Suggestions for DaemonScript 2.0

[Tiger-Heli]

Welcome to the new DaemonScript forum!
To start things off, I'll give some information on an upcoming new DaemonScript release (2.0). This will be a complete rewrite of the current version, but the GUI will remain basically the same. I also hope to add language/translation support. Support for Windows 95/98/ME will also be gone.
Please post any additional ideas you might have.

I haven't tried out DaemonScript yet (but I was looking for command-line options to enable/disable virtual drives in DT so will give it a go.)

First off, if you are discontinuing Win98/ME support, it would be good if both 1.62 and 2.0 were still available so Win98 users could use the old one.

Also it, would be good if documentation of how it works was available separately so you don't have to install the program to see what it can do.

I have some comments for the other posts and if I think of anything after trying DaemonScript I'll let you know.

[Tiger-Heli]

hi there,
and for the new version, i'd like to suggest that the following features to be included:
changing of desktop resolution (for old games)

The easiest way to do this is with a freeware app called MultiRes. http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/multires.shtm

It will allow you to specify resolutions from the command line and restore previous resolutions on exit.

I use it with another freeware app called Batchrun http://www.outertech.com/index.php?_...e=product&id=1

Between the two, I can can MultiRes to change to 640x480, launch the game and wait for it to exit, and then call MultiRes to restore my desktop back to 1024x768.

HTH!!!

[Tiger-Heli]

Primarily for games where the launched process spawns a different process, so the "wait for app" isn't effective.

Sometimes there are other workarounds for this, sometimes not.

For example, I just mentioned using MultiRes to switch the display to 640x480 and back to 1024x768.

I recently tried this with Multimedia Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 3.0.

The software by default launched a program called "CDMavis.exe" and the batch file would change to 640 run and then launch mavis at 1024x768 b/c the launcher program exited. I looked in the same folder as cdmavis.exe on the HD and there was another file called "Mavis3.exe" which was the actual game so I had the batch file launch it instead and that solved the problem.

HTH!!!

[Tiger-Heli]

Andareed, thank you for writing DaemonScript. In reality, other than adding and removing drives with the DeviceCount parameter, I could do everything else I need through a combination of Batchrun, DaemonTools CommandLine, and Mutires, but I needed DeviceCount, so that makes DaemonScript worthwhile. (And its tons easier than manually entering commands).

Between the four programs, I now have a single shortcut that:
1) Creates the virtual drive and loads the game image.
2) Changes the desktop resolution to 640x480.
3) Starts the games.
4) Changes the desktop resolution back to its original setting when I exit the game.
5) Unmounts the game image and removes the virtual drive.

So, once the game is over, my system looks just like it did originally.

I do have one question - Normally this works fine, but occasionally, I still see the Virtual Drive in Windows Explorer as Local Drive with a red question mark around it. I havent figured out what makes this happen but I would prefer it didnt.

As far as a wishlist for the new version (and maybe for the next command-line version of DT), I guess the main thing I would want (and I dont have a real need for them), would be the ability to automate the remaining functions of DT, namely the Device Parameters: Vendor, Model, Revision, Drive Letter, Region, and Auto-Insert.

The only other feature I can think of would be the ability to start and exit DT. I think I can do this with Start Daemon.exe and Taskkill /IM Daemon.exe, but that seems a bit kludgy.

Also, I would prefer if there were an option for the taskbar icon to be constantly on when DS was working, rather than flashing.

I didn't try the RunApp parameter, as I was more familiar with BatchRun and found it easier to just call DaemonScript from BatchRun, but it should have the option to add additional command line parameters and a starting directory, if it doesn't...

Finally, there is one feature of Batchrun that you might want to add to DaemonScript, and that is the ability to check whether an individual line should be executed and still save it in the script. This is very useful for debugging and stepping through scripts that arent working properly.

Thanks again!!!

[Tiger-Heli]

Well, while Im sharing useful steps for animating files, I ran across another one that others might find useful.
I have one old game that looks best at 640x480, but the bottom of the screen goes in back of the Windows XP taskbar when you launch the game at this resolution. The fix was to autohide the taskbar when I was playing the game. However, I hate having the taskbar hidden, so I only wanted to do this while the game was being played and then restore the locked taskbar after the game was finished. And I didnt want to do this manually every time I played the game.
The solution was the AutoHotKey program. I tried to write my own script to do this but it didnt work consistently, so I found one on their forum. The following script was saved as autohide.ahk and hides the WindowsXP taskbar:

;Turn on auto-hide icons but set it off in registry for next reboot to prevent lost icons from auto-log on 
Run, RunDLL32.EXE shell32.dll`,Options_RunDLL 1 
WinWait, Taskbar and Start Menu Properties 
Sleep, 100 
Control, Check,, Button2, Taskbar and Start Menu Properties ; Tick Auto-Hide the taskbar 
Sleep, 100 
ControlSend, Button11, {SPACE}, Taskbar and Start Menu Properties ; OK 
;Sleep, 100 
;RegWrite, REG_DWORD, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer, EnableAutoTray, 0

The following script was saved as autounhide.ahk and is used to restore the taskbar after it is hidden:

Run, RunDLL32.EXE shell32.dll`,Options_RunDLL 1 
WinWait, Taskbar and Start Menu Properties 
Sleep, 100 
Control, UnCheck,, Button2, Taskbar and Start Menu Properties ; Tick Auto-Hide the taskbar 
Sleep, 100 
ControlSend, Button11, {SPACE}, Taskbar and Start Menu Properties ; OK 
;Sleep, 100 
;RegWrite, REG_DWORD, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer, EnableAutoTray, 0

HTH!!!!

[romeon]

hello,

when will DaemonScript 2.0 be released? Thx!

[romeon]

Hello,

Will it ever be released or has the project died?

[ChristophP]

Hello Anderseen,

Just to say

To make compatible the future version of Demon Script (DS) 2.0 with Demon Tools Pro 4.1x.

From time to time, not all the time, when the virtual drive has already a virtual image mounted, when I launch a shortcut DS with another image, the first image is unmounted well but instead of to mount the second image of the shortcut DS, it is the first image which again is mounted. This is a bug DS or is-this due to Windows?

Besides that, DS is a small jewel of software, well done and thought well, I do not find anything to add. Cheer.

For when version 2.0?? I await it impatiently!!

Thank you for work.

(French, excuse my English)

[MaLing]

Just some smalll opinions:

1) When deleting a script-item during editing a script, a dialogue box always appears to ask for user's confirmation; this is a bit troublesome. Maybe in the Options page, there is a selection to let user switch that off.

2) The extention of the script is '.daemonscript', which is a bit too long in my humble opinion, although that does not affect any operations.

3) During installing, it lets users enter a desirable installation path; however right-clicking mouse to paste a path does not function.

They are just very minor. Thank you for reading!

[MaLing]

Well, this is actually not my idea.

I had a small chat with an Alcohol user in the Alcohol's fourm and it inspired me this idea. If you have had a look there, (which I guess you have already regularily done ) you may have known the idea, but just in case, I write it here for your reference.

DaemonScript mounts images, but each script can only mount one preset image, so users need to create many different scripts for all the games, this is a bit troublesome for them. Furthermore, each time users need to look for the appropiate script in order to launch the desirable game, this is not flexible for some users.

Perhaps it is worth considering that the Mount function can be created with a fluctuate, empty path, and let users select the path of the desirable game at executing the script.