[Scummvm-devel] Windows experience

[Travis Howell]

On 27/01/2012 2:38 PM, J. King wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:34:43 -0500, Travis
> Howell<kirben at optusnet.com.au> wrote:
>> I'm against changing the default save games directory again, since
>> these changes have already been made to ScummVM. We will have users
>> who are using the new save games directory, which would require
>> further migration.
>
> This is, I think, a sensible position.  I wonder, however, if there
> isn't a solution which can meet both perceived needs.  It seems to me
> that one should be able to create a symbolic link at install-time:
>
> mkdir "%appdata%\ScummVM" mkdir "%appdata%\ScummVM\Saved games"
> mklink /d "%userprofile%\Saved Games\ScummVM"
> "%appdata%\ScummVM\Saved games"
>
> If it fails (because symbolic links are not supported by the
> installed version of Windows, or because conditions do not meet the
> ridiculous requirements for symlinks in Windows 7), it can be
> silently ignored and no harm is done.  If it succeeds, saved games
> are in a visible location which is accessible, searchable and
> generally more friendly, without the need for any changes in ScummVM
> itself, and it need not even be an advertised feature.  On the other
> hand, it might perhaps be confusing if User A has the link and User B
> does not when the only different between them is that B's user
> profile is on a network share, or what have you.

Yes, adding a symbolic link under Windows Vista/7 is a good solution. I
updated the Windows installer to add the default save game directories,
and create the suggested symbolic link for Windows Vista/7 only.

Adding a symbolic link under Windows Vista/7 requires elevated
Administrator access, but I think the Windows installer already requires
Administrator access anyway.

On 28/01/2012 7:21 AM, Johannes Schickel wrote:
> On 01/26/2012 12:34 AM, Travis Howell wrote:
>> I'm against changing the default save games directory again, since
>> these changes have already been made to ScummVM. We will have users
>> who are using the new save games directory, which would require
>> further  migration.
>>
> Personally I think if we really want to change it again we should do
> it before the next major ScummVM release. But if nobody seems to
> think it's needed then we can stay as is of course.

The daily snapshots are frequently downloaded, so many Windows users
would already be effected by these changes already.

> On a related matter: I saw we already mention that we got new
> default paths for Win NT+ in our NEWS file, but I think we should
> also point to a guide on how to migrate the save files to the new
> default location.

Yes, I updated NEWS and README to mention the migration batch file too.