And another update to my Zelda fan-game. Besides many new items, a new boss and more – the greatest new addition is an Updater / Patcher which allows you to get the very latest version without re-downloading the full game. Enjoy!
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For the people that are interested how I’ve implemented the Updater / Patcher:
When I decide to release a new version I run custom “Release Packager Tool”.
This tool creates, amongst other things, a manifest file that stores the date and time every file of the game has been modified. This manifest, including, all other files is then uploaded to my webspace. Now when you start the Updater / Patcher it downloads that manifest file and checks what other files need be updated by downloading them too.
To make the patcher itself update-able I am using a stub executable that runs the actual patcher executable in a separate AppDomain. That AppDomain has Shadow Copying of Files enabled. ShadowCopyFiles = “true” has the effect that the assembly and its dependencies are copied into a temporary folder upon execution -> as such the original patcher files are not locked and can be replaced.
var domainSetup = new AppDomainSetup() {
ShadowCopyFiles = "true"
};
var domain = AppDomain.CreateDomain(
"Update Domain",
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.Evidence,
domainSetup
);
domain.ExecuteAssembly( updaterAssembly );
blog . by . paul 