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

[jsmuk 13]

Hey Sickboy, this is a long shot but is there any way for a custom repo to reference another custom repo?

For example, if the user downloads and installs preset A, they get all the mods in that preset (including the custom ones) plus a certain mod in another custom repo. I am trying to achieve a simple solution whereby a group of people can download two sets of custom mods from two separate repos and maintain them.

[sickboy 13]

Hey Sickboy, this is a long shot but is there any way for a custom repo to reference another custom repo?

For example, if the user downloads and installs preset A, they get all the mods in that preset (including the custom ones) plus a certain mod in another custom repo. I am trying to achieve a simple solution whereby a group of people can download two sets of custom mods from two separate repos and maintain them.

Hi,

This is currently unsupported, however once we integrate similar functionality in the new Play withSIX, we can probably add support for that.

While you can at least mix Mods from your custom repo, with mods from the official network.

May I ask for the reasoning behind wanting to use two custom repositories, as opposed to a single custom repository, with multiple hosts, and e.g multiple server presets?

Edited August 29, 2012 by Sickboy

[jsmuk 13]

Hi,

This is currently unsupported, however once we integrate similar functionality in the new Play withSIX, we can probably add support for that.

While you can at least mix Mods from your custom repo, with mods from the official network.

May I ask for the reasoning behind wanting to use two custom repositories, as opposed to a single custom repository, with multiple hosts, and e.g multiple server presets?

It pretty much comes down to the fact that its a few of us who play regularly on a server together want to get together and play separately with usual content from that server+ some extra stuff.

Found a nice work around though using local mods and the custom repo.

Thanks for your speedy reply, and keep up the good work. SU has made playing ArmA so much easier.

[sickboy 13]

It pretty much comes down to the fact that its a few of us who play regularly on a server together want to get together and play separately with usual content from that server+ some extra stuff.

Found a nice work around though using local mods and the custom repo.

Thanks for your speedy reply, and keep up the good work. SU has made playing ArmA so much easier.

Right, gotcha, thanks for elaborating!

And NP, glad you guys are enjoying it, stay tuned for our upcoming updates ;-)

[virtualvikingx 19]

Hey SB; should the Armed Forces of the Russian Fedeartion not have the "@" in front? Currently its named "RHSMod". (I humbly suggest @AFRF)

Also naming convention of the RHS stuff is not strigent, as you probably know.... :)

EDIT: Lol @our avatars.....

[sickboy 13]

Hey SB; should the Armed Forces of the Russian Fedeartion not have the "@" in front? Currently its named "RHSMod". (I humbly suggest @AFRF)

Also naming convention of the RHS stuff is not strigent, as you probably know.... :)

Hi,

it's as RHS team has requested.

Perhaps we can convince them otherwise, together? :)

[[aps]gnat 28]

Great tool thanks SB

Only comment about this tool like several other posters (elsewhere) and echoing previous comments about your other tools, its somewhat annoying (and dangerous for newbies) that your default setup at install almost completely ignores the users own setup, things like deafult directories.

No appropriate questions are asked during install, no warnings or notices.

Feels like a "my way or the highway" but I'm sure thats not what you intend.

Cheers.

Oops, wrong Tool thread sorry !

[sickboy 13]

Gnat;2216422']Great tool thanks SB

Only comment about this tool like several other posters (elsewhere) and echoing previous comments about your other tools' date=' its somewhat annoying (and dangerous for newbies) that your default setup at install almost completely ignores the users own setup, things like deafult directories.

No appropriate questions are asked during install, no warnings or notices.

Feels like a "my way or the highway" but I'm sure thats not what you intend.

Cheers.[/quote']Hi and thanks Gnat!

How do you define default, and how do you measure the user's setup? Especially in the PC landscape that seems somewhat complex.

IMO "My way or the High way" would rather be the case if there were no options to set them at all.

The idea behind switching to My Documents now was that it is the BI's recommended default, it is in user space and thus the application does not require Admin rights etc,

and we felt doing this change at the introduction of the new software, would be best for the user, instead of existing applications suddenly changing their paths :P

But perhaps a warning to perhaps only existing users (previously used SL/SU), would indeed have been on it's place.

Do you feel that would still be a good idea, although we're 'out there' already for several weeks?

Thanks!

[jedra 11]

I think maybe there could be two install options?

1. Express - sets up all the paths based on your defaults.

2. Custom - allows you to specify paths during the install phase.

Accompanied by an info box during install explaining?

