Quakestarter releases

Joel B

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Jul 8, 2022
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This was originally a discussion thread posted separately to discuss Quakestarter releases and bugs/feedback. Fairweather merged it into this resource after the resource was created.

We can still use it for the same purposes I think!
 
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Quakestarter v3.3.0 released

This release introduces an optional autoupdate feature. The autoupdater will cover all the Quakestarter files as well as vkQuake and Ironwail (if you got those as part of Quakestarter, i.e. you're not using the "noengine" bundle).

If you're updating an already-existing Quakestarter installation to 3.3.0, sorry, this new feature won't help you yet! You'll still need to do the "overwrite your current files with the contents of the zip" kind of thing. But for future releases after 3.3.0, you will be able to (if you wish) let the autoupdater handle things.

Assuming we don't discover any weird problems with the autoupdater, we can lean on it to do quick-response Quakestarter updates. For example when a new vkQuake or Ironwail version comes out, we can spin a new Quakestarter update to deliver those.

Over the years Quakestarter has also evolved so that it's not just a one-time setup program, or even just a menu of "good but really old releases", but also a menu of recent releases. This update goes even further in that direction with the addition of a "Latest Greatest" menu for releases that are "high profile" but don't have the necessary Quaddicted rating yet. This menu has been inaugurated with a few releases from the past six months as well as Coppertone Summer Jam 2.

For the full list of additions see the online changelog.
 
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Joel B updated Quakestarter with a new update entry:

Quakestarter v3.4.0, the Coppertone Redux Release

Hey let's test out that autoupdate feature! Coppertone Summer Jam 2 has had an update, so that version is now in the Latest Greatest menu and the previous (original) version is moved to legacies.

One confession to make here: I'm still learning about the best way to deal with downloads from Slipgate Sightseer. In this case, if you used Quakestarter v3.3.0 to install ctsj2 super recently, you may in fact...

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Joel B updated Quakestarter with a new update entry:

Quakestarter v3.5.0, the Generic September Update Release

This release just updates some of the installables as described below.

One other thing to note: I've set an official policy that entries will "age out" of the legacies menu if they sit there for six months without ever bouncing back into one of the main menus. This will help us keep the legacies menu from growing too large. I won't be enforcing this policy until the next release of Quakestarter, but FYI almost all of the current legacies entries are about to get the boot.

Of course...

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Joel B updated Quakestarter with a new update entry:

Quakestarter v3.6.0, the Brutal Release

Another installables update:
  • Add Quake Brutalist Jam in Latest Greatest. Prepare for concrete overload!
  • Remove aged-out entries from the legacies menu, as mentioned in the v3.5.0 release notes below.
  • Move quite a few entries to the legacies menu since their ratings have dipped below the threshold and stayed down there for a while now: The Castle of Koohoo, Biotoxin, Antediluvian, The Elder Reality, Waldsterben, and Slip Tripping.
This release also adds some basic...

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Joel B updated Quakestarter with a new update entry:

Quakestarter v3.8.0, New Year New Stuff

One major part of this release is bumping the bundled vkQuake engine from version 1.20.3 to 1.22.3. This may not sound like a large difference, but check out the vkQuake changelog for the 1.22.x releases. Some cool stuff in there.

This release also adds the recent GOG release of "Quake Enhanced" to the list of sources that the auto-setup assistant will use when trying to find soundtrack files for you.

The main new addition to the...

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Joel B updated Quakestarter with a new update entry:

Quakestarter v3.9.0, the Basically Just For Dwell 2 Release

A new version of Dwell has been released, not only updating its first episode extensively but also adding a whole new episode. One of the best ever Quake singleplayer releases is now better! So, of course we should update Quakestarter to get the new Dwell version into the Latest Greatest menu. This is that.

Other minor changes:

  • The vkQuake feature list in the...

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So, I'm pondering whether to keep updating this. Some life events broke my update momentum and now I wonder, eh, is it still that useful? The Quake remaster, various features of Ironwail/vkQuake, and even some updates to Quake Injector have IMO ablated away some of the value this used to provide.

Some of the documentation might still be interesting to have around, but I'm less convinced about the installer and mod-manager/launcher stuff. 7 years might be enough of a run for this ... we'll see.
 
I see that ironwail.exe is shipped along, but changing from vkQuake.exe doesn't work. Menu option for Ironwail looks like this: "1: ♀ironwail.exe" (yes, there's a symbol in there). Haven't debugged properly, forgive my laziness, my workaround was to add to "_quakestarter_cfg.cmd" line: "set quake_exe=ironwail.exe". It's a nice project and worth recommending others.

Edit: As a person who also has knowledge about Batch scripting and scripting for Linux - if I would be starting with such project from groundup I'd probably use Python 3 and try to make it work for Windows and Linux. But yes, I did some simple scripting for personal use and dropped it after getting acquainted with new Ironwail 0.7.0. Anyway Quake Starter has things that Quakeinjector and Ironwail doesn't have - possibility of downloading mods from curated list.
 
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Thanks for the comment!

Curious bug there. Those file names come from running this command in the Quake directory:

dir /a:-d /b *.exe

As far as I know that shouldn't ever include any leading icons or odd characters, so, hmm.
 
