Six Updater: Install/Update mods, missions. Delta patching. Server browser, and more!

[sickboy 13]

There should be no reason to order the mods when the mods are properly setup.

Dependencies are handled automatically already.

Only exception situations could require it, but normally you dont. In any case in such situation you can find the prio field in the Mods datagrid, You can use positive and negative numbers to dictate priority.

---------- Post added at 13:17 ---------- Previous post was at 13:14 ----------

Hi, as my topic was locked and referred to here:

Is Six Updater compatible with Project Reality mod ? If so could you please tell me how to launch it ?

Thanks. :)

Not at this time, I think the closed nature of PR does not really fit in the open modding/SU world, but perhaps im wrong. PR can contact me if they like.

[PanzerHue 1]

thanx for the fast reply, sb.

im using some mods that are not supported by the SU - im prioritizing the CBA, ACE highest (-99) and the "custom local" mods in the middle, finishing with the mcc sandbox.

just wanted to know if there are specific rules how to prio the mods?

best regards...

[sickboy 13]

As said, generally speaking there should be very little need to change order.

But if there are reasons, then your best luck is contacting the Mod authors. I am basically only the distributor ;-)

[jedra 11]

Hi,

A few people have asked in various forums how you add mods to a preset in Six, and how you run as combined ops. I put this short tutorial together to describe the process;

ON_82ZKpy2I

Best viewed in 720p Full Screen.

Maybe someone will find it useful!

[SoopSandwich 0]

Hello,

Just to start I just purchased Arma 2 CO from steam and am new to both the game and six updater. I loaded the game as directed (i.e. run steam admin, load arma 2, then arma oa, etc...). Then when start six updater on bottom of screen in red it says A2 op. Arrowhead (Combined Ops) 0.0.0 then the path next to it is red (obviously wrong) and get log message:

10:26:10: Auto Synchronizing

10:26:36: You seem to be running an old game version, latest: 1.60.0.87580 (Your version: 0.0.0), please get game update at: http://www.arma2.com/index.php?Itemid=20&option=com_rokdownloads&view=folder〈=en

10:26:36: There's a beta available with higher version number: 1.60.0.88738 (Your version: 0.0.0), you can grab it at: http://www.arma2.com/beta-patch.php

10:26:36: Cannot find game exe: C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/arma 2 operation arrowhead/arma2oaserver.exe

10:26:45: Initialization Complete

there is no arma2oaserver.exe in my OA folder and If i try launching game with that the game will not launch and get error message in log.

so then I manually changed the exe path. And when I changed it to the "_runA2CO.cmd" the game launches in Combined Operations but no mods are loaded.

I then changed it to the "ArmA2OA.exe" and the game launches in Operation Arrowhead with the mods.

my question I guess is am I doing this right? How do I get Combined Ops to launch from six updater with the mods I have loaded in the preset?

Any help appreciated, Thanks...

Edited January 29, 2012 by SoopSandwich

[sickboy 13]

Hi,

Best remove your customizations again, then disable the dedicated SERVER checkbox up top, as you indicate you dont want to run a dedicated server, but just your game :)

Also make sure your registry entries are correct so that SU can properly detect the games.

See Paths and Detecting Separate CO installations @ http://six.dev-heaven.net/Six_Updater+FAQ

[SoopSandwich 0]

Well that was an easy fix. Thanks for the help!

one last question if you don't mind. Six Updater detected the ArmA2OA.exe file and launched with no problem but it does not show the Arma2 icon in the bottom left of the game which it does show if launched using the _runArma2CO.cmd file. So if I just launch with the Arma2OA.exe file am I still running Combined Operations? (one last thing to note: it does show Arma2 listed in the mods list on the right side of screen.) Probably another stupid question but still trying to figure everything out.

Thanks Again!

[sickboy 13]

NP.

Perhaps the missing icon is caused because SU does not add the "ca" mod (virtual representation of the game (original ARMA1 or ARMA2)).

Afaik there's no technical reason to add it, perhaps except for the missing icon, but I will verify this.

Also the "ca" mod is loaded last in the _runArma2CO.cmd file, which seems rather strange to me; "Expansion" (OA) is an expansion to "CA" (A2), so if anything one would expect it to load before the Expansion modfolder, not after.

