General

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

XNA Guy — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:10:01 GMT

I found it better to do this which gives the user status messages of what's going on while the silent installs happen

    
            Filename: {tmp}\{#DotNetSetup}; Flags: skipifdoesntexist; Parameters: "/q /noreboot"; StatusMsg: "Installing .NET..." 
        
            Filename: {tmp}\{#VCRedist}; Flags: skipifdoesntexist; Parameters: "/q"; StatusMsg: "Installing VC Redist..." 
        
            Filename: {tmp}\dxsetup.exe; Parameters: /silent; StatusMsg: "Installing DirectX..." 
        
            Filename: msiexec.exe; Parameters: "/quiet /i ""{tmp}\{#XNARedist}"""; StatusMsg: "Installing XNA Game Studio..." 
        
            Filename: {app}\{#MyAppExeName}; Description: {cm:LaunchProgram,{#MyAppName}}; Flags: nowait postinstall skipifsilent

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

CDarklock — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:46:27 GMT

Added fix.

    
            var  
        
              hasDotNet2 :Boolean;  
        
              hasDotNet2sp :Boolean;  
        
              whichDotNet2sp :Cardinal;  
        
            procedure VerifyDotNet2();  
        
            begin  
        
              hasDotNet2 := RegKeyExists(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v2.0.50727');  
        
                if hasDotNet2 then  
        
                  DeleteFile(ExpandConstant('{tmp}\{#DotNetSetup}'));  
        
            end;  
        
            procedure VerifyDotNet2sp1();  
        
            begin  
        
              hasDotNet2sp := RegQueryDWordValue(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v2.0.50727', 'SP', whichDotNet2sp);  
        
              if (hasDotNet2sp and (whichDotNet2sp > 0)) or not hasDotNet2 then  
        
                  DeleteFile(ExpandConstant('{tmp}\{#VCRedist}'));  
        
            end;

During my tests on Virtual PC machines (VPC rules, thanks MS!), I reasoned that when a machine does not have .NET 2.0, the Cardinal containing the service pack number might just have garbage in it if the RegQueryDWordValue() call fails. This new version validates that the call succeeeded.

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

CDarklock — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:58:13 GMT

Aaron Stebner:
the logic you're using to detect the .NET Framework 2.0 and 2.0 SP1 are not the officially documented detection registry values

It's a hack. Inno Setup is very badly documented, and it took me an immense amount of time to get something together that did even this half-arsed job of dependency checking. Updating it to use official procedures is on my radar.

EDIT: Since I was thinking of it, and Aaron has kindly saved me the trouble of looking up the officially supported mechanisms on my own, I've redone the code section to use the proper methods.

    
            var  
        
              hasDotNet2 :Boolean;  
        
              hasDotNet2sp :Cardinal;  
        
            procedure VerifyDotNet2();  
        
            begin  
        
              hasDotNet2 := RegKeyExists(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v2.0.50727');  
        
                if hasDotNet2 then  
        
                  DeleteFile(ExpandConstant('{tmp}\{#DotNetSetup}'));  
        
            end;  
        
            procedure VerifyDotNet2sp1();  
        
            begin  
        
              RegQueryDWordValue(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v2.0.50727', 'SP', hasDotNet2sp);  
        
              if (hasDotNet2sp > 0) or not hasDotNet2 then  
        
                  DeleteFile(ExpandConstant('{tmp}\{#VCRedist}'));  
        
            end;

The new version of the setup script can be downloaded in its entirety at my XNA blog, or directly via http://www.darklock.com/xna/innosetup_xna.zip

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

Aaron Stebner — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:31:31 GMT

One thing I noticed while skimming through the script posted above - the logic you're using to detect the .NET Framework 2.0 and 2.0 SP1 are not the officially documented detection registry values. I'd suggest using the registry values in the sample code that I posted on my blog because those are using the officially documented and supported detection methods for these products. There are links in the comments in the sample code to the documentation on MSDN for .NET Framework deployment as well.

Thanks!

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

CDarklock — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:31:44 GMT

PelleAtor:
Anyway here is the complete Inno Setup script:

After a bunch of questions about installers, I've made some modifications to the script to support XNA 2.0 and handle the VC redist files.

    
            ; Script generated by the Inno Setup Script Wizard.  
        
