Good installer for Windows?
by Vern Jensen · in Torque Game Builder · 10/21/2009 (9:30 pm) · 2 replies
I'm relatively ignorant when it comes to all things Windows, as I'm a Mac user / developer. But I'm within days of releasing my game, and would like to know what is standard to use for creating an installer on the Windows side. All I need is something that extracts the folder into the proper location (where is that on Windows, BTW?) and puts a shortcut to it on the desktop (assuming the user wants this). What programs to people prefer to use to create these installers?
#2
The other suggestions are great ones as well that I fully recommend, but I always felt they can be a little overwhelming to new users at first due to the sheer amount options they provide.
10/21/2009 (11:58 pm)
There's also Install Creator. It's free to use as long you don't mind a text only ad, just a made with Install Creator type of thing, in the installer window before exiting the installer. I like it as it's dirt simple to use. You just go through the wizard and point it at the files, preview it and generate the installer.The other suggestions are great ones as well that I fully recommend, but I always felt they can be a little overwhelming to new users at first due to the sheer amount options they provide.
Torque 3D Owner Ronny Bangsund
Torque Cheerleaders
Another one is NSIS (from the makers of WinAmp). Just as good. There's also an MS solution which builds tiny MSI packages, but I have no clue what is the best tool to create them (they use a built-in installer from the OS rather than bundling an executable).
Microsoft have understood the importance of separating programs and data for a while now (took 'em a while ;), but the users are still struggling to adjust. At least there are default locations. Unfortunately, they move around a bit, depending on OS version. Just check MSDN for some info on where data should go, and stick to one pattern.
Win7 has %SYSROOT%/Documents or something like that for appdata. I think TGB does the right thing now - if not, you'll have to check out the documentation for this sort of thing. Include an optional step in your uninstaller to remove any data from there, if you like.
A good installer puts your program in the right location, which is the "Program Files" folder in the system root, or "Program Files (x86)" if you're installing a 32-bit program on a 64-bit system. Never ever write to this location after installation. UAC will stop you, anyway.
Yeah, it's not as simple as a DMG and an app bundle :(