Standalone game installer: GRTS

[zwzsg]

Some people make threads about how Spring is too hard to set up. To them, I want to say: Try this:

• Download that file:
  Gundam_RTS_1.21_Including_Spring_0.81.2.1_Installer05.exe
• Double click it.
• Next, next, next, done, ...
  
• You get in your start menu:
  
• Click "Single Player.
  
  You get:
  
  
  
• Customised lobby:
  Well, only TASClient, and only the splash screen, channel joined, filters :
  
  
  
  I had a script to override the TASClient single player button, but for some reason it stopped working
  
  For SpringLobby, I just have filter and channel. But I can't test it anymore. For SpringDownloader, nothing game specific.
• Everything is contained in the installer. No file downloaded during installation. No internet connection needed to play alone.
• Single player content: Two missions and skirmish generator, with a simple & easy menu that also do savegames.
• You can adapt it to other games!
  • Get NSIS
  • Make sure to tick Installer Sources during install.
  • Edit \GRTS-Inst\NSIS_GRTS_installer.nsi

    Code: Select all

      ; Mod Info:
      !define MOD_NAME "Gundam RTS"
      !define MOD_NAME_NOSPACE "Gundam_RTS"
      !define MOD_SHORTNAME "Gundam"; Must be same as ShortName inside modinfo.tdf
      !define MOD_ACRONYM "GRTS"
      !define MOD_VERSION 1.21
      !define MOD_WEBSITE "http://www.moddb.com/games/gundam-rts"
      !define MOD_README "${MOD_NAME_NOSPACE}_readme.txt"
      !define MOD_ARCHIVE "GUNDAM${MOD_VERSION}.sdz"

    Code: Select all

      ; Subfolder where to put stuff used by that install, (such as menu startscript, icons, etc...)
      !define INST_SUBFOLDER "GRTS-Inst"
    
      ; Start Menu subfolder name:
      !define START_MENU_FOLDER "Gundam Spring"
    
      ; Name of TASClient customisation (for regkeys, splahscreen, ini)
      !define CLIENT_CUSTO "GRTSClient"

    By script magik, you write them once there and then they're used everywhere!
  • Get my single player menu into your mod.
  • Change \GRTS-Inst\GRTS_menu.txt into a starscript relevant for your mod.
  • Customise filters, widgets, settings, etc...
  • Double-click \GRTS-Inst\NSIS_GRTS_installer.nsi to build installer!

[oksnoop2]

I declare this to be a sweet deal!

[azaremoth]

zwzsg - You are my hero...

[Pxtl]

Awesome. So how well does it play with other Spring installs? I stopped using stand-alone installers after Argh's very first demo release of PURE wouldn't play nice with my main Spring install.

[bobthedinosaur]

Lovely

[Jazcash]

Very awesome stuff. Now if the other games could use installers like this, that makes for happy faces all round.

[Licho]

How to get nsis config files sources? Links only contain final installer?

[zwzsg]

Awesome. So how well does it play with other Spring installs? I stopped using stand-alone installers after Argh's very first demo release of PURE wouldn't play nice with my main Spring install.

It's supposed to work both as a first install and over a regular install, though you'd better backup your settings Also, when uninstalling, it would uninstall the engine as well. But it's aimed much more at first timers than regular Spring players. I suppose you all guys don't need fancy installers to put a couple sdz in the right place.

z, is your installer based on the spring one, or did you create one from scratch? because the most effective sharing would be, to use the one in the spring repo. or in other words, if you have changes that you think should be integrated ...

Well, the main difference is that I'm free from politics and consensus so I just do what I think is best without having to convince anybody. For instance, I install TASClient. Or if no AI can play the game, then I install no AI. If I like a widget, I just put it in.

At first I took the Spring installer. But it was using several .nsi, which confused me, so I merged them all into a single .nsi. And it was using other programs, to download from the internet and to check if exe are running, which I didn't like so I removed that. Then I changed the installed AI, because NTai wasn't in the official installer and the AI in the official installer crashed and bugged. I also changed the installed widgets, removing useless ones and adding useful ones. The installer modifies some registery keys to preconfigure TASClient to my liking. Because I didn't want to interfer with existing TASClient configuration, I hex-edited TASClient to use another name (nowadays I don't need anymore, Satirik added commandline option to configuration file). The files installed are somewhat different to: In \docs\*.txt I use Microsft Notepad friendly endlines (\r\n instead of just \n). I added a couple line at the end of uikeys.txt to change screenshot from jpg to png (later official installer changed default to png anyway), to buildface with numpad, to bind quitforce back to shift-esc, ... I switched alwaysDrawQueue back to 0 in cmdcolors.txt when it was changed to 1. SpringDownloader, TASClient, and even my launchers sometimes create logs and script and other temp files the removal of which I added in my intaller. I took some time to fill the installer with custom icons and bitmaps, to make it look more like a retail game and less like a nerd app.

