Mods, save games & installation questions

[QueryEverything]

Hi all,




I wanted to bounce a couple of questions off you all, the collective group of brain power may be able to help me [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/smile.png[/img]/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" title=":)" width="20" />



1)  I have read that using folder links (I use them for other apps as well) to have your Save folder be located elsewhere (ie Dropbox or Google Drive folder) is a 'regular' thing, I can set that up without a problem, but, can the same be said for the Mods folder, the WinData folder, in the Steam folder tree?  Can I say, as an example, have the following setup:

dropbox/blah blah/entertainment/media/games/data/banished/resources then sub-folders: downloads; notes; Saves/Banished/Save (& Screenshots); Mods/WinData; Other




The WinData folder then is linked to Mods/WinData and the Documents/Banished/Save is linked to -----/--/--/--/Saves/Banished/Save




OR, can the WinData folder not be linked in the same way?




2)  How does the game cope with renaming save files?  Can you add letters to them?




Example:  I have sets of save games from 3 different computers, all different maps, I want to merge them all, but there are the same numbers in each (1-10 etc), can I rename them with their Map ID name or PC shortname?  Save01_PC1.sav; or can I only use numbers, and renumber them all?




3)  Coming back to saves & mods, I was thinking about doing the following (call me crazy, I feel it), but I want to put together little batch files so I can swap in & out my mods depending on the map I want to use.




Because not all mods are save game compatible, and I then lose my 100+hrs on a map because I want the new 'pretty', I sometimes want to go back to that map, and I don't want to flap about with mods etc.

Can mods & save games just be moved about at will, or are there complications?

Scenario:

I have a dedicated folder with sub-folders of map save games:  data/blah/Banished/saves/maps -- map names

I want to play my old map "Genius", I open the folder, pull the save files & drop them into the Documents/Banished and there they are ready to play.

Can I do the same for the mods?  




So, to make it easier for me, I would write a batch code for each map where the following happens:

a) check WinData & delete existing files

b) check Save folder 

c) copy files from /map/saves to Save;  /map/mods/WinData to Steam/WinData and /map/Screenshot to Banished/Screenshots

d) run Banished.exe




Essentially my game is preloaded with the map & saves I want to play and the mods that I used for that map. 




 




Lastly:  Are the mod names (.pkm) integral to the mod itself, or can the mod name be changed?

eg:  windmill.pkm, becames:  windmill_v102.pkm

This way I may be able to bypass step 3 because I can keep multiple mods in the folder, just with their version details added.




I would love it (my organiser in me) if there was a naming standard for devs, I know, you guys do it tough already, but it just makes things neater in my folder [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/smile.png[/img]/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" title=":)" width="20" />  Haha!

A couple of modders already do it, initials before the file name & version at the end.  bb_item_v102.pkm




 




Phew, that's a lot.  tl;dr: can I rename mods & save games; can I move them about as I need to.


Cheers & safe travels!!

QE




 

[Paeng]

I have a bit of a hard time with your lengthy and somewhat unruly questionnaire <sorry> [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/smile.png[/img]/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" title=":)" width="20" />, so here just some partial answers...




* You can "recycle" saves, provided you keep exactly the same set of mods with them.




* You cannot rename *.PKM files (well, you can but they won't work).




* You cannot set up different sub-folders within WINDATA, Banished won't "see" them.




* Changing, adding or removing mods from a running town/game is always risky - you have a small chance pulling it off and a large chance corrupting the save.




* As for all the batching you mentioned - some may work, some may not. You'd need to write a lot of rules. No idea what steam would do with them...




[img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/smile.png[/img]/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" title=":)" width="20" />

[QueryEverything]

Thank you <a contenteditable="false" data-ipshover="" data-ipshover-target="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/14-paeng/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="14" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/14-paeng/">@Paeng</a>[img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/smile.png[/img]/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" title=":)" width="20" />

Quote




* You cannot set up different sub-folders within WINDATA, Banished won't "see" them.

I have a sub-folder in my Data drive that I save all copies of my WINDATA to.  I was thinking about setting a copy Batch to copy from WINDATA to the new sub-folder in my Data drive [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/smile.png[/img]/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" title=":)" width="20" />

Quote




* Changing, adding or removing mods from a running town/game is always risky - you have a small chance pulling it off and a large chance corrupting the save.

Completely right and I have only made that mistake once (I thought I had closed Banished, but hadn't).  The saving and copying would only be whilst Banished was closed.  In fact I would write in a check & close function into the Batch file that handles it.




Great help with the information [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/smile.png[/img]/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" title=":)" width="20" />  It looks like it can do what I want to.  I now just have to go back my last dozen maps and work out which mod goes with what.  I've sorted the saves and moved them from the Banished/Save folder to my data drive and now to sort the mods. Haha!!  




My Batch would end up like this:
New game:  run new.bat : check (& close banished); check (& clear) /WINDATA; copy datadrive/folders/banished/current mods to /WINDATA; run banished/exe; wait 1min; ask if complete & close .bat




Old game: run new.bat : check (& close banished); check (& clear) /WINDATA; copy datadrive/folders/banished/old map mods to /WINDATA; copy datadrive/folders/banished/map save to Documents/Banished/Saves; run banished/exe; wait 1min; ask if complete & close .bat




I now know I can't rename .PKM unless I want to for archiving, editing the file name to files_v2_old.PKM rather than files.PKM, is ok, but will not work if loaded.




 




Hahahaha, somewhat unruly
...  thanks for the chuckles!   It made sense to me, at the time!  LOL  

[Paeng]

Personally, I never start a new game without cleaning the registry as well, removing the list of previously enabled mods -

Code:

ModEnabled_*modname* --- (true | false)  // alphabetical listing
ModIndex_*modname* ---   (0 to xx)  // alphabetical too, probably an Index of LoadOrder

I'm also curious whether you will need to record the starting conditions for a particular game, in order to reset an old save... e.g. -

Code:

GameLastClimate
GameLastDisaster
GameLastMapSize
GameLastOption
GameLastStart
GameLastTerrain

Good Luck! [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/58462cc1bb74a_EmojisApplebyKawaiiDarkToxic170.png[/img]



 

[QueryEverything]

They are great tips, thank you <a contenteditable="false" data-ipshover="" data-ipshover-target="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/14-paeng/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="14" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/14-paeng/">@Paeng</a>, I will have a play with it during the week and see what I come up with. [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/biggrin.png[/img]/emoticons/biggrin@2x.png 2x" title=":D" width="20" />

[eddieballgame]

Yes, you can change name of the mod's pkm file name & they will still work. At least the one's I have changed have not failed to load & play. It is, certainly, easy enough to check if that is what someone really wants to do.

[KevinTheCynic]

I think this is something that needs further investigation before people start changing the names of pkm files. There's been a number of times where people have been advised to make sure the pkm file is not named differently to what the modder originally named it. Changing the name of the pkm file might work for some mods but I know from personal experience that it definitely does not work for certain mods.

[QueryEverything]

I think that is a great question for <a contenteditable="false" data-ipshover="" data-ipshover-target="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/3-kralyerg/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="3" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/3-kralyerg/">@Kralyerg</a>, <a contenteditable="false" data-ipshover="" data-ipshover-target="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/5518-necora/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="5518" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/5518-necora/">@Necora</a>, <a contenteditable="false" data-ipshover="" data-ipshover-target="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/4-shockpuppet/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="4" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/4-shockpuppet/">@ShockPuppet</a> etc to answer [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/smile.png[/img]/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" title=":)" width="20" />

[Kralyerg]

I've never seen a renamed pkm file work correctly.