Simplest Way to Upgrade Configs and Settings with each release

[tcoursey]

Loving the fact that with so much silence in the past we are getting quite a bit of response these days from development! However it's almost too much. Trying to stay up to date is hard when I use custom plugins, short cut keys and the like. Each time I have to setup the system once again. May not be a huge time sucker but I bet it is about 30 mins everything said.

So, I'm hoping there is a way I've just missed. How does everyone else upgrade from each new point release?

[jeric_synergy]

My guess?:

Before upgrading, save your hotkeys and menus.
I keep all 3rd party plugins and scripts in two folders external to the app directory, ie in "NewTek", not "Lightwavexxx".
Install.
1) Scan your 3rd party plugins and scripts in.
2) reload your menus
3) reload your hotkeys

I think "1)" is the key, so the menus have something to point at. I'm not sure what happens when a menu references a non-loaded plugin.

[tcoursey]

My guess?:

Before upgrading, save your hotkeys and menus.
I keep all 3rd party plugins and scripts in two folders external to the app directory, ie in "NewTek", not "Lightwavexxx".
Install.
1) Scan your 3rd party plugins and scripts in.
2) reload your menus
3) reload your hotkeys

I think "1)" is the key, so the menus have something to point at. I'm not sure what happens when a menu references a non-loaded plugin.

Yea but what happens when there is something new in the menus or plugins? I'll miss that and never knew it was suppose to be there! I was thinking about some sort of MERGE tool or something...

Good ideas there though...thanks.

[dwburman]

Yea but what happens when there is something new in the menus or plugins? I'll miss that and never knew it was suppose to be there! I was thinking about some sort of MERGE tool or something...

Good ideas there though...thanks.

If you right click on a group in the menu editor, you can save out just that menu tab or section. Likewise, you can import the branch. If you put all your 3rd party stuff in one group, it should be pretty easy to save and reload them.

[raymondtrace]

...I was thinking about some sort of MERGE tool or something...

WinMerge.org is useful to compare and merge config files. ...But I do start out by backing up (exporting) menu branches, etc in LW. I just use WinMerge to clean up things I might have missed.

[jeric_synergy]

If you right click on a group in the menu editor, you can save out just that menu tab or section. Likewise, you can import the branch. If you put all your 3rd party stuff in one group, it should be pretty easy to save and reload them.

Like Dana says, it's always prudent to ADD stuff to your own >>TABS<<, leaving the originals alone, and allowing easy Export/Import of Menu Branches.

It kinds sucks when you've got a fancy Bevel3000 and you'd prefer to have it next to Multishift, but there ya go.

One thing not many people use is the fact that you can have tools in multiple places in the menus. So, in the example above, you could make your own "BEVEL AND SIMILAR" >>tab<<, etc etc....

[Ma3rk]

There is a Config manager in the OD Toolset, but so far Oliver hasn't posted a video on its use. He verbally described it in another thread, but I couldn't get it to work with just those notes. A key step was missing it seemed. So, I just slogged through the usual method we've all been doing for years.

Perhaps kindly & gently perster him to make a vid of the process before .0.5 gets released.

[Revanto]

I've been taking screenshots of all my menus, GUI colours, configs, etc... so help make things quicker when updating to a new LW. I also take notes of all plugins and minor adjustments (like the custom font trick) then keep everything in a small folder for reference. I make sure that everything is labelled super clearly so I don't accidentally delete anything. So, basically, pics and txt files of everything as the simple meat and potatoes way of updating. I do also save all my configs such as the hotkeys and menu layouts but it is always useful to have a visual and text backup just in case.

Revanto

PS: I also make sure that if I make any adjustments like adding new plugins to my menus that I make new screenshots and take new notes, just to be sure. It's all old school but, hey, it works.

[Kryslin]

How I go about it:
1) In the version I'm upgrading from, I save my custom menu branches.
2) Install the new version.
3) Since my plugins are kept in a separate folder, away from the normal install path, I use a NTFS junction tool to create a junction point in the new installation path.
4) I go into the previous version's .newtek folder, and copy my color libraries and license files there, then paste them into into the new version's .newtek folder.
5) I fire up the new version, and import my saved menu branches. I make sure everything works as it should, then close the new version.
6) Because LWCAD has it's own installer, I run that last, and go through activation with it. Usually painless, but sometimes not.
7) Restart LW, arrange menu tabs, start working in LW.

Time taken, about 20 minutes.

[CaptainMarlowe]

There is a Config manager in the OD Toolset, but so far Oliver hasn't posted a video on its use. He verbally described it in another thread, but I couldn't get it to work with just those notes. A key step was missing it seemed. So, I just slogged through the usual method we've all been doing for years.

Perhaps kindly & gently perster him to make a vid of the process before .0.5 gets released.

What kind of problem did you encounter ? For me, it worked like a charm, I could restore my configs in a snap with OD config manager. Updating took me less than 5 mi utes and I retrieved all my menus. I won’t make a vid, because it would mean creating a new iteration of LW 2018.0.4, but I’ll try to describe how I used the tool tomorrow. Right now, I’m too tired, after driving 8 hours today.

[oliverhotz]

here you go.

https://vimeo.com/album/4335852/video/269398516 (obviously for both modeler/layout)

Time taken, less than 30 sec.

[Ma3rk]

What kind of problem did you encounter ? For me, it worked like a charm, I could restore my configs in a snap with OD config manager. Updating took me less than 5 mi utes and I retrieved all my menus. I won’t make a vid, because it would mean creating a new iteration of LW 2018.0.4, but I’ll try to describe how I used the tool tomorrow. Right now, I’m too tired, after driving 8 hours today.

Ah. Well after watching Olivers video, perhaps the problem is in understanding fully the purpose of the tool. As it is, it will save and restore WITHIN A GIVEN VERSION, but it doesn't appear to have the ability to MIGRATE settings & configs from a previous version which is pretty much what this thread is about.

When I had both 2018.0.3 & 2018.0.4 installed, I could run the Config Manager for each, but the drop down lists don't see the others of course as each install has a unique configs folder under C:\Users.

So the question remains: How do (did) you migrate from 0.3 to 0.4 with just the Config Manager? Or can you even do so w/o some copying between config folders & is that potentially inviting problems depending on how significant the changes are between versions?

Menu tabs & hotkeys (which seems to be what the Config Manager deals with) shouldn't be any problem but are there less obvious things under the hood getting saved & restored as well? The Config Managers GUI lists Menus, Shortcut Keys and All for Importing and it's the All that has me wondering. If it's just Menus and Shortcut keys getting imported that's great, then perhaps that Tab would be less confusing named Both.

[oliverhotz]

the file that the config manager stores, you'd have to copy that into the new config folder.. when you save a config via the manger, it stores a .odcfg file.. that file, you'd just copy in the new 2018.0.x folder.. I could extend this via a load file/save file button, but seems pointless, as you are going to copy the license anyways, might as well copy one more file

[Ma3rk]

the file that the config manager stores, you'd have to copy that into the new config folder.. when you save a config via the manger, it stores a .odcfg file.. that file, you'd just copy in the new 2018.0.x folder.. I could extend this via a load file/save file button, but seems pointless, as you are going to copy the license anyways, might as well copy one more file

Thanks Oliver. That was the missing piece of info.