Getting around launch as Admin for mergers

[EmperorFool]

This post is completely OT, sorry for derailing the thread Phungus, DavidAllen.

Same, but I love discussing games.

Crysis was a pretty good game. Not very re-playable though. I never played FarCry,

Crysis was a good engine, very similar in play style to the original--totally awesome--FarCry. The original FarCry had a great engine: the first game that had huge outdoor areas with realistic dense foliage and interesting terrain. It had great AI: they'd circle around on you and call in reinforcements. And it had a cool story line.

Every good aspect in Crysis was in FarCry. Crysis was a good game, but the only thing better about it compared to FC was a prettier engine, and I didn't feel they put it to as good a use as FC did. For one thing, it was way too easy to just get lost in foliage in Crysis. In FC there were always enough landmarks that you could make your way around. I'll have to see if the better graphics card helps here.

but FarCry2 sucked.

I won't go that far, but I was very disappointed. At first I was cool with the more "open-ended" style of missions taken from Grand Theft Auto, but they didn't take it far enough. If they had a more compelling overall plot, and if they had more interesting sideline plots like Fallout3, it would have been cool. The fire burning effect was about the best thing in that game. Sad. It could have been truly epic, and it didn't deserve the FarCry name.

I just started playing Half-Life 2, that's good.

By far, one of my favorite single-player games. The first was cooler because it was first, but I've played HL2 completely through four times now, and I enjoy the heck out of it each time. I'm really looking forward to Episode 3.

I just got Modern Warfare 2, and it's basically the same game as COD4: Modern Warfare, only the plot is less cohesive. Another disappointment.

L4D2, on the other hand, is quite satisfying, however. I got what I expected, and the extreme gore is quite exhilarating. The L4D series has kinda kill regular multiplayer and single-player for me a bit. Coop play is always more fun to me.

 

[phungus420]

related to this post:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8698997&postcount=60

I tried cutting and pasting both blocks of code into the script, and it fails because it says the macro is already found. So which of the two do I use? And isn't there an easier way to use a macro then just inserting it into your script?

 

[EmperorFool]

How do I install the macro?

Just paste it near the top of your script, near the constants I suppose. Just try it somewhere and see what happens. That's the best way to learn.

!include LogicLib.nsh
!macro IfKeyExists ROOT MAIN_KEY KEY
  Push $R0
  Push $R1
  Push $R2
 
  # XXX bug if ${ROOT}, ${MAIN_KEY} or ${KEY} use $R0 or $R1
 
  StrCpy $R1 "0" # loop index
  StrCpy $R2 "0" # not found
 
  ${Do}
    EnumRegKey $R0 ${ROOT} "${MAIN_KEY}" "$R1"
    ${If} $R0 == "${KEY}"
      StrCpy $R2 "1" # found
      ${Break}
    ${EndIf}
    IntOp $R1 $R1 + 1
  ${LoopWhile} $R0 != ""
 
  ClearErrors
 
  Exch 2
  Pop $R0
  Pop $R1
  Exch $R2
!macroend

 

[EmperorFool]

So which of the two do I use? And isn't there an easier way to use a macro then just inserting it into your script?

Use the one with LogicLib (the one I posted) since the script is already using LogicLib. If you look at LogicLib, you'll notice it's a bunch of macro definitions. You have to tell NSIS how to do anything that it doesn't already know how to do, just like all programming.

 

[Afforess]

Same, but I love discussing games.

Well this thread's completely OT, so what the heck.

Crysis was a good engine, very similar in play style to the original--totally awesome--FarCry. The original FarCry had a great engine: the first game that had huge outdoor areas with realistic dense foliage and interesting terrain. It had great AI: they'd circle around on you and call in reinforcements. And it had a cool story line.

It's story line was really good. The voice acting and plot was pretty decent. I thought the AI was a marked improvement from other FPS's, but they still had issues. Cloak, and they forgot where you were after a few seconds.

Every good aspect in Crysis was in FarCry. Crysis was a good game, but the only thing better about it compared to FC was a prettier engine, and I didn't feel they put it to as good a use as FC did. For one thing, it was way too easy to just get lost in foliage in Crysis. In FC there were always enough landmarks that you could make your way around. I'll have to see if the better graphics card helps here.

I never had that problem. I guess they tried hard to make it really seem like a island in the pacific. More than a few times though, I had the opposite problem, I went exporing, and hit the edge of the map, marked by some cliff or high peak that I couldn't get past.