I added a start_script.txt in some subfolder and create a shortcut in Start Menu to Spring.exe -w -x 640 -y 480 that_start_script.txt and that startscript uses special mod options (not exposed in modinfo.lua) and lack of thereof, to make the mod show pretty menu. Well, the menu itself shows everytime a given mod option from modinfo.lua is not present in the startscript (so that menu also shows when double-clicking Spring.exe), but spawning units in the background is done via my savegame/mission system. And I have a ViewPoint tag to place the camera.

Initially the "single player" startmenu shortcut would point to my Kernel_Panic_Launcher.exe, but now, even though I still update Kernel_Panic_Launcher.exe, I prefer to point to the ingame single player Lua menu widget. I once made a S44 launcher exe, but for Gundam there's only the widget, which is superior anyway.

So, gradually I accumulated more and more changes. Now, when a new Spring comes out, I don't compare my installer with official installer anymore, but instead install side by side my installer and spring's official installer and check what files changed. My installer installs all the files that were used to create it (unchecked by default), so I recreate the installer from itself. Because of obsessiveÔÇôcompulsive disorder, I only recreate the installer from an install that never ran, fearing that otherwise I would risk shipping my installer with personal chatlogs, logins, junk temp files, configs, though theorically, as long as you merely use Spring and not edit files, that should not happen.

How to get nsis config files sources? Links only contain final installer?

The nsis config files sources are inside the final installer

• Make sure to tick Installer Sources during install.
• Edit \GRTS-Inst\NSIS_GRTS_installer.nsi

But if you just want to peek at the .nsi without downloading 250 megs, here it is: http://pastebin.org/353974

[knorke]

Awesome. So how well does it play with other Spring installs? I stopped using stand-alone installers after Argh's very first demo release of PURE wouldn't play nice with my main Spring install.

It's supposed to work both as a first install and over a regular install, though you'd better backup your settings Also, when uninstalling, it would uninstall the engine as well. But it's aimed much more at first timers than regular Spring players. I suppose you all guys don't need fancy installers to put a couple sdz in the right place.

Oh I would have liked to test the installer but as Pxtl I am still scared of the pure installer.

[zwzsg]

• Install in another folder.
• Untick Reset Spring Settings

Then your regular Spring install will be untouched.

It's important that I know, to make sure this never happen again, what were the vile things that Pure installer did to you? You can show me on this Spring doll:

[knorke]

It transformed spring into this:


Nah, mainly it created (mostly empty) folders everywhere like in "my documents" and there was some strange things with the settings but i dont remember.

Ok I am installing now weeeee.
Why can I untick to install [x]Music if it is already in the installer anyway?

[zwzsg]

It's worse, there is no music in that installer, so whether you tick or not, it changes nothing! (same for AI btw).

In Kernel Panic installer I had music. Initially the "music" tickbox was always ticked, greyed, un-untickable. But people told me it should be possible to not install them. Which I found stupid because anyway at that stage the 70mb out of 100 mb of music have already been downloaded. But I complied nonetheless, making the box untickable in the next KP installer. When I made that GRTS installer, I started from a KP installer. Even though atm there is no music, I know that Smoth eventually plan to bundle his GRTS with music, so I left the code to handle adding music files.

