For the updater:

I would suggest to build an even more useful tool out of that:

make a "General Starter App".

Such that it sevrves as main starting point for 3dgs games.
including:

-a splashscreen
-a start button (starting the game.exe)
-some options to choose (like resolution, effect-level)
-some short infotext about the game
-and of course the automatic update option.

This can cover up the bad looking start-window of acknex
and make the gamelauch look more professional
and integrated.