[Tool] Minge: The CarMODgeddon Mod Installer

Espyo · Post by **Espyo** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 2:15 pm

I have a vague memory of that problem happening before. It was some tool some modder made for Reincarnation that also had problems with different cultures using different characters for decimal points. Am I going nuts, or is this the Carma Modder Curse?

starbuck · Post by **starbuck** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 2:46 pm

Espyo wrote:I have a vague memory of that problem happening before. It was some tool some modder made for Reincarnation that also had problems with different cultures using different characters for decimal points. Am I going nuts, or is this the Carma Modder Curse?

What happened to him also happened to me when I reinstalled Windows at first, only thing was I got rid of the curse. I also had an old modded car installed that caused it.

Trent · Post by **Trent** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 5:09 pm

Espyo wrote:I have a vague memory of that problem happening before. It was some tool some modder made for Reincarnation that also had problems with different cultures using different characters for decimal points. Am I going nuts, or is this the Carma Modder Curse?

That was also me with LOLDecoder. It's something I always forget about :(

Anyway, been doing work on it today and put together a new release:

v3 Features:

Game Options & Launching

ZAD Extracting

LOL Decoding

Fix for the number culture

Minge should automatically tell you the new version is out, anyone having the crash on checking for the new version should also be able to load their current version of Minge. If you don't want to run Minge to download it then grab it from: http://www.carmatools.com/downloads/tools/Minge.rar

Big_pimouss · Post by **Big_pimouss** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 6:49 pm

No problem with the new version .

Cool !

Thank you !

Mad Mike · Post by **Mad Mike** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 7:08 pm

Cool, thanks for the update Trent! :)

AlexTSK · Post by **AlexTSK** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 7:40 pm

Works great, thanks for that start game button, helps shave off a good few seconds every launch :D

starbuck · Post by **starbuck** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 8:04 pm

AlexTSK wrote:Works great, thanks for that start game button, helps shave off a good few seconds every launch :D

I tried Trents Start button but it started the regular game with "Career mode" in it, not the carMODgeddon version. I did not click "Career mode" though so not to damage that "gamesave" (whatever), I just exited the game .

Comparing a test model to load it right now, and comparing it to Trents (or Errols map) test model.

EDIT It was a setting in Trents program not enabled.

And his test map has a lot of cool additions I didnt know about like Peds and active Enemies. It was the one called "lev_testmap_tr" , All I had to do was remove a few folders and copy everything over to one folder.

AlexTSK · Post by **AlexTSK** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 8:10 pm

If the game doesn't tell you you have modified zads, you can play career mode just fine when running the regular game, mods just won't show up. If you've modified the zads or added custom data to override them then caree will be greyed out anyway.

starbuck · Post by **starbuck** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 8:32 pm

AlexTSK wrote:If the game doesn't tell you you have modified zads, you can play career mode just fine when running the regular game, mods just won't show up. If you've modified the zads or added custom data to override them then caree will be greyed out anyway.

Just found out that I need to "enable CarMODgeddon" in Trents program. It was under the options.

Trent · Post by **Trent** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 9:39 pm

Also modified data in the ZAD folder stops the game from saving entirely, so it would be impossible to corrupt the save data that way.Even if you put a script which nukes the data in the save game structure into a ZAD file, it won't save those changes to the save game file.

And thanks, everyone, glad it works for you all!

Trent · Post by **Trent** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 12:24 pm

Minge v4.1 released

v4.1
Fixed UI bug which apparently numerous people have been silently suffering with, thanks to Ender for pointing this out.
Added a better update dialog with change log support.

Minor update but a big version number leap as there was a typo in the version checker which made the previous version think it was v4 instead of v3. Oops. Anyway, grab it from the usual place and PLEASE report any bugs which you find, I can't fix them if I don't know about them!

starbuck · Post by **starbuck** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 7:49 am

Minor error but the program still starts when you click continue

with text

See the end of this message for details on invoking

just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************

System.Net.Sockets.SocketException (0x80004005): No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it 127.0.0.1:83

at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.EndConnect(IAsyncResult asyncResult)

at System.Net.ServicePoint.ConnectSocketInternal(Boolean connectFailure, Socket s4, Socket s6, Socket& socket, IPAddress& address, ConnectSocketState state, IAsyncResult asyncResult, Exception& exception)

************** Loaded Assemblies **************

mscorlib

Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0

Win32 Version: 4.6.1063.1 built by: NETFXREL3STAGE

CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework64/v4.0.30319/mscorlib.dll

----------------------------------------

Minge

Assembly Version: 4.1.0.0

Win32 Version: 4.1.0.0

CodeBase: file:///C:/games/Carma%20Modding%20tools/Minge/Minge.exe

----------------------------------------

System.Windows.Forms

Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0

Win32 Version: 4.6.1038.0 built by: NETFXREL2

CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll

----------------------------------------

System

Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0

Win32 Version: 4.6.1038.0 built by: NETFXREL2

CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll

----------------------------------------

Etc.

