Configs overwriting Configs

[madrussian 347]

Greetings.

I've been working on some animations fixes/improvements and I'd like to release them.  You can read about them here (3rd post down) for some background.

In a nutshell, I've introduced fixes/improvements to two existing released addons.  Originally, my fixes were for personal use, so I simply added all my fixes directly into the existing addons.  All the fixes I implemented are 100% in the config files (chiefly CfgMovesMaleSdr.hpp).  Some of my fixes overwrite exisitng lines of code in the config of the exsiting addon (mainly additional animation transition fixes).

After finding out there was some interest in my fixes/improvements, I decided to release them as "extension" addons to the existing addons.  So I set out to cleanly break out my fixes and create separate PBOs to house them.

That's where I began running into trouble.

Conventional wisdom on addon folders suggests to me that I should be able to simply load the existing addon first in it's own addon folder and then my extension addon second, like this:

ArmA\arma.exe -mod=@ExistingAddon;@MyAddon

When I use this approach and start up ArmA, the fixes from the existing addon show up but my extension fixes do not.

If I reverse the load order I get the exact same result (existing addon fixes show but mine do not).

When I load only my addon, all of my fixes are present, but of course no fixes from the existing addon are detected (because it wasn't loaded).

So now I am perplexed.

I'd really like to get these important animation fixes out to the community...

Does anyone have any idea what might be going on?

[.kju 3241]

Quote[/b] ]Addons are loaded alphabetically in terms of modfolder and PBO name. Way more important are requiredAddons dependencies of cfgPatches though. They determine which addon (or more precise down to each config value) is used / active, as the config is only loaded once all requiredAddons have been loaded. So a lot of dependencies make the addon loaded late.

addon A, addon B, addon C, addon D

addon A - cfgPatches class A

requiredAddons[]= {"B"};

addon B - cfgPatches class B

requiredAddons[]= {"C"};

addon C - cfgPatches class C

requiredAddons[]= {"D"};

addon D - cfgPatches class D

requiredAddons[]= {};

loading order:

D, C, B, A

[General Barron 0]

Quote[/b] ]Conventional wisdom on addon folders suggests to me that I should be able to simply load the existing addon first in it's own addon folder and then my extension addon second, like this:

As is often the case, "conventional wisdom" is completely wrong. I have no idea how that rumor got started, because it is completely FALSE in most situations.

CfgPatches and requiredAddons[] determines addon loading order. This is controlled by the addon maker, NOT by the end-user!

Only when you have two pbos that both require the exact same addons, does the modfolder order or pbo name matter.

[madrussian 347]

Thanks Q.  Got it sorted based on your info.

I also found out the hard way that case senitivity does matter when declaring dependancies!

Now if I can just get away from work/RL responsibilities long enough to crank through breakouts for the other three parts.  Shouldn't take long if I can actually get a moment.

@General Barron

Yeah I guess I was a real newb about addon creating until you guys straightened me out.

Good to make the point you did.  Hopefully this thread will help to consign that myth to the anals of OFP/ArmA history.