Solved: How to use TripleA as a Portable App

[Panther]

Thank you for your good explanation. I will try it out when I am at home this evening.

Additional questions before:

Following your instruction (jre folder on USB stick): Where are the downloaded maps and savegames stored, when there are no Java/system-related environmental variables?

I hope I can change Java related environmental variables via java.cpl in the Windows control panel. I never did that before. But how can I set environmental variables for Java when there is no Java installed on the System but only on the USB stick?

How can I force TripleA to save downloaded maps and savegames to a certain folder on the stick then?

Thank you again :-)

[Veqryn]

the maps can be put into the triplea/maps/ folder in the usb location of triplea

triplea always reads maps from 2 locations: the user folder, and the installed folder.  so just put the maps you want with the installed folder and you’ll be fine

for savegames, you can put them anywhere. when you want to load them, just navigate there. 
when you want to save, just navigate to where you want to save it to

for now, that is how it works

[Panther]

@Veqryn:

the maps can be put into the triplea/maps/ folder in the usb location of triplea

triplea always reads maps from 2 locations: the user folder, and the installed folder.  so just put the maps you want with the installed folder and you’ll be fine

for savegames, you can put them anywhere. when you want to load them, just navigate there. 
when you want to save, just navigate to where you want to save it to

for now, that is how it works

Right, I know that all. I try it with different words:
When I use the “Download Maps” feature of TripleA, the maps are saved in the user/maps folder. Automatic savegame-files are saved in the user/savegames folder when there is a Java installation with appropriate environmental variables.

Now - following your approach having Java on the stick - where are the above mentioned files now?

Thank you again :-)

[Veqryn]

they are still where they normally go for now.  you’ll have to move them over manually, or ignore them (like ignore the autosaves, or w/e)

in the future we can implement something better, but this is our portability right now

[Eqqman]

@Veqryn:

I could be wrong but I believe you can set the locations of things like “user.home”, etc, using environmental variables in java.  TripleA just uses system properties like user.home, it doesn’t have a “hard set location” for where to look for your user folder, etc.

Right, but then isn’t that going to redirect every Java app that saves data to dump its files there, and not just TripleA?

[Panther]

As I was not able to find a way to change the environmental variable (for user/home) neither in Windows 7 nor in Java itself (on my win7 64 system),
I will try to use Triple A in a Portableapps-environment using jPortable and jLauncher on one of my Windows XP systems (without an installed JRE).
I will report what happens.

[Panther]

I have found a solution and will edit the first post of this thread.

See
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=29595.msg1059900#msg1059900

[Eqqman]

@P@nther:

TripleA will now start. Download the maps you want using the “Download Maps” feature and start playing. You will find the downloaded maps as well as the automatic savegames on your USB-Stick in the following directory: Stick/PortableApps/JavaPortableLauncher/Data/AppData/triplea/
and NOT in any user/home directory on your system. So you can have your games on any windows machine without leaving data on the system itself.

I got this far in the process before running into trouble.  After I put in the SourceForge link to find the maps and hit list games, nothing further happens.  I also can’t close out the dialogue box with the cancel button or the X button.  I have to use Task Manager to close TripleA if I want to try again.

EDIT: I should note that if I skip trying to download a new map, I can launch and play a game successfully.

[Panther]

@Eggman:

@P@nther:

TripleA will now start. Download the maps you want using the “Download Maps” feature and start playing. You will find the downloaded maps as well as the automatic savegames on your USB-Stick in the following directory: Stick/PortableApps/JavaPortableLauncher/Data/AppData/triplea/
and NOT in any user/home directory on your system. So you can have your games on any windows machine without leaving data on the system itself.

I got this far in the process before running into trouble.  After I put in the SourceForge link to find the maps and hit list games, nothing further happens.  I also can’t close out the dialogue box with the cancel button or the X button.  I have to use Task Manager to close TripleA if I want to try again.

EDIT: I should note that if I skip trying to download a new map, I can launch and play a game successfully.

Hm, I just tested it again using my USB-stick - no problems.

Do you have a firewall/filter-rule that prevents javaw.exe from accessing the internet from your source?

Just to be sure about the download-link:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/tripleamaps/triplea_maps.xml

[Eqqman]

@P@nther:

Do you have a firewall/filter-rule that prevents javaw.exe from accessing the internet from your source?

Just to be sure about the download-link:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/tripleamaps/triplea_maps.xml

I’m at a location where I can’t say what is happening exactly vis-a-vis filtering, but, I have been able to download maps via the TripleA install that is directly on the machine.

I had thought I could then just copy the map from PC to USB stick, but I can’t find it!  Inside the maps folder that is in the same Windows user data area to which TripleA saves its data by default, there is a 1Kb World War II Global.zip.properties file, but there is no matching World War II Global.zip or World War II Global.xml file in that maps folder or the maps folder in the directory where I installed TripleA right on the PC.

[Eqqman]

I just downloaded a map directly so I’d know where the files were… I can get it recognized, when I try to start a game on that map Java crashes with a too many files found error.

[Panther]

When installing a map directly from a “computer based” TripleA/Java the downloaded maps as well as the savegames are stored in a folder c:\Users"User"\triplea\…

You can easily verify this and/or access this directory using the TripleA “Open User Maps and Savegames Folder” button that is accessible via the “Engine Preferences” button in the starting dialogue.

From the stick installation - as mentioned above - you will find the downloads and savegames here:
Stick/PortableApps/JavaPortableLauncher/Data/AppData/triplea/

You can easily verify this and/or access this directory using the TripleA “Open User Maps and Savegames Folder” button that is accessible via the “Engine Preferences” button in the starting dialogue, too.

Your problems sound like download errors. I would recommend to delete the maybe corrupt data from the above mentioned folders and try again.

You can of course download the map.zip directly from sourceforge and place them in any of the maps-folder:
As well in  Stick/PortableApps/JavaPortableLauncher/Data/AppData/triplea/maps/
or in        Stick/PortableApps/triplea_1_6_1_4/maps/

Sidenote: The *.properties file is used to compare the map version installed with the map version provided via the triplea_maps.xml when using the built-in map downloader.

[Veqryn]

@Eggman:

I just downloaded a map directly so I’d know where the files were… I can get it recognized, when I try to start a game on that map Java crashes with a too many files found error.

triplea hasn’t cared about “too many files found” since triplea 1.6.    it was fixed with 1.6.1 I believe.

what version are you using, and what is the exact full error message? (copy and paste the whole message here, thank you)

[Eqqman]

@Veqryn:

triplea hasn’t cared about “too many files found” since triplea 1.6.    it was fixed with 1.6.1 I believe.

what version are you using, and what is the exact full error message? (copy and paste the whole message here, thank you)

On a different machine I was able to have TripleA download and run the map successfully, so I don’t get the error anymore.  My version is the latest, 1.6.1.4.  I can try to fiddle with the install again to re-create the error if it’s important, but I’m just happy to have it working.

[Panther]

@Eggman:

On a different machine I was able to have TripleA download and run the map successfully, so I don’t get the error anymore.  …

Good to hear!

[Panther]

For 64bit Windows Systems the 64bit JavaPortable and Java Portable Launcher can be installed, too.
Downloads:
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=29595.msg1059900#msg1059900

[Panther]

First posting updated to the new stable version of TripleA (1.7.0.3).