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[Rogue]

Is there such a thing?

I downloaded couple games (just to create example for DOSBox tutorial) and each of them was set differently.

One was archive which will create folder of the game, which you can just place on C drive and play.

Next one was also installed game, just no folder, so you have to put stuff in the folder.

Last one had install file in it, but it's not ISO.

Should we make all of them work same way, and post installation instruction at download screen?

(I know is some work, but at the end we will have nice documentation how to run the game)

Other solution would be to create example, and then just list the games that can be installed same way.

What do you guys think?

[The Niles]

I know this problem and I agree but there is not a whole lot that can be done about it unless we take down every game and replace it with a new archive. That would take a very long time and I think everyone has better things to do than that.

[Data]

hmm maybe I can script something on the server to repack the archives.

[Rogue]

I think it would take you long time to make script do everything we need.

I think that we can do it in phases, and/or assign sections to users who know how to fix it (action, strategy games).

First decide if game should be archived in the folder / or just an ISO, and then just a small text document with DOS box/VMDSound/XP/DOS settings for particular game.

There is 300 games. We can do it in 2 months, 5 games a day.

[Data]

writing the script wouldn't take that long.

the idea of supplying the settings is something that does take time and I doubt it's usefulness.

[Wael]

We can do it faster,
three volunteers,
10 - day
10 days /-

[Rogue]

Originally posted by Data@Dec 30 2004, 03:03 PM
writing the script wouldn't take that long.

the idea of supplying the settings is something that does take time and I doubt it's usefulness.

@data - How would you set the script to check if arcihve is already zipped, and if it's install, or already installed game?

@wael - That's what I was thinking. Couple of us can do it much faster. And then one of admins can upload new archives.

Note - we don't have to do setup instructions for all games in one day, but definitly it will be worth, as same questions are comming over and over...

That's why I am creating tutorial for DOSBox (got all pictures I need, will create web page soon)

[Data]

to check if it's multiple times zipped/archived with another thing - doable
check directory structure (so that there is the game name folder (and only one) - doable

both are fixable as well (automaticly)

See if the game is installed or needs to be installed - much harder

[Sebatianos]

But some games require installation - like Litil Divil. Just having the files for the game won't work, you must install it...

Wouldn't be easier to just describe the princip and people could figure it out themselves - if they can turn on the computer, download a game and use the winzip - and later on probably use DOSBox, they should be able to figure out what to do with the unpacked archive!

[Rogue]

@data - You right about that.

@seba - you can't expect everyone visiting abandonia to know a lot about the computers. Also for some younger players, DOS is strange thing same way windows is strange for some older visitors.

I can create ISOs from directory, and I think that some not installed game, or games that require install we should create iso, zip it and post that instead of zipped directory, as that mostly creates confusion, as you have to mount it as another drive to install it, or copy it to C drive and install from there in another directory.

So, we should create some rules that should be effective ASAP, and in the mean time we can redo games that are already on site.