Nexus - The Jupiter Incident > General Discussion
Nexus Launcher beta - need feedback
Arparso:
Doh! Bloody Steam and its DRM...
Of course, using "steam.exe -applaunch 6420" starts up the default Nexus launcher... so my launcher replacement launches the old launcher forcing you to select the desired mod yet AGAIN. >:(
Luckily there's a workaround: whoever implemented this DRM for Nexus, did so in a "moddable" way - Steam doesn't launch Nexus directly, but rather the "runme.exe" in the Nexus folder. This app probably deals with the whole DRM stuff and then launches whatever executable is written in plain text format in "runme.dat". Per default, that's "nexus.exe" - changing it to "nexus_DX9.exe" completely bypasses the default launcher and directly starts the game.
Now my launcher has to automate that file manipulation, too... and if Steam is installed in a protected "Program Files" folder, it even needs administrative rights to edit runme.dat. Even worse: the user will be unable to bring up the default launcher again (e.g. through Steam), so in order to change mods he HAS to use my custom launcher or revert the changes to "runme.dat".
"Steam... making simple stuff complicated." :o
DreamorCZ:
"Steam is an evil." (bad thing based on a good idea)
I've encountered another problem recently. Sometimes, drop down menu is not working after playing Nexus.
Also, another two ideas. Button for launching skirmisher and not quitting launcher after clicking play.
jstubbles:
Bah, I love Steam :)
Arparso:
Slightly updated version ready to go... ;)
Download Nexus Launcher (Beta)
Changes:
[*]FIX: launcher crashed without active internet connection
[*]FIX: couldn't launch Steam version due to DRM issues
[*]FIX: texture quality setting wasn't saved
[*]ADDED: setting to keep the launcher running after starting the game
[*]ADDED: setting to skip a mod's intro (only if the mod actually has an intro)
[*]ADDED: experimental intro playback function (if a mod specified an intro movie in modinfo.xml, it'll be played back fullscreen before starting the game)
[*]ADDED: optional fix to avoid Steam starting the default launcher (can be enabled/disabled on the configuration screen)
[/list]
Would love to hear some feedback, if the Steam "fix" is working properly for you. Also a few notes regarding the intro functionality and how it's meant to be used:
You can place a video file in your mod folder and store the relative path to the file in your modinfo.xml like this:
--- Code: ---<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mod xmlns="http://arparso.de/nexus">
<name>Freespace: Evolution</name>
<version>1.0</version>
<author>Arparso</author>
<web>http://www.moddb.com/mods/freespace-evolution</web>
<rss>http://rss.moddb.com/mods/freespace-evolution/news/feed/rss.xml</rss>
<intro>movies\intro.wmv</intro>
</mod>
--- End code ---
Theoretically you can use any video file format, size or whatever... if Windows Media Player can open and play your video, then so can the launcher. You have to keep in mind, however, that not everybody will have the same codecs installed as you do - the Xvid-formatted intro might work fine on your machine, but other people without the proper codec will run into problems there. I'd suggest sticking to formats you'd be able to playback on a fresh WinXP install. WMV9 should be fine, I guess... didn't do too much testing, though, so I'd strongly suggest testing it for yourself.
Arparso:
Although I'll not be releasing the launcher till some time after the Freespace mod launch, I'd like to inform you about another new feature ahead of time, so you can incorporate the appropriate support into your mods, if you wish to do so:
(bear with me, this is a rather long post, but I really wanted to give more detailled explanations so you fully understand what to expect of it)
Mod-Update Feature
The launcher will be able to detect outdated versions of your mods and direct the player to a website of your choice, so he can quickly find the correct download.
