ULX modules not loading

[Shalmendo]

Okay so, I originally posted in the utime hour changer, because it wasn't loading.
However, neither is Mr. President's Anti AFK module loading either.

Both are installed properly, and I have OTHER addons running properly, like the chat tags, and sui scoreboard addon. I am mystified why only these two addons are not loading and I've double checked and verified that they ARE loading properly. I have the latest version of both the utime hour changer, and the anti afk modules, but neither load and their setting variables aren't available.

On another note, for some WEIRD AS HECK reason, a specific member of our server, who's an admin, is experiencing a strange bug in which the map automatically changes when he's spawning or using vehicles, and always to the same map. We're not sure what's going on but the ULX logs keep indicating he changed the map! We're trying to track down the problem, and we're sure he's not trolling and changing the map and then saying he didn't. He's been actively working with chairs/vehicles each time it's happened.

The initial cause of it appeared to be spawning Chair_Office1. He rezzed several of these and then the server spontaneously changed maps. The logs report that Dan changed the map but he denies doing it. So what's going on exactly? Are there any options we can use to track it down via ulx? (he's already verified his game and we're on the verge of havhing him delete his gmod installation and reinstall from scratch.

Edit:

Okay so..... we deleted the ulx and ulib folder from addons and added fresh new ones incase some of the lua was messed up,. no go. Those two modules still don't load. I thought I'd try a desperate measure. What else can everyone recommend we try?

[JamminR]

Using latest greatest ULib and ULX code from https://github.com/Nayruden/Ulysses ?
Did you make sure you've installed both of them (the addons) on the server, and not just your local client?
Are the permissions of the two folders you added matching that of other addons (ftp sometimes changes defaults)?
Are the addon.txt files inside gmod/addons/whatever_addon/addon.txt ?
Sounds like a corrupted or exploited (or both) server installation, could be bad client too.
Any constant errors in console on server or client?

[Shalmendo]

Using latest greatest ULib and ULX code from https://github.com/Nayruden/Ulysses ?
Did you make sure you've installed both of them (the addons) on the server, and not just your local client?
Are the permissions of the two folders you added matching that of other addons (ftp sometimes changes defaults)?
Are the addon.txt files inside gmod/addons/whatever_addon/addon.txt ?
Sounds like a corrupted or exploited (or both) server installation, could be bad client too.
Any constant errors in console on server or client?

Great answers! Let me provide you with responses.

I installed fresh copies of ulx and ulib directly from the latest stable release, so that is probably not the problem.
Yes, I uploaded the addons directly to the server. I shouldn't need them installed locally, should I? Anyway, the server console log is not reporting them as loading in ulx at all anyway.
Yes, the addon.txt files are properly in place as far as I can tell, for both addons.
corruption/exploit is possible, but unlikely, we just got this server set up a few days ago with a professional hosting service. (I don't know which one)
We're not getting any errors for either module, they aren't loading to begin with so can't make any errors.
If my client is to blame, why are the logs not showing them loading in ULX on the server side?

Edit:
I just tried installing Awarn2, and that works just fine. Perhaps using the _restart Rcon command isn't enough for some modules? I'm not sure.

For more info let me give you a list of modules installed on the server:
Ulib
ULX
Apromote (from workshop: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=226312488 )
Chattags
Sui scoreboard
UPS - ulyssses prop protection
utime
Unolimited
Awarn2

The modules I've installed but aren't working:
Utime hour changer
AAFK V_3.1
Uclip

On another note, I Tried installing the Auto promote provided here on the forums by chaos13125 and it did not work. However, installing the apromote verison from the workshop DID work for some reason, I'm not sure why the difference.

[JamminR]

No. Don't install ULX on client.
When you say " latest stable release"... we don't consider Github 'stable release' like we consider downloading from ulyssesmod.net.
However, we do consider it 'latest beta that is stable most of the time'. Please make sure you're getting the Github code.
There have been several Gmod updates since our last 'release' that we've fixed stuff for in our 'beta' Github repository.

If you are running latest Ulysses Library and admin code, I really don't know why those 3 aren't loading for  you.
Tried removing all except for ULib/ULX, then adding each problem child addon one at a time.
I don't know if _restart truly restarts a server, but yes, overall, each new 'old fashioned' addon requires a total server restart.

