FATE Mod Manager v1.36

PLEASE READ:

This application is not supported by WildTangent.  Neither I nor Wildtangent can be held responsible for anything that happens through its use, and WildTangent customer support will not help you with using this tool.  With modding comes risk, but the worst case scenario is that your copy of fate can become unplayable.  In such a case, I recommend simply reinstalling the game.  By reinstalling, your license will not be erased (you will not have to re-unlock the game), and all your save files will remain intact.

Any question, comments, or bugs can be emailed to me (greg.brown@wildtangent.com)

INSTALLATION:
If you’re reading this, you’ve pretty much already installed the tool.  The exe can be run from anywhere on your machine.  On the first launch, the mod manager will check to make sure the FATE game folder exists.  If it does not, you will be prompted to browse for the location of the game.  If you have the ‘low’ version installed (the smaller download for dial-up users), or if you bought the game from somewhere other than www.playfate.com or www.wildgames.com, you will be prompted to browse for the FATE game folder because the GUID with which the game folder is named is different for these other versions.  Once the FATE folder has been found, this location will be saved for future launches of the application.

THIS APPLICATION REQUIRES THE MICROSOFT .NET FRAMEWORK TO RUN.  
This is a free download from Microsoft
http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/downloads/framework1_1/

Included mini-mods:

Terrorier: (Pet’s revenge)
-Adds Terrorier monster and Human Slave minion
-Adds Super Dogfish

Living Lake (Blobby Chaos)
-Adds Living Lake (with many, many little friends)

Sledge Bandits: (Prison riot with hammers) 
-Adds Sledge Bandit Gangs

WHERE DO THE MODS GO?

The MODS folder included should be copied into the root game folder.  If a you already have a MODS folder, just copy the contents of the included MODS folder into your MODS folder. 

TO USE:
The mod manager expects all mods to be located in: <game root>\MODS.  All mod files need to be placed in a folder within this directory named with the mod name.  The sub-folder structure of the mod should reflect the file structure of the game.  Only files that overwrite original game files will be copied to the game directory except for the case of music files.  References to new assets (models, icons, textures, sounds, etc.) should point to their location in the \MODS directory.

Example:

I want to create a mod called SuperMod containing new game items:

1-Create the new items.dat file.  This will contain only the items you change.  The mod manager will remove the original item entry if you put and entry in this file that has the same name as an original item.
2-If a \MODS folder has not yet been created in the game root, create it.
3-In this folder, create a new folder with the name "SuperMod" (or whatever you want to call the mod)
4-In \MODS\SuperMod, create yet another folder called "\ITEMS"
5-Put the modded items.dat file into \MODS\SuperMod\ITEMS

When you run the mod manger, a new mod called "SuperMod" will appear in the mod selection drop-down and you can apply it to your game.  This will cause the contents of \MODS\SuperMod\ITEMS to overwritten into <game root>\ITEMS.  This can be done for any dat file, model, icon, texture or sound in the game.  You can also create new models, icons, textures and sounds.

Note: Use caution when unziping mod .zip files and copying the folder into the \MODS directory.  This is the biggest source of problems for people.  It is very easy to accidentally 'nest' the mod folders.  I've done it myself.  Here's what happens:

You have a mod zip called Gregmod.zip which contains a folder called 'Gregmod'  containing the actual mod files. If I chose to extract this zip into a new folder, the default folder name will be 'Gregmod' (after the name of the zip file). After extracting, I'd have:

\MODS\Gregmod\Gregmod\<various mod folders and files>

instead of just:

\MODS\Gregmod\<various mod folders and files>

If you copy that into \MODS the mod manager will not be able to apply the mod.  (in fact, previous to verion 1.32, the manager will crash in an ugly way).

APPLYING A MOD

To apply any available mod, simply select it from the drop-down list and click "Apply Mod."  This will merge the mod .dat files and the original files; removing any duplicates from the original data. As well as overwrite any asset in the mod which shares a name with and original game asset.  Assets with new names are left in the mods directory.  Also, if a texture file is overwritten, the any DDS file for that texture is deleted so the game will re-compress the texture (otherwise the new texture would not appear in the game).  A history of changed files is created, and any files that are not already backed up are backed up.

REMOVING AN INDIVIDUAL MOD

To remove one mod that is currently applied, select the mod from the “Current Mods” list and select the “<< Remove Mod” button.

RESTORING FROM HISTORY:

When mods are applied, a history of the files changed is created; this can be used to restore the game to its backup state and is much quicker than doing a full restore.  To restore from the stored history, Select “Restore from History.”  This option becomes enabled after you apply a mod and the file change history and mini-back up (if there isn’t a full backup already) are created.  Also, the changed texture files’ DDS related DDS files are once again deleted so the restored files are once again compressed by the game on the next launch and the original files appear in the game.

FULL BACKUP

When a full backup is made, all the art assets and data files are copied into a folder named \BACKUP which is created in the parent directory to the game root.  This creates an approximately 200mb file - so be warned.  It's probably smart to just initially create a backup of the original files and leave it at that, but you can also create a backup of a modded version if you’d like.  

