Game Installer Creator Alpha for PC games, servers and Launchbox

[sammaxton]

This is a tool I created to automate the process of creating compressed 7zip archives of PC Games to use with Launchbox or other front ends or by manually running the game launcher shortcut. The tool will work with any storage that can be mapped as a network drive or shows up in file manager as a letter. Once a simple configuration is complete you enter 2 pieces of information and it creates all the files required to easily add PC Games to your Launchbox setup and moves them to their required locations in your setup.

The tool requires that you already have the game you want to archive installed and working. The tool will compress and move your game files and once it has finished the process you can uninstall or delete the game. The game files will now be a compressed .7z archive stored in the location you chose for your storage.

The tool also includes processing for Sony Playstation 3 Pkg files. The tool is used to create batch files for installing updates to disc games and for adding PSN store games to Launchbox. Game Installer Creator creates 2 files in your Launchbox folder at Game Installs\Batch Files\PS3 Pkg Installers. One file is the extractor that extracts the Pkg files to your emulators game folder allowing them to be run in Launchbox. The second file is a remover that deletes the files from your emulators game folder.

Game Installer Creator Alpha

Alpha uses the created .bat files to run the extraction and launching of the game and also creates shortcut files for installed games on your desktop.

Alpha can be used with other launchers besides Launchbox or with no launcher at all by just running the .bat files.

Game Installer Creator Alpha.7z

Game Installer Creator Alpha

Usage Information

For PC Games

1. Run the Game Installer Creator Alpha batch file and enter the name of the game, the .exe or .bat to run the game and the location where the game is currently installed and the Creator makes the required files and places them where needed.

2. Add your game to Launchbox or other front end or you can run the game launcher shortcuts by themselves. You can add your games to Launchbox by going to Tools\Import\Manually Add Game or you can drag and drop the created shortcut file located in your Launchbox folder at Game Installs\Batch Files\Games into Launchbox to import it. If you drag and dropped the file the Launching tab will be prefilled for you, otherwise click on the Launching tab on the left to add your launcher batch file. Browse to your Launchbox folder and navigate to Game Installs\Batch Files\Games and select the shortcut file for your game. Next to add the uninstaller go to Additional Apps and Add a New Application. I usually name the app Uninstall "Name of Game", but you can name this whatever you would like. Browse to your Launchbox folder and navigate to Game Installs\Batch Files\\Uninstallers and select the Delete "Name of Game" shortcut file for your game.

3. Now you are all set! Double click your game in Launchbox or right click and select Play to run your game. The launcher will check to see if the game folder already exist on your computer and if it does it will run the game, otherwise it will extract the game to your computer and then run the game. If you would like to remove the game from your computer right click on the game in Launchbox and go to additional apps and select Uninstall "Name of Game" or whatever you called the uninstall app.

For Sony Playstation 3 Pkg Files

Run the Game Installer Creator Alpha batch file and enter the name of the game and the Playstation ID# for the DLC and Update files or the name of the DLC/Update folder if it is different than the ID of the game and the Creator makes the required files and places them where needed.

For adding updates to Disc games, install your disc game as you normally would then edit the game and go to Additional Apps and add a new app. Name it however you would like, I use Pkg Extractor and Pkg Remover as the title for the 2 files then navigate to your Launchbox folder then Game Installs\Batch Files\PS3 Pkg Installers and select the Name of the Game.bat file for the extractor file and select Automatically run before Main Application and select Wait for Exit. Do the same process for the Name of Game Remover.bat file except do not select any of the extra check boxes. Now when you run your disc game the first time it will extract the update files to your emulator folder so they will be available in your game.

For adding PSN Store Pkg Games, install your Pkg game into RPCS3 then navigate to the RPCS3 folder into dev_hdd0\game\NPUB31664 and find the EBOOT.BIN file and drag and drop it into Launchbox to add the game. Then edit the game and go to Additional Apps and add a new app. Name it however you would like, I use Pkg Extractor and Pkg Remover as the title for the 2 files then navigate to your Launchbox folder then Game Installs\Batch Files\PS3 Pkg Installers and select the Name of the Game.bat file for the extractor file and select Automatically run before Main Application and select Wait for Exit. Do the same process for the Name of Game Remover.bat file except do not select any of the extra check boxes. Now the game will extract from your compressed storage to the emulator folder if it doesn't already exist and will start or it will just start if it already exist in your emulator folder.

 

Edited November 25, 2023 by sammaxton
Removed Omega version and added revised Alpha version

[sammaxton]

Added the new version 2.0 with drag and drop functionality. Total rewrite and optimization of the code. This version is not compatible with previous versions as the location of the batch files and compressed files has changed.

 

 

If you used the old version of the tool:

Use the old tool to remove the previous files except for your compressed .7z files and then make new files with this version of the tool. You will need to rename your .7z files to include spaces in the names and move them directly to your compressed storage folder. The .7z files are no longer stored in separate folders and the filenames have been changed to reflect the game name including spaces.

