You are here

How to troubleshoot problems with portable launcher?

6 posts / 0 new
Last post
Peter8087
Offline
Last seen: 4 years 6 months ago
Joined: 2013-07-06 12:43
How to troubleshoot problems with portable launcher?

I have some programs and games that when i start them from the portable launcher it gives me errors. And the problem for this is in the portable launcher because otherwise these programs and games work fine.

How can i troubleshoot problems with the launcher? Do i have to look at the launcher.ini or appinfo.ini or i have to edit the NSIS script, which will be hard for me since i am not a coder? When there is a problem with the launcher what usually is the source of the problem?

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Online
Last seen: 6 min 32 sec ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Working Directory

If you're using the PortableApps.com Launcher (not the platform) to portablize and just taking the first steps (setting the EXE to launch) and it's failing, it's likely you need to set the WorkingDirectory.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Peter8087
Offline
Last seen: 4 years 6 months ago
Joined: 2013-07-06 12:43
Do you mean that when i have

Do you mean that when i have problem with the portable launcher i have to look for the problem in launcher.ini file and not to edit the launcher script that is generated by NSIS?

By the way, what program i can use to edit the script of portable launcher? I tried to open it with Notepad++ but it didn't render the code properly, it showed it like encrypted data.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Online
Last seen: 6 min 32 sec ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
INI

You can set the working directory right in the INI:
https://portableapps.com/manuals/PortableApps.comLauncher/ref/launcher.i...

You can edit the NSI and NSH scripts within PAL using Notepad++ Portable and compile them using NSIS Portable Unicode. The EXE can't be edited, of course. Note that we won't release apps that use a modified PAL.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Peter8087
Offline
Last seen: 4 years 6 months ago
Joined: 2013-07-06 12:43
Well, i used WorkingDirectory

Well, i used WorkingDirectory for one of the game that didn't want to start and now it starts OK. I don't know why it didn't work before because i have programs that work without using WorkingDirectory in launcher.ini.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Online
Last seen: 6 min 32 sec ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Varies By App

It varies by app. Some apps use the working directory as the relative base when looking for the rest of their files (DLLs, locale files, graphics, etc) while other apps use the working directory as the base. When the latter tries to run but the working directory is where AppNamePortable.exe is, they'll fail. So, for those apps, we need to set a WorkingDirectory to the path they expect. We don't set it by default so passing multiple relative path files to the base app through the launcher works (relatively rare that people do this, though).

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Log in or register to post comments