[Feedback needed] AND2 Checker: Easy installation and update v0.3

oldnooob said:

@dbkblk, Thank you for addressing my concerns. I just want to check to be sure that you understand that my concerns are for preserving xml changes I made in my current game. I am not concerned about options or ini changes during updates as they take only minutes to change however , my xml changes can take as long as two days to complete.
SVN has always overwritten all of my xml changes when it updates because it does not know how to distinguish my changes from the mod xml it is replacing. The only way to preserve my xml changes are to copy my current xml to another location, perform the svn update, then try to copy my xml changes into the new version xml. So guess what, It takes just as long to do that procedure as it did initially! All that being said, the result is that I am likely to make quite a few mistakes when trying to copy/paste my changes back in.
So again thank you for your consideration of my concerns.

Click to expand...

It seems that you should place your changes in a folder named (oldnoob for ex.) and place it in the Modules Folder I think you would also need to update the Modules schema to include your folder. But by making it Modular it should reduce the tedious copy/paste method you are using now.

There is a Modding section here in CFC that deals with this approach and would be a good start to finding the correct way to do it.

Or maybe PM Vokarya or 45* for tips on How To.

JosEPh

In the launcher's options, there's Blue Marble checkbox. When I close Options then reopen it, Blue Marble stays unchecked. Intentional?

One more thing: PrivateMaps doesn't launch with the mod properly. I wanted to go to Custom Scenario, then GEM map.

os79 said:

In the launcher's options, there's Blue Marble checkbox. When I close Options then reopen it, Blue Marble stays unchecked. Intentional?

Click to expand...

What is the launcher version ? Do you have a "BlueMarble.zip" in Assets/ folder ?

It happened to me too, since the start I've never been able to install blue marble with your launcher

The newest one. No BM zip file. Should I do it and then put it in Assets folder? Stay zipped? Assets folder inside BtS folder, right?
EDIT: Misunderstood you so disregard this post and pay attention to the next post please.

Found that if I put the mod in Program Files directory, the PrivateMaps files appear fine in the Custom Scenario. Guess something you need to figure out since you recommend installers to put the mod in My Documents directory instead.

As to Blue Marble thing, I found the zip file in Assets folder. I extracted the FKP to the Assets folder. See if it works out. But, yes, I guess that the launcher need to extract the zip or something like that. Something else for you to figure out.

I think you are a victim of the bug i fixed in 0.14. In fact, the launcher tell you the game is up to date but it didn't update. Unfortunately, you have to manually install v0.14 over your installation and it will be fine. To be sure, after the install, do "Menu > Fix installation > Revert to original version". It will check if the file are the same as the server and replace the faulty ones !

I'm sorry for the mess. Svn update is quite a nightmare to force update.

May I suggest that you add some OK button to be clicked before the window telling you which files are being updated closes itself? I ask because you could get some error message in that window but if you let it close itself you might not be able to see that message. For example I'm getting a message about some files being skipped when updating, I suppose it's the checker file but I didn't see it as the windows closed itself before I could see it.

Ok. I'll add that in the next version. Starting with 0.13, i have added an updater log file at "checker/updater.log".

Latest version doesn't store the .exe path; as I told you before, probably because of some problems in my registry, your launcher starts Warlord instead of BTS. I could manually update the .exe path and it was working. But with the latest update, path looks stored in its window, but each time I start the game, Warlord is started again; nor it starts the mod, probably because it's starting Warlord instead of BTS. It all started because I got a message telling me it couldn't update to 0.14 because checker was being skipped as I was trying to use "Restore default state" command (it showed 0.13). So I replaced the checker file manually (it shows 0.14 now) and here we are.

Edit: Hell, I'm an idiot, it doesn't start Warlord, it's just the spalsh screen that's different for some reason. Anyway it doesn't start with the mod.
Edit2: It also keeps reverting language in the game back to italian, somehow it looks like it resets some values back to default.

Hi !

I'm working a bit on the launcher these days. So far, i've fixed your language problem, the module updater progress bar, incorporated the new translated strings (polish / german) and updated the version number to 1.0.

I can publish a "full version" which contains the launcher and the game files at a known revision (ex: 800). The actual problem of the launcher is that it needs internet to install the mod. If you don't have internet on the pc you want the mod to be kept updated, there is no much need to use the launcher anyway.
To publish such a version, i need to find out a way for svn to recognize the existing files instead of keep trying to redownload them. This requires more work at the moment.

@45: When you'll plan to publish the stable 2.2 version, you can mail me to prepare the official installation executable. This is way easier to just pack files than to pack a svn directory.

Finally, I could introduce the addon management into a 1.1 version, but as the addons use different installation modes (woc / replace files / etc.), do you think it worth the effort making such a system ?

dbkblk said:

Hi !

I'm working a bit on the launcher these days. So far, i've fixed your language problem, the module updater progress bar, incorporated the new translated strings (polish / german) and updated the version number to 1.0.

I can publish a "full version" which contains the launcher and the game files at a known revision (ex: 800). The actual problem of the launcher is that it needs internet to install the mod. If you don't have internet on the pc you want the mod to be kept updated, there is no much need to use the launcher anyway.
To publish such a version, i need to find out a way for svn to recognize the existing files instead of keep trying to redownload them. This requires more work at the moment.

@45: When you'll plan to publish the stable 2.2 version, you can mail me to prepare the official installation executable. This is way easier to just pack files than to pack a svn directory.

Finally, I could introduce the addon management into a 1.1 version, but as the addons use different installation modes (woc / replace files / etc.), do you think it worth the effort making such a system ?

Click to expand...

