[REL] Vista Game Explorer Editor

[Ryan R]

It's 100% free for everyone - the fact that I have it must prove that point :)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...75-0dcab31459b5

[Unimatrix Xero]

finally this isnt removing the games that i add as custom entrys, its a shame you cant program the WEI scores into the program :(

[jjrambo]

It's 100% free for everyone - the fact that I have it must prove that point :)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...75-0dcab31459b5

I guess this gets embedded to Visual Studio 2005 or 2008. I wish i have more time to play with, since i'm working on .NET platform on daily basis. But, after 8 hours of work on it...you want to forget about programming :)

[theyarecomingforyou]

I find the Game Explorer to be slow and unhelpful to start with, so I barely use it. With a 10,000RPM hard-drive it is still very slow upon first load and I find it quicker to get to games other ways (either desktop shortcuts or the All Programs menu). Microsoft didn't really think it through very well and what should have been a very useful feature turned out to be pointless and slow. Don't get me wrong I think it's great that tools like this are being developed for people that want them but it's just a shame that the feature it's designed around is rubbish.

[Ryan R]

The new E-Explorer program that's in development will allow the editing of WEI scores and everything else.

The SDK is completely separate to Visual Studio in the sense that you don't need VS to run the SDK. Hopefully

E-Explorer will load a lot quicker on the faster systems. On the older P4 1.7GHz 1GB RAM XP laptop that I'm building this app on - it takes a while to load all the images from the skins, but on my Core2Duo system with Vista and 2GB RAM it loads instantly so far. We'll see what happens when I get to the stage where it loads all of the game images.

I have configured VGEE 2.14a so that if you run it when E-Explorer is released - you'll be notified about E-Explorer's release. 2.14a will only notify you once just in case you want to use VGEE instead. Older versions of VGEE will always tell you about E-Explorers release.

ETA is about 1 month - the amount of time I've had to work on this has gone down a fair bit since resuming work - but I'll always post updates here and to http://vge.editor.googlepages.com/e-explorer

[Ryan R]

I've gathered all of the GUIDs for the Content Descriptors, Rating Systems, Saved Game BaseKnownID folders, the lot really.

Hopefully I should have completed the code that writes the XML data needed to add a new game or edit an existing one.

Following this will be the functions to load and display all the games similar to the VGE.

A user of VGEE sent me this link for getting BoxArt if you want to check it out:

http://www.tothegame.com/gamebrowse.asp?platform=pc

I won't be updating VGEE to use it unless you all want me to - but E-Explorer will most likely use it.

[Ayepecks]

I find the Game Explorer to be slow and unhelpful to start with, so I barely use it. With a 10,000RPM hard-drive it is still very slow upon first load and I find it quicker to get to games other ways (either desktop shortcuts or the All Programs menu). Microsoft didn't really think it through very well and what should have been a very useful feature turned out to be pointless and slow. Don't get me wrong I think it's great that tools like this are being developed for people that want them but it's just a shame that the feature it's designed around is rubbish.

Mine loads up extremely fast and my hard drive isn't 10,000RPM. Loads just as fast as any other Windows explorer window.

[Ryan R]

I was thinking along the same lines - a 10,000 RPM HDD is pretty useless if you only have 512mb of RAM and/or a 2.0 GHz CPU. What are your other specs?

[General Crespin]

Also depends on how much memory the processes you have running in the background are using; I also have to say that something else is is affecting your install.

[Noin]

I don't know of course how the new VGEE will handle adding games but wouldn't the easiest way be adding the necessary resources (xml, icon, thumbnail) to an empty stub dll to generate a perfect GDF fast and then just use the regular GameUX import methods to register the game? Assuming you haven't thought of that already :)

[Ryan R]

Basically E-Explorer will generate a stub dll file for every game, and E-Explorer injects the xml data and BoxArt Thumbnail, etc into it when you make changes - followed by the Vista Add Game Function. The functions to do all of that are complete - the main application itself just has to catchup to that stage so that everything can be tested. Slowly but surely we're getting there - remember this is a 'spare time' project.

