Hard Light Productions Forums

Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => FS2 Open Coding - The Source Code Project (SCP) => Topic started by: Cobra on November 22, 2005, 01:38:14 pm

Title: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: Cobra on November 22, 2005, 01:38:14 pm
Is it possible to create a duplicate of Launcher.exe and use it for Inferno? (In other words, basically have a separate launcher for regular FSO and another for Inferno)

this could also give the developers of Inferno something to think about. :)
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: karajorma on November 22, 2005, 01:41:00 pm
Why on earth would you want to?
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: Cobra on November 22, 2005, 01:42:09 pm
i'm just asking if it's possible, it gets pretty annoying to have to keep switching from regular FSO builds to Inferno builds. :p
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: karajorma on November 22, 2005, 01:58:49 pm
Just make a shortcut, add all the command lines you want to it and stick both on the desktop then.

As a rule you shouldn't ask a coder to spend their time doing something you can do in about half the time. :)
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: CaptJosh on November 22, 2005, 03:05:38 pm
I rather think he meant setting up Inferno in its own directory with its own copy of the launcher. An information request, not a coding request. And sure, you could do that. I've done something similar with a game I have which has multiple mods for it. Seperate directories with the game files plus the mod files. Though in this case, you just need the launcher, an Inferno SCP executeable, and the inferno VPs including patch.
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: karajorma on November 22, 2005, 03:33:27 pm
Pretty stupid to waste over a gig of HD space for something you could do with a shortcut though isn't it?
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: CaptJosh on November 22, 2005, 04:24:28 pm
Inferno isn't that big...
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: phreak on November 22, 2005, 05:55:44 pm
You sure about that? :)
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: Cobra on November 22, 2005, 09:22:49 pm
Just make a shortcut, add all the command lines you want to it and stick both on the desktop then.

i already tried that, it didn't work. :(

I rather think he meant setting up Inferno in its own directory with its own copy of the launcher. An information request, not a coding request. And sure, you could do that. I've done something similar with a game I have which has multiple mods for it. Seperate directories with the game files plus the mod files. Though in this case, you just need the launcher, an Inferno SCP executeable, and the inferno VPs including patch.

that's also what i meant, the inferno team making a launcher specifically made for Inferno. :D
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: Nuke on November 23, 2005, 12:53:57 am
the new version of the launcher seems to have a mod discription  thingie, how does one use that in their mod?
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: karajorma on November 23, 2005, 01:31:36 am
The description is part of the mod.ini file.

Code: [Select]
[launcher]
image255x112 = Transcend.bmp;
infotext     = Only a few short months after the end of the Second Shivan Incursion, amongst the chaos of Capellan refugees and ever-heightening levels of piracy, mysterious things have begun happening on the edge of GTVA space. Unexplained disappearances, strange rumours... You are Lieutenant Sunder Marcel, recently transferred to the 103rd Shadow Guardians. Your squadron has been charged with uncovering the cause of these disturbances, to venture out into the unknown and return with an answer. But something's strange about this case. The clues have no meaning, and reality is beginning to slip... Everyone has a limit...;
website      = http://www.game-warden.com/transcend/;
forum        = http://www.game-warden.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=28;

[multimod]
primarylist  = ;
secondrylist = ,Media_VPs;

[settings]
flags = -spec;

Here's the ini I use for Transcend. The settings and primarylist stuff doesn't work and you'll notice that I keep my media.vp files in a seperate folder. The mod image is a 255x112 BMP picture that makes the launcher mod tab look prettier. Everything else should be pretty self-explainitory.

Once you've got an ini like this simply drop it into the mods folder along with the BMP file and it will start working. :)
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: CaptJosh on November 23, 2005, 07:35:52 am
It really isn't necessary ta make a launcher specifically for Inferno. If you were to set up a directory with its own launcher, exe, and the inferno VPs, without any -mod switch, Inferno is what would load.

But it isn't that hard to make a desktop shortcut that would just launch straight into inferno, either.

Say you're using 3.6.7 release. The shortcut would need to look something like this:

C:\Games\Freespace2\fs2_open_367.exe -mod Inferno -your -other -options -here
Working directory: C:\Games\Freespace2

By putting the parameters you commonly use where I put "-your -other -options -here," you should get it to run from a shortcut.
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: karajorma on November 23, 2005, 10:00:53 am
It really isn't necessary ta make a launcher specifically for Inferno. If you were to set up a directory with its own launcher, exe, and the inferno VPs, without any -mod switch, Inferno is what would load.

Briefly. And then crash out due to the lack of interface art. That's why it would take about a gig to set up inferno in its own folder. You've got to include the 500MB for sparky and sparky_hi.

@Cobra : I've got no idea why the shortcut didn't work for you. It should.
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: CaptJosh on November 23, 2005, 09:03:18 pm
Oops, Forgot about the interface stuff. It's still only about 700, 750 megs, though...
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: Cobra on November 23, 2005, 09:11:14 pm
well, don't forget all the high-poly models and high-res textures that'll be included in R2. there's 140 ships worth of models and maps, so it'll bring the size up to around 900 mb.
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: CaptJosh on November 23, 2005, 11:25:00 pm
Ah, but R2 isn't out yet. That makes it irrelevant to the current question.
Title: Re: Small Question Concerning Launcher.exe
Post by: Woomeister on November 25, 2005, 01:49:55 pm
Uh R2 is a standalone mod that uses its own directory and is around 550mb uncompressed WITH the required FS2 retail and SCP media files. It isn't compatable with regular FS Open, and most FS Open mods won't work with Inferno either since we ripped out the entire FS2 map set and resorted and renamed them. The next release doesn't require FS2 or any extra SCP media VPs. We use the standard launcher and as long as you run the launcher before you start you'll be fine (if you switch to your FS2 directory you should run the launcher in there to prevent any issues)

The mod directory system will be used for Inferno mods and not for Inferno itself, all hopefully using tbm files to prevent patching issues.

There's also more like 170 ships or so (264 models, 1346 map files) not 140 like in R1

I have mentioned this before...
I've started a thread with a bit more information feel free to ask any questions there:
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,37063.0.html