Need Help Installation Issue

[Cerez]

I've been running Windows 10 since its release with no trouble. Beats me what all the trepidation is about.
After over 30 years in the IT field, I appreciate things that just work without a lot of mucking around.

As with all operating systems (and all software in general), it depends heavily on what you're actually using the computer for.

Also, worth noting, many of today's distributions of Linux need no "mucking around" either. Just a simple installation.

(And, unlike Windows, Linux tends to stay in prime condition until the computer's end of life, whereas Microsoft's Windows slows down and becomes outdated due to planned obsolescence over time and forces you to switch to a new computer even while your current computer is still perfectly functional! )

(I've spent many years with Microsoft, then with Apple, and I'm here to say that if you're looking for quality software that lasts for work, with the least amount of "mucking around", you won't find it there -- especially not now that both companies have moved into the app business, catering to the mass of minimal users.)

The installer will continue to look for a discrete file name. I know some folks like to rename files they download, but my mindreader's license expired a long time ago. I may have it pop up a browse box, depending on how much time I have.

I take it MindReader is the installer/packager? InstallJammer is a worthy (professional calibre and nice looking) open source alternative. Just throwing this out here, in case it proves useful.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I take it MindReader is the installer/packager? InstallJammer is a worthy (professional calibre and nice looking) open source alternative. Just throwing this out here, in case it proves useful.

It's an NSIS installer.

 

[Cerez]

It's an NSIS installer.

No, InstallJammer isn't based on the Nullsoft system (to my best knowledge) -- it may resemble it in look/design, but it bears a different code. It was written in Tcl/Tk. Or did you mean that MindReader is NSIS based?

 

[Mad Jack Wolfe]

No, InstallJammer isn't based on the Nullsoft system (to my best knowledge) -- it may resemble it in look/design, but it bears a different code. It was written in Tcl/Tk. Or did you mean that MindReader is NSIS based?

The tool used for the mod installer is NSIS. InstallJammer was good during its day, but development on it stopped ages ago. And the mindreader reference was to the point that I am not going to try and read people's minds when it comes to their deciding to rename a file for no good reason.

 

[Cerez]

The tool used for the mod installer is NSIS. InstallJammer was good during its day, but development on it stopped ages ago. And the mindreader reference was to the point that I am not going to try and read people's minds when it comes to their deciding to rename a file for no good reason.

Oh, ahhahaha! Okay, that sheds light on it for my autistic mind. Well, it's your mod and your choice as the dev., but it doesn't take mindreading to add a check for the no extension version of the file -- which would be the most common occurrance for the (unintentional) misnaming. It's not that @DavyJack actually intended to rename it when saving -- it's just something that certain browser/OS combinations are prone to do (a cross-platform browser programming oversight).

 

[Pieter Boelen]

No, InstallJammer isn't based on the Nullsoft system (to my best knowledge) -- it may resemble it in look/design, but it bears a different code. It was written in Tcl/Tk. Or did you mean that MindReader is NSIS based?

For clarity's sake, I tried to say (in too few words) that the PotC:NH installer is made using NSIS.
My apologies for being confusing.

 

[Cerez]

For clarity's sake, I tried to say (in too few words) that the PotC:NH installer is made using NSIS.
My apologies for being confusing.

That's okay. Thanks, Pieter. No harm done. ^_^

From what I've heard, NSIS is an industry leading open source solution for packaging and installing, so that's a pretty solid choice -- especially now that InstallJammer's further development has been discontinued. I'm still hopeful that someone will pick up InstallJammer again, because it really is an outstanding piece of software.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Are you using Google Chrome on Windows 10 as well?

I do not use Google, Facebook, or Twitter as they are all well known data miners. Firefox Nightly is my browser.

I installed Win10 in August 2015. Since then it has been running on heavily overclocked systems, been moved from hard drive to hard drive, and has had multiple major hardware changes to deal with like motherboards and CPUs and it is still running fine. I hated win 8.1 and liked win7, but win10 is better. But it is demanding of the hardware. For instance it is using 3.4gb of memory right now while it is doing nothing and it is not unusual for it to use over 8gb of ram while gaming.

 

[Cerez]

I installed Win10 in August 2015. Since then it has been running on heavily overclocked systems, been moved from hard drive to hard drive, and has had multiple major hardware changes to deal with like motherboards and CPUs and it is still running fine. I hated win 8.1 and liked win7, but win10 is better. But it is demanding of the hardware. For instance it is using 3.4gb of memory right now while it is doing nothing and it is not unusual for it to use over 8gb of ram while gaming.

Thanks for the valuable practical insight! Note also that macOS and Windows gather statistics on users as well, and, disturbingly, my usage data showed that the macOS Mail application was sending double the amount of data that was my email contents when sending mail!

In my experience, basically anything that is closed platform and run by a giant organisation is NOT safe -- the massive userbase and their exclusive access to the code will sooner or later be exploited.