I won't go that far, but I was very disappointed. At first I was cool with the more "open-ended" style of missions taken from Grand Theft Auto, but they didn't take it far enough. If they had a more compelling overall plot, and if they had more interesting sideline plots like Fallout3, it would have been cool. The fire burning effect was about the best thing in that game. Sad. It could have been truly epic, and it didn't deserve the FarCry name.

It was soooo repetitive. The missions were all so...samey. The MP wasn't very good either. The fire effect was cool, except that it just would die out after burning 400 square feet or so.

And the plot. It was pretty weak. Even for a bunch of missions, the AI would just drive around in a big circle in trucks, just waiting for you to snipe them...

And when you conquered a guard post, 10 minutes later, the men had re-spawned and "magically" fixed it up again. Same with the roaming escorts.

By far, one of my favorite single-player games. The first was cooler because it was first, but I've played HL2 completely through four times now, and I enjoy the heck out of it each time. I'm really looking forward to Episode 3.

Gah, the HeadCrabs scared me the first time they showed up. I'm at the Ravenholm part. It's fun to play at night.

I just got Modern Warfare 2, and it's basically the same game as COD4: Modern Warfare, only the plot is less cohesive. Another disappointment.

No dedicated Servers = No game. I didn't even bother buying it. I heard there were some hacked servers... but that's not the same.

L4D2, on the other hand, is quite satisfying, however. I got what I expected, and the extreme gore is quite exhilarating. The L4D series has kinda kill regular multiplayer and single-player for me a bit. Coop play is always more fun to me.

I've never played LFD. However, I did play TF2 avidly over the summer. In fact, that was what I was doing before I rediscovered Civilization, when the 3.19 patch came out.

Team Fortress 2 is a great team game, I got so good at some of the levels, like 2fort...

I really appreciate Valve games, they are one of the few quality companies. Blizzard is a good one too. But EA, and some others who just market to the "casual" audience and drop shoddily made or shallow games on us just ruin the name of video gaming. (Spore, I'm looking at you.)

 

[EmperorFool]

It's story line was really good.

Yes, the plot was more interesting than FC2's for sure, but it seemed many times like I was just kinda running along and thinking, "Why am I doing this again?" I'll give it another go though, it has been a while since I played, and I may be think more of Warhead.

I went exporing, and hit the edge of the map, marked by some cliff or high peak that I couldn't get past.

Yes, I felt that you could explore more in FC than Crysis. You could explore a lot in FC2, but there wasn't anything interesting to see! Making me search for those diamonds as a way get me to explore is a sure sign that you've made a bad game.

It was soooo repetitive. The missions were all so...samey. . . . The AI would just drive around in a big circle in trucks, just waiting for you to snipe them...

LOL, yeah. The first time I got sent on one of those "take out my rival gun-runner" missions I was floored at how dumb it was. I got stuck on some rocks and totally lost the guy, and 2 minutes later he comes back around the loop. Uhhh, okay. BANG! Success. Lame.

It's like they made this cool terrain engine and pretty landscape and then thought, "Hey, we should put some trivial plot into this and make it a game! We'll be rich!"

And when you conquered a guard post, 10 minutes later, the men had re-spawned and "magically" fixed it up again. Same with the roaming escorts.

Well, if they didn't do this then you'd end up eradicating all the baddies and have no trouble running around from mission to mission. This is the problem of having a static map area where all the missions occur. In GTA it was less obvious because the streets were expected to be full of cops that made it difficult to be nefarious.

AFAIR the guard posts only got restocked after you completed a mission so if your mission involved going back through a post you leveled, it was still empty.

Gah, the HeadCrabs scared me the first time they showed up. I'm at the Ravenholm part. It's fun to play at night.

Haha, yeah I jumped outta my chair the first time I saw one in HL--just as you are crawling into your first dark air vent. So many times I found myself truly worried about my character--me--in the game.

You may already know this next fact (spoilered). I didn't discover it until my second time playing the game.

Spoiler Ravenholm :

Hint: Use your gravity gun.

Spoiler for more :

Use the saw blades

No dedicated Servers = No game.

I bought it solely for the single-player because I enjoyed the CoD games. This one continues where COD4 left off and it's basically the same plot. Uber lame. There is one scene though where you are playing a deep-cover CIA op who goes into an airport loaded up with an m249 with five other guys and levels the place. While the scene was neat, there was no explanation. You just walk in and are expected to start slaughtering civilians with no motivation. They could have done a lot more with that.

I've never played LFD. However, I did play TF2 avidly over the summer.

That's a great game, too. I haven't played as much in a while, but I really enjoyed it. If you like the teamplay aspect of TF2 I think you'll like L4D. You absolutely have to depend on your teammates which is what I like about it.