[sickboy 13]

I think maybe there could be two install options?

1. Express - sets up all the paths based on your defaults.

2. Custom - allows you to specify paths during the install phase.

Accompanied by an info box during install explaining?

Thanks, but not feasable for the Installer at least not at this time, until we replace it. For the time being it would rather be a First-Setup screen on First-Run.

Also who's defaults are you referring at, ours, or theirs (user's) :P

[jedra 11]

Thanks, but not feasable for the Installer at least not at this time, until we replace it. For the time being it would rather be a First-Setup screen on First-Run.

Also who's defaults are you referring at, ours, or theirs (user's) :P

It would have to be your defaults - unless you have a clever way of working out where everything is currently (there's nothing in configs or registry as far as I am aware)! But, I know you guys are nothing short of genius so I am sure you can do it ;-)

[sickboy 13]

It would have to be your defaults - unless you have a clever way of working out where everything is currently (there's nothing in configs or registry as far as I am aware)! But, I know you guys are nothing short of genius so I am sure you can do it ;-)

Cheers :) Well it was confusing as Gnat was referring at user's defaults, and as said they are little harder to figure out :P

[[aps]gnat 28]

User defaults for ArmA and User defaults for Windows

I had soooo much trouble with your original Updater because it ignored my non-standard Windows7 setup

The new tool is better but simply barrels forward and tells no one that its attempting to fill your "my documents".

A few other community tools are now broken, and newbie may never work out why.

People (especially those trying to manage performance and disk space) run different (windows and game) setups for a reason.

As Jedra suggested and as I have observed, the vast majority of installers have an Express and Custom option.

Failing that, there should be a FAQ. Your (?) tab on the Play tool for example has nothing describing setups, mod or beta locations, tips, checks etc.

Trying to super-simplify and make adding mods and playing ArmA completely idiot proof I'll suggest can have pitfalls.

[sickboy 13]

I had soooo much trouble with your original Updater because it ignored my non-standard Windows7 setup

Can you elaborate on that? What exactly did it ignore in your non-standard Win7 setup? (What is non-standard about your win7 setup?)

The new tool is better but simply barrels forward and tells no one that its attempting to fill your "my documents".

We did mention it in the release post, but agreed that is somewhat insufficient.

I would argue that as a user you should look into the settings and workings of a new application (I mean you're putting the responsibility solely on the new program here),

but I also agree that software is designed to make things easier and better for the user, taking work out of the hand of the user and such, as well as general behavior pattern expectencies.

As such I believe we can indeed improve in this area.

A few other community tools are now broken, and newbie may never work out why.

Broken?

You mean that other 3rd party launchers do not pick up Mods from an officially supported mod installation folder (My Documents\ARMA 2),

resulting in not detecting mods installed by PwS to the default installation path?

As Jedra suggested and as I have observed, the vast majority of installers have an Express and Custom option.

To my knowledge the Custom option in an installer is often about:

- Which components to install

- Where to install the application to

Could you point me to examples that deal with setting up of Program settings within the installer? (I'm not referring to Settings tools that launch AFTER setup or on First-Run).

Failing that, there should be a FAQ. Your (?) tab on the Play tool for example has nothing describing setups, mod or beta locations, tips, checks etc.

Documentation will be made available probably before we go out of Preview.

But I do not expect we will use the About panel to display any documentation. Linking to documentation/information is more likely.

Edited August 30, 2012 by Sickboy

[jedra 11]

I think that there's nothing wrong with the way Six works if it's after first time install of Arma and there are no pre-existing mods as it pretty much chooses the location of where to put stuff. I think the problem is when it is installed after other mods have been installed, or you upgrade from Six Updater to Play With Six, or updated from another launcher, especially if you have previously moved stuff to custom folders.

An example would be with the recent update of the I44 mod. For a few people it was the first time they had installed a 'Six product' but not the first time they had installed the mod and they ended up with duplicate installs of I44.

So, maybe if the installer can't be changed at this point (fair enough), maybe you have a 'first time launch' setup that asks stuff like 'Do you have existing mods?', 'Would you like to change to the Six default locations', 'Would you like to move your existing mods there?'. Stuff like that really.

[doveman 7]

I was setting up a profile for a server the other day and it insisted on installing the mods in the folder servermods, which was a pain as I already had @CAA1 but it said I didn't (I guess because it was looking in servermods) and installed it again. Obviously afterwards I moved it so it's not taking up twice the space but it would have been nice not to have to download it again.