Also, I would expect your computers with Windows 10 to become useless by 2020, since 4 years is about the planned obsolescence life cycle in general used by IT corporations. I predict that something will phase your Windows 10 machines out -- whether it be the machines apparently slowing down, or new Windows features introduced that you won't have access to in the Windows 10 machines you bought, forcing you to upgrade.

Firefox Nightly is my browser.

Interesting that you ran into the same file extension dropping issue. Could be that Microsoft has done something different in terms of filename handling in Windows 10, so that both the Mozilla and Google devs had to play catch-up with it, and adjust their web browsers' code. I my experience, this is hardly unheard of.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Of course they are all data mining! It started officially back around 2003. There is a large building in Silicon Valley with a false top floor. It is actually filled with antennas. The guys building it were all talking about the size of the cables going into it then talking about all the supercomputers going in. It uses so much electricity that we had to build a new power plant to power it. It's job is to monitor all electronic traffic. That is just the government. Big Business is much more intrusive and dangerous.

Planned obsolescence and the OS as a service are indeed coming. I'm using an AMD Ryzen based rig now and the Ryzen cpu is not compatible with Win7. But people are working on it and have Win7 running on it anyway. The AM4 platform is good till after 2020 so I'm good till then at least. 4 years out of an overclocked rig is a long time. My FX @ 5ghz rig only lasted 2 1/2 years before it got replaced. I'll be looking to update my hardware by then anyway.

Nightly is their beta version that gets updates daily and is their most secure version as it runs on a different system than the standard Firefox. With win10 daily updates are the norm so other apps need to update daily too.

 

[Cerez]

My cycle for changing a working computer (laptop) is 8-10 years. By that time, usually something gives up -- whether it be the screen, the plastic casing, or certain hardware components. During those 8 years, I've never had a problem with the system slowing down or my OS and its features/software becoming obsolete. All because I am running a stable version of Linux on it -- Debian.

A lot of people seem to think that Linux is ancient and/or only for techies. Neither is true anymore, and it will be even less true in the future. Linux, too, is evolving fast with the times, and many of the latest user interface choices are sleek and modern, and easy to use. Even the initial installation is slowly becoming a piece of cake.



And, remaining open-source, Linux has never been a subject to data-mining. When such things occur, such as gathering and storing search data in a case with Ubuntu, the users (and developers) quickly jump on it to complain, and the intrusive features are removed -- in the true fashion of democracy.

What I love most about Linux is that each piece of software is written with passion by those who actually use it -- not made to sell. This makes them so much more practical and consistent than corporate software.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Yeah, most people are like that. One of my brothers is still using a desktop rig I bought new in 2007. All he does is surf and it is still good for that. His son is using one I built up out of spare parts I had laying around. My wife is still using her 10 year old Mac and I gave her a new laptop for Christmas because her 9 year old one was dying.

But games are evolving and my hardware has to keep up with them. When I first got the FX running the games I played then only pushed it to 40-50% loads and all was well. Then came the next generation and suddenly loads were in the 80-90% range. Ryzen got the loads down to the 40-50% range again. Not so with the GPU though. Because the data miners have inflated prices I'm now 2-3 generations behind and this gpu is always at 100%, but I just can't force meself to pay $900 for a $300 gpu. I'm saving me pennies for the day sanity returns.

Since all I do is OC and game I'm stuck with windows. Most OCers reinstall the OS 2-6 times a year due to data corruption but to show how stable my systems are I keep the same install year after year. My system is more thoroughly tested and more stable than stock systems. As for OS slowdown mine has all the usual bloatware that accumulates over time and testing shows a 2-3% difference between it and a new clean install. That's 1-2 fps in games and no one can notice that.

I haven't tried Ubuntu in maybe 3-4 years and that version involved waaay too much typing. I'm a 2 finger hunt and peck typist so it just didn't work for me. Too much like windows 3.1. Would you believe it took me 20 minutes to type this out?

 

[Cerez]

Yeah, most people are like that. One of my brothers is still using a desktop rig I bought new in 2007. All he does is surf and it is still good for that. His son is using one I built up out of spare parts I had laying around. My wife is still using her 10 year old Mac and I gave her a new laptop for Christmas because her 9 year old one was dying.

No, you misundersand me. I'm actually using my computer for real and heavy work -- graphics processing, design, video editing, audio recording and editing, 3D modeling and rendering, book writing, office suite, programming, web app rendering -- all in a professional capacity, producing industry standards level, high quality work.

But games are evolving and my hardware has to keep up with them. When I first got the FX running the games I played then only pushed it to 40-50% loads and all was well. Then came the next generation and suddenly loads were in the 80-90% range. Ryzen got the loads down to the 40-50% range again. Not so with the GPU though. Because the data miners have inflated prices I'm now 2-3 generations behind and this gpu is always at 100%, but I just can't force meself to pay $900 for a $300 gpu. I'm saving me pennies for the day sanity returns.