What's required to make this work for your mod:
* create an XML-file with all the information required by the update feature and place it somewhere on a web server (details see below)
* add a new element to the modinfo.xml you're deploying with your mod, so the launcher is able to find your XML file
Here is an example of a modinfo.xml with the new <updateInfo>-tag:
--- Code: ---<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mod xmlns="http://arparso.de/nexus">
<name>Freespace: Evolution</name>
<version>1.0</version>
<author>Arparso</author>
<web>http://www.moddb.com/mods/freespace-evolution</web>
<rss>http://rss.moddb.com/mods/freespace-evolution/news/feed/rss.xml</rss>
<intro>movies\intro.wmv</intro>
<updateInfo>http://arparso.de/nexus/freespace/updateInfo.xml</updateInfo>
</mod>
--- End code ---
What needs to be put into the new XML-file:
Let's start off with a complete example:
--- Code: ---<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<updateInfo xmlns="http://arparso.de/nexus">
<name>Freespace: Evolution</name>
<legacyName>Freespace Mod</legacyName>
<mostRecentVersion>1.5</mostRecentVersion>
<overrideWeb>http://arparso.de/nexus/freespace</overrideWeb>
<overrideRss>http://arparso.de/nexus/freespace/news.rss</overrideRss>
<update from="*" link="http://arparso.de/nexus/freespace/fse_setup15.exe"/>
<update from="1.0" to="1.2" link="http://arparso.de/nexus/freespace/fse_update10to12.exe"/>
<update from="0.8 | 0.9" to="1.0" link="http://arparso.de/nexus/freespace/fse_update0xto10.exe"/>
</updateInfo>
--- End code ---
There are a lot of optional elements shown here, which can be omitted in many cases. The minimum required update info consists of the <name> and <mostRecentVersion> elements, like so:
--- Code: ---<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<updateInfo xmlns="http://arparso.de/nexus">
<name>Freespace: Evolution</name>
<mostRecentVersion>1.5</mostRecentVersion>
</updateInfo>
--- End code ---
Now for a element-by-element description:
name: (required)
- the mod's name; MUST match the name specified in the modinfo.xml or else the update feature will be disabled (for exceptions see <legacyName>)
legacyName:
- if you mod was named differently in the past, you can add the older names with <legacyName> elements
- you can have multiple <legacyName> elements, if you've went through a couple of name changes
- this way different versions of your mod with different names can all use the same updater XML file
mostRecentVersion: (required)
- the version name of the most recent version of your mod
- relates to the <version> element of the modinfo.xml
- can be any number or text string or whatever... no specific versioning format is enforced
- if the <version> element of the installed mod differs from <mostRecentVersion>, then the launcher assumes the need to update
The last fact is important: no versioning format is enforced, nor is it analyzed - if <version> and <mostRecentVersion> differ, an update notification WILL be displayed. If <version> is "1.0" and <mostRecentVersion> is "0.9" (e.g. because you forgot to update your XML), the launcher will still notify the player of an update, although the version numbers seem to imply otherwise.
The benefit here is, that you can use any kind of versioning format: incremental build numbers, release dates or fancy names like "Aurora release" or whatever.
Also note, that you can have side-by-side installations of different versions of the same mod without the launcher annoyingly telling you to update: as long as you have the most recent version already installed, it won't display update notifications for the mod's older versions.
update:
This element has no content, but three attributes, and can be included multiple times for different downloads:
link
- contains the actual information about where to find the download
- "link" should contain a valid URL to either a webpage or the actual download
- the launcher will offer to open "link" in the default web browser
- optional: if no "link" is given, the contents of the <web> element in modinfo.xml will be used instead
from
- if this update should only be applied to a specific group of versions, then specify these versions in the from-attribute
- can contain a single version matching the <version> element of the modinfo.xml
- can also contain a whole group of versions, seperated by a vertical line: | (bitwise OR-operator in most programming languages)
- can also contain an asterisk, *, meaning that this download is meant for ALL versions (except for those, that already have their own <update> element)
- optional: if no "from" attribute is specified, it is assumed to contain an asterisk as default value
to
- if you're offering incremental updates, that don't immediately update to the most recent version, you can specify this with the "to" attribute
- can contain a single version matching the <version> that this download updates the mod to
- optional: if no "to" attribute is specified, it is assumed to contain the <mostRecentVersion> as default value
If you don't include ANY <update> element, the player will be instructed to go to the <web> address in his mod's modinfo.xml to get the new version (equivalent to a default <update> element with no from, to or link attributes specified).
Additionally, the launcher will probably also try to find an upgrade path to the most recent version, if you're using incremental updates. E.g. if there is no update from 1.0 to 1.2, but you have an update from 1.0 to 1.1 and from 1.1 to 1.2, then the launcher should be able to detect this upgrade path to 1.2 and display both download links.
overrideWeb, overrideRss:
- normally, if you've moved your mod's homepage to a different address, you'd need to update the already deployed modinfo.xml for all your players, because the <web> and <rss> addresses might have become invalid
- using <overrideWeb> and <overrideRss>, however, lets you override the elements in modinfo.xml and specify the new URLs
- optional: you can specify the versions you want this override to apply to in an optional "for" attribute, just like with the "from" attribute in the <update> element
- you can have multiple <overrideWeb> or <overrideRss> elements for different versions
-------------------------------------
THIS IS NOT CURRENTLY IMPLEMENTED IN THE LAST BETA, so don't expect this to work with it. I'm releasing this feature description, so you can plan ahead and prepare your mod to utilize this feature.
If you don't have your own webspace to park your XML file containing the update info, I may be able to host it for you. Just send me a message and we'll work something out.
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