Installer Packages - What do you think is better?

[xenogia]

I've been looking into installer package software (eg. Innosetup and NSIS).  I would like to know peoples thoughts on these for packaging AGS games.  Should I just make a self-extractable archive or use one of these programs?

And if so, which is one has more functionality?

[Mr Flibble]

Personally I prefer archives unless your game has something going on that specifically requires a launcher or something.

[Wyz]

Winrar has some really nice SFX modules, a few of them can also create menu entries and create files in the right places. It is not really straight forward, but I found them very useful in the past.

[xenogia]

Winrar has some really nice SFX modules, a few of them can also create menu entries and create files in the right places. It is not really straight forward, but I found them very useful in the past.

Where can you find these SFX modules?

[Wyz]

Well the ones I've used already came with winrar actually. Especially the default one was useful to me.

[xenogia]

Well the ones I've used already came with winrar actually. Especially the default one was useful to me.

I shall look into the all mighty glory of WINRAR, seems you guys are less adamant on Installer Packages.  I'm guessing because of how it messes with the registry and where it places the game.

[Stupot]

I'm happy with the way AGS games usually come.  That way I can just keep them all together in my AGS folder without anything really being installed anywhere.

[OneDollar]

I like Inno Setup personally, but a lot of people dislike installers. By all means create an installer version of your game, but I'd suggest linking to a .zip archive version as well.

[Radiant]

I would go with ZIP files; much easier for all involved.

[m0ds]

Inno setup. Just means doing some coding if you want to personalise the install process, but seriously - Inno is perfick! For games primarily for AGS community people zip of course, but for that professional touch - Inno. And it's free and easy to learn. Only gripe is that you have to put in root folder info for every file you want the exe to compress, or at least that's the only way I've found to do it. So be careful you don't overlook an important file!

The question really is, do you want people to access your game from the start menu, and include an un-installer and stuff, or do you just want them to have the zip floating about on their pc? Give it 20 years and we won't need Inno, everyone will know how to open a zip and how best to store it etc

But always if you're selling or wanting a pro edge - zip archives will look cheap & tacky to mainstream users.

[Mr Flibble]

zip archives will look cheap & tacky to mainstream users.

Is this true? I'd quite like some market research on that actually. I can also imagine some of the mainer-stream users not knowing what a zip file is, so we can safely assume they have no idea one way or the other.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Stick with archives unless you have a complete, full game to distribute.  A tiny, 5 minute game with an installer always makes me pause and wonder which took more time to do.  I have 0 problem with installers for finished games but then again I have 0 problem with archives for finished games.  Smart advice is avoid self-extractors and installers until you have something worth showing.

[Ryan Timothy B]

I personally hate AGS games that use an installer (I let it slide with the commercial or extremely well known ones).  It's an AGS game!  It doesn't need any 'installing' in most cases. lol
I understand that an installer is good for the technical-tards out there, no offense, but come on.

Honestly if you can't understand how to unzip a file and navigate explorer, you're almost helpless at this point considering XP and 7 both have unzipping abilities.   RAR is a damn hassle to anyone who doesn't know what it is and I personally don't see why anyone would compress anything with it over a ZIP for that reason alone.

I've never used an installer program so I really don't know much about setting them up, but If you're going to use one make sure it has the ability to uncheck the creation of a desktop icon and startmenu folder and icons--since they're what make me upset the most.  And yes, for an average AGS game who seriously wants it messing with the registry and needing an uninstaller?

[Gilbert]

Personally I'll avoid installers at all cost, unless it's essential to do so, like putting some registration info for the software to work. Most things should be made portable and could be freely moved from folder to folder any time without breaking anything.

But that's just my own preference.

[Saurabh]

Personally, I don't like installers much, Most of the time I extract the installer then zip it myself. If you do want to use an installer use Inno Setup, otherwise just compress it with 7z.

[InCreator]

"zip zip zip"

zip is so 1990.
Nobody uses zip anymore, RAR is where's the shit's at. And for some cases, 7z.

But yes, I'd prefer an archive over installer anytime.

[Ali]

Honestly if you can't understand how to unzip a file and navigate explorer, you're almost helpless at this point considering XP and 7 both have unzipping abilities.

Thanks to those features, when I first released Nelly Cootalot, some people ran the game from inside the Zip folder. At that time AGS defaulted to 320x240 so those people played the first third of the game with pixelly graphics until they came to a list of dialogue options that was larger than the screen and couldn't go any further or even quit.

AGS defaults might have changed and some people may have become more zip-savvy, but this would put me off zip files in the future.

[Dataflashsabot]

Perhaps you could implement error checking for such, try to read a file and if it fails pop up a nice friendly message explaining exactly what to do?

[veryweirdguy]

The need for an installer depends mainly on your target audience.

If you're looking for a casual audience, with little gaming experience, an installer would give the the game a feel of fake "professionalism," which would fool them.

If it's for gamers, especially those on this site, an archive would be best, as I'm sure this thread has proven.

[Khris]

I believe a good middle ground is creating a self-extracting exe using winrar.
It almost looks like an installer but won't mess with the registry. Also, people don't need to know what .rar files are.