Uncomment (remove the the line 954,955,956 to regrey the music section:

Code: Select all

  SectionGetFlags ${SecMusic} $0
  IntOp $0 $0 | ${SF_RO}
  SectionSetFlags ${SecMusic} $0

[knorke]

ok i leave [x] start gundam rts now and spring starts in a 800x600 or something window that is just white and does nothing for one minute. (hour glass mouse pointer + high cpu)

then an animation of the menu opening, i click in the window, again 30 minutes of nothing. ok probally loading and bla, now ill play.
but first i must try to self-d or move the mechs in the menu screen, even though you can select them that does not work, good :)
but f1,f4 works and f11 changed the mousepointer into a shield?

the readme does not display the images but shows the filenames of the images as text.

ok so play now. default skirmish map is that map where vehicles can not leave the base except if you ubermicro them down the 2 pixel wide path...
but everything else works.
the escape menu is nice. but there is no button to get "back to the mainmenu" with the 2 mechs? quit is complete quit.

music widget says "no music, copy some .ogg into \music"
(music folder is empty even though was checked during install)

but now what is that! i start springdownloader lobby and the name already filled in is one i used like a year ago. now where did it find that?
at least starting the gundam springdownloader did not seem to change anything in my "play spring online" springdownloader, so thats good. (with pure and tasclient(?) that was different too for example)

blabla overall quite good i would say but the long time to show something after the first "i want to play now" click is annoying, maybe smaller map and a mod with only the units shown in splash screen for faster pathing or whatever is taking so long.

[zwzsg]

Thanks for your feedback!

window that is just white and does nothing for one minute. (hour glass mouse pointer + high cpu)

again 30 minutes of nothing. ok probally loading and bla, now ill play.

Get a better PC!

but first i must try to self-d or move the mechs in the menu screen, even though you can select them that does not work, good :)

You're a spec!

but f1,f4 works and f11 changed the mousepointer into a shield?

Ctrl D F1,F4,F11? Yeah, typical newb behavior!

I could disable all non-menu keypresses and mouseclick when menu is on, but for some reason I don't clearly recall I thought it would be a bad idea at the time.

the readme does not display the images but shows the filenames of the images as text.

I skipped asking Smoth for a proper readme, and don't know enough about Gundam to write one myself, so I just copy-pasted the wiki page into a text file without even taking the time to remove the images. Consider it a placeholder text.

default skirmish map is that map where vehicles can not leave the base except if you ubermicro them down the 2 pixel wide path...

The default skirmish map is randomly chosen. For complaints about the maps, see with the map maker. Oh, but you can't, he ragequitted the forum when he read a comment about his map!

but there is no button to get "back to the mainmenu" with the 2 mechs?

Well, the esc menu is the same as the menu with the two mech! The only difference is the addition of the save & restart buttons. I'm not sure it's worth going through your thirty minutes of hour glasses again just to get the 2 mech background.

music widget says "no music, copy some .ogg into \music"
(music folder is empty even though was checked during install)

Yeah. See my previous post. Smoth's music would likely be separated into /peace/ and /war/ anyway.

but now what is that! i start springdownloader lobby and the name already filled in is one i used like a year ago. now where did it find that?

Good question! My installer was supposed to not use any file outside of the folder you installed to, I use the same-folder settings files for Spring SpringLobby and Spring. I suppose SpringDownloader found a year old setting file somewhere in your my documents and decided to use it instead of creating a new one. I'll have to see with SD devs where and how does SD look for settings.

maybe smaller map and a mod with only the units shown in splash screen for faster pathing or whatever is taking so long.

I wonder if I could make movedefs.lua be simpler under certain mod option to shorten pathing. Or maybe put pathing files in the installer. Anyway, the pathing is only a fraction of the load time.

If the loading time to menu is really that unbearable, there's also the solution of reverting to .exe launcher, but that'd be a step backward IMO.

Did you try a second time to see if loading is slow only once or every time?

[knorke]

oh sorry, seconds not minutes. like this:
1 minute white -> clicking in window -> 30 seconds no response -> everything is smooth.
now it starts fast, only delay is the loading of the gundam mod which is only a few seconds and ok.
but the load during the first start is not good, usually i would have assumed it had crashed.

I could disable all non-menu keypresses and mouseclick when menu is on, but for some reason I don't clearly recall I thought it would be a bad idea at the time.

maybe only hide the range rings then? They look quite strange when clicking around the buttons.

I'll have to see with SD devs where and how does SD look for settings.

I think they are "already working on it", same as "sd redownloads every map i already have because of the poolsystem or whatever"

Like with the KP launcher a good basis is set but i think to make it really professionel will require lots more work now. At the moment it still seems a bit like "tech demo of a menu and launcher"

[zwzsg]

now it starts fast, only delay is the loading of the gundam mod which is only a few seconds and ok.
but the load during the first start is not good, usually i would have assumed it had crashed.

Then I'll just put the path files into the installer.

At the moment it still seems a bit like "tech demo of a menu and launcher"

But that's exactly what it aimed to be!