Ability to update workshop items / mods

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the1trujok3r
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Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by the1trujok3r »

With many games having mods in the steam workshop it would be nice to have an option for servers that support mods to also check and update mods / workshop items.

The largest to note would be ARK: Survival Evolved.

If not specific to the game / template is there currently a way to do this?

We want to move away from using Ark Server Manager which is for a local dedicated box to a control panel solution and have purchased 2 licences and looking to buy more but the ability to update mods / workshop items is crucial to running our environment.
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Masher
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Re: Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by Masher »

I'll have to do some research on this, I'm not familiar with how workshop items and mod updates are pushed. If you have any info on where to start looking I'd greatly appreciate it.
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the1trujok3r
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Re: Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by the1trujok3r »

Working on getting you info Masher I'll post once I have it.
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canuckbrian
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Re: Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by canuckbrian »

Workshop items and mods can be downloaded using SteamCMD. It's quite simple. Example command:

Code: Select all

./steamcmd.sh +login anonymous +force_install_dir (path to mod location) +workshop_download_item (appid) (workshop_id) +quit
Two downsides to this:
  • Some games require you to login to steamCMD with an account that has a license for the game that the workshop item is for.
  • Some workshop items come packed up and need to be unpacked before the game will actually use them. Ark for example.
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the1trujok3r
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Re: Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by the1trujok3r »

@Masher

Any more work on this for being able to update workshop items / mods? I love the panel but without the ability to control Mods it's seriously crippling any further expansion using the tool. We have 4 licenses now but I'm having to manage another 20 other servers that I would licence in the panel but I can't due to the use of Mods.

As more and more games have the ability to add mods to them via steam this is increasingly important and many other web panels offer you the ability to control this and keep them updated.

Could this please be seriously looked at adding to a future version of the panel because I know for me I'd be adding quite a bit more licenses if they would happen.
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Re: Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by Masher »

I've researched it a little, but not much. How would you envision it working? Would this be a system that checks for updates and stops the server to update workshop items or a manual process (like the extra tool) that users would run at will to check for updates?
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Re: Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by Masher »

Also what servers are you interested in supporting and I'll start my focus on those.

Any hints, tips, things you're doing now to automate would be welcomed as well. :)
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the1trujok3r
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Re: Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by the1trujok3r »

@Masher

The games we run now are mostly the ARK / UE4 Engine type games.

The way the tools I'm using today work are they check for the workshop updates and build a txt file to later compare to should they not be able to check steam they can read that file to see when the last mod update time was.

If a mod is needed then they will do an RCON message that an update has been found for the server and it will be shutting down in x amount of minutes where X is a variable you can set. The system will then send reminders at 5 minutes and then every 1 minute stating the update reason which is a mod update and finally it does a 15 second countdown and then will do a RCON message to saveworld. It then stops the servers and restarts it.

There is a place where the mod ID's are placed and saved so the system can read which mod ID's are needed for each game.

All of this seems to be done in most UE4 engine games via RCON.

Ark, Dark and Light, Conan Exiles Etc...

The ability to also check manually would be nice but the more it can be automated the better.

So I guess what the system would look like conceptually would be this where X is a variable set in the panel :
  • Check for Mod updates every (X) Minutes (Propose new section called Mods where settings can be set for panel)
  • If Mod updates exist send message to server with defined message set in Mod update section at (X) notification. (Example 15 minutes)
  • Send reminder message at 5 minutes and every minute until countdown reaches 15 seconds then send message server is restarting
  • Perform any world save / game save on server
  • Write file with MOD ID's and timestamp they were last updated / checked
  • Restart Server
Something to expand on later might be the ability to query steam for the Mods available for the game and then allow selection of what Mods you'd like to add to the server.

I've not really ever used any other online program other than UGCC to manage our servers and only used a local program for the other servers but this causes big issues because I have to admin everything and I'd like for others to be able to admin their own servers. I'm not using UGCC for financial gain but it's something that runs our gaming community which is a big hobby of mine. Not a cheap one of course but this is a feature I'm sure would also have larger financial gain for the panel as more and more games use steam workshop to enhance their games. I believe it's one of the reason ARK and others have been so successful opening up the ability to keep the game fresh via their mods.

I'd be glad to test / help in anyway I can. I have an IT background and can do any troubleshooting / digging for more information where I can find it to help get the feature developed for everyone.
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the1trujok3r
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Re: Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by the1trujok3r »

It seems there is quite a bit of info out there about doing this scripted. The biggest issues I've seen is once you get the MOD downloaded it's compressed and you have to decompress it to copy it over to the MOD directory. I found this information with digging into it.

Mod Check Info:
https://survivetheark.com/index.php?/fo ... p-version/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/d ... 986893811/
https://github.com/frenchy2999/ARK-Mods-Update

Decompress info:
https://github.com/barrycarey/Ark_Mod_Downloader

I've also seen this switch for ark -automanagedmods which seems to do the decompress and apply but I don't want to use that because it's too game specific and the more generic the command could be for Mod updates the better because it adds the ability to support more games.
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the1trujok3r
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Re: Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by the1trujok3r »

@Masher

Did you have any questions about what I provided or have you had a chance to look at things and how it's been done other places?
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Re: Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by Masher »

Finishing up some features in the panel and then will start attacking this.
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the1trujok3r
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Re: Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by the1trujok3r »

@masher

Thanks for the awesome kit. Can't wait to see the workshop / mod update piece!
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the1trujok3r
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Re: Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by the1trujok3r »

@masher

Any idea on the Mod / Item updates in steam and adding it to the panel?

Just wanting to check in if this is something you are still looking at.

I know many could and would benefit being able to update mods / workshop items in the panel.
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Re: Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by Masher »

I plan on looking at it for the next update.
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the1trujok3r
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Re: Ability to update workshop items / mods

Post by the1trujok3r »

@masher

That is amazing news! I'm holding off on buying a new 40 core server right now that will host probably another 10 servers so with that feature being planned you will certainly see more purchases for the control panel. I'm technical enough to manually manage the mods but a lot of my admins are only good with control panel stuff so having this feature built in would be amazing!

I guess if I had a request it would be:

Ability to add mods / workshop items in the control panel, possibly show mods available form steam workshop would be amazing and easy to select which mods could be installed but if mod ID's are the only way to do it then of course functionality over ease of use matters most.

Ability to have mod updates checked automatically via a custom scheduled check and when found send a message to the server much like when it finds a version change for the main server files.

Those two features would make managing any server which includes steam workshop mods / items a much much easier task.

Thanks again for looking at this feature.
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