The X3 Savegame Manager - updated 07/01/2012 - X3: Albion Prelude Version released

General discussions about the games by Egosoft including X-BTF, XT, X², X³: Reunion, X³: Terran Conflict and X³: Albion Prelude.

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mrbadger
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The X3 Savegame Manager - updated 07/01/2012 - X3: Albion Prelude Version released

Post by mrbadger » Thu, 4. Jun 09, 17:57

The X3 Savegame Manager
================================
Version: 1.i
=========


[ external image ]

==================
Version for X3:Albion Prelude players
Download
==================


==================
Version for X3:TC players
Download
==================

==================
Version for X3:R players
Download
==================

==================
User guide as downloadable PDF for inclusion in the superbox.
Download
==================

==================
Source code for the savegame manager
Download
==================


==================
Upgrade instructions
To upgrade from a previous version, simply
replace the old savegame manager jar file with the new one.
Any updating of config files that may be required is
handled automatically.

==================


----------------
Introduction
----------------

The Savegame Manager is a utility which makes managing multiple sets of X3 savegames simpler and safer. Manually moving savegame sets around as you switch between games (for example, between your main game where you are a peaceful trader, and another where you are a pirate) is risky, because one mistake in copying files can mean you lose your progress, or worse, your entire saved game.
The savegame manager removes this risk by handling the movement of different sets of savegames between the X3 savegame folder and its own storage folders.

Even if you just have the one game in progress, it provides a way of having more than one copy of your saves, and making backups, which reduces the chances of losing them.

The savegame manager calls sets of savegames 'campaigns'. Adding a set of saves to it creates a campaign, which you name, and can provide a description for (more on this later). There is no limit on the number of campaigns it can manage.

It doesn't matter whether the savegames are vanilla, mod, or script savegames, or whether you have one or more X3:TC or X3:R installs on your machine. All that matters is that they are valid X3 *.sav files, and that all your X3 game installs refer to the same savegame folder. You will need the right version of the savegame manager for your X3 version (Reunion or Terran Conflict), but that's all.

You simply select the campaign you wish to play at the moment from a list, then 'activate it', which moves the current campaign back into storage and puts your activated campaign into the X3 savegame folder, ready for you to start playing.

Using the included log file recording feature, you can also keep a written record of your progress.

This utility has been designed with two things in mind. One is ease of use, and the second is the safety of your savegames. Of the two, savegame safety has been the major focus, but I've done my best to make sure the interface is as self explanatory as possible. Most buttons have tooltip text that explains what they do. Hover the mouse over a button to bring up the tooltip.

The usage guide presented here is comprehensive, and fairly big. However a lot of what the savegame manager can do is explained as you actually use it, and it is not possible to do something by accident that will erase a savegame from within the savemanager itself. Therefore you can if you want, start using it and read this user guide at your leasure to understand the more advanced things the savegame manager can do.

As you should when using any new application, make backups of all your savegames before you start to use the savegame manager.

---------------
Installation
---------------

Download the zip file and uzip it. Place the file (x3tcSavegameManager.jar or x3rSavegamemanager.jar, depending on which you downloaded) into its own directory. If you already have a campaigns folder from a previous install of the savegame manager, make sure it is in the same folder s the savegame manager, if not, one will be created for you. You wil need to have Java installed for this program to run.

Savegame sets can be quite large. A full set, including autosaves, comes to 160Mb, so if you have several sets, you will need a lot of space. Therefore you should place the directory containing the savegame manager on a partition with enough space.
Some larger usb sticks - 8 to 16gb would also be suitable if you wanted to keep your saves in portable form (although in that case you should make sure the usb stick doesn't have the only copies of your savegames, usb sticks can go missing!).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Running the Savegame manager for the first time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

You need to have at least one savegame file in your X3 savegame folder (meaning you should have run the game and saved at least once), unless you have a pre-existing campaigns folder with savegame set in, which will be covered in a bit.

This utility is a runnable jar file. Provided you have an up to date Java Runtime installed, it will behave like any normal executable file, so you can double click on it to run it. You will need to make your own desktop shortcut, should you want one.

One running the utility, it will create (if they do not already exist), an xml file cfg.xml and a subdirectory Campaigns/. Managed savegame sets are called Campaigns by the savegame manager, and this folder is where they will be stored.

if you have one or more saves in the X3 savegame folder and they aren't already set up as a campaign, you will be asked if you wish the savegame manager to manage your savegame set for you. If you click 'YES' you will be presented with the following dialogue box.

