Standalone exe.

[Sooshi]

I want to put a demo of a zombie game that I am working on up on a website, but how do I do it to a standalone executable?

[Canardia]

You can pack it with winrar and make it a sfx archive, so it gets an exe file. Then you can also choose an exe inside the archive to be auto-launched, and it seems to the user as if he would just run a single exe.

 

It's like a Java applet, but it doesn't need 3 seperate installations (Java engine, browser Java plugin, Java applet) like Java applets do, but just a single mouse click. On my computers Java applets have never worked either, although they are completely differently installed, but exe files work always, even from a browser.

[Sooshi]

hmm im confused

 

So I just pack my lua scripts along with all my media files and the engine thats inside the SDK folder into a single sfx archive?

 

Also I dont necessarily want it embeded in a webpage, I mainly want a standalone exe that you can just click on an icon on the desktop and the demo of the game launches, but I will have it accessible to be downloaded from a webpage, if that makes any sense.

[Canardia]

Yeah same thing, an exe is an exe, no matter on what media it resides.

[Sooshi]

Yeah same thing, an exe is an exe, no matter on what media it resides.

 

ah ok ok, thanks a lot Lumooja, I appreciate your hastly replies..

 

 

So I just pack my lua scripts along with all my media files and the engine thats inside the SDK folder into a single sfx archive?

 

So this is all I do right, nothing extra is needed to be done with this step?

[Canardia]

Yeah, on a sidenote you can also use an installer, but then it needs an additional step for the user to install it, which is however intuitive for windows users (Linux users are used that programs are just working when they selected them from the global package manager). I prefer programs you can just copy and run.

[Sooshi]

Yeah, on a sidenote you can also use an installer, but then it needs an additional step for the user to install it, which is however intuitive for windows users (Linux users are used that programs just "installed" by the global package manager). I prefer programs you can just copy and run.

 

Thank you kindly Lumooja!

[Sooshi]

after spending some time trying this method, it does not seem to be working.

 

I hit the compile button in the script editor it generates my LUAC file, but what next? What are the necessary files that are needed to bring it all together to make a standalone exe? Is there a turorial I can read somewhere to get my game compiled? There is like nothing in the forums or worse, no info whatsoever in the documentation section.

 

I figured this would be a very important topic to document, can someone please explain in a very simple way whats needed to be done for me to have a clickable icon of an exe on my desktop of my game demo...

[ZioRed]

You can name your main file as start.lua, then compile it in the Script editor (you should then have a file start.luac) and finally you can directly run "Engine.exe" without parameter (since it searches for "start.lua" or "start.luac" file to run when no file is passed as parameter; if you use the compiled .luac script then you don't need to distribute the .lua file).

 

I think the best way of doing your setup is to use some setup software, for example InnoSetup. I haven't still used LUA as base code for all the application so it may be I'm wrong, but I think it should be the way.

[Sooshi]

You can name your main file as start.lua, then compile it in the Script editor (you should then have a file start.luac) and finally you can directly run "Engine.exe" without parameter (since it searches for "start.lua" or "start.luac" file to run when no file is passed as parameter; if you use the compiled .luac script then you don't need to distribute the .lua file).

 

I think the best way of doing your setup is to use some setup software, for example InnoSetup. I haven't still used LUA as base code for all the application so it may be I'm wrong, but I think it should be the way.

 

 

Hey man thanks for your help, but I have another question if you dont mind.

I have named my file to start.lua and placed it inside the SDK folder, and I can run the engine and my game runs automatically. But what do I do to distribute it? What are all the files necessary that I need in order to make it its own exe? All I want really is to distribuit it so people can install my game onto their HD with an icon on the desktop to launch the program, so what would be all the files that I need to put together in order for this to work?

 

Also Is there an official method that all leadwerks users use to compile their games into a standalone exe?

 

Thanks for helping me out ZioRed

[Sooshi]

basically it boils down to this..

 

what do I need to do so that my game can be installed on other peoples computers with an icon on their desktop to launch my game?

 

is there an official leadwerks way or method of doing this? I need a tutorial or an explanation, a pdf..... somehting, that gives me an example from A-B on doing this...

 

And quite personally, I dont understand why this topic has not ever been discussed before hand in the forums or in the documentation. All games must be compiled, so there needs to be official documentation on how its done just like there is official documentation on how to export to a gmf ......

[AggrorJorn]

Innosetup does the thing you need I believe. Have you tried it? It works really good: See the attachment.

[ZioRed]

I wrote a newbie tutorial for InnoSetup on my blog, give it a glance.

[Sooshi]

Nice, thanks Aggror and ZioRed, I am going to give these a look over..

[Rick]

I sent you an IM also since you IM'd me, but from what I can understand what you are asking, if you use Lua you would use engine.exe and just pass your main lua file as a command line argument to it. After that, either use a zip, rar, or install wizard to package it all.

[Sooshi]

thank you all for helping me out, got it working now. I really really appreciate it!

[Andr3wHur5t]

can the scripts be compiled in to a .pak?

[Alessandro]

Ehm, one question about this topic:

 

I created a level inside the Map Editor, and I added DRIVER.LUA.

 

Well, how can I create start.lua in order to make my game running?

DO I need to make a program like this:

 

world = LoadWorld( ... MAP SBX ....)

while AppTerminate()==0 do 
    if KeyHit(KEY_ESCAPE)==1 then break end
..............

 

(this is only a skeleton). Just as example. Is this the right way to proceed?

 

Thank you!

[Canardia]

Driver.lua is almost like a standalone lua script already, so you better just add a few lines to create the graphics window at the start of it and rename it as start.lua.

[Alessandro]

Driver.lua is almost like a standalone lua script already, so you better just add a few lines to create the graphics window at the start of it and rename it as start.lua.

 

Thank you, it worked!

 

Now I have another problem during first startup:

 

Loading mesh "c:/program files/leadwerks engine sdk/private/vehicle_viperscout.gmf"...
Loading material "zip::c:/program files/leadwerks engine sdk/private/viperscout.pak//interior_c.mat"...
stack traceback:
       [C]: in function 'LoadModel'
       [string "start.lua"]:35: in main chunk

C:\Program Files\Leadwerks Engine SDK>

 

Sorry can you help me again ?

 

Please note that everything works in LE Editor.

 

It seems the mesh is correctly loaded, but material loading fails.

 

Thank you!

[macklebee]

viperscout is a protected asset. notice that it is in the Private folder. if you want to use the viperscout outside of the editor, you will need to buy it from dexsoft... or just use your own vehicle...

[ZioRed]

EDIT: ops Macklebee beats me on the same answer

[Alessandro]

Oh... I see. Thank you (both of you ;-)

[dennis]

Maybe making a visual studio install project you can add a solution to the project you are already working on.