" Crafty "patching system for Unity projects.

I just want to inform you guys that Crafty 1.0.5 is almost ready and should be send to the asset store in the next 2 days.
Crafty 1.0.5 provides no new features but many fixes of minor issues provided to us by some of the users.

Also after release of Crafty 1.0.5 i will be providing all the information on Crafty 1.1 that will present written from scratch new composition patch creation system that will significantly lower the size of all patches created by Crafty.

 

Hi
My Problem is that i can download a patch from my webserver but not unpacking. If i make a new project all is right . If i import Crafty in my project it don't unpack the patch.

Sorry for my terrible english. I hope you unterstand me.

thanks

 

Sorry but i don't understand.

Do you mean that Crafty works while creating patch and downloading it, but there is a problem when it tries to unzip/unpack it ?
Or do you mean that there is an error while importing Crafty to the project ?.

If its the first one than its already been repaired in 1.0.5.

 

The first one.

thanks

 

I've been having trouble getting it to work too.

Earlier I was using versions that look like this.
A.0000 - It accepted it and made a version
A.0001 - It accepted this, and made a version also.

However, it would not patch from A.0000 to A.0001. It would hang up creating a patch. I found that if I change the versions to A-0001 and updated to A-0002, that it would successfully patch.

Now, when my game sees the patch on the server. It downloads the "patch" to the folder "__patch" as it should. Then would hang during extraction. No errors, just sit at 0%. So I wrote a stream writer into the OnError of LaunchieLogic.cs

Here is what it's saying:

System.NotSupportedException: Unknown header: 1886544232
at CraftyCompress.Common.Zip.ZipHeaderFactory.ReadHeader (UInt32 headerBytes, System.IO.BinaryReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at CraftyCompress.Common.Zip.SeekableZipHeaderFactory+<ReadSeekableHeader>d__2.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at CraftyCompress.Archive.Zip.ZipArchive+<LoadEntries>d__2.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at CraftyCompress.LazyReadOnlyCollection`1+LazyLoader[CraftyCompress.Archive.Zip.ZipArchiveEntry].MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at Launchie.Launchie.Extract () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0


Have I done something wrong to cause this?
How can I fix it? Any suggestions?

If I had to guess. I'd say it's a problem with ("__patch" + this._dirsep + "patch").

 

I already answer your email twice about this error. This is already been fixed and it will be added to Crafty 1.0.5

 

Sorry about that, I haven't received the email.

 

First email was asking you about your system and unity version second was conformation that we know whats the problem from the other users and we already fixed it. It will be added to the Crafty 1.0.5.

 

Again, sorry that I haven't received the email.
I'm on 4.3.1 if you still need to know which version I'm on.
Thanks for the reply though.

 

It's all alright Spelmyst a honest error .

 

Is it planned to make future versions of Launchie be able to supply authorization information to the WebRequest? So can I send username + password to the patch url? That would be nice

 

Hey Philipp i am sorry for the late reply, after we will finish work on few minor errors and new composition patching system I don't see a problem in adding few additional applications like Log-in system with password and username.
We will work on that and few other additional highly requested application after 1.1.

 

i sent an email with a question which is basically will there be tutorials on how to make a fancy patcher like the image on page 1 as that my ideal looking one
i also have another question is it ngui compatable

 

I already answer your fist question on email before you wrote on the forum, if it comes to the second question. Launchie was made in specific way to use very simple Unity GUI commands so it would be easy for basic programmers to adjust it to any type of GUI programs like iGUI or NGUI.

( Note we build it in such way to prepare for the newest unity gui that will come in Unity 4.X.X )

As you see on the online documentation Launchie is made of simple short commands allowing it to send message to the website asking simply if there is new patch and if there is any release notes. After that its simple GUI script.

One of our testers simply left Launchie script alone with the change of deleting GUI part and adding command to connect to his own script which was design to work with his NGUI. Simply by that he had all the freedom he wanted to use other GUI programs while not messing much with the original script.
If you wish i can send him an email asking him for the script so you can build your Launcher around it.

 

thanks and for some reason the reply was in my junk mail and knowing how to use ngui with it would be helpful as that what my game uses
and i meant like the functionality/look of the graphics eg the load bar play button etc but from email it looks like its just great graphics while using same script etc

 

Yes its exactly the same we just change the graphic design that's all.
I have send an email about NGUI to the tester asking him if its possible to share his script the moment he will reply i will post all the info here on the forum.

Also now that you are telling me that ( about the email in the junk folder ) i wonder how many other people got my reply with all the help, info and Crafty and think that they didn't got anything. Not good.

