Plugins + Scripts YAVAM - Yet Another VaM Addon Manager

[FivelSystems]

This seems really cool, but I admit that it’s a daunting task to undertake without instruction on how it functions. Do you know if there is any video floating around of how it works in practice?

I was sketching a video guide when I was actively working on it, but I only had free time that month and now I need to continue with my job and other stuff so, nope, but I'm trying to not abandon this project since I have a very particular vision for it, I had a peek at the project again today, the last time I updated the application here was the last time I worked on it
I wouldn't mind if someone from the community is willing to make a tutorial! I'll help to clear some concepts out if needed.

Is there a way to turn on dependencies that you've deactivated from the right info panel instead of having to repeatedly hunt each one down then return to the original package...get the next one etc... or am i missing something? Or maybe even a back button?

No, there is no way to do this for now and should be an essential feature, I'll consider adding this soon (hopefully this week?) while I figure out how to continue with the more advanced features later. I think the only thing you can do is "Install" the package and it will carry the dependencies with it, but I don't think they will be enabled and this concept can be confusing, "Install" just means copying a package from a library to another, there's no way to do this on the same library. Thank you for bringing this up!
EDIT: There is no way to 'undo' or 'redo' actions if that's what you're asking for, the program needs a strong refactor in that matter... but I can add elements that allow you to enable or disable all dependencies, or just right clicking on them to enable and disable individually (and they're features I honestly forgot to incorporate)

 

[FivelSystems]

Hi @kptnfrakass ! Sorry for taking this long to answer.

Is it possible to :
- add a button to reset all filters
- status/categories multi select : like conflict + unreferenced

I'm trying to update the application this week, I'll consider this along with other small fixes! (see previous post)

- add the "{main}\custom\*" as content in library (scan for .vap, .vam) :
a. Some customs looks, outfits, ... have dependencies too, these aren't tagged has "used by" and can be disabled/deleted by error.
b. this way our custom content will be listed in the library's categories

I'm aware that Custom content is not listed nor taken into account when working with the software, but it involves having to strictly link the application with Virt a Mate's installation folder, something I want to avoid so it stays independent from the game itself, my vision for this program is aimed towards making a detached library management tool, something you could use in a NAS server or related software. (Being able to browse through packages without VaM ever being installed or present)
But I think I may have misunderstood your request, by {main} are you referencing to the package itself?
With this last point I think that I won't do this, at least for now to avoid complexity, it has been designed to strictly work with packages at a macro level (.var files) for browsing & management between different locations, hard drives or remote folders, the only thing I can think of is that you make your own .var file with the needed dependencies configured. I kind of fear messing with the user's custom content, I'm sorry!

 

[eskamick]

I may be doing something wrong so just checking. When I did package cleanup and got rid of duplicates my # of files with missing dependencies doubled. Err... Is that what it's supposed to do?

 

[FivelSystems]

I may be doing something wrong so just checking. When I did package cleanup and got rid of duplicates my # of files with missing dependencies doubled. Err... Is that what it's supposed to do?

Only if the dependencies were pointing at a plugin's specific versions (usually older), in which case it can be a false positive most of the time.
By default the obsolete versions are disabled so you can enable them later if you so desire, unless you specifically used the option to permanently delete these packages, which I would not recommend unless you're 100% you want to free some disk space!

Do you need a guide? I can spare some time making one if you're in a hurry

 

[eskamick]

Nah I think your correct. I however am giving up and just starting from scratch. It sucks but I'm done playing the find the dependency game. I dowloaded everything to see what it was but I'm good now and can probably just trim down. I'm using a symlink and your app and Im good.

 

[kptnfrakass]

Hi @kptnfrakass ! Sorry for taking this long to answer.

I'm trying to update the application this week, I'll consider this along with other small fixes! (see previous post)


I'm aware that Custom content is not listed nor taken into account when working with the software, but it involves having to strictly link the application with Virt a Mate's installation folder, something I want to avoid so it stays independent from the game itself, my vision for this program is aimed towards making a detached library management tool, something you could use in a NAS server or related software. (Being able to browse through packages without VaM ever being installed or present)
But I think I may have misunderstood your request, by {main} are you referencing to the package itself?
With this last point I think that I won't do this, at least for now to avoid complexity, it has been designed to strictly work with packages at a macro level (.var files) for browsing & management between different locations, hard drives or remote folders, the only thing I can think of is that you make your own .var file with the needed dependencies configured. I kind of fear messing with the user's custom content, I'm sorry!

