First launch bug (Windows 11)

[moino157]

AML Version:1.4.1

Description When launching the launcher for the first time on windows 11 (not tested on windows 10), it asks to select a game and enable bug report. After choosing, there are no options to "Continue" or even close de program (the top right "x" of window is missing). Maybe it's Windows 11. Maybe it's just me who doesn't understand how this whole thing work.

Attachments

[RevZero]

Hi, it seems that the lower part of the dialog has been cropped for some reason. It should look like this:

I am pretty sure other people are running AML on Windows 11 just fine, because I haven't heard of any similar issues. But it may still be related. Are you using the built in screen scaling or something similar?

[RevZero]

@moino157 Were you able to figure this out? Are you using the some kind of Windows screen scaling or something similar?

[adamzl]

Same issue; Windows 10 Pro 1909

[adamzl]

I have found the triggering factor but I don't know enough about it to explore more. There are some critical factors in reproduction:

• The launcher files need to be placed into a "protected" Windows directory, in my case this was a folder within Program Files (x86). I use a subfolder in the Steam XCom2 folder.
• You need to not use 7zip to unpack the zip, there seems to be a side-effect on the Windows protections when unzipped with 7zip that fixes the issue.
• You need to launch the mod launcher via something that will bypass the Microsoft Defender SmartScreen dialog. This seems to be the cause of the issue that the launcher is running in some kind of untrusted mode. For me I use Steam and have added the alternate mod launcher as a custom game to Steam. Steam seems to be able to bypass the SmartScreen dialog but Windows counters by removing the button from the GUI.

Easiest way to reproduce:

1. Create a folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\test
2. Open the downloaded zip with an explorer Window.
3. Drag and drop the contents of the zip into the test folder.
4. Add the exe to Steam. Menu Bar > Games > Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library ...
5. Launch.

[adamzl]

I forgot to add for future readers, the easiest fix is to set the values and then alt-f4. The launcher will run fine on subsequent runs.

[Dragon-32]

You mention 7zip and the screenie shows Windows' Mark-of-the-Web dialog. 7Zip only relatively recently, June, added support for it to extracted files. You need to enable it, though. See here: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/7-zip-now-supports-windows-mark-of-the-web-security-feature/

[RevZero]

@adamzl So you are saying that when you start AML (using steam) from another folder (say located on the desktop) it works fine?

Steam seems to be able to bypass the SmartScreen dialog but Windows counters by removing the button from the GUI.

This is very unlikely. It may for some reason handle the visualization different which result in the button not being visible, but even that would be weird.

[adamzl]

@RevZero

• When decompressed onto the desktop with Windows zip functionality and executed: SmartScreen warning popup.
• When decompressed onto the desktop with 7zip and executed: no issue, GUI button appears.
• When decompressed onto the desktop with Windows zip functionality and executed via Steam "add non-Steam game": original issue, no button but also no SmartScreen warning.

[RevZero]

@adamzl Hmm I can not reproduce the issue when I follow your third option. Are you using (Windows) screen scaling or something like that? Do you have a high DPI / 4k monitor? Maybe Steam does something special with respect to display when starting "Non-Steam games", because it will also try to enable the Steam overlay.

[adamzl]

@RevZero Before we dive into hardware specifics lets go after the system specifics. Do bullets one and two from my above steps reproduce the same for you? If you're not getting the SmartScreen warning on the first one then I think that is the most important distinction. I am also deleting the decompressed folder between each bullet and reproducing it from the zip on my desktop.

For your scaling question, yes 150% on a 4k monitor.

[RevZero]

@adamzl Yes, I can reproduce the first two steps. When I extract AML to a fresh folder with Windows Zip, I get the warning. I also used a fresh folder and then added the "game" to Steam. It starts without warning but also without the display issue. I tried setting my scaling to 150% and repeated those steps, but still working.

[adamzl]

Is there anything special about how continue.png is made into a button image as opposed to the two other two buttons with pngs for the two game options?

I am not proficient, and apparently not setup, to work with Windows Forms. I tried pulling down the repository and taking a look but I'm getting all kinds of basic failures like "unknown namespace 'System'" which I assume is a pretty core piece. Anyhow it all looks fine as far as my unknowing eye can see, the only atypical value is the AutoSize value for the bContinue button is set and not for the others but who knows what that has to do with SmartScreen. I couldn't figure out anything else having to do with why the continue button's image is different than the other images used in the dialog box.

It sounds like we are at an impasse on how to reproduce or fix this. If you want an action on this issue I suppose a workaround would be to remove the continue button and make the game selection buttons immediately make the selection and close the dialog box.

[RevZero]

@adamzl Well, its no secret that windows form apps (and thus AML) do not really support high DPI properly out of the box. So depending on the type of controls used and anchoring the layout may not render properly.

However its obviously still a mystery, what causes the AML dialog to break under specific circumstances.

Anyway, thanks for testing.

[adamzl]

Thank you for maintaining the project.