Thanks for the comment!

Curious bug there. Those file names come from running this command in the Quake directory:

dir /a:-d /b *.exe

As far as I know that shouldn't ever include any leading icons or odd characters, so, hmm.
I have Polish locale on my system and using modified command line with AnsiCon, running a command manually returns proper output. I'll debug later in a free moment.
1689659395598.png

1689659429727.png


edit: found the root cause, it is very rare: ansicon + custom script executed when starting cmd - and in this script calling "cls" was causing the issue xD
 
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I wasn't sure what to play next (maybe replay something). Started playing mods for other games (just finishing Blood: Eviction. Excellent one!).
With Quakestarter I've noticed that somehow I've missed playing "Doom Tintin Jam" so I'm catching up with it. I'll see if more mods from the list eluded me after finishing this one.
There is a similar project to this one - reddit.com/r/quake/comments/py715s but the difference is it has already a lot of predownloaded mods and some addons. Added note about this two in my quake-config repo (https://github.com/MashedD/quake-config).
In my opinion your solution (scripts layout, their quality, documentation) is splendid and have no complains! :) (Some mods could be updated some day, like Alkaline and Simple Quake Launcher - I wonder if extra args handling was fixed there, haven't used for some time.)
 
In my opinion your solution (scripts layout, their quality, documentation) is splendid and have no complains! :) (Some mods could be updated some day, like Alkaline and Simple Quake Launcher - I wonder if extra args handling was fixed there, haven't used for some time.)

Thanks, that's good to hear!

found the root cause, it is very rare: ansicon + custom script executed when starting cmd - and in this script calling "cls" was causing the issue xD

We could tackle this in a few different ways:
* If you have an idea for a fix that would also not break normal operation, send it to me (GitHub PR, message here, whatever) and I'll take a look.
* Or you can give me an exact setup and steps to replicate the problem myself.
* Or we can ignore it if it doesn't bother you and isn't likely to hit other folks. :)
 
Ultra rare case - can be ignored. I don't see possible solution for it on Quakestarter-side and might not be doable. I'm probably the only one person that was able to experience this because of my environment on Windows, so it is not worth even mentioning in a "Known bugs" section :) Repro steps in case you're stil curious:
1. Extract enclosed archive: "QSRepro.zip",
2. Review all file if nothing is malicious there.
3. Run "repro.bat" and note that everything is fine.
4. Edit "Register cmdstart.reg" and set absolute path to "_cmdstart.bat".
5. Double-click on "Register cmdstart.reg" to add running a script as an autostart for each "cmd.exe" session.
6. Run "repro.bat" to see an issue (if not, then maybe ANSICON has to be installed too, not 100% sure).
7. Edit "_cmdstart.bat" and remove "@cls" from there.
8. Run "repro.bat" that everything is ok.
9. Run "Unregister cmdstart.reg" to undo changes in a system.

Bonus, my cmdstart.bat looks something like this:


Code:
@echo off
:: Commented out cls as it was causing an issues running:
:: for /f "delims=" %%a in ('dir /a:-d /b *.exe') do (
::    echo %%a
:: )
:: from a script
@REM cls
title ansicon cmd
set "ROOT=%~dp0"
::call %ROOT%\..\Programs\ansicon\ansicon -i
set prompt=$E[1;32m$t$h$h$h $E[1;33;40m$p$g$E[m

set "PATH=%PATH%;%ROOT%"
set "PATH=%PATH%;C:\Data\PortableApps\7-ZipPortable\App\7-Zip"
set "PATH=%PATH%;%PROGRAMFILES%\Oracle\VirtualBox"
:: set "PATH=%PATH%;%PROGRAMFILES%\7-Zip"
:: set "PATH=%PATH%;C:\cygwin64\bin"
:: set "PATH=%PATH%;C:\cygwin64\home\%USERNAME%\.local\bin"
:: set "PATH=%PATH%;C:\Data\Programs\NirCmd"
:: set "PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files (x86)\DOSBox-0.74-3"
:: set "PATH=%PATH%;%APPDATA%\..\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools"
:: set "PATH=%PATH%;%APPDATA%\..\Local\Programs\Python\Python311"

if "%CD%"=="C:\Users\%USERNAME%" (
    type %ROOT%logo.ans
    if exist C:\Data cd C:\Data
)
 

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So, I'm pondering whether to keep updating this. Some life events broke my update momentum and now I wonder, eh, is it still that useful? The Quake remaster, various features of Ironwail/vkQuake, and even some updates to Quake Injector have IMO ablated away some of the value this used to provide.

Some of the documentation might still be interesting to have around, but I'm less convinced about the installer and mod-manager/launcher stuff. 7 years might be enough of a run for this ... we'll see.

Obviously I've not been updating lately. :-)

Everything I said before still applies, plus now Quaddicted is paused and Slipseer is where most-but-not-all things get posted, which means I no longer have available a well-used rating system covering all releases (to drive the selections for the mod installer). Ya Slipseer has ratings but they don't have much use (or much variance) and not everything is on Slipseer.

Consider this project mothballed. Of course it's open source so anyone can make use of any part of it they like, but that "anyone" won't be me for the foreseeable future.