[REL] Vista Game Explorer Editor

[CheeseFart]

i have found a bug where it comes up with an error and doesn't list all the games if i finds a game in the registry with no 'Title' key

[Badie05]

Well...I uninstalled Oblivion and I haven't been getting any problems.

[Ryan R]

i have found a bug where it comes up with an error and doesn't list all the games if i finds a game in the registry with no 'Title' key

The 'Title' key is just as important as the game ID (basically it's crucial) - so if any were missing then it would be reasonable to expect VGEE to have problems. When you load a game - it has to show all the Game Titles for you to choose from, but it also has to know the GUID that the title is linked to to be able to load all the data. Fix the problem manually before trying to use VGEE.

I've been toying with the idea of building a whole new program that might act as an Explorer and an Editor for games, DVD movies (if you store them on your HDD), and other things. I should be able to get it working on XP as well. I have no plans on starting yet, so if you have any ideas or want to be a partner of the project let me know. Feel free to start a new thread and post the link to it here.

[CheeseFart]

i managed to fix it, just thought you would like to know ;)

[Coggi]

Hi, just wanted to show my VGE :)

As you can see i managed to add minimum and raccomanded ratings, pegi ratings, modified game version and added custom icon 256 x 256(i don't like boxart :s).

This using microsoft directx Game definition file editor and a bit of registry hack.

Still this doesn't remove "automatic downloaded info" games(like warcraft III is) but however, just right click -> hide game :p

Bye :)

[Recon Killer]

Ryan, your program rocks!

[djwhite]

I've got a problem where VGEE will add the new games but not add the overwritten game. When I looked at the registry (as shown in the pic) the overwritten game is being added in the wrong place, so it doesn't show up properly.

[Badie05]

Well I never had that problem. Ryan'll take a look djwhite. As for me...I am having the error where VGEE doesn't detect any games that get auto detected by Vista. Do the newer Game for Windows titles like Crysis qualify? Cause It was automatic but VGEE is telling me there are none. I recently uninstall Oblivion, my previous game that was used to overwrite. What steps can I take to get it to work again. The suggestions from the error message where not helpful at all.

[Ryan R]

In case you haven't noticed, VGEE Beta 2.13b has been released.

It fixes the bug experienced by djwhite and a few others where the Overwritten game doesn't get added back to the VGE properly - due to the exported .reg file on their systems being slightly different to those of the rest of us.

If your game get's added automatically, but DOES NOT get the information from the Internet - it DOES NOT qualify to be used by VGEE. If you check out your registry, and see the value stored in the BoxArt key for that game, it won't be a URL (or won't exist at all). Or it won't be stored in the same registry location as the other games (it might be under GameUX\Games instead of GameUX\{very long S-ID number}

If you don't have any games that get the BoxArt from the Internet - use this .exe file from and old Need For Speed 3 game. http://ryzza007.googlepages.com/nfs3.exe Don't save it to your desktop - because as soon as you move/delete the nfs3.exe file - it will dissapear from VGE and VGEE won't be able to use it.

For bug reports - please email me using the form on my webpage - I don't always get notified of replies to this thread (such as the last 2 posts for example - never saw them before until I came here on my own). If the form isn't big enough for all of your text - send me a shorter message and I'll reply so you can email me properly.

I should have a fair bit of time over the next few weeks to work on VGEE - so send me your requests now.

Regards,

Ryan R

[Ryan R]

Hi everyone.

I have spent all afternoon working on updating VGEE and all night learning the NSIS scripting language to update the Installer. I have finally finished VGEE Beta 2.14 - and I believe that it's a stable release.

Here's what's new:

<> Completely finished the Importing code for VGI files. You can now import a VGI file for any game that was made from any computer on any user account. So please start creating VGI files and sending them to me so that I can store them online. Please only send information that is accurate, complete (all fields filled in if possible). Also let me know which games are supported by Vista (get added automatically). If you are unsure - run VGEE and click the Options link near the top to see the list of support games in the Wizard page.

<> Fixed small bugs for adding new games.

<> File association code is no longer run from the VGE program, but from the installer app. Hopefully this stops those error messages some users have been getting.

<> Brand new installer app. Includes desktop and Start Menu shortcuts. Unfortunately I haven't figured out a way to use the installer as an *updater*, so for now any new updates will be saved to your desktop, which you can run after uninstalling the older versions. This will only apply when I release Beta 2.14a or 2.15.

<> Uninstaller now appears in appwiz.cpl

This would have to be one of the most stable releases of VGEE in a while now, so if you haven't upgraded for a while I would suggest trying out Beta 2.14

My ToDo list is also gettings shorter - so please email me any bugs/suggestions as always.

Hope you all enjoy this latest release.

Ryan R

http://ryzza007.googlepages.com/vgee

[EL1TE]

Hello Ryan, i'm having some problelms with this application.

When i try to add more information and a cover to my Guitar Hero III it simply shows an error, i've deleted the game and now i get this error:

I have .NET Framework 3.5 Installed, as well 2.0 and 3.0 (which come with my Vista Ultimate x86).

Also i can't edit information of Battlefield 2 (it don't show allow to edit some games), which i have added long ago with a version that i've downloaded from Sourceforge.

Thank you.

