Manila Launcher is one of the main alternative launchers to the LNP launcher, and has a very different approach.
PyLNP has adopted many of it's features - some since this issue was opened - but there are a few more we could look at.
I like the tab with the latest devlog, which is fairly easy to get in rss format. Perhaps this could be added in a News tab for the Qt GUI?
Allowing mods (and graphics) to be stored in .zip format with transparent compression wouldn't be too hard. However it might increase the size of distributed bundles, depending on how those are compressed.
[Issue created by PeridexisErrant: 2015-04-20]
[Last updated on bitbucket: 2015-04-24]
[Comment created by PeridexisErrant: 2015-04-23]
We're down to looking at a News tab for the Qt GUI, to show devlog etc, and investigating transparent compression of raws-based content to see if it's worth doing.
[Comment created by PeridexisErrant: 2015-04-23]
Re: regions tab - I got in touch with hermes, the Manila Launcher author, about the exact function of the tab (since neither code or examples are available).
With more details, it looks more like a job for Legends Viewer - I'll pass it on - than PyLNP. Backing up saves could be nice; but sorting through stuff can be left to the DFHack load game interface and the rest isn't our problem.
The logic was quite simple...
Make a "Region" class to store data like folder path, region name, universe name, population data, maps, etc. When your launcher starts, search the DF folders for save folders and pull out all the data you want. Compile images to a usable format/size, then present all the data in a tab.
I used a drop-down selector to switch between regions, and I tried to present the information in a DF style... Use the in-game Universe/Region names, presented the civilizations and their population numbers, the age of the world. If possible I think fortress or adventurer information would be excellent to present here.
I then had three buttons... Export, Import and Delete. The idea was to make Region management a bit easier, but Delete was probably the best function. Export would zip up the save folder and exported maps into one file, and import would extract a zip file into the DF saves folder.
I think I was aiming for a very basic legends viewer idea, to give the player a basic overview of the worlds they have because I forget what all the worlds I've generated are very soon.
[Comment created by Pidgeot: 2015-04-22]
I've changed the code to allow selecting a new DF instance (if multiple were detected).
It basically works by re-running almost all the initialization code in the PyLNP class; since Python caches module imports, the other modules would never see a new object in core.lnp.lnp, so I had to move some code around and add a few "clear" commands.
The only things that are only checked on initial startup are command-line arguments, and update checking. Everything else is performed agaín.
[Comment created by Pidgeot: 2015-04-22]
Allow user to change DF folders (effectively restarts the program, see #84)
→ <<cset 2414c7e820ee>>
[Comment created by jmorgensen: 2015-04-22]
There's no reason not to make it easy to switch installations; I'd recommend putting it in one of the menus rather than with the settings.
Backing up saves, there are two use cases I see:
User wants to archive saves they are not likely to use soon but want to keep around (but from my initial tests saves don't seem to compress very well)
User wants to backup saves to have something to go back to if updating savegames doesn't work. Many probably do this anyway, so seems like a good feature.
Both would have their place in a savegames browser/manager. But perhaps we should consider why Manila removed the savegame browser/regions tab first?
[Comment created by PeridexisErrant: 2015-04-24]
Testing shows that compression of mods and graphics leads to slightly decreased sizes on disk, and significantly increased sizes for distribution (when the whole package is compressed). The latter being much more important, it's not going to happen.
A separate issue can be created and put on hold for the Qt GUI "news tab".
Manila Launcher is one of the main alternative launchers to the LNP launcher, and has a very different approach.
PyLNP has adopted many of it's features - some since this issue was opened - but there are a few more we could look at.
I like the tab with the latest devlog, which is fairly easy to get in rss format. Perhaps this could be added in a
Newstab for the Qt GUI?Allowing mods (and graphics) to be stored in .zip format with transparent compression wouldn't be too hard. However it might increase the size of distributed bundles, depending on how those are compressed.
[Issue created by PeridexisErrant: 2015-04-20] [Last updated on bitbucket: 2015-04-24]
[Comment created by PeridexisErrant: 2015-04-23] We're down to looking at a
Newstab for the Qt GUI, to show devlog etc, and investigating transparent compression of raws-based content to see if it's worth doing.[Comment created by PeridexisErrant: 2015-04-23] Re: regions tab - I got in touch with hermes, the Manila Launcher author, about the exact function of the tab (since neither code or examples are available).
With more details, it looks more like a job for Legends Viewer - I'll pass it on - than PyLNP. Backing up saves could be nice; but sorting through stuff can be left to the DFHack load game interface and the rest isn't our problem.
[Comment created by Pidgeot: 2015-04-22] I've changed the code to allow selecting a new DF instance (if multiple were detected).
It basically works by re-running almost all the initialization code in the PyLNP class; since Python caches module imports, the other modules would never see a new object in core.lnp.lnp, so I had to move some code around and add a few "clear" commands.
The only things that are only checked on initial startup are command-line arguments, and update checking. Everything else is performed agaín.
[Comment created by Pidgeot: 2015-04-22] Allow user to change DF folders (effectively restarts the program, see #84)
→ <<cset 2414c7e820ee>>
[Comment created by jmorgensen: 2015-04-22] There's no reason not to make it easy to switch installations; I'd recommend putting it in one of the menus rather than with the settings.
Backing up saves, there are two use cases I see:
User wants to archive saves they are not likely to use soon but want to keep around (but from my initial tests saves don't seem to compress very well)
User wants to backup saves to have something to go back to if updating savegames doesn't work. Many probably do this anyway, so seems like a good feature.
Both would have their place in a savegames browser/manager. But perhaps we should consider why Manila removed the savegame browser/regions tab first?
[Comment created by PeridexisErrant: 2015-04-24] Testing shows that compression of mods and graphics leads to slightly decreased sizes on disk, and significantly increased sizes for distribution (when the whole package is compressed). The latter being much more important, it's not going to happen.
A separate issue can be created and put on hold for the Qt GUI "news tab".