I also have an issue with Six wanting to update the beta. I need to keep it on 95417 as 95660 moved the VON port, making it impossible to communicate on servers using a lower version but whenever I go to update a mod it adds the beta as well and I have to manually remove that from the list. It would be nice if there was a simple way, like in Play withSIX, to tell it to leave the beta alone.

[sickboy 13]

I was setting up a profile for a server the other day and it insisted on installing the mods in the folder servermods, which was a pain as I already had @CAA1 but it said I didn't (I guess because it was looking in servermods) and installed it again. Obviously afterwards I moved it so it's not taking up twice the space but it would have been nice not to have to download it again.

The servermods folder is a default for custom repo mods, to not interfeir with official versions. You can override it if you like, please refer to the config.yml docu at http://www.six-projects.net/Six_Updater+CustomRepos_Setup

Also SU tries to find mod folders that match by name, and copies the content to the new location, before running update on it. That should at least've saved bandwidth.

However iirc CAA1 by default is installed in x\caa1, so it might not have worked.

Improvements in detecting installed mods and handling them are underway, but if they will arrive in SU is probably unlikely.

I also have an issue with Six wanting to update the beta. I need to keep it on 95417 as 95660 moved the VON port, making it impossible to communicate on servers using a lower version but whenever I go to update a mod it adds the beta as well and I have to manually remove that from the list. It would be nice if there was a simple way, like in Play withSIX, to tell it to leave the beta alone.

You could try disabling "AutoConvert" in the options, and then deleting the .rsync subfolder from the beta modfolder, and manually installing the Beta you prefer.

When running through the SU Install/Update process etc, Answer No on the Convert prompt.

Edited August 30, 2012 by Sickboy

[doveman 7]

Thanks. I'll use that override in future if I need to.

I think disabling Autoconvert has helped with the beta issue thanks. It was on neither ticked nor unticked before. I didn't have the .rsync subfolder already as I deleted the beta folder and copied 95417 in it's place.

[dystopian1 23]

SU's Game Manager wants me to use 1.62 version of arma2oa.exe, but required md5 checksums of some other files are from 1.60. For example

[table=width: 900, class: outer_border]

[tr]

[td=align: center]File[/td]

[td=align: center]1.62 md5[/td]

[td=align: center]required md5[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Addons\missions.pbo[/td]

[td]71ae081e9b1afd29b927f5e20a0b6b9d[/td]

[td]6153b9e2ae5ddc09fbc18500a7efbd3e[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Addons\missions.pbo.bi.bisign[/td]

[td]61221525f5e13f39bd49c9f169008e9f[/td]

[td]d9780db7451adbae88abe09963dc77ad[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Addons\missions.pbo.bi2.bisign[/td]

[td]7e49002417748b6e38ae30d3d1f6f6cd[/td]

[td]211a7b941529190b8fb22bffa79327cc[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Expansion\Addons\anims_e.pbo[/td]

[td]9b005ec1bcecbd711add07a213258998[/td]

[td]c2fe7e6f1c98c54182133f9d13afa64f[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Expansion\Addons\anims_e.pbo.bi.bisign[/td]

[td]1b448167a2fcd72a64e91d5ba27c6d84[/td]

[td]152cc403b409445ff878964f3760cee4[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Expansion\Addons\anims_e.pbo.bi2.bisign[/td]

[td]7f543bc776527aa0c9ecaafd7c451f27[/td]

[td]969573ed29cb9dbafa1d7a4116724cfd[/td]

[/tr]

[/table]

In fact all *.pbo and *.bisign in the required list are from 1.60 (except core.pbo* and product.bin, they're included in 1.62 but it looks like they weren't changed from 1.60).

Is it OK or I should create ticket at Issue Tracker?

[kylania 568]

Is there a way to export a game profile? Like the launch settings and mods? I have a bunch of friends I play with who are too confused by SU and want me to be able to send a file they can import and just launch. I know communities can do that for a server, but can you do that just for the client side of things?