 

hey Thinker i have a small error log appearing with the unknown header text in it i went to your website to check if someone already inform you about this error and i notice that this error is already fixed in version 1.0.5 and there is all the info on new update i'm guessing that 1.0.5 is still in the asset store waiting to be accepted but is it possible for you to send me Crafty 1.0.5 ? It would really help me a lot if you could send me new crafty to me

 

Hello 3DInferno i see its your first post in Unity so welcome to Unity Community .

Towards your question, yes of course but first you need to send me your Invoice No, at support@penkura.com if everything will be as it should I will reply in matter of a minute with Crafty 1.0.5.

 

AWESOME it works now !! Thank you so much thinker i really love Crafty please keep up the good work and provide us with more and more patches really cool.

 

CRAFTY 1.0.5.

Crafty 1.0.5 is available in the asset store. Thanks to the number of error reports we receive
from the testers and some of the Crafty users we were able to create a major bug fix to the
Crafty program. Below you can see all the changes made to the Crafty 1.0.5 also in the next
24 hours i will post the info on the Crafty 1.1 which will bring a major change to
the patch creation system.

Please note information added next to the " Fixed BUG#0000 " is the information on what had been fixed.

v 1.0.5

+ Added support for Copy and Paste to Version number and release notes.
+ Fixed BUG#0004 (Wait until patch will be done error messages on mac version)
+ Fixed BUG#0005 (Patch could not be created if there are deleted files between builds.)
+ Fixed BUG#0006 (In rare cases Crafty is not able to create second patch version.)
+ Fixed BUG#0007 (In some cases project could present error log with unknown header.)
+ Fixed BUG#0008 (Incorrect matching game versions error appearing after downloading complex patch.)

 

Hey thinker awesome update no errors to report off but i am wondering you often say that you are making changes to patch creation system i read all of the forum pages to make sure that there is no explonation. Can you explain what you are changing exactly ? Also what changes you want to add to cafty in the long run like what else you want to add ?

 

Hi, nice to see the update.
The file-deletion-bug seems to be fixed for me now. However, when a file is created between patches, the patch STILL gets created with the wrong (absolute) path for the file. This is a bit sad.

 

Patch is being downloaded next to the game.exe, if you didn't move <game name>_Data than the patch should without a problem patch the files as it is simple unpack and merge files.

Patching system for Unity works in very simple way, It downloads the patch next to the game.exe as it is forced by the system. It is not possible to make it other way around as the launcher sends request to the server to transfer the patch from the server to the game.exe location. If game_data is not located as it is normal with Unity games, next to the exe file than patch will ALWAYS patch wrong. IF patching system was an outside program away from Unity than this would be very simple to do.

In the future we will create an outside patching system for Unity but till than we are focusing on Crafty 1.1. I will sit down to your style of setting game_Data to unusual form. But for now i can't promes anything.

Yes we often upgrade patch creation process to make patch smaller and smaller but we came to conclusion that we can do much better but not with the system we are currently using, that's why in Crafty 1.1 we will delete the old patch creation system and add completely new one which will create much more complex patches with smaller size and faster creation process.

If it comes to changes that we want to add. Everything depends on what users want, which at the moment is:

1. Download speed indicator.
2. Files download indicator.
3. Size of the patch indicator and how much is already downloaded.
4. Adjustment launchie to new Unity GUI ( when it will be available to the public ).
5. Even smaller patches ( which will be added in Crafty 1.1 with new patching system ).

We are doing our best to add those upgrades as fast as possible, and of course we still welcome all the requests for new additions to Crafty.

 

"If it comes to changes that we want to add. Everything depends on what users want, which at the moment is:

1. Download speed indicator.
2. Files download indicator.
3. Size of the patch indicator and how much is already downloaded.
4. Adjustment launchie to new Unity GUI ( when it will be available to the public ).
5. Even smaller patches ( which will be added in Crafty 1.1 with new patching system )."

Once they are added it sounds like a must-have tool for me. Watching this one.

 

Hello Lostlogic we do our best to provide all the changes as fast as possible but first we want to finally delete the old patch creation and add new one which is highly requested by some professional developers, after that we will add those additions that even my self look forward too, as it will make Crafty compete with triple A programs of that type.

I will keep you guys posted on all the changes and the possible date of their release.

 

The patch was created from two version of a simple Unity game. The problem occurs when you add a folder (with contents) inside the data folder between versions.
I have attached the created patch for a very simple example. One can even see that one of the paths inside the patch.zip is wrong. And if you tried it out I bet you can reproduce the bug.

