Using OvGME to apply & manage Mods

Does OVGME have a hard file size limit? I'm trying to use it to make a mod file of a series of folders that (when zipped = 15.5GB).
It constantly fails about 1/3rd  way through and the error logs are unhelpful at best:

NOTICE: GME_MainInit:: OvGME Initialization : Log history start
NOTICE: GME_ConfLoadCfg:: Load global configuration : Done
NOTICE: GME_GameUpdList:: Updating config list : C:\ProgramData\OvGME
NOTICE: GME_GameUpdList:: Retrieving config : 6209371da346c7457f1b0cda91bf6582
NOTICE: GME_GameUpdList:: Retrieving config : 863f3bddba7aa7bccba1aa30362c3b07
NOTICE: GME_GameSelectCfg:: Selecting config : DCS CORE
NOTICE: GME_GameEditCurCfg:: Edit current config : DCS CORE
NOTICE: GME_GameUpdList:: Updating config list : C:\ProgramData\OvGME
NOTICE: GME_GameUpdList:: Retrieving config : 6209371da346c7457f1b0cda91bf6582
NOTICE: GME_GameUpdList:: Retrieving config : 863f3bddba7aa7bccba1aa30362c3b07
NOTICE: GME_GameSelectCfg:: Selecting config : DCS CORE
NOTICE: GME_GameSelectCfg:: Selecting config : DCS Saved Games
NOTICE: GME_GameEditCurCfg:: Edit current config : DCS Saved Games
NOTICE: GME_GameUpdList:: Updating config list : C:\ProgramData\OvGME
NOTICE: GME_GameUpdList:: Retrieving config : 6209371da346c7457f1b0cda91bf6582
NOTICE: GME_GameUpdList:: Retrieving config : 863f3bddba7aa7bccba1aa30362c3b07
NOTICE: GME_GameSelectCfg:: Selecting config : DCS Saved Games
NOTICE: GME_GameSelectCfg:: Selecting config : DCS CORE
NOTICE: GME_GameSelectCfg:: Selecting config : DCS Saved Games
WARNING: GME_ZipIsValidMod:: Invalid Zip file: : I:\B OVGME Mods\SAVED GAMES\\SuperMod - SAVED GAMES.zip.build
WARNING: GME_ModsUpdList:: Zip file is not a valid Mod-Archive: : SuperMod - SAVED GAMES.zip.build
ERROR: GME_FileDelete:: DeleteFileW error The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. : I:\B OVGME Mods\SAVED GAMES\\SuperMod - SAVED GAMES.zip.build
ERROR: GME_ModsMake_Th:: mz_zip_writer_add_file failed : I:\B OVGME Mods\SAVED GAMES\\SuperMod - SAVED GAMES.zip.build
WARNING: GME_ZipIsValidMod:: Invalid Zip file: : I:\B OVGME Mods\SAVED GAMES\\SuperMod - SAVED GAMES.zip.build
WARNING: GME_ModsUpdList:: Zip file is not a valid Mod-Archive: : SuperMod - SAVED GAMES.zip.build

If I use another app to zip them up they zip up fine. If I make 30 individual mods each less than 5gb then OVGME works fine. 

But if I try and make one mod file for all of them, it breaks, every damn time. 

I can't get my sqn mates to change to OMM because that's even more user unfriendly - I still struggle getting them to understand and use OVGME (they keep unzipping everything) so I have to stick with OVGME.

Can anyone please help?

3 hours ago, Elphaba said:

Can anyone please help?

Yes, the routines that OvGME uses for compressing sometimes don't work well. There are two workarounds:

1) Create the zipped archive manually using any compressing tool you have, you only need to abide to the ovgme structure, where a zipped Mod looks like this:

null

README.txt and VERSION.txt can be created with any text editor, while the folder that contains the Mod structure just needs to have the exact same name as the name of the zip file itself.

2) Rather than having a single SuperMod of 15 GB, which will be a pain to maintain whenever one of its sub-mods needs updating, make use of the "Profiles" facility of OvGME, and use it to apply all the Mods you need on a single operation:

Best regards

Is there a way for OVGME to just change the name of a file? I use ovgme for several things and I understand using it to change what is inside a certain .lua file but if I want to change the name of a certain file. For example in the Syria and Persians gulf terrains, I change the file extension  of the small bushes that pop in right in front of you, to “_0.ref” so basically dcs ignores them so they don't appear in game.. I do this every update, it only takes seconds, but It would be nice for ovgme to do it… I did read a few posts up that it wont delete files, but maybe there’s a trick to get it to change the name? Or maybe a different mod manager?

A big refloat!
Is there a way to remove the original files instead of overwrite them? I want to remove the files inside the kneboard folder of the maps to remove all those charts and have quick access to my charts. If I just put the same name files (png ones) with cero bytes it will load them as blank so I will need to click "next kneeboard page" as if they were there. The only way is removing those files, but I would like to make it through OvGME to restore them easy.

5 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

I believe the Kneeboard Builder can do this. But you need to do it after every update of course.

