So, when will you move Scummvm.ini to where it should be...?

NickyCruz · Post by **NickyCruz** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 11:55 am

Namely, to Scummvm's own directory?

Storing configuration files in the Windows' directory went out in, oh, 1994 I'd say, when Windows 3 croaked. That's not even to mention the fact that any system restoring applications target the windows directory for restoration first, and if you have to restore and forget that you just spent two hours yesterday adding all the Lucasarts adventures to the ini file and customizing their settings, then BOOM! you can now do it all again, with an all-new, previous, restored version of the ini file...

clem · Post by **clem** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 12:20 pm

NickyCruz wrote:Namely, to Scummvm's own directory?

Storing configuration files in the Windows' directory went out in, oh, 1994 I'd say, when Windows 3 croaked. That's not even to mention the fact that any system restoring applications target the windows directory for restoration first, and if you have to restore and forget that you just spent two hours yesterday adding all the Lucasarts adventures to the ini file and customizing their settings, then BOOM! you can now do it all again, with an all-new, previous, restored version of the ini file...

there have been countless feature requests and forum discussions about that already, I suggest using the search function to read up why this got turned down every single time

if it is really an issue to you, use the cmdline parameters to read the ini file from some other directory

clem

Vinterstum · Post by **Vinterstum** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 1:12 pm

To be fair, the idea was never rejected. There's just been no Windows developers really interested in implementing this in a proper and backwards compatible way (There's no question that the .ini file -should- be located somewhere else on NT versions of Windows, the issue has just been to preserve compatability with 9x versions).

Most of the discussion is here: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=418823

joachimeberhard · Post by **joachimeberhard** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 2:31 pm

IMHO, this topic isn't discussed often enough by far.

Personally, I consider this circumstance neither to be a feature request nor a bug, but simply as a horrid violation of a principle Operating System design guide.

scummvm.ini AND the savegames *have* (I say have here to stress it) to be stored in %homepath%\ScummVM.

%appdata% is in no circumstance suitable for non-technical users, to stress again, in really absolutely NO circumstance, as it is per default a *hidden* path, not intended to be manipulated by the ordinary user. Also, it would provide us with lots of questions, where a user could regain his savegames, after he reinstalled/moved/restored his PC.

Also, as pointed out above, %appdata% is ALSO protected by Windows System recovery. That means, by using a restore points, you'll lose your savegames and settings. this will NOT happen with %homepath%\ScummVM, as sysrecovery prevents that.

%homepath%\ScummVM would be compatible with the following OSes:

Win95+IE5,WinNT+SP5,Win98,WinME,Win2000,WinXP,WinVista

The current location is 100% compatible with the following OSes:

Win95,Win98,WinME

What more do we need to say?
PLEASE!
PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP AND CHOCOLATE SPRINKLES!

clem · Post by **clem** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 2:37 pm

why not also look at:

http://forums.scummvm.org/viewtopic.php?t=468
http://forums.scummvm.org/viewtopic.php?t=1442
http://forums.scummvm.org/viewtopic.php?t=1635

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=418823
(status: closed)

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=418823
(status: closed)

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=418822
(status: closed)

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=418823
(status: closed)

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=418822
(status: closed)

I guess there has to be a reason why this hasn't been changed in about 4 years

joachimeberhard · Post by **joachimeberhard** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 2:41 pm

clem wrote:why not also look at:

http://forums.scummvm.org/viewtopic.php?t=468
http://forums.scummvm.org/viewtopic.php?t=1442
http://forums.scummvm.org/viewtopic.php?t=1635

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=418823
(status: closed)

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=418823
(status: closed)

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=418822
(status: closed)

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=418823
(status: closed)

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=418822
(status: closed)

I guess there has to be a reason why this hasn't been changed in about 4 years

You *guess* there has to be a reason why it's closed, but I **KNOW** the reason, why the issue comes up all the time.

joachimeberhard · Post by **joachimeberhard** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 2:46 pm

Also, Program files, the defualt install location for ScummVM, is ALSO protected by sysrecovery AND user protection.

Not to speak of issues when starting it from CD.

Vinterstum · Post by **Vinterstum** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 2:52 pm

clem wrote: I guess there has to be a reason why this hasn't been changed in about 4 years

Yes, because no one has bothered changing it yet

(Read Fingolfin's comments in the -open- bug rep I linked).

joachimeberhard · Post by **joachimeberhard** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 4:10 pm

joachimeberhard wrote: %homepath%\ScummVM would be compatible with the following OSes:

Win95+IE5,WinNT+SP5,Win98,WinME,Win2000,WinXP,WinVista

The current location is 100% compatible with the following OSes:

Win95,Win98,WinME

For the compatibility issue:

This leaves only Win95 without any updates as the only OS affected by this change.