PS: The problem is not downloading and installing the patch. That works fine. The patch information is already created wrong.

PPS: There is info in the release notes as what was changed and what is wrong

 

Can i see your patch creation process threw the skype screen share ? It will be much easier for me to analyse everything. You can send me your skype name by email. support@penkura.com

 

Okay. I'll try to set that up tomorrow. I'll first have to install skype at work. Then I can show you how I create the patches.

I'll contact you when I have skype running.

 

Just to make sure.

You set up two builds one is in Folder 1.0 and other in 1.1 BUT in Folder 1.1 you added additional folder not from Unity but an outside folder.

So the first folder looks like this:

game_Data
game.exe

and second folder looks like this:

new folder
game_Data
game.exe

and that new folder after patch creation provides wrong path, is that correct ?

so the file path looks like this:

your game project name\Patchie\1.0

your game project name\Patchie\1.1

 

Nearly correct.

The new folder is also inside the data folder. I also put a (also new) small textfile in the new folder so that it isn't empty (don't know if crafty includes empty folders). So the new version is:

game_Data/newFolder/someText.txt
game.exe

(where "newFolder" didn't exist in the old version)
And I don't think it mattered whether I added the folder through Unity or explorer.

 

Thinker and GameArt Philipp you do know both of you that if script is accessing two builds from inside of Unity it automaticly gets ride of all so call " unknown folders " to outside of the maingame_Data folder ? Any system that works inside of Unity will automaticly clean the main data folder and set all the files outside of the folder next to it. You can check it your self put any file or folder inside the data you will notice that the file is NOT located in the folder anymore and it is next to the game_Data folder with INSIDE of specific path folder from which it was found its completely normal. I don't know if any of you guys know that . It is one of the Unity security system against unknown programs effecting _Data files.

 

No i was not aware of this, but this would explain why the folder appears next to the game_Data folder. As i did the same exact test using information provided by GameArt Philipp and i had the same result.
I will write a letter to Unity Support Team to ask about this, but for now it means that its not Crafty but Unity. I'm sure there is a way around this i will work on it later and post any solution IF i will find one.

 

Btw, thinker i wanted to ask you now for some time now what is your honest opinion on the webservers and homemade server what are the positives and the negatives on using them in the long run and how they effect over all patching solutions ? I just need to make sure on what should i invest in the long run.

 

3Dinferno there are multiple aspects you need to take in to consideration.

First of all servers should be always online ( as you don't know when a play will need an access to download a patch ), because of that if you have a homemade server your computer should be turn on 24/7 which is troubling for some. With web-server if of course you are accessing it by third party company's you don't have to be worried about such problems.

You are of course limited to option ( depending on the provider ) if it comes to the web-server which you won't have to be worried about while using homemade servers.

If it comes to massive project you need to also take to consideration a stress level putted on the server by players. Web-server can easily crash if there is a larger numbers of users ( we are talking hear about a lot of players downloading at the same time a large patch ). I doubt you have to be worried about it as even if you have 1 000 players i don't think that more than 1/3 of them would download update at the same time. ( but better be safe than sorry ).

And lastly you need to remember that Crafty is based on triple A patching system and like most of them the system that allows launcher to download patches is quiet simple. A command is used by launcher asking the server if there is any new update, server checks the versions.txt file and if there will be an higher number than the launcher version number it self than it will start to download the patch.

At the end if think that for small maybe even medium project web-server is more than enough. When you start to get a lot of users/players than you can slowly think about homemade server.

 

Thank you for explaning this to me sorry for asking so many questions but i just need to be 100 % sure about everything. I want to ask a question about Crafty and other patches of that type, i notice that you have folders with all the patches on the server but my questions is do you have any tips on how could i lower the numbers of patches on the server ? For example what should i do after 20 patches on my server how could i lower that number and still keep the game up to date ? Any tips or ideas towards this would be really appreciated .

 

3DInferno you can ask as many questions as you wish just please keep in mind that Christmas is coming and because of that i have very limited time, at least for now, but i will always spend some time to answer all the questions and work a little on Crafty and other projects.

Now towards your question.
There are many ways to deal with such problem i can give some ideas on how some of the testers deal with them while using Crafty.

One of the interesting ideas that a tester had was allowing players to download only a game with the launcher in it ( about 5 mb build ), which will download the entire game ( at least version 1.0 ) after start up. Because of that developer could cut of some of the patches from the folder.

Start version -> 1.0
1.0 -> 1.1
1.1 -> 1.2
1.2 -> 1.3

When developer notice that there is just to much patches he created another patch from the start version to the newer version of the patch.

