[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

16 minutes ago, oblivioncth said:

Flashpoint Core is basically just Flashpoint Ultimate but is sometimes a few versions behind and only comes with a few games that are there to act as examples, but otherwise comes with no games/animations.

 

So if it haden't been for it being a few versions behind it would "almost kinda" be a bare bones flashpoint ultimate to import into hehe.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

On 6/7/2021 at 2:16 AM, oblivioncth said:

I think I understand what you're asking for, but if so, no this tool does not make that possible, at least not directly, though let me make sure to clarify.

Flashpoint is essentially two things:

1) A collection of software, configuration, a database, and software that enables a relatively straightforward way of playing "internet" games from a variety of formats on one local computer without the need to actually connect to the internet (other than downloading the content for Infinity).

2) The hoard of games themselves.

I'm not 100% sure, but it sounds like you're asking if you can essentially download Flashpoint Ultimate (to avoid the pitfalls of Infinity), use this importer to import a small selection of games you want to actually use into LaunchBox, and then when it's done discard Flashpoint Ultimate entirely so that you're basically left with a subset of 2) from the above, but with none of 1). As if the games were simply running independently from LaunchBox with no need of the original LaunchBox install.

Unfortunately this is basically not feasible. Despite their impressive pile of games that have been archived, the part of the collection that more so makes Flashpoint special/important is the compilation and finally tuned configuration of software that allows you to play games designed for a web browser used in a client/server setup on an independent, offline desktop. When you start Flashpoint you are running what is known as the Launcher, which is just a relatively small front end for browsing the collection, but there is also a slew of programs in the background that are continuously starting and stopping depending on your game choices that actually make playing those games possible. While it's imperfect, the system works pretty well overall considering the variety of platforms it supports and is constantly being improved by a team of people. Trying to recreate that from scratch as an individual would be insane.

This tools is essentially two in one, but you can essentially think of it as a way to replace the Flashpoint frontend with LaunchBox instead, but this says nothing about the gigabytes of other software that is required to actually play any games. This tool still relies on that the same way that the official Flashpoint frontend does and therefore won't function without Flashpoint still being installed.

Unfortunately the closest you can get to what you want right now is using Infinity. The "alternative" is to download Ultimate and then work backwards by deleting every game that you don't want, but obviously this is a herculean and unrealistic task. To make matters worst, the files of many titles in FP are tightly integrated with some of the backend software it uses which makes removing said games a challenge even with an automated tool.

Flashpoint is starting to move over to a different system for storing games called Game Zips/Data Packs which does actually make writing a tool to remove games from ultimate more feasible, but only practical once all titles have been upgraded to the new system. Currently only a smaller portion of titles use this system.

Until this new system becomes the only system I wouldn't even begin to consider making a tool that can strip down Ultimate like you required, and even then I'm not sure it would be worth it because Flashpoint makes a lot of backend changes with every major release that require me to make significant changes to my tools to keep them working and I don't know if I'm up to actively maintaining a third tool related to this project. I'd consider it if after Game Zips are fully complete the system the use to store games becomes fairly static otherwise.

While I do use Ultimate myself, I've actually had pretty good luck with the more recent versions of Infinity, though I don't know how recently you've used it yourself. The only caveat with this tool is that you have to have to make sure you run a game once through the Flashpoint launcher  and then perform the import into LaunchBox or there will be no images, though I'm toying with figuring out how to make this step not required.

At the end of the day, you're essentially asking for a third edition of Flashpoint, "Custom Ultimate", that would prepare a packing up front with all the games you select instead of downloading them on the fly. Like I said, once the Game Zip system is the only one in Flashpoint I'll consider making a tool to more or less make this possible, but otherwise this is something that it would be way easier for the Flashpoint team to implement directly, yet I doubt they will given that most are satisfied with the current system and it would still be a huge undertaking even for them.

The project has come a long way technically though in a fairly short amount of time so I'd also hold out hope that Infinity will become good enough to meet your standards in time as well.

Hey, thanks for posting a really detailed and informative reply.
I have not found anywhere else where someone have explained it in such great detail, and so efficiently, you really understood what I meant and got straight to the point.

I see now that what I want is just not feasible (currently), and I really appreciate you taking the time to explain it to me. (Tbh this should be stickied somewhere/on a faq ). 

If Infinity "improves"/gets to a point where it works just as well as Ultimate, then I'd love to see what you can do with the importer in regards to that. (You said you were toying with a solution for the images).

Btw I know there is a third version of flashpoint used for curators, and that one is pretty "bare bones", what is the difference with that one compared to the two others? (From a technical standpoint, not the general description).
Don't have to explain a lot to me again if it is pretty much repeating yourself, I am thankful for your previous answer none the less :).
 

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

I hope it is okay for me to ask this, and that I have not missed anything important, if that is the case I apologise, but english is not my first language.

Does this utility make it possible to stop using flashpoint altogether? As in can I import games into launchbox and play them the same way that flashpoint does? While I like the fact that flashpoint preserves games, I don't have the space to keep the entire ultimate edition on my pc next to my other programs/games/software. 

This would not be a problem if they offered an "empty version"  of ultimate to download which you could just "put games into",  because while I can play some flash games without flashpoint, I would really like to keep the "offline fake server" part that makes it so that no games go online.

They do have infinity, but it is not the same as ultimate, and some games are even broken in it compared to ultimate, and you have to play games first for it to download everything you need.

If not, do you have any idea on how this can be done?
 

Thanks in advance