For The People
Tips When Updating/Maintaining Module
Vassal Module development is a bit "wild west", in that anyone can jump in and
do it, and anyone can upload a new one to the server! So by all means jump in
and help! BUT, there are a few "delicate" aspects of updating a For The People
module, and this file lists a few steps that "if followed" will make everyone's
life easier. They are also documented here lest we forget them ourselves! --
Brian Reynolds, 2020
A WORD OF WARNING
This module does depend on quite a few "custom java classes". The most
complicated ones have to do with the automatic stack reorganization (if you
think it's slow now, wait till you see it without the custom classes!). The
source java code for the classes IS included in the module "vmod" file, but
modifying and maintaining custom java classes is considerably more painstaking
than regular Vassal work, and is definitely "not for the faint of heart". You
have been warned!
FIRST AND FOREMOST!
Most importantly, the four "Scenario" saves must be recreated afresh whenever
there have been any changes to prototypes and internal logic. The
"Refresh Counters" function is NOT sufficient, as there are aspects which this
cannot touch! Therefore each of the four scenarios must be created again
manually - frustrating, but only takes about 5-10 minutes.
Step 0 - (Optional-but-Recommended) See if the coast is clear!
- Email the person listed in the "How To Play" entry as the current maintainer
of the module and make sure they're not about to drop a giant new version or
something. You don't want to do a bunch of work for nothing, etc. If two
people are going to do work on the module, it's best for them to trade it
back and forth for periods of time so that only one person is editing the
module at the same time -- there is no practicable way to "merge changes"
between two versions.
Step 1 - Update Campaign/1861 Scenario
- Start with a "fresh VASSAL boot" of the module
- From File/Scenario menu, select "Custom Game". Do NOT select the
Campaign/1861 scenario! That would load the old now-tainted save!
- Join as "observer".
- Click in the chat line so that the cursor is blinking there - this
makes sure the toolbar will have focus for hotkeys.
- Press Alt+Ctrl+Shift+P. This forces all the starting PC Markers to
"register" w/ the State control displays. This ONLY needs to be done
with the 1861/Campaign scenario, not the other scenarios.
- Press Alt+Ctrl+Shift+A. It may take upwards of 20-30 seconds for
this command to process! This will force an automatic Stack Reorg of all
units, and will also make sure that the At Start PC Markers register
properly.
- Click the "Clear Movement History" button at the upper right of the
toolbar. This ensures that if movement trails are turned on during play
there will not be spurious trails leftover from the setup
phase.
- "Save Game As..." and pick an appropriate save file name e.g. 1861-3-0
- In the module editor, find the "Scenarios" entry at the bottom.
- Edit the Campaign/1861 entry
- Use the "Select File" button to replace the save with your newly created one.
Step 2 - Update 1862 Scenario
- Again, start with a "fresh VASSAL boot" of the module
- From File/Scenario menu, select "Custom Game". Do NOT select the
1862 scenario! That would load the old now-tainted save!
- Join as "observer".
- Click in the chat line so that the cursor is blinking there - this
makes sure the toolbar will have focus for hotkeys.
- Press Alt+Ctrl+2. It may take upwards of a full minute for this command
to process! This will set up the board for the 1862 scenario.
- Click the "Clear Movement History" button at the upper right of the
toolbar. This ensures that if movement trails are turned on during play
there will not be spurious trails leftover from the setup
phase.
- "Save Game As..." and pick an appropriate save file name e.g. 1862-3-0
- In the module editor, find the "Scenarios" entry at the bottom.
- Edit the 1862 entry
- Use the "Select File" button to replace the save with your newly created one.
Step 3 - Update 1863 Scenario
- Again, start with a "fresh VASSAL boot" of the module
- From File/Scenario menu, select "Custom Game". Do NOT select the
1863 scenario! That would load the old now-tainted save!
- Join as "observer".
- Click in the chat line so that the cursor is blinking there - this
makes sure the toolbar will have focus for hotkeys.
- Press Alt+Ctrl+3. It may take upwards of a full minute
for this command to process! This will set up the board for the 1863
scenario.
- Click the "Clear Movement History" button at the upper right of the
toolbar. This ensures that if movement trails are turned on during play
there will not be spurious trails leftover from the setup
phase.
- "Save Game As..." and pick an appropriate save file name e.g. 1863-3-0
- In the module editor, find the "Scenarios" entry at the bottom.
- Edit the 1863 entry
- Use the "Select File" button to replace the save with your newly created one.
Step 4 - Update 1864 Scenario
- Again, start with a "fresh VASSAL boot" of the module
- From File/Scenario menu, select "Custom Game". Do NOT select the
1864 scenario! That would load the old now-tainted save!
- Join as "observer".
- Click in the chat line so that the cursor is blinking there - this
makes sure the toolbar will have focus for hotkeys.
- Press Alt+Ctrl+4. It may take upwards of TWO FULL
MINUTES for this command to process! This will set up the board
for the 1864 scenario.
- Click the "Clear Movement History" button at the upper right of the
toolbar. This ensures that if movement trails are turned on during play
there will not be spurious trails leftover from the setup
phase.
- "Save Game As..." and pick an appropriate save file name e.g. 1864-3-0
- In the module editor, find the "Scenarios" entry at the bottom.
- Edit the 1864 entry
- Use the "Select File" button to replace the save with your newly created one.
Step 5 - Optional But Recommended - adjust Change List and Credits
- Extract the "FTPHowToPlay.html" and "changelist.html" from the vmod file.
(You can temporarily rename the .vmod to a .zip file to make it easier to
view/extract files, then rename it back)
- Update the FTPHowToPlay.html as appropriate. Add your name to the credits
near the top. Mark yourself as the current maintainer of the module ("you
break it, you buy it!"). Note the file needs to be placed at three different
locations in the Vmod/Zip file -- the one in the root directory is used for
the toolbar version of How To Play; the other two activate the entry on the
Help menu. When I do it, I make a separate version that includes real
hyperlinks for the Help menu version, because real hyperlinks fail in the
non-help-menu version. But you do you!
- Update the changelist.html to add your new changes to the top. Leave the old changelist notes there (unless you're doing a sweeping revision).
- I recommend manually inserting your new versions into the file (don't
use Vassal editor for this).
Step 5 - Save Your Module Out
Step 6 - Test Module Even More ("Just In Case")
Step 7 - Upload to the For the People Vassal Module page
Step 8 - Relax and Enjoy!