[ external image ]

Type in a name for your savegame set, and a comment/description if you want, and click 'done'. The descriptive text can be changed or updated at any time. The savegame manager doesn't have the option to change a campaign name later, but it can be done manually if you really need to (see FAQ in the next post of this thread).

This creates a file called campaign file.xml, which the savegame manager uses to identify and control savegame sets (campaigns). This file does not interfere with the X3 savegame files themselves.

A copy of your newly created campaign will be moved to storage, within Campaigns/ in a subdirectory having the same name as the campaign itself, along with a copy of this campaign file.xml file.

So, for example, if you named your new campagn 'vanilla game', the storage folder for this campaign would be Campaigns/vanilla game/

Because the campaign file.xml file you just created is in the X3 savegame folder, that makes the campaign it describes (being your savegames) the active campaign , as far as the savegame manager is concerned.

Active means that the campaign in question is the one that will appear in the X3 load/save screen.

If you already have a managed campaign in your savegame folder (meaning there is a previously created and valid campaign file.xml in the savegame folder, as well as some savegame files), the savegame manager will detect it and store a copy if it doesn't already have one, adding it to its list of managed campaigns.

If you already have a pre-existing campaigns folder with campaigns stored, and this campaigns folder is in the same directory as the savegame manager itself, they will be detected and loaded into the savegame manager. If no active campaign is found in the X3:TC savegame folder, and there aren't some savegames present to make a campaign from, you will be prompted to select which of the available campaigns you wish to activate.

What to do if you have a non standard X3 savegame folder.

(This won't effect most players, but some do have their savegames in custom locations. If you don't, you can skip this part.)

If you have set a savegame folder other then the default egosoft one, then you will need to open the cfg.xml file in a text editor and specify your custom savegame folders location.

Locate the following entry (it won't be hard, its the only xml element in the file).

Code: Select all

 <saveFolderPath><![CDATA[standard]]></saveFolderPath>
Replace the word standard with your custom savegame location. For example, if your savegames were kept in
f:\X3TC\savegames\ you would change it to

Code: Select all

 <saveFolderPath><![CDATA[f:\X3TC\savegames\]]></saveFolderPath>
If you make a mistake or otherwise damage the cfg.xml, delete it and restart the savegame manager, it will be regenerated for you.

------------------------------------------------
Using the Savegame manager
------------------------------------------------

1: Updating the stored copy of a campaign

Every time you switch between available campaigns, the currently active campaign is returned to storage. However, if you have a campaign active for a long time, or only have one campaign in your list, you may wish to update the stored copy without switching to a different campaign.

To do this, click the 'Save Active Campaign' button. The savegame manager will replace your stored copy with the savegame files currently in the X3 savegame directory.

2: Switching between stored campaigns

When you want to change the currently active campaign for another you have stored, select the campaign you want to change to from the 'All Available Campaigns' list (left click it with the mouse to highlight the campaign you want to change to), and click the 'Activate Selected Campaign' button.

Your currently active campaign will be returned to storage, the X3 savegame folder will be cleared, and the selected campaign will be copied into the X3 savegame folder, becoming the new active campaign.

3: Forking Campaigns - Creating a new campaign using the saves from another

If you want to make a copy of a current campaign that will remain in the available campaigns list (instead of a backup of a campaign, which would be stored elsewhere), then you should activate the campaign you wish to duplicate, or 'fork', and then click the 'Fork Active Campaign' button. You will then be presented with the same dialogue that was used when you converted your first savegame set into a campaign.

Fill it in, and provided the campaign name you chose isn't already in use, your new campaign will be created in the campaigns folder, and copies of the currently active campaigns savegame files will be transfered to the new campaigns folder.

The list of available campaigns will then be updated to include this newly created campaign.

Note that the forked campaign does not become the active campaign, you will have to switch to it yourself using the 'activate campaign' button.

4: Beginning a new campaign without using pre-existing savegame files

If you want to start a fresh campaign that doesn't involve any savegames you currently have, the you should click the
'Begin New Campaign' button.

You will be presented with the campaign name and description entry dialogue again. Fill in the name for your new campaign, and the description.

