AngelLoader v1.9.7 (updated 2024/11/23)

[FenPhoenix]

Because each new version of Dark Mod negates loading saves from previous versions, I'm stuck with constantly changing the pathway if I want to check out a mission played under an older version of Dark Mod. I end up not using AngelLoader but going directly to the older executable. I don't suppose there's a way of making multiple pathways to Dark Mod, each pointing to an older version. Needless to say, my DarkMod Folder is HUGE. I've got version 2.08, 2.09, 2.10, 2.11, and 2.12 still installed, so I can go back to those saves. Unless there is a way of loading saves from previous versions that I don't know about, I'm stuck with having to go through this "process" and AngelLoader is not equipped to handle multiple versions (not even a drop down menu for each previous version? hint hint)

I'll have a look into it, but supporting multiple TDM installs would be more difficult than it sounds. Multiple installs means multiple FM sets, and then we run into possible name collisions and how to mark which FMs are supposed to be for which install, and how to present that to the user (you have two duplicate FMs in the list - which one is for which install?), and then what if you move your TDM folders or rename them? How does each FM database entry know which folder it's for now? If we just go by version, what if you had multiple installs that were the same version, or you updated one of them? etc.

So yeah I dunno, I mean I'll look into it, but I'm also in the middle of another bunch of work for a performance update, so the next release won't be for a bit in any case.

This actually seems like a case where an FMSel-style way of working might be preferable, where there's a separate copy of the loader for each game install...

[Ratinthehat]

Thanks for your input. Sounds too complex for what I guess is a minor or "boutique" problem. I'm sure most people replay the missions they liked when a new version of Dark Mod is released. I'm trying something different for posterity (for Dark Mod). Instead of relying on Saves to refresh my memory, I take a screenshot and make annotations. Then save them.

So with Pennywhistle, which I played 3 times, but with ver2.11, I can reference screenshots instead of saves. It's not perfect, but it's an alternative to never deleting older versions of the game.
So it looks like that's the way to do things. Eventually though, I WILL delete older versions of Dark Mod. Or save them to an external HD.

[rscorpio]

Guys, how I give path to missions in Angelloader? My fm are on Desktop, when it scans it can not find them, for example in Darkloader I gave path where fm lays manually, but in Angelloader I dont know where to give him path so fm will be listed...

[FenPhoenix]

PM me your Data\Config.ini file and I'll take a look

[rscorpio]

PM me your Data\Config.ini file and I'll take a look

Hi, thanks, I sent but I dont see if message delivered, I can put here and then delete after

[FenPhoenix]

You don't have any archive paths set up. You need to go into Settings -> Paths -> FM Archive Paths, click the + button and add one or more paths. These should be paths to folder(s) where your FM zip files (or 7z etc.) are.

[fortuni]

I dont see if message delivered

Go to Notifications/Inbox in top right hand tab

In Inbox go to My Settings/My Account/General Settings

In Private Messaging change your preference to 'Save a copy of sent messages in my Sent Items folder by default'

[rscorpio]

You don't have any archive paths set up. You need to go into Settings -> Paths -> FM Archive Paths, click the + button and add one or more paths. These should be paths to folder(s) where your FM zip files (or 7z etc.) are.

The problem is I dont see where FM Archive Paths, if you see please lets me know where is it


picture

[FenPhoenix]

You have to scroll down. Those Windows 11 scroll bars are not very visible compared to the old days

Perhaps I should move the archive paths section up so that it's visible with the default window dimensions.

Another thing I could do is to override the default light-mode scroll bars with some better ones that are more obvious. Microsoft's new visual designs are real accessibility problems if you ask me...

[rscorpio]

You have to scroll down. Those Windows 11 scroll bars are not very visible compared to the old days

Perhaps I should move the archive paths section up so that it's visible with the default window dimensions.

Another thing I could do is to override the default light-mode scroll bars with some better ones that are more obvious. Microsoft's new visual designs are real accessibility problems if you ask me...

Thank you, really so stupid of me, I did not noticed scroll down. But now I gave path , my missions on Desktop but they are not listed, for example Darkloader finds them but Angel did not yet...

[FenPhoenix]

Actually, hang on, you have a Thief 2 install, but your Thief 2 filter button is not checked, that means you're hiding all Thief 2 FMs. Uncheck the other game buttons and you should see FMs in the list, hopefully.

[rscorpio]

Go to Notifications/Inbox in top right hand tab

In Inbox go to My Settings/My Account/General Settings

In Private Messaging change your preference to 'Save a copy of sent messages in my Sent Items folder by default'

thank you

[rscorpio]

Actually, hang on, you have a Thief 2 install, but your Thief 2 filter button is not checked, that means you're hiding all Thief 2 FMs. Uncheck the other game buttons and you should see FMs in the list, hopefully.

Thank you for your patience, yes now I see list of missions but only 1 mission listed but I have 5 missions on desktop.

[FenPhoenix]

Click the "Show FMs marked as "unsupported game or non-FM archive"" button on the top bar (icon looks like a zip file) and see if they show up then.

[rscorpio]

Click the "Show FMs marked as "unsupported game or non-FM archive"" button on the top bar (icon looks like a zip file) and see if they show up then.

I did, but no, only 1 found

[FenPhoenix]

Edit: Actually just noticed again, you have "souls" written in the title filter field. That's going to filter the list to only FMs with "souls" in the name. Gotta remove that too and then you should see the rest.

[rscorpio]

Edit: Actually just noticed again, you have "souls" written in the title filter field. That's going to filter the list to only FMs with "souls" in the name. Gotta remove that too and then you should see the rest.

