Mod Launch - launchers, expansions and shortcuts - Challenge

After trying to give SpiritedMachine some advice on an update to his launcher I have discovered Mod and DLC launching is not so simple ..... :mad:

( some discussion HERE

What I have observed.

ACR DLC isn't like PMC and BAF DLC

ACR is more like a User mod that has to be switched on and off.

ACR is only recognised after you run the new ArmAOA.exe that comes with it

Unless you delete your ARMA2OA.CFG that EXE will crash

OA used to be run from the exe as "-mod=Expansion" (? )

Using this now kills a lot of the ingame Expansions menu stuff.

This doesn't work;

E:\Data1\GamesW7\ArmA2\arma2oa.exe -mod=Expansion -nosplash

This seems to BLOCK all mods except PMC and BAF

This does work;

E:\Data1\GamesW7\ArmA2\arma2oa.exe -nosplash

ARC is on (with below manual CFG change) and all other Mod folders are also list and available to be switched on inside the games own Expansion menu.

ArmA2OA.exe changes stuff in the ARMA2OA.CFG

Example: E:\Data1\Users\Name.PC\Documents\ArmA 2\ARMA2OA.CFG

In there I used to have code like this;

class ModLauncherList
{
class Mod1
{
	dir="ca";
	name="Arma 2";
	origin="NOT FOUND";
};
class Mod2
{
	dir="baf";
	name="Arma 2: British Armed Forces";
	origin="GAME DIR";
	fullPath="E:\Data1\GamesW7\ArmA2\baf";
};
class Mod3
{
	dir="pmc";
	name="Arma 2: Private Military Company";
	origin="GAME DIR";
	fullPath="E:\Data1\GamesW7\ArmA2\pmc";
};
class Mod4
{
	dir="Expansion";
	name="Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead";
	origin="GAME DIR";
	fullPath="E:\Data1\GamesW7\ArmA2\Expansion";
};
};

if you MANUALLY add;

class Mod5
{
	dir="ACR";
	name="Arma 2: Army of The Czech Republic";
	origin="GAME DIR";
	fullPath="E:\Data1\GamesW7\ArmA2\ACR";
};

and run the ArmA2OA EXE direct, you get get ACR DLC switched on (and ALL other mod folders listed too, but switched off)

BUT, BUT if you use SpiritedMachine's launcher with no mods switch on (which should be same as above), you don't get any mods (except PMC & BAF), and no ARC DLC !

But further ..... weird ArmA2OA EXE behaviour ......... :confused:

PMC and BAF can be moved up and down in the in-game Expansions list, but can't be disabled

ACR acts differently, it can be "Disabled", like all other User mods

After running the exe direct, with -nosplash only and with the above CFG, I get a new CFG afterwards that says just;

class ModLauncherList
{
class Mod1
{
	dir="ACR";
	name="Arma 2: Army of The Czech Republic";
	origin="REGISTRY";
	fullPath="E:\Data1\GamesW7\ArmA2\ACR";
};
};

All the other stuff was deleted from the cfg by the game engine .......

Interesting the in-game Expansions menu also seems to pick up (User) Mod folder stored in MyDocument (instead of the usual game directory), as the PlaywithSix tool now uploads to.

I cant comment on Steam or non-OA expansions (ie ArmAX or CO installs)

*sigh* anyways ....

Whats normal ... whats not?

How is this all meant to work?

Is this just post 1.62 patch activity?

Is there bugs in here somewhere?

(Posted here because its more applicable to Mod discussions, not trouble shooting or maybe even Beta's)

So seems no one has a clue about this ...........

Gnat;2241468']So seems no one has a clue about this ...........

Might be the wrong section too' date=' most of the programers and such seem to keep to the Arrowhead editing section maybe have more luck in the community utillites section?

But this is about launching Mods ...... EVERYONE launches mods with their own form of launchers or custom shortcuts.

I'm not really looking for the opinion of the tool making professionals.

1 -mod disables registry loading

2 A2/BAF/PMC are loaded from the registry when no -mod is specified

3 ACR is missing/broken in registry, therefore -mod=ACR is needed

4 When A2 and OA in the same folder, they are merged automatically

5 Otherwise you need to specify the location of A2 to get CO, like -mod=x:\arma2

use procmon to learn what the game loads and in what way etc (doesn't show registry loading)

4 When A2 and OA in the same folder, they are merged automatically

Arh-Ha !

OK, now that explains 1 of my concerns ....

Thansks PvP