Some people find new applications on the net and are happy to download them, double-click on anything that says "Installer", and go merrily along with whatever that installer does to the files on their hard drive. If this describes you, stop reading now, go back to playing Devil, and we'll talk again when your drive is wiped clean...
Still here? Okay, you must be one of those folks who actually checks to see what that installer is really doing (or gets mad when it has no documentation whatsoever). Fear not, all will be explained here.
This very handy installer, written by Kirill Levchenko <kirill@lava.net>, non-destructively installs various resources into some of your Marathon files. What does non-destructive mean? Well, it means that it doesn't actually overwrite anything-it simply moves what's there to a different location (so that when you're done, and select the Remove option, it can move the original resources back, and leave you with exactly the same file as you started with).
Okay, enough hand-waving. Here's what the developer has to say about it:
Term Installer 2
kirill@lava.net
What is Term Installer 2?
Term Installer 2 is a whole new version of Term Installer—a simple installer that installs 'term' resources and removes them after the user is done.
Term Installer 2 does that and more, installing and removing virtually every resource that Marathon uses.
Features
Term Installer 2 installs and de-installs the following:
• 'term' resources from Marathon [terminal text]
• 'film' resources from Marathon [demo film]
• 'STR#' resources from Marathon [Weapon names, and other strings]
• 'PICT' resources from Marathon [splash screens, credits and main interface]
• 'PICT' resources from Shapes [chapter screens]
• '.256' resources from Shapes [textures, sprites and other graphics]
• 'clut' resources from Shapes [CLUTs for the shapes; installed with the shapes]
• 'snd ' resources from Sounds [sounds]
Term Installer 2 will also remove all of the above when the user is done, restoring the files to their original state.
Requirements
The user must have System 7, 2MB free RAM (this may go up or down) and a copy of Marathon and all of the files that installation is to be performed on.
The map developer must have all of the above and also ResEdit.
How it works
Term installer opens Marathon and from Marathon extracts the names of the files that it uses. (This is done because it is possible to change the file names of what Marathon opens when it loads).
'term' [Marathon]
Opens Marathon. Every 'term' it is going to replace with the new ones, it adds 10000 to the ID number, thus “moving up” the resource. When removing, it checks its own fork to see what resource it would have installed and removes those resources, “moving down” the original Bungie resources.
'film' [Marathon]
Opens Marathon. Copies every 'film' resource to a new resource called 'piza'. During removal, removes every 'film' resource and copies every 'piza' resource to term, removing the 'piza' resource.
'STR#' [Marathon]
Opens Marathon. Every resource that does not belong to Term Installer (ID under 200) is “moved up” (ID + 10000) in Marathon. During deinstallation, every non-Term Installer resource found in Marathon is removed, moving the originals “down” (ID - 10000). Do not replace resource ID 129.
'PICT' [Marathon]
Opens Marathon. Every resource that does not belong to Term Installer (ID under 5000) is “moved up” (ID + 10000) in Marathon. New ones are copied in. During deinstallation, every non-Term Installer resource found in Marathon is removed, moving the originals “down” (ID - 10000).
'PICT' [Shapes]
Opens Shapes. Every resource that does not belong to Term Installer (ID over 9999) is “moved up” (ID + 10000) in Shapes. New ones are copied in. During deinstallation, every non-Term Installer resource found is removed, moving the originals “down” (ID - 10000).
'.256' [Shapes]
Opens Shapes. Every resource is “moved up” (ID + 10000) in Shapes. New ones are copied in. During deinstallation, every non-Term Installer resource found is removed, moving the originals “down” (ID - 10000).
'clut' [Shapes]
Installed with '.256' resources. Opens Shapes. Every resource is “moved up” (ID + 6000) in Shapes. New ones are copied in. During deinstallation, every non-Term Installer resource found is removed, moving the originals “down” (ID - 6000).
'PICT' [Sounds]
Opens Sounds. Every resource is “moved up” (ID + 10000) in Marathon. New ones are copied in. During deinstallation, every non-Term Installer resource found in Marathon is removed, moving the originals “down” (ID - 10000).
Error Checking
Term Installer 2 checks if there is enough free RAM to perform the installation before installing. Depending on your setup, it may either simply not allow you to install anything, or only to install selected resources.
It rarely crashes if you don't include resources (as developer), it will probably just give you an error message.
Setting up
With resedit, open "Term Installer 2" and paste in all of the resources you want to install. There should be no conflict (ie same ID problem) with the Term Installer 2 resources, if there is, you need to check the resources you are tring to install. They should be in the range of the Marathon resources.
Open the 'Tînf' resource. This is the main "prefs" of term installer. Choose which resource you would like to install by selecting "True" for those you would like to install and "False" for those you wouldn't.
• What's "Chapter Screens Exclusive"? In Marathon, every PICT in the shapes file with resource ID's 10000 to 10100 is a chapter screen. It shows up on levels ID - 10000 and above. So ID 10003 will show up on levels10003 and above, until it encounters another chapter screen.
Chapter screens exclusive means that the installer will move every resource to a higher ID, even if you you are not installing a matching ID. This is so that Bungie's screens won't appear on your levels. Eg: you install 10000 and 10003. Bungie used 10002.
Level “Normal” install “Exclusive” install
screen screen
----- ---------------- -------------------
0 10000 (yours) 10000 (yours)
1 10000 (yours) 10000 (yours)
2 10002 (Bungie's) 10000 (yours)
3 10003 (yours) 10003 (yours)
If you are lost or not sure, set it to "True".
• What's "Splash Screens Exclusive"? This is essentially the same as above. Every PICT with resource IDs between 1111 and 1114 inclusive will be shown during startup. If you want only your screens to appear, set this to "True".
• What's "More options"? This lets the end user choose what he/she wants to install/remove. If there is not enough memory, this allows them to do a partial install. It is really your choice if you want them to be able to choose, however be warned that if they install resource A and B and try to remove B and C, it may lead to disastrous results (depending on what C is), because C was never installed. In the worst case, they will have to replace the file that contained resource C.
What's "Name"? This is the name of your Map and files. It appears in the main dialog box.
It is highly recommended that you test the installer before releasing it. You can contact me in case there are any problems.
Also, it is recommended that you remove the 'TMPL' resource before releasing.
Interface
The user is presented with a dialog box where he/she has the options to quit, install or remove. It also diplays the map name and display the installation/removal progress.
Credits
The finder icons for the installer were done by Ed <ed@unixg.ubc.ca>.
Thanks to the people on #macdev and comp.sys.mac.programming.codewarrior for their help.
Thanks to Bungie for their awesome game, Marathon. Also thanks to Metrowerks for CodeWarrior 7.
Where am I?
You can find me on #marathon as KBach or Bach.
http://www.lava.net/~kirill or http://www.lava.net/~kirill/marathon/index.html (Marathon page)
