Customising Launcher

Hi all,

Having browsed the Gamestudio links page, I noticed that a lot of freeware launchers for games have been developed. Many of which remove or hide the loading screen that appears when first starting up a Gamestudio game. I am using the commercial edition of A6 (A6 6.11.4) and I wondered if I could legally remove this with one of these programs and commercially distribute the product afterwards. Would this be allowed?

Also I saw a file packer which can pack the files like the pro edition of the software does. It lets you change the icon and everything, I was also wondering if it would be legal to use this in commercial products. Could someone please tell me as I do not want to be breaking the law after all of the work that will be going into this project.

The tools I speak of using are the ones on the GSTools website.

The URL is www.gstools.de

Thanks,
I await your reply.

Hi Aaron,

I am myself developing such a tool entitled Game Release Studio 2.0 - it packs files, changes the icon, the window title, gives you a customisable splash screen and progress bar and so on and so forth.

It is entirely legal to use this software, so don't worry. JCL himself - the lead developer of A6 and head honcho - has said on several occasions that he has no objections to third-party software that covers up the default splash screen and changes the window title and so forth.

You should beware, however, that none of this software is a real substitute for the Pro edition. All freeware packers (my own included, and GS-Tools too as far as I know) temporarily extract files while the game runs, so they are not as safe as the Pro version. (The only packer that doesn't extract files - Thinstall - is more expensive than the Pro version). Also, the splash screens provided by such software only covers up the default splash screen - they do not remove it.

Nonetheless, such software is a real bonus if you don't have the money to buy the Pro version, and the average user won't notice the difference. GRS2 should be out sometime this month, but GS-Tools is an excellent option too - its programmer is always very helpful and has been supporting the software for years, so I would recommend trying out all the software and use the one that you prefer.

Cheers,
Keith

Hi Keith,

Thanks for your reply, I will check out your software when it is finished, as it sounds very promising and you have helped me greatly. I don't mind the splash screen as it looks ok and most commercial games have them, but I honestly thought it was against the conditions of GS to cover it up.

I will look more deeply into it soon. Thanks

Hi,

We may be at cross-purposes here. When I said "splash screen", I was referring to the white loading box you see when you start up GameStudio. My program covers up that, making it look like the Pro version which allows you to have a picture or progress bar etc instead of the default white box. However, as specified in the A6 license agreement, if you intend to sell your game, you MUST still show the A6 logo for one second when the engine loads. This is probably what you mean when you said you thought it was illegal - yes, it would be illegal not to show the A6 splash screen, but it is not illegal to cover up the loading box or change the window title, icon, etc. Of course, I'm not a member of Conitec, but I'm basing this statement on the fact that Conitec are definitely aware of these programs and have never expressed any objections. I certainly wouldn't have invested so much time in creating such a program if I'd ever had a doubt about it being legal!

Here is a post in which I describe my program to JCL and ask him a couple of questions:

http://www.conitecserver.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB13&Number=202836&Forum=UBB13&Words=launcher&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=allposts&Main=202833&Search=true#Post202836

You can see from his very helpful replies that he has no objections to the program. Also remember that in order for these programs to appear on the Links page, the program-makers have to e-mail the URLs with descriptions to Conitec - I very much doubt Conitec would put up links on their official site that they consider illegal or detrimental to their own business.

Hope that helps, and I hope you find the right starter program for your game.

Cheers,
Keith

Thanks for clearing me up on that. You have been a big help and I should be contacting Conitec soon for a confirmation of this, (So I can place it in my records.)

sounds like a winner... looking forward to seeing it in action.

--Mike

GS-Tools has an option in its packer plugin to display a splash screen. You can use it to add the required splash. I believe the spash supplied is acceptable as the logo takes up most of the screen.