MMF2, InstallMaker and PatchMaker

[astrospoon]

So I have finished a rather large MMF2 project that I will be releasing commercially. (6 months of full-time development) I used MMF2 (not Dev) because I am OK with adding the Fueled by Fusion logo to my program.

My question however, is this: Will an MMF2 app correctly work with Install Maker and Patch Maker?...

I know MMF2Dev would let me set the version number of my app.. Is this required for Patch Maker to function? Or will it work just fine if I do not use MMF2Dev? (Ie.. can it still match "versions" without me being able to set them directly?)

Are there any other issues I should know about that may cause problems using these two apps with just the regular MMF2?

Thanks!
Andy

[Zabooza]

could someone give me a simple explaniation as what patchmaker is/does?

[astrospoon]

Patch maker lets you make software patches.

So if you change part of your game, instead of having to re-download the entire game, the user only has to download the differences between the old version and then new one. The "patch" is then applied, and transforms an install of the old version into an install of the new version.

So Patch maker basically automatically finds the "differences" between the two versions, and makes a patch executable to turn the old one into the new one.

Now back to my question

[Zabooza]

then yes, unless patchmaker can recognize the date on a released version of the game

[BrandonC]

I don't think it's so much recognizing the date on the released version of the game, but recognizing the differences in data, so it can save the differences in a patch that will then apply those differences.

This leaves the valid question though, are Multimedia Fusion 2 EXE's compatible and does Compressing the build have any impact on whether or not Patch Maker works on them?

[Yves]

Yes the compression of the stand-alone applications may be a problem in some cases with Patch Maker, especially with big applications. If you change, remove or add an image or a sound larger than 256 Kb (compressed), then Patch Maker may miss the synchronisation between files and in this case it will just zip the new file. So, that depends on your application and on the changes you are going to do in future versions.

[Shawn]

Yes the compression of the stand-alone applications may be a problem in some cases with Patch Maker, especially with big applications. If you change, remove or add an image or a sound larger than 256 Kb (compressed), then Patch Maker may miss the synchronisation between files and in this case it will just zip the new file. So, that depends on your application and on the changes you are going to do in future versions.

But it should work just fine if you aren't changing graphics or sounds right? Like if I just wanted to change some coding in my game for the custom movement, or some minor coding bug with my events, it will be okay, even if the game is a large one?

[Yves]

Yes, changes in the events should be OK.

[BrandonC]

What if you don't turn build compression on?