[SUGESTION] mod presets

[bogate]

With the coming venture seasons a lot of players with modified games have a reason to play an unmodified game. Having to enable/disable extensions one at a time each time we want to switch from one savegame to the other is going to be a big pain point. A simple enable/disable all is not going to cut it. I for example dont have all the mods enabled at the same time, looking at you SW mod. Would it be possible to introduce mod presets? That way we can switch easily with one click.

Also, many games on steam when clicking play have a small prompt before starting the game. Maybe asking to execute the game in 32 or 64 bit mode or stuff like that. Would it be possible to add such a prompt but have it ask about what mod preset to start the game with? That would be again faster than 1) starting the game, 2) selecting a mod preset (or switching them all manually ) 3) restart the game.

[CBJ]

I think Steam Workshop Collections is what you're looking for. We can't do it at the game end, because it would interfere with Steam Workshop's mod selection.

[bogate]

I think Steam Workshop Collections is what you're looking for. We can't do it at the game end, because it would interfere with Steam Workshop's mod selection.

Steam collections are for mod authors to put mods together, they dont work like that for the user as far as im aware.

What i am suggesting is something like this with my awesome paint skills on the right :
https://image.prntscr.com/image/JJIAvvO ... 5R9gRg.png

being able to define different mod sets makes switching much faster, because the user no longer needs to enable/deactivate each mod individually, but it still requires to launch the game once, change the preset and then restart the game


example of a game with a 64 or 32bit promp on launch, translated and with an example of how it could be implemented:
https://image.prntscr.com/image/3dCdpi9 ... qOvZTQ.png
https://image.prntscr.com/image/54doyBD ... ZfzpuQ.png

[CBJ]

I know what you're suggesting, but when I asked the relevant person about it they told me we couldn't do that because it's Steam Workshop that determines what mods are loaded and we can't override that with locally-defined mod collections.

[bogate]

I know what you're suggesting, but when I asked the relevant person about it they told me we couldn't do that because it's Steam Workshop that determines what mods are loaded and we can't override that with locally-defined mod collections.

Thanks for looking into it. Does that also kill the idea of reworking the extension menu ingame? Having to restart the game is not optimal, but we can live with that. Having to disable and enable +50 mods every time we switch from modified to unmodified or viceversa is a way bigger problem

[Falcrack]

I know what you're suggesting, but when I asked the relevant person about it they told me we couldn't do that because it's Steam Workshop that determines what mods are loaded and we can't override that with locally-defined mod collections.

Seriously, you can't just have a button to "save extensions list", so that you could then turn on or off the mods you want, so that when you restart the game, it will enable those particular mods? I mean we turn mods on and off manually in the extension menu, why not simply be able to have the option to turn them all on or all off or load up a certain predefined selection of them?

I don't buy it that it can't be done. Now I would believe it if you told me it won't be done, but not that it is some impossible task.

[CBJ]

I really don't appreciate the implication that I am lying. I use my own time to answer questions with the best information I have, and I simply won't bother if people are going to take that attitude.

[Buzz2005]

you can use nosteam.exe and make a different whole game folder to have separate modded game going on

[bogate]

you can use nosteam.exe and make a different whole game folder to have separate modded game going on

Thanks for that solution, where can i find this nosteam.exe?

If i understand correctly i would need 2 completely different installations going on, one with mods in the extension folder and another without?

I guess updating would be as easy as updating the steam game, copying the entire steam folder to the other game folder and replace the .exe again. But is there the option to have both integrated in steam automatically updating?

It would be nice to have an officially supported solution but this works in the meantime

I really don't appreciate the implication that I am lying. I use my own time to answer questions with the best information I have, and I simply won't bother if people are going to take that attitude.

Please dont let some people get to you, we all appreciate the work you do on this forum.

It would be nice to have an officially supported solution to one-click into a modifed x4.exe or an unmodified x4.exe, preferably with different sets of mods. I dont know how such a solution would look like, but i'm sure you guys can come with something up even if it is not ready for the first venture season. Having a workaround until then would be pretty awesome though.

[Buzz2005]

yes you will need whole other game folder and nosteam.exe is on the front page of egosoft.com under downloads

bc of the extension folder you will need whole other game folder, works ok on my end, If Linux version didn't have some problems I would have used different OS for modded

[jlehtone]

... solution to one-click into ...

Clickety clap, GUI ****. If the data (selections) is stored in modifiable file, then edits of that file could be more automatic than a mouse.
if ...

The nosteam.exe is separate file from Steam-based x4.exe. One does not / should not replace the other.
There are surely (CLI) solutions to selectively sync a directory tree.