            ; (Then extensively modified by Caliban Darklock.)  
        
            ; SEE THE DOCUMENTATION FOR DETAILS ON CREATING INNO SETUP SCRIPT FILES!  
        
            ; Enter the name of your game here 
        
            #define MyAppName "Railgun"  
        
            ; Enter the name of your game and a version number here 
        
            #define MyAppVerName "Railgun (Alpha) 0.1"  
        
            ; Enter the name of your company, or just your name 
        
            #define MyAppPublisher "Darklock Communications"  
        
            ; Enter the URL of your website 
        
            #define MyAppURL "http://www.darklock.com/xna/"  
        
            ; Enter the path to your game project - check Visual Studio properties for the path 
        
            #define MyAppLocation "C:\Documents and Settings\Caliban\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\RailgunAlpha\RailgunAlpha"  
        
            ; Enter the name of your game executable 
        
            #define MyAppExeName "RailgunAlpha.exe"  
        
            ; Enter the location where XNA Game Studio is installed 
        
            #define MyGameStudioLocation "C:\Program Files\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v2.0"  
        
            ; Enter the name for the correct version of the XNA Framework MSI 
        
            #define XNARedist "xnafx20_redist.msi"  
        
            ; Enter the location where you have placed the VC and .NET redistributables 
        
            #define MyRedistLocation "C:\Documents and Settings\Caliban\My Documents\xnareqs"  
        
            ; search microsoft.com for "visual c++ sp1 redistributable" to get the VC redist  
        
            ; enter the name of the executable file here 
        
            #define VCRedist "vcredist_x86.exe"  
        
            ; Download latest .NET from http://www.microsoft.com/net/ (download button on menu)  
        
            ; enter the name of the executable file here 
        
            #define DotNetSetup "DotNetFX35Setup.exe"  
        
            ; Once you've filled in all the variables above and downloaded your redist packages,  
        
            ; everything under this point should JUST WORK for most XNA projects.  
        
            [Setup]  
        
            AppName={#MyAppName}  
        
            AppVerName={#MyAppVerName}  
        
            AppPublisher={#MyAppPublisher}  
        
            AppPublisherURL={#MyAppURL}  
        
            AppSupportURL={#MyAppURL}  
        
            AppUpdatesURL={#MyAppURL}  
        
            DefaultDirName={pf}\{#MyAppName}  
        
            DefaultGroupName={#MyAppName}  
        
            OutputBaseFilename={#MyAppName}Setup  
        
            Compression=lzma  
        
            SolidCompression=yes  
        
            [Languages]  
        
            Name: english; MessagesFile: compiler:Default.isl  
        
            [Tasks]  
        
            Name: desktopicon; Description: {cm:CreateDesktopIcon}; GroupDescription: {cm:AdditionalIcons}; Flags: unchecked 
        
            [Files]  
        
            ; DirectX and XNA Framework redistributables  
        
            Source: {#MyGameStudioLocation}\Redist\DX Redist\*; DestDir: {tmp}  
        
            Source: {#MyGameStudioLocation}\Redist\XNA FX Redist\{#XNARedist}; DestDir: {tmp}  
        
            ; .NET and VC redistributables - VerifyDotNet2 MUST run BEFORE VerifyDotNet2sp1!  
        
            Source: {#MyRedistLocation}\{#DotNetSetup}; DestDir: {tmp}; AfterInstall: VerifyDotNet2  
        
            Source: {#MyRedistLocation}\{#VCRedist}; DestDir: {tmp}; AfterInstall: VerifyDotNet2sp1  
        
            ; The game itself  
        
            Source: {#MyAppLocation}\bin\x86\Release\{#MyAppExeName}; DestDir: {app}; Flags: ignoreversion  
        
            Source: {#MyAppLocation}\bin\x86\Release\Content\*; DestDir: {app}\Content; Flags: ignoreversion recursesubdirs createallsubdirs  
        
            [Icons]  
        
            Name: {group}\{#MyAppName}; Filename: {app}\{#MyAppExeName}  
        
            Name: {group}\{cm:UninstallProgram,{#MyAppName}}; Filename: {uninstallexe}  
        
            Name: {commondesktop}\{#MyAppName}; Filename: {app}\{#MyAppExeName}; Tasks: desktopicon  
        
            [Run]  
        