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk
 

Is Kneeboard builder a 3rd party app, or built in DCS? I’ve never seen it 

Hey Guys, Never used a mod manager before and I have some confusion as to where the “config root folder” and “config mods folder” locations should be. I’ve seen some say Saved Games and some say in the DCS program folder. What are the correct locations? Thanks

31 minutes ago, greyeagle787 said:

What are the correct locations?

both, as DCS Mods can go into two different locations … see here:

So I need to set up 2 configurations for OvGME? 1 in DCS program file and 1 in saved games? Having not used any Mods yet in DCS are there different types that require the different root folders? I’m looking at a NVG unblur Mod, wondering where that should go?

Yes, you can create multiple configurations, titled as you wish.

I, for example, have two:

1) the one for mods and skins that go into the main game folder (I named that config "DCS Open Beta", config root folder is main game folder, config mods folder is the one I created for this purpose in my OvGME directory;

2) the one for mods that go into Saved Games (I named it "DCS Opne Beta (Saved Games)", config root folder is Saved Games\DCS.Openbeta, config mods folder is another , separate one I created in my OvGME directory.

Not familar with NVG mod you mentioned, does it come with any readme or instructions? Mind you, some mods are not picky and can be placed in either of both locations anyway (personal preference).

Sorry for my ignorance , but how do I know which config a given mod will go in?

Is Kneeboard builder a 3rd party app, or built in DCS? I’ve never seen it 

1 hour ago, greyeagle787 said:

how do I know which config a given mod will go in?

Every Mod should include instructions on how to install it, some mods have Discord Forums where they usually have install instructions also.

Got It, Thanks!

1 hour ago, MAXsenna said:

3rd party app.
There's a thread for it in the forum as well.

Cheers!



https://dcskneeboardbuilder.com/



Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk
 

Thank you, I will check it out

I don’t anticipate having many mods to manage but curious if this is still a viable App? I see many going to OpenModManager which looks overly complex to me. 

Wondering also, when I download a mod, do I copy the entire .zip file into my OvGME mod folder or unzip first and then copy in the contents?

Thanks!

1 hour ago, greyeagle787 said:

I don’t anticipate having many mods to manage but curious if this is still a viable App?

Yes, at least for me it is still working ... it is an App completely independent of DCS, it can in fact be used to apply Mods to other games, like IL-2, and that means that DCS updates don't affect OvGME. On my PC it looks like this:

1 hour ago, greyeagle787 said:

I see many going to OpenModManager which looks overly complex to me. 

I tried OMM for a couple months and couldn't get used to it, so I reverted back to OvGME, no regrets as most of the OMM advantages are geared towards Multiplayer user groups (to ensure all members of the Group use the same version for each Mod).

1 hour ago, greyeagle787 said:

Wondering also, when I download a mod, do I copy the entire .zip file into my OvGME mod folder or unzip first and then copy in the contents?

There are so many different Mods, packaged in so many ways, that it is hard to answer this question. Please keep in mind that no Mod Manager will know how to install a specific Mod, you are the one that has to know where a Mod files should go and then package it in such a way that OvGME can handle it ...

... in essence a Mod Manager is nothing more than an automated file copier with backup/restore abilities, if you don't know where a specific Mod should go, then the OvGME won't know either.

20 minutes ago, Rudel_chw said:

 in essence a Mod Manager is nothing more than an automated file copier with backup/restore abilities, if you don't know where a specific Mod should go, then the OvGME won't know either.

Thanks for the info! Will trial and error my way!

Hi guys, I wanted to ask a couple of things and make some considerations.

I have always used JSGME but having heard good things about OvGME I wanted to try it out. I thought this could solve the problem of having to rewrite data every time you activate a mod. I thought OvGME was smart enough to create symlinks in such a way as to save GB and GB of writing to disk. However, it seems that it does not do this.  Do you happen to know of any mod management software that uses a "smarter" approach perhaps using precisely symlinks? Does DCS support reading symlinks in the first instance?

As an aside, I noticed that by default OvGME uses the ProgramData folder on the drive with the OS to keep backups of the original files. What a bad, bad idea. It almost completely crashed my pc while I was testing the enabling of some heavier mods.
Yet another problem: by enabling multiple mods that modify the same files, rightly OvGME overwrites them, but it doesn't seem to keep track of which mod was enabled last and therefore doesn't create a dependency tree for you to do a "clean" disable (which JSGME does).
*Edit*: Another problem: It also seems that OvGME's handling of the backup of original files is somewhat arcane. The time it takes to backup is significantly longer than in JSGME, and - the strangest part - is that the backup size is more than twice as heavy as the modified files themselves. Let me explain: activating several mods that take up a total of 20 GB, OvGME's backup operations will create files with a total size of 44.6 GB. This data is the result of an attempt just conducted and is not made up.

I must say that not only do I see no advantage in using OvGME but I find it to be even worse software than JSGME. In any case, both do not allow mod activation that does not involve a complete rewrite of the modified files; stressing the disk unnecessarily.

2 hours ago, CappuccettoRosso said:

I thought OvGME was smart enough to create symlinks in such a way as to save GB and GB of writing to disk. However, it seems that it does not do this.  Do you happen to know of any mod management software that uses a "smarter" approach perhaps using precisely symlinks?