But as I said the program still starts fine. Have not tested it further yet. Windows 10, Net 4.5.

Trent · Post by **Trent** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 11:05 am

Try downloading it again and reinstalling it. The initial upload I did hadnt had the update URL swapped to the live site from the development site, looks like you grabbed it before I uploaded the correct version.

starbuck · Post by **starbuck** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 12:01 pm

To be safe I deleted any file related to Minge as well as the original Minge folder and unRared the new one.

and it gave me a nice "thank you for upgrading" window. :) So looks like it works now. Thanks.

Cant test ZADs because I messed up a few of my own files recently :)

It was weird but I thought I waited on downloading it :)

copmac · Post by **copmac** » Wed Feb 17, 2016 6:39 pm

Hi Trent,

Ming still contains some "imperfectons"

If you do: File - import mod ->click in the new window on +

you can only select ZAD files not zip. (why not)

and the default is: openFileDialog1

Sloppy dude :-p

Trent · Post by **Trent** » Wed Feb 17, 2016 8:52 pm

Of course it's far from perfect, it's still got a long way to go until it does everything I want it to and there's no doubt loads of bugs in it. This is why the latest version loudly tells people to report bugs to me so I can fix them. It's so frustrating finding out there's bugs in my tools which stop people using them properly but they've not reported them.

The UI bug I fixed in the latest version was apparently causing quite a few people problems for quite a while but it was never reported until very recently by one person. The bug you mentioned has been like that for a very long time, since CarMODgeddon swapped to use ZIPs instead of ZADs. and no one had reported.

Now you have reported it I fixed it in a couple of minutes from my phone and it will be included in the next version :)

copmac · Post by **copmac** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:20 am

Hi Trens,

I'm currently testing your tool inside, outside :-)

I'll report issues i find.

Note: starting carma in carmod from the tool is very nice.

could you add the option to create a shortcut on the desktop that does the same?

Additional, if you set *.* you can select a zip file but it reports that it is not a valid mod.

I'm referring to Mad Mikes mods zip files.

Would be nice to add info why the mod is not valid.

starbuck · Post by **starbuck** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 4:29 pm

copmac wrote:Hi Trens,
I'm currently testing your tool inside, outside :-)

I'll report issues i find.

Note: starting carma in carmod from the tool is very nice.

could you add the option to create a shortcut on the desktop that does the same?

Additional, if you set *.* you can select a zip file but it reports that it is not a valid mod.

I'm referring to Mad Mikes mods zip files.

Would be nice to add info why the mod is not valid.

It doesnt have to tell you why its invalid cause its obvious it is not the correct ZIP file structure when you download it. Its pretty easy to see why if you are opening Mad Mikes file and thinking that is his car mod. (Sorry if that came out sounding rude) But you have to extract it to the game directory before you can even SEE the cars ZIP itself.

If you look at the file downloaded you will see the "CarMODgeddon" folder followed by the "Vehicles" folder. The car mod is actually IN the zip file buried in the folders. You have to extract his zip file first (the first time) before you can use it in Minge.

copmac · Post by **copmac** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 2:45 pm

Hi Starbuck,

I'm testing how Minge reacts.

As i didn't know, without looking in the source, how the mods are checked the error isn't very helpful.

The check in Minge is this:

while (enumerator.MoveNext())

{

string zADLocation = enumerator.Current.ZADLocation;

string a = Path.GetExtension(zADLocation).ToLower();

if (a == ".zad" || a == ".zip")

{

ModInfo modInfo = new ModInfo(zADLocation);

if (modInfo.IsCarMODgeddonZAD)

{

if (modInfo.Type == ModType.Level)

{

ModManager.InstallMod(zADLocation, Path.Combine(this.CarMODgeddonFolder, "Levels", Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(zADLocation) + ".zip"), modInfo, moveFiles);

}

else if (modInfo.Type == ModType.Wheel)

{

ModManager.InstallMod(zADLocation, Path.Combine(this.CarMODgeddonFolder, "Wheels", Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(zADLocation) + ".zip"), modInfo, moveFiles);

}

else if (modInfo.Type == ModType.Vehicle)

{

ModManager.InstallMod(zADLocation, Path.Combine(this.CarMODgeddonFolder, "Vehicles", Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(zADLocation) + ".zip"), modInfo, moveFiles);