Provided once again that the campaign name you selected is available, your currently active campaign will be returned to storage, the X3 savegame folder will be cleared. Once this has been done the campaign manager will exit.

Load X3, start a new game, make at least one save. Then once you have finished playing and exited the game, open the savegame manager again, and click 'Save Active Campaign'. Any other option, such as changing the active campaign will also update the stored copy of this new campaign with the newly created save files too, so if you forget, there's no problem, the savegames will be stored eventually.

5: Importing and Exporting Campaigns

To import or export campaigns, click the 'Import Export Manager' button. You will then be presented with the following dialogue box:

[ external image ]

From here you have three options:

Import Campaign

This option is to be used when you have a campaign that has been exported from another instance of the savegame manager that you want to include in the install you are currently using. You would most likely use this when moving campaigns between machines, for instance.

This button, when clicked, opens a directory selection dialogue. Using this you should navigate to the folder containing your campaign. By this I mean the folder produced when the campaign was exported which contains the savegame files and the campaign file.xml file.

This folder can be located on the local machine, a storage device attatched to it, or on any other computer accessible via a network shared folder. Select it, click 'ok, and the campaign will be imported.

It is also possible to import campaigns simply by copying them into the campaigns folder yourself, but doing it using the import method described here allows you to import a campaign which is already present and active (you might do this if you were playing the same game on several machines and swapping savegames between them).

If the campaign is not only present already, but active, and you copy it into the campaigns folder manually, the next time the active campaign updates its stored copy, your imported version will be overwritten. If you import it using the savegame manager, the active savegemes in the X3 savegame folder are themselves overwritten with the newly imported campaign files, preventing this issue.

Export Campaign

Clicking this button opens a dialogue box listing the available campaigns.

[ external image ]

Select the one you want to export, and then click 'done'. This will open a directory selection window, and you then navigate to the location you want to export the selected campaign to, and click 'ok to close the folder selection dialogue.

Once you have chosen the destination, which can again be on the local machine or any shared folder on another computer available over a network, the savegame manager will write a copy of the selected campaign to the chosen destination.

You can then export another campaign or close the import/export manager window.

If you want to export more than one campaign at once, for now just open the campaigns folder and copy them manually.

Import Savegame Set

This option allows you to import other savegame sets you may have and turn them into managed campaigns. When you click the 'Import Savegame Set' button, you will once again be presented with a directory selection dialogue. Navigate to the directory which holds the savegames you wish to import. Click 'ok', and the campaign setup dialogue will appoear, asking for a campaign name and description. Once this is filled in and you've clicked 'done', the savegame set will be imported, and a campaign storage folder created for them.

If you have more than one savegame set to import, there is no need to close the import export manager between import operations.

7: Using the Campaign Log File System

After your initial description on creating the campaign, you can add incrementally numbered log file entries.

Adding a new Log Entry

To update the logfile of the active campaign, click Open the Pilots log file editor . The log file manager will appear.

[ external image ]

Clicking 'New Log Entry' will make the logfile on display editable, and insert a new log file entry for you to fill in. The skeleton of this logfile entry is provided by a logfile template. To begin with this is the default log file template, but you can alter the template to suit your own needs.

To save the new logfile entry, click 'Save'. If you decide you don't want to save the log entry after all, click Cancel

If you edit and remove one or more numbered log entries, the automatically incremented log entry number may be out of sync. If this happens, type your preferred log number into the edit box labelled 'Set Log Number to', and click apply.

Editing the default log entry template

Altering the logfile template is done by clicking the edit log template button' in the log file viewer. This brings up the following dialogue:

[ external image ]

Using this you can alter the basic template in any way you wish, then either save your changes by clicking 'Save and Exit', revert to to the default version by clicking 'Reset to default', or if you decide not to make any changes, click 'Exit without saving'

There are two tokens that you can use in your logfile template that will, when the logfile template is used to add a new log entry to your log file, result in either the log entry number, or the current date, being added to the log entry.

These are:

<lognum>
The current log entry number.
<datetime>
The current date and time in short format.

provided the token is added as it appears above, the log file editor will recognise it and substitute the relevent value.

