Warzone 2100 Portable for USB Drives at PortableApps.com

[JohnTHaller]

Hi All,

I just wanted to announce that Warzone 2100 is now available as a portable app over at PortableApps.com so you can carry it around on a USB flash drive, portable hard drive, iPod, etc and use it on any Windows PC. You can find the release announcement here:
http://portableapps.com/news/2009-10-15 ... able_2.2.4

And the homepage here:
http://portableapps.com/apps/games/warz ... 0_portable

It works with or without the PortableApps.com Platform to tie things together. It's been in testing for a bit. The heavy lifting of the development was done by Billy Ellison so thanks go to him as well.

We hope you like it!

Best,
John

[-Kosh-]

I do not get it, what has been changed?
I do not see any file(s) in the source archive that shows the difference?

[JohnTHaller]

I do not get it, what has been changed?
I do not see any file(s) in the source archive that shows the difference?

Warzone 2100 itself hasn't been changed other than having the EXEs compressed with UPX to save space. It's packaged in PortableApps.com Format and a launcher (Warzone2100Portable.exe) is added that handles starting up the game with the --configdir switch pointing to the proper location. So rather than winding up in APPDATA on the local PC, your settings are in Warzone2100Portable\Data for portability. This also allows the platform's backup utility to easily backup your settings from your portable device. And for upgrades of later releases to be done without the user having to unzip, move settings files around, etc.

PortableApps.com Format is an easy-to-use standardized format for portable software where all the apps work the same way, all store their data in the same way and are all distributed with a simple, multilingual portable installer.

It also works with our app manager we're launching next week so the millions of folks using the PortableApps.com Platform will be able to add Warzone 2100 to their device with just a couple clicks, without even opening a web browser.

[Zarel]

Are you sure it works portably? I think Warzone installs a few libraries outside of its Program Files folder. I'd test it, but I don't have a spare copy of Windows lying around.

[NaxShaleChan]

Well, it worked for me, at least the save games. I've been using the pre-release on my flashdrive when I don't have my laptop with me.

[Zarel]

Well, it works if you've already installed Warzone. The question is, will it run on a computer that has never had Warzone installed?

[NaxShaleChan]

That's what I just said. I've taken it to my school computers and used on multiple boxes. It worked on every one.

[-Kosh-]

Are you sure it works portably? I think Warzone installs a few libraries outside of its Program Files folder. I'd test it, but I don't have a spare copy of Windows lying around.

IIRC all libs are static except for openAL and the crash handler dll.

[Zarel]

Oh, that's a good sign. Good to know.

[JohnTHaller]

The appropriate DLLs are included for audio directly in the Warzone directory, so sound will work even if the audio drivers aren't on the local PC. There was an issue with this before Revision 3, but it is working as it should now.

[Powzone]

Oh, I remember having the "Developement Test 9" on my stick around 6 months ago...

It's good to see it officially on PAPPS now. It might boost a bit the popularity and attention for this community. We'll see what happens...

[JohnTHaller]

Oh, I remember having the "Developement Test 9" on my stick around 6 months ago...

It's good to see it officially on PAPPS now. It might boost a bit the popularity and attention for this community. We'll see what happens...

That's one of the goals, really. We helped a few projects like Sumatra PDF get more popular and have exposed a lot of people to GIMP and Pidgin who had no idea what they were before, too. Heck, I'm playing through Warzone 2100 myself since helping test it.