Yes, while you technically can game on Linux (on a popular distro like Ubuntu), most Linux users will tell you that Windows is much better suited for gaming purposes, simply because most (well-optimised) PC games are specifically developed with it in mind, and most new games are following the latest largest userbase for a PC OS -- in order to maximise their sales.

Personally, I don't mix work and gaming. I made that choice a long time ago. I used to dual-boot Windows and Linux. Now I have one "PC Xbox" -- a powerful Windows computer that I hooked up to my television specifically for gaming, and a AU $400 laptop for work -- believe it or not, because Linux makes it possible to get that kind of work performance out of what is essentially a low-end machine! The laptop I bought was specifically notorious for being slow with Windows 10, with most purchasers returning it to store because they "couldn't use the Internet fast with it". Now I'm using it to produce professional calibre work, including 3D models and movies.

So there you go -- this personal testimony says something about the power of Linux as an OS.

Since all I do is OC and game I'm stuck with windows. Most OCers reinstall the OS 2-6 times a year due to data corruption but to show how stable my systems are I keep the same install year after year. My system is more thoroughly tested and more stable than stock systems. As for OS slowdown mine has all the usual bloatware that accumulates over time and testing shows a 2-3% difference between it and a new clean install. That's 1-2 fps in games and no one can notice that.

I've actually found that when used just for installing and playing games, Windows does its job fairly well, too -- so I am more than happy to fully concur with this! There is a bit of a slow-down over time as you install more and more games -- as you say -- and the computer -- of course -- needs a reboot every now and then to clear the memory, but overall it plays like a solid machine, and it continues playing for a long time. (That is as long as you don't keep updating Windows with Microsoft's patches.)

(I was mostly talking about using Windows for work, which is a whole different game... )

I haven't tried Ubuntu in maybe 3-4 years and that version involved waaay too much typing. I'm a 2 finger hunt and peck typist so it just didn't work for me. Too much like windows 3.1. Would you believe it took me 20 minutes to type this out?

Don't worry, I'm slow at typing, too, and I have to re-edit a gazillion times to make my point across -- what I really wanted to say... (It sometimes takes me literally hours...)

 

[Hylie Pistof]

I don't think you will ever convince me that a laptop can do any real work with their 10 year old design cpu. My slightly above average desktop can do video editing at the rate of 3 gb per minute while doing other things as well.

 

[Cerez]

You'd be surprised! First of all, for video rendering, the power of the CPU is not as important as the amount of RAM your computer/s has/have. Secondly, while a lot of progress happens in the computer world in a decade (or even two), the fundamentals rarely change. If you look back 10 years from now to how Hollywood was editing movies back then, you'll find that not all that much was different, and the end product looked quite the same. There is good reason for this: work requires a certain level of consistency.

Now, of course, it depends on the kind of work you're doing. If you're involved in bleeding edge technology, then, of course, you'll need to update your rig quite often.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

The business world seems to be lagging behind. In gaming a 10 year old computer can't even run modern games or they run so poorly that the experience is so bad that no reasonable person would do it. In gaming the days of the little quad core cpu are ending as most of them are running at 100% capacity these days. In 2007 I bought a state of the art computer with the first quad core cpu and it performed horribly as nothing was designed to use 4 cores. Today that upgraded computer has trouble with Minecraft. There was a window in the 2009-2014 time span when it worked ok. For gamers it is upgrade or be happy with 20fps.

 

[Cerez]

Well, again, that depends on the games themselves. If you are looking at the bleeding edge, awesome graphics and heavy performance games, then yes, a 10-year-old rig is ridiculously weak/old.

But if you're indulging in the latest indie and casual titles, or you are a GOG fan, even a 10-year-old rig can manage just fine.

(Minecraft doesn't exactly fall under "awesome graphics", but it is "heavy performance", seeing as it is rendering a multiplayer, procedurally generated, open sandbox world in full 3D. For Minecraft, you need solid processing power and a relatively up-to-date graphics card to have the game run smoothly.)

 

[Hylie Pistof]

It's not just the latest greatest games anymore. I play POTC, the Half Life series, the Bioshock series, and the Witcher series. My system is capped at 150fps for POTC and the Half Life series and the first 2 Bioshocks run at 150fps. Bioshock Infinite (2013) runs in the 80-140fps range, and the Witcher games all run at less than that. 30fps happens. TW1 is just a really poorly made game that only runs at 20-30fps in spite of its dated graphics, TW2 actually runs in the 60-90fps range and is a good game, and TW3 (2015) runs in the 50-70fps range but looks beautiful.

It's this 27" 1440P monitor doing it as it takes a lot of power to push those pixels. CPU loads went up by 30% and more when it replaced the 10 year old 24" 1080P monitor, but it looks so good!

My newest bleeding edge game is Subnautica (Feb. 2018) (564 hours in 2 months) which runs in the 40-90fps range. It's an Indie game and it shows, but is it ever pretty. I bought a 17" monitor for $1300 back in 1991 and I've been chasing the wave ever since. Still haven't caught it but I keep trying.