I just came across this game today and thought it would be great to have this portable. It has a BSD License. The source is available and everything, but if the BSD License is too restrictive, even a launcher would be nice. There is a .zip dl for Windows, but I'm not sure if it's truly portable. Anyway, here's the webpage:
http://nooskewl.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=26
Description (from the site):
"The Monster series of RPGs are high quality open source role-playing games. Built from scratch with a focus on good story, unique gameplay features, and professional looking and sounding artwork and audio. Monster 2, the latest edition in the series, is a nostalgic trip back to the days of the epic SNES RPGs like Final Fantasy and Breath of Fire."
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That looks pretty cool. I love my old-style RPGs like this. Will probably install this at home, but agree that a launcher would be awesome. Were I capable, I'd try one myself, but my skills are lacking.
Hello,
I am the author of the game. If the BSD license is too restrictive we can discuss an exception. I'm not really up to speed on all the issues of making an app portable, but it seems to me it would be quite easy: simply change the location of saved games and configuration option to a path relative to the executable. If you need me to make a version that does so, I can do it. A guide on all the rules and things would be helpful though.
Cheers,
Trent :{)>
(Sorry this should have been a new comment, somehow I missed that link)
This should be doable without any code within about a week or two with thw tools we're releasing. Keep an eye on the forums for what you need. Just a matter of filling out a config file about what the app does, what it is, where it stores its data. And then we can take care of everything else. We can even help you figure out all those emtries. And once done, you can distribute it here and/or your own site. Since the app won't require the PortableApps.com Platform, you can promote it as your portable version for use on all devices
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Sounds good and I'll keep an eye on the site for these tools.
Even with the tools, if it's your own app there are some things that can make portable-ization much simpler and even a little faster at runtime. Just know that you can get around most any of this with the tools that John is referring to, but the more of these that the app does on its own, the less then launcher has to do.
-Keep the app as self-contained as possible to its installation directory
-Use config files rather than the registry
-Allow the user to set the data paths (settings, saves, etc), perhaps with a command-line argument
-Allow the use of relative paths
I'm not telling you "do these things". As John said, the launcher handle all of this and more. However, if you do these things, the app is practically portable all on its own. But hey, it's your app. Path related stuff is probably quite easy to implement, whereas if your app uses the registry, switching to files might not be easy, or even necessarily what you want to do. Just some thoughts. I'll definitely give this a look when it gets off the ground in a portable fashion
Quamquam omniam nescio, nec nihil scio.
Thanks for the tips. The only thing that keeps it from being portable now is that saves states and configuration are stored in the users "AppData" directory. I'm guessing the launcher can copy those files out of their directory and remove the directory when the program exits? And then copy them back when starting the game again? If it can do that I will not change anything.
Well if that's it then that will be incredibly easy to do. The only thing is how big are those files? If they're small then the launcher would be just fine. If they're big (you say save-states, with some games those can get pretty big), it might be worth looking into redirecting the save directory with a command-line argument in the app itself so you can just set the directory to the flash drive and then you don't have to wait for the copy operations before and after the app is run. You also wouldn't run the risk of losing those files and leaving them behind if, say the user just yanked out the flash drive without closing properly (in which case, they'd be getting what they deserved, but that's beside the point...). But like I said, if they're small, it's no problem at all. Even the "hard way" of hand-writing the launcher with NSIS would probably only take about 20 lines or so. Looking forward to seeing this
Quamquam omniam nescio, nec nihil scio.
Great. The save states are only a couple hundred bytes and same with the configuration files.
Hi, has this program or whatever it is that will allow me to make Monster 2 portable been relased yet? I couldn't find anything browsing the forums. Could you give me a link?
I'm still waiting for John to get back to me so we can work on it together. The RackSpace outages have caused a lot of trouble.
I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1
Here you go
Give it a try and let me know what you think.
Quamquam omniam nescio, nec nihil scio.