[Ryan R]

Can you email me with the details (what button you clicked before that appeared). I;ll be at work today so you'll have to wait until tonight/tomorrow.

[EL1TE]

Can you email me with the details (what button you clicked before that appeared). I;ll be at work today so you'll have to wait until tonight/tomorrow.

Sure, e-mail sended.

--

I think i've found the problem.

I can't add games, unless, i clear the Developer URL field.

If that field is clear that doesn't show any error.

P.S.: I've tried to use both http://www and http://, but the error still appear.

[Ryan R]

The Homepage.url file (on which your error is based) is not cruicial at all to the running of VGEE or adding games. It's just an extra feature some people wanted, and I obviously don't have it working 100% yet. I'll look into the code tomorrow and either fix it or temporarily remove it. In the meantime just ignore it and press Continue - all you games should still add file (regardless of where the Developer field is empty or not. VGEE just checks to see if either the Developer URL or Publisher URL box has any links in it, and then if so it delete's any existing shortcuts and creates a new one based on that info. It's suposed to show up in your VGE when you select a game, click Support Tasks up the top - and then there should be an item called HomePage.

[EL1TE]

Ok then, i won't add the Developer URL, since it works perfectly without it.

Thank you. :yes:

[GibMonkey]

Not exactly sure what I am doing wrong.

Never had the "Games" option in my start menu, so I enabled it and saw Gears of War, The Witcher, Bioshock and Crysis plus a bunch of windows games.

Installed your software and it gives me a blurb about it being the first time, followed by another windows with a two step process followed by it saying it cannot find any games so it is going to exit until the problem is rectified. (Sorry, I'm posting from work and this happened last night). If you need a more detailed description let me know.

I know there are games installed, I know it is set to download artwork in the options. What am I missing here?

Regardless, nice work on this software. Thanks for taking the time to code it.

[Ayepecks]

Just a small FYI, but it seems whenever you hide a game, VGEE goes crazy and doesn't load all your games properly as it says you've edited it manually.

[Ryan R]

Thanks for the FYI - never considered that before. You could avoid it by just using VGEE to delete the game (and possibly export it before deleting if you ever wanted to add it back again quickly).

@Gib - I'd say that you have everything setup and you have told the VGE to download information from the Internet - but that doesn't mean that any of your game ACTUALLY have done this. If you need a game to use in the Wizard (after the blurb thing) :) try using this one: http://ryzza007.googlepages.com/nfs3.exe

Here's a quick video showing you how to add it properly so that everything gets downloaded: http://ryzza007.googlepages.com/01-AddSuportedGame.exe

Other news - Softpedia has surprised me by putting VGEE on their site with their 100% FREE award for Beta 2.14. Hopefully they can keep up with all the updates. :D

[Unimatrix Xero]

The bandwidth or page view limit for this site has been exceeded and the page cannot be viewed at this time. Once the site is below the limit, it will once again begin serving as normal.

you know i dont know why i bother trying this program for, each game i add/edit, it removes a game entry thats already there

Edited December 20, 2007 by Unimatrix Xero

[GibMonkey]

@Gib - I'd say that you have everything setup and you have told the VGE to download information from the Internet - but that doesn't mean that any of your game ACTUALLY have done this. If you need a game to use in the Wizard (after the blurb thing) :) try using this one: http://ryzza007.googlepages.com/nfs3.exe

Here's a quick video showing you how to add it properly so that everything gets downloaded: http://ryzza007.googlepages.com/01-AddSuportedGame.exe

It won't let me get to the wizard, it exits before I can do it. I tried looking at the video but it had exceeded bandwidth. I'll install and try again in the meantime. Thanks!

[Ryan R]

Great - now so many people are on my site I can't even edit my VGEE page.

In a few hours I'll update the Sourceforge page to share the load

[Ayepecks]

Thanks for the FYI - never considered that before. You could avoid it by just using VGEE to delete the game (and possibly export it before deleting if you ever wanted to add it back again quickly).

I've tried that, but apparently there's a problem with SiN Episodes: Emergence and Half-Life 2: Episode One (and I think Prey) where they re-add themselves (even if you already have an edited version of them in your Games Explorer) for some reason. I tried deleting them from VGEE, but it said it couldn't compile a complete list of games for some reason, so I had to go into regedit and delete them -- but it happens everytime I play them. After I exit the game, they're back in the Games Explorer.

[Ryan R]

You'll likely have to use the 'Repair Your VGE' function and start again since everything got screwed up when you hid that game. I'll see if I can work out a fix for it next week.

In the meantime, I quickly created a website that will start hosting VGEE soon to help balance the load (since there are nearly 8000 VGEE users around).

The site just has information at the moment - no downloads - but here is the link - http://vge.editor.googlepages.com

[Ayepecks]

I can get it all to work without doing that by going into regedit and deleting it manually instead of hiding it, it's just that I have to do it every time. Not too big a deal, just annoying. I'm not sure why it started happening with Episode One (HL2) recently, because it never happened before.

[Ryan R]

I've updated the new page. It has downloads, links, and overall I think it looks better than the old site. I have changed the update file so that all users updating from older versions of VGEE will get the update from the new site.

Attached are the stats for my old VGEE page - I released Beta 2.14 late Wednesday night, and you can see how many hits I've had since then. I still can't view the images on my site.