Tks for your response,
I was unclear about the last point i think.
I was talking about the VAM "Main folder\Custom\Atom..." which contains our presets, etc...
But if you want to have your app independent of the game, maybe we can just specify, in the setting menu, a folder of our choice to scan.
this way our appearance, outfits, etc (.*vap files) can be added to the library and show their dependencies. (if it's possible).

 

[FivelSystems]

Tks for your response,
I was unclear about the last point i think.
I was talking about the VAM "Main folder\Custom\Atom..." which contains our presets, etc...
But if you want to have your app independent of the game, maybe we can just specify, in the setting menu, a folder of our choice to scan.
this way our appearance, outfits, etc (.*vap files) can be added to the library and show their dependencies. (if it's possible).

That makes more sense, thanks for clarifying!
So I'll keep my original statement of avoiding this implementation because it ties the application to an instance of the game, and I still have unclear the audience I'm aiming for. Initially, is for normal users like myself, but sometimes I wish to have this implemented as a web application that runs on any operating system rather than just windows. Maybe my ideas are becoming very pretentious lately and I'll have to stop myself there

While it's still a normal windows application I think I can implement this, but only to make sure that when you delete packages, it doesn't delete anything you use in your saves. As I said, I don't want to touch the user's custom files, and I had some inconveniences myself because of this (accidentally deleting packages that were dependencies from my saves) so I should put an eye on this!

 

[FivelSystems]

FivelSystems updated YAVAM - Yet Another VaM Addon Manager with a new update entry:

YAVAM v1.3.15 - v1.3.16

v1.3.16 — Stability & Web Fixes

• CRITICAL: Fixed an issue where the "Setup Required" screen would persist in web mode after completing the wizard.
• CRITICAL: Resolved a server deadlock that could cause the application to hang during startup.
• Web Client: Fixed the "Waiting for Host Configuration" false positive; the dashboard now populates immediately after setup.
• Consistency: Cleaned up...

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[FivelSystems]

This seems really cool, but I admit that it’s a daunting task to undertake without instruction on how it functions. Do you know if there is any video floating around of how it works in practice?

I know I'm late here but there's a Wiki now, hope it helps! https://github.com/FivelSystems/YAVAM/wiki
I also updated VaM hub's description with additional GIFs that attempt to make it clear how each feature works.
If you're still feeling lost or you find there's missing/wrong information, let me know please!

I may be doing something wrong so just checking. When I did package cleanup and got rid of duplicates my # of files with missing dependencies doubled. Err... Is that what it's supposed to do?

You already had an answer, but I wrote a wiki page for this: https://github.com/FivelSystems/YAVAM/wiki/Library-Optimization

Nah I think your correct. I however am giving up and just starting from scratch. It sucks but I'm done playing the find the dependency game. I dowloaded everything to see what it was but I'm good now and can probably just trim down. I'm using a symlink and your app and Im good.

I think that I still lack understanding of why some users end up using symlinks, I can understand that it saves space and can help with other management methods but I personally find that chaotic, and I'll avoid it in YAVAM since that's not how I want it to function.

 

[FivelSystems]

FivelSystems updated YAVAM - Yet Another VaM Addon Manager with a new update entry:

YAVAM v1.3.17

This update aims to be friendlier towards slow hard drives by splitting the scan into 3 distinct phases, improving the initial loading time and allowing the user to interact with the application while the scan is in progress.

I personally have a dying hard drive with thousands of files, it's VERY slow and having to wait for a full scan to complete before being able to do anything is a pain.

Fixed​

• Library Switching: Clean stop between library selections...

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[FivelSystems]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to leave a warning, there is a current issue where packages are failing to be deleted with the [Delete] package action. https://github.com/FivelSystems/YAVAM/issues/42

I recommend to continue using 1.3.16 for stability, I made mistakes by not testing properly after modifying core functionality in 1.3.17 and should have been released as 1.4 due to breaking changes in general, 1.3.18 patch wasn't enough either.

I will be able to fix this next week, sorry for the inconvenience! I'm still trying to figure out how to properly release software without causing trouble.
PD: As far as I know there's issues when trying to delete packages in bulk, if you find anything else let me know

EDIT: Bulk enable/disable also had an issue, a patch will be posted soon.

 

[FivelSystems]

FivelSystems updated YAVAM - Yet Another VaM Addon Manager with a new update entry:

YAVAM v1.3.19

Sorry for not pushing an update earlier in this platform, the real answer is that I was too lazy to do so, but since bugs were present my excuse is that I wanted to delay the update here until I perform more tests

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
1. Is the `Update available` modal too invasive? Would you like it to behave differently?
2. Would you like to have update channels you can opt-in? For example being able to swap between...

