Engine Startup Check

[Baker]

A typical forum post:

When I am using the somequake engine it [insert crashes | the screen is all black]. How do I get it to work?

Then ...

What operating system and graphics card and what engine version do you have?

I'd kind of like to know when the engine isn't working. With libcurl, there isn't really a great reason to not know and it could send specs.

I don't believe in engines that *need* internet access and I don't believe in engines that connect to the internet without your consent so at least on Windows you could have the engine on a first run ask via the MessageBox API for permission to do a startup check and send a success or failure result.

One thing that bothers me is that long ago, I saw that FTEQW had a D3D build so I did some homework and made a D3D build and it would almost always run if the OpenGL build failed. Then with MH's Direct3D 8.1 wrapper, there became an even better version available as a fallback. But I still don't know what percentage of people had problems with the OpenGL one.

The ultimate would be some sort of FTEQW-like version with a couple of different renderers available and it does some sort of testing for success. Probably more work than it would be worth.

Still, the reason I mention this is that most engine authors never really know how often an engine fails to load up or run properly.

And really ... when an engine is run the first time, none of them that I can think of explain to the user what exactly to do if it will not load. MH does perhaps the best job of this where on the same page you download the engine it says "The first thing to do if DirectQ crashes ..."

/End rambling idea post

[Feared]

I actually believe EGL does this (quake 2 engine). Might be worth checking out.
If you ever crash it will ask if you want to create a dump file and upload it. I remember going through the code and saying to myself "Oh that's neat". It was using libcurl to do it by the way.

[r00k]

I just downloaded the EGLto check it out, and Microsoft Security Essentials threw this at me..

Trojan:Win32/Buma!rts
Category: Trojan

Description: This program is dangerous and executes commands from an attacker.

Recommendation: Permit this detected item only if you trust the program or the software publisher.

Microsoft Security Essentials detected programs that may compromise your privacy or damage your computer. You can still access the files that these programs use without removing them (not recommended). To access these files, select the 'Allow' action and click 'Apply actions'. If this option is not available, log on as administrator or ask the local administrator for help.

Items:
containerfile:C:\Users\Admin\Downloads\egl-v0.3.1-r1.exe
file:C:\Users\Admin\Downloads\egl-v0.3.1-r1.exe->(nsis-3-anticheat.dll)
webfile:C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware\LocalCopy\{4DAC16EB-EBCC-4255-B1E4-4B1DC2600CB4}-egl-v0.3.1-r1.exe|http://egl.quakedev.com/files/egl-v0.3.1-r1.exe
webfile:C:\Users\Admin\Downloads\egl-v0.3.1-r1.exe|http://egl.quakedev.com/files/egl-v0.3.1-r1.exe

[Feared]

I just downloaded the EGLto check it out, and Microsoft Security Essentials threw this at me..

That's weird.

I download http://egl.quakedev.com/files/egl-v0.3.1-stable.exe and it's just fine with Microsoft Security Essentials but when I download the file I'm looking at in your quote MSE freaks out. That's weird. I don't even see that file on the website, where did you find that link?

Edit:
Never mind the file was in the main website's page. That's weird. Sounds like either a false alarm or R1CH had a little issue with his installer software (which appears to be nsis). Whatever happened to that particular executable I wouldn't trust it. Use the link I have above (which is on the downloads page) as it seems to be clear with MSE.

Even then the installer doesn't provide the source code. I'd either download the tarball from the SVN or use the source link.

[revelator]

not the first time i seen nsis flagged as malware or worse i think you can safely disregard that warning.

most antivirus get pretty flippant if they discover something packed with upx as many virus creators use that to mask there code.

[mh]

I'd love to get DirectQ using Windows Error Reporting; that would be amazing.