}

this.NumModsInstalled++;

this.UpdateStatusBar("Installed " + modInfo.ModName, (int)((float)this.NumModsInstalled / (float)this.NumModsToInstall * 100f), false);

}

else

{

this.UpdateStatusBar("Error: " + Path.GetFileName(zADLocation) + " is not a CarMODgeddon mod!", (int)((float)this.NumModsInstalled / (float)this.NumModsToInstall * 100f), true);

this.NumModsSkipped++;

}

}

else

{

this.UpdateStatusBar("Error: " + Path.GetFileName(zADLocation) + " is not a ZIP file!", (int)((float)this.NumModsInstalled / (float)this.NumModsToInstall * 100f), true);

this.NumModsSkipped++;

}

}

It would a small effort the check if the mods are in an additional zip file or provide a error that tels you that the required files were not found in the expected location of the zap/zip file.

copmac · Post by **copmac** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 3:06 pm

help about shows that version is 3.0 and not 4.1

check for updates seems to do nothing. (no message that you have the latest version or what ever)

Extract Zadfiles:

- The button Clear selection doesn't work properly. Select a few items (5 or so) click on clear selection. The selected items are cleared. So far so good.

However as soon you click right in the listbox, your selection is back :-)

- clear selection and select none is for a none native English speaking person almost the same. Uncheck All would represent beter what is happening. Same for select car etc..

- Not sure if that is the purpose: if you highlight a few items (select) and click on the checkbox the are all checked or unchecked depending.

starbuck · Post by **starbuck** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 3:33 pm

"It would a small effort the check if the mods are in an additional zip file or provide a error that tels you that the required files were not found in the expected location of the zap/zip file."

Its an even smaller effort to read the "readme" file that came with the zip.

Glancing at your code it looks like it only detects if ZIP files were inside, which you can find out by reading the readme in the original ZIP file. No "why" in the error checking that I can see in your code. Assuming too that Trent did his in what you seem to type up as C++. Its been about 5 years though since I actually wrote a line of code in C++.

Actually wait C++ was 10 years ago since I been doing C Sharp :)

Perhaps you can get a refund :)

copmac · Post by **copmac** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 9:27 pm

starbuck wrote:"..

Its an even smaller effort to read the "readme" file that came with the zip.
Glancing at your code it looks like it only detects if ZIP files were inside, which you can find out by reading the readme in the original ZIP file. No "why" in the error checking that I can see in your code. Assuming too that Trent did his in what you seem to type up as C++. Its been about 5 years though since I actually wrote a line of code in C++.

Actually wait C++ was 10 years ago since I been doing C Sharp :)

Lol, i think your C# is rusty as hell too. This is C# code copied directly from the Minge tool.

But put this pointless discussion aside, giving some extra error info is just user friendly.

And not everybody reads the bloody readme (if there is even one).

And not everybody is tech savy to know a ZAD == ZIP.

Anyway. Let but effort to find bugs and provide some suggestions. Don't be a Budweiser. :-p

Trent · Post by **Trent** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 5:07 pm

Thanks for the bug reports.

The whole ZAD == ZIP thing is fairly irrelevant as the next version fixes the import mod file browser to show ZIPs instead of ZADs.

Note: starting carma in carmod from the tool is very nice.

could you add the option to create a shortcut on the desktop that does the same?

Possible, I'll add it to my list of future features.

Additional, if you set *.* you can select a zip file but it reports that it is not a valid mod.
I'm referring to Mad Mikes mods zip files.

I won't be making it search through non-CarMODgeddon ZIP files for possible CarMODgeddon ZIP files, that's just a recipe for disaster if someone accidentally drops a massive ZIP containing a load of other ZIPs. This issue is more down to the way in which Mike has distributed his mods confusing people than error message being ambiguous. Either a ZIP is in the correct format for CarMODgeddon or it isn't, coding specific edge cases to check for is a waste of time in my opinion. The issue with packaging multiple mods up in one bundle will be solved in a later version when I implement a specific bundle package format.

help about shows that version is 3.0 and not 4.1

check for updates seems to do nothing. (no message that you have the latest version or what ever)

I've finally changed the About dialogue to get the version number text from the actual version number instead of being hardcoded, I kept forgetting I hadn't done that!

I've also now added a message box to say there's no updates when you force it to check for a new version.

Extract Zadfiles:
- The button Clear selection doesn't work properly. Select a few items (5 or so) click on clear selection. The selected items are cleared. So far so good.

However as soon you click right in the listbox, your selection is back :-)

- clear selection and select none is for a none native English speaking person almost the same. Uncheck All would represent beter what is happening. Same for select car etc..

