Tuttle
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Having just played with JtRH in Windows Vista, I think it'd be good if TCB explicitly split the program and data files. In other words, the program and all the static data go in %ProgramFiles%\DROD by default (or somewhere else, if the user chooses to customise it during setup), and dynamic data (holds etc) go in %AppData%\Caravel\DROD or similar by default (also customisable, so people can still install to USB keys etc).

Main implications:
- Downloaded holds etc would be per Windows-user, not global to the machine.
- DROD would no longer require local admin rights to work under Windows 2000/XP/2003 after being installed with defaults.
- Backing up DROD data would require copying from a path like "C:\Documents And Settings\username\Application Data\Caravel\DROD", which is kinda non-obvious unless you know where it is.

For what it's worth, under Windows Vista the drod.ini and *.dat files automatically get virtualised out of "C:\Program Files\DROD\Data" and into "C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\DROD\Data" instead, so config and downloaded holds are per Windows-user whether you like it or not, and where to backup stuff from is even less obvious.

NiroZ
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I think that TCB would still need admin permission, provided that it has custom fonts like JtRH.

Tuttle
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I don't think even JtRH does -- DROD just uses the custom fonts from its directory when you run it, it doesn't try installing them as system fonts. I've had it running as a standard user under both XP (after opening up the filesystem permissions on the DROD directory) and Vista.

NiroZ
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Tuttle wrote:
I don't think even JtRH does -- DROD just uses the custom fonts from its directory when you run it, it doesn't try installing them as system fonts. I've had it running as a standard user under both XP (after opening up the filesystem permissions on the DROD directory) and Vista.

Hmm, the computers at school must have had a different set of permissions then.

Someone Else
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I don't have this problem, but it could be useful in keeping holds that I'm building away from my brother...
But If this really is a problem you have, I don't see why it couldn't be added. It could just be put in shared documents for those people who don't care. And it would only take a little bit of progamming, or at least I think it would.

mrimer
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Tuttle wrote:
Having just played with JtRH in Windows Vista, I think it'd be good if TCB explicitly split the program and data files. In other words, the program and all the static data go in %ProgramFiles%\DROD by default (or somewhere else, if the user chooses to customise it during setup), and dynamic data (holds etc) go in %AppData%\Caravel\DROD or similar by default (also customisable, so people can still install to USB keys etc).

This is a really keen idea. I'm going to seriously consider implementing this directory lookup because the pieces are already in place to make this work in-game.

coppro
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mrimer wrote:
This is a really keen idea. I'm going to seriously consider implementing this directory lookup because the pieces are already in place to make this work in-game.

And the Linux and Mac versions already support this. That's another big one. Maybe a drod.ini line?

Briareos
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mrimer wrote:
This is a really keen idea. I'm going to seriously consider implementing this directory lookup because the pieces are already in place to make this work in-game.

I believe this is also one thing Microsoft requires to call an application "Vista compliant"...

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