SRB2 Program

I was just wondering. Is making SRB2 a program being considered for the very final version? I was just wondering since I got Steam yesterday. I mean, it could allow more customizable areas and such, but, has it been considered?

If this is more SRB2 Discussion, then move it. But it was mainly a question. Um, Discuss?

So, if it's not a program right now, what is it?

Well, it isn't. It's an executable. If it was a program, it would appear in Add Remove Programs.

Violo said:

Well, it isn't. It's an executable. If it was a program, it would appear in Add Remove Programs.

Click to expand...

Add/Remove Programs just lists uninstallers that have been registered. SRB2 could conceivably ship with an installer/uninstaller, but it wouldn't make any difference to the functionality of the game. There's no distinction between executables and programs in the way you describe.

So what you REALLY want is a steam compatible SRB2? I don't understand what exactly you're asking here, as a program DOES NOT have to show up in add/remove programs to be a program

EDIT: Oogaland got in right before me, whoops.

Eh, I dunno. It isn't for compatibility with Steam, but is there any advantages to making it a program?
I know one, it makes it more professional.

Uh, no it doesn't. Besides, making an installer and uninstaller would just give the dev team more work to do. There's literally absolutely no difference whether you have an installer or not.

Infact, I quite like the fact they don't have an installer. It means I don't have to uninstall every time a new version comes out, which is quite frequently, if I'm not mistaken.

GigaX said:

It means I don't have to uninstall every time a new version comes out, which is quite frequently, if I'm not mistaken.

Click to expand...

You wouldn't have to uninstall the old version, because you can use the updater which updates only the relevant files.

Violo said:

Eh, I dunno. It isn't for compatibility with Steam, but is there any advantages to making it a program?
I know one, it makes it more professional.

Click to expand...

I'm going to be perfectly blunt right here. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. SRB2 is a program. It absolutely is a program. I do not care what Add/Remove programs says. SRB2 is a program.

Read Oogaland's post. Add/Remove programs is just a of programs that have been installed, yes, but that doesn't mean it's a list of all programs installed. Just because a program doesn't appear in Add/Remove Programs doesn't mean it's not 'professional'. I'll also note that SRB2 is not a professional game regardless.

SRB2 isn't installed, you extract it to a directory and run it from there. If you want to remove it, all you have to do is delete the files and SRB2 is gone. SRB2 doesn't generate registry information or place stuff into the Start menu or anything, so there's no reason to have an uninstaller. Since the Add/Remove Programs menu is only really useful for programs that need to be installed/uninstalled, there's no reason to bloat the game by making it install like that.

tl;dr: We intentionally don't have it work that way. If you want to uninstall SRB2, just delete it. It doesn't leave anything behind when you do.

A program is a piece of executable code. If you run a batch script that does nothing more than produce "HELLO WORLD!" on a command prompt... guess what? That's a program. Please stop misusing the term as such.

If you're worried about the game not showing up in Add/Remove Programs, don't be. As Oogaland said, that only shows installed programs that registered themselves with Windows. SRB2 (and most games from the Internet and/or pre-Windows era) do not do this, and as such gain a bit of portability (seriously, you can launch SRB2 from a flash drive with no consequences). It doesn't make it any less of a program, given the definition as stated above - it remains a piece of executable code.

And I fail to see what Steam has to do with this. If you're actually suggesting we submit our game to Valve for release... well, we might as well submit our game to Sega for release, because that is an incredibly farfetched idea that will most likely never work out. In the more likely even that you just want to create a shortcut to it on your Steam games list, then go right ahead - Steam lets you do that for pretty much any program on your computer, regardless of whether it's in Add/Remove Programs or not, or even if it's not a game (seriously, you can boot Microsoft Word from Steam if you really want to). Nobody's going to look down on you for it. Most of my Steam friends do it. I do it. Just do it if you really want to.

I have SRB2 on my list of Steam crap. It opens just fine.

Depending on your level of user privileges on your computer, you might not be allowed to install programs. If we made SRB2 installable, people who don't have administrator rights on the machine won't be able to play it.