[New Release] Orbiter Addons Manager

[Urwumpe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marijn

 Ok, so that's something to be aware of as well. Thanks. I noticed that activating the D3D9 clients results in some minor changes in orbiter_ng.cfg.

Yes, by Orbiter. It saves its configuration there.

[Marijn]

A little demonstration of my attempt to iron most of the inconveniences out. This video shows how to create a new Orbiter installation from scratch and have the add-on's managed by JSGME. I did clean up some of the add-on's file and folder structures. I deleted readme.txt files in the root folder, deleted thumbnails and other non-essential files and renamed the documentation folders so everything goes into /DOC and I made some add-on's myself to apply my personal configurations for Orbiter, D3D9, XRSound and IMFD. In just over six minutes, Orbiter is unzipped, modded, configured and unmodded back to Orbiter's initial state. Orbiter_ng.exe is only launched once.

Orbiter2016 managed by JSGME Demo - YouTube

Orbiter2016 managed by JSGME Demo - YouTube

Before taking the snapshot, I had to create a Sound folder in the root. That's unfortunate, but many add-ons will put files there.
MyChanges sets Parameters, Visual Effects, Debugging and Performance settings to Orbiter. Then the D3D9Client is installed, configured for either 16:10 or 16:9 (for YouTube recordings) and modded so it will not show Replay and Recording when replaying or recording at the bottom of the screen. Then XRSound is installed and set to my preferences (no music in external view). Then the other add-on's are installed. IMFD is set to my preferences as well (note the MJD default instead of GET).

Changes to files like Sol.cfg and Earth.cfg need to be done manually. And for the hi-res textures I will keep on using symlinks untill I have a better solution. Hope you like it. I will try OvGME now.

[Marijn]

Ok. I found a real nice solution for installing the hi-res texture packs which I think is worth sharing. It will work with the JSGME application and any other mod manager I think, but it can be used as a stand-alone solution as well. And it's just a normal Orbiter mod.

It allows to activate and deactivate individual hi-res texture packs for one or more Orbiter installations. Since no files are actually copied or moved, the 32-bit nature of JSGME is not a problem anymore. That's the beauty of it. And it's really quick.

Have a look at the video. Note the available free space on my harddrive before and after installing the hi-res textures. There is no difference at any time. (edit: 28,6Gb. Video starts blurred)

For Mars, it is required to modify the Config\Mars.cfg file. That's done as well. After deactivating the texture packs, the original Orbiter textures are restored. The label files remain as any other file would generated by an add-on.

Edit: video

Orbiter2016 Hi res texture pack handling - YouTube

Orbiter2016 Hi res texture pack handling - YouTube

The location of the hi-res textures can be anywhere. I keep 'em as below. There are no subfolders within these folders, just the texture files.
D:\Orbiter\High-resolution texture packs\Earth
D:\Orbiter\High-resolution texture packs\Mars
D:\Orbiter\High-resolution texture packs\Moon

Then for each of these texture packs, I've created a separate add-on which creates the symlinks to the real hi-res files in the Archive folders of the Orbiter installation by double-clicking a bat file. That file deletes itself after it is finished.

The trick was to create a mod structure with 0kb dummy texture files in the Textures\Planet\Archive folders. By activating the mod, the original textures are overwritten by these dummies and therefore backupped by JSGME. After this step, the dummies are deleted so the symlinks can take their place. Hope you like it.

[Abdullah Radwan]

After a busy week in school, version 1.0.1 released.

Added enable and disable feature, fixes many and many bugs.

Snapshots added to TODO for 1.0.2. Will see editing Sol.cfg idea.

[Abdullah Radwan]

After 2 weeks, version 1.0.2 is about to be released. A lot of features was added. Settings window, ability to manage multiple Orbiter installations, snapshots, ignored folders/files and database editor. Minor bugs were fixed.

---------- Post added 5th Oct 2018 at 02:31 PM ---------- Previous post was 4th Oct 2018 at 06:56 PM ----------

1.0.2 released.

[Zandy12]

I'm impressed with this add-on. It can indeed be quite a useful tool for those who would like to avoid the hassle of installing add-ons, myself included. There's still a bit of a learning curve though for a new player if they aren't familiar with the Orbiter folder or installing mods in general.

Few bugs i've noticed:

- Even if the add-on installation fails, the file still gets removed upon request. Requiring you to unzip the file again.
- Nothing shows up on the database except the mods I install via the Installation button, only those show up.
- Whenever I use the snapchat option, my entire Orbiter folder gets deleted. It doesn't even get sent to the Recycle Bin.
- Sometimes after installing an add-on, it is missing on the database. Meaning, I have to uninstall it manually.
- If I have an add-on folder that has another folder right after it that actually has the content (typical with some freshly downloaded add-ons), OAD ends up just importing the file without putting the files in the right directories.
- There is no warning for if a file is about to be overwritten or replaced. It'd be nice to have that.