[Shalmendo]

No. Don't install ULX on client.
When you say " latest stable release"... we don't consider Github 'stable release' like we consider downloading from ulyssesmod.net.
However, we do consider it 'latest beta that is stable most of the time'. Please make sure you're getting the Github code.
There have been several Gmod updates since our last 'release' that we've fixed stuff for in our 'beta' Github repository.

If you are running latest Ulysses Library and admin code, I really don't know why those 3 aren't loading for  you.
Tried removing all except for ULib/ULX, then adding each problem child addon one at a time.
I don't know if _restart truly restarts a server, but yes, overall, each new 'old fashioned' addon requires a total server restart.

Thank you very much for your replies.

I don't install ULX on my client, of course, since I'm aware it's a server-side lua system. I'll grab the latest github zip and install those into the server and see what happens, thanks very much!

Edit:
Reinstalled ULX, Ulib, ups, utime, etc via the github zip. Some nice shiny new options, but the same modules still don't seem to be loading. I'll have to disable everything and gradually add it in to see what's going on. Will do that tomorrow and give a report.

Further edit:
I checked through the system log and the srcds system reported this:
Adding Filesystem Addon '/home/gmod_67284/garrysmod/addons/customcommands_onecategory'
Adding Filesystem Addon '/home/gmod_67284/garrysmod/addons/ulx_afk'
Adding Filesystem Addon '/home/gmod_67284/garrysmod/addons/awarn2(dev)'
Adding Filesystem Addon '/home/gmod_67284/garrysmod/addons/chat_tags'
Adding Filesystem Addon '/home/gmod_67284/garrysmod/addons/sui_scoreboard'
Adding Filesystem Addon '/home/gmod_67284/garrysmod/addons/uclip'
Adding Filesystem Addon '/home/gmod_67284/garrysmod/addons/ulib'
Adding Filesystem Addon '/home/gmod_67284/garrysmod/addons/ulx'
Adding Filesystem Addon '/home/gmod_67284/garrysmod/addons/ulx set utime'
Adding Filesystem Addon '/home/gmod_67284/garrysmod/addons/ups'
Adding Filesystem Addon '/home/gmod_67284/garrysmod/addons/utime'

So apparently SRCDS is loading them, but ulx is not recognizing them for some reason? Are there some 'loading module' options I can fiddle with or something to try and alter this behavior?
The custom commands aren't working (unless they're deprecated now or I need a fixed version. I installed the version in the OP)

[Bryantdl7]

You might want to try repairing your server. Usually you can ask your host to repair it for you. That's my case with NFO anyway.

You might also want to try deleting your data folder after you make a copy of it to your computer in case you have bans or other things you're worried about losing that are stored in data.

[Shalmendo]

You might want to try repairing your server. Usually you can ask your host to repair it for you. That's my case with NFO anyway.

You might also want to try deleting your data folder after you make a copy of it to your computer in case you have bans or other things you're worried about losing that are stored in data.

Thank you for the suggestion!

I did try it, making a backup of the data folder of course, and those modules still dont' appear to be loading. Uclip started loading before I tried installing the github version of everything (no idea why), but the other modules still won't load. I did install Awarn2, which worked out of the box. But the problem modules still won't load. I'm going to have to remove everything but ulib/ulx and see if I can get it to load them individually. Thanks for the help!

[Bryantdl7]

Not a problem!

A couple more thoughts I had. Try starting your server up vanilla for a bit, completely shut it down and only install ulx and ulib. Then one at a time add the things you were having issues with one at a time

[Shalmendo]

Not a problem!

A couple more thoughts I had. Try starting your server up vanilla for a bit, completely shut it down and only install ulx and ulib. Then one at a time add the things you were having issues with one at a time

Well, I tried removing most of the modules (Except the ones I have installed via workshop, those ALWAYS work for some reason!) and i still can't get the utime hour changer to show up in the loaded modules list or the xgui.

I would try shutting it down completely but I don't have access to the 'wrench' control panel they use. I can only issue _restart via rcon..but maybe _shutdown would work, I'll try that.

Edit:

Okay so it's actually 'quit' lol. I do have direct Rcon to the server, which I use through HLSW. Anyway, when you mean 'vanilla' do you mean pulling off all of the addons and everything we've added to the stock server? Just wanting to make sure that's clear.