            Filename: {tmp}\{#DotNetSetup}; Flags: skipifdoesntexist; Parameters: "/q /noreboot" 
        
            Filename: {tmp}\{#VCRedist}; Flags: skipifdoesntexist; Parameters: "/q" 
        
            Filename: {tmp}\dxsetup.exe; Parameters: /silent  
        
            Filename: msiexec.exe; Parameters: "/quiet /i ""{tmp}\{#XNARedist}""" 
        
            Filename: {app}\{#MyAppExeName}; Description: {cm:LaunchProgram,{#MyAppName}}; Flags: nowait postinstall skipifsilent  
        
            ; The code section doesn't like comments for some reason.  
        
            ; VerifyDotNet2 removes the .NET setup if you already have .NET 2.0 installed.  
        
            ; VerifyDotNet2sp1 removes the VC redist if you already have .NET 2.0 SP1, -or-  
        
            ; if you don't have .NET 2.0 at all (it will be installed along with .NET 3.5).  
        
            ; Using the skipifdoesntexist flag allows the setup to ignore the missing files.  

            ; The editor here on the forums doesn't like the title of this section to be "Code". 
        
            ; I've changed it to "CODESECTION". Change it back to "Code" before you compile.
        
            [CODESECTION]  
        
            var  
        
              hasDotNet2 :Boolean;  
        
              hasDotNet2sp1 :Boolean;  
        
            procedure VerifyDotNet2();  
        
            begin  
        
              hasDotNet2 := RegKeyExists(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\policy\v2.0');  
        
                if hasDotNet2 then  
        
                  DeleteFile(ExpandConstant('{tmp}\{#DotNetSetup}'));  
        
            end;  
        
            procedure VerifyDotNet2sp1();  
        
            begin  
        
              hasDotNet2sp1 := RegKeyExists(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v2.0 SP1');  
        
                if hasDotNet2sp1 or not hasDotNet2 then  
        
                  DeleteFile(ExpandConstant('{tmp}\{#VCRedist}'));  
        
            end;

This version has a bunch of parameters up top, which - once you've set them for your project - pretty much do everything. I've added comments to explain what all the constants are, and if you just fill in the blanks it should "just work".

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

The ZMan — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:33:19 GMT

THe game will launch just fine - the requirements for starting up an XNA game are just .Net 2.0

However when the device gets created it will throw an excpetion you can catch and gracefully terminate.

Or you can check the graphics card caps and see if it has all the features you need - there is an example here http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb975668.aspx

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

Vesevo — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:10:18 GMT

How do you code the shader check into the game if the target computer fails to launch the game owing to the unsupported graphics card?

I think if the XNA graphicsadapter cannot be called, then the game will hang at launch.

Or something obvious that I am missing, as I am quite new to programming?

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

The ZMan — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:22:13 GMT

There is nothing simple you can use.

The easiest way is to jsut code the check into the start of your game.

To get the installer to check you would have to wait untill you at least know that native Direct is installed and then you could call out to a native program you wrote to check for pixel shader level. There's no way to o it before DX is installed. If you wait tiwll after XNA framework is installed you can use a XNA based checker though you would also have to write that yourself.

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

Vesevo — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:59:09 GMT

The Inno installer works very well for me, but this thread has not mentioned its one major weakness: there is no check for pixel shader 1.1 support.

Is there a simple way to add this functionality?

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

Zaknafein — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:16:32 GMT

Some things I found out while making an installer with XNA 2.0, taking in consideration everything Fritz added :

- The dotnetfx3setup.exe (.NET 3.0 Installer bootstrap) does NOT include .NET 2.0 SP1, so is worthless in the case of XNA 2.0. And the 3.0 SP1 download doesn't work for [_ISToolDownload], I get a 404 error everytime. So I ended up using the x86 2.0 SP1 installer, which works with ISToolDownload and assume the amount of x64/IA64 machines is a very small propotion that is well able of reading a FAQ. Perhaps the .NET 3.5 includes it, I haven't tested because I thought it was getting a bit invasive to install every framework up to 3.5 just to have the bloody service pack...

