Mod Configuration Tool || The Vandy Library
This is a reupload of the Mod Configuration Tool, hopefully temporary. Steam Support ticket is in progress, hoping there’s a fix for the original mod.
It doesn’t look likely that Steam has any intent to respond with my issues beyond prewritten replies to the ring of "If you have trouble downloading, please restart your internet." Let’s get comfy with this version!
This mod is a few parts at the moment, and I’m going to try and make a simple explanation for each.
The main library running this mod is the Vandy Library, aptly named after my personal hero. It’s a system of shared functionalities for repeated code I need to use – for instance, logging stuff to files, cleanly saving data between sessions scriptedly, and shared UI functionality or other boring backend stuff.
Everything else is built "on top" of the VLib, in what I’m calling "modules".
The first/core module is the Mod Configuration Tool – a system that incorporates a front UI, which enables modders easy access to add in settings for their mod, and enables mod users access to adjust those settings in-game. So a mod that adds in a set of Dwarf units might add in an MCT option to disable those Dwarf units, piecemeal – and the mod will adjust based on your selections within the MCT UI.
The newest module is what I’m calling the Campaign Counselor (because CA has already made the Campaign Manager). The Camp-Counselor is a system of shorthands for making fun stuff in campaign, for modders. An example of some in-progress functionality: the ability to lock/unlock the recruitment of units, on the fly, based on scripted conditions (ie., no cool Dwarf Bards until you reach level 10).
As an important note – I am not the person who goes through and sets up the Dwarf Bard integrations. Those are done on the mod’s end. If you’re noticing an issue with only one mod’s settings or what have you – that report needs to go to them. If you’re noticing an issue with all, that goes to me.
Without any mods enabled that use this functionality, the Vandy Library does absolutely nothing on its own.
I have some old documentation available[chadvandy.github.io]. It will soon be updated to fill in all of the new bits and bobs – standby!
Make sure to set this mod as a required item, unless the integration is optional for users.
If you have any suggestions, requests, issues, or bugs, or whatever else: please let me know either here, or in the Modding Den Discord channel (linked below in "Contact Me"). I will certainly be more responsive in the latter, just due to me using it more often. You can also check in my GitHub repo[github.com] for this mod. Feel free to make a pull request, if you have the desire to make any updates manually. I’ll go through anything submitted through Pull Request/Issues and make sure all are resolved!
To use this mod, make sure you enable it in the mod manager after subscribing to the mod here, and in the main menu there should be a new button on the top left corner of the screen with a settings-esque icon. Press the new button, and it’ll open up the new MCT panel with all current options. Go through all the mods listed in the panel, change and choose your settings, and then press "Finalize Settings". Once you do that, those settings will be used for any new campaign you create.
Some modders will set their settings as changeable mid-campaign; you can open up the MCT panel (in the same spot in campaign, in the top left) and change these settings to change them only for that campaign.
It doesn’t work like MCT 1.0, where a pop-up would trigger very early in the campaign. If you don’t open up the panel in the main menu and change settings, the settings will default to whatever value the modders set for their stuff – for instance, all of Confederation Options’ options are defaulted to "No Tweak".
This mod will work with whatever you have enabled, and can be enabled or disabled at any time – unless any mods you’re using require it to be active on new campaign, and don’t expect settings to work if you disable halfway through.
Multiplayer safe! The Host of a campaign will have their settings applied when making a new campaign, and for simplicity’s sake, only the Host can change settings. Modders can opt-in to make settings "local only", which prevents those from being communicated between the two PCs – for instance, the internal MCT log is local only, which means one player can have it enabled while the other has it disabled. Only non-game-editing settings should be local only, otherwise there will be a desycn
– Left-aligned text on the patch notes looks kinda weird if you try to indent. Gotta fix gotta fix.
– If there’s more than one popup at a time, ie. two mods with a new Patch, and you press "Yes" to view the first one, the second popup will immediately be triggered, annoyingly. This is going to be resolved next patch.
shameless copy-pasta goes here.
If you’d like to get in touch with me about my mods or whatever, don’t bother with Steam. Join me and a bunch of awesome modders in the Modding Den[discord.gg], a Discord channel. It’s a great place for people who love mods, or Total War, or gaming, or want to learn how to mod. Come join the fun!
In case you’re not in the loop, I’ve made a modding website for tutorials on how to mod Total War games[tw-modding.com]! Click that link and check it out, let me know how you like it. Modders, if you have an interest in helping me out, PLEASE reach out!
Thanks to DrunkFlamingo, who paved the way for the first version of this mod and did the vast majority of work that time around.
Big thanks to sm0kin for early beta testing.
Thanks to the countless other modders who have incorporated MCT support in the past year, and given me invaluable feedback. Notably, paperpancake5, Mixu, prop joe, FrostyDemise, Jadawin, Anyndel, and a number of others who I couldn’t possibly remember – you’ve all been a huge help. Also, thanks Cataph, for helping me with obvious answers 90% of the time!
Thanks to Vanish, for the inclusion of some helpful functions he’s let me use in this mod, and for paving the way with UI modding.
Thanks to my significant other for giving me the mod image solution when I was wondering aloud, "What should the mod image be?"
Revisions:
Old revisions of this mod are available below. Click the link to download.