The current logfile entry template is

Code: Select all

--------------------
Log entry: <lognum>
Day: 

Which, when a new logfile entry is made (lets assume its the second logfile entry), becomes

Code: Select all

--------------------
Log entry: 2
Day: 
If you wanted to go ahead and have the date in there, you could change the template to

Code: Select all

--------------------
Log entry: <lognum>
Date: <datetime>

Which would become, when a logfile entry was made

Code: Select all

--------------------
Log entry: 2
Date: 2009-06-06:20-27-14

My personal log file template, which you can see in use in the 'add new log entry' image above, is this one:

Code: Select all

--------------------
Log entry: <lognum>
Day:
Credits: 
Flying: 
Explored: 


8: Web links to this thread, the Savegame Managers FAQ, and the X-Universe forum

These are available via the file menu. See the following image

[ external image ]

It's pretty easy to use, just click the one you want, and the page will open in your default browser.


9: The Vault

You can use the vault to keep copies of particulerly important savegames or whole campaigns. Once you add something to the vault, it is available to be used as a base for new campaigns, but can't be directly used, so it won't get overwriiten.

(Note that while the savegame manager won't overwrite vault contents, or allow them to be deleted without definate confirmation that this is what you want, the same is not true of Windows. The vault folder is just as susceptable to direct deletion as any non system folder.)

To access the vault, click the Vault Manager button on the main window.

[ external image ]

On doing this, the stored version of your currently active campaign will be updated, so it matches the copy of the campaign currently in the X3 savegame folder. After this, if it doesn't already exist, a new sub folder will be created in the savegame managers folder, called 'Vault'.

You will then be presented with the following dialogue

[ external image ]

You now have three options. Since you can't use the first - Open The Vault - until there is already something stored in it, we will start with the second option:

Add a Campaign to the Vault

Clicking this will bring up the following dialogue

[ external image ]

Once you have chosen the campaign that you want to send to the vault, a new dialogue opens that asks you to choose which savegames to include. This can be all of them, or just the ones you want.

[ external image ]

Having done this, click done and one more dialogue appears

[ external image ]

Provided the name you give for this vault entry isn't already in use in the vault, when you fill in that and the optional description, clicking done will create the vault entry.

Open The Vault

We can now use the vault contents viewer, so clicking on Open The Vault will bring up the vault browser.

[ external image ]

You can now browse the various vault entries and read their accompanying descriptive text.
Unlike normal campaigns, the descriptions cannot be added to, as they are not normal pilots log files. Should you need to edit them, you need to edit the xml file by hand in a suitable text editor.

Obviously there's not much point in just having these savegames in the vault, so the option to create a new campaign based on a vault entry is available. To create a new campaign using a vault entry, click the Create button.
This presents you with a vault entry selection dialogue as follows:

[ external image ]

Pick the vault entry you want to use as a base for your new campaign, and click done. You will get the standard campaign setup dialogue, asking for a campaign name and the first entry in the pilots log for the campaign, and then your new campaign is ready for use.

Delete a Vault Entry

This option allows you to delete previously stored vault entries. Deletion using this feature is permenant, unlike manually sending something to the recycle bin. It's pretty self explanatory, and replete with dire warnings as you go through the process.

10: Renaming Campaigns

You can change the name of any campaign using this feature. Click 'Rename Campaign', and you will be presented with the following dialog:

[ external image ]

Type your new name, then hit 'Done', and provided the name isn't already in use, your campaign will be renamed.

11: Deleting Campaigns

You can delete any campaign except the currently active one using this feature. Click 'Delete Campaign, and you will be presented with the following dialog:

[ external image ]

Select the campaign you want to delete, then click 'Delete' You will be presented with a dire warning, listing the campaign to be deleted and mentioning that this operation cannot be undone, then if you select 'OK', the campaign in question will be deleted.

- MrBadger

===============================


---------
Credits
---------

Design and Developement

MrBadger

Beta testing

GrahamAtome

===============================

ChangeLog


26/05/2010 - Version 1.i

- corrected an ommision in the vault code, auto refresh of the campaigns list on creating a new campaign from a vault entry now works.

23/05/2010 - Version 1.h

- altered fork campaign code to avoid possible bug.

01/05/2010 - Version 1.g

- Added functionality to rename and delete campaigns.

08/09/2009 - Version 1.f

- fixed a bug which caused a forked campaign to not have a logfile template in some situations.


26/08/2009 - Version 1.e

- Improved savegame folder detection. This change was made in response to the recently identified issue with foreign langage versions of windows.

