Post by: hermes on February 23, 2012, 06:36:25 am
Manila Dwarf Fortress Launcher
v1.11
v1.11
DOWNLOAD (http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=5663)
This is an unofficial, simple launcher application written in Java Swing and runnable on Windows, Mac or Linux. This is the launcher I've always wanted to have; something which manages the installation and prevents DF folder clutter around releases and allows easy access to common text-file features...
- Edit common startup options
- Set font and tileset easily
- Choose from a variety of dazzling colour schemes
- Automatically download a new install or update to the latest version of DF
- Works with your existing install, just copy it into the Launcher's DF folder
- Automatically copies settings, saves and embark profiles to updated version
- Automatically packs exported legends files and maps into a folder for each region
- Check out the devlog before you play
- Apply mods easily and get an idea of their compatibility
Spoiler: Screenshots (click to show/hide)
Feedback on appearance, features and functionality is most welcome.
Thanks, and enjoy!
Spoiler: How the mod loader works (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Links to Tilesets, Colour schemes and Mods... (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Changes (click to show/hide)
)
Spoiler: Known Issues (click to show/hide)
Is there a way to check version number from the save file?Post by: klingon13524 on February 23, 2012, 07:22:48 am
Post by: Sowelu on February 23, 2012, 05:18:58 pm
Post by: Scarpa on February 23, 2012, 11:27:32 pm
An 'import existing install' type feature that preserves init and art settings would be cool, but now that I have it setup I'll probably never 'import' again. ;)
Post by: Jalapeņo Cheesepuffs on February 23, 2012, 11:40:16 pm
Status Update v1: .jar opened without conflict, am attempting a fresh install for DF (from the launcher). DL speed is ticking along slowly, but it seems to be making progress
Status Update v2: Worldgen tab doesn't display anything, but other tabs are fully functional. Tried "Launch DF" and VL closed, but no visible script ran and DF did not open. Poop. Will try running the download from the DF site, because honestly I have yet to do that.
Status Update v3: The df.osx file from the DF site works fine, and it seems that the df.osx from the VL is getting changed in some way. Will look into it a bit more before I head off to bed.
Status Update v4: No luck on getting the VL to launch DF, but the raw editor aspect of it works marvelously (replaced the faulty df_osx folder with the one from the site, so I can make changes with the VL and just boot up DF manually, which rocks in itself). Did I mention this is awesome?
Post by: Sowelu on February 24, 2012, 04:17:47 am
Other than that, it works great! Very impressed.
I'd like to suggest a little more intelligence about window size. I set it to use graphical tiles, and it wound up wider than my screen (and very short). Is it possible in Java to detect the screen size? One way or another, it would be nice to at least have standard options like "Make this an 800x600 window" and have it auto-size to something sane.
Oh wait...It seems to reset the window dimensions and the sound volume every time I run it. Do not like that part.
Post by: Scarpa on February 24, 2012, 01:20:02 pm
If you're going to release a Windows version of something, please convert your text files to use Windows newlines. Yeah Windows is dumb like that, but otherwise when you open it in Notepad (ie, simple double-click the file), everything shows up on the same line...
I work with Unix files a ton on Windows and a nice trick is to open in Wordpad. Usually if you use 'Open With...' on a txt file and select Wordpad it will be in the context menu after that. Alternatively you could use Notepad++ which pretty much rocks.
Post by: hermes on February 25, 2012, 10:00:33 am
Very nice. Simple and covers everything I need it to. Especially nice was it picking up my init settings automatically, or at least your defaults match mine. 8)
An 'import existing install' type feature that preserves init and art settings would be cool, but now that I have it setup I'll probably never 'import' again. ;)
Thanks for the feedback.... It imports the settings it can change automatically, and should leave everything else as is. It didn't add tilesets already present before, but I made it do that now. It'll copy in any new tileset referenced in init.txt and present in the /data/art/ folder (but of course no raw-changing-graphics pack support). Good idea!
Status Update v2: Worldgen tab doesn't display anything, but other tabs are fully functional.
Yes, I was planning to implement a worldgen tab mainly because I thought it might be easy to copy and paste seeds. But now I'm thinking this is kind of redundant because the command line world gen is paltry compared to what you can do in game.... Can you specify all the seeds at command line? What do you think?
Quote
Tried "Launch DF" and VL closed, but no visible script ran and DF did not open. Poop. Will try running the download from the DF site, because honestly I have yet to do that.
Status Update v3: The df.osx file from the DF site works fine, and it seems that the df.osx from the VL is getting changed in some way. Will look into it a bit more before I head off to bed.
Status Update v4: No luck on getting the VL to launch DF, but the raw editor aspect of it works marvelously (replaced the faulty df_osx folder with the one from the site, so I can make changes with the VL and just boot up DF manually, which rocks in itself). Did I mention this is awesome?
Thank you so much for these tests :D. I've done the googling I should have done before, and perhaps the right OSX command is "open dwarfort.exe"? So I'll try that for the next release.
If you're going to release a Windows version of something, please convert your text files to use Windows newlines. Yeah Windows is dumb like that, but otherwise when you open it in Notepad (ie, simple double-click the file), everything shows up on the same line...