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[FivelSystems]

FivelSystems updated YAVAM - Yet Another VaM Addon Manager with a new update entry:

YAVAM v1.3.20

This is a small patch in an attempt to provide stable and unstable channels for the brave users who feel like testing latest cutting edge changes.
I do not recommend to use unstable versions for normal use, 1.3.20 acts as a bridge to 1.4.X versions which will feature a foundational change in how YAVAM works by implementing SQLite. This will allow for increased scan performance, solid cache & dependency lookup...

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[kretos]

Dependencies are resolved only within each library separately? I think it would be better to do it globally and install into "AddonPackages" library without the need to disable everything... It's hard to use if sb wants to keep new files separately. I don't like the idea to put everything disabled in AddonPackages. Most mod software use external "library" and injects mods into game. So for me it would be best to have function "Install into game", that copies files into AddonPackages with dependencies from all libraries. And separate "Installed" section with function Uninstall. Files could be moved but uninstall should restore original location (add option to copy/move - move is a little more dangerous).

I like it, but at current version it's no use for me. Few other points:
- You should add some description what is the best method to install sth into VAM
- Add some filter indicator - if filters are collapsed it's easy to forget that data are filtered
- After switching context, an old details are still visible - a little confusing - better to show empty panel with some text "Choose package to display content"
- Files are copied? Wiki says moved.

 

[FivelSystems]

Dependencies are resolved only within each library separately? I think it would be better to do it globally and install into "AddonPackages" library without the need to disable everything... It's hard to use if sb wants to keep new files separately. I don't like the idea to put everything disabled in AddonPackages. Most mod software use external "library" and injects mods into game. So for me it would be best to have function "Install into game", that copies files into AddonPackages with dependencies from all libraries. And separate "Installed" section with function Uninstall. Files could be moved but uninstall should restore original location (add option to copy/move - move is a little more dangerous).

Thank you for the feedback! Some of these items are being solved in 1.4.0-unstable, dependencies are being detected cross-library, filtering engine is being refactored and requests like rating packages will also be included, the left sidebar has pending rework.

You may be right in saying this software isn't for you, this is a library management software that acts like a hosting server if you enable remote functions, allowing you to share libraries. Installing packages to your game is as simple as adding your AddonPackages folder as if it was another library, I will keep this in mind when making a proper showcase when 1.4.0 is somewhat usable; however keep in mind that this application was designed to work without requiring the game at all, raw library management with potential features that can help users save space in their disks.

I like it, but at current version it's no use for me. Few other points:
- You should add some description what is the best method to install sth into VAM

I will add it somewhere, I really thought it was intuitive! :S
You can install content into VaM, maybe it was never clear that you can right click on a package to install it on another library, you can point the installation to your VaM folder.

However the difference now is that you can also include dependencies from other libraries. (Not possible in stable 1.3.20 build)
The fact that it was limited to only one library was both a choice and a technical skill issue limitation, but not anymore.

- Add some filter indicator - if filters are collapsed it's easy to forget that data are filtered

Filtering is being reworked in the current development branch, almost done! The left sidebar now acts as a filter composer instead.

- After switching context, an old details are still visible - a little confusing - better to show empty panel with some text "Choose package to display content"

What do you mean by old details or switching context? The right sidebar persists after swapping libraries? This is intentional, often used to lookup dependencies and allows you to go back to the source package <by clicking the title on the right sidebar>

- Files are copied? Wiki says moved.

Files are copied when installed, not moved! I'll address this issue in the wiki soon.

I think nothing else is pending to be said, have a great day!

 

[kretos]

Thanks for answers - yes, I added AddonPackages as another library but it's not working because of dependency tracking only in library

1. It's intuitive but somehow I get the impression that it allows to install sth into VAM
2. good
3. Yes, exactly, if intentional then keep it
4. not sure what you're pointing to
5. ok

cheers.

 

[FivelSystems]

Thanks for answers - yes, I added AddonPackages as another library but it's not working because of dependency tracking only in library

1. It's intuitive but somehow I get the impression that it allows to install sth into VAM
2. good
3. Yes, exactly, if intentional then keep it
4. not sure what you're pointing to
5. ok

cheers.

Sorry, I was reading from mobile and one of the dashes looked like a fourth question, I've updated the original message!