Further edit:

So far, I've removed the data folder (Several times) and now I have installed just ULX and Ulib, (but some workshop ulx modules are loading fine, they ALL load fine, which is confusing me as to why those specific folder based ones are not. I installed just the folder-based extra commands, not the custom category version (although I've tried both), and they are not showing up anywhere. (I've tried using some of the commands in it which were listed by somone else in that topic to no avail). I'm starting to think it's a specific addon (non ulx related) that might be causing this problem. I do remember when we installed one of the more popular portal gun mods, it broke URS so we couldn't restrict it from anyone or even configure loadouts, etc. Once it was removed everything was fine. I'll see about getting the server 'fixed' but I'll have to wait for the owner to come on. Best I can do right now is restore things to how they were before I started messing about with things to get them to work and maintain a status quo for now.

thanks so much for the help everyone. I'm going to do a further experiment in having the owner change the collection ID the server is linked to, to a testing collection with only a single map in it, t o see if we can narrow down what the problem is. I'll gradually add stuff from our main collection to the testing collection until things break. Hopefully by not having anything in the collection at first, all the folder based modules will magically start working..i.f not we'll go with a server fix.

[Bryantdl7]

Killserver also stops the server.

You can have your owner disable the workshop addons temporarily by removing the workshop id from the startup command line

EDIT: depending on your FTP server you might be able to do that yourself

[Shalmendo]

Killserver also stops the server.

You can have your owner disable the workshop addons temporarily by removing the workshop id from the startup command line

EDIT: depending on your FTP server you might be able to do that yourself

I was actually intending to gradually add our addons back into the server one at a time by adding them to the testing collection so I can figure out what's causing the issue through the process of elimination, since it's about the only tool I have left to figure out what's going on and how to possibly repair it.

Unfortunately I have no way to change the command line on the server. The other admin who the owner has given access to tried to change the collection ID but using _restart and killserver, etc, won't change it for some reason. So we're waiting on the owner to step in and manually restart everything via his wrench panel, so that the collection can be switched over. I don't want to remove everything out of the existing collection because I'd have a frell of a time trying to find everything and add it back again.

[Shalmendo]

Update:

We wiped the sever clean, installed Ulib, and ULX, then added the custom commands from here in the forums (http://forums.ulyssesmod.net/index.php/topic,7268.0.html), and...nada.

We have no addons, nothing in cfg except for sv_password and rcon_password... What gives? The commands won't load in the modules report, and none of the commands i've tried register as existing. Any advice?

[Shalmendo]

Okay well! I think it's been solved.

We finally got the server owner on and he looked at things and figured out what was going on (he has programming experience). Apparently, anything without an appropriate file in the autorun folder will not load properly when used as an addon. By manually loading those files by copying the lua folder into ulx's lua folder they loaded properly and ran just fine.

So...I'm not sure why this is but it might be some new updates or changes everyone hasn't caught up on. Or is this a host problem? At least this stuff works.

[JamminR]

Host/owner problem.
Something is configured badly. No idea where, but anything in a proper addon format should work, the fact SOME of your /addons worked proves that.

[Shalmendo]

Host/owner problem.
Something is configured badly. No idea where, but anything in a proper addon format should work, the fact SOME of your /addons worked proves that.

I haven't a clue, honestly. But at least they can work now.

Further thoughts:

The host itself seems screwy but the price is right (according to the owner) so we're probably going to have to stick to this workaround. It sounds like the only real way to fix this would be to switch hosts. I might be able to convince the owner to do so, since the host has been rather screwy on several points, but that's up to him. I'm just the guy donating all his time to set everything up because the owner has a full time job and everything.

Thanks everyone for trying to help. I found this problem mystifying and frustrating and getting your input helped immensely so I could narrow down the problem. 10/10!

Further testing:

So I tried to replicate the problem with the host on a local listen server, by installing the github versions of ulx, and ulib, then adding in the custom commands mentioned earlier, just like I did on the server. They work fine on a listen.

So...what's the possible difference between the two? According to the owner, and now the other admin who finally got full access to wrench, there's almost no settings for the server except a few minor things like what collection id to use, and what hostname to use.

I believe the server is linux based but would that matter?
Does Srcds operate so differently from a listen version (gmod install) that it would cause enough of a difference that it would do this?
Could it be something with how they have the server image set up?
We did several wipes, and the issue persists...

Some more answers would help a lot, so we can set up a trouble ticket with the host, or convince the owner to change hosting services if necessary.