[Tool] Keep My Mod v0.3 (NEW! 2K's Updates + Your Mods)

[Leftos]

For reasons I've explained in detail in this thread, I've created this tool.

Starting with NBA 2K12, 2K implemented a way to update game art and text (actually, any game file) silently, without the need for a patch, using the Online Data folder. However, the files 2K updates this way override any mods the user has installed, and there's no easy way for the user to make sure his mods override 2K's updates.

This tool tries to solve this problem, by letting the user select which mods to keep, and also gives modders a semi-automatic way of making sure their mods won't get overridden/replaced by 2K's updates. The tool waits for the game to finish downloading updates, and automatically replaces 2K's updated files with the modded files the user/modders have instructed the tool to.

Detailed instructions for both users and modders offered in the Readme file (latest one included with all downloads). Make sure you read it in full before asking questions that are already answered in it.

Additional Features
As part of its core functionality, this tool forces the game to update itself. Which means that you can be sure you'll always get the latest roster, etc. So this tool also makes my previous tool, "Refresh Official PC Rosters", obsolete.

Newbie's warning
Don't be scared by the number of buttons and features the tool offers. Normally you won't need to do anything other than start the tool and click on "Start Game". The tool is fully-automatic in what it needs to do, that is, force the roster refresh, watch for new updates, and replace any conflicting ones with mods. You won't need to press any of the other buttons to do any of that. Just start the tool, and start the game. The rest of the buttons are either for modders or people who want to use a specific feature manually.

Just make sure you keep the tool running while you're playing the game.

Quick note though, to avoid having the game resync its updates when you quit a game and return to the Main Menu (which takes about 10-15 minutes during which you don't have the Online Data updates, such as the new shoes), remember this:
- When you're about to enter a game, Alt-Tab into the tool and click on Force Keep My Mods.
- When you're about to quit a game and return to the Main Menu, Alt-Tab into the tool, and click on Restore Online Data Backup.
If you remember to do these two things, you'll always have both your mods and the rest of 2K's updates, without having to wait through the lengthy update.

Screenshots


===================================================
DISCLAIMER
The tool is still in beta, so use it at your own risk. Make sure to keep a full backup of your NBA 2K12 folder inside %appdata%\2K Sports, in case something goes wrong.

When you edit the Roster.ROS file, ALWAYS save the edited Roster in a file WITH A DIFFERENT NAME! The Roster.ROS gets updated by 2K whenever there's an official update, and this tool FORCES the update.

So, two tips:
1. Always keep a backup of %appdata%\2K Sports\NBA 2K12. Always, always, ALWAYS.
2. When you want to edit the official Roster, always create a copy of it first with a different name, and always save to that file. Saving to the Roster.ROS file is unreliable even without my tool, but you're guaranteed to lose your changes with it, if you don't save to another file!
===================================================

Download
Latest version

• NLSC: Keep My Mod

Version History

• v0.3 - Mar 3
  
  • The tool now edits the downloads.mnf file in the Online Data folder, so that the game's fooled into thinking your mods are part of 2K's update; that way you can keep both your mods and the rest of 2K's updates, something that wasn't previously possible
• v0.2 - Jan 9
  
  • Now Online Data Browser shows all files in modlists but not yet updated
    
  • Whenever the game completes a re-sync, the log should show if new files have been updated by 2K, or if an already existing update has been updated again; in that case the program uses the Windows "Beep" sound to inform the user
    
  • Fixed various scenarios that would cause the tool to crash
• v0.1.6 - Jan 5
  
  • Tool will now ignore any files that are in modlists but have not yet been updated by 2K, thus accelerating the program's use when a lot of files have been added in modlists, and minimizing copy operations
• v0.1.5.5 - Jan 2
  
  • Tool will now start even if the game's running, but won't hide the rosters, thus avoiding causing any problems to the game; note that this is still an experimental feature
  • Manual features "Restore Online Data Backup" and "Force Keep My Mods" will now work at all times; previously the tool would crash as it wouldn't handle some scenarios
  • "Restore Online Data Backup" now temporarily disables the tool's automatic features, namely watching for re-syncs and forcing your mods again
  • "Force Keep My Mods" now re-enables the tool's automatic features if they were disabled by "Restore Online Data Backup"
  • Added a small "Re-syncing..." prompt below the Online Data Browser button that informs users that a re-sync is taking place; this can be used along with "Restore Online Data Backup" to let the user know when they can access NBA Today, Online, and the rest of the features that can't be used during a re-sync; see notes 6 and 6.1 for more information
  • The tool now reports whether its automatic capabilities are enabled or disabled, right above the log
• v0.1.4.12 beta - Dec 30
  
