[Help] File updates from 1.5 -> 1.6

[thomassanford]

Hello all! I need to update my working/extracted files from 1.5 -> 1.6 it looks like only cat3 was effected. Can someone confirm or is it best to just delete and reextract everything? Going forward it seems there will be a lot of updates, so what is best practice for both keeping the game files up to date and also see if a file my existing mod diffs have changed, as efficiently as possible of course. The thought being if you made a large number of changes it would be nice to not have to manually check every diff reference. Thank you in advance!
Edit - I found other changes as well.

[Mysterial]

In Egosoft's extractor you can sort by date. Just extract the files that are new since the last time you did it.

[thomassanford]

In Egosoft's extractor you can sort by date. Just extract the files that are new since the last time you did it.

Thank you great Idea! I have not been using the GUI. That answers the first part of upating the extracted files. Now, How is everyone checking those against the diff changes made by your mods?
Edit - That worked great for updating the extracted files even I could easily see what files changed. I skipped Rebirth, so I feel a bit lost here, so sorry for the stupid initial questions any help to get up to speed is appreciated. Hopefully it will start to flow soon.

[Mysterial]

I've always used Araxis Merge for text diffs.

[thomassanford]

I've always used Araxis Merge for text diffs.

Another very helpful tip. I have a much simpler one than Araxis I will give it a try.

Is this for a reasonable update path/plan?

1) Use XRCatToolGUI.exe to use the GUI feature and see what cat/files changed making a copy of the list.
2) Check the specific files from list created above against the files my mods changes.
3) Copy the old game files that would change to another directory.
4) Extract and Update files with new ones.
5) Diff the old and new game files to see if the portion my mods changes is effected.
6) Make changes as needed to mod to retain compatibility.

Again, most of what I have so far is very easy stuff and could be checked very easily manually, but larger projects it could become a hassle. Just want to setup some kind of process early.

[7ate9tin11s]

Thank you great Idea! I have not been using the GUI. That answers the first part of upating the extracted files. Now, How is everyone checking those against the diff changes made by your mods?
Edit - That worked great for updating the extracted files even I could easily see what files changed. I skipped Rebirth, so I feel a bit lost here, so sorry for the stupid initial questions any help to get up to speed is appreciated. Hopefully it will start to flow soon.

I use the built-in diff in Visual Studio Code: Open both files > Right-click one in the Explorer pane and select 'Select for Compare' > Right-click the other and choose 'Compare with Selected'

[SirNukes]

Another option someone on Discord mentioned a while back: start a local git repository with the 1.5 files committed, extract the updated 1.6 files over top of it (I use a custom extractor that automatically grabs only those with MD5 differences), and view the diffs in a git GUI tool. (You can also commit the 1.6 changed files to prepare the repo for the next x4 patch.)

[thomassanford]

I use the built-in diff in Visual Studio Code: Open both files > Right-click one in the Explorer pane and select 'Select for Compare' > Right-click the other and choose 'Compare with Selected'

Another excellent idea!.. I have never used it for this type of work only XML specifically I only it for C#/VB that kind of thing. I would love the details on how to set this up with the needed style sheets and such as VS l loads them without a style applied. I would love to edit XML in XS2017 it sucks to have to use many different programs to do simple stuff. Thanks again! I will see if I can get this to work.

[thomassanford]

Another option someone on Discord mentioned a while back: start a local git repository with the 1.5 files committed, extract the updated 1.6 files over top of it (I use a custom extractor that automatically grabs only those with MD5 differences), and view the diffs in a git GUI tool. (You can also commit the 1.6 changed files to prepare the repo for the next x4 patch.)

I have not considered this either as I use git for my personal projects only, which I haven't had collaboration on and do not need such care as I am the only one making changes. Using it in this way would be great for quickly finding compatibility problems in many situations. I will try this for sure and keep it in mind for future use. Thank you!