---------- Post added at 16:58 ---------- Previous post was at 16:41 ----------

It is indeed the "ca" bit that makes a difference, however it only changes the order of where the icon is displayed.

With the _runArma2CO.cmd file, you should see the A2 icon as last in the list.

With Six Updater, you should see the A2 icon first in the list

If you see different behavior, please make a screenshot of both situations, and attach them, preferably in a ticket.

This also confirms my thought that the "ca" is really at the wrong place in the _runArma2CO.cmd, at least it makes sense at the start of the list (its the original game), as opposed to being last.

Funny part is that BAF and PMC show up before Expansion (OA) when not defined in the -mod list.

This should be the proper order: arma2oa.exe -mod=C:\games\arma2;expansion;baf;pmc

While there should be no "ca" needed, because C:\games\arma2 is just CA really, unless it has some weird engine workaround reason.

Edited January 30, 2012 by Sickboy

[sickboy 13]

Actually the order as listed above is how one would expect it to work, however internals show differently according to PvPscene, will get back to you :)

[SoopSandwich 0]

Well I tried everything again and when run with "ArmA2OA.exe" i only get three icons in the lower left of screen which are the OA icon, British icon, and Private Military icon. But it says "arma 2" on the right where it lists all the mods loaded. I then checked the editor and all of the islands from arma 2 are there and the game seems to run fine so I believe it is running Combined Operations.

I was just use to running the game from _runArma2CO.cmd which would run a quick program prior to loading and then in the lower right corner would show the four icons of arma 2, OA, British, and PMC but also shows arma 2 listed on the right side where the mods are listed. This way I knew I was running Combined Operations. But I guess I don't need to do this and six updater doesn't load the mods if done this way.

Anyway thanks for the great utility! it does make everything easier.

[dukenukem. 12]

hi sickboy, sorry to bother with another question.

i have asked this in kellys-heroes website but i guess i shld ask here as well.

ok kellys-heroes has a custom-repo url which i imported and created a preset with. they have some standard SU supported mods like ACE, ACEX, RU, fallujah, duala, fdf_pordagorsk, lingor... but, they use SU's v2 sigs for ACE mods only. then they sign the island mods with their own key! which is a pain in the behind, because synchronizing to their preset would give me their v2sig, but then would break my usual 'stock' mods as i don't have the SU v2sig anymore. i need to do install/update to grab needed key depending on which server to play on, even on the same mod! (their mod pbos are the same as the SU mirror ones, just signed using a different key). their custom servermods are fine, as they are not a 'SU supported' mod.

is there a workaround to this, maybe having both keys/sigs, then copy/pasting into the specified mod dir when required? thanks for the help and wonderful program!

[sickboy 13]

Hi,

Im afraid not. The situation is because as you said, KH hosts their own versions of the mods, instead of using the Mods from the official network, or syncing the changes that are made on the official network, to their own.

Ideally they would drop duplicating mods that are available on the official network, but otherwise at least sync up, in this example the v2 bisigns etc.

You can at least disable the ServerMods behavior and thus migrate your existing mod folders everytime between KH's and SU's official network versions, but is a little crazy just for .bisigns.

[dukenukem. 12]

Hi, thanks for quick reply! ok, i'll try to chat with them, and see if they are open to not duplicating the mods. i already disabled using the 'servermods' folder, instead just dropping all custom servermods into the main Arma2 dir.

actually i was thinking, i make a copy of the .bisign required for each mod (whether KH or SU official), and make a batch to copy them into the required dir depending on which server i intend to play on. of course i need to make sure the pbos are up to date.

thanks again sickboy!

oh also one more question, does it matter if the mod folder name does not match up with the server preset's? for example, the SU official name is @FDF_Pordagorsk, but KH has theirs named @Pordagorsk. Just as long as i include the mod when joining the server, it doesn't matter the modfolder name right?

[sickboy 13]

Sure you can come up with some custom batch files etc, but I am afraid I cannot support you in that area. If it will work, will depend if the addons are of the same version, etc.

Indeed, the modfolder name does not really matter.

[sickboy 13]

I'm happy to announce that I've (finally ;-)) started to look into the performance bottlenecks of SU: https://plus.google.com/b/104785560298357015306/104785560298357015306/posts/ad429e4yU7Y

And can already report great progress in improving the performance, especially improving initialization time and snappyness while operating SU, and general user experience.

