Mana Games

[Elias]

Manutoo, would it be possible for you to extend the game start features about the mod (or not) to be used when starting the game ?
Could be an ingame dialog at start asking how to run the game, standard, or mod A, mod B, depending on the mods detected in the
Mods folder and/or mods.ini.

Just thinking about this aspect because of the Steam version. I'll make the next mod version to fully comply with mod.ini features, along
with a .bat still allowing to run unmodded TE. But that will still launch TE modded by default. I think Steam users won't ever use a .bat
to run a different version of the game thus my question about it, as it won't be much an option in Steam environment to have two
versions of the game installed either.

[manutoo]

Hello,

ITST (like most Mods) is already compatible with the Mods folder.

For the launch options, as you use an installer, the best way is to install a Mods.ini containing "Load = <None>" (so launching the game through Steam will make it Unmodded), along with a Mods-ITST.ini containing "Load = ITST117", and to create a shortcut on the user's Desktop to TennisElbow.exe with the following commandline : " -ModsIni Mods-ITST.ini" (ie: same than the .Bat) .

You can also choose the opposite solution : Mods.ini with ITST, and a shortcut on desktop to Unmodded TE.

If you use NSIS installer, all this is easy to do ; if my memory doesn't fail, you can even require the user to choose a folder containing a file named "TennisElbow.exe" so you can be sure it'll be installed in the correct folder.

And this solution will work either the game is installed from Steam or from MG.com .

[Elias]

Hey, ok i'll do it this way.

Nope, not using NSIS, got a bit lazy and sticked using a non-scriptable one, but pretty flexible with enough features, Clickteam install creator 2. It does allow lots
of things already for a small automated tool, shortcuts, launching .bat or exe's at start/end of installs, command line options, checking for an existing file as a condition
is available as well, getting install folders from registry if needed, registering dll, reg's, ocx, download options.. not bad overall.

[manutoo]

That installer doesn't seem to miss anything for a normal use, so it's ok to be lazy & use it..!

[Elias]

Hello Manutoo,

I was currently adapting the installer to Steam (detecting install path, adding a steam group icon, etc), then testing the mod on it. (thats also why for now i didn't posted the last mod release everywhere cause i thought there could be some issues so i just wanted to wait a bit to post something that actually works solid enough )

So, i think we are facing a first "issue" (nothing critical), i'm not 100% sure but i can't find the reason for now.

The bug i'm facing is, using the modded game on Steam, in 3D mode, several stadiums are textureless (not all, strangely, but lots of them). I double checked, the pk3's are exactly the same, not corrupted (the courta01.jpg our courtin's extensions in the paks are fine, not corrupted), and all works properly when running in a standard installation without steam.

-30 min later - :

i think i refined the issue a bit. The problem was not with custom additional stadium textures, but with the default ones (in_green, mid_synthetic, gs_clay etc), when i was using the no-ads patch, witch is restoring default game stadium textures on 3D courts, in the gamesys.ini.
Since a long time in ITST mod, i kept the default stadium textures folders, in_green, mid_synth, etc, present and replicated in the pak03.pak. Wich
shouldn't lead to issues anyway even if not necessary. Running TE non-steam versions shows no issue at all, but the behaviour seems different with the steam version, like it doesnt allow to replace default pak01 stadium textures folders in this environment in the mod pak03.

I made the simple test to delete these folders from the mod pak03, and then all worked flawlessly. Except one point : the only court i left unmodded from
vanilla TE, being Carpet, was leading to some missing data error #531, under steam again. In the mod i also replicated all the court01-court09 default folders,
to have basic reference court surfaces (modded physics), but kept the orginal carpet. So i just made the test, deleting the court05 folder, and then again,
it worked without any issues. (but here my physics modded court01-04 and 06-09, works flawlessly under steam, wich leaves me very dubious when seeing the
behaviiour with court05 and stadium files ).

So it's not critical at all, as i have a workaround here, but i think it was worth to report because the behaviour here is clearly different being in a non-steam or steam environment, so there is maybe something a bit fishy in there

[manutoo]

Elias,
these files are encrypted and thus depend of the shops where the game is bought (that gives me some control about who does what).
You're not supposed to bundle them with your Mod, as you didn't modify them, and they could change through some update..!

[Elias]

Right, i guess they stayed there after a first copy and i simply forgot them. At least there is some logical explanation. No bug then, good times :p

[MarianoEG]

ok guys? i just download ITST and added to my Mods folder, now.. how can I run it?

[MarianoEG]

ok i got it now

[Algo]

ok i got it now

You're welcome

[MarianoEG]

You're welcome

but i install it inside Mods folder, you did it normally