  • Tool now checks for the game's constants re-syncs of Online Data and overwrites 2K's conflicting updates with the user's mods after every re-sync
    
  • Tool will try to keep mods even during the re-sync
  • Tool is now compatible with both Steam and non-Steam versions of the game; previously wasn't compatible with non-Steam versions, crashing on start-up
  • Added checks so that no more than one instance of the tool will run at the same time
    
  • Added check so that the tool can't be started if the game's already running
• v0.1.3 beta - Dec 27
  
  • Tool now keeps backup of Online Data when replacing 2K's updates with mods
  • Added option to restore backup of Online Data, in order to avoid having to wait while the game re-syncs the whole Online Data folder; that's because whenever the game can't verify a download in the Online Data folder (e.g. if it's been corrupted or replaced with a mod), it will freak out, delete the whole Online Data folder and download everything from scratch, instead of re-downloading only the offending file
    
  • The Online Data backup, if available, is automatically restored when the tool starts for the reasons explained above
  • Improved error checking around the application; should now avoid some crashes
  • Improved error logging; crash logs now contain much more useful information for me to try to find the bug that's causing them
  • Fixed other minor bugs
• v0.1.2 beta - Dec 27
  
  • Added "Create Modlist" option, which allows you to select your mod's files and let the tool create and load the modlist for you.
    
  • Fixed UI elements' positioning in Online Data Browser
    
  • Fixed bug that made the program parse the whitelist (AllowUpdates.modlist) twice
    
  • Fixed Log auto-scrolling downwards even though new entries are inserted at the top
    
  • Added Readme window that displays this file
• v0.1.1 beta - Dec 27
  
  • Fixed major startup bug
    
  • Improved error checking throughout the application
    
• v0.1 beta - Dec 26
  
  • Initial release

My Modlists
Pistons Court: download/file.php?id=4070

Video tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KDgY5Phyfc


Donate and support my work
If you enjoy using my tools and want to show your appreciation, all you have to do is say a hello and a thank you in a reply here. If, however, you want to show a little more appreciation, you can always consider making a small donation towards my everyday and studies expenses. Any donation, no matter the amount, will give me even greater incentive to develop these tools and helping the community.

Click here to donate!

[Andrew]

Fantastic. Now also live in our Downloads section.

[ShippingToBoston9]

good stuff

[Leftos]

I've attached a sample Pistons Court modlist to this post. 2K has recently started using Online Data for a Pistons court update that by default invalidates any Pistons court floor mods (f021.iff). I've included s021.iff and team_021.iff in case they get updated later on too. This should make Sixers65's, Mythbuster's and others' Pistons court mods work again.

To use this modlist (and any modlist) with Keep My Mod, just extract the "KeepMyMods" folder from inside the archive into your game installation folder.

Pistons Court for Keep My Mod.rar
>> KeepMyMods\Pistons Court.modlist

should become
X:\PathToNBA2K12\KeepMyMods\Pistons Court.modlist

Start the tool and open the Online Data Browser to verify that the modlist was loaded successfully.

[ShippingToBoston9]

ok im getting an error that says that the program has stopped working can u fix the program??? plaease

[Leftos]

It's still in early beta stage, and I haven't tried it on many configurations yet, so it's to be expected.

Do you have .NET Framework 4 installed? When does the error happen? When you try to start the program or after you do something else? What operating system do you use? Can you get any additional information about the error, like an error code or something?

I'll try to update the program and try to catch all boot-time errors and exceptions, see if you can get me more information about what's going wrong. I'll also try it on another PC that has 2K12 installed to see if I get the error there too.

[Leftos]

Updated to v0.1.1 beta, which fixes a major startup bug and also improves the error-checking around the app, so that you can provide me with logs even for runtime errors.

I tested it on another PC which has NBA 2K12 installed, and it seems to work correctly, so it should be fine now.

[Leftos]

Updated to v0.1.2 beta. Now includes a tool that allows you to easily create and save modlists by selecting the files your mod contains, instead of typing them out yourselves.