To clarify my suggestion better for non-technical users:

%homepath%\ScummVM is the same as ...\My Documents\ScummVM

Basically, I'm suggesting to move the scummvm.ini AND the savegames there by default.

If any other user feels the way I do, feel free to back me up.

clone2727 · Post by **clone2727** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 5:15 pm

joachimeberhard wrote:
joachimeberhard wrote: %homepath%\ScummVM would be compatible with the following OSes:

Win95+IE5,WinNT+SP5,Win98,WinME,Win2000,WinXP,WinVista

The current location is 100% compatible with the following OSes:

Win95,Win98,WinME
For the compatibility issue:

This leaves only Win95 without any updates as the only OS affected by this change.

To clarify my suggestion better for non-technical users:

%homepath%\ScummVM is the same as ...\My Documents\ScummVM

Basically, I'm suggesting to move the scummvm.ini AND the savegames there by default.

If any other user feels the way I do, feel free to back me up.

Yes. Who still uses 95, even with the updates?

glokidd · Post by **glokidd** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 6:28 pm

Older OS's are extremely handy if you want to run old games. while i already use win98se for this purpose, i wouldnt mind having a win95 or even Win3.1 comp around to run the ones that win98 has trouble with (space quest 5 comes to mind)

I agree with Joachim about useing %homepath%\ScummVM. This would be extremely handy for SVN testing, whereas quite often one could have many different installations of scummvm on one system. (but maybe im just doing it wrong) A %homepath%\ScummVM could really help prevent a lot of scummvm.ini juggling.

joachimeberhard · Post by **joachimeberhard** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 7:07 pm

glokidd wrote:Older OS's are extremely handy if you want to run old games. while i already use win98se for this purpose, i wouldnt mind having a win95 or even Win3.1 comp around to run the ones that win98 has trouble with (space quest 5 comes to mind)

I agree with Joachim about useing %homepath%\ScummVM. This would be extremely handy for SVN testing, whereas quite often one could have many different installations of scummvm on one system. (but maybe im just doing it wrong) A %homepath%\ScummVM could really help prevent a lot of scummvm.ini juggling.

I'm doing it wrong also, by lazily using scummvm.exe from the commandline.

I end up having many different inis where I can't see through anymore.

Unfortunately, %homepath%\ScummVM doesn't lead to "My Documents" as I expected.

Maybe some Windows Dev could come up with a better idea to place it under My Documents\ScummVM

clone2727 · Post by **clone2727** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 8:59 pm

glokidd wrote:Older OS's are extremely handy if you want to run old games. while i already use win98se for this purpose, i wouldnt mind having a win95 or even Win3.1 comp around to run the ones that win98 has trouble with (space quest 5 comes to mind)

I agree with Joachim about useing %homepath%\ScummVM. This would be extremely handy for SVN testing, whereas quite often one could have many different installations of scummvm on one system. (but maybe im just doing it wrong) A %homepath%\ScummVM could really help prevent a lot of scummvm.ini juggling.

I also still use my 98se. I had two 95's. One doesn't work. The other I upgraded. My 3.1 still works, but barely. However, most of my old games still work (except Rebel Assault) on 98se or XP.

Vinterstum · Post by **Vinterstum** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 3:38 am

Ok, I put a patch for this up on the tracker.

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=418822

I have no chance to test it on 9x systems (or anything beyond XP and Vista) though.

I'll put up a snapshot build on http://worldsmainorganization.org/scummvm, in case anyone with a 9x system would like to test it (Though I have no idea if I'm building it correctly or not, my Windows programming experience is limited to DirectX

).

Vinterstum · Post by **Vinterstum** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 4:23 am

Oh, this method uses APPDATA however.

Putting the ini file directly in HOMEDIR or HOMEDIR\ScummVM breaks a fair amount of design guidelines as well

(Check how many application files and directories are stored directly in c:\documents and settings\username\)

APPDATA\ScummVM will generally resolve to something like:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\ScummVM\. This is the standard location for configuration files. I haven't touched savegame locations though, nor am I going to.

So, when will you move Scummvm.ini to where it should be...?

So, when will you move Scummvm.ini to where it should be...?

Re: So, when will you move Scummvm.ini to where it should be