| Author |
Does the installer require Admin privileges? |
culix
Midshipman
Joined: January 16, 2010
Posts: 10
From: Canada
|  Posted: 2010-01-16 15:44
Hey team,
First off, thanks for making this game! It's pretty cool!  Secondly, thanks for providing the forums so I can send you guys feedback.
I have a question about the installer running under Windows XP - does it require administrator privileges? I suspect it may require write access to some folders, but I am running under a non-administrator account that interferes with parts of the installation.
When I run the DarkSpace installer everything seems to go fine, but when the installer is finished and gives me the option to run the game on exit, nothing happens. I tried launching the game from the Start menu and got a Windows popup saying it could not find the .exe that the DarkSpace shortcut pointed to.
I went and looked in my C:Program Files directory to discover that no DarkSpace folder had been created, and it looks like no files had been written to the hard drive. This was using the default install location of C:Program FilesPalestarGameCQ', which my non-administrator account does not have write access to. If I changed the installation location to another folder or another hard drive where I did have write permissions, however, everything worked just fine. And if I run the installer under an administrator account the default location works just fine.
So my questions are:
* Does the installer check for write permissions before trying to install the game? If not, would it be possible to do that and give the user a warning that they should select a different installation location? Or display an error message if the installer program can't create the proper folder?
* Would it be possible to have the installer let you stay or pause on the second last screen; the one that shows all installation progress and what work has been done? I see this screen briefly before it takes me to the "DarkSpace has been installed" page, but not long enough to read the messages. If there was an additional 'next' button on this screen then I could read through the steps and see if there are any error messages to help me troubleshoot. (If my description is unclear just let me know and I can take some screenshots)
* As a minor side note, it might be neat if the uninstaller let you pause to see what changes have been made too.
Sorry if this is a repeat question or if it is posted in the wrong place. I searched through the website, FAQ, and support forums before posting, and this topic didn't seem to fit into the Graphics, Game, or GameCQ threads. If you want it posted somewhere else just let me know.
cheers!
culix
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Eledore Massis [R33]
Grand Admiral
Templar Knights
Joined: May 26, 2002
Posts: 2694
From: tsohlacoLocalhost
| Posted: 2010-01-19 05:16
[quote]On 2010-01-16 15:44, culix wrote:
* Does the installer check for write permissions before trying to install the game?Quote:
| Not that i know of, but it would be nice if it did. and give a little lovely warning that: the installer was unable to write to that location and you should either give another destination or check your security settings. |
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* Would it be possible to have the installer let you stay or pause on the second last screen;Quote:
| I'm always a BIG fan of a that, having a [Next] button after the installation wall of text has been completed, to be able to see where or why something went wrong before going to the Finish page..
Even going a bit furter if you get a error you won't be getting to a finish page at all but a page where it explains what went wrong and where possibly you can look to fix it.. |
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* As a minor side note, it might be neat if the uninstaller let you pause to see what changes have been made too.Quote:
| agree there to, same as with the install procedure, give a log and have the option at the end to just select finish and then delete the main program dir and the last uninstall.log file.. or have the option to keep the main program dir and its uninstall.log file to solve possible problems later on.. |
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I may not be a dev but i completely agree with you.
However as long as you don't have admin rights and have not disabled UAC the install user will require full access rights to the destination folder. And thats not even talking about running the game itself, since i do recall it requires "run as administrator" to be safe you can run or won't crash.
E.
[edit]quot isn't quote
[ This Message was edited by: Eledore Massis =ADM= on 2010-01-23 19:48 ]
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culix
Midshipman
Joined: January 16, 2010
Posts: 10
From: Canada
| Posted: 2010-01-19 15:36
Okay I found a copy of the Medusa source code on source forge. I'm not sure if this includes the nullsoft installer scripts but it looks like it has GCQ code. I will have a look in the next week or two and see if I can locate the issue.
Eledore Massis wrote:
>>as long as you don't have admin rights and have not disabled UAC the install user will require full access rights to the destination folder.
>>it requires "run as administrator" to [run]
I was able to install and run the game on Windows XP without being an administrator, and I haven't had any crashes yet. Do you get any error messages if you run without admin privileges? What OS are you using? I'm not sure why it would be different.
[ This Message was edited by: culix on 2010-01-19 15:37 ]
[ This Message was edited by: culix on 2010-01-19 15:38 ]
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2010-01-19 19:23
XP, Vista and Windows 7 require admin privileges to write to the Program Files folder (as well as others).
There is nothing we can do about this, it's built into the operating system's security.
If you install it to another folder, it'll work fine, as DarkSpace uses no special features that require administrative rights.
On the note of the Medusa code, the installer is centralised around DarkSpace, not the engine. The engine facilitates the DarkSpace code and assets, and is then built. Using fancy scripts, we take files from the build, and compress it with a script into an EXE format that is the installer you know and many use.
The GCQ folder is merely the GameCQ code that connects the lobby and the game (simplified).
- J
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culix
Midshipman
Joined: January 16, 2010
Posts: 10
From: Canada
| Posted: 2010-01-19 22:08
Hey BackSlash, thanks for the reply.
>>XP, Vista and Windows 7 require admin privileges to write to the Program Files folder
>>There is nothing we can do about this, it's built into the operating system's security.
Cool, I get it. So what you think of having the installer warn the user if they select a location where they don't have write privileges. Then the user could install somewhere else. Does that sound reasonable?
>>the installer is centralised around DarkSpace, not the engine
>>Using fancy scripts, we take files from the build, and compress it with a script into an EXE format that is the installer
Thanks for the explanation. It looks like the installer is built from Nullsoft Installer Scripts, is that right? Are those the same thing as the 'fancy scripts' of which you speak?
If the installer is separate from the game engine, is the installer under source control too? Is the installer code available to the public?
Thanks!
culix
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Eledore Massis [R33]
Grand Admiral
Templar Knights
Joined: May 26, 2002
Posts: 2694
From: tsohlacoLocalhost
| Posted: 2010-01-23 20:02
The DS installer is indeed a nullsoft installer program. all it does is Dump the files it got into the direction you have and make appropriate editions to the register, and create the shortcut. i don't know if nullsoft is able to check for write privileges.
addition :
If you try to write to a protected directory as what "program files" is in Vista & 7. you require admin privileges, but like said above, if you change the installation path you may have full write/read access and not have this problem.
Secondly the register edit for most it requires administrator or power user access.
However in XP home i have seen that a normal user has all the access it needs to be able to install and run DS. XP Professional on the other hand requires atleast a Power user to install DS. This is because creating a new registry key requires the minimal of a Power user.
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