[chew-ie]

CLI solution

There is git!

[Falcrack]

I really don't appreciate the implication that I am lying. I use my own time to answer questions with the best information I have, and I simply won't bother if people are going to take that attitude.

I don't mean to say you are lying, just that I have a hard time accepting that what is being proposed (the ability to save mod presets) would not be possible. There is a difference, I am not suggesting malice on the part of anyone. When someone disagrees with something you say, please do not assume that they are attacking you personally!

[CBJ]

You didn't "disagree" with what I said; you said, quite specifically, that you didn't believe it. Phrase your posts more carefully if you want developers (or anyone else for that matter) to engage in discussions with you. Meanwhile, let people get back to the topic in hand.

[bogate]

CLI solution

There is git!

Are you suggesting to create a .git in the x4 install directory inside the steam library, make 1 branch in which i dont select any mods in the ingame selection menu, and then a new branch for each mod preset? Then just switch branches before starting the game and voila? I mean it sounds like overkill but is there a reason why it would not work? updating the game and/or extensions would be as simple as switching branches, telling steam to update and just commit all changes

[chew-ie]

That's excactly what I had in mind. Just switch the branches to jump between mod "profiles". Pity there is no branch switch hook [that I'm aware of] which could be used to manage the savegames as well. That'll need some additional cli scripts.

[jlehtone]

There is git!

I was thinking robocopy/rsync -- version control of binary blobs is not very comfy.

[bogate]

That's excactly what I had in mind. Just switch the branches to jump between mod "profiles". Pity there is no branch switch hook [that I'm aware of] which could be used to manage the savegames as well. That'll need some additional cli scripts.

trying to initialize git on the x4 foundations folder has been ongoing for 2 hours and took upwards of +20GB, i just killed, deleted it and scratched the idea. Having a separate install seems like the way to go. I will try to make steam pick up both games to do this i copy the x4 folder to "X4 Foundations1" and get a new install of X4, in order to switch the game just go to the steam library folder, rename X4 to "X4 Foundations2" and rename "X4 Foundations1" to "X4 Foundations". It is still a pain, but could posssibly be automated by a batch script on the desktop. Just need to close steam before changing game session



Anyone knows how to have 2 different savegames folders for each instance of the game? Can i edit or mod somewhere the destination of savegames? Found out how, edited batch files

edit:
batch files:

play modded

cd C:\Users\USER\Documents\Egosoft\X4\ID
ren save save_unmodded
ren save_modded save
cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common
ren "X4 Foundations" "X4 Foundations_unmodded"
ren "X4 Foundations_modded" "X4 Foundations"
start steam://rungameid/392160

play unmodded

cd C:\Users\USER\Documents\Egosoft\X4\ID
ren save save_modded
ren save_unmodded save
cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common
ren "X4 Foundations" "X4 Foundations_modded"
ren "X4 Foundations_unmodded" "X4 Foundations"
start steam://rungameid/392160

[michi_oss]

I know what you're suggesting, but when I asked the relevant person about it they told me we couldn't do that because it's Steam Workshop that determines what mods are loaded and we can't override that with locally-defined mod collections.

Why is it possible to de-/activate mods manually in X4 via several buttons, but not via a Button "activate all" or "deactivate all" or activate a defined set of mods?

I agree that it would be difficult to load automatically some mods related to a savegame, but it should be possible to make more buttons in the extension menu of X4?!

Not sure if there is a misunderstanding about the request. Thats why I'm asking... and to understand the background.
I think I have another game in Steam were I can activate or deactivate all mods via one button in the game, but not sure at the moment. Transport Fever.
I even think you can define the mods for each savegame and have not to restart the game after chaning it.
But perhaps both games are not comparable regarding mods.

[Val Comdriver]

I know what you're suggesting, but when I asked the relevant person about it they told me we couldn't do that because it's Steam Workshop that determines what mods are loaded and we can't override that with locally-defined mod collections.

Why is it possible to de-/activate mods manually in X4 via several buttons, but not via a Button "activate all" or "deactivate all" or activate a defined set of mods?

This. there is in game menu to enable/disable mods which are already loaded trough Steam. I have like 10 mods in my subscription list but since I have them disabled in game my saves are not modified.
I think the problem is devs are possibly thinking we want to be able enable/disable mods without game restart. but actual solution would be to have a small window asking if we want to start the game with mods enabled or disabled right after we press the "play" button in Steam or somewhere else. with an option to remember selection and resetting it from in game setting of course.