- Not sure if that is the purpose: if you highlight a few items (select) and click on the checkbox the are all checked or unchecked depending.

The first point is actually related to the third point. The default functionality of a ListView with CheckBoxes and MultiSelect both enabled is to tick the boxes of all the selected items when you tick one of them and that's something I like as it means you can quickly select a load of ZADs and tick them in one go. When you have multiple items selected in the ListView and make it lose focus by, for example, clicking on a button it looks like the items are no long selected but they actually are, the ListView only highlights the selected items while it has focus. So, when you have clicked Select None to clear all the CheckBoxes the selected items are still selected, which means when you click on the CheckBox of one of those items they will all get ticked. So it's not really bug, it's just a quirk of the default functionality of the ListView. However I have now made it so when you click on one of the buttons it will deselect any items you have selected in the ListView.

Regarding the terminology, personally I find "Check" to be even more confusing in this context as "Check All" could mean "check all files are correct" rather than "check all checkboxes". I do agree that "Select None" and "Clear Selected" are easy to confuse, but this is mostly down to "Clear Selected" being a CheckBox styled so it looks like it's a button. I've changed it to look like a standard checkbox so this should alleviate the issue.

Other fixes I've done:

Added support for elevating to Administrator privileges if the game's folder is in Program Files (or another restricted folder)

Made sure the mods list clear themselves when changing the game's directory

Made it so when you type in the game directory TextBox it only checks it's the correct directory when it loses focus or you press Enter or Return, instead of every time you type.

Currently I'm changing the settings to use a custom settings file in a common place instead of the built in application settings system. The reason for this is because when the program gets given Administrator privileges it stores it's settings separately to when you run it with standard users privileges, so once you have made it request Admin rights once it will ALWAYS request Admin rights even if you change the game's location. So yeah, gotta roll my own settings system.

Also, before this bug squashing malarkey I had started on a Control Settings editor, so people can remap all the controls not only on the keyboard but also on the gamepad and mouse buttons. Still very much WIP so I'll probably not have it ready for the next release.

Mad Mike · Post by **Mad Mike** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 5:26 pm

Additional, if you set *.* you can select a zip file but it reports that it is not a valid mod.
I'm referring to Mad Mikes mods zip files.

I won't be making it search through non-CarMODgeddon ZIP files for possible CarMODgeddon ZIP files, that's just a recipe for disaster if someone accidentally drops a massive ZIP containing a load of other ZIPs. This issue is more down to the way in which Mike has distributed his mods confusing people than error message being ambiguous. Either a ZIP is in the correct format for CarMODgeddon or it isn't, coding specific edge cases to check for is a waste of time in my opinion. The issue with packaging multiple mods up in one bundle will be solved in a later version when I implement a specific bundle package format.

All I am going to say on this subject, upon uploading all of the cars:

- In the main post: copies of all the Read-Me files (including the install instructions) were added in spoilers titled 'Readme & Update Notes' above where on every car it says 'Download here'

- There are Read-Mes in every 'master' zip file

- On the update post on page 19 detailing the new release, I also added a generic set of install instructions to extract the sub-folders

As far as I am concerned, that is adequate documentation.

Trent · Post by **Trent** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 8:23 pm

Mad Mike wrote:All I am going to say on this subject, upon uploading all of the cars:
- In the main post: copies of all the Read-Me files (including the install instructions) were added in spoilers titled 'Readme & Update Notes' above where on every car it says 'Download here'

- There are Read-Mes in every 'master' zip file

- On the update post on page 19 detailing the new release, I also added a generic set of install instructions to extract the sub-folders

As far as I am concerned, that is adequate documentation.

I totally agree, as far as documentation goes that's plenty, I wasn't meaning that it's explicitly confusing but just that some people can get confused. The issue is more about there always being a higher class of idiot than any idiot-proofing can account for. If someone doesn't read your documentation but has followed the Minge documentation of installing CarMODgeddon ZIP files through Minge's mod installer then they won't understand that they have to extract the contents of your ZIP first to get to the CarMODgeddon ZIPs. This is why I packed my C1 Cars as a RAR file instead of a ZIP to avoid such potential confusion. The mod installer feature was also intended to avoid the need for users to have to put mods in specific places, to make it as idiot-proof as possible as some people just don't seem understand about where things go even with explicit instructions (a similar example: someone recently couldn't get Minge working because he pointed it to the game's Bin folder, not the game's root folder as the instructions and software says to)

Like I said, an upcoming version will have a feature for packing up multiple CarMODgeddon ZIPs in one file, which will be able to be dropped into Minge (or even just double clicked) and it will install all the ZIPs into the correct folder structure automatically. It will be a ZIP file format but probably with it's own file extension to differentiate it (I'm thinking .MingeBag) either with a specific folder structure or possibly a manifest file listing where all the actual ZIPs are in there. The manifest file idea would also give the opportunity for multiple vehicles in one package and let the installer know which ZIPs belong to which vehicles so users can have the option of which to install. The goal is to make the process as straight forward, simple and consistent for the end user as possible.