FULL RESTORE:

Restoring will copy the files from the backup into the game root.  If your game becomes un-playable from some bad mod, or you just want to play the legitimate version of the game, simply select “Restore All.”  NOTE: this option only becomes enabled if you have already created a full backup.

REFRESHING:

"Refresh" will refresh the list of mods available.  So if you add a new mod to the MODS directory, you don't have to close and re-launch the mod manager.

LAUNCHING FATE

For easy of use I included a “Launch Fate” button.  This does just that.  You can still launch the game any other way you choose.

VIEWING MOD FILES

If you want to easily view any mod’s files, select the mod from the drop down and select “View Mod Files.”  This will open a Windows explorer window and display the mod’s folders.

VIEWING FATE FILES 

If you want to easily view Fate’s files, select “View Fate Files.”  This will open a Windows explorer window and display Fate’s folders.

MOD.DAT FILE INFORMATION

The mod.dat file is not used by the game.  It is simply a means to present information about a particular mod within the information window of the mod manager.  If you are not creating mods, this portion of the readme file is not important.  The Mod Manager will support and present any data present in the mod.dat file using the following tags:

<NAME>:  
The name of the mod
<VERSION>:
The version number of the mod
<AUTHOR>:
The name of the mod creator
<REPLACE>:
This tag is the only tag that will alter the behavior of the Mod Manger.  This tag will tell the manager to completely overwrite the following .dat file and only use the data present in the mod’s version of the dat file.  Example:

<REPLACE>:\ITEMS\items.dat

This will tell the mod manager to not use any of the items currently present in the game and instead only use the items in the mod’s \ITEMS\items.dat file.  This can be used with any dat file in the game to completely override the original content.

[DESCRIPTION]  [/DESCRIPTION]
Anything between these two block tags will be presented as the mod description.  This can be as many lines as you wish and contain any text in any format.  The Mod Manger will word wrap.  Example:

[DESCRIPTION]
This is the coolest mod ever.
[/DESCRIPTION]

[NEW]   [/NEW]
Between these two block tags, you can list any new entities the mod creates.  Example:

[NEW]
<MONSTER>:Living Lake
<ITEM>:Sparkly
[/NEW]

[CHANGED]  [/CHANGED]
Between these two block tags, you can list any entities that the mod changes.  Example:

[CHANGED]
<MONSTER>: Knoll
<ITEM> Topaz
[/CHANGED]

For more examples of how the mod.dat files work, you can look at the three included in the Mini-Mods.

Have fun,
Greg Brown
greg.brown@wildtangent.com

UPDATES:

9/02/06 v1.36
-Added ability to target different installations of Fate on one machine.  The manager will also write a file called 'fatedir.dat' to its working directory which contains the previously used installation.  If this file exists and the installation referenced is valide, the manager will point to this installation on load.

8/25/06 v1.35

-Manager wasn't backing up the "\PARTICLES" folder when doing a complete backup.
-Fixed the Mod Manager to work with the new 'WildCoins' enabled packages.

5/31/06 v1.34

-Fixed issue with named payload effects being overwritten when mod items shared the same name.

-Added version number to the window title

3/11/06 v1.33

-fixed crash some people where seeing when applying/removing mods.  (specifically fixed how the manager deletes the .DDS files)
 
-Greatly improved how the manager finds your copy of the game.  I’m now using the uninstall information in the Windows registry to find games.  The manager will now find games downloaded from Yahoo or AOL.
 
-Fixed automatic ‘\MODS’ directory creation on first launch. 
 
-Moved the modconfig.dat file and reshistory.dat files to be in the fate directory.  This means you can now run the mod manager from anywhere on your computer and not have weirdness where the mod manager doesn’t think you have any mods applied.  If you have been using an older version of the mod manager, either remove all your mods before changing over to version 1.33, or just move these two files over to the fate game directory.

2/25/06 v1.32

-Added a bunch of error checking. The manager should now tell you if your mod folders are nested (the 
most common problem people have had while applying mods) 

-fixed the 'No' button on the full back up confirmation (doesn't just proceed anyway). 

-Added a tab for viewing the readme from within the application. 

So, nothing big functionality wise. I just fixed some crash bugs.

9/10/05 v1.31
-The manager can now be used by mods that add/modify level templates.  This is a big hole that I completely forgot.  This is done by adding the <TEMPLATE> entries to the TEMPLATE\manifest.dat.  If you’re adding new templates, the entries in the manifest.dat file need to point to the template .dat files in the \MODS directory.  The mod manager will not copy over any files that do not already exist in the game.  If the manifest.dat file points to the template files in the \MODS directory, they will be seen and used by the game when the mod is applied.

-Fix a really stupid bug I found when changing a pre-existing item/monster/etc.