Learn something new every day (http://ubuntugenius.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/creating-windows-text-files-in-ubuntu-how-to-convert-unix-end-of-line-to-ms-dos-format/). Thanks, you know I actually saw the text files like that when I tested on windows, but for some reason I totally ignored it, hehe. Should be ok now.
Quote
I'd like to suggest a little more intelligence about window size. I set it to use graphical tiles, and it wound up wider than my screen (and very short). Is it possible in Java to detect the screen size? One way or another, it would be nice to at least have standard options like "Make this an 800x600 window" and have it auto-size to something sane.
Oh wait...It seems to reset the window dimensions and the sound volume every time I run it. Do not like that part.
Oh my, I didn't even think about the window size, I thought those values determined the tile dimensions, guess that changed with SDL years ago... man I'm slow. Good idea, made it autoset to 80% screen width and height.
Sound is funny, it shouldn't touch that value (I assumed nobody ever changes that) and in my tests the launcher never alters the sound value.
Oh, does anyone know if the BLACK_SPACE tag does anything anymore?
Post by: Symmetry on February 25, 2012, 11:26:17 am
Easily available online.
Post by: Scarpa on February 28, 2012, 10:00:05 pm
I will test out some scenarios and post up a real 'bug report' for you later, hermes.
Post by: nwr1_cronus on February 28, 2012, 10:24:06 pm
Post by: hermes on February 28, 2012, 10:41:21 pm
Unfortunately the update function deleted the df directory and everything in it. I had neglected to use the backup save feature prior to that as well. Personally not a big deal as I'm still messing around but FYI for anyone else I guess.
I will test out some scenarios and post up a real 'bug report' for you later, hermes.
Thanks for the report, and sorry about that. This is exactly what I feared! My test on linux went so-so, may I ask what OS you are using and if there were any error messages? Any files in the temp directory? It could be that unpacking didn't go as planned... more graceful degredation in the next version.
This is a wonderful utility. I had been wondering for quite awhile why an easy update feature hadn't been added to common packs, notably the LNP. The only addition that this utility really needs is a toggle for aquifers, as I know that is a make or break for many players. Keep up the good work!
Thanks, I am stubborn and refuse to turn them off, so good to hear what others like: aquifer button in. I am thinking about taking out temperature and weather because the fortress mode speedup renders fps saving for normal users unnecessary.
Post by: Scarpa on February 28, 2012, 11:23:06 pm
Thanks for the report, and sorry about that. This is exactly what I feared! My test on linux went so-so, may I ask what OS you are using and if there were any error messages? Any files in the temp directory? It could be that unpacking didn't go as planned... more graceful degredation in the next version.
This is Windows 7 x64. I retried and this is what happened:
- Detected imported install and new version, chose upgrade.
- Download went fine and unpack apparently worked but the path went by too fast for me to note, somewhere in vlData, though.
- Finished with last step being 'Delete old install'. UI showed 'No df install found' and df folder was gone. There was one file 'vlData\temp\latestDF.zip' and an empty log file.
- 'Get Latest' button was still enabled so tried that, but errored on unpack step because the df directory was missing.
- Re-created empty df folder and was able to download and create a new install.
I also used the 'backup save' function before the initial upgrade and while it did backup the saves in vlData the restore button was never enabled.
Post by: hermes on February 29, 2012, 01:06:14 am
Anybody run successfully on a mac?
Post by: aldantefax on March 06, 2012, 02:16:30 pm
* Is there a way to have it automatically version check on launch to see if a new version of DF is available?
* When's auto-update for the Vanilla DF Launcher itself coming? I didn't even notice there was a new version until I went hunting for it.
Thanks for all the great work, though! It's been very appreciated.
Post by: hermes on March 06, 2012, 07:48:28 pm
Great idea, glad to see that something like this exists, especially with lots of DF bugfix incremental releases recently. A couple of things:
* Is there a way to have it automatically version check on launch to see if a new version of DF is available?
* When's auto-update for the Vanilla DF Launcher itself coming? I didn't even notice there was a new version until I went hunting for it.
Thanks for all the great work, though! It's been very appreciated.
Thanks, glad you find this useful :)
1) It could automatically check for a new DF, but unlike the devlog, game updates are, comparatively, very rare. I am trying to be careful with this whole updating thing since I don't want to spam the DF site with checks on the RSS feeds, or downloads, all the time. It isn't a problem ATM though since very few people are using this program, but I feel every little helps and it isn't difficult to know when a release is out or to just click the button if you're not sure. But I do agree an autocheck might be cool...
2) I was thinking about an auto-update for the VL itself, but that would require web hosting and such and such which is too much hassle for me :) Also, unlike the other launchers, this one shall hopefully have far fewer updates once its stable. If there aren't any major bug reports, the only updates from now on shall involve major feature additions. (Looking at worldgen tab and a succession fort manager, but not sure how useful anybody would find either of those things).
Post by: Scarpa on March 07, 2012, 01:36:47 am
Thank you, Scarpa. Was your install (the exe file) in the df dir? I think I've fixed this, the launcher is designed to handle multiple installs so I had only accounted for each install to be in its own subdirectory of the df folder. Thus, if you upgraded with the install in the df dir it would delete that dir and then have no place to unpack to. Doh :-[. Spotted this yesterday, will upload tonight.
Just realized there was a new version, used it to upgrade to the .05 release no problem. Working great for me now, thanks! Would like a feature to archive any world info in the df executable directory, into a folder with the world name. XML, txt, bmp stuff generated after world gen or in legends mode.
Post by: hermes on March 07, 2012, 02:23:55 am
Just realized there was a new version, used it to upgrade to the .05 release no problem. Working great for me now, thanks! Would like a feature to archive any world info in the df executable directory, into a folder with the world name. XML, txt, bmp stuff generated after world gen or in legends mode.
Thanks for the report, glad it worked :)
What would you need that archive for? Should it include saves? My only criteria for feature inclusion is it should be a relatively common action that is marginally tedious to do manually.
Post by: Scarpa on March 07, 2012, 12:18:30 pm
Post by: Tharwen on March 07, 2012, 09:16:26 pm
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: VanillaLauncher/jar
If it makes a difference, I'm using OS X 10.5, so I'm limited to Java 1.6
Post by: zombie urist on March 07, 2012, 09:52:59 pm
2) I was thinking about an auto-update for the VL itself, but that would require web hosting and such and such which is too much hassle for me :) Also, unlike the other launchers, this one shall hopefully have far fewer updates once its stable. If there aren't any major bug reports, the only updates from now on shall involve major feature additions. (Looking at worldgen tab and a succession fort manager, but not sure how useful anybody would find either of those things).You could potentially have the program check this topic for a version string, and notify that a new version is available if the strings don't match.
Post by: hermes on March 07, 2012, 10:04:58 pm
Well currently it seems to clean those files out, and the detailed exports are rather tedious to create. Would just like them not to disappear on upgrade is all. Carrying them forward would be fine too.
Oh sorry, my bad. That's a good idea and I'll put that in for the next version.
I just tried it on a mac, and it crashed. Running it in Terminal gave this error:
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: VanillaLauncher/jar
If it makes a difference, I'm using OS X 10.5, so I'm limited to Java 1.6
Thanks for the mac report :). Just to make sure I'd like to know how you tried to run the program. On linux, if I try to run the .jar file with "java VanillaLauncher.jar" I can reproduce the same error you got. But if I use "java -jar VanillaLauncher.jar" or the VL_Linux script it works OK. Did you try running from the VL_Mac script? Does the VL_Linux script work? If you ran from the terminal, what command did you use?
2) I was thinking about an auto-update for the VL itself, but that would require web hosting and such and such which is too much hassle for me :) Also, unlike the other launchers, this one shall hopefully have far fewer updates once its stable. If there aren't any major bug reports, the only updates from now on shall involve major feature additions. (Looking at worldgen tab and a succession fort manager, but not sure how useful anybody would find either of those things).You could potentially have the program check this topic for a version string, and notify that a new version is available if the strings don't match.
Not a bad idea, but if I had web hosting then it would be simple enough to have a text file there to check. The main obstacle here is finding someplace to store it online with direct link downloads (which the DFFD doesn't seem to have as far as I can tell). If you know any decent free places please let me know.
Post by: Scarpa on March 07, 2012, 10:17:41 pm
You could potentially have the program check this topic for a version string, and notify that a new version is available if the strings don't match.Not a bad idea, but if I had web hosting then it would be simple enough to have a text file there to check. The main obstacle here is finding someplace to store it online with direct link downloads (which the DFFD doesn't seem to have as far as I can tell). If you know any decent free places please let me know.
The DFFD download page has a last modified timestamp and a version field you could check on start. Then just throw up a little info text that a new version is up.
Post by: Tharwen on March 07, 2012, 11:13:00 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It looks to me like it might just be a problem with my outdated java version...
P.S. The windows executable doesn't seem to work through Wine either :P
Post by: hermes on March 08, 2012, 04:03:46 am
The DFFD download page has a last modified timestamp and a version field you could check on start. Then just throw up a little info text that a new version is up.
Yes.... Possibly. Will consider it. I'm not sure what the net-etiquette for accessing other people's sites automatically for information is. I feel that since sites are providing information, provided a user explicitly requests that information there can be no qualms, but programs automatically checking stuff behind the scenes feels a bit metacrawler-esque to me, even if the bandwidth is really small. Thus, I feel if the user has to press a button to check, that's alright, but autochecking other people's sites, I dunno. ??? What do you think?
Oh, sorry. I was using the wrong Java command. Here's what I get when I run 'java -jar VanillaLauncher.jar' (The same message appears in the console if I run it from Finder, or if I try to run VL_Mac.sh or VL_Linux.sh)Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It looks to me like it might just be a problem with my outdated java version...
P.S. The windows executable doesn't seem to work through Wine either :P
Thanks, again. I agree, a google search seems to indicate that you could be getting this because of an incompatible Java version. What does "java -version" give you? The Launcher is in Java 1.6, my java -version gives 'java version "1.6.0_18"'.
Post by: Steb on March 08, 2012, 04:17:37 am
Following with interest.
Post by: Tharwen on March 08, 2012, 10:47:03 am
Thanks, again. I agree, a google search seems to indicate that you could be getting this because of an incompatible Java version. What does "java -version" give you? The Launcher is in Java 1.6, my java -version gives 'java version "1.6.0_18"'.
1.5.0_30
Could you compile it in 1.5? There aren't any major changes between the two versions, are there?
Post by: Scarpa on March 08, 2012, 01:39:47 pm
The DFFD download page has a last modified timestamp and a version field you could check on start. Then just throw up a little info text that a new version is up.
Yes.... Possibly. Will consider it. I'm not sure what the net-etiquette for accessing other people's sites automatically for information is. I feel that since sites are providing information, provided a user explicitly requests that information there can be no qualms, but programs automatically checking stuff behind the scenes feels a bit metacrawler-esque to me, even if the bandwidth is really small. Thus, I feel if the user has to press a button to check, that's alright, but autochecking other people's sites, I dunno. ??? What do you think?
Heh well I work for a company that has web crawling as a central component of our service offering so my opinion may be biased but I don't think hitting a dynamic page every once in awhile is a big deal. Also, there are already RSS feeds for DFFD in general, so one option could be just parsing the 'Utilities' feed (http://dffd.wimbli.com/rss/cat_15.xml) to see if the launcher shows up. Of course this would be less effective for those who aren't checking often as it would fall off the RSS feed eventually.
I also sent in a question to the site admin to see what their point of view was about automated checking.
Edit:
And got a response.. basically there is a page just for checking file versions: http://dffd.wimbli.com/file_version.php?id=5663
This is preferred over the main download page as that page causes statistics to be updated and will artificially inflate the view stats.
Post by: hermes on March 08, 2012, 06:11:05 pm
1.5.0_30
Could you compile it in 1.5? There aren't any major changes between the two versions, are there?
Well I have tried, but unfortunately it's a no go :( Aside from the various Swing and graphics acceleration issues that might arise, the launcher uses some classes that require 1.6 and, curiously, there seems to be a discrepancy (http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=5008260) in the way 1.5 and 1.6 handle @Overrides of classes and interfaces which means I would have to make not quite a few changes to the code or maintain two versions. Sorry. Upgrading to 1.6 is really a rather good idea though, it is several years old now and even the mythical 1.7 (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html) is available.
Heh well I work for a company that has web crawling as a central component of our service offering so my opinion may be biased but I don't think hitting a dynamic page every once in awhile is a big deal. Also, there are already RSS feeds for DFFD in general, so one option could be just parsing the 'Utilities' feed (http://dffd.wimbli.com/rss/cat_15.xml) to see if the launcher shows up. Of course this would be less effective for those who aren't checking often as it would fall off the RSS feed eventually.
I also sent in a question to the site admin to see what their point of view was about automated checking.
Edit:
And got a response.. basically there is a page just for checking file versions: http://dffd.wimbli.com/file_version.php?id=5663
This is preferred over the main download page as that page causes statistics to be updated and will artificially inflate the view stats.
That's great info, thanks, Scarpa. I'll try to put something in that checks once a week or something not so frequently. The version page looks great and the RSS feed seems to go back a month so either should be easy enough to use :)
Post by: Tharwen on March 08, 2012, 06:29:18 pm
1.5.0_30
Could you compile it in 1.5? There aren't any major changes between the two versions, are there?
Well I have tried, but unfortunately it's a no go :( Aside from the various Swing and graphics acceleration issues that might arise, the launcher uses some classes that require 1.6 and, curiously, there seems to be a discrepancy (http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=5008260) in the way 1.5 and 1.6 handle @Overrides of classes and interfaces which means I would have to make not quite a few changes to the code or maintain two versions. Sorry. Upgrading to 1.6 is really a rather good idea though, it is several years old now and even the mythical 1.7 (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html) is available.
If your OS X version is Leopard or earlier (like mine), Apple locks your computer to use their own distribution of Java 1.5 as an incentive to upgrade, so that's not really an option.
Post by: CarcassLizard on March 09, 2012, 12:19:47 am
Post by: Skasi on March 17, 2012, 11:48:06 am
Post by: hermes on March 17, 2012, 05:11:25 pm
What will "break" it, currently, is if the file structure of the DF folder changes in some way or if the way the version numbers are presented changes format in some way. That stuff is rather hard-coded at the moment, before version 1 (say a month or two from now) I want to pull some settings out into a text file (which I had wanted to avoid, but is now necessary for tracking update frequency) and make version number checking a bit more smart/robust. That way if something does change, like the Bay12 website structure, then people can change it easily. But the DF folder and text file format hasn't changed for months so I hope it shan't for the immediate future.
Post by: Bifidus on May 30, 2012, 12:10:46 am
Is this a typo, or something ?
Also, can you add other things to auto update, like Dwarf Therapist (or is maybe more up to date clone (http://code.google.com/r/splintermind-attributes/))?
Thx !
Post by: hermes on May 30, 2012, 03:13:02 am
I see 1.10 in the changelog, but i only see 1.00 avaible to download.
Is this a typo, or something ?
It's the next version, am working on it now. Might be a while yet though, need to test with my succession fort. Not sure how useful it will be.
Quote
Also, can you add other things to auto update, like Dwarf Therapist (or is maybe more up to date clone (http://code.google.com/r/splintermind-attributes/))?
Thx !
I have kind of decided to steer clear of graphics packs and utils, but thanks for the feedback. Those utils are made by much better programmers than myself, if they dont have autoupdating already they might be willing to implement it if you ask them :)
Post by: Urist MacFrench on July 23, 2012, 02:48:43 am
Post by: RanDomino on July 23, 2012, 12:42:00 pm
PTFInstead of clicking "reply" you can just click "notify" which is literally adjacent
Post by: hermes on July 25, 2012, 09:04:08 pm
Can we have more options for the ini file ? Like VARIED_GROUND_TILES, ENGRAVINGS_START_OBSCURED ?
Sounds reasonable. And also a good chance to abandon the succession fortress manager because it wasn't really grabbing my interest. Will update with minor improvements soon then.
Post by: Urist MacFrench on July 26, 2012, 01:24:03 am
Post by: hermes on July 26, 2012, 03:52:16 am
How can we know about the update (aka : what about a launcher autoupdate feature ? ;) ) ?
It has a built in thingy that checks DFFD every two weeks (by default) and pops up a dialog with a link if a new version is available. I don't think DFFD supports direct download links, so this way is good right now. Also, it shouldn't need much updating hopefully, tis a pretty basic program.
Post by: Quarterblue on August 20, 2012, 03:24:28 pm
Post by: hermes on October 31, 2012, 09:31:14 pm
Do you know what would be cool? Some extra toggles such as exotic pets or elven diplomats.
OK here is a bump-response to announce a new version that features region browsing/import/export and a mod loader to easily apply mods at launch, so perhaps the elven diplomat thing can be modded in. Man there are so many small things to remember to do (which I don't) when releasing a new version of software, I think Toady must have a checklist several pages long to get everything right each time.
Post by: Quarterblue on February 13, 2013, 12:00:05 am
Some suggestions:
-More options for init.txt and d_init.txt files (if possible, an editor)
-Option to load utilities/third party programs at the same time
Post by: hermes on February 19, 2013, 10:21:53 pm
Post by: Thundercraft on February 20, 2013, 12:09:48 am
I see nearly 4 MB of this consists of mods, some of which I might use and others I won't.
(Yes, I realize that mods have to be unzipped and nested in a folder structure that mimics the DF raws. But some of us can handle that ourselves and prefer to place these inside your Manilla on our own.)
Looking in other folders, I see some images. Most of these are .png, but I did notice a space-wasting "sample.bmp" in colourSchemes. (No offense, I just feel that .bmp is entirely obsolete and should have been phased out decades ago.)
Oh wait... those .png (and .gif) are tilesets - which I will never use.
The Droid fonts are a bit large, taking up over 420 KB. Would a smaller TrueType work just as well?
And... what's this? ???
No wonder this package is so huge! Inside the "DF" folder is,
THE COMPLETE LINUX VERSION OF DWARF FORTRESS! ::)
No offense, it's just... I'm shocked.
Is there a possibility you'd release a "lite" version without all the extras? Like, as tiny and bare-bones as possible? As in, just the java app itself, the readme, license, and file dependencies? I think some of us might appreciate it. Please?
EDIT:
In my installation I replaced said "sample.bmp", at 217 KB, with a tiny 8 KB .png version. After minimal testing, it appears to have the same functionality on the Color Scheme tab.
I went ahead and tried to create a "lite" version for personal use. Keeping to the bare minimum, I got it less than 3 MB installed (without Dwarf Fortress or any mods). Compressing that with 7-Zip (http://www.7-zip.org/), I managed to get it down to 2.47 MB (though, a regular .zip is slightly larger).
Post by: hermes on February 20, 2013, 10:30:08 am
- shocking revelations -
Haha, thanks! Oh man I had wondered about that size for ages now. Yep, if I take out that stupid .tar file it'll be back to where it should be. Oh man oh man. *epic facepalm*
Regarding the other stuff, I totally see where you're coming from, but out of deference to those who need a helping hand I think some popular mods and fonts and tilesets are useful and they are far less heavy on the zip file weight than my stupidity ;D I think that sample image was .bmp because DF exports pics as .bmp so I went with that...? Went with Droid fonts because of the simple license, I got tired of browsing font sites checking licenses, if you know any smaller ones that would be suitable and legal, please let me know!
Well, if I have to repack it, will try to update sooner. *le-sigh*
Question Re: 3rd party utilities like DFHack or Soundsense... are they finicky about which folder DF is in?
Post by: Thundercraft on February 20, 2013, 06:42:08 pm
Some of your text files have duplicates which, I assume, your system creates automatically when editing. Specifically, "init.txt~" is a copy of init.txt and there's a "readme.txt~" which is a duplicate of readme.txt.
Question Re: 3rd party utilities like DFHack or Soundsense... are they finicky about which folder DF is in?The installation instructions for DFHack say, "Extract the contents into your DF folder." And I've only ever seen it work that way. I would not recommend you include DFHack, anyway, as it's a very large package.
However, Soundsense is flexible about location. There's a "configuration.xml" which can be used to point to your DF directory (referred to as "gamelog path"). But even if it's not configured right a window will pop up asking for the directory with "gamelog.txt" (root DF folder). Honestly, it's so easy to install there's no need to include it in a package. ( That is, unless it's for Lazy Newbs. :D ) The only "catch" is that you must have Java 1.6 or later installed correctly.
Went with Droid fonts because of the simple license, I got tired of browsing font sites checking licenses, if you know any smaller ones that would be suitable and legal, please let me know!
I know what you mean about font sites and figuring out usage and legal issues. And I'd love to help you out on this. However, I would have to know a few things first:
1) What license do the Droid fonts use? Also, shouldn't said license txt/document be included in the font folder?
2) What kind of license is Manila released under? Freeware? GPL?
3) What kind of fonts are you looking for? Is readability the most important factor? Or are you looking for something "dwarfy" or a slight gothic / midevil touch?
4) Have you considered giving Manila users the ability to select from whatever fonts the user has installed on their machine? This method could eliminate license issues as it would not be necessary to include fonts in the package.
...I totally see where you're coming from, but out of deference to those who need a helping hand I think some popular mods and fonts and tilesets are useful and they are far less heavy on the zip file weight than my stupidity ;D
You do have a point. And this is your utility. Though, I would point out that maintaining a "full" version which includes fonts, tilesets, and popular mods would not preclude you from also releasing a "lite" version. In fact, when I created such for personal backup purposes it did not take me very long to strip stuff out. And it would be a simple matter to upload a separate file to DFFD.
I will concede that including the tilesets is not a big deal since, as you say, they aren't large. But then, a large portion of DF users (maybe even a majority?) use some sort of graphic replacement instead.
Notice: I would point out that, apparently, several of the mods you have included in your v1.10 download are different from what you advertise in your OP. Specifically, it has these mods (which were not mentioned anywhere in your OP):
* Fortress Defense Mod II Basic v11 no GFX
* Kobold Camp 1.51
* Flora and Fauna 34i
Speaking of which, I think if you left out "full conversion" mods like Fortress Defense, Rise of the False Gods, and Kobold Camp (at least for a "lite" version), that alone would save considerable space. And from what I can tell, most players do not bother with Adventure Mode much and stick with Fortress Mode, hence Wanderer's Friend seems useful to a somewhat narrow user base.
On the other hand, some of the mods would have wide appeal. I can't see how anyone would object to the Broken Arrow archery rebalance. (Though, for some reason, I can -not- find this in your mods folder! :o ) Similarly, Seasonal Crops is appealing as it makes agriculture more realistic.
Flora and Fauna adds a bunch of cool stuff and I might recommend it. However, some of us are stuck on laptops or old hardware and may want to keep some stuff minimal to keep performance high and avoid premature FPS death. Still, I shouldn't complain much, especially since your mod system has a method to add/remove to a game.
Post by: hermes on February 20, 2013, 10:39:32 pm
Post by: Rayston on August 02, 2013, 01:31:26 am
Main().log could not be initialized VL now closing
any ideas?
Post by: hermes on August 02, 2013, 01:36:02 am
edit - scratch that, is it running on a write-protected device/folder? Is there enough space on the device? The log file could not be opened so those seem the most likely causes.
Post by: SirMcBacon on August 21, 2013, 11:50:09 pm
Post by: dementia on August 23, 2013, 06:31:14 pm
Post by: hermes on August 24, 2013, 04:46:27 am
I was having a bit of trouble rendering the GUI on my Arch installation. ...
Glad, you could work that out! All Linux testing I did was on Debian and Ubuntu over a year ago, and I don't have Linux on current machine.
I use Arch Linux and I get an error stating "Not Found: /data/art/tileset.png". I have added the phoebus tileset to the tilesets folder. It seems to have something to do with my instance of libpng. I will see if I can sort it out then update.
OK, a couple of things.... Graphical sets (e.g. Phoebus or Ironhand) are not supported by the launcher and will likely cause problems. So that might be the issue. This is only designed to work with tilesets, single BMP or PNG files of cp234 characters. Like the ones already in the tileset folder.
However, the SDL display in DF requires a bunch of libraries that are listed in the Linux readme file. That sounds like the issue here, get those first from console or synaptic and see if it works.
Post by: dementia on August 25, 2013, 12:50:13 am
*unzip
*copy one of the 16x16 versions into the manila tileset folder
*copy the dejavu font into the font folder
*edit the world colors file and append the phoebus scheme to the bottom
*select the settings so that they select the added files.
I also get the error when I attempt to use any of the other tilesets as well. My libpng issue was fixed when I ran a full system update, so that is likely not the issue here as well. I can try deleting everything and starting with a fresh unzip to see if the issue persists when I have not changed anything.
Update: Even with a freshly unzipped Manila Launcher I still get the issue. I will try launching df from within the unzipped modified version's folder to see if I can use that as a workaround.
Update V2: When I navigated into the modified Manila Launcher' df file and ran df i got an error stating "libpng error: bad parameters to zlib". The same can be said for the unmodified version. This causes me to question the changes as the root cause of my problem.
Post by: hermes on August 25, 2013, 10:08:07 am
Update: Even with a freshly unzipped Manila Launcher I still get the issue. I will try launching df from within the unzipped modified version's folder to see if I can use that as a workaround.
Update V2: When I navigated into the modified Manila Launcher' df file and ran df i got an error stating "libpng error: bad parameters to zlib". The same can be said for the unmodified version. This causes me to question the changes as the root cause of my problem.
If DF works from another folder that sounds like a broken DF installation...? Backup saves, delete the DF folder and copy a new DF folder in there, or just try the Backup/Delete Install/Install DF/Restore buttons in the launcher.
Post by: SirMcBacon on August 28, 2013, 02:54:03 pm
-snip-
I'll be sure to post anything else I find on here then. This is a great utility, by the way.
-EDIT-
It would be rather nice to be able to rename installation folders, and handle multiple installations of the same type through the GUI. Maybe an option for a new install in the drop down menu? It would make managing different full conversion mods quite a bit easier.
Post by: Quarterblue on June 04, 2014, 04:27:22 pm
Post by: hermes on June 04, 2014, 07:40:04 pm
Is there a way to bind dfhack to this? I've tried doing this by hand (renaming the patched executable and such) but the game would crash whenever I'd load something.
Months ago I played around with a new tab to have easy access to launching support programs before or at runtime. Looking back at Thundercraft's posts I'm reminded of lots of things I should do to improve this. I just enabled that launcher tab again in ma spaghetti code and I'll see if I can get DFHack working automatically at launch.
edit - Hmm, I don't know if this has always been the case but DFHack installs seamlessly over DF so I just tested it with the launcher and it worked fine. Generating a world, saving, loading, using commands, all worked..??? I didn't need to rename anything, maybe try again and don't change anything?
It would be rather nice to be able to rename installation folders, and handle multiple installations of the same type through the GUI. Maybe an option for a new install in the drop down menu? It would make managing different full conversion mods quite a bit easier.
Yes, this is a good point. Have a month before new DF so will see what I can do in spare time. :)
Post by: palu on June 07, 2014, 12:47:42 pm
Post by: hermes on June 07, 2014, 03:41:24 pm
Post by: Quarterblue on June 14, 2014, 07:50:54 am
Post by: hermes on June 14, 2014, 10:50:58 am
Post by: hermes on August 11, 2014, 08:10:16 pm
The new system is, IMO, a bit ugh. Basically there are two caps now; they both stop migrants, one doesn't stop births and the other does stop births. There is also still the baby %age cap which works with both. It just seems like too much control over the fort demographics, which I don't like. I'm inclined to make the "Pop Cap" in the launcher just mean the immigration cap, and not stop births. It isn't a problem to add controls for all the caps, but it seems a little obtuse and non-user friendly. Any thoughts on this, lemme know.
Any other new init options that deserve launch controls?
Post by: Nopenope on August 11, 2014, 08:19:55 pm
Post by: palu on August 11, 2014, 08:25:50 pm
Edit: The strict popcap also stops the first two migrant waves, so it may be useful.
Post by: Urist MacFrench on August 12, 2014, 05:28:49 pm
Perhaps have an advanced settings tab [...] I'd prefer to have every init option in there, or at least an init editor, but whatever you can do is fine.I agree with that.
Post by: PeridexisErrant on August 14, 2014, 08:54:45 am
Post by: hermes on August 14, 2014, 09:09:00 am
Any particular objections to releasing the source? There's a lot of discussion at the moment about a good way to add mods to something like a Starter Pack (including toggling them etc). This seems to be both philosophically different and the best example we have!
I saw that discussion, and recalled that I offered the source to someone (dricus or fricy?) some months ago but they didn't follow up. The offer is still open, but to be honest I think those guys are putting a whole lot more planning and careful thought into what they're doing and will probably come up with something much better! But if they want to see what I did for mods or other stuff I'd be happy to show them. (Main objection to releasing the whole source is it is spaghetti code I did in two weeks and was not planned out at all.)
edit - Oh and I forgot, did those guys look at Valdemar's mod manager (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=74828.0)? It's in Python and the source code is linked.
Can you add an option for print mode? Perhaps have an advanced settings tab [...] I'd prefer to have every init option in there, or at least an init editor, but whatever you can do is fine.I agree with that.
Hehe, big requests! The graphical display options... doable. Adding other options also doable. The main reason I haven't done that already is it is a slippery slope towards chucking everything in there. I feel the important options are already there, SDL options aside, is there anything in particular you think is important?
I don't really see the need for having all options/a text editor when you can just open the file in notepad. A button for that might be useful, though.
Making it look for "dfhack" instead of "df" on Linux would be a nice addition.
Sorry, Nopenope I don't quite follow this... you mean the DF OS recognition file? It doesn't find your linux version of DF? If you meant that you should be able to change it from the launcher's init file. Or did you mean something else?
Post by: PeridexisErrant on August 14, 2014, 09:22:30 am
Any particular objections to releasing the source? There's a lot of discussion at the moment about a good way to add mods to something like a Starter Pack (including toggling them etc). This seems to be both philosophically different and the best example we have!
I saw that discussion, and recalled that I offered the source to someone (dricus or fricy?) some months ago but they didn't follow up. The offer is still open, but to be honest I think those guys are putting a whole lot more planning and careful thought into what they're doing and will probably come up with something much better! But if they want to see what I did for mods or other stuff I'd be happy to show them. (Main objection to releasing the whole source is it is spaghetti code I did in two weeks and was not planned out at all.)
edit - Oh and I forgot, did those guys look at Valdemar's mod manager (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=74828.0)? It's in Python and the source code is linked.
It's only recently that I've come far enough to be horrified at my early code... but I know what you mean. I've bookmarked the DFMM for later since it does sound useful. I'm a fan of publicly opening up even spaghetti though (see eg... my github) - it's unlikely to drag anyone backwards, and it might inspire a simple port of some of the cooler options like the tileset and colour previews - unique to my knowledge! Good to know that private sharing is open though, and thanks for that.
Post by: Zanzetkuken The Great on August 16, 2014, 03:37:17 pm
First is minor thing, implementing a link to the Bay 12 Games donations page on the same page as the Devlog.
Second requires a bit more effort, and that is being able to select utilities to be started up when certain editions launch. Could include which version the utility is compatible for, so people know which ones are possible.
Third requires the most effort. Implementing a way to be able to search for and download mods, utilities, and graphics packs directly from DFFD. For Total Conversions, Graphics Packs that modify init files and various creature entries, and Utilities such as DFhack, a new "edition" would be selectable from the drop down menu.
I could try and help implement these if you want any assistance...
Post by: hermes on August 16, 2014, 07:19:08 pm
Launching other utilities... I've looked at before, and fiddled around with implementation but it's not something I can really get behind. In part for the same reasons as the modding issue...
I saw your mod browser program (haven't tried it yet) and I think it's a great idea. But the main problem with mods, and I think this stands for utilities as well, is the lack of a standardised format. Mods are packed with different directory structures and often include multiple versions/options in one package.
There are two ways to overcome this I think. The first is for the community to agree upon a standardised header file which would identify the mod, creator, version number, directory structure and install options which the installer would parse. This would probably require some auxiliary program or net code to have the modder fill out a form and generate the necessary file.
Secondly, which is probably better but more work, would be to raid DFFD for most of that information, which it mostly has, and then spend time developing algorithms that analyse the mod's file structure and try to install in a smart manner. And hope that modders don't create labarynthine zip files.
On top of all that you have DFHack scripts and raw clashes and... It makes my head hurt thinking about it! On second thought, you'd probably want a combination of the above two methods, and ignore mods on DFFD that don't comply to the format...?
That said, I use Mod Manager (I think) for Skyrim, and they have clearly done a great job of a complex install process linked to online resources. It is possible. But you'd need to spend a lot of time planning for every eventuality.
Post by: Zanzetkuken The Great on August 16, 2014, 08:11:59 pm
I saw your mod browser program (haven't tried it yet) and I think it's a great idea. But the main problem with mods, and I think this stands for utilities as well, is the lack of a standardised format. Mods are packed with different directory structures and often include multiple versions/options in one package.
We need to get a standard made.
Post by: PeridexisErrant on August 16, 2014, 08:45:40 pm
I saw your mod browser program (haven't tried it yet) and I think it's a great idea. But the main problem with mods, and I think this stands for utilities as well, is the lack of a standardised format. Mods are packed with different directory structures and often include multiple versions/options in one package.
There are two ways to overcome this I think. The first is for the community to agree upon a standardised header file which would identify the mod, creator, version number, directory structure and install options which the installer would parse. This would probably require some auxiliary program or net code to have the modder fill out a form and generate the necessary file.
Secondly, which is probably better but more work, would be to raid DFFD for most of that information, which it mostly has, and then spend time developing algorithms that analyse the mod's file structure and try to install in a smart manner. And hope that modders don't create labyrinthine zip files.
On top of all that you have DFHack scripts and raw clashes and... It makes my head hurt thinking about it! On second thought, you'd probably want a combination of the above two methods, and ignore mods on DFFD that don't comply to the format...?
We need to get a standard made.
/this thread (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=142295)
How's this for a standard? "Mods are a named folder in '$mod_folder', containing a raw folder"
The launcher can then parse which files aren't required, and eg delete any non-raw folders and files that aren't a readme or config file. I just posted python code to do that here. (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=142295.msg5578813#msg5578813) Pre-installed mods are instantly compatible, and that seems to be the most popular mode of distribution.
More complex things *always* have to be reducible to this format or they're unusable anyway, and hopefully once this catches on - possibly with diff-based mod merging - we'll see more of a swing back to atomic/minimalist mods which are more open to user editing.