[Leftos]

Preview download of v0.1.3 beta uploaded. See changelog in first post for more info.

[ShippingToBoston9]

ok cool

[ShippingToBoston9]

now i got this a crash with an error log i got the log attached here

http://www.mediafire.com/?22q6q5481og642m

[Leftos]

Any other info you can provide? Such as your OS? Also, could you try running the program as administrator?

[giga.ultra]

Does this tool works in 64 bit OS?
I have windows 7 64 bit and it crashes on opening the app, the similar error to ShippingToBoston9.
Thanks for your work though.

[Leftos]

On my second PC that has Windows 7 64-bit, I can't seem to reproduce this error. -sigh- There's nothing where the error points to that could cause an error, as far as I can see, only that maybe the tool can't access the registry.

Did you try running it as administrator?

Sorry for all the troubles, I don't have enough different configurations to try it on, and it's still really early in its development. I've worked on it a full 25 or so hours in 2 days.

[Leftos]

I've updated the 0.1.3 beta to include some more error-catching to see what's going wrong, and also have it require admin privileges. See if you can help me debug this by downloading the updated 0.1.3 beta from the same link.

[giga.ultra]

OK, I´ll try and give you feedbak

[giga.ultra]

System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: O destino de uma invocação accionou uma excepção. ---> System.NullReferenceException: A referência de objecto não foi definida como uma instância de um objecto.
em NBA_2K12_Keep_My_Mod.MainWindow.getPaths()
em NBA_2K12_Keep_My_Mod.MainWindow..ctor()
--- Fim do rastreio da pilha de excepção interna ---
em System.RuntimeTypeHandle.CreateInstance(RuntimeType type, Boolean publicOnly, Boolean noCheck, Boolean& canBeCached, RuntimeMethodHandleInternal& ctor, Boolean& bNeedSecurityCheck)
em System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceSlow(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipCheckThis, Boolean fillCache)
em System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceDefaultCtor(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks, Boolean skipCheckThis, Boolean fillCache)
em System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic)
em System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceImpl(BindingFlags bindingAttr, Binder binder, Object[] args, CultureInfo culture, Object[] activationAttributes)
em System.Xaml.Schema.XamlTypeInvoker.CreateInstanceWithActivator(Type type, Object[] arguments)
em MS.Internal.Xaml.Runtime.ClrObjectRuntime.CreateInstance(XamlType xamlType, Object[] args)
em System.Xaml.XamlObjectWriter.Logic_CreateAndAssignToParentStart(ObjectWriterContext ctx)
em System.Xaml.XamlObjectWriter.WriteStartMember(XamlMember property)
em System.Windows.Markup.WpfXamlLoader.TransformNodes(XamlReader xamlReader, XamlObjectWriter xamlWriter, Boolean onlyLoadOneNode, Boolean skipJournaledProperties, Boolean shouldPassLineNumberInfo, IXamlLineInfo xamlLineInfo, IXamlLineInfoConsumer xamlLineInfoConsumer, XamlContextStack`1 stack, IStyleConnector styleConnector)
em System.Windows.Markup.WpfXamlLoader.Load(XamlReader xamlReader, IXamlObjectWriterFactory writerFactory, Boolean skipJournaledProperties, Object rootObject, XamlObjectWriterSettings settings, Uri baseUri)
em System.Windows.Markup.WpfXamlLoader.LoadBaml(XamlReader xamlReader, Boolean skipJournaledProperties, Object rootObject, XamlAccessLevel accessLevel, Uri baseUri)
em System.Windows.Markup.XamlReader.LoadBaml(Stream stream, ParserContext parserContext, Object parent, Boolean closeStream)
em System.Windows.Application.LoadBamlStreamWithSyncInfo(Stream stream, ParserContext pc)
em System.Windows.Application.DoStartup()
em System.Windows.Application.<.ctor>b__1(Object unused)
em System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs)
em MS.Internal.Threading.ExceptionFilterHelper.TryCatchWhen(Object source, Delegate method, Object args, Int32 numArgs, Delegate catchHandler)
System.NullReferenceException: A referência de objecto não foi definida como uma instância de um objecto.
em NBA_2K12_Keep_My_Mod.MainWindow.getPaths()
em NBA_2K12_Keep_My_Mod.MainWindow..ctor()

00:18:06 - NBA 2K12 Keep My Mod - version 0.1.3 beta

this is the error log..
for some reason there´s a null reference exception..