No, I don't know any Mod Manager that uses symlinks created by itself ... and I fail to see how using symlinks would save GB.

When you use a Mod, you basically have three items: the Mod files, stored on your Mod library; the game files that were saved before being overwritten by the  Mod; and the game files modified by the Mod.

So basically the space required is triple the amount of the modded files, how would a symlink avoid this and save space?

2 hours ago, CappuccettoRosso said:

Does DCS support reading symlinks in the first instance?

Symlinks are handled by Windows, they are transparent to the applications, including DCS.

2 hours ago, CappuccettoRosso said:

As an aside, I noticed that by default OvGME uses the ProgramData folder on the drive with the OS to keep backups of the original files. What a bad, bad idea. It almost completely crashed my pc while I was testing the enabling of some heavier mods.

I have never had a problem like that, because I tell the software where to place every item .. leaving things to be handled by defaults is usually not a good idea. For example:

2 hours ago, CappuccettoRosso said:

Yet another problem: by enabling multiple mods that modify the same files, rightly OvGME overwrites them, but it doesn't seem to keep track of which mod was enabled last and therefore doesn't create a dependency tree for you to do a "clean" disable (which JSGME does).

Correct, and that issue is described on the OvGME documentation. For me its never an issue because I don't use multiple Mods that affect the same files, as that is simply asking for trouble.

2 hours ago, CappuccettoRosso said:

*Edit*: Another problem: It also seems that OvGME's handling of the backup of original files is somewhat arcane. The time it takes to backup is significantly longer than in JSGME, and - the strangest part - is that the backup size is more than twice as heavy as the modified files themselves. Let me explain: activating several mods that take up a total of 20 GB, OvGME's backup operations will create files with a total size of 44.6 GB.

That is strange, even considering that the backup files are not compressed while the Mod files usually are compressed. Just made a quick test: disabled all my Mods and then installed Caucasus Redone by Barthek ... the Mod is 2.07 GB ... the backup folder is 1.83 GB  

2 hours ago, CappuccettoRosso said:

I must say that not only do I see no advantage in using OvGME but I find it to be even worse software than JSGME.

Well, what can I say ... keep using JSGME then 

Eduardo

Thank you for your response,

I premise that I am not an expert, have mercy, but I will try to explain anyway. If I am in the wrong I might learn something.
Let's imagine this simplified scenario:
we have an original file "D:/Main DCS Folder/data/texture.bla" taking up 1 GB and a mod for that file "D:/mod4DCS/Modded_Texture/data/texture.bla" also 1 GB.
With a symlink system I imagine things would go like this:
move the original file to another directory on the same disk "D:/backup_mod/data/texture.bla." Moving that 1 GB "D:/Main DCS Folder/data/texture.bla" file to another directory does not involve writing an additional GB of data since you would only be going to change the directory. Let's say we consume 1KB of information to index that file in another directory. After that, inside the folder "D:/Main DCS Folder/data/" we are going to insert a symlink (size 1 KB) that does nothing more than give instructions on where to find the real modded file, which is "D:/mod4DCS/Modded_Texture/data/texture.bla." Then again, that's what a symlink does. It pretends to be a file that is actually in another directory. They are "super shortcut"; not my words. I invite you reading: https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2016/12/02/symlinks-windows-10/
When we go to disable that mod, the symlink will be deleted (size 1 KB) and the original DCS file will be moved from the backup directory to the root directory. So again say 1KB of information actually written to disk.
*Edit*: Among other things, in the past I used mod managers that used the Symlink system. However, they were not generic but for a specific game. I remember that it was very fast and did not consume disk space even when activating mods of tens of GB.
--
On the other hand, regarding the issue of too much size of OvGME Backup I can just show you a picture:

I look forward to your opinion.
With respect,
G.P.

P.s. The problem of OvGME backup... Never mind, I'm a fool! I think that simply the original DCS files take up more space than those of the (incredibly good) optimized texture mod of Taz.

@CappuccettoRosso

I completely understand what you mean about the auto creation of symlinks.
OvGME is abandonware, but luckily for you the OvGME developer, Sendenion, has a new project called Open Mod Manager and is always open to new ideas.
I suggest you head over to that forum and voice them, cheers!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

Question:

 having read the very first post briefly, is it Still necessary to deactivate all installed mods?

Question:
 having read the very first post briefly, is it Still necessary to deactivate all installed mods?

1 hour ago, BaronVonVaderham said:

Question:  having read the very first post briefly ...

That post is from 6 years ago, so it is inaccurate and does not correspond to the latest OvGME version, even if the general concepts are still valid.

1 hour ago, BaronVonVaderham said:

, is it Still necessary to deactivate all installed mods?

You mean whenever you update DCS?   In that case, only deactivate those Mods that are applied to the DCS program folder ... those Mods that are installed onto the /Saved Games/ path do not need to be disabled ....

BUT, keep in mind that a DCS update can still render some Mods unusable and even conflict with the normal operation of DCS, so it is probably useful to disable even the Saved games mods, update DCS, give it a quick test flight, and only then re-enable the user Mods as needed.