Tool Others Vambropy [v1.18 pre]: VaM packages & user content database, management, and a complement to VarBrowser

[doggava]

dunno, but not to my knopwledge

 

[AsylumDemon1]

First off I've gotta say that I'm loving this software, and would love to see additional features in the future like the ability to move files between drives in a way that would let me move creators or say favorites from said creators over to certain drives like my SSD's, and other files that I don't use or never use over to HDD's so the most used or preferred files are on speedier devices. I had some other thoughts but lost them so if I remember I'll mention them later.

In the meantime however, would you happen to have any idea as to why I'm getting two errors? The first is when going to set a file to autoinstall or create symlink I'll get an error on the title but it doesn't last long enough to make it out before it goes away. I do know the file I'm trying to do this with is on a different drive in a repos.

Another error I'm getting, and this one in particular is annoying, is a popup window stating Rejected Package(s) Bad file name format: and listing a bunch of files. At first it looked like it was merely referencing files ending in something like _1.var, (1).var, or just something like MMD.var without a file version in the name, so I went and renamed them, but I'm still getting the same error.

Spoiler: Bad file name format screenshot

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[commondi32]

First off I've gotta say that I'm loving this software, and would love to see additional features in the future like the ability to move files between drives in a way that would let me move creators or say favorites from said creators over to certain drives like my SSD's, and other files that I don't use or never use over to HDD's so the most used or preferred files are on speedier devices. I had some other thoughts but lost them so if I remember I'll mention them later.

Thanks, I'm working on and testing new features in my free time, which is not much in this time of year, but there is a plan on giving it more filtering and new folders to move packages. I use the packages in a way that is somewhat similar to yours. But the idea is not moving to another drive within the app, but to move to a VaM sub-folders like '_oldvars', '_moved' (user configurable)... so the user can manually move all files sent there after organizing. Example: You have been rating a set of different packages you have tried, so you want to sort from the better to worst, and filter 'dlskd9' creator. So a bunch is selected, then moved to '_moved' folder. After that, you can use the OS shell app you prefer to pick all contents in that _moved directory and cut, paste or anything. Why that method? Because each user might have very different criteria and including options for all cases would make it more difficult to use and debug (to me at least). I prefer to leave my favorite packages in VarBrowser folders, so they are ready to be used (supposedly in the same SSD drive where VaM resides). Others might prefer another method, but since the app is conceived as a VarBrowser companion, it tries to keep its scope whithin those folders (AllPackages for uninstalled, AddonPackges for installed). The external folders (repos) are configured mainly to keep track of where all the packages are, whether some of them are lost, etc., but no file operations can be done between then, other than copying from repo locations to VaM.

If you have another SSD you would like to use as part of VaM, as Varbrowser's uninstalled/installed, there is a way I have not seen mentioned but it can be easily done, that is symlinking two folders of the external SSD inside AddonPackages/AllPackages, respectively, similarly structured in the SSD. That way, you can install/uninstall not only with this app but whithin VaM with VarBrowser (!). Once the folder is symlinked you forget about running programs in admin mode, which could be dangerous sometimes. I will go in more details on it in a later post, but IMO the idea of symlinking single packages is not as good as setting a couple of symlinked folders, ony one time, set and forget. Since the app moves files when installing/uninstalling and always preserving its internal paths, it would never send a single file from an SSD to another, unless you use the _moved dir feature to move a selection and then do it manually through OS.

n the meantime however, would you happen to have any idea as to why I'm getting two errors? The first is when going to set a file to autoinstall or create symlink I'll get an error on the title but it doesn't last long enough to make it out before it goes away. I do know the file I'm trying to do this with is on a different drive in a repos.

In the current state, the app only allows to turn to autoinstall only when the package is installed. If I remember right, in 1.17 it was available for uninstalled packages too but it can be messy, since it depended on starting VaM for the packages to be moved (installed) automatically by VarBrowser. So you would refresh and see the blue package which still was uninstalled. Symlinking only works when running the app in admin mode which even I don't like it. I recommend to try the folder symlinking method, I will post a guide on it later.

Another error I'm getting, and this one in particular is annoying, is a popup window stating Rejected Package(s) Bad file name format: and listing a bunch of files. At first it looked like it was merely referencing files ending in something like _1.var, (1).var, or just something like MMD.var without a file version in the name, so I went and renamed them, but I'm still getting the same error.

This is regarding bad names, yes. There is a lot of them, probably truncated by the dialog limits, and you need to rename all the '(1)', you can try using a massive replacer tool like PowerRename, find all "(1)" and replace them with nothing. The (1) is usually put by the browser/OS when the file is already downladed so it renames it increaing the number until it can be saved to disk. You might need to verify/overwrite original version which could be an incomplete download maybe, maybe not. For the rest of files, those have bad versions too. The VaM format is strictly creator.packagename.version.var where 'version' is an integer. It cannot be creator.name.1.1.var, just one 1.var. Same with no numbers at all. Add .1 to them. There are others like 1_2.var, it remains a mystery to me why some creators used that, maybe a previous VaM version allowed it. If unsure, just use the last number, or just .1 and do not care about what is after '_', I might say. The app shows the annoying dialog because VaM is not seeing those packages. VaM shows that in its pink log and you can find the whole paths in the user-related logfile too (AppData/Local/MeshedVR/VaM/output_log.txt).