A new v2.9pre build will probably be released coming weekend, further improvements still planned.

Once performance has been tackled and v2.9 released, the long hard road of v3.0: improving the UI / Usability / User Experience begins...

All in all a great start I think for 2012, and much, much more to come... Stay tuned!

[jedra 11]

I'm happy to announce that I've (finally ;-)) started to look into the performance bottlenecks of SU: https://plus.google.com/b/104785560298357015306/104785560298357015306/posts/ad429e4yU7Y

And can already report great progress in improving the performance, especially improving initialization time and snappyness while operating SU, and general user experience.

A new v2.9pre build will probably be released coming weekend, further improvements still planned.

Once performance has been tackled and v2.9 released, the long hard road of v3.0: improving the UI / Usability / User Experience begins...

All in all a great start I think for 2012, and much, much more to come... Stay tuned!

Great stuff Sickboy - you have obviously had a very busy January! Look forward to seeing the improvements.

[sickboy 13]

All starting to look pretty good in terms of performance!

Probably will be releasing a new beta setup tomorrow for testing, while auto-update will be delayed at least shortly while final testing is being completed.

[sickboy 13]

Six Updater v2.9.5pre1 Released!

https://plus.google.com/104785560298357015306/posts/FCBg4Yea4dL

Includes significant performance improvements (after successful migration)

Please note: You have to manually download and install this update, for the time being auto-self-update ignores this version.

Enjoy!

Edited February 5, 2012 by Sickboy

[larsiano 12]

ineed much faster very nice progress! Only little problem i found was that i cannot duplicate profiles anymore?

[kylania 568]

Super speedy once started, but I'm really enjoying the performance of this version. Well done!

It's taking 45 seconds to start up and 5 seconds to select one preset from another. It used to take 45 seconds to start up then 20-30 seconds every time you clicked on anything, so this is a great improvement.

[sickboy 13]

Glad to hear you guys are enjoying it!

There's actually more performed than before during the startup, e.g syncing gamespy servers if MP features are enabled, this might delay you a little.

Switching presets should be faster than 5 seconds though, perhaps you are using presets with servers that have malformed configurations (e.g wrong ip, wrong port, or not accessible custom repo urls), which cause connection timeouts of up to 4 seconds.

Switching presets should be between 0.5 for server-less and 2 seconds when a server is involved and no timeouts occur.

Startup for me is about 12 seconds with clean DB and MP disabled. And about 16 seconds with clean DB and MP enabled.

Of course syncing gamespy servers adds to it, and presets with servers that are not responding etc.

In any case, this was only Phase 1, the biggest and hardest to tackle, now I can start tweaking the rest :D

@larsiano; I've reproduced the duplication issue, fixing for next update scheduled for release later today.

[sickboy 13]

v2.9.5pre4 released on auto-self-update, solving all reported issues since yesterday's release, incl Cloning of Presets/Profiles etc.

https://dev-heaven.net/projects/six-arma-updater/activity

[virtualvikingx 19]

I use a web based control panel to launch/stop/restart my arma2server, and to let others to the same, remotely.

It has support for remote updating through exe/commandline. Is it possible to script SU this way? IE point to the SU-exe with some commands that auto updates?

[sickboy 13]

I use a web based control panel to launch/stop/restart my arma2server, and to let others to the same, remotely.

It has support for remote updating through exe/commandline. Is it possible to script SU this way? IE point to the SU-exe with some commands that auto updates?

Sure, check out the commandline doc on it: http://six.dev-heaven.net/Six_Updater+Documentation#Commandline parameters

http://six.dev-heaven.net/Six_Updater+FAQ#Automation

Edited February 6, 2012 by Sickboy

[virtualvikingx 19]

Thanks Sickboy, this is excellent. I have run into a snag however; can anyone with good PC knowledge help me?

The control panel show the output of SU-working (in webbrowser, remotely). It ends like this:

Executing Install or Update Mods: install

Please confirm license agreement of @ACE

Looks like SU first run. Anyway around this. Im using Remote Desktop Connection to the server here locally and SU fires up just fine. It kinda looks like this is happening on a "virtual" user account.

EDIT:

Got it to work, had to change user for the control panel.exe in services config-thingy.

Edited February 6, 2012 by VirtualVikingX