Game Patcher

What is Game Patcher?
Game Patcher gives you the tool to have your players always receive the latest updates and patches to your game!

The tool include at custom launcher that works for MAC, LINUX WINDOWS. And a patch creation tool! It Has never been more simple to create a patch!

Features:

• Cross platform support (Windows, Linux Mac)
• Custom Launcher
• Create patches in minutes!
• Patches are small, save bandwidth!
• Check if user has the latest version available!
• Documentation with a noob friendly setup guide!
• Custom support from the developers!

Source code:
Would you like to purchase the source code for the launcher then please contact me here or email me at cm@alino.dk

STORE LINK​

Documentation: http://playsurvive.com/download/Documentation_2_0.pdf

Should you need any help or have questions regarding the asset, feel free to post them here!

Best regards Christoffer Mikkelsen

Changelog: (day/month-year)

[22/4-2014] Version 1.1:

• Fixed an issue where the patcher would not zip the files into the correct folder name.
• Added youtube video.
• Created new forum post, as this is my main account.

[29/4-2014] Version 2.0:

• Rewrote whole program in JAVA (was C#)
• Cross platform support (Mac, Linux Windows)
• Added support for patch notes
• Added new video
• Made completely new documentation
• Added support for remote background image and title
• New pricing 15 USD to 20USD

[20/5-2014] Version 2.1:

• Added new tool: Launcher Creator, you can now customize the launcher, add images etc.
• Fixed the 0.0 bug.
• Updated the Patcher to version 2.1, patches should now be smaller.

[3/6-2014] Version 2.1.1:

• Fixed a bug on windows 7.

FAQ:
Q: Patcher doesn't download patch 0.0
A: Set version to RELEASE in the config file

Q: If i add an image as button, is the button still showing in the preview
A: It won't be there after building the patcher

Q: I can't start the patcher, it does just nothing
A: Download the correct version of Java (64 Bit / 32 Bit) http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

Q: The patcher doesnt find the game ?
A: You have to use the title: game as .exe (or the other extensions (Linux / Mac)

Q: I get the message URL-Format not supported
A: Dont use an URL as image use it on your local drive (C:\bg.jpg)

 

We have updated the patcher to version 1.1 and fixed an error where it would not pack the content to the right folder names.

 

Thanks for the video, the patcher looks great and easy.
Now, i have some questions.
1- Can I change the appearance of the launcher?
2- Does the launcher only work on windows (.exe)? what about linux or mac users?
3- for new user, he download de version 1.0. if the current version is 1.3, the launcher downloads the version 1.1 and patch,1.2 and patch and 1.3 patch right?
Thanks!

 

1: yes you can change the packground image.
2: its currently only for windows, bit mac and linjs is being worked on.
3: the patcher will always patch to the latest version, so if you have: 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 it will always update to 1.2 (if you have selected force).

 

Thanks!
i think that tomorrow i buy and try this patcher.
i think that if you make the launcher on Java, the users on mac and linux can play it.

 

Sounds great, should you have more questions feel free to post them here.

 

Hi,

also want to buy that.

1. but is it possible to make an Version where the Config and image is then compiled in the exe. cause of users can then change their self this stuff now. Also cause of Design or something. Maybe do this for double or triple price to buy. Would be nice

2. Also it would be nice if we can write a little Changelog an Patchmaking which is displayed on the Launcher as well.

3. What about patching when i have for example 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 how to update 1.0 - 1.2 and 1.1 - 1.2?


We are on the way wit ha MMORPG game. For us its very important to use such a nice system

 

1: those features are currenytly being worked on, expect them in next release
2: Same as above.
3: it always patches to the latest version (if you have checked "force" in the patcher) so if your client has 1.1, and you have created 1.2 and 1.3, then it will patch to 1.3 and include all changes in 1.2.

 

Ok thank you very much i will buy this end of the week. or starting of next week. Cause im not at home at the moment.

Looking forward to this

Most is include config files and that stuff. Would be nice to give the players not all informations. so correct in a plain text file


Thank you very much


And of course for source auf launcher price would be higher normaly and that would be ok for me.
Or should i wait and buy something like the "pro" version of this one which includes this features?

Looking forward to your updates
Hope they comes soon

 

We will not make a "pro" version, we will just include the features in this release

 

Hey zahlio i bought your patching system few hours ago, originally i wanted to buy Crafty system but they didn't release their standalone yet and as a developer i cannot wait any longer for them. I bought your product as it is out side system but i need to ask few things as i do have few problems.

My game is 2 839 mb in size and for testing i change only one thing ( color of the material ) and to my surprise the patch made by your program is 2 481 mb why is that ? What am i doing wrong, or is it a bug ?.

You wrote above
Patches are small, save bandwidth!
But the patch is about 90 % of the game it self :/ i cannot send this to my webserver at all it will take over 50 % of my space.

I made few other test to make sure if its not my project ( as i heard that it may be such a case ) but all test i made patches are HUGE i never got smaller result than 60 % of the game size. I check your documentation 3 times just in case but i found no info about it. Please explain as soon as possible as i am at very tight scheduled with this project :/.