 

[commondi32]

A GUIDE ON SYMLINKING EXTERNAL FOLDERS FOR VAM/VARBROWSER USE:
This is useful when you have packages in external drives and you want to make them all available.

Example:
VaM installed in D:\Games\VaM\; an SSD with more packages in F:\Gamedata\VaMPackages\

1. Go to F:\Gamedata\VaMPackages
2. Select All (files, folders), Cut the selection.
3. Create a new folder, F:\Gamedata\VaMPackages\AllPackages_SSD1
4. Go to F:\Gamedata\VaMPackages\AllPackages_SSD1 and Paste
5. Create a new folder, F:\Gamedata\VaMPackages\AddonPackages_SSD1

Then, launch a console (as administrator) and use MKLINK command:

MKLINK /D D:\Games\VaM\AllPackages\_SSD1 F:\Gamedata\VaMPackages\AllPackages_SSD1
MKLINK /D D:\Games\VaM\AddonPackages\_SSD1 F:\Gamedata\VaMPackages\AddonPackages_SSD1

That's it! You have created two symbolic links called _SSD1, each one in AllPackages and AddonPackages, linked to relative packages folders in an external SSD. The external packages are now all in AllPackages (symlinked) and they will install/uninstall while always sitting on their respective drives.

Benefits of it:

• No messing with admin rights every time for symlinking single files, which is not a good practice for a Windows/NTFS filesystem.
• VaM and any program will see the external files just as they were part of AllPackages and AddonPackages.
• VarBrowser/Vambropy will install/uninstall like always but the files are moving in their respective drives (because the whole subpaths are kept while moving). So, no copy/delete process is done, because moving in the same drive means the OS is just changing an index in a filesystem's table, not copying/erasing the whole content every time (which happens when files are moved between different physical drives, leading to slower performance and more physical wear).

Side note: this is not written by LLMs , but I realize I might be starting to be somewhat influenced by their style

 

[commondi32]

annoying, is a popup window

Next version will show only a status message along with a new alert button which shows only when bad packages exist, so you can click to open and review the list.

 

[commondi32]

This is next version almost done. (TK version only) I leave it here, python files only, for testing and feedback if you see something wrong or anything. There are many features and fixes (check main vambropy_tk.pyw file for info about code changelog). Hope everybody like it and help us with the fine-tuning. Some things changed a lot like single key hotkeys changed to Ctrl+Key, releasing single keys for directly typing in package filter box.
Most request have been attended (donkeykong1969, flightdone, AsylumDemon1).

file moving solutions implemented, not fully yet but it can be done with more user-set folders.

Annoyances reduced, like autoinstall toggle more flexible, non-inverting when autoinstalled and not autonistalled are selected. prioritizing not autoinstalled. Or bad packages popups replaced with warnings on info panel, with a complete list which can be copied as plain text.

Better config, unrestricted number of repo locations, with configurabe base directory. List/Image browsing with faster and different modes (pressing ctl+wheel, shitf+wheel etc.). Ctrl+wheel on image thumbnails accessing images one by one (directly from package, not extracted to disk).

Better control for corrupted/incomplete packages, download missing from hub, smart selection (just select all, only missing ones will be looked for). Better control for filtering, new comboboxes with more options. Changed package level buttons for switchs, more intuitive way. Rating system by menu option or hotkey Ctrl+number, and column to sort by most liked ones.

And surely more I forgot.

IMPORTANT: Database schema changed, so you can't use the previous version. But you can use symlink/copy/move the thumbnails folder to avoid regenerating all again. Also, if you used the "Ignore" option for some dependencies in v1.17 , you can export them to a text file and import it back in the new database,so you don't lose that info.

Exporting "ignored" dependencies list from 1.17 vambropy.db:
copy vbdb (exe or py file) to your 1.17 vambropy folder, along with vambropy.db. Launch a command line and type "vbdb.exe export" (or pyhton vbdb.py export). That's it, it is exported to a new text file "dependencies_ignore.txt".
Then copy the text file to your new 1.18 folder, after the program was launched at least one time. In the command line type "vbdb.exe import" (or pythond vbdv.py import). That's it.

Running the app: python vambropy_tk.pyw

EDIT: Binary

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Attached vbdb.exe is flagged as VIRUS, as always with exes... I don't have viruses but I can't guarantee what happens when uploading. If not sure, check out and use the .py one instead, it is a very clean source file.