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- Jun 19, 2015
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NOTE: If this isn't in the right thread, feel free to move it to a more relevant one
NOTE 2: This tool is designed to work with the YSE patcher (http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/56-yse-patch-system/)
Story time. I was making an incredible in-joke parody of life game for me and my friends. I then found out that RPG maker had no way to release patches, and that I had to compress the entire game and upload all 500 mBs of awesomeness for every little spelling fix. This was fine, except that my internet sucks more than Kim Kardashian. So I found the beautiful YSE patcher. Awesome, now all of my fixes can be in 100 kB, or my updates can be a few mBs. This was fine, except that I had to now upload this, and tell everyone when an update came out, and my friends have less patience for these things than an ADHD toddler squirrel on 4.2 kilos of crack. So I started working on an auto updater. This was fine, except that I have tried to make one for all of my past ten or so projects, and have failed each time harder than a college student during finals week. I finally make one, and it works. Then it doesn't. Then it does. Then it doesn't. Then I fix it for like the fifth time and it finally stays working. For now.
So now I have two options. I could either:
A- Be a selfish prick and keep it for myself, or
B- Invest an entire 5 minutes of my time to convert this thing from a tool specific from my game to one that can be applied to almost every game in existance.
Since I'm writing this, I'm sure you can guess what I chose.
I chose A. Later suckas
...
...
...
...
Ok fine I did want to share it because this community is great. You can download it from: https://github.com/Far117/Game-Launcher/releases/tag/B1
Now, the all important
Right off the bat, let me explain a random bug that might occur that had me wanting to through my computer out of a window: the zip files. When you unzip it, there should be a library.zip file with all of the other junk it comes with. That should be the only other zip file in that directory. I left my launcher.zip in there and it crashed. Repeatedly. Like, a lot. A lot a lot. You get the idea.
Now, here's how you set it up. There should be a file called launcher.ini. Open that fool up with some editor. You should see:
VERSION FILELATEST UPDATEALL UPDATESGAME NAMEEXECUTABLE NAMEAKA a bunch of stuff that makes sense to me but undoubtedly not to you. Now, I'm going to break down each one so you could not possibly screw this up.
My Auto Updater is the simplest one you could possible use. It's free. It has no GUI, no ads, no malware, no tracking, no NSA surveillence... OK maybe a little of that. But you get the point: It's basic. Really basic. Like, basic basic.
It works by using three downloadable files that you will specify, and all must come from hotlinks/direct download links. No exceptions. I recommend dropbox. Just pop the three files I'm about to explain into the public folder and right click, then chose "copy public link." Bam- you're set with a cap of 20 GB in transfers per day.
Now back to the launcher.ini file.
VERSION FILE: this will be the path to the- would you guess?- version file. This is a file that will determine whether or not the clients need to update. The contents of the file will be an integer. I would recommend starting at one for simplicity. So the file's contents would look like:
1Now, if you set up an update, which I will get to in a minute (everything relates to everything else), and want the clients to recognize said update, change that 1 to a 2, and they will see a new version is available.
LATEST UPDATE: This is for the pack that contains the newest patch/content of your game. It is simply a .zip. Keep in mind: the updater will download this zip and unpack it right where it is- AKA the root dir. Organize the contents accordingly.
ALL UPDATES: This is exactly like the latest update pack, except that this contains a compilation of all updates made since the base version of the game (the one exported from RPG maker, or if you're using some different program, the compiled game with no patches). All resources should be included here. If you're using RPG Maker with the YSE patcher, don't have a ton of different patches in here, just one big one from "Patch Everything," otherwise they will conflict in the nastiest way possible: By giving absolutely no errors and letting you think you patched your game when you didn't.
Why two packs? Well, the latest pack will always be smaller than the main updates pack. People who were keeping on top of the updates, and only need the latest (ie, version 20 to 21), will have the joy of a smaller download. People who haven't been keeping up will just download everything, making sure that no patch is missed (ie, version 1 to 102).
GAME NAME: Yay a simple one, just replace it with the name of the game.
EXECUTABLE NAME: Another basic one. Just replace with the name and/or path to the game executable.
EXAMPLE:
www.myhost.com/versionwww.myhost.com/latest.zipwww.myhost.com/updates.zipSuper Mario BrosMario.exeNow, when you want to publish an update, add the relevant files to latest.zip and update.zip, then bump up the version number by 1. Next time someone runs Launcher.exe, they will automatically receive your fresh update.
NOTE: This tool has been tested somewhat, but I would in no way call it production ready. Not because I know something is wrong with it, but because I can't find something wrong with it, and that scares me. Let me know ASAP of any bugs/recommendations.
This was written in python, which is fine, except for the fact that most people don't have python, so I used the excellent (and highly annoying) tool called cx_freeze to compile it to an exe that can be run by anyone. I can post the source if anyone wants (warning: it's really ugly lol)
You can change the icon (which is blank ATM) to something eyegasmic with resource hacker: http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/
I probably forgot something. Feel free to call me out for being an idiot, or, you know, leave some sort of feedback.