- Changes made to the invalid character stripping code used for campaign name cleaning. Now all that are removed are characters which are invalid for file/folder names. This is in response to issues with foreign language users naming campaigns.


27/07/2009 - Version 1.d

- Fixed a bug in the import manager that stopped the default log file template being added when a new savegame set was imported.

- Added detailed tooltips for every button that needed them.

- Added X-Universe Forum link to the web links menu

- Updated the import/export manager so the user no longer has to refresh the 'All Available Campaigns' list manually after an import operation.

- Added autodetection of windows version so the savegame folder is always found.

07/06/2009 - Version 1.c

- Added the vault feature

- Added links to this forum post and the FAQ to the file menu.

- Various changes to the text in the program.


08/06/2009 - Version 1.b

- The program window is now centered on screen at launch, and all windows it pops up are all positioned over the main program window. Previously they would cascade, and sometimes go of screen.

- Added improved pilots log file system.

- If a campaign name is entered for a new or forked campaign that is already in use, the user is now prompted to try again, rather than the previous abort and program exit response.


05/06/2009 - Version 1.a

- Alteration to program logic. Savegame file original creation dates now preserved.

- The 'exit' and 'edit active campaign text' were still disabled after the first savegame set is imported. They now become enabled.

Version 1.0

- Initial release.
Last edited by mrbadger on Sat, 7. Jan 12, 23:10, edited 136 times in total.
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. ... Niccolò Machiavelli

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mrbadger
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Post by mrbadger » Thu, 4. Jun 09, 17:58

The X3:Terran Conflict Savegame Manager FAQ
===================================

Last update: 01/05/2010


1: How do I delete a campaign

As of version 1.g this option is available in the savegame manager. People with previous versions are advised to upgrade.

2: I want to stop using the savegame manager, how do I do that

The simplest way is to delete the program. The savegame manager doesn't alter savegame files, it just places a small xml file in the X3 savegame folder. You can delete this, or leave it, it won't effect anything.

If you have more than one campaign, then you could make the one you want to keep playing active before deleting the program. You may want to keep the campaigns folder, since if you have more than one campaign (set of savegames), the most recent versions of them will be in there, in subfolders. You could delete all the 'campaign file.xml' files if you like, but again, without the savegame manager they won't do anything, so there's no need.

3: Is the source code available

As of version 1.g the source has been released, see the first post in this thread for the download link.

4: How do I rename a campaign

As of version 1.g this option is available in the savegame manager. Users of previous versions are advised to upgrade.

5: Will there be a version of the savegame manager for X-BTF/XT/X2

I won't be able to look into this until the superbox has been released.

6: Will the savegame manager work with Linux/Mac versions of X3

Yes, but you may need to set your own savegame folder location. See the first post in this thread for how to do this.

7: Will there be a version for German players

No. Not unless someone else takes the source and makes one themselves.

8: Beta testing guidelines

No longer relevent - removed.

9: Will this give my savegames the ***modified*** tag

No. All the savegame manager does is move your savegames from storage to the savegame folder and back. It doesn't alter them in any way. I've tested for this, and my program doesn't cause this tag to appear. Some antivirus programs do cause the ***modified*** tag to appear, that happened to me once, on my main campaign, long before I wrote the savegame manager, but I don't know why.


10: I deleted some savegames from the X3 savegame folder, and they've come back.

If you have deleted some of the savegame files from the X3 savegame folder, copies of the deleted saves will still exist in the storage folder of the currently active campaign.

If you then activate another campaign, and then re-activate the campaign you deleted saves from, the save files that were in the storage folder will be copied into the X3 savegame folder too, resurrecting the deleted saves.

The only way to prevent this is to manually delete the unwanted savegame files from both the X3 savegame folder and the campaigns storage folder.

I won't be adding in the automatic removal of these deleted savegame files from the campaign storage folder, because that would mean deleting all or part of a stored campaign before updating it, and that creates the chance that a campaign could be lost accidentally.
Ok, only a very slight chance (such as a program or PC crash, or if a USB stick is being used, its removal by mistake), but its better to be safe then have hordes of angry X3 players chasing after me with pitchforks...


11: I started a new campaign, but didn't save a game before quitting X3, and now the savegame manager won't let me switch campaigns

If you've got a campaign file in the x3 savegame folder but no saves with it to make it a valid campaign, just copy any old savegame from another campaign into the x3 savegame folder.