I had thoughts on the launcher recently. I think that the SVN is perhaps a poor way to install the game for users, despite it being great for developers. It's slow and users don't want to switch between versions, they just want the latest state.

What might work better is if there was a download server that always kept a mirror of the latest SVN state. The launcher could just check all the files on the client that the sizes + md5 hashsum match. This would accommodate existing installs more easily and make the updating process much faster.

I would be happy to maintain the server portion of such a service - it's pretty simple to set up a web server that has the latest svn repo in it for downloading.

Thoughts?

@Afforess: That would be simplier indeed ! If your server can generate a xml file at each svn update which contains each file name & hash, the launcher would have to download that file, check, then update. However, that might need to generate extra computing on the client side (to check for files).
I've already done a similar code while playing with git so i know how to implement that.
The main advantage would be to reduce the installation size by two !! (as svn keep files in its own format, it won't be necessary anymore).

It would also be easier to handle addons by comparing existing files.

The transition could be smooth as i can quietly implement that as there are no interferencies between this new way and svn. I've found a new job today but i'd time to do that in the next weeks.

I will hold the 1.0 update for now and call it 0.15 to think about that

XML example:
<root>
<file>
<name>Assets/ANDPak0.FPK</name>
<hash>qsfjqsiqfqjqfo</hash>
</file>
</root>

dbkblk said:

@Afforess: That would be simplier indeed ! If your server can generate a xml file at each svn update which contains each file name & hash, the launcher would have to download that file, check, then update. However, that might need to generate extra computing on the client side (to check for files).
I've already done a similar code while playing with git so i know how to implement that.
The main advantage would be to reduce the installation size by two !! (as svn keep files in its own format, it won't be necessary anymore).

It would also be easier to handle addons by comparing existing files.

The transition could be smooth as i can quietly implement that as there are no interferencies. I've found a new job today but i'd time to do that.

XML example:
<root>
<file>
<name>Assets/ANDPak0.FPK</name>
<hash>qsfjqsiqfqjqfo</hash>
</file>
</root>

Click to expand...

I could write that server component & host it as a web service. I have plenty of experience with web servers. I am fine with the format, but would there be any complaints if I used JSON instead of XML... In my experience it is much easier to read & parse for both humans and in code.

It's ok to me; just as a warning, I think developers aren't the only ones switching back and forth from different revisions. If something's wrong with the latest revision, players can switch to a previous revision with just one click. This is a very strong point for dbkblk installer.

And about a ver 2.2 stable, more or less any of the latest revision could be the right one. My initial plan before Afforess return was to release AND2.2 final before last summer and then work on AND2.3 which should have included reworked civics. It's just a matter of name anyway, so I don't think it's really important. I think we could just call AND2.2 final the final revision we'll have in some months (hopefully); in the meantime, it's still (a very advanced) beta.

45°38'N-13°47'E;13432281 said:

It's ok to me; just as a warning, I think developers aren't the only ones switching back and forth from different revisions. If something's wrong with the latest revision, players can switch to a previous revision with just one click. This is a very strong point for dbkblk installer.

Click to expand...

If we wanted to make things more complex, it's possible to write a webserver that could let users pick the revision they want to use, and serve the right content. I've done it before for another mod in another game (Minecraft). It does make things more complex though. [Basically it had a dropdown menu where you could select the version, and it would go and fetch the right install files]

I think our bigger problem is more that lots of people have slow internet and don't like downloading the 1GB installer every day, and teaching people how to learn the SVN is just not possible. We shouldn't expect average users to learn that. A simple solution that could provide delta updates of the files that have changed is possible.

I think initially we should just focus on an installer that uses the "latest" revision. This keeps things simple. If we encounter a situation where we have a bad revision, I can manually override the server, so all the clients think some old release is the "latest". We just have to avoid committing bad code.

45°38'N-13°47'E;13432281 said:

And about a ver 2.2 stable, more or less any of the latest revision could be the right one. My initial plan before Afforess return was to release AND2.2 final before last summer and then work on AND2.3 which should have included reworked civics. It's just a matter of name anyway, so I don't think it's really important. I think we could just call AND2.2 final the final revision we'll have in some months (hopefully); in the meantime, it's still (a very advanced) beta.

Click to expand...

We could always abandon release numbers altogether, and just use the SVN revisions as build numbers. Or we could do monthly or yearly named releases, instead of numbered releases (See: Ubuntu). All version numbers are arbitrary already.

@Afforess: I don't have any skill with json. I'm confident that you'll choose the better way so go with that. A quick check on google showed me that QT and JSON can interface as easily as xml !

45' got a point with the revisions, but you might also not be forced to update the game. If you want to finish your game, just hold the updates and play as usual.

From my point of view, the easier way to handle installers is to have:
- One that download the latest version, like the current one and which install initially right on the internet.
- A cyclic release like ubuntu. F.e. "AND 2014 Autumn", "AND 2014 Winter" which can be played offline.

No need to update the full installer too many times as it can handle update

dbkblk said:

@Afforess: I don't have any skill with json. I'm confident that you'll choose the better way so go with that. A quick check on google showed me that QT and JSON can interface as easily as xml !

Click to expand...

Ok. I will stick with JSON but if it becomes a problem let me know. It's not hard to switch between.

dbkblk said:

45' got a point with the revisions, but you might also not be forced to update the game. If you want to finish your game, just hold the updates and play as usual.
From my point of view, the easier way to handle installers is to have:
- One that download the latest version, like the current one and which install initially right on the internet.
- A cyclic release like ubuntu. F.e. "AND 2014 Autumn", "AND 2014 Winter" which can be played offline.

No need to update the full installer too many times as it can handle update

Click to expand...

All agreed.

OK, sounds good to me too

Fine ! Then keep me informed when the server is ready