Windows Vista has a feature called the Game Explorer, which is a special folder on the Start Menu that lists all the games installed on the user's system and provides easy shortcuts to play them.

AGS is now able to add your games to this list. However, in order to do so you would need to distribute your game using an installer rather than just in a plain zip file, since you need to tell AGS to add the game to the list at install-time.

The "Games" option launches the Game Explorer

Enabling Game Explorer support

Open the General Settings pane in the editor. If you scroll down to the bottom of the list, you'll find a section titled "Windows Vista Game Explorer". The main setting is called "Enable Game Explorer integration", and is disabled by default. Set this to True if you want to be able to add your game to the Game Explorer (it will have no effect on Windows XP and earlier versions).

Game Explorer settings

The rest of the settings here allow you to set up various fields that the Game Explorer can display. Developer Website must be a URL starting with "http://" if you fill it in, and Version must be a four-point version number (eg. 1.0.0.0).

The Windows Experience Index is a score that Vista gives each computer depending on its game-playing prowess. 1 is the lowest score, and 5 is the highest at present. This field allows you to specify the minimum score required to play your game (this will usually be 1 for AGS games, unless you have high resolution and lots of animation).

Save games

If you set the Save games folder name property in the Saved Games section, then the Game Explorer will provide a right-click option to go straight to the save game folder. This is only useful if you also enable Enhanced Save Games.

Parental controls

AGS is not currently able to support the Vista Parental Controls, due to Vista requiring the game to be digitally signed for this to work. Digital signatures require you to buy a certificate from an authority such as Verisign, so at present they are not supported. Your game will be classed as "Unrated" by Vista.

Boxart image

The Game Explorer can display a high-resolution alpha-blended image for your game, rather than the standard game icon. To utilise this, place a file called GameExplorer.png in your game folder, and rebuild the game EXE. This must be a PNG image, no larger than 256 x 256 pixels:

My game ("Chris Kwest") in the Game Explorer

Adding the game to the Game Explorer

In order to actually add the game to the Game Explorer's list, you need to run the game executable with the special parameter -registergame When you do this, AGS will add the game to the Game Explorer and exit. If it is successful, it will not display any messages.

Therefore, as part of your installer, once the game files are all installed you should add a step at the end to run the game EXE file with this parameter. It will do nothing on Windows XP and earlier versions.

For un-installing, run the game EXE again but with a -unregistergame parameter. This will cause AGS to remove the game from the Game Explorer's list.

NOTE: If you have both Enhanced Save Games and Game Explorer Integration enabled, then the -registergame and -unregistergame commands will register/unregister both.

Cross-Platform Support

Windows: Vista only
MS-DOS: No
Linux: No
MacOS: No