This will let the savegame manager switch in a new campaign at your request, and you can either delete the campaign once it isn't active or activate it again and overwrite the savegame file with a new one.

-----------------------------------------------------



- MrBadger
Last edited by mrbadger on Thu, 6. Jan 11, 21:34, edited 48 times in total.
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. ... Niccolò Machiavelli

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supakillaii
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xr

Post by supakillaii » Thu, 4. Jun 09, 18:07

Yay It's officially released!
AWESOME!
z0m6 1st post D:

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mrbadger
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Post by mrbadger » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 09:21

[edited]

I decided, after reading GrahamAtomes post in the beta thread about file creation/modification dates not being preserved, to enable preservation of this information after all (a pretty simple change).

I was of the opinion that updating file creation dates would let help people work out which of two backup copies of a campaign was the most recent, should that issue arise. However this no longer seems to be an efficient aproach. I'll come up with another method, such as expanding the content of the campaign info files.

The modification date of a savegame file is updated each time you make a save. Therefore if you are trying to work out which save in a campaign is the most recent in order to remove older savegames and reduce the space the campaign takes up, looking at file mofication dates will help you work that out.

I also found and fixed a small issue with the exit button remaining disabled after the first savegame set is imported.

I've updated the download version with these changes, and made the version number 1.a.
Last edited by mrbadger on Sat, 6. Jun 09, 09:54, edited 2 times in total.
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. ... Niccolò Machiavelli

zazie
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Post by zazie » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 10:05

Great tool !

I am still playing plain vanilla so I keep savegame-sets before updates. But I have a large choice of different X3:R-games (several vanilla-games, XTM).

Does your tool work for X3:R too ? (Of course I have to modify the save game folder's location)

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mrbadger
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Post by mrbadger » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 10:19

zazie wrote:Great tool !

I am still playing plain vanilla so I keep savegame-sets before updates. But I have a large choice of different X3:R-games (several vanilla-games, XTM).

Does your tool work for X3:R too ? (Of course I have to modify the save game folder's location)
It will work for X3:R if you follow the instructions to change the savegame folders location in cfg.xml.

Or you could tell me where X3:R keeps its savegames (I can't remember), and I'll produce an X3:R version.
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. ... Niccolò Machiavelli

zazie
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Post by zazie » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 10:50

Thanks !

As I do not sit at my gaming-PC atm I can't tell you neither. But I searched. This line is from a post by CBJ
C:\Users\username\Documents\Egosoft\X3\save

In his post he describes a small but important difference for XP and vista: In XP the folder is ...\My documents\...

Don't know if this is important for your tool (=X3:TC).

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Post by mrbadger » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 11:53

zazie wrote:Thanks !

As I do not sit at my gaming-PC atm I can't tell you neither. But I searched. This line is from a post by CBJ
C:\Users\username\Documents\Egosoft\X3\save

In his post he describes a small but important difference for XP and vista: In XP the folder is ...\My documents\...

Don't know if this is important for your tool (=X3:TC).
Thanks. I'll get an X3:R version up shortly.

Apparently Vista can recognise that when a program asks for 'my documents', it should open the documents folder, and Windows 7, which I use, has gone back to the old 'my documents' name.
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. ... Niccolò Machiavelli

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Post by arcana75 » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 12:02

If I'm not wrong, this is a convenient GUI to basically move savegames around.

There are 2 PC games called Oblivion and Morrowind and back then there was a Plugin Manager tool for both. The neat thing about that was it was able to not only manage saves, it could detect the mods installed for the savegame and install/uninstall said mods when the savegame is loaded.

Worth considering for this tool with TC scripts and mods against saves. U might want to work with Cycrow to see if both the Plugin Manager and this tool can be combined for ultimate effect.

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Post by mrbadger » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 12:14

arcana75 wrote:If I'm not wrong, this is a convenient GUI to basically move savegames around.

There are 2 PC games called Oblivion and Morrowind and back then there was a Plugin Manager tool for both. The neat thing about that was it was able to not only manage saves, it could detect the mods installed for the savegame and install/uninstall said mods when the savegame is loaded.

Worth considering for this tool with TC scripts and mods against saves. U might want to work with Cycrow to see if both the Plugin Manager and this tool can be combined for ultimate effect.
I'm not sure I want to include script/mod support. The whole idea is that this utility is only involved with managing the savegame set of people who have multiple games on the go, regardless of whether those games are vanilla, mods, or scripts.

Also, alas it seems that Cycrow has lost the source for the Plugin Manager, so its going to be some time before that particuler tool gets updated.
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Post by mrbadger » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 12:22

There is now a version of the savegame manager for X3:Reunion players. The download link is in the first post of this thread.
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Post by MattBlaK » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 13:06

Hiya,

This looks like a very good app. I was just wondering if there was a way it could 'update' savegames from a beta as I have saves that aren't compatible with later versions.

Cheers,

MB
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Post by mrbadger » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 13:11

MattBlaK wrote:Hiya,

This looks like a very good app. I was just wondering if there was a way it could 'update' savegames from a beta as I have saves that aren't compatible with later versions.

Cheers,

MB
No, sorry. This game doesn't alter savegames, it just manages them.

I don't think what you want can be done anyway, even egosoft have said that if savegames are incompatible, they can't be fixed.
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Post by arcana75 » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 15:20

mrbadger wrote:
arcana75 wrote:If I'm not wrong, this is a convenient GUI to basically move savegames around.

There are 2 PC games called Oblivion and Morrowind and back then there was a Plugin Manager tool for both. The neat thing about that was it was able to not only manage saves, it could detect the mods installed for the savegame and install/uninstall said mods when the savegame is loaded.

Worth considering for this tool with TC scripts and mods against saves. U might want to work with Cycrow to see if both the Plugin Manager and this tool can be combined for ultimate effect.
I'm not sure I want to include script/mod support. The whole idea is that this utility is only involved with managing the savegame set of people who have multiple games on the go, regardless of whether those games are vanilla, mods, or scripts.

Also, alas it seems that Cycrow has lost the source for the Plugin Manager, so its going to be some time before that particuler tool gets updated.
Actually it's not that difficult, considering that the default scripts are all named !***.pck and the t files are only a few specific filenames (0002-L0XX.pck and 0002.pck). Since the scripts run regardless of savegame, as long as they reside in the scripts folder, then ur program need only copy out all the non !***.pck files to go with the saves and copy them back when necessary. U can do this without Cycrow's help too.

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Post by mrbadger » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 16:06

arcana75 wrote:
Actually it's not that difficult, considering that the default scripts are all named !***.pck and the t files are only a few specific filenames (0002-L0XX.pck and 0002.pck). Since the scripts run regardless of savegame, as long as they reside in the scripts folder, then ur program need only copy out all the non !***.pck files to go with the saves and copy them back when necessary. U can do this without Cycrow's help too.
Not that difficult, says the guy who wouldn't have to code it :roll:

There is no way to tell what scripts are in use by what savegame, which is the main reason it can't be done.

Yes, new games could be started where the scripts are known, but that won't suit people with games they've already started.

Using the current plugin manager with my utility side by side would do what you want already.
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Post by Cycrow » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 17:21

arcana75 wrote:
mrbadger wrote:
arcana75 wrote:If I'm not wrong, this is a convenient GUI to basically move savegames around.

There are 2 PC games called Oblivion and Morrowind and back then there was a Plugin Manager tool for both. The neat thing about that was it was able to not only manage saves, it could detect the mods installed for the savegame and install/uninstall said mods when the savegame is loaded.

Worth considering for this tool with TC scripts and mods against saves. U might want to work with Cycrow to see if both the Plugin Manager and this tool can be combined for ultimate effect.
I'm not sure I want to include script/mod support. The whole idea is that this utility is only involved with managing the savegame set of people who have multiple games on the go, regardless of whether those games are vanilla, mods, or scripts.

Also, alas it seems that Cycrow has lost the source for the Plugin Manager, so its going to be some time before that particuler tool gets updated.
Actually it's not that difficult, considering that the default scripts are all named !***.pck and the t files are only a few specific filenames (0002-L0XX.pck and 0002.pck). Since the scripts run regardless of savegame, as long as they reside in the scripts folder, then ur program need only copy out all the non !***.pck files to go with the saves and copy them back when necessary. U can do this without Cycrow's help too.
this would only work switching between modded and vanilla games. But scripts isn't the only files that you need to do it with.

