Windows users - where have you installed Quake to?

[foq]

C:\Program Files (x86)\Games\Quake

64-bit windows, that's why the (x86) is ther

[MH]

C:\Program Files (x86)\Games\Quake

64-bit windows, that's why the (x86) is ther

Got it already (remembered subsequent to my original post).

Right now it's looking like I gotta add the desktop to the well known locations, as well as check any folder that starts with the match pattern rather than one that is the exact pattern.

I may also need at least German, French and Spanish translations. I should also be using the Windows API functions to retrieve special folder locations rather than hard-coding them (which would help with the translations bit for sure).

[gnounc]

keep in mind mine is DirectQ/ID no folder named quake anywhere.
Im not saying pander to idiots like me who do that, but please leave a fallback for
manual installation

[MH]

keep in mind mine is DirectQ/ID no folder named quake anywhere.
Im not saying pander to idiots like me who do that, but please leave a fallback for
manual installation

Manual installation is built in from the word go, no issues there. The way it works is:

• Check the current directory (the one that DirectQ.exe is in) - there's a Windows API call for finding this, so it won't matter even if you install it to Z:\Wibble\Wobble\Wonder - one check, done.
• If not found, check a number of "well known" directories (that's what I'm looking for here).
• If not found do a full HD scan.
• If still not found throw an error.

This is all done and working aside from defining what the "well known" directories are.

Now, in 99% of cases, Quake will be installed correctly and we won't need to check anything other than the current directory, irrespective of what that is. In 99% of the remaining cases I'm hoping that the "well known" check will catch it. Which is why I'm asking you lot - to make sure that I cover the most reasonable cases. A full HD scan should very rarely be needed, and an error will only happen if Quake isn't installed at all.

This is not a critical or important feature, it really only exists so that I can run debug builds easier. But it's also nice to help out the folks who mess up their installation somehow, so I want to make it work well.

[Panix]

why not just make the install pop up a dialog that asks the user to point to their quake dir? If the user can't do that, they shouldn't be playing quake anyways.

[MH]

why not just make the install pop up a dialog that asks the user to point to their quake dir? If the user can't do that, they shouldn't be playing quake anyways.

Ewww no. That violates so many principles of UI design. You're assailing the user with an unexpected dialog, you're asking them a question that they don't know the answer to (if they did they wouldn't have put the exe in the wrong place), and it's something that the exe should be able to figure out for itself.

[Samus_Aran]

Ewww no. That violates so many principles of UI design. You're assailing the user with an unexpected dialog, you're asking them a question that they don't know the answer to (if they did they wouldn't have put the exe in the wrong place), and it's something that the exe should be able to figure out for itself.

I don't agree with that even slightly. Scanning the entire hard drive without asking first is a very, very, very bad idea. This is the age of 2TB hard disks and millions of files. Why not look in some standard places, and if not found... tell the person to move it to their Quake folder and run it again? Or have three choices:

1) Scan computer for Quake folder
2) Enter directory where Quake is installed
3) Quit

Also you should have an option like /d c:\fooblefobble\quake to specify the directory for those who want that.

Out of curiousity, who has a "Quake" folder? I've not had one for over a decade. I've had WinQuake, GLQuake, Tenebrae, Dark Places, etc. etc. I haven't had a Quake folder since I played the DOS Quake. Perhaps this tool has something to do with DOS Quake? I have no idea what it is.

[Mindf!3ldzX]

searching an entire hd isnt such a bad idea,considering an indexing service that every windows machine has access to.

[Samus_Aran]

searching an entire hd isnt such a bad idea,considering an indexing service that every windows machine has access to.

They have said that this is a DOS mode program, so it will not have access to any Windows indexing service.

[Mindf!3ldzX]

They have said that this is a DOS mode program, so it will not have access to any Windows indexing service.

srsly!!

[Mindf!3ldzX]

There is no installer, and that's part of where the problem is. We're really talking about a DOS program here after all, so we gotta look at a lot of the things it does as being reasonable back in the DOS days.

As for time to search the entire HD, it's not that bad really. Right now in tests I can find Quake in about 30 seconds (in C:\Quake) after a full recursive scan through everything up to Q, and that includes my rather extensive pr0n^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Music collection.

Hi there guy, normally im a dick but this isnt my thread. And now you know! As I stated before, it doesnt matter whether or not the executable is going to be DOS compliant, because mostly everyone is operating in a XP or later enviroment,this is a feature that should be utilized (indexing). This will be what finds all of the madcow crazy install locations.

which btw,
C:\Games\Quake1\

[Panix]

Ewww no. That violates so many principles of UI design. You're assailing the user with an unexpected dialog, you're asking them a question that they don't know the answer to (if they did they wouldn't have put the exe in the wrong place), and it's something that the exe should be able to figure out for itself.

I don't know what installers you've been using but everything from Office, Winamp, OpenVPN, etc ask what directory to install to. Even Winamp plugins I've installed will default to the normal directory but still has an option where you can click browse and get a dialog to point where your Winamp installation is.

I don't see why this is such a bad idea. I'd rather speed up installation time and have the option to choose where my installation directory rather than have the installer try and find it myself. Like I said before, if they user can't point the installer to the quake directory, they have bigger problems in front of them. (lrn2windows)

I don't agree with that even slightly. Scanning the entire hard drive without asking first is a very, very, very bad idea. This is the age of 2TB hard disks and millions of files. Why not look in some standard places, and if not found... tell the person to move it to their Quake folder and run it again? Or have three choices:

1) Scan computer for Quake folder
2) Enter directory where Quake is installed
3) Quit

Also you should have an option like /d c:\fooblefobble\quake to specify the directory for those who want that.

I wouldn't mind the suggestion above but the program that still persists is that there is no set name for the executables. I could have wqpro399.exe or pwningtehrunequaken00bzwifgas'nades.exe. I guess you could look for .pak files but are there any other games that'd look for it? I ran into this when setting up that xfire sig. The xfire client just looks for the filename wqpro.exe. wqpro399 or wqp350.exe or whatever doesn't work and won't trigger the game time logging.

Out of curiousity, who has a "Quake" folder? I've not had one for over a decade. I've had WinQuake, GLQuake, Tenebrae, Dark Places, etc. etc. I haven't had a Quake folder since I played the DOS Quake. Perhaps this tool has something to do with DOS Quake? I have no idea what it is.

The original quake cd installed the game to C:\Quake but who still uses the original quake cd to install the game? I luckily found the original installer a while back on TPB when I was planning on setting up a virgin install with proquake and qrack setup for ctf and ca. (Would there be any interest in me doing this still?) I've just always kept my quake directory there but as it's been demonstrated, it doesn't matter where you have the directory; it'll still work.

Oh yeah, at work, I have quake setup in C:\Temp\Quake

[MH]

OK people, you haven't been reading what I've been saying about the scan, so here we go again:

If you have put the engine in the right place the scan will not be run AT ALL.

The scan is the third last-resort fallback. It's not something that will happen every time, and in 99% of cases it won't even happen at all. Ever.

Are we clearer now?

[Panix]

If you put stuff where it goes, cool. If you don't, error message "Unable to locate whatever is needed to make this bitch run.'

Simple and sweet.

[MH]

I don't know what installers you've been using but everything from Office, Winamp, OpenVPN, etc ask what directory to install to. Even Winamp plugins I've installed will default to the normal directory but still has an option where you can click browse and get a dialog to point where your Winamp installation is.

I'm not talking about an installer though.