[UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Hello Homins,

have you grown tired of restoring your "save" folder contents after a crash of the game client?

Have you given up setting up your landmarks or UI settings because you know you'll lose them again?

Rejoice, because these times are over! :)


Rystore is a small launcher for the Ryzom game client. I mainly wrote it because I grew tired of having to manually restore my configuration settings after a crash.

When you launch Ryzom from the launcher, it will backup all your configuration files from the "save" folder, then start the game client. If the game quits, either due to a crash or normally, it will check the integrity of your configuration files and, in case one of them got corrupted, it will offer you to restore it.

In addition, Rystore lets you manually create and restore backups for your individual characters and allow you to copy your keyboard shortcut and macro settings between your characters.

Here is a screenshot of it:
http://www.jewe.org/ryzom/pics/rystore.png

The light package, not including an installer for Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, can be found here:
http://www.jewe.org/ryzom/rystorenofx.zip (16 KB)

The full package, including an installer for Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, can be found here:
http://www.jewe.org/ryzom/rystore.zip (22.4 MB)

For installation instructions and everything else, please read the "Readme.txt" file in that ZIP.

The full source code (written in C#, only interesting for developers) can be downloaded here:
http://www.jewe.org/ryzom/rystoresrc.zip (29 KB)

Cheers,
Fand


[ Note : This tool is an unofficial, player-created utility and as such is not supported by the CSR Team. If you encounter any problems using it, please direct them to the creator ]

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

drop the dotnetfx (put a link to microsoft site to download it for those who does not already have it) and it drops to reasonable 50KiB size.

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Was already wondering why such a tiny utility is 22megs in size...

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

That's what I first intended to do, blaah.
I decided against it for two reasons:

1. Most of the players probably don't know what dotnetfx is and if they have it, or how to check. So those would go download it off the microsoft site anyway. Hence, for them it's more convenient to include it in the package.

2. We all are playing an MMO, so I assume we all have fast internet connections. Downloading 23 MB, even if for some us 22 MB are unnecessary, is not a big deal if you have DSL or broadband.

I can put up an additional package that does not include dotnetfx though. For those who know they have it installed.

Cheers,
Fand

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

I made a tool once to backup/export landmarks from your configuration files, but I was told that it is not allowed to use non-official tools to add/remove/modify/whatever any Ryzom related files.

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Well Rystore doesn't modify any ryzom related files. It just does automatically what you normally would do manually in windows explorer. Copy your save folder contents back and forth.

I don't see a violation of the CoC/EULA in it, but we will see what the new owner thinks soon enough, I think. ;)

Cheers,
Fand

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Save folder contents are also Ryzom related files ;)

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

That is arguable.

I would say, save folder contents are very much your own personal documents. Like your word document is not owned by Microsoft just cause you used MS Word to write it.

Game saves are not included in the original distribution of the software. They are the result of your use of the software.

Hence, they are yours and you can backup and restore them as much as you want.

You may not reverse-engineer their format / structure in order to write 3rd party software to deal with those documents in a way the owner didn't intend to.

That's where I see the main difference here. Your program extracted and modified parts of the configuration files, hence you have reverse engineered the file format and wrote code that deals with the file's internal format.

I'm just copying the files as a whole. That should be fair use, really.

Cheers,
Fand

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Great work anyway :p

Mind if I put it on my site do help distribute it?
Will do ASAP (at work right now, with no access to my ftp)

CU
Acridiel

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Of course I don't mind. You can distribute it freely.

Cheers,
Fand

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Imho,

We are not talking about some leet hax0r tool or similar. This is an application designed to workaround a *major/critical* bug in game by all definition, which should have been fixed by whoever months ago. Given that this is not the case, I would expect CSRs/owners to no be picky about this interpreting CoC and allow its use at least temporarily.

We don't need to discuss whether a .cfg or whatever file is / isn't part of the distribution. That said, despite having talked to Fandragor myself and knowing he did it in our interest, it goes without saying that it is nontheless an executable file that you download from the internet at your own risk (as little as risk may be in this case). Such a tool could be "verified" or "semi-officialy" distributed to avoid this.

Yours

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

I, for one, am thrilled about the prospect of never losing my flags again and of never having to reconfigure my UI when I log into the game.

Many thanks, Fandragor, for your work on this!

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

I know, but considering what the CSRs have been shouting at me every time, you'd be better off asking if it's allowed before distributing it. Even my simple silly server speed monitor for when the server was running slow was wiped off the forum by the evil powerz of the CSRs. Just sharing with you guys what I've been told, anyways, not that it follows my personal opinion on this stuff.

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

I'm not sure i know what the microsoft framework thing is. Do i need that for this program (for all i know, i might already have it)?

EDIT: Nvm, i read that i do need it :) Thx anyway!

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

nice work fand, thanks

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

thank you Fand :D, now i can play without worrying about crashes ruining my maps

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Awesome, Fand. Ta!

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Simple solution: peer review. Open the source and allow everybody to examine what the tool does. If there's any risk involved, someone will find it and point it out.

Just a thought ;)

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

You can easily decompile CIL executables using the .NET Reflector.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Good work Fandragor, tnx!

