R Soul on 13/5/2016 at 00:27

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I recently began working on a new FM loader. Since NewDark came out I've been using FMSel, which has a few features I really like, but I missed Darkloader's interface, which shows the readme.

So I decided to have a go at writing something that does what FMSel does but with the look and feel of Darkloader.

Here's a preview:
(http://s912.photobucket.com/user/rsoulinternet/media/NewDarkLoader/newdarkloader1_zpsnsxguv1t.jpg.html) http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac326/rsoulinternet/NewDarkLoader/th_newdarkloader1_zpsnsxguv1t.jpg

Darkloader scans the mission archive to work out things like mission title, game type, release date etc. NewDarkLoader does that too, but with one difference. When an FM has multiple missions, there's no guarantee of displaying the correct title. Authors can specify a campaign title, but if it's not there Darkloader will use the name of the final mission. That can lead to spoilers if that title refers to something the player shouldn't know about at the beginning of the FM. NDL looks for the campaign title but won't risk spoiling things if it hasn't been set.

Users can edit the displayed details of an FM by right clicking:
(http://s912.photobucket.com/user/rsoulinternet/media/NewDarkLoader/newdarkloader2_zpsnahfgylc.jpg.html) http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac326/rsoulinternet/NewDarkLoader/th_newdarkloader2_zpsnahfgylc.jpg

Current status:
It can get and set FM info. You don't have to edit the ini file yourself as you see in the above screenshot.
Darkloader-style setup window with a date format option:
(http://s912.photobucket.com/user/rsoulinternet/media/NewDarkLoader/ndlsetup_zpswxizsy2p.jpg.html) http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac326/rsoulinternet/NewDarkLoader/th_ndlsetup_zpswxizsy2p.jpg
Support for .7z and .rar files in addition to .zip. Other archive formats may also be supported but I haven't tested them.
It reports whether an FM is installed or not.

Planned features:
Add buttons for Play FM, Ignore (e.g play the regular game but keep the FM installed), Uninstall or Edit (via Dromed). Most of the work is done (getting the right directories etc).
Add support for DML Mods. Some FMs don't work properly under NewDark, so voodoo47 has been working on (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145374) these little files that rectify the problems without modifying the FMs themselves. I haven't thought much about how it will be set up but the result will be a set of DML files being extracted/copied to the FM's folder before starting the game.
For the FM list, I might have the Difficulty checkboxes and the Comment box visible at all times. Or I might expand the table to include things like tags (an FMSel feature).
And you'll be able to use a copy of your Darkloader.ini file with this. I'll probably add an import feature, then you won't have to re-enter too much.
I might add a feature that imports data from an FMSel ini file too.
Handle savegame/screenshot backups.
Import previous backups from Darkloader/FMSel.

Possible planned feature:
Support for T3 FMs. I'm told quite reliably that the installtion procedure is similar, but I'm only going to look in to that when I'm happy with what NDL can do with Dark Engine FMs.


What do you think?

R Soul on 13/5/2016 at 00:45

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Yes.

SlyFoxx on 13/5/2016 at 00:53

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Ooohh..me likey. Darkloader is like a trusted old friend.

FenPhoenix on 13/5/2016 at 02:08

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That's what I'm talkin' about! Best of both worlds :D

Random_Taffer on 13/5/2016 at 02:22

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Looking awesome. Back in the day, my favorite FM loader was Garrettloader. I loved the look of it and also the little thumbnail you could include.