Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[.-083]

Hello!

I was thinking maybe it would be time to create another B.A.T. installer, since the current one is very outdated and getting the 12 expansion packs correctly installed can be a bit complicated for people who are not used to work with compressed files and navigating through folders looking for x file or x folder to delete as the install instructions require to ensure compatibility with most recent changes...

Plus, If we have a new installer, new users or users in need of a fresh B.A.T. install would only need to download 60.2gb of data instead of 66.3 (60.2gb is in fact the full size of the B.A.T. super modpack fully decompressed and up-to-date, while 66.3gb is the full compressed size of the current B.A.T. installer + the 12 E.Ps and E.P.9 checkpoints... So, the actual new download size once the new installer is ready and its contents properly ultra-compressed, would be a few gb smaller than 60.2gb). Currently there are 6.1gb of unneeded data in the current installer (because that data is later being overwritten with the E.Ps content...)

So, the pros would be:

-Extremely simple installation of the B.A.T. super modpack, just click on "next" and that's it
-Smaller download size
-It could be compatible with Wine, so people interested in trying to get this to work under UNIX-like systems such as Linux and Macintosh could install this without having to reboot in Windows (current installer doesn't work on Wine, at least for me)
-It could include the various BAT DLL options (and also the ModAct 5.3 DLL's for those who need them) as optional components, so you choose which one you need

And the cons:
-It would take time to create the installer, and even more time to get it uploaded to some file hosting or to share it via torrent

So I was wondering if the community thinks this would be a good idea. Personally, I'm in the process of creating a installer with BitRock InstallBuilder, which offers extremely good compression capability (I think it uses the 7zip software) and would certainly help with size reduction... It also allows the selection of multiple optional components, so the SAS 4.12.2m megapatch could be included and also some of the B.A.T. Campaings packs, such as Dawn of Flight and Spanish Civil War made by Monty, the various BAT DLL choices, updated PDF manual, etc.

The installer I'm working on would be for personal use only, unless I get your permission to upload it to a file host or share it via torrent and the staff would be okay with adding the links to the official downloads thread

What do you think?

[sixstrings]

A very good idea indeed. BAT is turning back into CUP . Certain steps must be taken to install correctly and may turn off new people from trying it out. Was easy for me but took time to carefully read the install instructions before i did anything to BAT. A single download is the best idea i have heard yet. Thanks,Scott

[SAS~Storebror]

Did you really think we're not working on this behind the scenes

The new installer scheme will be like this:

• You start off with the original BAT installation package.
  This will get you to the clean BAT 1.0.
• There will be a new "Checkpoint" patch which gets you right to EP 12 from there.
  This patch will ship with an installer quite like the original BAT installer.
  That means, you download the Checkpoint, run the installer, and you are on EP 12.
  This will work for existing installations, regardless on which EP they are, too.
• All further Expansion Packs will be shipped with an own installer.
  That means, you download the Expansion Pack, run the installer, and you are done.
• From time to time we'll chip in "Checkpoint" Installers getting you to the most current EP right from BAT 1.0.

Why not repack BAT and all it's EP's like .-083 suggested?
Because that would mean that all who want to follow the "official" path would have to re-download another 60GB, the original BAT content, which in fact they already have.
The way we chose means that you might have to download 1 or 2 Gigabytes more all in all, but you don't have to re-download the 60GB from original BAT again.
Using a different installer (like the suggested BitRock InstallBuilder) would mean that we'd lose the ability to check the integrity of the downloaded parts prior to their installation.
This integrity check proved extremely valuable in the past, it's something we're not gonna drop.
As much as Wine is concerned, the NullSoft installer does run on Wine, and even if it doesn't for you, if you're experienced enough to run IL-2 on Wine, I bet you're experienced enough to extract zip files too, because that's what the Installer does (plus wipe out the #DOF2/#TGA2/#WAW2/#JTW2 folder in future cumulative EP Installers).
We'd throw the baby out with the bath water if we'd repack whole BAT just to please a handful of Linux users with their very personal issues, sorry to say.

The downloads required boil down to:

• Original BAT (you have that already if you're not a complete newcomer)
• Checkpoint for EP 12 (you can skip this if you're on EP 12 already)
• Further EP(s) (if available)

The installation process boils down to:

• Run BAT Installer (only new installations)
• Run Checkpoint Installer (only if you're not on EP 12 already, otherwise optional)
• Run further EP(s) Installer(s) (if available)

Few more steps, much less need to re-download all existing content, dead easy.

Best regards - Mike

[Dogbert]

I am just grateful for BAT, as without it 1946 would no longer be on the pc.

I will install it whichever way it is delivered.

Much appreciation and thanks to all involved.

[sixstrings]

A great job to all involved in the BAT project. Very thankful for what has turned out to be the greatest modded sim there is. Glad to see it further develop along the way. So glad to have gotten back into Il-2'46 when i did. This is the golden era for sure and with more to come keeps my attention focused on this combat flight sim and imagine that all this was done and being done for free is astounding. Thank you Sirs ,Regards,Scott

[.-083]

Well, the installer is finished: http://postimg.cc/gallery/121cv9n8k/3bb9c6ac/ contents are lzma-ultra compressed, so it is only 57gb

Although I perfectly understand what Mike said and agree that it is simpler and more efficient they way you are planning to do it

[whistler]

That looks really good! But I would refrain from posting here any download links or torrents. B.A.T. is under development and there should be only one official install source and set of instructions (at least, for the moment).

Hope you and SAS & Hangar-19 teams can cooperate.

[.-083]

Thank you very much!

Don't worry, of course I'm not going to post any links (neither planning on uploading this), exactly for the reason you mentioned. The installer was created mainly for personal backup and easy 2 clicks reinstall purposes, I don't have a very large hard disk so saving reduced a bit the size helps me a lot

Certain features like multiple 7z/uha compressed files (better compression than .zip) as data source and CRC-checking could be handled by BitRock by using certain workarounds I think, it's very versatile and allows you to fully edit the configurations and do pretty much almost whatever you want it to do. So if SAS & Hangar-19 would like me to cooperate I'd gladly do, otherwise they're already doing a great job the way things are currently done, it suits perfectly the needs of most of the B.A.T. users I think