Beta testers wanted!

[Alder Ogham]

Right now I have put a little work into a standalone installer that should make it a lot easier for people to get online with Sylvan, but of course it needs testing and at the moment it's basic and low patchlevel (it's based on the release ML rather than patched upto where most people like (5.0.4e is where I aim to get it, but so far am having trouble getting that patched properly).

So what I need are :

• People who are willing to test the concept and know about .torrent files
• Ideally some of the above who are vista users to see if it works nicely for them
• It would be really nice to have some razor users too, to see how razor reacts to a standalone UO

The benefits of a standalone installer :

• No requirement for any Gateway, ConnectUO or any other app to play
• None of the panicking if you have patched too far
• You can install alongside an official client, for PayUO or another shard (who dares admit they play elsewhere? *readies explode macro*)
• Simple to install, simple to uninstall
• (Hopefully) deals with the Compatibility mode in the installer automatically

The only real disadvantage is for those who do play more than one shard (Heathens! Infidels!) 'cos they get to install twice and have to have twice as much disk space used.

So, if you are able to download torrents and want to give our shiny new installer a try (I'll want feedback, this is like a book review deal, you get it but only if you feed back), post here and I'll PM you the link if you're in the first few (haven't decided how many testers I need yet!).

--
Alder Ogham

[Ponch16]

I don't have vista unfortunately but if you still need another tester keep me in mind

[Alder Ogham]

Well haven't things moved fast in the past few hours - I now have a stable patched 5.0.4e client, and it automatically gets set to Win98 Compatibility Mode, at least in XP (no idea on vista).

So, those with torrent ability can get our shiny new installer .torrent file upon request.  There should be no changes in the client end, I just have yet to add Razor to the mix.

[Cpt_Starfox]

If only I knew much of anything about torrent... I think I have a friend who does... maybe this will entice him to join Sylvan! Muwahaha!

*thinks about figuring out torrent*

[Crimson]

Well Karina knows quite a bit about torrents, so once she gets home I'll talk with her a little about it. I am almost positive that I can do torrents on my pc since it used to be Karina's and I had a torrent program installed on it when I got it from her. I would be happy to give it a shot and beta test it for you. I don't have vista installed though. I think Karina might have vista on her pc though, unless she got frustrated with it and removed it again hehe. If she does maybe I can persuade her to give it a try and give you some feedback.

[Abbadon]

By "knowing" about torrents, how in-depth must that knowledge be? If its just using them to download stuff then count me in Im currently on a 64 bit XP, so maybe some Vista users can step up as well.

[Alder Ogham]

Welcome to the beta test.  You have a PM.

[GM Feenix]

Where would you like us to send  Praises or Problems   via  PM, a post, Chat, email,  (hopes that covers all the bases)

[Alder Ogham]

PM or post is fine, or msn for those who have my msn or know someone who can give them it ;-)

[Crimson]

Ok Karina says to go ahead and send her whatever you need to beta test. She would be happy to test it out for you. She runs on vista 64.

[Alder Ogham]

For those who have been given the .torrent file for the 5.0.4e installer and have installed to the default directory of C:\SylvanHeart, could I ask  that you follow the following :

Download the zip file I've uploaded at http://www.mediafire.com/?dmgmdg1yzyy
extract it's contents to C:\SylvanHeart
double-click the .reg file
then launch from the start menu again and see the difference.

It would appear that the self-contained-ness wasn't quite as successful as I hoped, but the above should fix it.

Thanks again
--
Alder

[GM Feenix]

HOT DAMN we have a winner    so far!!!!   

This is great  I needed a break from school work and went to forum  noticed the update and  man so far I think it is spot on  well  for ppl using XP and no razor     I have one word  thus far     A MAZE ING

[Alder Ogham]

And it works with razor too, just need to launch razor latest, hit both browse buttons, pointing them at the new install directory; pop in the host and port, launch and bingo, razor'd up.

I even managed to get razor working under linux (wine) with it!

[Alder Ogham]

For those following this thread, I have started a new one, as we have entered public beta :

http://www.sylvandreams.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4626.0

The new beta doesn't differ largely from the version that is already out there if you applied the hotfix, so no need to rush off and test that out unless you haven't downloaded the private beta yet!