jessetbh/AkiLauncher v0.3.0

AKI Launcher v0.3.0

on GitHub

AKI Launcher v0.3.0 adds conversions of community hacks for all six games, an importer for the mods, texture packs and hacks you already have, a Mods page for each game, a ROM folder scan, and launcher self-updates. You can play it all with a controller.

This launcher needs the v0.3.0 games. The launcher installs games from their GitHub releases, so a game you install now is v0.3.0. Each game you already have shows "Update available": press U (RB) to update it. Conversions only run on v0.3.0 games. On an older game the launcher tells you to update, and offers to play The Original Game instead.

Important for WrestleMania 2000 players

WWF WrestleMania 2000 v0.3.0 uses the retail USA ROM. The fan-modified "V1.2" file that earlier versions asked for no longer works. If you used the V1.2 file, select your retail ROM when the launcher asks, and update WrestleMania 2000 to v0.3.0 together with the launcher.

Highlights

• Conversions: play well-known community ROM hacks on top of the ports. Each one is labelled with how well we tested it.
• Import: give the launcher a file, a folder or a drop on its window. It sorts out what each thing is and which game it's for, then converts and installs it.
• Mods page: install, preview and remove mods, texture packs, model packs and conversions.
• ROM folder scan: point the launcher at your ROM folder, zipped ROMs included, and it finds each game's ROM.

New

• Conversions: play conversions of community hacks for each game. A game that has conversions installed shows Play as... on its card. C (LB on a controller) switches between The Original Game and each conversion, and the launcher remembers your pick for each game. Each conversion shows its tier: Verified, Experimental, Unsupported, or Untested for hacks we haven't tested (these may crash). Each game's release notes list its conversions.
  • Every conversion keeps its own saves, separate from the original game's.
  • If a conversion needs a ROM you haven't set, Find my ROM on a controller searches your ROM folders.
  • Starting a conversion plays the same cartridge animation as the original game.
• Mods page: M Manage {Game} Mods sits under each game's Play button. Press M (Start on a controller). The page lists the game's mods and texture packs with their names, versions, authors and pictures. Remove sends a mod to the Recycle Bin. For a game that has conversions, the page opens on its Conversions section, which shows each conversion's details, a Play button and a saves folder. Removing a conversion keeps its saves.
• Import: on the Mods page, Import a mod... takes one file and Import a folder... takes everything in a folder you pick. You can also drop files or folders on the launcher window. Hacks and patches are installed for the game they belong to, whichever game's page you import them from.
  • The importer reads mods, texture packs (including Rice/Jabo packs), ROM hacks, patch files (xdelta, BPS, IPS, UPS, APS), zips, 7z archives and Project64 bundles.
  • In a folder, each mod, pack or hack is imported on its own. A texture pack or a Project64 bundle folder counts as one item. Loose readmes, pictures and saves are skipped.
  • When it finishes, the importer shows a list of results, one line per item: Converted, Installed, Have it (already imported), Needs ROM (it names the ROM a patch needs), Needs game, Unsupported or Failed, with the reason. Undo this import takes it all back out (saves stay).
  • Hacks we tested show their tier, with notes written for players. Anything else is labelled Untested.
  • A copy of everything the importer converts is kept in the Converted folder. Your original files are never changed.
  • The importer doesn't run while a game is running.
  • The first ROM-hack import downloads a small copy of Python (about 11 MB) from python.org, checks it, and keeps it. You don't need to install anything yourself.
  • The file pickers need a mouse and keyboard. With a controller, the Mods page explains how to import.
• Model packs: for No Mercy and VPW2, the Mods page has a Model packs section. Install a pack, preview it, switch it on or off, and choose who it replaces: a slot in the match, or a wrestler by name. A pack can replace the whole roster.
• ROM folder scan: Settings → ROM Folder → Scan a folder for ROMs... finds your games' ROMs in a folder, including byte-swapped (.v64/.n64) dumps and a ROM zipped on its own. Each game's ROM gets a Use this ROM button. A hack or translation is named as one, with a note to import it on the Mods page. Your ROMs stay where they are.
• Select ROM takes a byte-swapped (.v64/.n64) dump or a zipped ROM too.
• Settings: Esc (or S, or Y on a controller) opens Settings. Quit AKI Launcher is a button there, below ROM Folder.
• Launcher updates: the launcher tells you when a new version is out. It can update itself: it checks the download first, and goes back to the old version if anything fails. Your settings, games, mods and saves are never touched. There's no pre-release setting any more: a release launcher is offered releases, and a pre-release launcher is offered newer pre-releases too. Older launchers (v0.1.x) can't update themselves, so download this version by hand once. Updates after it are automatic.
• Portable mode: a portable launcher makes the games it installs portable too, so their saves, settings and mods stay in each game's folder. The first time a game starts (or its Mods page opens), the launcher copies over what the game had in its old place. It never overwrites a file, and it leaves the old copy where it was. Mods you import for a game go into that game's folder too.
• Finding games: the launcher finds game builds by itself.

Changed

• Quick Match and the History Tour are hidden in this release. They're coming in 0.4.0.
• The Import drop-box folder is gone. Use Import a mod..., Import a folder... or drag and drop.

Fixed

• A game card now offers an update only when a strictly newer version is out.
• Reset in Settings no longer saves a wrong ROM path.

Known issues

• Model packs in some conversions: they don't load in conversions that use the expansion memory: No Mercy Plus, Born to be Wired, Project Outsider Extreme, WWF Legends and Showdown 64. The Mods page says so for those conversions.
• RAR archives can't be imported yet. Extract them first (for example with 7-Zip), then import the files inside.

Notes

• You need your own ROMs. The launcher and the games include nothing from any game. Conversions are built on your PC from your own ROM plus the hack you supply.

• Windows SmartScreen: the exe is unsigned, so Windows may warn on first run. Click "More info" → "Run anyway".

• WWF Legends: Challenge 64 imported with an earlier test build: if you imported the Legends Project64 bundle before this release, remove that Legends conversion and import the bundle again to get the fixed build (the earlier one could freeze on the main menu).