I'm also happy to report that since the release of VGEE Beta 2.14 - there have been hardly any emails or bug reports. It must be nearly a year since the original VGEE Beta 1 was conceived - well Ok, there's still a few months left before then. :)

[XPSDimension]

Hi Ryan,

The website http://www.allgame.com is back online.

Question: I have GDF maker too. When I create gamedata for my game, it creates:

<name>.rc

<name>.h

And in a map NEU:

boxart_NEU.png

<name>.gdf.xml

What can I do with these files? I have Visual Studio 2008.

I want to know how to create a DLL with these files.

Can you explain me how to do that?

Thanks

[Ryan R]

Have a look here:

http://www.google.com/search?q=msdn+compil...amp;startPage=1

E-Explorer doesn't use the .rc and .h files. As explained above - it just has the xml text that EE generates (and inserts it directly into an already-existing blank dll file that gets copied).

If you want the details - I suggest you ask 72001 (Julius) since he is the author of that particular code. I am writing the applciation that uses his code and provides the other features. I haven't even tried changing ratings on my VGE yet - only he has (with success). Hopefully you can wait until E-Explorer gets released - it shouldn't be too far away now. Most of the hard stuff is done - it's just taking the time to add everything else now to make the functions usable.

[Ryan R]

This page gives you an example of how to turn your GDF files into a dll (binary) file:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/b...443(VS.85).aspx

[XPSDimension]

Thank you very much for your information!

[Noin]

Purely out of devious fun, I wonder if it'd be possible to inject the data into the main game executable itself since the GDF needs to be in the install path anyway. Technically should work :whistle:

[lettuce]

Hi, have just come across this vge prog and am having a problem with it after installing it i run the set up wizard but on the first step i get the following message

Have tried creating a new account in vista but still get the same problem, have done what it suggested but opening the game explorer page and refreshing but with no joy, how do i fix this?

Edited February 17, 2008 by lettuce

[Ryan R]

Do you want to try and fix that image up again? -- The pic's URL links only to the IS homepage - not to a larger pic that I can actually read.

It's midnight here so I probably won't post again until morning.

By the looks of things - you need to make use of the Dummy game that is linked from my VGE site (http://vge.editor.googlepages.com)

Instructions on how to use it are on previous pages of this thread - and also have a look at the Video on how to add a supported game that's on my VGEE page.

[lettuce]

Ok, but that dummy game file doesnt include a exe file for nfs, just a crack exe file!!?

EDIT: Fixed downloaded the other NFS3 file on that site linked to for your 'Dummy Game', which has a fixed exe file in. you might want to change the link on your page so it links to the correcr nfs3 file

http://www.gameburnworld.com/dl/dl.php?fil...FixedexeEng.rar

Edited February 17, 2008 by lettuce

[Ryan R]

I decided to stop hosting the original nfs3 exe file on my site just in case people were concerned about it violating copyright, so I can only assume a cracked version of the exe file on another site will work the same way. In the video on my site you see that I have the whole game - but you only need that .exe file as a 'dummy game' (one that you don't play unless you already had it). The exe file is useless on its own - except for that Vista should still add it to the VGE presuming you add it correctly (see the video) and are connected to the Internet.

[72001]

Purely out of devious fun, I wonder if it'd be possible to inject the data into the main game executable itself since the GDF needs to be in the install path anyway. Technically should work :whistle:

yea unless when the author of a said game releases a patch that checks the crc32 / md5 or even the size to a value which it knows that it should be and finds that the exe has been modified and then the game will not patch im sure you and everyone else will be quite upset about how e-explorer broke your game and disable patching.....

the current method is the only safe method.

create a dll.

inject the resources.

copy the dll to the install path.

call the registergame / registermediacenter win32 api on the created dll.

if anyone figures out anything better then I am all ears but me and ryan have put a ton of work into this with no contribution from anyone which makes it take even longer to complete.

if anyone would like to contribute I am all for it as this is supposed to be a community project...

