E-Explorer (replacement for Vista Game Explorer)

[Ryan R]

I thought it would be a good idea to start off with a wishlist of stuff you'd like to see in the program. When I do actually release it - this will be the place for bug reports and other stuff as well.

But first off - what would you like to see in the Entertainment Explorer program?

I'll post some of my ideas below and let you add to the list

Edited August 12, 2009 by Ryan R

[Ryan R]

* Provide access to Games, downloadable content (i.e. patches, mods, etc), and possibly other media (movies, music albums, game previews (movies & screenshots), etc).

* Edit all game information as shown in E-Explorer and in the VGE (and whatever they call it in Windows 7 - W7GE maybe) :)

* Have options to run EE at system startup - hide in systray when not in use

* Stop programs/services before launching games found in the 'High-End' list and resume these apps when game quits. Old games with low requirements won't need to do this).

* Automatically check for program updates. Check for new information (trailers, screenshots, etc) on new games that you are interested in, or new games that match a genre you are interested in. (I have no-idea how I'd be able to do this - but this is just a wishlist) :)

* Pack/unpack feature: if you're about to format your PC use an unpack feature to gather everything you've customized and downloaded into one folder that you can easily backup yourself, and vice-versa

* Add/edit games in Vista Media Centre

* Support use of Media Centre remote controls in the EE app.

* Find a way to alter volume of music you're playing in background independent of game volume without Alt-Tabbing or pausing game to change it's volume). (Another feature I have no idea how to program as of now) :)

I'll no-doubt think of more stuff - but hopefully this gets the ball rolling and you guys have some great features that you'd like to see added.

[ryoran109]

The ability to edit games that have specifically designed VGE entries (I forget what thats called). It really ****es me off when I see the game's logo where the box art should be. (OCD or something?)

[Ryan R]

The ability to edit games that have specifically designed VGE entries (I forget what thats called).

Yep - that will be in there

[Unimatrix Xero]

hows about a public beta?

[Ryan R]

hows about a public beta?

Coming very soon - a week or two hopefully

[ryoran109]

What kind of functionality can we expect to see in the beta?

[Ryan R]

It will start off with the same sort-of functionality as VGEE - will view games, edit games, and allow you to add games. This should work great for XP users as soon as I fix a couple of things. I need to chat with Julius to discuss the Vista code - but when he'd finished linking a few things together most of the Vista functionality will be there. From then on, it will mainly just be adding features, making it looks better (thanks Schik for the icons - haven't figured out how to get the .png transparency going yet though), and fixing whatever bugs you find. I'd release it right now but some parts of it don't work quite right yet - and I don't want to be responsible for stuffing up anyone's VGE just yet (I'm doing my testing in the Virtual PC with Vista so it's ok for me to stuff it up, plus I know how to fix it).

Is there anyway to cross-post this into the XP forums? I dare-say quite a few XP users haven't really heard of VGEE or EE as of yet.

[Maighstir]

So... I've been using VGEE for quite a while, though it seems most of my games at the moment are detected pretty much automagically by VGE, there's always a few ones that are not.

I'm looking forward to trying out E-Explorer, and I have but one wish except what you already seem to have planned - along with the backup feature, it'd be nice to be able to easily back up/resore the game's registry entries (as I install all games on another drive, and being able to back up the game's registry entries means I won't have to reinstall them when I nuke&pave the windows drive). It might be too much work (or even not possible) to do automatically, but if the registry entries can't be found automatically, give the user the option to manually add keys to back up for each game.

[NienorGT]

Screenshot? Something?

[Ryan R]

I could give a screenshot (although don't have them on me on this PC) - but truth be told we haven't focused on visuals since the time screenshots were put on the EE website. The only change is that the game icons/box art no longer stretch/skew and look a lot better now. Julius is finishing the last bit of Vista code before Alpha-1 is released.

[D@V!D]

i am really waiting for ur program!! :) do u have a release date for the alpha version??

thanks for all ur time, work and dedication mate! ;)

[ryoran109]

How about being able to use URL images for box art?

[Ryan R]

That currently is supported in VGEE - except that it makes a local copy of the image and references that. If you ever lost a connection to the Internet, that would cause problems, unless EE uses the offline copy by default and periodically checks for an updated online version to replace the offline one.

[myztikrice]

Didn't you say you were close to a working version sometime in February or something? This is kind of ridiculous.

[Ryan R]

If you have WinXP I'll send you a WIP version if you like. If you're using Vista then it will only stuff things up. I've been working on this with Julius, who's in a completely different time-zone (16 hours behind me), and we both have fulltime jobs, and in case you haven't guessed - we both like playing games in our spare time too. You do the math of how much time is left.

I am waiting for Julius to find some time and motivation to finish more of the Vista code and send the project back to me. What I've done recently is get the XP side of things nearly to completion - then there's the GUI that needs a bit of work (button transparency is still an issue), and adding other extra features will come after the first release.

I'd love to get Alpha 1 out ASAP as much as the next person wants to try it - but if I put it out as is, a lot of people will complain that it's stuffed up their VGE since I'd be forcing it to the coded XP method which will confuse Vista.

[ryoran109]

Didn't you say you were close to a working version sometime in February or something? This is kind of ridiculous.

He meant February 2009! Duh! :p

[Ryan R]

Quickly checking to see if there are any other coders out there - I haven't heard from Julius in a month or so and am stuck since the app bombs out on some of his code and I don't have the faintest idea how to fix it (I'm only a novice VB .NET programmer remember).

Feel free to reply or PM me.

(When I said 'Februrary', I didn't have a full time job, and didn't realise I'd be starting one in Jan 08, plus Julius changed jobs and both of us have become heaps busier, so it's a case of 'see you when I see you' with us, not to mention the huge timezone difference). Still - a big thanks to Julius for his help so far despite the fact I can't get the Vista code to list the installed games properly atm (used to work - I prob stuffed something up again). Most of his modules are ported from C to VB which is the main reason why I don't really get any of it (plus I never really understood the way the VGE worked with the WMI anyway).

So, anyone want to join the dev list for this project?

[General Crespin]

Didn't you say you were close to a working version sometime in February or something? This is kind of ridiculous.

Remind me... How much are you paying him to do this?

Oh wait.

NOTHING. NOT ONE DAMN DOLLAR.

And you have the GALL to complain that it's not ready when he said it would be?

[D@V!D]

hi how are u? i just want u to know that ur tool will be great and i hope u can finish it soon cuz is really useful! thx for ur dedication mate! cheers! :D

[Malskazz]

Remind me... How much are you paying him to do this?

Oh wait.

NOTHING. NOT ONE DAMN DOLLAR.

And you have the GALL to complain that it's not ready when he said it would be?

Agreed.. Even tho he meant Feb 09, its not fair to bitch over freeware not being released on time

[myztikrice]

Insult me when you have a better argument. I should start handing out poisoned and rotten food to starving children. Nevermind that it's morally negligent, and murder, IT'S FREE DURRRR. This program gave me a virus NOT UR FAULT IZ FREE DURRRR

[artibatirae]

God knows Neowin forumites can be stupid, but you take the ****ing cake, myztikrice...

[D@V!D]

is there any news mate? im really waiting for this program!! ;)

[Unimatrix Xero]

calm down people!