- Using the script Fritz suggested with :

 if not ShellExec('open', ExpandConstant('{tmp}\ReDists\dotnetfx3setup.exe'),'', '/noreboot', SW_SHOW, ewWaitUntilTerminated, ErrorCode) then

...made it run into an infinite loop on some machines, where the installer would report that it's already installed and try again, and loop. I suspect this happens on machines that have 3.0 but not 2.0 SP1.

So my suggestion (and final choice) is the following script :

// All the stuff above the Run directive is yours to choose

[Run]
Filename: {tmp}\NetFx20SP1_x86.exe; Flags: skipifdoesntexist; Parameters: /q
Filename: {tmp}\dxwebsetup.exe; Parameters: /Q
Filename: msiexec.exe; Parameters: "/quiet /i ""{tmp}\xnafx20_redist.msi"""
// Add your game executable after that

[_ISToolDownload]
Source: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=90&p=&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=79bc3b77-e02c-4ad3-aacf-a7633f706ba5&u=http%3a%2f%2fdownload.microsoft.com%2fdownload%2f0%2f8%2fc%2f08c19fa4-4c4f-4ffb-9d6c-150906578c9e%2fNetFx20SP1_x86.exe; DestDir: {tmp}; DestName: NetFx20SP1_x86.exe; Tasks: ; Languages: 

[Code]
var hasDotNet2SP1: Boolean;

function InitializeSetup(): Boolean;
var spval: Cardinal;
begin
  hasDotNet2SP1 := True
  if (not(RegKeyExists(HKLM, 'Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v2.0.50727'))) then
  begin
    hasDotNet2SP1 := False
  end
  else if (not(RegQueryDWordValue(HKLM, 'Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v2.0.50727', 'SP', spval))) then
  begin
    hasDotNet2SP1 := False
  end
  else if (spval < 1) then
  begin
    hasDotNet2SP1 := False
  end;

    Result := True;
end;

function NextButtonClick(CurPage: Integer): Boolean;
begin
    if not hasDotNet2SP1 then
        Result := istool_download(CurPage)
    else
        Result := True;
end;

Hope this helps!

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

Fritz — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 05:36:30 GMT

Yes you do, but for me, the reduction in initial download size (from 47MB->27MB) makes this worthwhile. Also the 2.0 SP1 installer comes in two flavours x86 and x64 whereas the bootstrap will pull down the right version for the users hardware.

It'd be interesting to see some stats on what percentage of users have the various versions of .Net Framework. If I get time I'll try and build something into the installer that logs how many users require the install, and how many fail to complete it.

Fritz

http://www.triplebgames.com

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

The ZMan — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:27:26 GMT

But by choosing the smaller bootstrapper you condemn your users to a longer download and install process.

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

Fritz — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 09:54:01 GMT

Yes it's a bootstrap and requires a further download which isn't ideal but at least it's on Microsoft's bandwidth not mine.

Fritz

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

The ZMan — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:06:56 GMT

How can the .Net 3.0 redist be SMALLER than the .Net 2.0 SP1 redist? Or is this just some kind of bootsrap installer than fetches everything else over the internet?

Re: Making an installer for your XNA game (Windows)

Fritz — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 10:26:58 GMT

You'll need to change your installer script to check for the presence of .NetFramework 2.0 SP1 - after a bit of playing around here's how I changed mine:

procedure AfterFitbaInstall();
var ErrorCode: Integer;
var spval: Cardinal;
var res: Boolean;
begin

res:= true
if(not (RegKeyExists(HKLM,'Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v2.0.50727')) ) then begin
    res:=false
    end
else if( not (RegQueryDWordValue(HKLM,'Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v2.0.50727','SP',spval))) then begin
    res:=false
    end
else if( spval<1) then begin
    res:=false
    end;

if(res=false)then
    begin
      if not ShellExec('open', ExpandConstant('{tmp}\ReDists\dotnetfx3setup.exe'),'', '/noreboot', SW_SHOW, ewWaitUntilTerminated, ErrorCode) then
      begin
        // handle failure if necessary
        //Result := false;
        MsgBox('Failed to install .Net Framework 3.0. In order to run the game please ensure you have at least .Net Framework 2.0 SP1 installed', mbInformation, MB_OK);
      end;
    end;
end;

Hope that helps. (You might notice I'm using dotnetfx3setup.exe - the .NetFramework 3.0 installer as it's a much smaller addition to the installer than the 2.0 SP1 installer)

Fritz

http://www.triplebgames.com