Looking for beta testers for the 'Terasology Launcher'

[mkalb]

Cervator edit: Complete! See release on GitHub or go to Incubator thread for discussion

I need your help. Please test the beta version of the new Launcher.

1. Download ZIP
http://jenkins.movingblocks.net/job/TerasologyLauncherNightly/55/artifact/build/distributions/TerasologyLauncher.zip
2. Extract ZIP
3. Start the launcher
Look at the README or try it yourself to find one of the four possibilities.
4. The launcher shows an update dialog. Please try and test the update.

Please give feedback at this thread or at the GitHub Issues.
https://github.com/MovingBlocks/TerasologyLauncher/issues

If you found an error, please write me a message with the file "TerasologyLauncher.log".

Can someone please proofread the english language files.
https://github.com/MovingBlocks/TerasologyLauncher/issues/45

Thank you!

I hope I can release the first stable version 1.0.0 this month.
You should delete the development version and download the stable version, after the offical release.

Mathias

 

[Cervator]

Tested! Fairly thoroughly too and I gotta say I'm impressed. Solid work! Seems pretty much ready to go live now. Feedback:

• Maybe a progress bar for launcher update? Took a few seconds, was unsure if it was doing something or frozen. Alternative: Non-progress animation to leave the user at ease that something is happening.
• Enabling German switches "Issues" to "Aufga..." might need a shorter word or more space?
  • Wonder how we'd go about translating commit messages
• Nice touch that the change info adds "- installed" when the download is complete!
• Potential challenge: different game versions use the same data dir, my stable download via launcher was broken due to data dir differences, had to clear it out. Any way to doc that well in the launcher and maybe offer options to clear or archive old contents from the data dir? Or maybe that thing about supporting different concurrent installs. I see stable/nightly get stored in different dirs but end up using same data dir (which is more a Terasology thing than a launcher thing, admittedly)
• Maybe a button for cancelling an active download? If you get the wrong version and change your mind you have to wait for the download to finish (if you change the setting while downloading when the download finishes the correct button is active - "Download" - which is good)
• Is it easy to add another build type for the multiplayer branch / job ?
• Reset button under settings is confusing - i thought it would reset everything to defaults, but it just resets *active* changes you haven't saved yet (actually, wait, didn't reset the checkboxes on the launcher tab). Not that there is a lot of defaults to really reset to

 

[mkalb]

Thank you for testing and feedback.

1. Maybe we can change the message.

2. Skaldarnar fixed the font size for the links ("Aufg...")

4. Same data dir
That's a terasology feature and different game versions should not break it. I'm not sure how to handle this problem.
https://github.com/MovingBlocks/TerasologyLauncher/issues/111
Maybe two game data dirs (one for stable and one for development)

5. Cancel game download
Next major version!
https://github.com/MovingBlocks/TerasologyLauncher/issues/126

6. Multiplayer is possible, but do we need it?

7. Sould we delete the reset button? If you don't want to save the settings, you can "cancel" the settings menu.

 

[Skaldarnar]

Thanks for the feedback
There are some good points, so I'll go through them one by one:

• Some loading bar/indicator would indeed be nice (I make an issue as a reminder )
• The German label thing is already fixed
• Should the data dir be handled by the launcher or will/could the overall changes/merges with mp solve this problem?
• Cancel button for downloads -> new issue
• Review settings dialog ("reset" should restore defaults I would say...)

Edit: Haha, 6 mins too late...

 

[mkalb]

Skaldarnar I removed the "Reset" button. Please can you look at the layout (see german forum private message).

 

[mkalb]

my stable download via launcher was broken due to data dir differences

What happend? Which differences?

 

[Cervator]

On multiplayer - we could do without it since we'll converge again, but we might also split out other branches later. It could be a nice way to offer "preview" builds via launcher

Multiplayer won't change the data dir usage/sensitivity but in theory normal users shouldn't ever need to mess with the data dir if using stable versions (especially after the main game hits alpha/beta). It might be more visible to us since we hack at the game and screw up stuff all the time

I think #111 covers all that well enough.

No "Reset" button makes sense, since cancel abandons changes and there aren't really that many settings to reset to default anyway.

 

[Cervator]

What happend? Which differences?

I don't know, just using various branches / builds / etc and cramming it all into the same data dir

Being that I test a lot of early integration builds I run into that on a regular basis, unrelated to the launcher.

 

[mkalb]

I released the first stable version of the Launcher (1.0.0).

Please delete the beta version and download the stable version.

https://github.com/MovingBlocks/TerasologyLauncher/releases
https://github.com/MovingBlocks/TerasologyLauncher/releases/download/v1.0.0/TerasologyLauncher.zip
http://jenkins.movingblocks.net/job/TerasologyLauncherStable/lastStableBuild/
http://jenkins.movingblocks.net/job/TerasologyLauncherStable/lastStableBuild/artifact/build/distributions/TerasologyLauncher.zip

Cervator Can you please close this thread and announce the release of the 'Terasology Launcher'. Thank you!

 

[mkalb]

 

[Cervator]

Done and done! Closing thread as requested, Incubator thread can be used for general launcher talk (also switched it to full "Maintenance" mode)

Thanks guys!