Vista Games Explorer

[dr.bisho]

good work Ryan R ... u really did a great job ...thnx

[BlakByte]

This happens when i click "Load game info":

http://xs116.xs.to/xs116/07266/Untitled.jpg

But after clicking ok the game info window comes up, but empty (and yeah i have some games).. When i click at edit this happens:

http://xs116.xs.to/xs116/07266/Untitled2.jpg

IS this because of x64?

[Ryan R]

it is more likely because i haven't given you all the needed files that should go in the same dirctory as the .exe file.

I am about to repackage them all together and put it on my site - hang ten

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New version uploaded - please download it now

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[BlakByte]

Aight, could you get online at msn, i'd like to talk with you there.

[dr.bisho]

it is more likely because i haven't given you all the needed files that should go in the same dirctory as the .exe file.

I am about to repackage them all together and put it on my site - hang ten

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New version uploaded - please download it now

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so same website same link???

nice back ground btw blakbyte

[Ryan R]

same link

take note the time has updated from 4:30pm to 9:26 pm

From now on I will add revision numbers to the apps.

Consider the current version 'Beta 2.03'

[Ryan R]

Everytime you add a new game - the last one will be overwritten.

At this stage - the only way to successfully add a number of games with VGEE is as follows:

1) Run the wizard - choose your app

2) Add a new game

3) Close VGEE and add your old game back

4) Open VGEE, re-run the wizard and choose the old game again (as it will have a different GUID now).

5) Add your next game

You can re-run the wizard at any time by going to the 'Load Game Info' screen

[Jamibu]

Been communicating with Ryan to try and get this working, a quick note from my experience.

His instructions above MUST be followed, it's the best and easiest way of using it (adding the old game back is easy, just run it manually from the start menu or it's install location)

Getting boxart does have a twist. If you drag and drop the image from Firefox, it will be "unable to find the image". If you wish to drag and drop from a website, for now use IE, or failing that save the image from FF to your hard drive and point VGEE to that saved file

[Ryan R]

Are there any beta testers online atm?

Contact me via gmail or msn

[Ryan R]

Thanks guys - I don't need any more testers for now

[Ryan R]

I'm experimenting with the GDF Maker in the DX SDK

The goal would be to create a *game* that will point to and run VGEE (see screenshot).

At this stage, using the trophy picture looks awful, so I'm looking for members with an artistic flare to come up with another picture that can be used as the (default) preview. I say default because in theory you could use VGEE to change it's own *BoxArt* to whatever you want. :)

The picture should be be sized around 256x256 pixels.

Everyone can have a say in what pictures are good or not - I can also have multiple pictures installed with the app if there are some really ones.

The author of the best picture can have credit if they want.

Ryan

[Ryan R]

I've done some serahcing for images to use as BoxArt for VGEE. What do you think - can you find anything better?

[BlakByte]

I had my try Ryan :D

This is how i sort my games:

[Jamibu]

That icon looks pretty good Ryan, nice and obvious so it wont slip in to the background with my other games

[MiDiAN]

I tried beta 2 of your vgee...unfortunately it won't run stating it can only be used on windows vista.

unless someone sold me a very transparent windows 3.1 i am pretty sure i installed windows vista ultimate 32bit ;)

Could this be caused by my german version of vista ?

MiDiAN

[Ryan R]

MiDiAN

Click Start-->Run and type in msinfo32

This will tell you what OS you're running :)

Otherwise thanks for the bug find (although I would have to consider this an M$ bug).

Let me know what happens

[Ryan R]

VGEE Beta 2.05 Released

New features:

--> When you start the program, it checks to see if you added the old game back. If you did - it automatically finds it so that you don't have to run the Wizard again.

--> When you run the Wizard - it will show you the currently selected game that will be overwritten (if any was chosen).

My simplified to do list is as follows - please request stuff to be added to it if you want:

--> Edit BoxArt for Exisiting Games

--> Automatically add old (overwritten) game back to the VGE for the Editor to use.

