Installers v. Zips

[Baker]

Seemed like a good thread idea.

Lay off the exes People are smart enough to get quake working can make their own maps folder and dump them there without a program doing it for them

There are pros and cons to that point of view, Sniper.

Seems to be a fair enough statement, but in practice there are a lot of ppl that know less about their Quake than you'd think.

In another thread, you notice all the trouble that Mindz had with custom Quake names he made for 2 different players. In the old days, when Chuck ran the Widomaker server, he got fed up with helping noobs install custom maps. And you wouldn't believe how many ppl have screwed up JoeQuake/Qrack installs from a zip file. Nexuiz offers an installer and initially didn't, my guess is that user feedback caused that to happen.

I think the more experienced players can be counted on knowing where things go, but as far as custom maps go ... shutting out less experienced/computer-comfortable players is a real drawback.

Ideally I make an installer and a 7-zip archive for most things. One of the main benefits of building an installer is that it uses 7-Zip and ends up being 30% smaller than a regular zip archive (saves bandwidth and web server disk space).

Plus, some people ... like me find it easier to click and install on things than think about where stuff goes.

Two features of the QuakeOne installers

1. They detect whether Quake is installed in a potential install folder and warn you if you are doing it wrong.

2. If you use any of the QuakeOne installers, subsequent installers will default to your Quake folder for convenient and fast installation.

Another bonus, and maybe the most important, I know if I direct someone to an installer that their problem is solved and I won't be getting follow-up questions on the same topic. So this kind of thing has always saved me time and the end-user aggravation.

[scar3crow]

Nexuiz is standalone, its not really an example, much like Transfusion. Neither need Quake at all as they use DP.

I am fine with installers if they intelligently detect the location of Quake (as opposed to all of them assuming say, c:\games\quake, then the user trusts the program and the files are put in the wrong place). However most things dont warrant an installer, even for ease of installation... a map pack, a large mod, an engine... yeah okay maybe. But smaller mods or 2-3 maps or less... no. If ultimately you cannot figure out the Quake directory structure and how to get files into the proper one, you will most definitely not figure out how to connect to games well, and will be perpetually asking questions until there is some newbie guide for it.

One other thing, and this is a minor issue but it still weighs on my mind, is you get people who are new to online experiences used to installing and running exes in a trustworthy fashion.... They shouldnt trust an exe from a geocities page or whatnot... QuakeOne, Quaddicted, Inside3d, Besmella, or something directly hosted on Celephais, yeah its probably fine. But there is still that problem. Im wary of direct links to an exe unless I know the source (and I know FrikaC, kinda know Spirit, metlslime, and you Baker, or at least how to contact).

As long as the installer is intelligent, yes it does save time. If it is not, which often happens, then it causes more problems as they dont even have a readme to potentially turn to before contacting the website.

[Canadian*Sniper]

I'll make two more points:

1) People who understand windows will find it troubling to use an exe if their setup is unique. Processes will screw up.

2) You must know how easy it is to format someone's computer with a few lines of code in the source? Exes give no clue of this danger and I'm always hesitant to use exes from strangers.

[Sajt]

Just put up an exe and a zip. I know some noobs would rather take the exe, but I sure as heck ain't.

[Monster]

EXE is much better, the only bad part is that the size is bigger. But since I have cable it doesn't really matter, they all come in ultra-fast anyway. The EXE is easier to use and makes sure that you don't fuck anything up with the directories, like in a ZIP file.

[Canadian*Sniper]

Just put up an exe and a zip. I know some noobs would rather take the exe, but I sure as heck ain't.

yea I'm all for that

EXE is much better, the only bad part is that the size is bigger. But since I have cable it doesn't really matter, they all come in ultra-fast anyway. The EXE is easier to use and makes sure that you don't fuck anything up with the directories, like in a ZIP file.

I feel the exact opposite way. I feel an exe doesn't know my system setup and I'd much rather compile/setup everything myself. But since ur so confident, allow me to make you a proquake launcher exe and you can run it without looking at the source. Then we'll see if you still trust exes

[scar3crow]

Originally sajd by Sajt

I know some noobs would rather take the exe

Originally said by Monster

EXE is much better

Im sorry but I couldnt help but laugh at that, it just seemed practically scripted =)

I do trust myself knowing a directory structure over the placement of an exe myself, yes.