New tdm_installer and dev builds

[New Horizon]

haven't had a chance to test thoroughly but it looks really good.

[freyk]

• How about adding DR and other FM missions to the selection list.
  (and change the one-selection list to an multiple selection list)
• To some it is nice to know how big the TDM installation shall be and what is added, remove, etc.
  But do the novice user want to know that?
• And why did you add a button to remove darkmod.cfg.
  maybe for when i updated TDM? (then, how about adding a save-game delete button,..)
• To look at the future, is there a way to manual add or change TDM mirrors?
  (or is that the custom manifest thingy?)

Got an error at version 0.19.
I ran the installer in the background and followed the download procedure.
At a moment the tdm installer stuck at "downloading finisched". Buttons are grayed out. (files are downloaded). Maybe its waiting for the repack procedure?
So i restarted the installer to resume the download procedure, but it automatically cleanup the downloaded files.

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by freyk

[stgatilov]

2 hours ago, freyk said:

How about adding DR and FM missions to the one-selection list.

I had thoughts about providing FMs in the same installer the same way.
If I add it in future, it definitely won't have any fancy features like showing descriptions, screenshots, etc.

The only possible reason to download FMs in tdm_installer is the ability to preserve older version of FMs.
Suppose that FM was working in TDM 2.08, but was updated for 2.09, and the updated version stopped working in 2.08.

Quote

To look at the future, is there a way to manual add or change TDM mirrors?

It is all written in tdm_installer.ini. There is a related checkbox "Don't download config" or something like that.
One important exception: every official version must be present on TDM server (which is hardcoded in exe). If someone wants to use it for his own stuff, he will have to fork and rebuild the installer.

Quote

At a moment the tdm installer stuck at "downloading finisched". Buttons are grayed out. (files are downloaded).

I think that's the verification procedure that you already complained about

Quote

So i restarted the installer to resume the download procedure, but it automatically cleanup the downloaded files.

Yes, downloads are not preserved right now.

[stgatilov]

On 7/20/2020 at 2:27 PM, freyk said:

• And please dont forget the filebrowser.

It turns out that in order to customize its look, I have to write my own instead.

Then I will remove:

• "Show" dropdown
• Favorites
• New directory button
• Preview checkbox

The only things that remain would be:

• File tree
• File input
• OK and Cancel buttons

 

[stgatilov]

New version of installer is available.

I simplified file chooser.
Tried to also tweak alert messages, but it turned out to be impossible

Also, I added one more progress bar for the downloads verification.

 

The only TODO I really have in mind now is some sort of unattended mode.
For the case if someone wants to run installer inside scripts and such.

[freyk]

i will check this new version, the coming days.

But,..

Could somebody please add an link to this installer (and/or my installer) to TDM's downloadpage?

Because the TDM updater is still not an installer. its not userfriendly to ask a noob to use the updater to install the game. (a dutch saying: "because has to be easy, so everybodies grandparent can install this game, without any help" )

(or do i really need to create my own account at the tdm bugtracker, to discuss these decisions??? ) 

 

Edited July 30, 2020 by freyk

[stgatilov]

8 hours ago, freyk said:

Could somebody please add an link to this installer (and/or my installer) to TDM's downloadpage?

The idea is to replace tdm_update with the new installer.
It just has not happened yet, but I hope it will happen by 2.09 release.

[freyk]

but at the moment there are going to new users who dont have/use an installer. ok, i will answer those new problem topics then. 

And write some stuff on the wiki about this installer. 

[stgatilov]

New dev build dev15987-8910 of the game published.

[Dragofer]

The new HotReload feature by stgatilov in this latest build is a big one for any mappers. Now you no longer need to reload the whole map in TDM if you changed an entity's properties in DR (origin, model, light colour/radius, skin etc.), simply save in DR and enter reloadMap into TDM's console and the changes take effect ingame. This should save a lot of time in things like getting the lighting right, well worth getting if you're a mapper.

Even easier is to bind this to a hotkey by typing the following into the console (in this case binding to j):
bind "j" "reloadMap"

[stgatilov]

1 hour ago, Dragofer said:

The new HotReload feature by stgatilov in this latest build is a big one for any mappers. Now you no longer need to reload the whole map in TDM if you changed an entity's properties in DR (origin, model, light colour/radius, skin etc.), simply save in DR and enter reloadMap into TDM's console and the changes take effect ingame. This should save a lot of time in things like getting the lighting right, well worth getting if you're a mapper.

