Nag Screen/Box

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Kuron

Could we please lose the nag screen that gets compiled into our EXEs, I am referring to the nag box that pops up griping about needing to upgrade your drivers for hardware support.  People have to click through this just to get the program to run. 

This is extremely unprofessional looking, and it is made worse by the fact that the warning is in multiple languages which makes it even more unprofessional looking if your target audience can't read all of the languages displayed.

Just making it optional would suffice, we shouldn't have to manually hack our EXEs to disable/remove this.

Ian Price

QuoteCould we please lose the nag screen that gets compiled into our EXEs, I am referring to the nag box that pops up griping about needing to upgrade your drivers for hardware support.  People have to click through this just to get the program to run. 

I've never had anyone ever complain to me about this after using my apps. Is this a common complaint to other GLB devs? Is this for Windows/OSX/Linux users? Chance of a screenshot to see what we are missing? Are their pcs very old? Lack GL? Are they netbooks?
I came. I saw. I played.

Kuron

#2
None of the above have to do with my feature request, nor do they affect how GLB compiles an EXE.  It has to do with GLB not letting its users handle something properly and choosing to handle it in a way that looks extremely unprofessional.  GLB should really leave it up to the developer on how they want/choose to deal with this issue. 

I realize it may be too difficult to generate an error code to allow the developer to handle, but at the very least we should easily be able to edit what information is shown in the message box and what language it is shown in.

Kitty Hello

I don't want people to scream in pain because GLBasic is sooooo slow, just because they are too stupid to install porper drivers.
But I can offer to implement more languages to that box.
You can also make a console program that checks and installs the driver if you want yourself.

Kuron

Quote from: Kitty Hello on 2010-Apr-13
I don't want people to scream in pain because GLBasic is sooooo slow, just because they are too stupid to install porper drivers.
But I can offer to implement more languages to that box.
Just letting us edit the text would be a huge help.  Casual gamers (my target audience) aren't always aware about updating drivers and an alarming number of Windows systems only ship with the graphics drivers that come with Windows itself, not the GFX card manufacturer's drivers.  If the German text says the same thing as the English text, it is not exactly helpful as it doesn't explain things too well.  The multiple languages on the same message box can be very off-putting if your target audience is not bilingual.  Personally, if that popup has to be there, I would like to be able to configure the text so that it is more explanatory to the problem.
 
Just keep in mind, the forum says feature requests, not feature demands  ;)  Simply a request, not a demand.

Moru

Just curious, what sort of computer do I need to get to see this nagscreen? I have tested my programs on a few different computers but have never seen any sort of message on startup. Could this be on ATI cards or something else? I only have nVidiaÃ,´s to test on. Real crappy ones too.

Kuron

Moru:  Meant to attach this before, but forgot.  FWIW, I always test any game that uses OpenGL on a system that doesn't support hardware acceleration.  I am putting the finishing touches on two GLB games that do quite well on Windows with software emulation since there are not any moving sprites (they will probably be Linux only releases though).

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Kuron

Quote from: Ocean on 2010-Apr-13You won't see it on a contemporary pc with current drivers.
yes/no.   New systems often ship without hardware support for OpenGL because they use the drivers that come with Windows instead of the video card manufacturer drivers.  The casual (and lower) gamers do not always know they have to update drivers.

Kitty Hello

But that's why I put that screen there. To inform the gamers that there's something seriously broken with their drivers. BTW: Nvidia and Ati drivers of any Windows (Vista, Seven) already include OpenGL drivers. It might be XP that lacks them out of the box.

Kuron

Quote from: Kitty Hello on 2010-Apr-13BTW: Nvidia and Ati drivers of any Windows (Vista, Seven) already include OpenGL drivers. It might be XP that lacks them out of the box.
Something is getting lost in translation.  Vista and 7 do not ship with hardware OpenGL support, only software support.  You must download the Intel/ATI/NVIDIA drivers from their sites to get hardware OpenGL support.  Most PC manufacturers will preinstall the GFX card manufacturers drivers, but an increasing number of budget PC manufacturers don't (yet they still manages to install the shovelware).

Kuron

Quote from: Ocean on 2010-Apr-13
that being the case, what is your gripe then with GLBasic warning its end-users that perhaps they should think about updating their drivers?  Gernot's position is perfectly clear and sensible.
I am glad it is clear for you, it is not for me or any of my target audience, as they do not speak German.  The English is borderline "broken English".  The screen is extremely unprofessional looking.

I have no ptoblem with GLBasic warning its end users.  However, this isn't the case is it?  It is warning the end users of my programs created with GLBasic.  Two entirely different things and demographics.


QuoteBeing mature and taking responsibility apparently is your thing if I interpret recent postings of yours correctly.  Why not practice that with your clients and make sure they indeed are setup right for your software?
Unfortunately, I am not able to do that with GLBasic, can I?  GLBasic takes that out of our hands and does not give us a chance to handle it properly.  It should not be in our final EXEs.  If it has to be, at least let us customize the text for our own needs?

Kitty Hello

OK, what would your text read then? I can exchange that easily.

Moru

Can't you make it read some textfile instead so he can change it as he wants it?

MrTAToad

Perhaps an INI file that needs to be in the same location as the executable ?  If its not present, it defaults to the standard text message.

doimus

I would put that stuff in "Project Options".

A checkbox whether the message would appear at all and a field where user can enter a string that will be shown on screen.