I never tried Spore. It had so much hype, but by the time it came out I was more focused on TF2 and BUG.

 

[phungus420]

Thanks again for your help EF.

@davidallen:

Here is the updated script. Everything should be working now (in the previous attachement the 3.19 registry check did not work correctly):

Edit: Also you can take the macro code and make it it's own NSIS script, and put it in your NSIS include folder, then just use !include whatever you named the macro's script. That's how I'm doing it at least. In the attachement though, the macro is just in the begging of the script.

 

[Afforess]

Yes, the plot was more interesting than FC2's for sure, but it seemed many times like I was just kinda running along and thinking, "Why am I doing this again?" I'll give it another go though, it has been a while since I played, and I may be think more of Warhead.

I bought Warhead just for the big explosions, and the $30 price tag. The plot was good enough for a $30 game.

Yes, I felt that you could explore more in FC than Crysis. You could explore a lot in FC2, but there wasn't anything interesting to see! Making me search for those diamonds as a way get me to explore is a sure sign that you've made a bad game.

I think I stumbled on more diamonds on accident than on purpose.

Truth be told, I never finished FarCry 2. I got 79% of the way, then my save "corrupted". Apparently, there's a rare bug, where if you have done missions equally for both sides, it fails to give you your next mission, and you can't advance the plot. Well, I had that happen to me, and there was no way I was resetting to play again. The game just wasn't worth it.

LOL, yeah. The first time I got sent on one of those "take out my rival gun-runner" missions I was floored at how dumb it was. I got stuck on some rocks and totally lost the guy, and 2 minutes later he comes back around the loop. Uhhh, okay. BANG! Success. Lame.

Yeah so cheesy. They could have done so much more with it. A waste of a game engine.

Well, if they didn't do this then you'd end up eradicating all the baddies and have no trouble running around from mission to mission. This is the problem of having a static map area where all the missions occur. In GTA it was less obvious because the streets were expected to be full of cops that made it difficult to be nefarious.

Again, I've never played GTA, (The PC versions were always buggier, and came out months later...), but I bet it would have been a better buy than FarCry2.

Haha, yeah I jumped outta my chair the first time I saw one in HL--just as you are crawling into your first dark air vent. So many times I found myself truly worried about my character--me--in the game.

You may already know this next fact (spoilered). I didn't discover it until my second time playing the game.

Spoiler Ravenholm :

Hint: Use your gravity gun.

Spoiler for more :

Use the saw blades

Shooting saw blades at head-zombies = instant gratification.

I bought it solely for the single-player because I enjoyed the CoD games. This one continues where COD4 left off and it's basically the same plot. Uber lame. There is one scene though where you are playing a deep-cover CIA op who goes into an airport loaded up with an m249 with five other guys and levels the place. While the scene was neat, there was no explanation. You just walk in and are expected to start slaughtering civilians with no motivation. They could have done a lot more with that.

I played CoD2, but that's the only one I ever played. The plot for that one was not remember-able, and that's really all I remember of it.

That's a great game, too. I haven't played as much in a while, but I really enjoyed it. If you like the teamplay aspect of TF2 I think you'll like L4D. You absolutely have to depend on your teammates which is what I like about it.

Ahh yes, teammates. TF2 was really fun if you could team up with a good medic, or be a good medic. Even better when 99% of servers have the quake sound effects turned on. MONSTER-KILL!

I never tried Spore. It had so much hype, but by the time it came out I was more focused on TF2 and BUG.

Don't bother, it's nothing special. It could have been so much better, and the original '05 E3 Demo's looked really interesting, but EA made them dumb it down for more sales.

 

[davidlallen]

Here is the updated script. Everything should be working now (in the previous attachement the 3.19 registry check did not work correctly).

(hiding among all the OT spam)

Thanks! In related news, is it possible to update the patch script with a check for <modname>.ini, to prevent users from installing the patch without the main install?

 

[phungus420]

Yeah, that's doable. I really should just re-write the patch script, it's functional, but I could make it better, specifically I should add the mod ini check as you mention, but it could also be cleaned up (it currently is basically a gutted install script). I don't need a patch script any time soon (I can't imagine needing one for a couple of months), so you'd be best off to write it yourself though; I wol't be doing it any time soon. Of course if you re-write the patch script, please upload it, and I'll update it in the thread with the install scripts.

 

[davidlallen]

I don't need a patch script any time soon (I can't imagine needing one for a couple of months), so you'd be best off to write it yourself though; I wol't be doing it any time soon. Of course if you re-write the patch script, please upload it, and I'll update it in the thread with the install scripts.