-Improved how the manager finds the fate directory.  This should help solve the problems dealing with the mod manager placing directories in weird places.  If you got the game from somewhere other that www.playfate.com or www.wildgames.com, you will still need to select the FATE directory when prompted.  This is because the different people who are/will be selling (Yahoo, shockwave, etc) can install the game in any funky way they please and I don’t have the time to research how they all end up installing the game.

7/25/05  v1.3
-Added .dat file viewer, this tabbed window will display the items.dat, monsters.dat, spells.dat, particles.dat, and glows.dat files.  These views update as mods are applied and removed.
-Fixed bug where, if the fate game root is installed somewhere atypical, the backup file was not created in the correct place.

7/06/05  v1.26
-mod dat file name no longer have to match case-wise.  Items.dat will now properly apply to items.dat.
-dat file entity replacement will now only replace exact name matches.  Previously, a mod item called “Bo” would replace “Book of Identify.”

6/13/05 v1.25
-Fixed ‘glows.dat’ not being applied correctly
-All dat files that are not formatted like items.dat, monsters.dat, etc, are now added to the top of the game’s original file unless the mod.dat contains a <REPLACE> tag to specify otherwise.

Example:
The contents of  mod’s \NAMES\prefix.dat file will be placed at the top of the game’s original \NAMES\prefix.dat file unless instructed to replace the file in the mod.dat.

6/13/05 v1.23
-Fixed a rare issue with the mod removal feature.
-I believe I fixed the Sledge Bandits mod.  (Sledge Bandit King is now the base, the Sledge Bandit is the King’s minion an only appears as such).

6/12/05 v1.22
-Added the ability to remove individual mods that are currently applied to the game
-Fixed fish rarity in the Terrorier Mod
-Updated the Living Lake mod.dat to credit nefariousD.

6/11/05 v.1.2
-Added displaying of mod.dat information
-Added support for complete dat file replacement through the use of the <REPLACE> tag in the mod.dat file
-Added support for inserting .ogg and .mp3 libraries into the game.  Fate v1.19 supports adding additional music files.  The mod manager will now copy over all the music files in the mod.
-Added mod.dat files to the encluded Mini-Mods
-Increased the rarity on monsters in the mods so they aren’t quite as common.
-Documentation updated

6/07/05:
-Now packaged with Mods:
Terrorier
Living Lake
Sledge Bandits
-Documentation updated

6/06/05  v1.01
-Fixed bug where the restore log wasn’t appending when multiple mods were applied.

Updated 6/05/05
This build feels stable enough to call v1.0
-Fixed bug where the application wasn’t releasing some file handles.  (You had to close the app to make changes to files after applying a mod)

-Added “Launch Fate” button

-Added “View Mod Files” button

-Added “View Fate Files” button

Updated 6/04/05
-DDS files for overwritten game textures are now deleted when the texture is overwritten so the game will compress and use the new texture on the next launch.
 
-Updated documentation

Updated 6/03/05
-Mod files that do not overwrite original FATE files are no longer copied into the game.  Mods using new files for models and art should reference the file in the actual MODS directory.

-Fixed crash on launch if there were no mods in the MODS directory

-Fixed crash if the user selected “Apply Mod” when there are no mods in the mod list

-Added automatic backing up of only changed files.  No more 200mb backup folders unless you want to do a full back up (that option is still present).  This should only back up original FATE files.  In other words, if you apply a mod it backs up the files used.  If you apply another mod on top of that mod, any files that were already changed and backed up will not be backed up for the second mod.  This means restoring from the file change history will always restore to original files instead of restoring to some modded file.

-Fixed issues related to not planning on the <NAME> fields in some effect entries when checking for duplicate entities in dat files. 

-Fixed case sensitivity of dat file entity replacing.  “fIsHiNg PoLe” will now replace “Fishing Pole”

-Replaced duplicate entities are now noted in the location where the entry was  by a line specifying the item which was removed (replaced by a mod) and tells you which mod replaced this entity.

-and a few other little things

Update 6/02/05
-Dat files are now applied intelligently.  Instead of simply tagging the mod data onto the top of the original data, the app now removed any matching original entities before, the combines the two files.  The mod data is still added to the top so the you can view it easier.  There is also some formatting to delineate between the mod data and the original data.

-Fixed how files in directories more than one level deep in the mod’s folder were not being copied into the game.  all the files in all the directories in the mod’s folder are now added through the beauty of recusion.

-Fixed bug when attempting to mod a game that hasn’t been backed up.  It was only giving you a Yes or No message.  Added ‘Cancel’ button so you aren’t forced to either back up, or mod without a backup (this message box has since been removed 6/03/05).

Update 6/01/05
-Fixed bug in canceling directory finder dialog if high version isn’t installed in the default location.

-removed warning about restoring all before applying a mod onto a previously modded game.

-restore buttons are disabled if a backup doesn’t exist.

Update 5/31/05:
-Fixed the refresh button

-Added the ability to apply multiple mods to the game.

-Created the “Restore from history” feature for *MUCH* quicker restoration