Welcome to RCF - WHF

Matooba · Apr 15, 2007

How hard is it to add templates after youve install mods?

Chris Powell · Mar 31, 2007

I haven't tried doing this yet but at a guess it'd be a right nightmare Shocked

Nightrider · Sep 25, 2004

It's not hard to add them. Depending on how many MODs you have installed and what version of phpBB the template was designed for will determine how hard it will be to bring the new template up to speed. The ideal way to do this is to add all templates first before installing EM or any new MODs. But like me, most people have to learn the hard way. I probably had dozens of MODs installed before I added the new templates here in RCF...

If you haven't installed many MODs on your board, it is usually easier to uninstall them or start over from scratch. But if that isn't feasible, then you can add installed MODs to the new template(s) by creating Template Only versions of the MODs. Here is how to accomplish that:

Creating Template Only MODs

All you need to do is create Template Only versions of the MODs that you have installed.

First create a duplicate of the MOD script in a new text file. To make it easier to remember, just use the same MOD filename that the MOD author used, but add _template_only to the name. So if you are using the TopicCalender.txt file, the new Template only version would be named TopicCalender_template_only.txt.
Then save the new Template Only MOD and store it in it's own separate templates only folder...
If there are any files included with the MOD that are supposed to be uploaded to template folders, store them in the new Template only MOD folder maintaining the same folder structure that the original MOD used...

Next add the name of the new Template to the end of the MOD Title using your favorite Text editor. So the MOD Title could look something like this if Aeolus is your new template name:

Code:

## MOD Title: Topic calendar - Part 1 (common to all setup) Aoelus

EM will recognize this as a new MOD if the MOD Title is different from what it has previously installed...

Next strip out all NON-Template related modifications. All you want in this new Template Only version of the MOD are alterations for template files only. If there are any copy commands, only keep those that copy included files into template folders too..
Then rename all instances of subSilver with your new Template name using the Replace All function that you can find in most text editors.
Now you can upload the new Template Only MOD folder to the admin/mods and run it like you would any other MOD using EM.

If you have added more than one new template, you would want to repeat Steps 6 & 7 for each Template except instead of using subSilver, you would use the name of the last template that you installed using this Template Only version of the MOD. So if the last template you modified with this was Aeolus and you want to apply the changes to Helius next, do a Replace All on Aoelus to Helius...

It really isn't that difficult to update each new template after the fact...

headbang

~^Karen^~ · Nov 26, 2006

yea i found this out a few weeks ago luckily it was a new site i just started and only really had easymod on and about 3 or 4 mods so that was quite easy, but i guess it is a real PITA if you have loads of mods etc!

Nightrider · Sep 25, 2004

Yes, it can be a real PITA adding a template after many MODs are installed. They should include in the install instructions to add all desired templates before installing any addtional MODs. That might save a lot of people a lot of problems after the fact...

munky2

Matooba · Apr 15, 2007

Ok, I'm gonna give it a go with the template Solaris.
First i will replace all instances of subsilver to solaris using Notepad++ then save all. That way i know theres no template name errors.

Thanks for the replys

Nightrider · Sep 25, 2004

And make sure you remove all code that alters non-template files. You don't want to add the MOD code to those files again...

munky2

Matooba · Apr 15, 2007

OK, this is taking a lil bit. I opened each folder in mod and and check for all renaming (subsilver - solaris) and renamed all tokens and saved that to a new folder with same heirarchy. I rewrote the install file and deleted all entrys related to rewriting and only saved the ones that refer to copy (solaris).

Nightrider · Sep 25, 2004

I wouldn't have bothered going through the included files to make sure that the code was pointing to subSilver. I would only do that after the MOD was installed and it was clear that there was a problem. Most times, there won't be a problem if the MOD code points to a subSilver graphic since the templates are sharing the same MOD graphics. This only becomes a problem if you have modified the graphics to match a particular template...

When creating template only files, just concentrate on making sure that ONLY template files are being modified in the OPEN commands. Remove all non-template OPENS and corresponding code...

munky2