How to download mods from browser (Linux)

 falseteeth


Posted 29 December 2019 - 9:32 am
I run Voobly through wine. For the most part, it works great. However, using the built-in browser to install mods didn't work for me. No problem, I thought, I'll use a browser. When you try to do that, however, your browser will complain it can't open the link. There are several methods, including messing with your browser's config. The following is what worked for me.

I am not liable for any unforeseen damage to your computer. I am not a programmer. Use at your own risk. To my knowledge, these are the only steps needed, but I tried several different things first.

As an example, I will use the Light Grid Terrains mod for The Conquerors.
When you click Download Now, it is not a direct link to the file. If you look at the location bar in your browser, you'll see this:
Code:
voobly://client.voobly.com:17600/?service=Package&uid=0&session=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&arg=voobly.com**gamemods*13*Light[space]Grid[space]Terrains
Instead of https:// you have voobly:// . You may have seen something similar when clicking an e-mail address (mailto://) or opening a game in Steam (steam://) or downloading legal torrents (magnet://). This is called a protocol handler, and we need to install a custom one for voobly.

First of all, find your Voobly.desktop file. Mine was in
~/.local/share/applications/wine/Programs/Voobly/. Copy-paste it to ~/.local/share/applications . Open the new file in your favourite text editor.

The file will start off with this:
Code:
[Desktop Entry] Name=Voobly

We need to edit one entry and add another one. At the end of the Exec entry, add:
Code:
%u
Then add another entry (I put it after Path, I don't think location matters):
Code:
MimeType=x-scheme-handler/voobly;
Don't forget to include the semi-colon.

Save the file.

That's it! Next time you click the Download Now button, it will ask you what program you want to open voobly links with. Click Voobly, and even if it's not already open, it should say it's downloading the mod. To check that they downloaded successfully, go to your game folder and open the Voobly Mods folder. Everything should be there.

If you use a Mac, I don't know enough about that system, but the answers you seek are most likely here: [You must login to view link] If the program RCDefaultApp still works, that is probably the easiest method.

Happy modding!
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 125130550


Posted 1 January 2020 - 3:00 pm
Thanks for your contribution! Cheers ;good
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 [Wally]ArcherHombre


Posted 24 January 2020 - 1:48 pm
Wow, thank you! I had to fire up a VM and download the mod regularly, and then just copy it back to a Wine prefix. I never thought to try something like this.
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 [Wally]ArcherHombre


Edited 24 January 2020 - 5:52 pm by [Wally]ArcherHombre
Some additional info:

You can confirm that your system is ready to use your voobly.desktop file with this query:
Code:
$ xdg-mime query default x-scheme-handler/voobly Voobly.desktop
And if you need to manually set it, you can do so with:
Code:
xdg-mime default Voobly.desktop x-scheme-handler/voobly
Interestingly enough, I did not need to fully qualify the path to Voobly.desktop. I suspect that is because it is in one of the XDG_DATA_DIRS default locations which is the ~/.local/share/applications/
My Voobly.desktop actually calls a wrapper shell script, which I augmented to pass the parameters to voobly.exe.
Code:
$ cat ~/.local/share/applications/Voobly.desktop [Desktop Entry] Name=Voobly Exec=/home/archerhombre/.wine/voobly.sh %u Type=Application StartupNotify=true Path=/home/archerhombre/.wine/dosdevices/c:/Program Files/Voobly Icon=/home/archerhombre/.local/share/icons/voobly.png StartupWMClass=voobly.exe Comment=Matchmaking service for AoC Terminal=false Categories=Game;StrategyGame; MimeType=x-scheme-handler/voobly; StartupWMClass=voobly.exe
The shell script has that $@ (all parameters), which will pass any of those values from the %u from the Desktop file.
Code:
#!/bin/sh env WINEPREFIX="/home/archerhombre/.wine" STAGING_WRITECOPY=1 /usr/bin/wine C:\\Program\ Files\\Voobly\\voobly.exe $@

References:
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Auxiliary reading:
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 koandcul13


Edited 11 September 2020 - 10:47 pm by koandcul13
I had and I still have the same problem, but I found a solution for it. Here it is:

Another way to Download Mods is to Manually create New Folder where Mods Usually are Downloaded. This method only works with mods approved by voobly staff, since the others won't autodownload when you join a lobby.


#step1: decide what mod you want
- I will use my mod as an example.

#step2: it is Visual Mod or Data mod
- at the right side on mod's page you will see a box with some information.
- If is Visual Mod will be mentioned New Visuals or Content
- If is Data mod will be mentioned Changes Game Play

You must login into Voobly to view image


#step3: locate where you have installed your game
- mods are saved in /aoe2/Voobly Mods/AOC/

An example:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Age2HD\Voobly Mods\AOC\

You Will find there 3 Folders:
- Data Mods
- Local Mods
- Patches



IF is VISUAL MOD ( NEW VISUALS OR CONTENT) your mod will go into LOCAL MODS Folder. ( example as visual mod: https://www.voobly.com/gamemods/mod/457/Light-Grid-Terrains )

IF is DATA MOD ( CHANGE GAME PLAY) your mod will go into DATA MODS Folder. ( example : https://www.voobly.com/gamemods/mod/1394/Smush-mod )

IF is PATCH ( GAME PATCHES) it will go into Patches Folder ( example of patch: https://www.voobly.com/gamemods/mod/1119/v15-RC )

#step4: creating the folder

- as I said I will use my own mod for example, it's name is Smush mod , so I will go in Data Mods folder and create a new folder called Smush mod . Then I will open that folder and I will Right-click -> Create new -> Empty File which I will name version.ini . I will open that file with notepad and type a random number like 9.9.9 . Save it. ( You can also copy-paste version.ini from another mod if you don't have notepad, 11 )

#step5: rejoin Lobby ( not room )

- once you rejoin a lobby, voobly client will check the version number you have in your version.ini with the version of the mod from website. Because are not the same, voobly will autoupdate the mod.

Please remember that this doesn't work for mods that aren't approved by voobly, since you can't autodownload/autoupdate.
And please make sure your Put DATA MODS at DATA MODS and VISUAL MODS at VISUAL MODS, if create them at wrong folder, it will always try to autoupdate it when you join a lobby. ( If you ever do this mistake, a solution is just to delete that folder which is trying to autoupdate )


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