Forged Alliance Forever

Re: Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-06T08:37:21+02:00

@PhilipJFry

Thank you, now I have some specific strings to search for.
That will give me enough context to get started.
I won't be letting it finish though since it puts everything on C, and even worse, in programdata, where I put nothing that I can put anywhere else.

Fortunately I don't have know the language to follow it if I have a few solid starting points or indexes.
I will start with seeing how the download paths/names I copied from the popups are constructed, and go from there.

Janus.

Statistics: Posted by Janus — 06 Oct 2018, 08:37

Re: Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-06T07:41:10+02:00

if you start the client in offline mode you can get the patches for the regular faf game patch without creating a faf account or logging in

after that you can run the exe located in programdata (like exotic already explained) and play fa with the latest faf patch

you can also use the mod/map vault when starting the client in offline mode, watch replays of games that have been played online via faf via the replay vault and access the units database

Statistics: Posted by PhilipJFry — 06 Oct 2018, 07:41

Re: Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-06T06:59:34+02:00

I had to restore my install from a pre LOUD backup that I made before trying it, to fix my graphics issues.
Removing LOUD left a mess, which was annoying, but not unanticipated.
I like the performance enhancements of loud, but they changed the game play in ways that just don't work for me.

I am not truly fluent in LUA, so the key parts of the init scripts are beyond my current understanding.
I avoid abstraction as much as possible since I work at low level not high.

I also do not use python or java, I simply do not like either one.
Nor am I proficient enough in either one to follow the logic used here.

@Exotic_Retard
I will take what you said about the steps and derive it that way.
That will allow me to update as needed.

@PhilipJFry
I appreciate your effort to explain.
However, I understood nothing beyond offline mode not connecting to a server, I have no idea what the rest of that is.

Now I try to figure out why AA to AG mod failed to work, I like the dual use.
It simplifies base and defense layout.

I noticed a number of surprising changes compared to vanilla play.
The cybran mobile multibarrel long gun range limitation was unexpected.

Though it was nice to see the nuclear repulse shields go nuclear when over run.

A little slow and jumpy compared to LOUD, but the whole thing just flows better than LOUD does.
They broke things up way to much, made you far to dependent on subcommanders.
Their AI is also not nearly as good as the sorian ai.

One of the reasons I am playing the game is it uses lua, which I need to learn much better than I currently know it.

Thank you all for your help, and most especially the files so I can trace the logic to make.
That is what I needed, a compare and contrast starting point.

Janus.

Statistics: Posted by Janus — 06 Oct 2018, 06:59

Re: Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-05T20:29:09+02:00

you can also just start the python client in offline mode, then start a 1v1 ladder game which will obviously never find an opponent cause you're not connected to the faf server but it will still grab the faf patch files and store them where you need them

Statistics: Posted by PhilipJFry — 05 Oct 2018, 20:29

Re: Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-05T20:07:49+02:00

the faf client takes the folders in the FA github repo, puts them into zip files and renames the extension to .nx2 or whatever it is, its pretty simple and all featured mods work that way. which means that you can do this process manually, by downloading and packing the right files into zips. its also possible to run from source directly if you edit the init_faf.lua file to a different version.

the files are loaded in a specific order, changed ones first and then they overwrite any duplicate files in the game. that way you can string mods on top of each other by having a specific mod order. FAF is essentially a mod, and other featured mods are run on top of faf in the same way. you can view this process in more detail inside the bin folder, and the init_something.lua files, which load specific mods (note that i didnt include the mod files for all the mods, so you wouldnt be able to run them unless you also get those files.)

Statistics: Posted by Exotic_Retard — 05 Oct 2018, 20:07

Re: Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-05T01:27:13+02:00

Thank you very much.
Saves me the hassle of figuring out how the client does it.
I am horrid at python, even worse than I am at perl.

Fixed the path for my install, but placed it beside my install, not on my C drive.
Launches fine, but oh man is that whole thing dark, I hate having my monitor set that bright.
I am hoping there is a skin or theme that can fix that problem though.

Only issue I am having so far is cybran tech3 engineering build options are not showing for anything.
T1 & T2 menus work fine in for T1 & T2 engineers and ACU, but T3 ACU or engineer shows just an icon to build a ground lab, and oddly, a fuel icon for aircraft.

I will try disabling all my mods and see if that helps.
Otherwise I will have some investigation to do.
Once I figure out how the faf client makes the archive you posted, I will post the directions just in case anyone else has a use for them.
I do not believe I am the only one who does use C for anything except the OS.

Janus.

Statistics: Posted by Janus — 05 Oct 2018, 01:27

Re: Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-04T21:40:17+02:00

so what you want to do is, get this: https://mega.nz/#!Qtgm1ApC!F9kWvnkuO2b1 ... ZL32ZB3TNs
it contains the patch files, and a fa exe.
you need to unpack the archive into:
C:\ProgramData\FAForever

and then run the fa.exe inside the bin folder provided, hopefully it should just work but if it doesnt then you need to edit the fa_path.lua file provided in the download to point to wherever your install location of forged alliance is, currently its the default install location.

how it should look like when youre done:

notice that its programData not program files

like i mentioned in my post above, you dont need to run FAF at all to get this to work. so what we are doing here is replacing its patching mechanism with a manual download, and replacing its game launching mechanism with launching it manually.

Statistics: Posted by Exotic_Retard — 04 Oct 2018, 21:40

Re: Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-04T19:56:17+02:00

@Nojoke185

Perhaps I have been unclear.
I do not play online, nor do I have an account to do so.
I can not host a game, my lan/wan security blocks such things, even if I wanted to.
I do not have git, nor even know what a pull request is.
Git, svn, and the rest are things I avoid.
I do not work in shared environments, only in snapshots.

