better dll refrence paths

[kianzarrin]

Currently we need to copy reference paths to Dependencies/ folder in order to built this mod.
This means that we have duplicated version of each library and sometimes both get loaded by de-cpompilers slowing them down.
To add insult to injury the libraries are then copied into the bin folder creating triple version of each library.

One is good enough. It would be better to instruct .csproj to look into the application installation folder first (usingProgramFiles macro) -if that failed then we can look into Dependencies/. The copy local should also be set to false. Something like this:

    <Reference Include="Assembly-CSharp">
      <HintPath>$(ProgramFiles)\Steam\steamapps\common\Cities_Skylines\Cities_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp.dll</HintPath>
      <HintPath>~\Library\Application Support\Steam\SteamApps\common\Cities_Skylines\Cities_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp.dll</HintPath>
      <HintPath>..\dependencies\Assembly-CSharp.dll</HintPath>
      <Private>False</Private>
    </Reference>

EDIT: this way it also makes the job of first time user developers easier.

[kianzarrin]

read registry: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/msbuild/new-registry-syntax-in-msbuild-v3-5
I need Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Steam : SteamPath

[originalfoo]

I'd keep the following line too in case registry key not set or invalid (unlikely, but does no harm to have a fallback to program files approach):

<HintPath>$(ProgramFiles)\Steam\steamapps\common\Cities_Skylines\Cities_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp.dll</HintPath>

[kianzarrin]

@aubergine10
something like this would be nice (i tested it and it works)

  <PropertyGroup>
    <SteamPath >~/Library/Application Support/Steam/</SteamPath>
    <SteamPath Condition="! Exists ('$(SteamPath)')">$(ProgramFiles)\Steam\</SteamPath> <!-- redundant? -->
    <SteamPath Condition="! Exists ('$(SteamPath)')">$(Registry:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Steam@SteamPath)</SteamPath>
    <CSDLLPath>$(SteamPath)\steamapps\common\Cities_Skylines\Cities_Data\Managed</CSDLLPath>
    <CSDLLPath Condition="!  Exists ('$(CSDLLPath)')">..\dependencies</CSDLLPath>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Reference Include="ICities">
      <HintPath>$(CSDLLPath)\ICities.dll</HintPath>
      <Private>False</Private>
    </Reference>

all other interested mod owners can simply copy paste the code :)

[kianzarrin]

kvavks installed his Skylines in X:/SSDSteamLib/steamapps/
this is written in the file C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config\config.vdf which can be found using the help of registry.
in the file we have

"BaseInstallFolder_3"        "X:\SSDSteamLib"

which can be done using parsing of BaseInstallFolder and reg exp.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7837644/how-to-replace-string-in-file-using-msbuild
http://blogs.clariusconsulting.net/kzu/how-to-perform-regular-expression-based-replacements-on-files-with-msbuild/

I think I still can use the registry too:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Steam App 255710

EDIT:

[kianzarrin]

I could not access HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Steam App 255710. I get empty string.

I am guessing reading HKEY_CURRENT_USER does not require permission but HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE does?

Another approach s to parse the file as I explained above before. Shouldn't be hard if I knew how to write XML (i don't!):
https://documentation.help/MSBuild/T_MSBuild_Community_Tasks_RegexMatch.html
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12973019/msbuild-regexmatch-not-matching

[kianzarrin]

Also worth looking into shortcuts

I think even now we can use soft links without any actual changes :)

[kvakvs]

On my screenshot you can see it was installed to F:/ (mechanical drive) and later moved to X:/ (nvme SSD drive)