'll be up after work!

have you released this yet? i'm dying to try it out. :brokencomputer:

I had a family emergency so it got pushed back. I've been working on it since I got home, but release will be tomorrow...Nevermind, I just noticed it's 4 AM. Release will be today

No, problem, I'm not trying to be pushy. Just thought I'd get to kick the tires over the weekend.

take your time good work needs it.

I hope everything is alright with your family,

take care and, thanks.

cev

Just Wondering if this was ever finished. Also is it in C++ ? basically wondering if it uses VB 2010 or .Net Framework because it is not supported through wine so I would not be able to run it on my mac.

I have a request if possible: drag and drop. The ability to hit a create new FOMOD button and a window appears with the buttons like add folder, add file etc. but with the possibility of dragging and dropping files and folders over an area of this window that will add them as if I used the add folder/file buttons.