Edited October 24, 2022 by sammaxton

[sammaxton]

Just uploaded Version 2.1.1

See Change Log for the changes made.

[sammaxton]

Version 3.0

I have done a rewrite of the software adding a few new features and also optimizing the code and the process.

The software now creates your own custom version of the Game Installer Creator.

You now have the ability to add up to 9 compressed PC game storage locations.

Added the ability to process Sony Playstation 3 Pkg files into installers for use with Launchbox.

Added multiple menu layers for different devices.

[sammaxton]

Version 3.01

Fixed a bug where you couldn't add a folder with a space and a number. For example when trying to add a folder named PC Games 2 it would skip adding the folder to the config file.

[sammaxton]

Version 3.1

Completed the Sony Playstation 3 Pkg Installer Creator.

You now have the ability to add up to 9 compressed PS3 Pkg game storage locations.

The tool compresses your installed Pkg files to storage and creates batch files for extracting and removing the files to and from your emulator folder for use with Launchbox.

Works for PSN Shop games as well as Updates and DLCs for Disc games.

Edited May 6, 2023 by sammaxton

[sammaxton]

Version 3.1.1

Added processing of Edat files for Sony Playstation 3 games that have them.

[sammaxton]

Version 4.0

Changed the process for adding PC Games to Launchbox making it integrate just like any other rom you would add.

[Nixx]

I'm not totally getting it, the game archive is just an archive ? There is no logics like saving registry keys, app data files and such ?
Most of PC games works with just the game folder ?

Also, for PS3 pkg i do something similar, but i use vhdx container that i can just mount instead of extracting. (but it take more space)

[sammaxton]

5 hours ago, Nixx said:

I'm not totally getting it, the game archive is just an archive ? There is no logics like saving registry keys, app data files and such ?
Most of PC games works with just the game folder ?

Also, for PS3 pkg i do something similar, but i use vhdx container that i can just mount instead of extracting. (but it take more space)

It still compresses the entire game folder, the change is in the directory structure of the compressed file. The previous version created a compressed file of all the files within the game folder, so if you browsed your .7z file you would see all the files as soon as you open the browse. This version creates a compressed file of the game folder and all of the files within it, so if you browse the .7z file now you will see the game folder and then browse into that to see the files. It has to do with the way that Launchbox extracts compressed files into the Archive Cache Manager cache folder.

It depends on the game and/or where you get the game from. Most GoG games for example don't need any extra stuff, just the game folder. Most Steam games require a third party tool to make them work outside of Steam. And ect. Most games can be run this way with some needing a crack or other work around, but that is up to you to figure out and beyond the scope of the tool

Edited September 28, 2023 by sammaxton

[sammaxton]

Uploaded fixes for both versions.

V3.1.1

fixed an issue where the tool wasn't deleting the .7z files during PC game removal process or when overwriting a PC game.

V4.0

fixed an issue where the tool wasn't deleting the .7z files during PC game removal process or when overwriting a PC game.

fixed an issue with the naming of the compressed PC game folder.

[sammaxton]

Changed the naming of the tools to Alpha (The original 3.1.1 version) and Omega (The new 4.0 version).

Both versions will continue to be updated in the future.

[sammaxton]

Fixed the issue in Omega with the naming of the game folders within the cache folder. The previous workaround is no longer needed as the batch file will now find for example the game Clash when Clash II is also installed.

Edited October 29, 2023 by sammaxton

[sammaxton]

Removed the Omega version as the Archive Cache Manager was creating too many issues with PC games.

I am currently working on making the tool into a plugin using the current data and soon will be working on a C# rewrite of the tool.

[Freakystreak]

Been trying to use this excellent script but have an issue where the script will just close as soon as it starts to zip the game files. Is this a permissions issue? Did manage to get it working once but now I have this frustrating problem... Also noticed that if you press 3 on the main menu, to reset the configuartion files, it closes the cmd window with no errors. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[sammaxton]

On 2/24/2024 at 5:57 PM, Freakystreak said:

Been trying to use this excellent script but have an issue where the script will just close as soon as it starts to zip the game files. Is this a permissions issue? Did manage to get it working once but now I have this frustrating problem... Also noticed that if you press 3 on the main menu, to reset the configuartion files, it closes the cmd window with no errors. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for taking so long to respond to your message. It has been a while since I have been on here, life gets in the way. I'm not sure what would be causing your issues. I have downloaded the file from here to make sure there isn't anything wrong with the script. Unfortunately I am unable to replicate the issue you are having. I uncompressed the downloaded file, then ran the RunMeFirst.bat file to configure my settings and I was able to successfully compress some games with it. I then tried doing the reset configuration and that was working as well. So I'm not sure what would be causing the script to behave in that manner for you. Hopefully you were able to resolve the problem.

Edited October 5 by sammaxton