[sickboy 13]

SU's Game Manager wants me to use 1.62 version of arma2oa.exe, but required md5 checksums of some other files are from 1.60. For example

[TABLE=class: outer_border, width: 900]

[TR]

[TD=align: center]File[/TD]

[TD=align: center]1.62 md5[/TD]

[TD=align: center]required md5[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Addons\missions.pbo[/TD]

[TD]71ae081e9b1afd29b927f5e20a0b6b9d[/TD]

[TD]6153b9e2ae5ddc09fbc18500a7efbd3e[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Addons\missions.pbo.bi.bisign[/TD]

[TD]61221525f5e13f39bd49c9f169008e9f[/TD]

[TD]d9780db7451adbae88abe09963dc77ad[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Addons\missions.pbo.bi2.bisign[/TD]

[TD]7e49002417748b6e38ae30d3d1f6f6cd[/TD]

[TD]211a7b941529190b8fb22bffa79327cc[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Expansion\Addons\anims_e.pbo[/TD]

[TD]9b005ec1bcecbd711add07a213258998[/TD]

[TD]c2fe7e6f1c98c54182133f9d13afa64f[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Expansion\Addons\anims_e.pbo.bi.bisign[/TD]

[TD]1b448167a2fcd72a64e91d5ba27c6d84[/TD]

[TD]152cc403b409445ff878964f3760cee4[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Expansion\Addons\anims_e.pbo.bi2.bisign[/TD]

[TD]7f543bc776527aa0c9ecaafd7c451f27[/TD]

[TD]969573ed29cb9dbafa1d7a4116724cfd[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

In fact all *.pbo and *.bisign in the required list are from 1.60 (except core.pbo* and product.bin, they're included in 1.62 but it looks like they weren't changed from 1.60).

Is it OK or I should create ticket at Issue Tracker?

Thanks for the heads up. Ticket would be helpful, but we'll take a looksy :)

---------- Post added at 12:26 ---------- Previous post was at 12:24 ----------

Is there a way to export a game profile? Like the launch settings and mods? I have a bunch of friends I play with who are too confused by SU and want me to be able to send a file they can import and just launch. I know communities can do that for a server, but can you do that just for the client side of things?

PwS will feature exportable and importable presets and such at a later stage. For SU you can use the CustomRepo feature (with a dummy server if you need it for SP instead): http://www.six-projects.net/Six_Updater+CustomRepos_Setup

You do not need to host the mods yourself, the CustomRepo feature can be used just for configuration as well.

[pressytcn 10]

i have a question about the new take on rearmed

in six updter i can see all the mods i have for arma 2 but as not installed is there a way to make six use arma 2 install folder when using mods for toh many of the mods work but i need to copy them from the arma 2 folder to the toh folder but there must be another way of doing this like a launcher that can launc all 3 games and enable and disable mods without the need for redownload or having to copy 100's of gb

[sickboy 13]

i have a question about the new take on rearmed

in six updter i can see all the mods i have for arma 2 but as not installed is there a way to make six use arma 2 install folder when using mods for toh many of the mods work but i need to copy them from the arma 2 folder to the toh folder but there must be another way of doing this like a launcher that can launc all 3 games and enable and disable mods without the need for redownload or having to copy 100's of gb

Hi,

I would recommend creating a global mods folder somewhere, moving the mods to this folder, and then changing the Mod Path in the SIX Updater Options to point to this folder.

Otherwise you could mess around with symlinks, but it'd be messy, currently SU only reads mods from the Mod paths.

[pressytcn 10]

it worked thanks

[hoak 0]

Hey Nederlander, would you ever consider making a version of Play withSIX/Updater for GRAW 2? Like ArmA 2 there's no in-line updater and a lot of content to manage that separates Fans from the game... While GRAW 2 is virtually abandon-ware as GRIN (the Developer) has closed it's doors; it has excellent mod support with an enormous catalog of mods, maps and missions, as well as an enthusiastic dedicated audience with active 24/7 servers. What's more, Diesel Engine mods are self-contained 'bundle' files with integrated XML version control (info here), that would require far less of the feature sophistication provided in your ArmA 2 SIX Updater.

I'm sure you have a full plate supporting ArmA 2 feature requests but there's a substantial cross-over Ghost Recon audience as you've probably been clued in via the likes of Lightspeed's Island Thunder port for ArmA 2 (and others) -- and Ghost Recon as well as the GRAW games do have some features and technology as yet not on offer in the ArmA games, and it doesn't look like that will change with ArmA 3. Considering SIX Updater's sophistication and flexibility, and GRAW 2's simplicity it at least appears this might be quick work for what would be a very appreciative audience, but that's only a guess -- and obviously the prospect has to appeal to you.

Regardless, thanks for all you've done in making my ArmA 2 experience a better smoother ride!

:D

Edited September 18, 2012 by Hoak