[chicagoRAW]

Leftos, great job with this tool! thanks

[Leftos]

Uploaded just the updated exe. I've added another feature to the error catching. We have to track this down. Get the 0.1.3 beta4 installer and then replace the exe in the installation folder from the 0.1.3 beta5 update rar. It's just 30kb.

[ShippingToBoston9]

i just noticed that i was trying to mod a pistons arena and it didnt work i had the program running.... i think

[giga.ultra]

Well just tried with the new exe..
I still have an error

System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: O destino de uma invocação accionou uma excepção. ---> System.NullReferenceException: A referência de objecto não foi definida como uma instância de um objecto.
em NBA_2K12_Keep_My_Mod.MainWindow.getPaths()
em NBA_2K12_Keep_My_Mod.MainWindow..ctor()
--- Fim do rastreio da pilha de excepção interna ---
em System.RuntimeTypeHandle.CreateInstance(RuntimeType type, Boolean publicOnly, Boolean noCheck, Boolean& canBeCached, RuntimeMethodHandleInternal& ctor, Boolean& bNeedSecurityCheck)
em System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceSlow(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipCheckThis, Boolean fillCache)
em System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceDefaultCtor(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks, Boolean skipCheckThis, Boolean fillCache)
em System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic)
em System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceImpl(BindingFlags bindingAttr, Binder binder, Object[] args, CultureInfo culture, Object[] activationAttributes)
em System.Xaml.Schema.XamlTypeInvoker.CreateInstanceWithActivator(Type type, Object[] arguments)
em MS.Internal.Xaml.Runtime.ClrObjectRuntime.CreateInstance(XamlType xamlType, Object[] args)
em System.Xaml.XamlObjectWriter.Logic_CreateAndAssignToParentStart(ObjectWriterContext ctx)
em System.Xaml.XamlObjectWriter.WriteStartMember(XamlMember property)
em System.Windows.Markup.WpfXamlLoader.TransformNodes(XamlReader xamlReader, XamlObjectWriter xamlWriter, Boolean onlyLoadOneNode, Boolean skipJournaledProperties, Boolean shouldPassLineNumberInfo, IXamlLineInfo xamlLineInfo, IXamlLineInfoConsumer xamlLineInfoConsumer, XamlContextStack`1 stack, IStyleConnector styleConnector)
em System.Windows.Markup.WpfXamlLoader.Load(XamlReader xamlReader, IXamlObjectWriterFactory writerFactory, Boolean skipJournaledProperties, Object rootObject, XamlObjectWriterSettings settings, Uri baseUri)
em System.Windows.Markup.WpfXamlLoader.LoadBaml(XamlReader xamlReader, Boolean skipJournaledProperties, Object rootObject, XamlAccessLevel accessLevel, Uri baseUri)
em System.Windows.Markup.XamlReader.LoadBaml(Stream stream, ParserContext parserContext, Object parent, Boolean closeStream)
em System.Windows.Application.LoadBamlStreamWithSyncInfo(Stream stream, ParserContext pc)
em System.Windows.Application.DoStartup()
em System.Windows.Application.<.ctor>b__1(Object unused)
em System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs)
em MS.Internal.Threading.ExceptionFilterHelper.TryCatchWhen(Object source, Delegate method, Object args, Int32 numArgs, Delegate catchHandler)
System.NullReferenceException: A referência de objecto não foi definida como uma instância de um objecto.
em NBA_2K12_Keep_My_Mod.MainWindow.getPaths()
em NBA_2K12_Keep_My_Mod.MainWindow..ctor()

01:23:00 - NBA 2K12 Keep My Mod - version 0.1.3 beta

this is the log
I running as administrator.

[Leftos]

I'm running out of ideas here. Maybe the installer didn't install the required prerequisites, such as .NET Framework 4 Client Profile.

Try downloading and installing that from here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/de ... x?id=24872

[ShippingToBoston9]

maybe just turn off your internet when you play 2k12?

[Leftos]

-sigh- That's a suggestion, if you're willing to update manually. I know the tool still has issues, but it has a lot of potential, trust me.

[ShippingToBoston9]

i know it does i just dont want to screw up my computer if u use teamviewer u can maybe teach me a thing or 2 just inbox me