Start version -> 1.2
1.2 -> 1.3

Providing more space on the server. That's why it is also good idea to keep the first version of your build in storage just in case.

Other way around this problem which is very similar is to effect the patches them self and not the star version.

Start version -> 1.0
1.0 -> 1.3

Skipping other patches by just creating another patch from builds 1.0 directly to the 1.3.
What ever way you will choose all of the testers strongly advice to keep all the versions in some kind of storage it can be on outside hard drive or cloud/google drive/dropbox. Just in case of them being needed again to create a different version path.

To be honest this is the way that all patch creation system work not only Crafty it is safe way to keep sure that all the builds will have a correct path between the patches.

 

Thank you for your time Thinker i really appreciate everything you told me i wont bug you till the end of this year so you can work crafty really helps me with my project and i am happy that this product is being developt so well please keep up the good work we developers really need stuff like Crafty

 

Hello Thinker and happy new year to everyone . I have few questions about commercial use of crafty is there anything i need to watch out for when using crafty commercialy, commercials copyrights or even if it is possible ? Oh and if its not a big problem i send you a small specification of update that its a bit of a made directly to my project if its ok of course to you i just need some help to adjust it.

 

Hello 3DInferno sorry for the late reply but it was night at the time you post this post .

When it comes to commercial use of Crafty, it is a product you bought for your project and you can use it commercially and non-commercially without any additional fees. I thought that its like that with all products posted in the asset store.
If i'm wrong than i am sorry for not being clear about it. After you buy Crafty you can use it Commercially.

Also i will answer one of your questions from the email here on the forum as many users already ask the same question. When i wrote "No commercial " in Crafty pros i meant no commercials from us the developers of Crafty. If you wish to have commercials in your launcher you can put as many as you wish. I repeat the non commercial statement is only about Penkura Team not wanting to ruin your launcher, the image of your game with annoying commercials. So once again if you wish to have commercials on your launcher about your game do as much of them as you wish.

The rest of the information you wished for are like you ask for privately on your email.
And Happy New Year to everyone .

 

Hey Thinker i was searching your email for some time and after 2 hours i found it in my spam section after reading one of the post here mentioning that some times email can be found in the spam section. I also found there the second email that i thought you never reply on ( as i mention on the email i send to you yesterday ) I’m sorry about it :/ i feel bad for jumping to conclusion so fast my apology.

 

Hey Thinker i see you finally posted a commercial in the google + unity community !!! Why it took you so long ? There is so many people that already said that its a must have product you should listen to them and post a commercial much sooner and in more than one place ! now i will keep track of your Penkura stuff on
google +

 

Hello,

i also want to buy this asset

My Question is:

Is there also maybe a Demo of a launcher which is in the description in 1rst post. On how to do this?

Because i want to make also a World of Warcraft Launcher with it. But im not the best programmer at all^^ Most using gamemaker and such things.
Would be nice if i could have a example project which i can design then and so.

Thank you very much

 

Hey Halie I will do my best to do more advertisment haha.

Launcher in Crafty works exactly the same as anything build with use of GUI system in Unity. It means that the presented launcher is build from simple PNG pictures that were cut in a specific way and build up in Unity using simple GUI. ( Corners / Center / Top / Bottom / Sides / and of course buttons pressed hover and idle ) that's it I think that it can't be more simple than that .

The graphic it self was made in Photoshop by our designer. Most of the testers that like you want to build a fantasy type game take a free gui from the asset store https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/366 and just build it using simple GUI commands, that's it .

 

Thats cool. Then i can also use NGUI which im bought.

So bought this asset now

Now i test around with it.

The only thing i need to figure out is how to make a launcher.exe instead of the game.exe ^^
want to use it as extra part like WoW

 

We are thinking on creating separate launcher for Crafty just like we are working on mobile version. Thank you for interesting in Crafty we will do our best to improve this version as much as it is possible .

 

Nice

but this is also a good job:

http://penkura.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Launcher-Penkura.jpg

such a thing i would like to do with it. Start then he checks or load updates and then hit Play and here we go

 

Same system exactly same design just different PNG. But its exactly the same as the fantasy one.

After Crafty 1.1 which we will change patching system to make it much more powerful we will be adding new features that some of the users ask for, you can find more information on that in the earlier post of in the first post in " What we want to add/create "

 

When will be the release to make a launcher like in the picture?
Really great work

 

You can make such launcher since Crafty 1.0.0 like I said its simple PNG project cut to pieces and put together threw GUI .

 

Ok. but an example to edit you dont have or?
would be nice to see how i can make with unitygui a png ui and so.