 

Right now it depends on what you change in the project. Sometimes even a small change require a high % of the files to be patched (with our current method). However we are changing the way our patcher creates patches, and even in the new version (1.1) which is still pending release by unity, there have been some changes.

Also remember that the first patch is the full game.

 

version 1.1 is now available on the asset store.

 

I hope this gets fixed cause my game is about 5-6GB

yes crafty ^^ i also had the problem cause of standalone and cant wait years for it.

But this here is really great. And i buy it when im back at home

Also i make then some advertise cause im also one of the owner from the Atavism Engine and make tutorial videos for the other developer.
So they all make MMORPG games and need and updater soon or later

 

We are actively working on reducing the patch size. However we stand by our claim of "Patches are small, save bandwidth!" which is true, as our patches are smaller then the full game, that you would else be needed to distribute.

Patch size will see a large decrease in version 2.0 which also will introduce cross platform support for Mac and Linux. However we ask that you are patient as this release is 1-2 weeks from being final.

 

No Problem

Still doing a very good job and asset. for a too low price Its really more worth

Also a problem is that unity creates some big single files. Thats clear if one of that has changed we need this file updatet.
Or is there a method to say to unity make smaller files or something? Didnt had to do with that for now

 

Yep right now we are using a binary search method to see if there has been changed with a file. However this method is still far from feature complete, and we are working on making it better. As stated previously.

 

We are about to be ready to release our cross platform version of the launcher. The launcher will support Windows, Mac and Linux.
There will be a slight price increase to 19.99 USD so make sure to order now while it's still 15 USD.

Here is an early screenshot running on a Mac:

 

Nice work.

Few suggestions :

- You should add the ability to load the patchnotes text + background image from a www url .

I think that's very useful, it gives a way to fix typos or confusing text - and communicate news to the players.

Other things I saw (when doing web development for a pro game studio) :

- a flag to turn on/off the game access ( the launcher sends an http request to a server url like /gameAccess and enables/disables the play button depending on the return bool value). That's for multiplayer games, when you are updating the server.

- ability to "patch the patcher" - put something in your patch metadata that forces a reinstall of the patcher - useful if you want to do a breaking change in the patch system itself ( this one is hard and a bit overkill)

- downloading multiple small zips in parallel instead of one big file (really useful when using Akamai or something like that)

Cheers.

 

1. We are currently adding patch notes support, you should see it in release 2.0 (next release)
2. The idea to disable the launcher (or the ability to play the game, e.g. doing maintenance etc.) is a cool idea and will be added in 2.0 (next release).
3. Patching the patcher, or a flag that requires you to download a new version is something we wants to do, however we have no eta. for this, as we want to do it right (e.g. it updates the launcher like it would update the game).

Here is a screenshot of the 2.0 patcher:

 

when we add a cube to game, what will be patch size ? could you say me it pls ???

 

Depends on where you add it. However what i can say is that the patch size will be smaller then the full game.

 

2.0 with cross platform will most likely come within the next day or two. We are in the process of final tweaks and testing.

 

2.0 has been submitted to the unity asset store. it is only a matter of time before it will hit the streets. With this update the price will INCREASE TO 20 USD so make sure to purchase now!

 

Thanks for the heads up on the price increase. Still not sure what I'm going to use or how I plan to implement patching, but at that price can't pass up the opportunity to drop it into my asset box to evaluate when I'm ready! Thanks again..

btw.. I haven't looked at it closely yet. Is the interface something that we have control over? For example can we build our own GUI for the patcher using tools like DFGUI/NGUI? Also, any chance other communications methods may be implemented at some point? For example pulling patches from secure GIT/SVN repository or even from a torrent library?

 

Currently the only thing you can control is the background and title of the launcher.

Sure, if enough users wish us to implement support for GIT/SVN or even torrents then we will be happy to include that. But for now we only support downloading from HTTP.

 

documentation and video for 2.0 is out as it should soon hit the asset store.

REMEMBER THAT THE PRICE WILL INCREASE TO 20 USD (currently is 15 USD) so if you want it cheap then buy now!

 

hi
I do not want to make a launcher_debug.txt.
What should I do now?

 

There is no option for that as of now, however we could implement that in a future release.

 

version 2.0 is online!

 

Hi,

nice start to design launcher
but still missing some kind of icon for exe file and image for the button and border. Loading bar image or color

what about maybe a launcher maker?

write a programm where you can insert your images and icons and create the launcher.exe to look like you want

know this kind of programs from the WoW Emulator scene

Would be damn nice

 

Sure that will be the next goal, would be awesome if you could customize the layout fonts, images and colors.

 

Version 1.0 worked as expected great job by the way. However i upgraded to 2.0 from the asset store and followed the video tutorial and 2.0 seems to be setup correctly but when i start the launcher it says null - 0.0 at the top and does not seem to download the game from my site. Here is the log output.