Besides, the current plugin manager has a profile system that allows you to assign mods and package to a certain profile and it will control save games for that profile.

so if you player multiple mods, you can create a profile for each mod. So each profile will get a seperate set of save games

there really is no easy way to determine what scripts are for what packages, and what are modified and what are not, and what are being used in a saved game.

but then, script files are never really a problem for saved games anyways, so its alot of effort for no noticable benefit. Its the actual mod files that matter for saved games.


for a simple addition to work with mods, you could just assign each "group" of save games to a mod file from the x3tc/mods directory.

then when you active the group, it simply activates the mod thats been set.

all you need for this is to get the .cat list from /mods to select, and edit the registery setting for the mod name

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Post by mrbadger » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 17:40

Cycrow wrote:
for a simple addition to work with mods, you could just assign each "group" of save games to a mod file from the x3tc/mods directory.

then when you active the group, it simply activates the mod thats been set.

all you need for this is to get the .cat list from /mods to select, and edit the registery setting for the mod name
This must be a definition of the word 'simple' I wasn't aware of :)

Well I might be able to do it, if its not that hard (I know nothing about scripts and mods). Not yet though, I think the savegame manager needs to mature a bit first. I've already got a list of things I want to add.

If you wanted to help add it, I'd be ok with that. Provided you resisted the temptation to start twitching when you saw my code...

Thinking about it, I'd probably write a second version for use by people who run mods, and keep the normal version as it is, just for savegames.
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Post by Cycrow » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 18:30

well the "Simple" i was thinking of was to totally ignore scripts, and just focus on the full mods.

these are cat/file files that are in the mods directory.

only 1 of these can be activated at one time, and these are listed on the TC Startup screen, when you goto Select Mod Package.

all u'll need to do, is assign the file name of the mod to the group of save games.

Assuming you only have 1 X3TC Directory, you get the available mod list by getting the filenames of mods/*.cat


in Begin New Compaign, you could have an additional drop down box or listbox with the available mods and default to the option "Vanilla" so you link the compaign to a mod file

something like
Choose a Campaign Name
___________________

Link to Mod Package
Vanilla______\/

Enter a Compaign Decrition




______________________
when the compaign is activated, just adjust the registry value for modname to match the filename of the selected mod

HKCU/Software/Egosoft/X3TC/modName


then when the game is run, the mod will automatically be selected and loaded into the game.


Just an idea if you wanted to add some limited mod support.

i havn't actually done java in quite a few years, so my knowledge on it is limited.

its pretty easy to do it in something like QT thou, so i assume it should be doable with java, but u might need to use an additional library for registry access

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Post by mrbadger » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 18:45

Ok thanks, thats useful.

I'm still new to Java myself (well I say new, I did teach it for a term, but that was just to first year students, so it was pretty simple stuff). I predominantly use C/C++ for everything (usually C), but I had to use Java for a research project recently, so I decided to use it for this to give me some more practice.

I'll look into adding mod support. There are a few things to sort/add first.
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Post by Nanook » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 19:06

Cycrow wrote:well the "Simple" i was thinking of was to totally ignore scripts, and just focus on the full mods.

these are cat/file files that are in the mods directory.

only 1 of these can be activated at one time, and these are listed on the TC Startup screen, when you goto Select Mod Package.

all u'll need to do, is assign the file name of the mod to the group of save games.

Assuming you only have 1 X3TC Directory, you get the available mod list by getting the filenames of mods/*.cat...
Except it's not really that simple. Some people run multiple mods using false patches. Others use scripts that don't use your plugin manager. The popular MARS scripts come to mind. And if you start a new game with those scripts or mods in their assigned game folders, you get those mods/scripts whether you want them or not. The only way I've found around this issue is to have multiple instances of the game for each set of mods/scripts I want to run. But even that gets messy at times.

I really wish Egosoft wouldn't have moved all the saves and screenshot folders to the My Documents directory, and simply left them in the main game folder as in the past. They could've put them in savegame and screenshot subdirectories. Or better yet, let the players choose an appropriate spot for them. That way, they could still cater to those who don't want to run the game as an administrator (default could still be My Documents, I guess) as well as those that want more control. So at the start of each new game, you could choose a new savegame folder and give it a distinctive name.

For that matter, there's no reason no to be able to do that in the My Documents folder, too. For a game about choices, we have precious few when it comes to the 'important' decisions. :wink:
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