Use the In-Game Community Mods - raevn's PA Mod Manager for Linux and Mac OS X is Obsolete

PLEASE USE THE IN-GAME COMMUNITY MODS.

Since raevn's UI Mod Manager is being used for pretty much every mod now, but is Windows-only, I thought it would be nice to have a version for Linux and Mac OS as well. This version does everything that raevn's version 4.0.x does. Although there are some minor differences of course. By the way, don't be fooled by the difference in version number. The .x part are only bugfixes specific to either mine or raevn's version.

This program does require the Qt4 libraries to run. They're easily installed though. It also requires libzip and libqjson. I'm not entirely sure if libzip comes with Mac OS, but libqjson probably doesn't.

On Ubuntu, you can install the necessary libraries by typing

Code:

sudo apt-get install libqt4-core libqt4-gui libqt4-network libzip2 libqjson0

For Mac, you can also download a DMG with all dependencies included here.

Source code can be found on GitHub. If you wish to add your own translation, check out the *.ts files in the i18n directory on GitHub. You can send them to me, and I'll include them. (You can compile the ts files to qm files using lrelease which comes with Qt4, but I only need the ts files.)

Version history
1.0: Initial copy of raevn's verion 1.4.
1.5: Updated functionality to match raevn's version 1.5.
1.5.1: Updated to include the new parameter --modpath. Use that to point to the mod directory on Mac's.
1.5.2: Fixed two bugs. The author name would not appear is it contains a comma. It also generated an invalid ui_mod_list.js if two or more mods worked in the same area.
1.6: Updated functionality again to match raevn's version 1.6. Additionally, this pamm will now autodetect where PA is installed, so no more messing around with --papath or --modpath. This should work on both Linux and Mac OS. Furthermore, pamm now will show if updates to mods are available rather than just reporting if the mod is installed or not.
1.8: Reach feature parity with raevn's version 1.8 again.
1.8.1: Fixed bug in mod order. This caused the Commander Health mod to fail for example.
3.0.0: Reached feature parity with raevn's mod manager except for the auto-updating. Additionally, there is an install-all-updates button for easy updating.
3.0.1: Two bug fixes. Wrong URLs used for available mods and failed to update mods.json and ui_mod_list.js after mod installation.
3.0.2: Four bug fixes. Mods_list.json wasn't written properly causing raevn's modlist mod to fail. Icon loading was broken, but not implemented yet anyway. Automatic refreshing of news and available mods didn't work. A "no mods loaded" text could get stuck on the available mods tab.
3.1: Internationalization, icons for mods, "Likes" are now taken from the forum and displayed in the mod manager. It now also tells you when a new update is available for pamm.
3.1.1: "New"-icon wasn't always shown for updated/new mods. Symlinked mods were ignored.
3.1.2: Added support for new scenes in build 61250. Namely, "live_game_econ" and "live_game_hover".
3.2.0: Added support for new scenes in build 62037. Namely, "armory" and "building_planets". I've also added a help dialog, and a text based modfilter. You can now press Ctrl+M (or Command+M) in the available mods tab and type text. Only mods with that text will be shown. Oh, it also remembers the size and position of pamm between restarts of the program.
3.3.0: Support for the new style for specifying scenes with backward compatibility of course. A new icon that raevn made as well as a gamma banner. Minor fixes to the French translation.
4.0.0: Fixed some Mac graphical glitches, it should be more compact now. Mod text filter now works for installed mods list as well. New view mode, compact. All settings should be save upon exiting pamm. Filtering by category is also possible now. Disable all mods and reenable the previously enabled mods now present in menu. Some misc bug fixes.
4.0.1: Screwed up the binaries for 4.0.0 somehow which left in bugs. That is, the initial sorting was wrong.
4.0.2: Made mod labels more readable.

wow thanks i'll really need this!!

Sweet! Nice work.

Updated this version to match raevn's new 1.5 version. It's now compatible with the UI mod that raevn wrote to list the mods.

Does this still work in the new patch? I was trying to get it to work for me last night but it kept saying no mods were found. I think i am putting the mod files in the wrong location. The file paths seem to be different for the windows and mac versions.

For the mods it says to place the files in "<PA Install Directory>\PA\media\ui\mods", but I cannot find a "media" folder in the mac PA application.

Isn't it supposed to be "<PA Install Directory>/media/ui/mods"? So without the extra PA? It seemed to work fine last time I used it, which was version 55430. The 55493 version was just a hotfix, so it should work for that too.
Admittedly, that was for Linux, since I don't have easy access to a Mac, but the paths are the same as far as I know. In any case, there should be a file called "readme.txt" in the correct mods directory.

I'll give it another try this week. I put the mod files into the UI folder with the readme.txt but still no mods found. Maybe I have the Qt4 libraries in the wrong place? Do I place them in the application folder, or inside the PA application somewhere?

