Author Topic: Launcher  (Read 3075 times)

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Offline RandomTiger

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Whats going on with the fs2_open launcher? I ask because Im currently building my own FS2 launcher. I had been in contact with Inquisitor about this but I've not heard from him in a while.

I'd be happy to hand a copy of the source over to fs2_open, and have already given Inquisitor a version to play around with. I'll post everything I've got when its in full working order.

Though Im building this for my own purposes Im making it easy to expand on and am open to suggestions. So far I have not replicated any of the functionality in the original launcher since its still usable, instead I have been more conserned by a better way to fully handle command line options, registry values, D3D8 and leaving open a good base for any OGL launcher stuff that will be needed.

Sorry if this is all covered in meetings or whatever Im still just scraping online time when I can at work.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2003, 07:00:09 am by 848 »

 

Offline Inquisitor

We talked about your launcher at the meeting, we're gonna look at it, see where we can go with it.

Good stuff, keep us informed if you make progress :)
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Offline RandomTiger

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I hope to 'finish' the Launcher this weekend or sometime next week.

When I say 'finish' I mean finish my part, at least for the moment and hand it over to you guys to do what you want.

If there is some major feature wanted or bugs then I'd be happy to work on it again but otherwise I would like to continue on another subproject of mine.

Launcher Features:

D3D8 options selection
Shell OGL section ready for mode selection code
Easy and safe access to freespaces registry options
Optional scripted exe recognition system for handling command line options
Ability to save settings for multiple exes
Modular approach to code to allow (hopefully) easy expansion of features by other people without having to interfere with core code
Full documentation to aid developement

I wouldnt advise anyone adding anything to the code until I hand the finished code over, some things are changing a fair bit.

RT's Caps idea
------------------

While I have been doing this I have run into an interesting idea that I may implement at some point in DX8 (but the theory works in OGL as well). If a user is having graphical trouble they can save their card specifications through the API they are using to a file. They can then give this file to a coder who can pass it to game engine to artifically 'downgrade' his gfx card caps. Only really works if the developer has a better card and will by no means be able to emulate all the differences between gfx cards.

Not sure if its worth implementing at this stage since Im guessing most people are still using DX5, but if OGL or DX8 were to come into more use then it could be a good idea.

  

Offline EdrickV

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I've been working on a launcher myself, though I haven't done much with it lately. It's pretty basic, but can choose any graphics setup it or fs2_open supports. (In otherwords you can select the D3D modes, Glide modes, Open GL modes, and even Software rendering mode.) It's got a dropdown list you can add exe's too (no matter what filename or where they are) and it can save that list. It also has 2 entries for command line options: One that is the same as the one you can set in the Volition launcher, and one that is specific to my launcher. They have checkboxes to choose which to use when you hit run and their settings can be saved. It's got some potential problems though: It was written in Borland C++ Builder 1 so the code is not portable. That means that only people with BCB1 (or newer) could actually do anything with the source code. For those curious about it, I've finally gotten around to uploading it here:
http://members.aol.com/huntercomputers/FS2/Launcher.zip
Ground - "Let me help you out, you're clear to taxi any way you can, to any runway you see."

Mesh Gallery/Downloads:
http://members.aol.com/ArisKalzar/Gallery.html
Turreting 101:
http://members.aol.com/EdrickV/FS2/Turreting.html

http://members.aol.com/HunterComputers

 

Offline Inquisitor

yay, we're back!!

Thanks for the launcher ed, so the code is non protable to other compilers?
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Offline EdrickV

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Borland C++ Builder is kinda like MSVC++ using MFC, so it's code is only usable to compilers that have access to it's Visual Component Library. (VCL) Borland Delphi (which uses Object Pascal) has the same basic VCL, but I don't know if it has a C++ compiler. (BCB can compile Object Pascal code though, since that's what most of the VCL is made in.) Here's an example of the code used to add an exe to the exe list:

Code: [Select]

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void __fastcall TMain::AddEXEClick(TObject *Sender)
{
 OpenDialog->FileName = "";
 if (OpenDialog->Execute())
  if(OpenDialog->FileName != "")
    {
         ExeSelect->Tag = ExeSelect->ItemIndex;
         ExeSelect->Items->Add(OpenDialog->FileName);
        }
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------


The function itself (and it's header file entry) were actually created by BCB when I select the Add button, change Object Inspector to the events tab, and double click the drop down combo box for the "click" event. The code in the function I did. OpenDialog is a TOpenDialog object that provides an interface to the Open File common dialog and ExeSelect is the drop down list box that the exe filenames (with path) are stored in. BCB's nice for quickly making programs, but it alone doesn't provide a lot of the things people like to put in programs these days. (Like system tray icons.) There are components written by other people that you can add (as well as Active X controls) to do some things, but not all of them are free and finding ones for BCB1 can be hard these days.

In short: BCB1 can be a real pain in the butt to program with when trying to get it to do something, but is easy to use when building the UI. (Assuming it's a standard Windows program.) It's designed for RAD (Rapid Application Development) and not much else. :)
« Last Edit: February 06, 2003, 05:42:06 pm by 657 »
Ground - "Let me help you out, you're clear to taxi any way you can, to any runway you see."

Mesh Gallery/Downloads:
http://members.aol.com/ArisKalzar/Gallery.html
Turreting 101:
http://members.aol.com/EdrickV/FS2/Turreting.html

http://members.aol.com/HunterComputers

 

Offline RandomTiger

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Typical, you wait a year for a launcher and two come along at once :)

I doing more overtime at work at the moment so my launcher is not on target now. :(

 

Offline Inquisitor

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Offline EdrickV

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Quote
Originally posted by RandomTiger
Typical, you wait a year for a launcher and two come along at once :)

I doing more overtime at work at the moment so my launcher is not on target now. :(


I'd meant to upload and post my launcher before, but half the time I remembered it my computer was in the middle of downloading a huge file I couldn't easily pause and resume or HLP was down. (It's gone down at least twice since the time I originally intended to post it, and around Christmas I was out of town.) :) And there had been another launcher that someone was working on that I remember a screenshot of, I'm just not sure who or how far it got.
Ground - "Let me help you out, you're clear to taxi any way you can, to any runway you see."

Mesh Gallery/Downloads:
http://members.aol.com/ArisKalzar/Gallery.html
Turreting 101:
http://members.aol.com/EdrickV/FS2/Turreting.html

http://members.aol.com/HunterComputers