product system requirements

The video chipset is generally more important, most companies end up listing
something like "Radeon X800 or GeForce 6200 or Intel GMA 4500 or newer".
Ideally you'd put that plus a link to a page on your website that includes a
list of video cards and driver versions that the game is known to work
with... OpenGL is included in the drivers so you don't have to list it
separately.

Post by Starglider 4
Hello,
Right now, I'm publishing my (shareware) game through
Regnow (an online softw. vendor).
My engine uses OpenGL and OpenAL.
Should I, in the system requirements, specify both
OpenGL and OpenAL support required?
I assume almost all systems nowadays support
OpenGL?
Thanks!
//M
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Starglider 4

2009-10-04 23:03:28 UTC

Hi Ben,

Allright. I think i'll add a link to the sys requirments.
I gather OpenGL is supported by almost everybody nowadays,
so I wouldn't need to specify it.
The point is: I don't want scare customers away, with too many
requirements, because there are a lot of people (gameplayers)
out there who don't know wether they have OpenGL
support for instance. So, I want as little requirements
as possible. The real issue is: OpenAL. Can you tell
me more about OpenAL support? I have already limited
the systems to XP/Vista, so that would cut out a lot
of potential problems.
(I haven't yet included wrap_oal.dll. I suppose this could present
problems with some users' systems?)

//M

Post by Ben Voigt [C++ MVP]
The video chipset is generally more important, most companies end up
listing something like "Radeon X800 or GeForce 6200 or Intel GMA 4500 or
newer". Ideally you'd put that plus a link to a page on your website that
includes a list of video cards and driver versions that the game is known
to work with... OpenGL is included in the drivers so you don't have to
list it separately.

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signature database 4479 (20091004) __________
The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
http://www.eset.com

Nathan Mates

2009-10-04 23:45:36 UTC

The real issue is: OpenAL. Can you tell me more about OpenAL
support? I have already limited the systems to XP/Vista, so that
would cut out a lot of potential problems. (I haven't yet included
wrap_oal.dll. I suppose this could present problems with some users'
systems?)

Better include an installer for it in your game's installer.

Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates - personal webpage http://www.visi.com/~nathan/
# Programmer at Pandemic Studios -- http://www.pandemicstudios.com/
# NOT speaking for Pandemic Studios. "Care not what the neighbors
# think. What are the facts, and to how many decimal places?" -R.A. Heinlein

Ben Voigt [C++ MVP]

2009-10-07 05:10:42 UTC

Better include an installer for it in your game's installer.

Actually, to save on the size of your download, and to handle users who
actually use Add/Remove Programs (and might have removed this OpenAL thing
they never run), I'd put a check for it in your startup sequence and offer a
download link if it's missing.

Post by Nathan Mates
Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates - personal webpage http://www.visi.com/~nathan/
# Programmer at Pandemic Studios -- http://www.pandemicstudios.com/
# NOT speaking for Pandemic Studios. "Care not what the neighbors
# think. What are the facts, and to how many decimal places?" -R.A. Heinlein

Starglider 4

2009-10-07 16:54:47 UTC

Yes, that's the right way to do it. Could you tell me some things
about implementing this into my setup project? I use the
std. v-studio 2k5 setup project, but I'm not yet entirely sure about
including executables into it.

//M

Better include an installer for it in your game's installer.

Ben Voigt [C++ MVP]

2009-10-12 05:51:31 UTC

Post by Starglider 4
Yes, that's the right way to do it. Could you tell me some things
about implementing this into my setup project? I use the
std. v-studio 2k5 setup project, but I'm not yet entirely sure about
including executables into it.

Well, I was actually suggesting doing the check from the main launcher for
your game, not the setup program. If you have a separate launcher process
(e.g. for updates that replace the main executable) it will be easy. If you
have a single executable you'll probably want to look into delay loading so
that you can continue calling functions normally without a ton of
GetProcAddress and function pointers, but explicitly force loading the DLL
during startup and handle failure by taking the user to the download page.

Better include an installer for it in your game's installer.

Actually, to save on the size of your download, and to handle users who
actually use Add/Remove Programs (and might have removed this OpenAL
thing they never run), I'd put a check for it in your startup sequence
and offer a download link if it's missing.

__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus
signature database 4498 (20091011) __________
The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
http://www.eset.com

__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4498 (20091011) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com

Starglider 4

2009-10-12 18:07:01 UTC

I'm convinced, that the simplest and best (and most direct) way to solve
the problem, is to include oalinst.exe (msdn-online) into my
setup project. i already have vc-runtime in it, and it autom.
checkes for the version installed. oalinst installs everything you
need for a perfect Oal performance.

//M

Well, I was actually suggesting doing the check from the main launcher for
your game, not the setup program. If you have a separate launcher process
(e.g. for updates that replace the main executable) it will be easy. If
you have a single executable you'll probably want to look into delay
loading so that you can continue calling functions normally without a ton
of GetProcAddress and function pointers, but explicitly force loading the
DLL during startup and handle failure by taking the user to the download
page.

Better include an installer for it in your game's installer.

Actually, to save on the size of your download, and to handle users who
actually use Add/Remove Programs (and might have removed this OpenAL
thing they never run), I'd put a check for it in your startup sequence
and offer a download link if it's missing.

__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus
signature database 4498 (20091011) __________
The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
http://www.eset.com

Ben Voigt [C++ MVP]

2009-10-16 02:07:06 UTC

Post by Starglider 4
I'm convinced, that the simplest and best (and most direct) way to solve
the problem, is to include oalinst.exe (msdn-online) into my
setup project. i already have vc-runtime in it, and it autom.
checkes for the version installed. oalinst installs everything you
need for a perfect Oal performance.

So long as the user doesn't look in Add/Remove programs, go "WTH is
oalinst?" and uninstall it. A check for OpenAL presence in your startup
code would not be amiss.

Plus, delay-loading everything but kernel32, user32, gdi32 (which are always
in memory anyway) lets you get up a loading screen fast while the OS loads
your other assets (whether code in DLLs, graphics textures, etc).

Well, I was actually suggesting doing the check from the main launcher
for your game, not the setup program. If you have a separate launcher
process (e.g. for updates that replace the main executable) it will be
easy. If you have a single executable you'll probably want to look into
delay loading so that you can continue calling functions normally without
a ton of GetProcAddress and function pointers, but explicitly force
loading the DLL during startup and handle failure by taking the user to
the download page.