Mad Mike · Post by **Mad Mike** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 11:10 pm

You're right there, those principles aren't new to me.

Nevertheless I completely over-looked (in my lousy one-tracked, & clearly off-the-ball state of mind) that you are in the midst of 'Moron/Idiot Proofing' Minge. It also doesn't help that I have detected an inference in Copmacs statements that was probably completely unwarranted.

Kejnel · Post by **Kejnel** » Fri Feb 26, 2016 10:29 pm

When I start CarMODgeddon from Minge with Disable ZAD parameter, the game crashes on the splash screen with:

"Carmageddon_Reincarnation.exe has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Please close the program."

I suspect something is wrong in my folders.

Trent · Post by **Trent** » Fri Feb 26, 2016 10:48 pm

Did you extract all of the ZADs?

Kejnel · Post by **Kejnel** » Fri Feb 26, 2016 11:29 pm

Yes and decoded all LOLs.

This is what I get from the Minge log:

Spoiler:

Kejnel · Post by **Kejnel** » Sat Feb 27, 2016 12:29 am

OK, I deleted the whole folder and did ZAD unpack again and it works now.

Trent · Post by **Trent** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 11:35 am

Update news time! Custom config is working nicely now, the User-mode/Admin-mode swapping now plays ball and I might actually get the controller config editor working in time for the next release. Here's a preview of it so far:

starbuck · Post by **starbuck** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 8:36 pm

For those interested in using Wheels, do you think the controller config will start working for wheels ?

EDIT I mean wheels and pedals.

copmac · Post by **copmac** » Wed Mar 02, 2016 5:26 pm

Trent, looking good.

I like your work a lot.

ps: you know you can write & sign in your title form right?

I mean Mod Installer & General Enabler

just put && and it writes &.

Trent · Post by **Trent** » Thu Mar 03, 2016 9:32 am

starbuck wrote:For those interested in using Wheels, do you think the controller config will start working for wheels ?
EDIT I mean wheels and pedals.

Wheels get detected by the game as gamepads so as long as you choose the right input options it would work, but it won't be any different to setting things manually in the txt files. Just a thought, was the problems you guys have with the pedals due to the axises not being separated or something like that? Which axis are the pedals working on?

If it's the axises of either stick then what you can do is set [ACCELERATE] to LStick_Y, LStick_X, RStick_Y or RStick_X (depending on which axis it's on) and that will translate the + and - of that axis to accelerate or brake. Similar you can set [STEER_RIGHT] to LStick_X for steering on the axis instead of setting both LSTICK_RIGHT and LSTICK_LEFT. If the pedal axis is the trigger axis then unfortunately they can only be set to LT and RT as XInput takes either trigger as a separate 0 to 1 axis instead of a single -1 to 1 axis.

I'd love to try it out with a wheel and a proper joystick but unfortunately I don't have a wheel and my only proper joystick is an forcefeedback one from the late 90's which doesn't have a driver compatible with modern systems. It's so old these are the lofty minimum specs needed to use it:

Spoiler:

So, yeah, if anyone can give me a wheel or joystick I can give firmer answers about making it work, but currently I can only speculate based on my general gamepad research.

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to mention, I'm planning on having Minge hook XInput itself so when you're assigning gamepad/wheel/joystick commands you can just hit the button/axis/whatever and it will apply the correct input setting for it.

copmac wrote:Trent, looking good.
I like your work a lot.

ps: you know you can write & sign in your title form right?

I mean Mod Installer & General Enabler

just put && and it writes &.

Thanks, dude!

And yup, I'm aware of that. It's a stylistic choice, the title deliberately uses 'N' instead of & to make it clearly spell Minge :)

starbuck · Post by **starbuck** » Thu Mar 03, 2016 3:39 pm

Short version the Brake pedal uses a totally separate axis than the gas pedal. There is a Z axis in the brake pedal.

None of those outer programs would get the brake pedal to work. (Xinput etc)

Best I got was using a button for the brakes I think or pushing the gas pedal 50 percent to stay still and letting your foot off to go backwards.

I was hoping you detected a command in there we didnt see. We shall see once you released the new version.