I like the system you have in place e.g replacing .cfg with .oad when disabling the add-ons. This is a really great project .

[Abdullah Radwan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zandy12

 I'm impressed with this add-on. It can indeed be quite a useful tool for those who would like to avoid the hassle of installing add-ons, myself included. There's still a bit of a learning curve though for a new player if they aren't familiar with the Orbiter folder or installing mods in general.

Few bugs i've noticed:

- Even if the add-on installation fails, the file still gets removed upon request. Requiring you to unzip the file again.
- Nothing shows up on the database except the mods I install via the Installation button, only those show up.
- Whenever I use the snapchat option, my entire Orbiter folder gets deleted. It doesn't even get sent to the Recycle Bin.
- Sometimes after installing an add-on, it is missing on the database. Meaning, I have to uninstall it manually.
- If I have an add-on folder that has another folder right after it that actually has the content (typical with some freshly downloaded add-ons), OAD ends up just importing the file without putting the files in the right directories.
- There is no warning for if a file is about to be overwritten or replaced. It'd be nice to have that.

I like the system you have in place e.g replacing .cfg with .oad when disabling the add-ons. This is a really great project .

Glad you liked the program. Thanks for the feedback.

1- Added to TODO.
2- That means you don't have the default config file. When you install an add-on, the program will add it to the database.
3- Will review the source code and see.
4- It can't be missing on the database. If you can't see it on the installed add-ons list, that means one of its files is missing. If you removed a file, you need to add it to the ignored list.
5- I've noticed this bug as well. Added to TODO.
6- This will be a problem in the case of an imported snapshot if there is a lot of files.

[clipper]

(O/T) I don't really use the Manager much as I rarely use addons in general, but I just wanted to say that I really love and appreciate the support and responsiveness you provide to the users of your software.

[Abdullah Radwan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by clipper

 (O/T) I don't really use the Manager much as I rarely use addons in general, but I just wanted to say that I really love and appreciate the support and responsiveness you provide to the users of your software.

Thanks for your kind words. This is just the basics of a successful programmer.

[coussini]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marijn

 A little demonstration of my attempt to iron most of the inconveniences out. This video shows how to create a new Orbiter installation from scratch and have the add-on's managed by JSGME. I did clean up some of the add-on's file and folder structures. I deleted readme.txt files in the root folder, deleted thumbnails and other non-essential files and renamed the documentation folders so everything goes into /DOC and I made some add-on's myself to apply my personal configurations for Orbiter, D3D9, XRSound and IMFD. In just over six minutes, Orbiter is unzipped, modded, configured and unmodded back to Orbiter's initial state. Orbiter_ng.exe is only launched once.

Orbiter2016 managed by JSGME Demo - YouTube

Before taking the snapshot, I had to create a Sound folder in the root. That's unfortunate, but many add-ons will put files there.
MyChanges sets Parameters, Visual Effects, Debugging and Performance settings to Orbiter. Then the D3D9Client is installed, configured for either 16:10 or 16:9 (for YouTube recordings) and modded so it will not show Replay and Recording when replaying or recording at the bottom of the screen. Then XRSound is installed and set to my preferences (no music in external view). Then the other add-on's are installed. IMFD is set to my preferences as well (note the MJD default instead of GET).

Changes to files like Sol.cfg and Earth.cfg need to be done manually. And for the hi-res textures I will keep on using symlinks untill I have a better solution. Hope you like it. I will try OvGME now.

Hi Maryjn. Wich file do you pick in orbiter for your « my change files »... I am interresting about theses files relative to the Parameters, visual effects and vidéo tab. Thanks for your help.

[Zandy12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abdullah Radwan

 Thanks for your kind words. This is just the basics of a successful programmer.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Abdullah Radwan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zandy12

 - Whenever I use the snapchat option, my entire Orbiter folder gets deleted.

Bug confirmed. Added to TODO.

[Marijn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by coussini

 Wich file do you pick in orbiter for your « my change files »... I am interresting about theses files relative to the Parameters, visual effects and vidéo tab. Thanks for your help.

Sorry, I missed your question in this thread. I think I understand your question, but I am not sure.

The answer is that I discarded this way of applying initial settings. Activating the 3D39 client modifies the Orbiter_ng.cfg file. So there is a tie with all the other checkboxes of activated modules. That's a bit unfortunate.

I changed these scripts a lot since then. I ended up with a folder which contains all files which I consider 'Orbiter core files'. That includes the D3D9 client and any personal changes. These files will be included in the first snapshot.

Working this way means you can't use an add-on manager to activate and de-activate different graphical clients.

If you find a better solution, please let me know!

[coussini]

Thanks a lot Marijn. I understand now. Best regards