Other Software > Developer's Corner

How to bundle a game's source file and its interpreter into a single EXE

(1/7) > >>

kyrathaba:
I'm writing an Interactive Fiction compiler, and then will write the corresponding interpreter (long term project, yes I know).  The compiler will take a game source file (plain text file) and convert it into a binary game file that the interpreter can interpret.

Okay, all fine and dandy.

But I've noticed that some interactive fiction authors, notably Adam Cadre, offer Windows executables of their games.  I'm wondering how one would bundle both the source file AND its interpreter into one EXE file.

tinjaw:
Self-extracting compressed file. For example you can use WinZIP to turn a ZIP file into an EXE, or use WinRAR to turn a RAR file into an EXE.

For more information search on SFX.

mouser:
one thing you will want to decide is: do you want user to be able to easily extract the original files, or do you want to hide them and make it behave like one exe and not have any sign of original files.  if the former, than sfx is good approach.  if the latter, then you might want to look for more specialized tools.

kyrathaba:
I want to bundle the EXE interpreter and the binary game source file.  These two files would be contained by the EXE and when the user launched the EXE, it would, in effect, cause the interpreter to load the game file and run it.  To the end user, it would appear that the EXE is itself the game.

tinjaw:
Sorry, I misunderstood what you wanted.  :-[ I do not know of any tools to do what you want. My guess is that you will have to write your own custom code. If you do find an existing product that does what you want, I would be interested in knowing about it.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page