Just a question: does it work with the /multi switch?

Oh and could you please please pretty please make the save location a user option? I really don't like programs putting stuff in My Documents automatically.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Links seem to be down, this tool looks like it will solve my crash-on-exit headaches

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Link is down. I am glad someone came up with this. The flag debacle was, well, a debacle.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Links should work again. Sorry for the temporary downtime.

Cheers,
Fand

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

can always host the files for you fand if you have hosting issues.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Thanks for the link updates, it seems to work great so far, though it's curious that a char name appears in list that I didn't create. My char is Drakhan, but "R2ed_drakhan" also appears.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Hehe, yeah that's your Ring editor configuration. I never visited the Ring editor, so I wasn't aware the game created this kind of configuration.

I could probably add some filter to the code to filter out Ring configs, but maybe it's not so bad if you can backup these configs as well.

Cheers,
Fand

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

""Rystore will create a "Rystore" folder in your "My Documents" folder. That's where it will copy all your character's configuration files if you manually backup them. I don't recommend to delete or rename files or folders in this folder."

I would suggest creating a folder within the Ryzom directory or just putting the backups in the save directory. One of the best things about Ryzom is copying the entire Ryzom folder over to a USB thingie, DVD or whatever and bringing it with you wherever you go w/o havingto reinstall or search the HD for "other" files. I keep a current copy of my Ryzom folder on my USB thingie and take it wherevere I go, ready to copy to a hotel PC, friend's PC, office PC whatever.

What I have been doing since the patch that introduced this bug is simply zip the files to "save[date].zip" right within the save folder and simply unzip to restore any time they get fudged.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

I launched Ryzom with this last night, played for a few hours and managed to quit without a crash... I just tried to do it again and wound up starting the process of getting a 183.4MB patch. Upon being told there was no new patch today I exited, restarted with my old-fashioned ryzom.exe, and wound up needing just an 11MB patch - probably to fix whatever I'd just been allowing to happen.

Not sure if the issue was caused by Rystore or my fruitcake of a computer, but I figured it was worth a mention.

Edit: Tried launching with Rystore again the following day and it worked just fine, so I think I'll blame the Ryzom background downloader. :p

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Hiya Tshael,

Rystore just runs the "client_ryzom_rd.exe" in your Ryzom folder, just as if you ran it from windows explorer.

There's no other "magic" happening in Rystore, so I doubt it can influence the way the background patching mechanism works.

Since the game is back, I haven't seen the patcher download *anything* here on my system, and I'm logging on at least once a day. So I believe there hasn't been any bug fixes / patches released by the new devs yet.

But yeah, its kinda weird other people report actually downloading files for patch, I heard this from a number of players now.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

I could really use this utility!

I downloaded the "light" version as I already have .Net running - I think it's 3.5. I put Rystore.exe in the Ryzom folder, created a shortcut to the desktop, but no character appears. Start, re-start, nothing.

I run 64 bit Vista. I'm wondering if this is because I don't have a "My Documents" folder - or at least a folder with that name. Or if the Net Framework version differences are to blame.

Is there something you can suggest other than "get rid of Vista"?

Thank you!

Katore

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Hm... strange. I will look into it on my Vista 64 box when I find time this week.

Cheers,
Fand

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Great. Thank you!

I looked in my c:\ Program Files (x86) \ Ryzom \ Save folder and there's only 1 file there "string_client.pack". I'm wondering where the save file would be in case I want to try to manually back up the bookmarks.

Do you think I should put the Ryzom folder inside my user folder?

Thanks!

Katore

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Hm... actually your save files should be exactly where you looked, in your ...\Ryzom\Save folder. If they aren't there, even after running the game and exiting it normally, it means the game didn't manage to successfully save into the save folder. Make sure

A) your Ryzom AND Save folders have write access
B) you run Ryzom with Administrator rights

If you still don't get any save files, you don't need to bother with Rystore, because then it means Rystore will never get any files to backup from running the game.

Cheers,
Fand

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Aha! That was the problem. My Ryzom folder didn't have write permissions and I wasn't running Ryzom with Admin rights.

When I changed both, my character name showed up inside Rystore and I'm able to save the configs.

Thank you so much for helping me with this!

Katore

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Provided of course the (closed source) .NET Reflector is only what it pretends to be ;)

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Khyle, I followed your suggestion and put a link to the zipped source code in the original post. With that, I think we don't need to discuss what the .NET Reflector is or isn't.

Cheers,
Fand

Re: Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Great decision, much obliged!

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Yes, thank you for posting the source. Now I can change the destination directory myself :)

./wave

Re: [UNOFFICIAL] Rystore - Ryzom launch pad and configuration backup / restore
 

Can you write a Linux version of Rystore? Wine doesn't emulate the .NET framework, I can't get authentic Microsoft .NET to install in Linux, and it's still up in the air whether I'm going to be able to get Mono loaded in order to defeat the problem that way. A Linux version would be sooooo much simpler...

I'm not a programmer or I'd do it myself, as it sounds like all you're doing is copying files and launching the program.

Please? Pretty please? ;)