>> The Launcher currently relies on the 'default' profile for sample files (e.g. attributes.xml), so it's unable to create a new profile if it's not there.
Oh, I see. I didn't realise the "Welcome" window would create a new profile by itself.
It doesn't create a new profile automatically, but it displays a form that lets you do so.
>> And why would you delete the 'default' profile?
And why not!? I didn't have a use for it, nor did the game, so I got rid of it. And I'm not the only one who did!
>> It's kinda hard to rely on anything if the users just go around deleting files - you see what I mean.
Yes, and no. Yes if we're talking about files in the mod's folders, but we're talking about user profiles! One would expect users to manage them as they see fit. I didn't even had to "go around deleting files", I did it from the game.
I see your point, but you also have to see mine; if the application installs the 'default' profile folder by default, I expected to be able to rely on it. It hasn't even occurred to me that one could have deleted it.
>> I'll write a routine that creates a new profile and is independent from the 'default' profile, but it's a lot harder than just using e.g. the attributes.xml from the 'default' profile.
Depending on how you look at it, that may not even be necessary. The Welcome screen is intended at new people who only have the default profile, right? So if there is one or more profile but no 'default', there's no need for the welcome window: no problem.
Yes, I had the exact same thought.
I just a closer took at what that window tells me: "It has been detected that you do not have an MWLL profile yet". Which is wrong, obviously. Maybe a fix to this detection is the only thing needed.
The condition for displaying the window is as follows: if the My Games\Crysis Wars\Profiles\default folder doesn't exist, or, if My Games\Crysis Wars\Profiles don't have any subfolders other than 'default'. As I said, I didn't even think that anyone would delete the 'default' folder, so the first part of the condition is meant for cases in which Crysis Wars was installed, but wasn't yet run. Crysis Wars creates the 'Profiles' folder and the 'default' profile on the first run. The second part of the condition is oblivious.
That would leave one potential problem case: a user plays Crysis Wars with one or more profiles, but has deleted the default one. He installs MWLL and uses the launcher: he wouldn't be detected as a first time MWLL user. Is there any significant drawback for that? Would MWLL mess with his Wars profile? I'm thinking about the actionmaps specifically.
The way Crysis handles profiles with regard to mods puzzles me a bit. If I were to launch 'vanilla' Crysis Wars what would happen to my MWLL config? I'm not sure I want to find out 
. And there's also the weird requirement of having to join a game in vanilla (I think I never did actually, only logged into CryNet) before being able to join a MWLL server. I'd really like to know what's the problem here.
You're right, that's a corner case that's been covered yet. As far as I know - although I don't know too much about this topic - the MWLL actionmaps is a superset of the Crysis Wars actionmaps. This means that both Crysis Wars and MWLL should be able to operate with the same profile. Naturally, if the user changes anything in the actionmaps within Crysis Wars, the MWLL actionmaps settings will be lost (as actionmaps.xml is re-generated), and effectively the MWLL control settings (the ones that are not present in Crysis Wars) are reset to default. At least, that's my theory.
Such users indeed wouldn't be detected as first-time players, which is not very good, but it isn't tragic either. I honestly have no idea at this point as to how to solve this issue. I'm a lot more concerned with existing players unable to run the Auto Updater, for instance.
Speaking of profiles, I have a suggestion for the AutoUpdater: whenever the ActionMapper is updated, the included default_actionmaps.xml should replace Mods/mwll/default_actionmaps.xml. That way, newly created profiles would always use an up-to-date actionmaps.
I don't really understand what you're suggesting here. The Actionmapper is distributed along with the other MWLL Tools, like the Launcher and the Auto Updater. It doesn't bring a new default_actionmaps.xml with it - that wouldn't make any sense. New MWLL releases might produce actionmaps changes, in which case a new default_actionmaps.xml is also distributed. When that happens, the old file at Crysis Wars\Mods\MWLL\default_actionmaps.xml is overwritten by the new one. If needed, the Auto Updater can also update the actionmaps.xml of all existing player profiles - after warning the user about it, of course. You might remember that this has happened in one of the 0.4.X MWLL releases.
Actually, I remember part of the reason why I deleted my default profile: so the Actionmapper would stop asking me to choose a profile. I figured that without any choice to make, the profile selector wouldn't pop up. Instead, it kindly noticed me it automatically selected the last remaining profile... Nice try anyway ^^.
I'd like to cut that step off as much as possible, as I doubt many people regularly use and configure several profiles.
My idea on how to do that:
Make the Actionmapper remember the name of last loaded profile.
On launch, check the number of available profiles:- 0 profile
Something went wrong. Did some users go around deleting files? 
- 1 profile
No need for a reminder, just use that profile! - 2 or more profiles
Check the name of the last loaded profile:
- If no name is recorded or if doesn't point to an existing profile, show the profile selector.
- If it points to a valid profile, load that one.
With the already present Switch Profile option (working as it does right now, not using this logic of course), I think all the bases are covered.
Too much trouble just to save one click? Yeah, probably... but I still like the idea, so I post it anyway.
It doesn't appear to be a serious issue (for me, that is) at all. In my opinion it's always better to let the user exactly know what's going on and if possible, give them a choice. What I mean is: make user choices
explicit. This may feel inconvenient for you sometimes, but I do believe that it also potentially helps a lot of users keeping up with what's the program is doing.
Nonetheless, CapperDeluxe has complete freedom regarding the Actionmapper, so if he thinks that you're right, it'll get implemented. I just felt it was important that you knew my opinion, which you might also see reflected in the applications I've developed (e.g. the Auto Updater prompting whether to delete the old MWLL build after you've installed a new full release, like 0.5.0 - must users would just want it deleted, but there might be
some people who would like to know what's going on and might even want to keep the old MWLL build - again, give the user the right to explicitly choose what to do).
As a sort of a public announcement, I would like to let you know that I won't be at home in the next few days, and I won't get to work on the fix I promised earlier either. I might be active on the forums, but that's pretty much it. I still think I'll be able to deliver a patch during the next week.
I would like to reassure everybody that I haven't disappeared, I'm fixing the issues you've been experiencing as fast I can.
