ScummVM shortcut creator

[sega dude]

I have created an app for Windows that allows to you easily make desktop shortcuts to your ScummVM games. The app automatically detects your installed ScummVM games, and from there allows you to make desktop shortcuts for them.It also includes a full in app game-id list, so that you can match up your game ids with the game's full title. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Should run on Windows XP up. Windows XP users will require .Net Framework 4 if it's not already installed.

Planned features:
- Custom icon support
- Ability to create shortcuts places other than the desktop

Screenshot:


Download

There is also a version for ResidualVM available here.

[raina]

Neat. Does it get the list of IDs from ScummVM or is it hardcoded and so automatically requires an update when ScummVM game support expands? One suggestion would be to show the command line that is being generated for the shortcut, especially if you plan to add GUI for more options.

[sega dude]

Does it get the list of IDs from ScummVM or is it hardcoded and so automatically requires an update when ScummVM game support expands?

The Game id list? It gets them from a file that is included with the program.

[Raziel]

Does it get the list of IDs from ScummVM or is it hardcoded and so automatically requires an update when ScummVM game support expands?

The Game id list? It gets them from a file that is included with the program.

You could make life easier for you and just read in the scummvm.ini file, all the used and available game ids are in there.
(Because if no games are installed, why would one want to create shortcuts in the first place?)

That would save you from keeping your extra file updated (because it would happen automatically with every new ScummVM release) and users would only get prompted for the games they've actually installed.

[sega dude]

Let me clarify. The game ids in the "Game-id" dropdown do come from scummvm.ini in "C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\ScummVM". Therefore, it only shows the games the user has installed.

The game ids in the table when you click the "Game ID list" button is from the file I mentioned before. This is only there for reference.

[LordHoto]

I think it would be helpful to use ScummVM's naming scheme when it comes to game ids versus target ids/names.

For example, take the following excerpt from a config file (borrowed from our README):

Code: Select all

[germansky]
gameid=sky
language=de
path=C:\games\SteelSky\
description=Beneath a Steel Sky w/ German subtitles

[germandott]
gameid=tentacle
path=C:\german\tentacle\
description=German version of DOTT

Here, "germansky" and "germandott" are the target ids/names (they will also appear in the "--list-targets" output of the ScummVM executable). These are typically used, for example, to run games configured in ScummVM through the command line. I guess this is was you call "game-id".

On the other hand. The game id for the target "germansky" is "sky" (i.e. the value of the configuration key "gameid"). On the other hand the game id for target "germandott" is "tentacle". The possible game id values which a version of ScummVM supports/uses can be shown by using "--list-games". Game ids can be used to run games, which are not configured in the ScummVM configuration file, when supplying a path.

Please not that there must be no correlation between the target id/name and the game id at all. The user is free to choose a target id/name he wishes (as long as he does not use characters which are not allowed in the section name of an ini file).

[MPinillos]

That's so cool!

Could yo do the same thing with ResidualVM, if you don't mind? The work is done yet, I suposse, because ScummVM and ResidualVM use the same code and interface.


Anyway, thanks for thw work!

[sega dude]

That's so cool!

Could yo do the same thing with ResidualVM, if you don't mind?

I'm sure I can. Unfortunately, my dev machine is out of commission right now, so I won't be able to work on it until I get a new computer. But it shouldn't be too long.

[MPinillos]

That's so cool!

Could yo do the same thing with ResidualVM, if you don't mind?

I'm sure I can. Unfortunately, my dev machine is out of commission right now, so I won't be able to work on it until I get a new computer. But it shouldn't be too long.

It would be perfect! Thanks

[sega dude]

The ResidualVM version has been released. You can find the link to it in the original post above.

[guybrushklaymenfan]

I have created an app for Windows that allows to you easily make desktop shortcuts to your ScummVM games. The app automatically detects your installed ScummVM games, and from there allows you to make desktop shortcuts for them.It also includes a full in app game-id list, so that you can match up your game ids with the game's full title. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Should run on Windows XP up. Windows XP users will require .Net Framework 4 if it's not already installed.

Planned features:
- Custom icon support
- Ability to create shortcuts places other than the desktop

Screenshot:


Download

There is also a version for ResidualVM available here.

Will It Support For Version 2.2.0 Or Later?

[sega dude]

Will It Support For Version 2.2.0 Or Later?

Sorry for the super late reply, I just saw this now. You should still be able to create shortcuts, but I need to update the game-id list. You'll have to type the name of the game manually if it's not on the game id list, but you shouldn't have any issues creating shortcuts. The list of game ids in the "game-id" dropdown come from the ScummVM config file.

[EstelRandir]

Although a nice idea, you should not assume a default location of scummvm without allowing the user to change it. Many people do not use the default Windows install location for their software. You should add an option to set the default loation where scummvm is installed. I kept wondering why my shortcut would not work. Then I noticed where it assumed scummvm was. That makes this program useless to someone like me.

[rootfather]

Sorry for the super late reply, I just saw this now. You should still be able to create shortcuts, but I need to update the game-id list. You'll have to type the name of the game manually if it's not on the game id list, but you shouldn't have any issues creating shortcuts. The list of game ids in the "game-id" dropdown come from the ScummVM config file.

Any chance that you will release the sources?

[sega dude]

Although a nice idea, you should not assume a default location of scummvm without allowing the user to change it. Many people do not use the default Windows install location for their software. You should add an option to set the default loation where scummvm is installed. I kept wondering why my shortcut would not work. Then I noticed where it assumed scummvm was. That makes this program useless to someone like me.

This is definitely something I'll change. It's not something I thought about when I first wrote this application.

Any chance that you will release the sources?

I don't have plans to release the source code at this time. This is mostly because I've never open sourced any of my programs before and I would have to research open source licenses and other things about open source programs. I am considering it since ScummVM is open source.

I'm thinking about completely overhauling this application to make it more simple to use. I realized that I can make it simpler. I am a more experienced coder now than I was when I wrote this over 6 years ago. I am considering removing the whole game ID thing entirely, which led to some confusion, and just showing a list of the user's games in ScummVM instead. You would just click the name of the game in the list, then click one button to create the shortcut. There would be no more game-id list or dropdown.