Yes, true, it works now, all other missions came listed, thank you very much for your help!

[WungusDasPungus]

This is an odd fringe request, and since I have little to no programming knowledge, I don't know how much of a pain in the ass it is, but is it possible to have the option to path to specific Dromed and MP executables? I keep copies of the directory on a separate drive to work out of as a failsafe to prevent any mishaps to my normal Steam install, and while going to them manually isn't really that big of a deal, I was wondering if it was possible for AL to just call those executables specifically.

[FenPhoenix]

This is an odd fringe request, and since I have little to no programming knowledge, I don't know how much of a pain in the ass it is, but is it possible to have the option to path to specific Dromed and MP executables? I keep copies of the directory on a separate drive to work out of as a failsafe to prevent any mishaps to my normal Steam install, and while going to them manually isn't really that big of a deal, I was wondering if it was possible for AL to just call those executables specifically.

Yes and no. It could call out to an arbitrary DromEd executable, but it couldn't pass an FM to it, because AL only knows about FMs from one game location per game. So if your normal Thief 2 folder is C:\Thief2, then your installed FMs for that game will be in C:\Thief2\FMs. If you have C:\Thief2Dromed then your FMs for that one will be in C:\Thief2Dromed\FMs, and AngelLoader won't know about them unless you switched your Thief 2 path in the Settings window.

Now I could allow multiple locations per game, but that would run into all the same problems as the multiple Dark Mod locations that was asked about a little ways back.

That's sort of the downside of a "global" style app, unfortunately. Having said that, it sounds like an interesting thing to prototype at some point even if I'm not sure it could be reliable. So maybe in the future but for now, it's not feasible, sorry.

[WungusDasPungus]

That's sort of the downside of a "global" style app, unfortunately. Having said that, it sounds like an interesting thing to prototype at some point even if I'm not sure it could be reliable. So maybe in the future but for now, it's not feasible, sorry.

No worries! I wasn't 100% sure what it would look like but I kind of figured trying to call FMs across different directories would cause some issues. Thank you!

[baeuchlein]

I am not certain whether I understood WungusDasPungus correctly, but... would it not be possible to make two separate installations of Thief 2/AngelLoader and use these? I think they could even use the same base directories/folders for FMs as long as the player is disciplined enough to "uninstall" any FM in the appropriate FM loader when ceasing to play.

[FenPhoenix]

AngelLoader v1.9.7 is out.

Performance:

• Added support for multithreaded disk I/O. How much benefit you'll get from this depends on what kind of drives you have. Spinning hard drives get no multithreading as that makes them slower; SSDs get a performance increase of 4x or more for multi-FM scans; and if your SSD is able to handle it, you can try the read/write threading mode for turbocharged FM install speed. This last one is the most salient improvement, but unfortunately you need a certain level of SSD to get the benefit. What level that is I'm not 100% sure; at least some lower priced SATA SSDs see performance tank under the write load, and I'm guessing lower-priced NVMe drives may have the same problem. But, it not being feasible for me to buy and test every drive under the sun, we'll just have to settle for it being a manual option only for now. Try it, and if your FM installations get faster instead of catastrophically slow, then great!
• Improved performance of wav file "bitness" checking when converting wavs to 16 bit.

General:

• In the Settings -> Paths page, the archive paths section has been moved up, to just below the game paths section. This aligns more with its relative importance, and makes it more visible to first-time users.
• File and folder dialogs now have specific titles related to the task you're doing, so if you're choosing a Thief 2 executable it will say so in the title, rather than just a generic "Open".

Accessibility:

• Settings window page buttons now have a more visible color scheme; it's now easier to tell which button is selected.
• Settings window page buttons now display a selection outline in dark mode when selected with the keyboard.
• In dark mode, checkboxes and radio buttons now have a more visible color when checked, similar to the Windows 11 default style.
• In dark mode, checkboxes and radio buttons now display a selection outline when selected with the keyboard.
• On Windows 11, tooltips are now persistent (they don't time out).
• Fixing Microsoft's blunders:
  
  • On Windows 11 in light mode, three-state checkboxes are now rendered in a way that makes it easier to tell the difference between "checked" and "indeterminate".
  • We now override the ridiculous Windows 11 scroll bars with older-style ones that can actually be seen.

Scanner:

• Improved character encoding detection for certain non-ASCII FM titles.

Fixes:

• Fixed edge case in FM backup where it could try to move a DarkLoader saves backup file to the "Original DarkLoader saves backup" folder when there was already a file with that name there. It now adds a number to the filename to get rid of the conflict.
• If an FM has no data to back up, an empty backup archive will no longer be created.
• Fixed uncharacteristically lax error handling in uninstall and backup code in general.
• Fixed regression: Screenshots tab now enables/disables properly again.
• When progress box is wider than default, Cancel button now remains centered.
• Some FMs have HTML readmes that reference external files (images, CSS, etc.). Previously, these external files would only be extracted to the readme cache for zip and non-solid rar archives. They are now cached for all supported archive types (zip, rar, solid rar, 7z).
• When installing zip FMs, empty folders in the zip file were not extracted. That caused no actual issues in practice but it was technically incorrect, so it's fixed now.
• When the Add Tag dropdown was open and you hovered the mouse over the FMs list and used the arrow keys, the FMs list would take the input rather than the Add Tag dropdown, and the Add Tag dropdown would remain open.

[Stingm]

Thanks again for the work Fen.

[OldPoorman]

Fen,

Forgive the stupid question, but does downloading and installing this version affect loaded FM's or saved games in any way?

[FenPhoenix]

Nope! All data remains intact.