[03/05-2014 10:31:21] Starting program...
[03/05-2014 10:31:21] Using WINDOWS OS: windows 8
[03/05-2014 10:31:21] Loading local version...
[03/05-2014 10:31:21] Loaded local version: 0.0
[03/05-2014 10:31:21] Loading update server URL...
[03/05-2014 10:31:21] Loaded server URL: http://mySite/patch/
[03/05-2014 10:31:21] Downloading img: null
[03/05-2014 10:31:21] Could not download bg image with URL: null, error: java.net.MalformedURLException
[03/05-2014 10:31:21] We are currently running the latest version [windows 8]: 0.0
[03/05-2014 10:31:21] Check version ended resulting: true
[03/05-2014 10:31:24] Saved properties...
[03/05-2014 10:31:24] Play clicked...
[03/05-2014 10:31:24] Using WINDOWS OS: windows 8 to start the game.
[03/05-2014 10:31:24] Closing...
------------------------------------------------------

when play is clicked there is no game!!
Version 1.0 still works great for me, but i would still like to be able to use the advanced features of version 2.0

 

You need to create new patches for 2.0 and cant use the ones from 1.0, also there is an issue with version 0.0. try to make a patch above 0.0

 

Ok, I did that and it only downloads the game data folder and a C# dll and not the executable. I am only compiling for windows at the moment could that be an issue? The version 2.0 launcher works when i manually put the game files into the game launcher directory but it doesn't download the executable. Well i will still be using 1.0 until the kinks are worked out of 2.0. Its a great application.

 

Yep thats an error. It has been fixed and submitted to unity. Might take some days before its live.

A fast fix is to make a new update (can be 1.0) and in the zip files that is created (from the patcher) add the game executable.

 

I have a feature request that i thought of after my website went down. It would be cool if in the settings of the launcher and patcher if i could add additional sites to host the patches in case one site goes down then the launcher would be able to switch to the backup site.

 

This is an nice idea
maybe also some hosting service like https://mega.co.nz/‎ would be nice ^^
free download of big files. no need of hosting all on our self servers

 

seem like i cant get mine to work properly ! XD

mind helping me via teamviewer ?

 

Sorry we dont provide teamview support. Can you explain what is not working? have you used the video or the documentation?

 

#Mon May 05 08:03:45 EDT 2014
version=1.00
url=http\://kiugetski.com/updates/

the patcher always place a bad slash http\

 

That should not be an issue.

 

yes it is cuz look http://kiugetski.com/updates/

instant acces without

 

Java sees the URL fine. What kind of errors do you get?

 

he dont want to download the update 1_01
<
[05/05-2014 11:13:45] Starting program...
[05/05-2014 11:13:45] Using WINDOWS OS: windows 7
[05/05-2014 11:13:45] Loading local version...
[05/05-2014 11:13:45] Loaded local version: 1.00
[05/05-2014 11:13:45] Loading update server URL...
[05/05-2014 11:13:45] Loaded server URL: http://kiugetski.com/updates/
[05/05-2014 11:13:45] Loading patch notes for patch: 1.01
[05/05-2014 11:13:45] Downloading img: http://i.imgur.com/lkakDzK.jpg
[05/05-2014 11:13:45] Check version ended resulting: false
[05/05-2014 11:13:45] Downloading file:
[05/05-2014 11:13:45] Error downloading update: java.io.FileNotFoundException: temp (Accès refusé)
[05/05-2014 11:13:45] Download of completed
[05/05-2014 11:13:45] Starting extraction of temp/

 

As i stated before then the webhost is found fine and det versionInfo.xml is also downloaded fine... However there is an issue generating temp files. Can you run the program as administrator please?

 

running as admin give same thing
[05/05-2014 11:19:17] Saved properties...
[05/05-2014 11:19:17] Closing...
---------------------------------------------------------
[05/05-2014 11:19:45] Starting program...
[05/05-2014 11:19:45] Using WINDOWS OS: windows 7
[05/05-2014 11:19:45] Loading local version...
[05/05-2014 11:19:45] Loaded local version: 1.00
[05/05-2014 11:19:45] Loading update server URL...
[05/05-2014 11:19:45] Loaded server URL: http://kiugetski.com/updates/
[05/05-2014 11:19:45] Loading patch notes for patch: 1.01
[05/05-2014 11:19:45] Downloading img: http://i.imgur.com/lkakDzK.jpg
[05/05-2014 11:19:45] Check version ended resulting: false
[05/05-2014 11:19:45] Downloading file:
[05/05-2014 11:19:45] Error downloading update: java.io.FileNotFoundException: temp (Accès refusé)
[05/05-2014 11:19:45] Download of completed
[05/05-2014 11:19:45] Starting extraction of temp/

 

Has the program created a /temp/ folder? If so what files are in it?

 

yes but still empty

 

I can see you have not followed the video or the documentation. as you have not created or uploaded the initial patch to your webserver /files/ directory. Please create and upload win_update_0_0.zip, (you have win_update_1_0.zip (and the size of this s o kb, so there is clearly an error here).

Please watch the video or read the documentation.