Let my tears and pain serve you well, and hopefully bring you a whole new set of tears and pain
~Enjoy
NOTE 2: This tool is designed to work with the YSE patcher (http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/56-yse-patch-system/)
Story time. I was making an incredible in-joke parody of life game for me and my friends. I then found out that RPG maker had no way to release patches, and that I had to compress the entire game and upload all 500 mBs of awesomeness for every little spelling fix. This was fine, except that my internet sucks more than Kim Kardashian. So I found the beautiful YSE patcher. Awesome, now all of my fixes can be in 100 kB, or my updates can be a few mBs. This was fine, except that I had to now upload this, and tell everyone when an update came out, and my friends have less patience for these things than an ADHD toddler squirrel on 4.2 kilos of crack. So I started working on an auto updater. This was fine, except that I have tried to make one for all of my past ten or so projects, and have failed each time harder than a college student during finals week. I finally make one, and it works. Then it doesn't. Then it does. Then it doesn't. Then I fix it for like the fifth time and it finally stays working. For now.
So now I have two options. I could either:
A- Be a selfish prick and keep it for myself, or
B- Invest an entire 5 minutes of my time to convert this thing from a tool specific from my game to one that can be applied to almost every game in existance.
Since I'm writing this, I'm sure you can guess what I chose.
I chose A. Later suckas
...
...
...
...
Ok fine I did want to share it because this community is great. You can download it from: https://github.com/Far117/Game-Launcher/releases/tag/B1
Now, the all important
INSTRUCTIONS:
To "install" it, unzip the contents of the launcher.zip right over your game. Pop that sucker right into the root directory of whatever program you want to inject magic into.Right off the bat, let me explain a random bug that might occur that had me wanting to through my computer out of a window: the zip files. When you unzip it, there should be a library.zip file with all of the other junk it comes with. That should be the only other zip file in that directory. I left my launcher.zip in there and it crashed. Repeatedly. Like, a lot. A lot a lot. You get the idea.
Now, here's how you set it up. There should be a file called launcher.ini. Open that fool up with some editor. You should see:
VERSION FILELATEST UPDATEALL UPDATESGAME NAMEEXECUTABLE NAMEAKA a bunch of stuff that makes sense to me but undoubtedly not to you. Now, I'm going to break down each one so you could not possibly screw this up.
My Auto Updater is the simplest one you could possible use. It's free. It has no GUI, no ads, no malware, no tracking, no NSA surveillence... OK maybe a little of that. But you get the point: It's basic. Really basic. Like, basic basic.
It works by using three downloadable files that you will specify, and all must come from hotlinks/direct download links. No exceptions. I recommend dropbox. Just pop the three files I'm about to explain into the public folder and right click, then chose "copy public link." Bam- you're set with a cap of 20 GB in transfers per day.
Now back to the launcher.ini file.
VERSION FILE: this will be the path to the- would you guess?- version file. This is a file that will determine whether or not the clients need to update. The contents of the file will be an integer. I would recommend starting at one for simplicity. So the file's contents would look like:
1Now, if you set up an update, which I will get to in a minute (everything relates to everything else), and want the clients to recognize said update, change that 1 to a 2, and they will see a new version is available.
LATEST UPDATE: This is for the pack that contains the newest patch/content of your game. It is simply a .zip. Keep in mind: the updater will download this zip and unpack it right where it is- AKA the root dir. Organize the contents accordingly.
ALL UPDATES: This is exactly like the latest update pack, except that this contains a compilation of all updates made since the base version of the game (the one exported from RPG maker, or if you're using some different program, the compiled game with no patches). All resources should be included here. If you're using RPG Maker with the YSE patcher, don't have a ton of different patches in here, just one big one from "Patch Everything," otherwise they will conflict in the nastiest way possible: By giving absolutely no errors and letting you think you patched your game when you didn't.
Why two packs? Well, the latest pack will always be smaller than the main updates pack. People who were keeping on top of the updates, and only need the latest (ie, version 20 to 21), will have the joy of a smaller download. People who haven't been keeping up will just download everything, making sure that no patch is missed (ie, version 1 to 102).
GAME NAME: Yay a simple one, just replace it with the name of the game.
EXECUTABLE NAME: Another basic one. Just replace with the name and/or path to the game executable.
EXAMPLE:
www.myhost.com/versionwww.myhost.com/latest.zipwww.myhost.com/updates.zipSuper Mario BrosMario.exeNow, when you want to publish an update, add the relevant files to latest.zip and update.zip, then bump up the version number by 1. Next time someone runs Launcher.exe, they will automatically receive your fresh update.
NOTE: This tool has been tested somewhat, but I would in no way call it production ready. Not because I know something is wrong with it, but because I can't find something wrong with it, and that scares me. Let me know ASAP of any bugs/recommendations.
This was written in python, which is fine, except for the fact that most people don't have python, so I used the excellent (and highly annoying) tool called cx_freeze to compile it to an exe that can be run by anyone. I can post the source if anyone wants (warning: it's really ugly lol)
You can change the icon (which is blank ATM) to something eyegasmic with resource hacker: http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/
I probably forgot something. Feel free to call me out for being an idiot, or, you know, leave some sort of feedback.
Let my tears and pain serve you well, and hopefully bring you a whole new set of tears and pain
~Enjoy
Last edited by a moderator:
