Installer - Revision history

Crypt1cMayh3m: /* Functions */

2024-12-02T17:45:26Z

Functions

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:45, 2 December 2024
Line 21:		Line 21:

	=== Download Game if not Present ===		=== Download Game if not Present ===
	In the installer detects that the game's zip file is not on the hard drive, it will attempt to offer an opportunity to download it. This was designed for the Lite version of the projects. It accomplishes this by referencing an index file in the .\eXo\util\aria folder. This index file is a list of every game in the released torrent, along with ~~it's~~ size on disk, and a number ~~which~~ correlates to ~~it's~~ file number in the torrent.		If the installer detects that the game's zip file is not on the hard drive, it will attempt to offer an opportunity to download it. This was designed for the Lite version of the projects. It accomplishes this by referencing an index file in the .\eXo\util\aria folder. This index file is a list of every game in the released torrent, along with its size on disk, and a number that correlates to its file number in the torrent.

	The installer will present a prompt that defines the game and the game's size, and ask if the user would like to download. In the event of a confirmation, the installer will call aria2c. This application is capable of grabbing files from remote sources, ~~included~~ websites, ftp, and torrent files. In the case of the eXo projects, it will attempt to connect to the latest full release torrent file and grab the specific file as identified by the index. A rudimentary progress meter is shown. As this is a command line torrent connection, the time of download will be highly dependent on the user's connection and the number of available seeds.		The installer will present a prompt that defines the game and the game's size, and ask if the user would like to download. In the event of a confirmation, the installer will call aria2c. This application is capable of grabbing files from remote sources, including websites, ftp, and torrent files. In the case of the eXo projects, it will attempt to connect to the latest full release torrent file and grab the specific file identified by the index. A rudimentary progress meter is shown. As this is a command-line torrent connection, the time of download will be highly dependent on the user's connection and the number of available seeds.

	Upon download the game is checked to ensure the download finished. It is then moved to the games folder and the installer cleans up the download folders.		Upon download, the game is checked to ensure the download finished. It is then moved to the games folder and the installer cleans up the download folders.

	When a game is being downloaded, a flag is et to block any other aria2c downloads from taking place. This is to prevent confusion in the clean-up process.		When a game is being downloaded, a flag is set to block any other aria2c downloads from taking place. This is to prevent confusion in the clean-up process.

	~~=== Apply any Existing Updates ===~~
	The project [[Updater]] stores difference files for updated games in a folder. This is to keep the original file in tact for seeding purposes. After a game is decompressed, this folder is checked. If a file with the same name as the game exists, it will be extracted on top of the existing game. This will update any files within the folder.

	=== Check & Set Global Configuration Options ===		=== Check & Set Global Configuration Options ===
Line 38:		Line 35:
	* Aspect Ratio		* Aspect Ratio

	These settings are stored in each game's individual [[DOSBox Configuration File]]. Changes made here are for this individual game only. ~~To make~~ global changes requires re-running the [[Project Setup]] file.		These settings are stored in each game's individual [[DOSBox Configuration File]]. Changes made here are for this individual game only. Making global changes requires re-running the [[Project Setup]] file.

	==== Updated Procedure ====		==== Updated Procedure ====
Line 58:		Line 55:

	===== Aspect Ratio =====		===== Aspect Ratio =====
	Aspect ratio may be turned '''ON''' or '''OFF'''. Aspect ratio is generally recommended to be on. Most MS-DOS games were designed to be played on a 4:3 ratio monitor. Without aspect ratio enabled, this screen size is generally stretched out to fit to full width of ~~todays~~ 16:9 ratio screens. This leads towards distortion, such as circles becoming ovals or characters appearing to be "fat". Enabling aspect ratio will place black bars on the sides of the screen (when in full screen) to preserve the proper pixel size and shape.		Aspect ratio may be turned '''ON''' or '''OFF'''. Aspect ratio is generally recommended to be on. Most MS-DOS games were designed to be played on a 4:3 ratio monitor. Without aspect ratio enabled, this screen size is generally stretched out to fit to full width of today's 16:9 ratio screens. This leads towards distortion, such as circles becoming ovals or characters appearing to be "fat". Enabling aspect ratio will place black bars on the sides of the screen (when in full screen) to preserve the proper pixel size and shape.

	=== Set Game Specific Scaler Options ===		=== Set Game Specific Scaler Options ===

Crypt1cMayh3m at 13:25, 25 October 2024

2024-10-25T13:25:20Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:25, 25 October 2024
Line 73:		Line 73:

	The [https://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Scaler DOSBox wiki] breaks down scalers with a good example.		The [https://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Scaler DOSBox wiki] breaks down scalers with a good example.

			[[Category:Common Core Systems]]

Crypt1cMayh3m at 12:49, 25 October 2024

2024-10-25T12:49:55Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:49, 25 October 2024
Line 6:		Line 6:
	If the user choose '''not''' to remove the game's files, they will then be prompted with the opportunity to make any changes to the game's configuration options.		If the user choose '''not''' to remove the game's files, they will then be prompted with the opportunity to make any changes to the game's configuration options.

	The installer works with the [[EXO Plugin]]. Each time it is run from LaunchBox, the plugin will check to see which folders have either been added or removed. The corresponding game is then either added or removed from the Installed Games [[Playlists]].		The installer works with the [[EXO Plugin\|eXo Plugin]]. Each time it is run from LaunchBox, the plugin will check to see which folders have either been added or removed. The corresponding game is then either added or removed from the Installed Games [[Playlists]].

	== Location ==		== Location ==

EXO at 16:56, 10 November 2021

2021-11-10T16:56:14Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:56, 10 November 2021
Line 61:		Line 61:

	=== Set Game Specific Scaler Options ===		=== Set Game Specific Scaler Options ===
			Game scalers are used to scale the pixels in various ways. This can be done for upscaling purposes or just to create unique effects, such as emulating the scan lines of on older monitor. eXo Projects default to normal2x, however the following modes are also available:<br>
			*no scaler
			*normal3x
			*hq2x
			*hq3x
			*2xsai
			*super2xsai
			*advmame2x
			*advmame3x
			*tv2x

			The [https://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Scaler DOSBox wiki] breaks down scalers with a good example.

EXO at 16:53, 10 November 2021

2021-11-10T16:53:03Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:53, 10 November 2021
Line 47:		Line 47:

	===== Screen Size =====		===== Screen Size =====
			Choices are Full Screen or Windowed. Self explanatory.

	===== Window Resolution =====		===== Window Resolution =====
			This affects the size of your window if you have chosen windowed mode above. Choices are:
			Small desktop resolution (less than 1080)
			Medium desktop resolution (1080)
			Large desktop resolution (4k)

			To be clear, the window sizes are not the same as the desktop resolution. Rather, these are window sizes chosen to best fit the noted desktop resolution. In order to preserve the proper scale of the screen, window sizes have been chosen that natively scale to the game's original desktop resolution.

	===== Aspect Ratio =====		===== Aspect Ratio =====
			Aspect ratio may be turned '''ON''' or '''OFF'''. Aspect ratio is generally recommended to be on. Most MS-DOS games were designed to be played on a 4:3 ratio monitor. Without aspect ratio enabled, this screen size is generally stretched out to fit to full width of todays 16:9 ratio screens. This leads towards distortion, such as circles becoming ovals or characters appearing to be "fat". Enabling aspect ratio will place black bars on the sides of the screen (when in full screen) to preserve the proper pixel size and shape.

	=== Set Game Specific Scaler Options ===		=== Set Game Specific Scaler Options ===

EXO at 16:47, 10 November 2021

2021-11-10T16:47:48Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:47, 10 November 2021
Line 44:		Line 44:
	.\eXo\dosbox\		.\eXo\dosbox\

	The installer will check the values of this file and present them to ~~you at~~		The installer will check the values of this file and present them to the user.

			===== Screen Size =====
			===== Window Resolution =====
			===== Aspect Ratio =====

	=== Set Game Specific Scaler Options ===		=== Set Game Specific Scaler Options ===

EXO at 16:46, 10 November 2021

2021-11-10T16:46:58Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:46, 10 November 2021
Line 5:		Line 5:

	If the user choose '''not''' to remove the game's files, they will then be prompted with the opportunity to make any changes to the game's configuration options.		If the user choose '''not''' to remove the game's files, they will then be prompted with the opportunity to make any changes to the game's configuration options.

			The installer works with the [[EXO Plugin]]. Each time it is run from LaunchBox, the plugin will check to see which folders have either been added or removed. The corresponding game is then either added or removed from the Installed Games [[Playlists]].

	== Location ==		== Location ==

EXO at 16:45, 10 November 2021

2021-11-10T16:45:49Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:45, 10 November 2021
Line 1:		Line 1:
	=== ~~Overview~~ =		== Overview ==
	The install file resides in each game's launch folder. The purpose of this file is to automate the process of decompressing the game, however it is capable of several other functions as well.		The install file resides in each game's launch folder. The purpose of this file is to automate the process of decompressing the game, however it is capable of several other functions as well.

EXO at 16:45, 10 November 2021

2021-11-10T16:45:39Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:45, 10 November 2021
Line 1:		Line 1:
	=== Overview =		=== Overview =
	The install file resides in each game's launch folder. The purpose of this file is to automate the process of decompressing the game, however it is capable of several other functions as well.		The install file resides in each game's launch folder. The purpose of this file is to automate the process of decompressing the game, however it is capable of several other functions as well.

			If the installer is run '''after''' a game has already been installed it will give the user the option of removing the decompressed game. This does '''not''' remove the game's zip file, which means the game can be reinstalled anytime the user wishes. It does however remove any user generated files, such as save games.

			If the user choose '''not''' to remove the game's files, they will then be prompted with the opportunity to make any changes to the game's configuration options.

	== Location ==		== Location ==
	The install.~~bnat~~ file can be found in each game's launch folder. This is located under the root folder of your project install folder in:		The install.bat file can be found in each game's launch folder. This is located under the root folder of your project install folder in:
	.\eXo\<project name>\!<project short name>\<game short name>		.\eXo\<project name>\!<project short name>\<game short name>

Line 12:		Line 16:

	=== Decompress Existing Game ===		=== Decompress Existing Game ===
			Quite simply, this unzip the game file in the game's folder. It determines the name of the game file by referencing the .bat file in the same folder. The [[Launcher]] has the same file name as the compressed game file, which allows this association to be made. The game's <short name> (an 8 char or less code) is assigned to both the game's launch folder and the folder inside the game's zip file.

	=== Download Game if not Present ===		=== Download Game if not Present ===
			In the installer detects that the game's zip file is not on the hard drive, it will attempt to offer an opportunity to download it. This was designed for the Lite version of the projects. It accomplishes this by referencing an index file in the .\eXo\util\aria folder. This index file is a list of every game in the released torrent, along with it's size on disk, and a number which correlates to it's file number in the torrent.

			The installer will present a prompt that defines the game and the game's size, and ask if the user would like to download. In the event of a confirmation, the installer will call aria2c. This application is capable of grabbing files from remote sources, included websites, ftp, and torrent files. In the case of the eXo projects, it will attempt to connect to the latest full release torrent file and grab the specific file as identified by the index. A rudimentary progress meter is shown. As this is a command line torrent connection, the time of download will be highly dependent on the user's connection and the number of available seeds.

			Upon download the game is checked to ensure the download finished. It is then moved to the games folder and the installer cleans up the download folders.

			When a game is being downloaded, a flag is et to block any other aria2c downloads from taking place. This is to prevent confusion in the clean-up process.

	=== Apply any Existing Updates ===		=== Apply any Existing Updates ===
			The project [[Updater]] stores difference files for updated games in a folder. This is to keep the original file in tact for seeding purposes. After a game is decompressed, this folder is checked. If a file with the same name as the game exists, it will be extracted on top of the existing game. This will update any files within the folder.

	=== Check & Set Global Configuration Options ===		=== Check & Set Global Configuration Options ===
			In current versions of the eXo projects, the following settings can be changed here:
			* Screen Size (Full or Windowed)
			* Window Resolution
			* Aspect Ratio

			These settings are stored in each game's individual [[DOSBox Configuration File]]. Changes made here are for this individual game only. To make global changes requires re-running the [[Project Setup]] file.

			==== Updated Procedure ====
			As of eXoDOS v6.0 & eXoWin3x v3.0, these 3 key options have been moved to a global configuration file. These eliminated the need for the [[Project Setup]] to have to process all 7,200+ conf files and make these changes. The changes are stored in the ''options.conf'' file which resides in:<br>
			.\eXo\dosbox\

			The installer will check the values of this file and present them to you at

	=== Set Game Specific Scaler Options ===		=== Set Game Specific Scaler Options ===

EXO at 16:27, 10 November 2021

2021-11-10T16:27:13Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:27, 10 November 2021
Line 12:		Line 12:

	=== Decompress Existing Game ===		=== Decompress Existing Game ===

			=== Download Game if not Present ===

			=== Apply any Existing Updates ===

			=== Check & Set Global Configuration Options ===

			=== Set Game Specific Scaler Options ===