Windows users - where have you installed Quake to?

[TR2N]

DarkPlaces - $GamesPartition$E:\Program Files\DarkPlaces Engine\*.*

[=peg=]

I think part of the confusion here is that people assume DirectQ is the full game (as in executable and content)..

DirectQ is just a client (just as proquake/qrack/darkplaces etc. etc.), that is, only the executable. The content part (pak0.pak pak1.pak) is not included (for legal reasons) and is expected to be already present in the so called "quake folder". (in fact, it is expected to be in the "id1" subfolder of the "quake folder").

Hence there is no "installer" as such.. just unzip and run it!
If the user has failed to unzip DirectQ into the so called "quake folder" it will try to find the content part of quake that is needed to run it.. rather then pop up the rather uninformative "W_LoadWadFile: couldn't load gfx.wad" message..

This might result in a full HDD scan, but only if the content was not found in one of the obvious locations, hence this thread to figure out the most obvious places to look in first!

[foq]

Wait, if a user is downloading an advanced engine for a game over 13 years old, I would expect that user to have enough tech knowledge to be able to locate thier own damn quake folder.

[MH]

I think part of the confusion here is that people assume DirectQ is the full game (as in executable and content)..

DirectQ is just a client (just as proquake/qrack/darkplaces etc. etc.), that is, only the executable. The content part (pak0.pak pak1.pak) is not included (for legal reasons) and is expected to be already present in the so called "quake folder". (in fact, it is expected to be in the "id1" subfolder of the "quake folder").

Hence there is no "installer" as such.. just unzip and run it!
If the user has failed to unzip DirectQ into the so called "quake folder" it will try to find the content part of quake that is needed to run it.. rather then pop up the rather uninformative "W_LoadWadFile: couldn't load gfx.wad" message..

This might result in a full HDD scan, but only if the content was not found in one of the obvious locations, hence this thread to figure out the most obvious places to look in first!

[Dreadlorde]

Wait, if a user is downloading an advanced engine for a game over 13 years old, I would expect that user to have enough tech knowledge to be able to locate thier own damn quake folder.

++

[MH]

Wait, if a user is downloading an advanced engine for a game over 13 years old, I would expect that user to have enough tech knowledge to be able to locate thier own damn quake folder.

I'm not going to argue the toss over this point because nothing person A says will change person B's mind when person B has already made up their mind over a point (this applies both ways).

[Samus_Aran]

So this is a Quake engine. Simply have it check .\id1\ for either a pak0.pak and pak1.pak or the related extracted files. If it finds neither, tell the person and then quit -- preferably with a more meaningful message than "can't find gfx.lmp", such as "Could not find your Quake id1 folder, which is needed to run this engine."

Anything more than that is overkill. Personally, I would immediately delete any app that started scanning my hard disks without asking me first, as it has entirely removed my trust in it.

[=peg=]

Anything more than that is overkill. Personally, I would immediately delete any app that started scanning my hard disks without asking me first, as it has entirely removed my trust in it.

This is a valid point i must say... i would be highly suspicious of a game scanning my HDD, especially if it did not inform me about it, or did not tell me why it was doing so..

[spooker]

I'm not going to argue the toss over this point because nothing person A says will change person B's mind when person B has already made up their mind over a point (this applies both ways).

haha, i feel this way in all of my many arguments with foq

[MH]

This is a valid point i must say... i would be highly suspicious of a game scanning my HDD, especially if it did not inform me about it, or told my why it was doing so..

And it's a reasonable criticism, and one that's worth taking seriously enough.

[oldendirt]

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.

L33t!

[oldendirt]

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

Depends on which indexing service you mean! I turn off the Windows-default stuff and use Google Desktop.

[oldendirt]

I guess I wonder why go DOS-mode when making up a regular Windows installer can be done easily with free tools like Nullsoft, AutoIT, Innosetup etc.???

FWIW I have DirectQ and use it occasionally. I like the way it looks, but I keep using Proquake... probably mainly out of habit!

[Mindf!3ldzX]

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?

roger that, although I think (atleast,mine is) our concerns are more about the complete newb to Quake as opposed to the returning player or seasoned player,because these two types of player are already on the same page as everyone else,if not, just a page or 2 behind (returning player). Then I recalled reading where you mentioned that we're only talking about an engine,not an entire game as an release. these are things most of us know but take for granted

[MH]

roger that

Totally off topic, but the choice of words here goes rather well with your avatar!