[Windows, Mac] FreeSO Launcher

Version 1.3.2
  • Software Mode using https://fdossena.com/?p=mesa/index.frag for compatibility with older graphics cards or no graphics card at all.
  • General improvement of code and user interface here and there.
  • Some tweaks to hopefully stop some errors from happening too often to a some people (cab corruption).

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Hello everybody!
I'm back to work a bit more on the launcher. In particular, I will be focusing on finishing the Mac OS version.

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It'll be here soon. And hopefully it'll make life a bit easier for all of you with these brilliant MacBooks.
Currently, it does everything in this thread: http://forum.freeso.org/threads/freeso-on-mac.6177/. I'll see if I add anything else I consider useful.
I'll also be making some improvements to the TSO installer to make it retry failed cab downloads x number of times.
_____________
By the way, if anybody has any suggestions, make sure to post them in this thread. I'll be watching.
 
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Hello everyone!
There has been a change of plans regarding the Mac version of the launcher. I've been working on the Mac version for weeks, but my main focus has shifted towards a new program that I've been working on that will make FreeSO more easier to install than ever before. Multiple users have also requested it.

Introducing: FreeSO Installer
A better, simpler FreeSO installation experience.
A zero-configuration, straight to the point installer that will work on Windows, Mac and Linux out of the box.
Main focus of this is to deliver a great, fast, and smooth cross-platform FreeSO installation experience, eliminating the numerous issues seen before with the launcher.

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The installer's design has been recreated from @Alessandro Needs A Server's concept. http://forum.freeso.org/threads/freeso-installer-concept-v2-0-video.1688/

What will this mean for the launcher?
The launcher isn't going anywhere. I'll still work on improving it, and reducing the number of issues it currently has with some players. Ideally, I'd like to offer our players both options working perfectly, the launcher and the installer, so players can pick their favorite.

Hope you guys have a great day! Let's all make FreeSO a great experience for everyone :)
 
hey new user, i prefer chat but apparently this is the only way to report issues with the launcher
simitone theme doesnt change back to user's theme preference after clicking simitone area
3d remesh doesnt show as already installed
it checks for requirements a little too often?
Why it downloads freeso master instead of the beta version?
is there a way to disable its sounds?
so far i've tried the windows version, mind you.

sorry for bothering if anything and thanks in advance
 
Juest said:
hey new user, i prefer chat but apparently this is the only way to report issues with the launcher
simitone theme doesnt change back to user's theme preference after clicking simitone area
3d remesh doesnt show as already installed
it checks for requirements a little too often?
Why it downloads freeso master instead of the beta version?
is there a way to disable its sounds?
so far i've tried the windows version, mind you.

sorry for bothering if anything and thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Hey Juest, thanks for leaving your feedback!
  • The Simitone theme switching has been fixed for a while now. Please update to the latest version if you're still experiencing this issue.
  • The 3D Remesh Package does not display an installed indicator because it's optional, you should re-download it every time the launcher shows that is has updated (when the date changes). The launcher does not keep track of what version of the remesh package you have and does not care if it's installed.
  • There was an event leak when checking for requirements, causing it to check more than needed, which is probably what you experienced. This has been fixed in the latest version.
  • The FreeSO download is no longer sourced from Servo, this has been changed in recent versions.
  • You cannot disable sounds for now. However, you can silence it (just like with any other program) in Window's Volume mixer by right clicking the audio icon in the tray. It should stay permanently silenced.
I will start checking this thread more, but if you believe you have an issue that should be fixed, the launcher has its own GitHub repository where you can leave an issue:
https://github.com/ItsSim/fsolauncher/issues
 
First of all, I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during these difficult times. Try to throw away all the stress by doing things that entertain and relax you. For me, it's Netflix, reading, software development and gaming. I work from home now so I have a bunch of time in the evenings for leisure :)​

Launcher announcement:​
The Mac version of the launcher is almost here!
After renting a Mac and hours of work, the Mac launcher is now almost complete! Before publishing it on the beta.freeso.org site, I would like people to try it out first and send out feedback. The idea is to find bugs that may be due to compatibility issues on different OS X versions. I tested it on Catalina.
The temporary link to download will be available on this thread eventually. Once I receive positive feedback from a few users it'll go public.

Distribution format
The launcher will be available in DMG format. I've made a preliminary background image for it. I encourage anyone with a bit of time and creativity to suggest their own background design for the DMG, you can post it replying to this thread! It's the first thing the user sees when installing ;)
I'll leave my background on here as a template for guidance. It's just a PNG image that should tell the user to drag the .app to their Applications folder. Dimensions are 658x498.

Last preview before release:
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Thank you!
 

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A PRERELEASE build is now available:
https://beta.freeso.org/fsolauncher.dmg
For testing purposes only! It's very likely that you'll need to reinstall the launcher once it's released.
Things to test out are the whole installation process and launching the game in 2D or 3D.
A few features and options from the Windows version are missing, but they'll make it over eventually.​

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Testing has been a success so far
There's been a total of 8 installs and they have all worked correctly (on Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, El Capitan) so I'm now publishing it to the beta.freeso.org page as a full-on release.
I updated the page so that the download button now goes to the Mac version (if you're visiting the page from a Mac), and it specifies the minimum requirement of 64-bit Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) or later.
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Please reinstall your launcher if you're on Mac.
I have silently pushed a new version to beta.freeso.org that fixes a few things such as the updater, which makes it ready for release. It's still version 1.7.3 but has these fixes. You can download it from https://beta.freeso.org/fsolauncher.dmg
 
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A bug with the Mac launcher has been confirmed.
Issue on GitHub: https://github.com/ItsSim/fsolauncher/issues/8

Description: The launcher does not run FreeSO when clicking "Play" the first time everything is installed. This is being investigated and will be fixed as soon as possible, with a silent update to beta.freeso.org. No version bump since the workaround is pretty simple, and a fix should come soon.

