Future of UE4SS config/settings files locations

[Buckminsterfullerene02]

Changing PR: #506

Currently we have:

• root/CustomGameConfigs/
• root/MemberVarLayoutTemplates/
• root/UE4SS_Signatures/
• root/watches/
• root/UE4SS-settings.ini

In PR #472 I will be adding a new file for saving your search filters. If I were to follow the current system, it would go into root/liveview/filters.meta.json.

If we kept going in this direction, we would soon end up with the root directory being filled with even more random config folders than it already has, and I think that having this as clean as possible makes uninstalling UE4SS for the typical end-user easier (especially since many folders aren't completely clear if they are UE4SS or the game's).

Therefore, this suggestion has been made. Note the importance on keeping backwards compatibility for the existing files, so don't get your pitchforks out for that reason! It basically suggests:

• root/UE4SS-config/liveview/ for anything within the main liveview tab
• root/UE4SS-config/watches/ for anything to do with watches
• root/UE4SS-config/<whatever else in the future we will have>

Additionally we could also do these, but I think are a sub-discussion each in their own:

• root/UE4SS-config/UE4SS-settings.ini but the ini file name could change as well, maybe to just settings.ini since we'd already know that it's a UE4SS file and not a game one.
• root/UE4SS-config/CustomGameConfigs/
• root/UE4SS-config/MemberVarLayoutTemplates/
• root/UE4SS-config/Signatures/

Please let us know what your thoughts for this are, any other suggestions you have with config files etc.

[UE4SS]

I'm in favor of moving all files as long as it's backwards compatible on a file-by-file basis.
My opinion is that if we break mod loaders with this change (i.e. nexus), then we've done something we shouldn't have.

[narknon]

My current thought is that all files should go in root/ue4ss/relevantfolder/

Lowercase for Linux and Windows doesn't care. Then eventually the proxy should be changed to load ue4ss.dll from that directory, with an override available via a config file next to the proxy file (unrelated to the PR this was brought up from).

[Buckminsterfullerene02]

What do we want to call the config file? override.txt?

Format of the config file? A relative or absolute path of the new ue4ss.dll location?

[Buckminsterfullerene02]

For example the text in the file could be one of these, and the program would react accordingly (checking for absolute path is easy):

• C:\UE4SS\UE4SS.dll
• ..\..\..\..\..\..\UE4SS.dll

[UE4SS]

Name: Considering this is outside the ue4ss directory, ue4ss should be part of its name to avoid confusion. Maybe ue4ss_dll_override ?
Format: We're looking for just a path right ? So lets do whatever is easiest for mod managers to read/write.
Rel/Abs: I think both should be supported.
We may as well also require the name of the dll just in case people for some reason rename it or want to load some other dll instead.

[UE4SS]

@Buckminsterfullerene02 For the record, I think we can consider this discussion over.
We've waited a month for anyone to give their thoughts, and I think anyone can begin implementing this whenever they want to at this point.

In conclusion:

• Config location: All config files (including UE4SS-signatures) should go in <Win64/Linux>/ue4ss/, and sub-directories are allowed when appropriate.
• Casing: When Linux support is added, we won't be doing case-sensitive comparisons for file paths and names, so whether we go full lower case or not shouldn't matter.
• UE4SS-settings.ini rename: There were no comments on this, but in my opinion, renaming it won't give any benefit seeing as the filename is short enough and it'll just make it more annoying when people merge to this new location and the file is named differently.
• For the same reason as above, I think no files or directories should be renamed, for example UE4SS_Signatures -> Signatures.
• ue4ss.dll in the ue4ss directory: Should be just as easy to implement in a backwards compatible way as the rest of the files, and I do think it's a good idea to move this file.

[Buckminsterfullerene02]

Config location: All config files (including UE4SS-signatures) should go in <Win64/Linux>/ue4ss/, and sub-directories are allowed when appropriate.
Casing: When Linux support is added, we won't be doing case-sensitive comparisons for file paths and names, so whether we go full lower case or not shouldn't matter.
UE4SS-settings.ini rename: There were no comments on this, but in my opinion, renaming it won't give any benefit seeing as the filename is short enough and it'll just make it more annoying when people merge to this new location and the file is named differently.
For the same reason as above, I think no files or directories should be renamed, for example UE4SS_Signatures -> Signatures.
ue4ss.dll in the ue4ss directory: Should be just as easy to implement in a backwards compatible way as the rest of the files, and I do think it's a good idea to move this file.

Agreed.

[Buckminsterfullerene02]

So just to clarify, the only files that should be left in the root directory by default (with all dumps, crashes, etc.) are as follows:

• dwmapi.dll
• crash dumps
• UE4SS.log
• Mods/

Or anything else that should still be in there or moved into root/ue4ss?

[narknon]

Imo just dwmapi.dll and whatever file we use to override dwmapi.dll for the install location.

[UE4SS]

Note that #472 added the UE4SS-config directory.
Luckily this hasn't made it into a release yet so we can easily change this to ue4ss instead as that will be a more appropriate name considering configs aren't the only thing that might go in there.

[Buckminsterfullerene02]

Yea, something I was going to change when this discussion concluded. Good to write it down though.

[Buckminsterfullerene02]

@UE4SS What do we want to do when we detect a legacy location is being used for files, such as settings file. Do we:

1. Just use the legacy location regardless of if it is also in the new location or not
2. Only use the legacy location if it is not also in the new location
3. If it is in the new location, copy the contents of the file (or directory if one) and move it to new location then use new location (probably not a good idea if mod managers are hardcoded to use legacy location, though then again this would be a major update so arguably they should be updated anyway).

[Buckminsterfullerene02]

Probably number 2 because users would install new ue4ss version and if they have duplicate copies of files, it should likely prioritise loading the new stuff over the legacy stuff due to fixes and settings changes etc.

[UE4SS]

I agree that option 2 is the best option.
Worst case scenario, mod managers that aren't updated will be overridden if the user has manually installed to the new location, which seems like a rare occurrence because how many people use a mod manager at the same time as manually messing with the files.

[Buckminsterfullerene02]

While we on the topic, do we need API.txt anymore? It's probably quite outdated by this point and there's not much reason to be using it... only reason is if you are developing offline, but who does that these days?

[UE4SS]

I don't know who, nor does it matter in my opinion, it's still important to ship some kind of documentation.
I think API.txt should be replaced in releases by the docs directory instead.