I wonder if it is worth creating a special thread about it in Mappers subforum.
Although I have already created one in dev subforum, and there is a sorta related thread in DarkRadiant subforum too

[freyk]

I took a look at installer, build 28th july

• Window size is still to big and please add a winforms switch-feature for windows version.
  (Linux users are used to it to see large windows)
• I Dont like the filebrowser now, because i miss buttons to navigate and to create a new folder.
  (after closing the filebrowser, the "restart" button gives an error and the "next" button grays out)
•  Maybe temporarily hide the advanced settings menu.
  Show these settings only when checkbox is checked. And hide, when its unchecked.
• Hide the version selector, after when the custom version is not ticked.
  Because If i click on the "next"-button on the startscreen (without ticking custom version), i see the version selector.
  If i was a beginner, i should be confused ("because there are more versions?")
• As i mentioned earlier, as a beginner, i would be afraid, when i see "removed size".
  (show these sizes, only when updating or change version)

Thanks for adding more progressbars.
But i miss a total progress bar.
I would design the download-window something like this:
(see also attached winforms sketch)
===
The darkmod <version> is being installed right now.
This download procedure consists of the following steps:

Total bar:
<total bar>
---
Step 1: downloading files:
<download progress bar>
Step 2: verify:
<verify progress bar>
Step 3: repacking files:
<verify progress bar>
Step 4: finalisation of files:
<finalize progress bar>
---
Status log
<textbox with logging>
<save log button>

Finished successfully
<button delete darkmod.cfg>
<button create shortcut in startmenu>
<button create shortcut in desktop>
<close button>
=====
(or just less: During download, only total progressbar and  status log textbox)

Edited August 13, 2020 by freyk

[stgatilov]

New dev build of the game is available.
Changelog provided in its usual place: second post in this forum thread.

[stgatilov]

New version of installer is ready.

The improvements are:

• Mirrors can be assigned weights to balance traffic.
• The situation of a mirror going down should be handled gracefully now.
• Added "unattended" mode which installs TDM without human intervention (run it with --help for more info).
• Fixed a few crashes.

As of now, the tdm_installer is in "testing" phase, and only one mirror is attached to it. So the first two things cannot be tested yet.

[freyk]

Nice work, works great.
What I only miss (for now) are some visual things, like:

• The slashes inside the file-path (and folder selection).
  In windows they need to be displayed like backslashes, not forward slashes.
• a method to select other tdm-mirrors.  (where is tdm_mirrors.txt?)
• Textlabels next to the progressbars, during the download. (see example above)
  (And thanks for adding the additional progressbars)
• Unhide the empty progressbars, when they have nothing to do.
  (so the user can see and knows there are some steps are coming)
• an "100% - Done" textlabel inside the progressbars, when they are done.
• A final-status progress bar.

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by freyk

[stgatilov]

Speaking of tdm_mirrors.txt, it is replaced with tdm_installer.ini.
I don't think user needs a way to choose mirror.

 

[freyk]

ok. And what if an automatically chosen mirror, is up but doesnt work good/fast? 

Edited November 10, 2020 by freyk

[stgatilov]

9 hours ago, freyk said:

ok. And what if an automatically chosen mirror, is up but doesnt work good/fast? 

The installer tries to download the manifest file, and if this download does not work, then the mirror choice is restarted without this option. So if mirror is down, or it does not have the wanted version (e.g. was not synced in time), then the installer should be able to ignore it automatically and find a better source.

If the mirror gives away bad data, than the whole install will stop with error during "verification" phase. That's a bad situation which I hope won't happen. In any case, I hope such issues will be reported quickly, so that we could remove the failing mirror from config and see what's going on.

If the mirror is slow... that's very sad Note that currently when you install fresh 2.08 version, you have to download full 2.00 version and 8 differential packages, and each of these 9 packages is downloaded from independently chosen mirror. So if one mirror of three is 100 times slower than usual, then everyone will suffer by various degree.

The user can manually remove some mirrors. To achieve it, run the installer at least once to the version choice page, then exit. Open tdm_installer.ini and comment out the failing mirror from [MirrorSet TDM_MIRRORS]. Then restart installer and check the "Skip config file download" in advanced settings.

[stgatilov]

New dev build of the game is available.
See changelog in the second post.

We would be happy if someone checks out the added gamepad support

[peter_spy]

I can check Xbox360 and Xbox One gamepad support, if it helps.

[cabalistic]

Note that there are no gamepad input mappings active by default (except for the main menu). That's still something we need to sort out. Follow this guide to actually make the gamepad work: https://github.com/fholger/thedarkmodvr/wiki/Gamepad-support

[stgatilov]

New dev build dev16027-9022 of the game is available.
See changelog in the second post.

[STiFU]

On 7/20/2020 at 5:53 PM, stgatilov said:

Now user can optionally delete darkmod.cfg

Consider changing this to an opt-out rather than opt-in? It should be deleted by default to avoid support problems.

[stgatilov]

2 hours ago, STiFU said:

Consider changing this to an opt-out rather than opt-in? It should be defelted by default to avoid support problems.

I can always rename darkmod.cfg to darkmod_201213_1855.cfg and provide a button "Restore old config".

[stgatilov]

Posted new version of installer.

Now it automatically renames darkmod.cfg to something like darkmod_201213_125637.cfg.
And there is a button to restore it back. And you can of course do it manually at any moment later.