Announcing the Launcher

Smashing news guys!! Great work.

Sweet! Nice job Aayrl and the Platinum Team! You rock!

OH YEAH!!

I was gonna suggest this but this happened! Like a minecraft launcher, right?

Hey folks,

Jumping in to clarify a few things. The launcher is written in native Java 7, meaning it's compatible on most OS platforms (Mac, Windows, and Linux). The launcher works similar to the Minecraft Launcher (for those familiar with that application) in the sense it will automatically detect when files have been updated on our Marble Blast servers, and prompt the user to install the newly updated files before continuing to launching the game. At this point in time, User authentication is not required in order to download and run the launcher, meaning you can grab the launcher client from Marbleblast.com (when it's available) and download the respective game client without requiring your account credentials. There are also no plans at this point in time to support revision control (you will always have the most up-to-date version of the game files). I'm currently working with HiGuy to finalize some of the scripts, including automated and customizable directory structures (so you can control where the launcher installs and maintains your marble blast client).

In addition, there will be two separate launcher clients for Marble Blast Platinum 1.50 and Marble Blast Fubar. Though these clients are similar in functionality, they will differ in terms of their respective resource servers. As a result, both clients should be independent of one another, and updates for one mod will not affect the files or update prompts for any other mods. At this point in time, there is no plans to provide the source code for these launchers for any mods aside from MBP 1.50, Fubar, and PQ, though this is subject to change if we decide to support any additional mods in the future.

I'll try to get the Fubar launcher finished up this next week so folks can start playing around with the interface (as well as some Fubar builds to test out the game client) and conduct some usability tests. So keep your eyes peeled on the news section for more updates this coming week.

~Aayrl

Platinum’s launcher will check your MBP directory (if it exists) and compare it to the server. If it passes the check, it will let you launch MBP, otherwise it will automatically connect and update the necessary files.

Does this mean every file in your MBP folder is checked against a server before you can launch the game, or is what Aayrl said about how it will only download updated files correct? I have replaced my voice taunts with blank wav files and it would be annoying if they are restored to default every time I launch the game.

Correct me if I am wrong HiGuy, but I believe there is a mute feature for the Voice Taunts coming in RC1, so the blank wav files shouldn't be a problem for you. However, I believe you are correct in saying the files will be checked against a server each time you run the launcher (at least, for MBP they will) and files that have a different MD5 will be re-downloaded and overwrite the pre-existing file so long as it's in the server list of files. You may be able to add exceptions (or HiGuy may add exceptions) to this rule - for example, the prefs.cs file will not be checked serverside for obvious reasons, so this file will never be overwritten.

~Aayrl

i have a question:
Will the launcher work offline?Like it wont check for files and just executes the game?

The launchers will work offline - it will simply inform you that a connection could not be established, and if a full version of the game is already detected, it will allow you to play the game.

~Aayrl

Nice idea, but we also need something to replace the Marble Blast Map Exporter. With this program, coding moving platforms was a LOT faster than now.

Ralph wrote: Nice idea, but we also need something to replace the Marble Blast Map Exporter. With this program, coding moving platforms was a LOT faster than now.

That's all we need is another thing to do.

Here's an idea guys, how about some of you guys learn how to program so you can pitch in too!