I am trying to bypass using the client at all.
I simply want to test the update, that is all.

If I figure out the logic of how to use the update, I will post it.

Janus.

Statistics: Posted by Janus — 04 Oct 2018, 19:56

Re: Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-04T10:34:25+02:00

Hi

You are trying to run FAF offline and want to additionally load some of the github game patches locally for test/offline play?

First you probably need to install the client and then host a game (to pull a copy of the game files to your PC) I think they get copied to c:\programdata\faforever folder
Without that the folder likely wont have any of the game files (client install only puts the client files in place - the game files get pulled down from the server when you first host the game)
You can then run the game FAF patched game by looking for C:\ProgramData\FAForever\bin\ForgedAlliance.exe

Next try here for some info on how to load and run the latest FAF game pull requests and patches from github https://wiki.faforever.com/index.php?ti ... nd_testing

hope that helps and is what you were looking for

Statistics: Posted by Nojoke185 — 04 Oct 2018, 10:34

Re: Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-04T09:35:32+02:00

I am unable to make sense of what you are meaning.

I installed faf, despite not having any account login with or desire to play online, and it did not download any scd,nxt or nx2 files.
Nor did it offer any options to launch scfa, even after I set the install path.
There are also no files of those types in the archive from github.

Have you looked at the zip from

https://github.com/FAForever/fa/releases

to see what it contains?
This is what I am looking at.

I do not wish to run the faf client, I wish to bypass it.
I am trying to load the updated lua code, without using the client that is not going to run on my system anyway.
Because I am only running it locally, since I do not with to play online.

I hope I am finally able to be clear this time.

Janus.

Statistics: Posted by Janus — 04 Oct 2018, 09:35

Re: Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-04T09:10:15+02:00

the scds are not shipped with faf, the way the loading works is it looks in directories and loads EVERYTHING that fits the criteria. that means that it loads nxt files first, then nx2 and then anything from the fa install path, which in this case contains the scd that it needs.

this way, the faf and fa installation paths are kept entirely separate so you can run faf without changing your fa installation in any way.

to run the game offline you need to get the faf files downloaded into the same directory, and then run the exe which comes as part of the faf files, with some command line arguments. luckily you can run that with a shortcut so you dont need to do fancy things more than once. to get the patch files you dont really have to have faf installed at any one point, just ask someone for the contents of their faf gamedata directory. you can run it from source as well, but this might be easier for you.

Statistics: Posted by Exotic_Retard — 04 Oct 2018, 09:10

Re: Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-04T08:23:47+02:00

Wesmania wrote:
I think README.md from github.com/FAForever/fa is what you're looking for.

Which culminates here:

After adding all maps and mods to the search path, all .nxt compressed directories are loaded (as filtered by the whitelist). This currently includes: murderparty, labwars, avanced strategic icons and texturepack. They are loaded in alphabetical order.

Followed by .nxt files, .nx2 files are loaded. These comprise compressed directories for each subdirectory of the FA virtual file system: effects, env, loc, lua, modules, schook, projectiles, units, textures and meshes.

After all FAF-files have been loaded, the init file loads the base-game .scd files. Since these are loaded last, files that are in the FAF-directories take precedence and shadow the base game files.

Which is rather confusing since there are no scd, nxt or nx2 files in the archive, fa-3698.zip, gotten from github.

I know I am "doing it wrong" since I do do not allow anything non essential on my C drive, or use my user profile at all.
However, the directions provided refer to non present files, and the downloadable components appear to have a different structure or layout than expected based on what I can find to refer to, such as above.

Do I need to reformat the directory structure of the archive?

Janus.

Statistics: Posted by Janus — 04 Oct 2018, 08:23

Re: Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-04T08:10:50+02:00

i've had a setup with FA and FAF on another drive than C. the part it stops at is program data and appdata which I'm not sure windows allows you to have elsewhere.

Statistics: Posted by tatsu — 04 Oct 2018, 08:10

Re: Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-04T07:56:39+02:00

I think README.md from github.com/FAForever/fa is what you're looking for.

Statistics: Posted by Wesmania — 04 Oct 2018, 07:56

Using Lua for FA from github directly.

2018-10-04T03:28:46+02:00

Hi, I know this is kind of an off question.

Been trying out Loud for a while, have given up on it.
While it runs faster, their changes beyond the graphics do not work for me, it alters the game play to much for me.
I am wanting to try out some of the newer updates/rebalances from here but have been unable to.
I tried installing the faf client beside the game, but saw nothing about integrating the newer patches.
I pointed it to my install, but I have not been able to get it to do anything except try to make me login to an account I do not have, or sync with steam which I also do not have.
All of my games are installed from CD/DVD that I have on my game shelf.
I also do not game online.

Does anyone have the directions to use the Lua for FA from github?
My system is not setup the 'standard' way.
The only things on my C drive, are Win7, Drivers & Vs2013, nothing else.
I do not use the user profile for anything, and have put nothing in there.
Windows has only managed to put/spill <2Gb in it, and that includes some save games for SCFA, which I have been unable to move elsewhere, but would like to.
All of my software is installed to other drives, modified/configured to put things where I want them, or in portable mode.

Nothing is where the faf client expects it, and I have been unable to make sense of the loading mechanism.
All of my games are on one drive, sorted by type.
I have tried putting the lua archive it in SCFA\faf then calling init.lua, but it does not load.
Most of the directories it looks for are not present on my system.

Is there an idiots guide I can use to get started?

Janus.

Statistics: Posted by Janus — 04 Oct 2018, 03:28