More Awesome Than You!

Now available here: http://www.simspecials.sims2site.com/database/index.php?board=4.0;sort=subject

Direct link to download: http://www.simspecials.sims2site.com/ccount/click.php?id=1

I'll be keeping an eye on this, Database. Once you get a few of those to-do's implemented this will definitely be something I can use. Good luck with it.  :)

I feel like I'm wandering around just agreeing with everyone today. I'm with HelloKit, Database, when your to-dos are dones ( :D ), this will be cool. Thanks for the thought, "it was great!"  ;D

I'll get at least some of the lesser ones done in the next release. The important ones, however, have an ETA of 2010 the way things are going. :(

I look forward to seeing a more alpha-ized version, db. JM's enthusiasm for cataloguing appears to be somewhat underdeveloped.

Well, that's why I'm doing this ;D

And you really want to wait for a beta at least ;)

LOL Isn't SimPE routinely released as an alpha? Might just arse covering but I can cope with the sight of a few hairy cheeks. Alpha don't scare me. Pre-alpha, on the other hand, has me running for the nearest handy bunker ::)

ROFL. As soon a a few suckers ahem, volenteers test it for me I'll bump it to Alpha status.

And this isn't that bad in terms of bugs, it just seems to fall over when a directory doesn't exist... and I'm too short on time to fix it at present. Some day...some day... :P

It has to do with the practice of early releases. In the beginning, you only got release products. Then impatient people, and developers short on testers, started putting out "betas". Beta came to imply a finished, functional state in spite of possible bugs (And official releases became ever more buggy themselves), and then in ongoing attempts to get things out into the field EVEN EARLIER, people started making the "alpha" available". This then took on the connotation of "usable", and so, having run out of Greek letters to use due to the lack of foresight in designating the original early test release as a "Beta", as opposed to an Omega, or perhaps something more centered, like an Omicron, giving us room to go both ways, we're stuck.

I'll remember that. :P

It's often occurred to me wonder if the greater collective of geekery got the wrong end of the stick with the whole beta thing. To my mind A/alpha is top grade/export quality and B/beta is second grade/lsightly faulty product. Although inconsistent with software development where, theroretically, product quality improves through testing and revision, the logical precursor to a beta release ought to be gamma, which would make db's pre-alpha MATY Auto-Updater a delta release. But as far as software is concerned the whole alpha/beta thing is so much muddy water that will never clear. Like JMP says, we're stuck with a dumb naming convention.

Oh, I don't know if we're stuck with anything. This is MATY. Go ahead, Database, name the next version anything you want. (the Zed release, the Dark Helmet release...anything!)

You're right Elf. I'm gonna break the norm and call it something completely different :P

New version on the road! Please give constrictive critisism and feedback! ;D

Downloaded. Tested. Did what it was supposed to. Excellent job

I then deleted the folder because I prefer to maintain my own ::)

Any chance that the user can choose their own name for the destination folder?

eg I use '_hacks_FFS' and '_hacks_other'. That keeps them at the top of my Downloads folder cos that's where I most want to look when things are not going according to plan ... though it  has to be admitted that the problem is invariably found in the _hacks_other folder ;)

Yup. Just use the dialog box you get before you install (After the hack selection).

Although it defaults to this:

You can easily change it to:

Just bear in mind: It creates a new folder for each of the hacks, and extracts the hack and it's RTFM to that folder. The folder is always named the same as the zip file.

I really should write a full-featured tutorial on how to use this thing :P

Awesomeness. Thank you for your time :)

I suspected the directory name thing almost as soon as I'd typed it. I didn't try to change the name because I was only testing, but your answer is encouraging.

It certainly seemed robust for the one use I made of it.

Supplementary question. How is it generating its list of installable hacks?

It doesn't. I manually hard-code each hack into the installer. It took a bloody long time ;) But that gives me an idea - store each hack description in an external file... I'll keep it in mind because it would be useful for other stuff too.

Sidenote: I've found a command to make my installer read "modified" tags. This is a small but promising step forward to make my installer do what I actually want it to do - only update the hacks that it needs to.

I suspected as much cos the list seemed to appear too quickly ::) Suggestion:
Have the opening screen offer checklist of installed EPs and then the prog can download the correct list before proceeding to the hack-listing stage.

A secondary refinement would be to groups hacks by category: Critical/Annoyance/Feature etc.

I've pondered both those ideas. as of right now neither are possible, but when I make the core selection/installation routines less stupid, then yes, they will be very possible.

Oh, and I can't go poking code right now as I'm at school... I must go trawl through some NSIS documentation to see what I can do.

Edit: Aha. Found a whole selection of INI handling commands. I must kick some around when I get home in about 3 hours.

Do you think you could at least get #4 on the to do list done? Then I at least wouldn't have to remember what I've installed...

You could lust go look in the folder, but all the To-Dos (should) all be done at some point.

*completely off-topic, but non-random question*
Database, why don't you have TS2 installed anymore?

You had to ask ;D

I got bored, needed the space, and became pissed off with it.

And yet, you're still helping us with our games! :-*
*puts on tiara*
I dub thee, Knight of Shining Keyboards! Rise, sir, and continue your quest in faith and goodwill!

Peoblem:

I am already Sir Data, the TROUT SLAPPER! (http://67.15.129.139/5685/53/emo/fish.gif)

meh, two titles are better than one.
*double checks spelling...my dyslexia makes it look like I typed some other word starting with tit....*
Nevermind, continue on!

No, you spelt titties right...oops!!! ;D

Hey cwieberdink - thanks for the title suggestion here:
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=4417.msg123644#msg123644

I may actually use that. Oh, and for people waiting with baited breath, NSIS coding is HARD...patience...
/me is going AWOL again soon, anyway.

Silly BlueSoup.

Data, are you updating this tool for the new hacks that JM is putting up?  I tried it fo the first time this AM because of all the updates with the patch.  It went slick and smooth.  I'm going to go in and check on releases, etc.  when it is totally finished.

C

Unfortunately, until Bacon is released, you're stuck to the stuff that was out when Asshat was released. It's hardcoded into the installer, which was a stupid idea.

As for the release date: It's Done When It's Done.

uhh....what did I do?

Something extremely fat headed, no doubt.

Don't you have a village somewhere that needs to be burninated or something?

If I recall, you locked the thread I wanted to post in.

First post updated. I need a nice lackey. :P

I'm a little confused because to me the first and 2nd sentences seem to contradict each other.

Do you mean that it installs the mods that were released on 04-May-2006 but does not install any updates that came after that date? So if we have mods older than that date they ARE updated but if we downloaded updates after that then we will actually be going BACKWARDS?

I believe what Data means is that the mods that it downloads are only those that had been released prior to the given date. Pescado has released some new stuff since then (completely new mods) that are not covered by this program. The program will download all the mods without any version checking.

Yeah, what Dadditude said.

It will update existing hacks, just not the newer ones.

NEW AND SHINY! See first post for new address, and new release!

Over at your site when I click to download it, I get this message:

I'm sorry, /matyinstaller/MATY_Auto_Updater_Bacon.rar doesn't exist.
I might have shifted links around - try going to http://simspecials.sims2site.com.

Very sorry. Fixed.