[Ryan R]

Exiting News!!!

With the help of Jamibu who tested a few theories for me - we reckon we have found a way to add the final functions to VGEE. I am also working on an export/import function. So that people can easily import info for their games such as 'BoxArt', "Release Date', 'Description', etc

If there is anyone who would like to host these files (which presumably would be under 10 KB for each game - unless an actual boxart image file is supplied) please contact me. It would be even better if you know how I could get my program to automatically download and upload info from there as I don't have a clue! :)

VGEE Beta 2.06 was released a few days ago - but some users were having problems (which I believe is due to them accidently deleting something). Take this as a remainder to BACKUP the relevant part of your reg by Exporting it. (Ask if you don't know how - although the PDF guide does give some clues as to which key you should export (it's called "GameUX" - but I would backup the key that resembles 'S-135673-2326-24647-47757')

The next release will proabably occur sometime next week or the following week (unfortunately).

With these developments - there will be no need to add VGEE into the VGE. You could easily do this manually though if you wanted. I will provide that thumbnail in future releases just in case you want to.

[Ryan R]

This is a final call for your suggestions and feedback regarding VGEE.

I have successfully added the following features:

* Overwritten game is automatically added back to the VGE seamlessly. You don't have to close and reopen VGEE to add one game after the other.

* You can also edit boxart for existing games now.

* I have restricted VGEE so that it only accepts .jpg files. This is to ensure that you don't run into problems later on, and it also saves me typing out a lot more code to check file extensions everytime I need to copy a file accross.

* You can still drag jpg files straight out of IE into VGE. Due to how Firefox works, you are unable to drag'n'drop files straight into VGEE.

* Since I have not had any emails regarding storing the Game Info online, I'm not going to spend anymore time writing code to export and import these.

You can download VGEE Beta 2.07 soon from http://ryzza007.googlepages.com/vgee when I upload it.

Pending the creation of a setup wizard, I will upload a FINAL VERSION of the app to my website and to other Download Sites (pls recommend good ones here).

Please help out by looking for any bugs you can find in version 2.07 - before I upload a final version.

Regards,

Ryan R

[Jamibu]

All things seem to be succesful, VGEE is making life very easy and no annoying things of "you'll just need to do this afterwards"

Things seem to have moved on fantastically!

[SHADOW-XIII]

unfrtunately still images (boxarts) does not appear in Games folder altough are seen proprely in VGEE

and altough I set Genre of games to STRATEGY still new ones are shown as "Unknown" when Grouping by Genre.

[Jamibu]

unfrtunately still images (boxarts) does not appear in Games folder altough are seen proprely in VGEE

and altough I set Genre of games to STRATEGY still new ones are shown as "Unknown" when Grouping by Genre.

Describe the process you use to add boxart images, as they will only show up if the game you are editing was added by either Vista, or this editor.

[Ryan R]

Hi Jamibu and others

Later on I'll have a crack at making it possible to edit games that weren't added to the VGE properly.

ie - when you hit the 'Edit' button - it'll delete the game, then re-add it properly by overwriting your other game (followed by that game being re-added).

SHADOW-XIII - I'm guessing that you are trying to edit a game that you dragged into the VGE. Remember - to have boxart for your games, they have to overwrite a game that Vista automatically adds (and you likely haven't done this as of yet). Read the pdf guide on my site if you are new to this.

I'll let you know when I make this addition - it'll take quite a bit of coding.

Keep your comments coming :)

[duke]

I made a program to add games to Game Explorer, it is possible to edit and delete information about games from Game Explorer.

You can drag a file into the game window or icon Game Explorer Manager, but will be asked to add the game.

Download

[duke]

I made a program to add games to Game Explorer, it is possible to edit and delete information about games from Game Explorer.

You can drag a file into the game window or icon Game Explorer Manager, but will be asked to add the game.

Download

Beta 2

Fix cover drawing bug.