Working Launchfile for Maptool

[Clyde]

Hello Everyone.

Since, over the time, a lot of ppl. in my RPG Community (www.drachenzwinge.de) had different problems with the different launching methods of Maptool (in the past the packed .bat files did not work, the Maptoollauncher.exe did not use the config any more, for using the onlinelauncher you needed to be online and some security settings may have prevented the launch of the onlinelauncher, currently the launch methods do not ship some minor features and improvements which I included over the years into my Launchfile and which the version of my launcher in the maptool legacy folder lack, and after reading some rather current posts in this forum I notice that there still seem to be some issues with the launch methods), I took the liberty of writing a working Launchfile for Windows Clients.

The file I wrote works just fine even for the most untrained of Users.



Usage and Download
Just unpack the Maptool Launch File (by Clyde).zip into the Folder in wich your maptool-x.x.xxx.jar is (this is the folder into wich you installed Maptool) and doubleclick the "Maptool Launch File (by Clyde).bat".



Features

• Maptool launches with all Javaversions, without configuration, without additionally necessary bugfixes and without any problems.
• You are able to load bigger pictures than with the standard configuration.
• Special characters are also working in character-sheet-windows (thanks to Nin).
• Solves IPv6 Problems.
• Fixes graphic glitches, if you experience some, WHEN you uncomment line 128 (removing the REM at the beginning of the line).
  See "Configuration" below, to learn how to do that.

Configuration
You can easily configure the behaviour of the Launchfile by rightclicking the file and then clicking edit. In the File you will find a section that is headlined with "CONFIGURING THE LAUNCHER". It contains the configuration options and some explanations regarding them.



Maptool version
All Maptool versions.

Operatingsystem
All Windows versions.

Java version
All Java versions.

May my code be redistributed and/or modified?
I have detailed the conditions, under which my code may be redistributed and/or modified, at the beginning of the same.



With best regards,
Clyde.

[Clyde]

Well, since lauching problems are a showstopper for every project, and since Maptool is competing with FG, and since I don't want MapTool to vanish, I thought I help you out by contributing with my work to this project. Its not much, but since I have done it anyway, why not have the whole community benefit from it.

With best regards,
Clyde.

[Clyde]

Uploaded a fix for a theoretical problem, which has not even been reported yet.

If the Launchfile is working for you, you won't need to reload it.

[Azhrei]

Thanks for the contribution but have you tried the launcher-130829.01.jar that is in the pre-release of b90? It's a new Java-based app that sports a fancy GUI interface to set various launch options and then executes MapTool for you.

I'm going through wolph's list of bugs (found here) to clean up as many as I can before building b90 so if you find problems with the launcher please let me know (there's a separate thread somewhere discussing the launcher, probably started by Lee).

[Clyde]

Greetings everyone.
@all:
Since Java 8 is on the horizon, i wanted to quickly inform you that i already anticipated that, and that the launchfile is already prepared to launch, using java 8.

@Azhrei:
Hey Azhrei, well, tbh, my community still uses .87, since there came out some bugs with .89 that screwed the ruleset for TheDarkEye, which some of our community had created and connected to the TDE Character generator. Since TDE is the most played game in our community, that was some kind of a showstopper.
I considered sending you a campaign file with the ruleset and an example char, but not knowing the copyright the creator wants, i will ask first.

With best regards,
Clyde.

[wolph42]

i think its a bit pointless to send the file to azh. he is way to busy. better is to isolate the issue and report that to him. if you have trouble doing that i would suggest you read the debug article (in my sig) first. If that fails you could pm me, aliasmask and cif with the campaign file and a VERY detailed step by step approach on how to replicate the issue(s).
if we can recreate the issue, then it should be fairly simple for us to isolate the issue and report it to azh. But its better to take that shot yourself.

[Clyde]

Hi Everyone.

Well, doing the Maptoolsupport in my Community, i noticed, that now that the File i wrote is stable, that the new issue is that standard Users often do not find the file that they should start after they downloaded it.
Hence, i renamed the file, so that ppl can easily find it.

@Wolph: Thanks dude, i will do that.

Dear regards,
Clyde.

[Clyde]

Hi Everyone.

Some ppl. noticed that MT is not always using UTF 8, and hence not showing special caracters in some windows.
Therefore a fix has been suggested, tested and applied.

With best Regards,
Clyde.

[MeMeMe]

Thanks for this. I included a link to it over in my maptools fork thread. Link in sig.

[Clyde]

Someone in my Community reported Problems with IPv6.
Well, i fixed it and the DL is updated.

BUT MT will have to be adapted to accept IPv6 Adresses, since currently it does not.
If once upon a time MT is updated to accept IPv6, then this file will be needed:
https://content.wuala.com/contents/disc ... LjZH6ILAxi

With best regards,
Clyde.

[Nin]

Well done.

Danke schön und Danke-Danke.

[Clyde]

Well, i made some minor changes.
There have not been any errors reported yet.

With best regards,
Clyde.

[wolph42]

ah here it is.

[Clyde]

Hi Everyone.

As expected my Launcher works with Maptool .91 as well.
And since i upgraded this moment .91, i will support .91 from now on aswell, wich is quite easy atm since i had to change nothing since my latest upgrade.

With best regards,
Clyde.

[Clyde]

Hello Everyone.

I do have a version update of my Launcher for you.

I was a little wrong yesterday that my Launcher needed no update.
It worked fine with the MT version. But alas, Oracle decided to rename the Java directory with every new update.

Well, i adapted the Launcher in a manner that it will find the Java executables now no matter how strange the path to the Javaw.exe may be.
(Well, at least as long as Oracle does not decides to place Java in other directories than C:\Program Files\Java\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\, which on the one hand I cannot foresee and on the other hand would only mean a minor adaptation to my Launcher. So we are on the safe side now.)

So I am proud to present to you the most robust version of my Launcher that I have written yet.

With best regards,
Clyde.