The Qt4 libraries are only needed for the mod manager I wrote. They have nothing to do with the mods themselves. It sounds like the mod manager program itself starts fine, because you get the message "No mods found". So your Qt4 libraries appear to be functioning.
I think the trouble is with where you start the program. By default the program assumes you are in the PA installation directory. So you start the mod manager like:

Code:

cd <PA Install Directory>
./pamm_linux

or alternatively

Code:

./pamm_linux --papath <PA Install Directory>

Just for the record, on Mac:

• copied the pamm_mac file to PA.app/Contents/MacOs
• also in that same directory, I created the folders media/ui/mods (there wasn't even a media folder)
• copied (in my case) the pa_stats ini file to media/ui/mods

this helps with the 'no mods found' issue

Awesome thanks!

mods didn't work in-game though, so not sure my instructions are correct.
Anyone got this to work on mac?

I have no idea about how the mac works, but the "there wasnt even a media folder" part sounds weird.
The media folder is supposed to contain a ton of vital files for PA. So my guess is you created the mods folder in the wrong place and PA ignores it. The real one has to be somewhere, unless mac works fundamentally different.

EDIT: You could search for a file live_game.js It is supposed to be in media/ui/alpha/live_game/ relative to the PA directory. That's the media/ui where the mods directory is supposed to be placed.

Thanks for the help, I found the file you mentioned:

Code:

mike@Macintosh:PA.app pwd
/Users/mike/Desktop/PA.app
mike@Macintosh:PA.app find . -name live_game.js
./Contents/Resources/ui/alpha/live_game/live_game.js

copying the mods in ./Contents/Resources/ui/mods (the mods directory already existed) still does not work, I'm guessing now it's a pamm_mac issue: when installed in ./MacOs pamm_mac does not find the mods, when linking ./MacOs/media/ui/mods to the real mods directory it finds them, but they're not present in-game. Extra tips welcome

The fact that PA doesnt find the mods shows that pamm doesnt write the modlist file (ui_mod_list.js or the like, forgot the exact name) to the right place. That file needs to be placed in ./Contents/Resources/ui/mods/ I guess. Is it there? Is it in a wrong place? Maybe you can link it?

Another idea would be to install pamm directly inside of Contents/Resources/ and create a link called "media" in that directory that links to the directory Contents/Resources itself. So pamm follows the link and resolves the mod directory as media/ui/mods, just where pamm wants it to be.

Heh, I didn't realize Mac would be so difficult. I assumed the file locations would be similar to Linux. There is a parameter you can supply, called --papath <INSTALLDIR>, to pamm_mac. It will then look for mods in <INSTALLDIR>/media/ui/mods. So, it sounds like it won't work for the Mac...
I can probably change that to just have a new --moddir flag, that can be used to set where the mods are supposed to be.

I usually borrow somebody's Mac to test this stuff, so I don't have readily access to it, which means that Mac-testing is very sub-par.

In case you want to mess with the source code. Look at modmanager.cpp, lines 38, 222 and 324. Those are the locations where /media/ui/mods is appended to the path. You need Xcode and cmake to compile it though. (And the Qt4 libs of course). To compile it, cd to the source directory and type:

Code:

cmake -G Xcode
xcodebuild -project PAMM.xcodeproj -target PAMM -configuration Release

(I think)

the file you mention is where it should be:

Code:

mike@Macintosh:Contents find . -name ui_mod_list*
./Resources/ui/mods/ui_mod_list.js

and contains what I would expect.
In the nohup.out logging of pamm_mac it says 'Loaded 0 mods'.

Moving the pamm_mac from ./Contents/MacOs to ./Contents/Resources with a media symbolic link did not work (pamm_mac couldn't find the PA which is logical).

PS: I'll look at your suggestions as well, DeathByDenim

so does mod loading work in general? Basically you need:

1. The mod manager should find the mods and write a mod list
2. the mod list should be where pa expects it, containing the mods.

That doesn't sound like a very hard requirement to me. Maybe PA can find the mod list if it is a hardlink?

So, I updated the modmanager to have an extra parameter called --modpath. Use that to point to the mod directory, whereever it is on a Mac.
In case of mrosseel, for example, it should probably be launched as

Code:

./pamm_mac --modpath /Users/mike/Desktop/PA.app/Contents/Resources/ui/mods

Sorry. I'm being completely retarded here, I know.

I have no idea how to show any hidden directories like pa.app/contents or anything else contained within the pa.app.

I might be going round this the wrong way, but would you be so kind as to post an "idiot's guide to installing mods on mac"? Would be greatly appreciated.

I have the pamm_mac file in the applications folder where PA.app is. I run pamm_mac and the app comes up displaying the mod manager with "No mods found". I have put the downloaded mods in the applications folder for lack of a better place. Like I started out writing I have no idea how to show directories within(?) pa.app if that's what the annotations mean... Also "Launch PA" gets me: "appending output to nohup.out" in the corresponding terminal window.

Thank you in advance

Ok. Sorry on it now. I'll write sort it out and write the idiots guide myself.

Picnic error here haha. I'll come back with a real question later...