The workaround is to exit from the icon tray and reopen the launcher.
 
Sim said:
A bug with the Mac launcher has been confirmed.
Issue on GitHub: https://github.com/ItsSim/fsolauncher/issues/8

Description: The launcher does not run FreeSO when clicking "Play" the first time everything is installed. This is being investigated and will be fixed as soon as possible, with a silent update to beta.freeso.org. No version bump since the workaround is pretty simple, and a fix should come soon.

The workaround is to exit from the icon tray and reopen the launcher.
Click to expand...
Issue Fixed
The issue has been fixed by updating the launcher's copy of the MacExtras. This means that new installs should now work out of the box (when the new MacExtras are downloaded) without needing to do an update. I've included the modified MacExtras in the GitHub repository: https://github.com/ItsSim/fsolauncher/tree/master/release/fsolauncher-mac-extras
 
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Enabled Simitone on Mac version
Silent build pushed to beta.freeso.org enabling Simitone for Mac. Requires a The Sims Complete Collection copy installed in ~/Documents/The Sims.
No version bump since this isn't a new feature/bugfix. So if you want this, redownload from beta.freeso.org and reinstall the launcher.

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Hey everyone,
Last year I started thinking about what the next evolution of the launcher would look like... and so I made a concept.

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The overall idea was to make it more modern and easier to use. The look and feel match the one of the website https://beta.freeso.org that I redesigned last year. Compared to the current launcher, I believe it's much cleaner.

One of the first ideas I had was to separate the launcher and the installer (even though they'd be packaged into one app). I thought people would perhaps be more familiar with a traditional installer layout instead of the launcher just being a huge blob of features. This would also help separate concerns internally between what should be the "launcher" and what should be the "installer". I'm still not sold on this idea and might just make a simpler iteration of the installer the current launcher has. We'll see.

I also wanted to add more in-game awareness to the launcher. You can notice there's a fire icon on the menu in the top right of the launcher. It's labeled as "What's hot?" and it would take the player to a section dedicated to what's happening in-game. The hottest lots, Sims, and such. Perhaps some integration with neighborhoods? I still haven't looked into the new FreeSO API features that were introduced a few months ago, but the idea would be to present what's happening in-game with a neat UI.

The news feed would include items from the official FreeSO blog, tweets, and perhaps in-game events? Everything would be simplified into the single feed and presented as cards as you can see in the launcher screenshot, ordered by date. Maybe even trigger a live notification right then they happen? Since the current notifications system is pretty underutilized.

I'd like to know what you think. What would be a better launcher and installer experience for our future FreeSO players? What feature would you like to see?

​
 
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i like the idea.. Might i suggest putting the weeks events in the big boxes in front not just the game news? maybe smaller boxes and can get 6 to front page?
 
WendyB said:
i like the idea.. Might i suggest putting the weeks events in the big boxes in front not just the game news? maybe smaller boxes and can get 6 to front page?
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's the idea. The screenshot only shows game news, but it would include other types of content as well. Since FreeSO tweets and blog posts aren't published often, in-game events would be the most frequent type of content.
 
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Released a new update 1.7.4 yesterday.
Can anyone confirm that this fixed the game freezing for them on Windows? I've not had this issue before or after the update, but I know several people have.

Also a note on the launcher's updater: On Windows, the installer is supposed to be run automatically after downloading. If the installer does not run automatically (this seems to happen to some people, have not found the cause yet), you need to:
Reinstall the launcher manually by downloading from https://beta.freeso.org. It's always the latest version.
Remember to close the launcher completely (by right clicking the launcher icon - exit) before reinstalling.

I also want to remind new players that there's a new Wiki for the launcher with useful information on how to get FreeSO installed using the installer. https://github.com/ItsSim/fsolauncher/wiki/Using-FreeSO-Launcher
 
A reminder about launcher translations
Just reminding everyone that the launcher has translations for its own UI. I've noticed players from Poland, France, and other places that would maybe appreciate having the launcher in their language.
So far there is English, Italian (translated by @Alessandro Needs A Server) and Spanish (translated by @Womsy) available. The launcher loads the language depending on the operating system's language settings.
If anyone wants to give it a try, the translation file is available here: https://github.com/ItsSim/fsolauncher/blob/master/src/FSOLauncher_UI/UIText.json
You'd just need to duplicate the "en" (English) strings and translate them into your language. Remember to keep sentences approximately the same length as in English, to ensure consistency and that the text fits correctly in the UI.
You can submit a pull request on GitHub or post them here.
 
Released update 1.7.6
The launcher now has an in-game clock right under the Play button.
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Launcher updates are now manual
Also a reminder that launcher updates are now forced to be done outside of the launcher.
You need to go to https://beta.freeso.org (or click the "OPEN IN BROWSER" button when it pops up in the launcher), download and install the latest version (click the "DOWNLOAD LAUNCHER" button on the website). Make sure you've exited out of any active launchers on your PC before installing.
This change was made because many users had problems updating through the launcher.
 
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Launcher downloaded with no problems, I got everything on there installed but when I go to open it, it says launching freeso but then just never opens.

A second icon that looks like the FreeSo Launcher pops up on the task bar, and says "mono-sgen64" but it doesn't come up, and will disappear after a minute.
 
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