Installers?

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Watercolorheart · #1 Post by **Watercolorheart** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 7:06 pm

Once complete, what application do you guys recommend to compile a nice-looking installer for windows? I can't seem to find one that I like.

J. Datie · #2 Post by **J. Datie** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 9:11 pm

Install Creator, perhaps~?

#3 Post by **PyTom** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 10:27 pm

NSIS is a good one. I've attached a install script you can use as a start... you'll need to download it, edit it to change it as appropriate, stick it inside an uncompressed windows distribution, and then right click on it to build the installer.

Watercolorheart · #4 Post by **Watercolorheart** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:13 pm

PyTom wrote:NSIS is a good one. I've attached a install script you can use as a start... you'll need to download it, edit it to change it as appropriate, stick it inside an uncompressed windows distribution, and then right click on it to build the installer.

Where's the attachment? ^^;;

PyTom must be getting frazzled from the LemmaSoft forum explosion during NaNoRenO ...

#5 Post by **PyTom** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:45 pm

Oh, the forum is the least of the things getting me frazzled.

Here's the attachment. Rename it from .txt to .nsi to use it.

Fawkes - Feathered Melody · Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:31 am

What are the advantages to using an installer versus the autopackager in Ren'py?

#7 Post by **PyTom** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:41 am

You should use them both. The autopackager is necessary to generate distributions for the three platforms. You can then build an installer based on the windows distribution, which is an exe file that stores it at the correct locations on disk.

Advantages? Well, there are a few:

- The installer uses better compression (similar to that of the 7zip tool), so the download is usually smaller.
- The installer creates shortcuts on the desktop and start menu.
- The installer also creates an uninstaller, which lets a game be removed using Add/Remove programs.
- The installer doesn't require any special tools to decompress, which I guess could be an advantage on windows 2000, which doesn't come with tools to decompress zip files.
- The installer is more professional-looking.

The downside is that there are a number of installer-phobes out there, who don't like installers.

In my experience, the installer is preferred by end users by a significant margin. (Greater than 10 to 1.)

monele · #8 Post by **monele** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 10:25 am

Can we assume that people who really don't like installers are usually Linux and Mac users? ^^;... *prejudice prejudice*...

mikey · #9 Post by **mikey** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:27 am

monele wrote:Can we assume that people who really don't like installers are usually Linux and Mac users? ^^;... *prejudice prejudice*...

No... I am a Windows user and I hate installers - in fact I've just recently replaced all of my software with non-install versions and if something wasn't standalone, well, goodbye.

I see even less point in making an installer for a release that doesn't need to copy files into the Windows directory (more or less all of the games here). Why make something standalone complicated?

I even extracted the files from the alltogether release installers (there's a tool for that), and re-zipped it so I would just need to unpack the zip (with Total Commander's function of treating archives like directories this is a huge time saver) whenever I wanted to play again.

So basically, boooh installers

Also, there's a growing number of people who use their USB Flash drive (sticks) to carry files and programs around, and with no-install versions you can easily do that - I often (well, always) play Ren'Py games from a stick when I'm not on my home computer, I just unpack it and go. With an installer, you couldn't do this this simply and cleanly.

I understand the need for an installer though. But I still prefer a zip.

DaFool · #10 Post by **DaFool** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:51 am

Ditto. Well I do have experience using linux, but I am still a windows user. And since my machine is nearing 6 years old, the way I keep it running smoothly is by keeping installations minimal.

I like to download archives to a /download/ directory, unpack, move the folder to the desktop, and just play from there, directly from the directory.

I also think having an installer for a 10mb game (though it feels so much more than a 10mb game

) is a bit too much.

monele · #11 Post by **monele** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 3:09 pm

Hmm... well I guess I'm in the middle : I don't mind installers as long as they don't do anything else than unpack the files and make shortcuts, and why not, launch the game.
Now, installer or not, I like software that is standalone (especially when it comes to configuration files... boo windows registry >o<)

Watercolorheart · #12 Post by **Watercolorheart** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:00 pm

PyTom wrote:Oh, the forum is the least of the things getting me frazzled.

Here's the attachment. Rename it from .txt to .nsi to use it.

..... (stare)

No matter how much I look at it, I don't see a file link ...

DaFool · #13 Post by **DaFool** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:38 pm

Forum hiccup.

Earlier I tried to see nishida's piece, and it wasn't there.

I even checked that it was still an attachment thread.

Then it appeared later.

monele · #14 Post by **monele** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:00 pm

The forums have a very strange bug : you have to refresh the page once before it appears. Weird uh?

Candle · #15 Post by **Candle** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:56 pm

SFX Compiler
create self-extracting archives

Our Rating: 3 stars (Good)

SFX Compiler allows you to combine multiple files into a self-extracting EXE archive, and automatically launch a program and/or document after the user has extracted the content. You can define a custom dialog with custom text, and default directory. The program can be used to create a simple installer, or to distribute archives of files.

Freeware
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/sfxcompiler.html

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