Mod support - incredible work

[kmunoz]

Just wanted to pop in to say I am really, really impressed with the integration of workshop support. I am especially happy that the workshop mod list is accessible in game. (While I was fiddling and figuring things out, I did alt-tab back to Steam and subscribe to something and when I came back to Evochron and refreshed the list, it was subscribed. I realized a few seconds later I didn't need to do that but the fact that I could was really nice.)

One minor nitpick (because I seem always to have them...) - If I'm not mistaken, "Activated" in Evochron means "Subscribed" and "Uninstalled/Installed" means not active/active. (Also, not 100% clear from the interface itself what the "retain" toggle is for.) I feel like it would be a little easier to grok immediately if the terms were flipped: Installed/Uninstalled for Subscribed/Not Subscribed and Activated/Not Activated to reflect whether the mod is running or not.

[Vice]

Glad you like the Workshop integration. It was not an easy task

Yes, 'Activated' means subscribed on the Steam side of things while 'Installed' means enabled/in-place for the game to use. I debated on terminology and decided to go with that format since it seemed like activating more closely related to an understanding of being available for use and subscribed via Steam whereas installed related to being fully in place and enabled for the game to access. Basically, just a way to display both stages of installation, activation for initial (Steam) enablement, installed for full (file) enablement. I think 'Installed' should be linked to the files actually being installed and in place for game access. But I think I will change 'Activation' to 'Subscribed' and 'Deactivated' to 'Unsubscribed' to align better with Steam syntax.

The 'retain' toggle should explicitly also show 'Retain Activation (Local Steam Files)' to further explain that it directly relates to the local steam files of activation/subscription. If not, then those lines may be missing from your install.

As an option, you can also change those to display anything you like in the \media\text.dat file, these are the lines the game uses to display all of those options:

3106=Subscribed
3120=Retain Subscription
3121=(Local Steam Files)
3122=Uninstalled
3123=<Installed>
3124=Unsubscribed
3125=<Subscribed>


Edit: Update rolled out on Steam to accommodate these changes and also internally adjust preview images for wider ratios that do not align with the 1:1 format of Steam's workshop.

[kmunoz]

The toggle does say "retain activation (Local Steam Files)", I'm just not sure what that means. Does it mean that if the mod is unsubscribed in Steam, the files remain locally?

[Vice]

They could be left in custom media game folders if altered externally in some way. The game just tries to simplify operation so everything can be managed directly within the in-game menu with one click, both installation and subscription. Another handy route as you noted is subscribing through Steam and then finalizing installation in the game. Uninstallation can simply be handled with a simple right click (or alternatively left click on the '<Installed>' indicator).

Think of Subscribed/Unsubscribed (or formerly Activated/Deactivated) as the Steam side of things, Installed/Uninstalled as the game side of things. Items must be subscribed to via Steam or in-game to 'activate' them through Steam, then installation can be selectively managed to enable or disable them in the game on demand. So item management works like this:

Subscribed = Activated through Steam (keeps local Steam files present, available, and updated as managed by their system)
Unsubscribed = Deactivated through Steam (removes local Steam files from the ID folder of a specified item, stops updates)
Installed = Enabled in the game (files automatically managed and placed for the game's custom install folder(s) for loading)
Uninstalled = Disabled in the game (files are removed from the game's custom install folder(s) for loading)

If you ever need to restore or repair an item due to any outside actions or events that may otherwise disrupt how these modes work, you can simply left click on any item to fully re-subscribe and re-install it. This works seamlessly as an automatic repair option. You can also then fully uninstall it (subscribe option unchecked) to fully attempt to remove any files left behind, then reinstall it again for restoration via left click.

The installing step also allows the game to backup any default files (for example, station banners) that may be replaced by a workshop item so they can later be restored to defaults should the workshop item be removed at some point. Allowing the game to handle all such operations through the built-in menu allows everything to be managed automatically.

[kmunoz]

Some of the sounds in aCrustyBread's mods are long and end up overlapping when they're not supposed to. Specifically, the jump cooldown sequence and jump spin-up sequence. At 0S/0W, the cooldown sequence sound will end before it's possible to jump again, but at -5S/5W it is just a smidge too long, which means it can overlap with the jump spin-up sounds if the player hits the jump button right as the timer completes and weapon energy hits 100%.

Fundamentally this is an "issue" with the sound mod but I was wondering if it might be possible to avoid having to precisely calibrate the sound lengths by having some kind of "interrupt" setting on certain sound pairs (maybe based on a special sound file name convention?) so that an interrupting sound (in the above case, the jump spin-up) can force the interrupted sound (jump cooldown) to halt early.

Off the top of my head I can't think of any other pairs of sounds that would need that kind of logic but there probably are a handful.

[TraderDan]

I noticed that too, sounds are calibrated to my potato pc but if there's no reasonable coding /trigger mechanic then what i'll do is watch the video and try and calibrate the sounds to synchronize with you machine, it's very likely many of you guys are running a pc much much better than mine.

[Vice]

@kmunoz - Indeed, it all depends on a particular effect's index queue for either a sound set (often for staging) or an individual sound effect. For most, the game will submit to playing a live index all the way through uninterrupted and will even add indexes if it needs to be repeated. For others, it can be interrupted for a required event, such as afterburner on/cycle/off. For the latter, tapered starts and stops are often utilized for smoother stop/start transitions (and the game devotes resources to monitoring those few select effects for such transitions with efforts to keep such things to a minimum for performance). Otherwise, there can be pronounced clipping/clicking if an index is interrupted.

For the sounds you mentioned, iirc, those will need to be calibrated with the event(s) they align with timing-wise (ie inherently slower pace/performance, cruise drive vs jump drive, etc). For such effects, time orchestration will be part of setting up a well-aligned effect with the game's regular operational systems. I'd want to avoid suddenly interrupting those in the middle of an effect (especially any with voicework) with considerations of clicks/pops/interruption/performance. Better to have them taper down to something softer so they can blend out if an index needs to start over again or simply shortened to avoid unwanted overlap/duration.