:whistle:

[Ryan R]

If anyone is craving updates for E-Explorer - I posted more info and another screenie on the site

http://vge.editor.googlepages.com/e-explorer

[Noin]

yea unless when the author of a said game releases a patch that checks the crc32 / md5 or even the size to a value which it knows that it should be and finds that the exe has been modified and then the game will not patch im sure you and everyone else will be quite upset about how e-explorer broke your game and disable patching.....

the current method is the only safe method.

create a dll.

inject the resources.

copy the dll to the install path.

call the registergame / registermediacenter win32 api on the created dll.

if anyone figures out anything better then I am all ears but me and ryan have put a ton of work into this with no contribution from anyone which makes it take even longer to complete.

if anyone would like to contribute I am all for it as this is supposed to be a community project...

:whistle:

I know that really, I was just pondering out of fun. I'd love to help but my own version of a GDF builder, which was working fine just days ago, is suddenly having problems injecting icons.. so I doubt how much help I'd be... stupid win32.. here's to hoping for a fully .NET based OS even though that's not gonna happen....

[FrothyDog]

I can use some help here....

I am getting the same "It appears that there are no games in the list" error message. Yet when I start Vista Games Explorer I can see 3 games (Bioshock, Crysis, and Sins of a Solar Empire). I have attempted to use the NFS3.exe dummy file and for some reason Vista does not automatically download information. It just sits there with NFS3 in the games explorer.

Also, my GameUX registry has a slightly different structure than what I've seen posted here. Mine has the following

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameUX]
"LastSupportedGameInstallTime"=hex(b):30,00,f2,64,0e,6e,c8,01

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameUX\Games]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameUX\Games\{0A759F0C-A9CE-4F13-98D8-FECB921A72B3}]
"ConfigInstallType"="2"
"ConfigApplicationPath"="D:\\Games\\BioShock\\Builds\\Release"
"ConfigGDFBinaryPath"="D:\\Games\\BioShock\\Builds\\Release\\Bioshock.exe"
"ApplicationId"="{626DCEE9-781B-49D7-81C0-C41CCC9386F7}"
"Title"="BioShock"
"IsSigned"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameUX\Games\{622AC228-E829-4892-B455-759C8964DE4C}]
"ConfigInstallType"="2"
"ConfigApplicationPath"="D:\\Games\\Sins of a Solar Empire\\"
"ConfigGDFBinaryPath"="D:\\Games\\Sins of a Solar Empire\\Sins of a Solar Empire.exe"
"ApplicationId"="{B4328592-FD76-44FB-A0AD-C4BC40D547F2}"
"Title"="Sins of a Solar Empire"
"IsSigned"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameUX\Games\{982CD0B3-968E-4A6D-A90D-551BF80BAE3A}]
"ConfigInstallType"="2"
"ConfigApplicationPath"="D:\\Games\\Crysis\\"
"ConfigGDFBinaryPath"="D:\\Games\\Crysis\\Tools\\VistaEssentials.dll"
"ApplicationId"="{CDC82B4A-7540-45A5-B92E-9A7C7033DBF2}"
"Title"="Crysis"
"IsSigned"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameUX\S-1-5-21-3033551234-229187754-3103735-1000]

In other words, the game IDs are appearing under GameUX\Games, not under my SID.

[Ryan R]

You know how some of the manual guides that were written before VGEE say that you can't use games that have the 'Games for Windows' label - that's what they are - they automatically get their boxart from a file that is installed manually - not from the Internet - which is why VGEE doesn't recognise them.

Some user accounts never download boxart from the net when they should - it has happened to me twice. You should try creating a new windows account and get the nfs3 dummy game working in that. Some people say that just double-clicking NFS3.exe will add it to the VGE - despite the fact it won't run without the other files.

When you do have VGEE setup properly - you edit games like those 3 by deleting them and re-adding them through VGEE. otherwise you'll have to wait for E-Explorer which I'm making now which will support those 3 games.