Er, right. Since I don't know anything about NSIS, I am unlikely to rewrite it. Can you suggest a code segment I might add, to fail in case <modname>/<modname>.ini does not exist?

 

[phungus420]

The current script is pretty well commented, and NSIS is based on C++. I'd be surprised if you couldn't figure it out pretty quickly. Look at the current "if file exists" functions in the new dev script I just uploaded, specifically the CivIV .ini file check. You should be able to write something similar pretty similar into the patch script.

 

[alerum68]

Speaking of OT - Has anyone else had black screens with the 190 Nividia driver for Ubuntu 9.10?? It's driving me crazy, and causing problems with ACPI.

 

[davidlallen]

Here is the updated script. Everything should be working now (in the previous attachement the 3.19 registry check did not work correctly):

I have locally tested and it works. I did not try all the possible user scenarios or usage errors, but it makes an installer, and the installer creates the My Documents/...UserSettings directory. Thanks a million! Will you be putting this into the download database?

 

[phungus420]

I'm not going to put it in the database, no. It's far too specific (you must be using a BUG based mod to have this script be viable), and even though it's well commented it's still complex. Too complex to really release it as a stand alone utility. However the script will be downloadable by selecting the Source Code add on when you download and install RevDCM, and a similar script will be included in the same with for the WolfRevolution, and Legends of Revolution mods. By the way, I made a slight change to the script (gave the variable OldVersion a value if no registry was located instead of just leaving it "blank", I was worried leaving it blank might make it return 0), and that's available in the test installer download for RevDCM found here:
https://revolutiondcm.svn.sourcefor...k/RevDCMInstall/RevolutionDCM v2.62 Setup.exe

 

[phungus420]

Checking my script again, I'm sure it's messed up. It would not allow installation to continue for complete or gold users. I can fix it, but I'm not sure what I should do here.

@Emperor Fool, do you have any way to find out what the Registry is for 3.19 on for Complete and Gold versions?

For instance this code works fine for standard BtS:

  ;Registry Constants
  !define FIRAXIS_REG_ROOT "HKLM"
  !define LONG_HKLM "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE"
  !define FIRAXIS_REG_KEY "Software\Firaxis Games"
  !define BTSREG_STANDARD "Sid Meier's Civilization 4 - Beyond the Sword"
  !define BTS "Beyond the Sword"
  !define COMPLETE_REG "Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Complete"
  !define GOLD_REG "Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Gold"
...
	#look for standard Civ4:BTS
	ReadRegStr $0 ${FIRAXIS_REG_ROOT} "${FIRAXIS_REG_KEY}\${BTSREG_STANDARD}" 'INSTALLDIR'
	${If} ${FileExists} $0
		StrCpy $INSTDIR1 $0
		!insertmacro IfKeyExists "${LONG_HKLM}" "${FIRAXIS_REG_KEY}\${BTSREG_STANDARD}" "3.19"
		Pop $R0
		StrCpy $OldVersion $R0
		Goto done
	${EndIf}

But what should I be using in the ifKeyExists macro for Gold and complete:
Should it be:

	# Civ4 Complete
	ReadRegStr $0 ${FIRAXIS_REG_ROOT} "${FIRAXIS_REG_KEY}\${COMPLETE_REG}" 'INSTALLDIR'
	${If} ${FileExists} $0
		StrCpy $0 "$0\${BTS}"
		${If} ${FileExists} $0
			StrCpy $INSTDIR1 $0
			!insertmacro IfKeyExists "${LONG_HKLM}" "${FIRAXIS_REG_KEY}\${COMPLETE_REG}" "3.19"
			Pop $R0
			StrCpy $OldVersion $R0
			Goto done
		${EndIf}
	${EndIf}

Or

	# Civ4 Complete
	ReadRegStr $0 ${FIRAXIS_REG_ROOT} "${FIRAXIS_REG_KEY}\${COMPLETE_REG}" 'INSTALLDIR'
	${If} ${FileExists} $0
		StrCpy $0 "$0\${BTS}"
		${If} ${FileExists} $0
			StrCpy $INSTDIR1 $0
			!insertmacro IfKeyExists "${LONG_HKLM}" "${FIRAXIS_REG_KEY}\${COMPLETE_REG}\${BTS}" "3.19"
			Pop $R0
			StrCpy $OldVersion $R0
			Goto done
		${EndIf}
	${EndIf}

or even:

	# Civ4 Complete
	ReadRegStr $0 ${FIRAXIS_REG_ROOT} "${FIRAXIS_REG_KEY}\${COMPLETE_REG}" 'INSTALLDIR'
	${If} ${FileExists} $0
		StrCpy $0 "$0\${BTS}"
		${If} ${FileExists} $0
			StrCpy $INSTDIR1 $0
			!insertmacro IfKeyExists "${LONG_HKLM}" "${FIRAXIS_REG_KEY}\${COMPLETE_REG}" "${BTS}\3.19"
			Pop $R0
			StrCpy $OldVersion $R0
			Goto done
		${EndIf}
	${EndIf}

In case no one knows (very possible, I tried googling it and couldn't find an answer), is there anyone here with Complete or Gold that would be willing to check an installer to see if it functions?

 

[ori]

as a reply to phungus420's pm:

Hey Ori,

I figure you're probably the most likely person to know this. Basically I'm trying to get the specific registry keys for 3.19 for Gold and Complete for my install script. It's a pretty advanced script, and I've got it working where it can discriminate out unpatched versions of BtS that use a standard registry key. But I know the keys are different for Gold and Complete. Any chance you know what the 3.19 keys are for these?

It's somewhat difficult to explain, so I'll direct you here:
Emperor Fool posts the 3.19 reg key for a standard install
and here:
Current hang up in code

Hope that explains it. If you know, or have any ideas please post in the thread where those links go.

Peace

I could easily give you the registry keys for the US version of Complete (since I have it - I'd need to fire up the computer that has it installed and check) - but there is a European one that is certainly different, since it uses a different patch version and does not have Colonization. For Gold: I do not have it myself - but there have been posts about it (because some versions of Gold have a typo in the Vanilla patch version that prevents the BtS installer to run on them).
So essentially there are 2 Gold versions (with and without typo in Vanilla patch version) and two Complete versions as well as the rather obscure Ultimate version (European release of Vanilla/Warlords/BtS/Colonization - but with DRM unlike the US Complete which otherwise is identical to the European (actually German market) Ultimate )

Edit: as for Gold: post #7 has them: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=268462
note the typo where the patch version is given as 1.72 instead of 1.74
However thinking of it: since Gold does not have BtS - that installer should be the standard one with the standard keys

Edit2:
as for the US complete: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4 - Beyond the Sword\3.19 so it is identical to the standard key.

 

[phungus420]

Thanks Ori. Looks like it might be more complicated then I would have expected. That's good to know about the Complete version, hopefully it'll be the same with the European version. Unfortunately the link you show to the Gold Reg keys don't show the BtS ones, so nothing to go on there. It's likely that if Complete uses the same BtS 3.19 reg key as the standard BtS setup, gold will as well, but no way to know for sure until someone tries it.

 

[phungus420]

So, back to the topic of how to appropriately use your SVN.

I just updated LoR to version 0.9.8. I would like to know specifically how BUG uses the Tags section, and how I could most effectively use the Tags folder. glider1 has asked that I set up the version history properly in RevDCM, and implied that's what the Tags folder is for, and I also need to do the same thing for LoR. But I don't know what I should be doing here.

 

[EmperorFool]

When you package up a release and call it 0.9.8, you are taking a snapshot of the files in the SVN at a specific point in time (you do a checkout) and give it a name: 0.9.8. This is a tag in SVN, and creating one is really easy. Just as your packaged files are a copy of what's in the SVN, a tag is also a copy, but it's a "soft copy" which means it only records the revision number for each file. It looks like a complete copy in the repository, but it's really quite small so don't worry about taking up too much room.

I assume you are using TortoiseSVN. To create a tag, go to the folder where you have checked out your files. This should be the trunk (or a subfolder if your trunk has multiple projects) in your repository. Right-click the folder and select TortoiseSVN : Create branch/tag... Enter the location where the tag should be created. For BUG I created a "releases" folder under tags where I place each release tag, and I name those using the version number, e.g. "4.2". I also have a "buffy" folder so I can mark BUFFY releases in BUG, but I haven't been using that as much.

You also need to specify which revision number you'd like to create the tag from. Typically this is HEAD, but if you've made some changes that you don't want to include in the release, you need to find the revision number to tag. You can also opt to tag the files in your working copy (what's on your hard drive), but I find that to be less useful. You'd do this if you were going to cherry-pick revision numbers for individual files, and I doubt you'll need to do that (I haven't for BUG, but I have at work).

Then click OK. Tada! You have a new tag. Now someone can checkout the tag folder instead of the trunk to get a copy of the files as they looked when you created the tag. They could also diff two tags--or a tag against any revision number--to see what's changed between releases.