[REL] Vista Game Explorer Editor

By Ryan R
in Microsoft (Windows)

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Vista Game Explorer Editor  

274 members have voted

  1. 1. How would you rate VGEE out of 10?

    • Excellent (9-10 out of 10)
      52
    • Very Good (8 out of 10)
      47
    • Good (7 out of 10)
      61
    • Not Good Enough (6 and below)
      71
    • I don't have Vista
      43

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Community Regular

Ryan R

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I have thought up a brand new design for the new VGEE. Imagine the following:

On the left is a series of hyperlinks that you can configure to take you to any program, folder, or wesbite you want. Similar to the links in Vista's explorer.

In the middle are all of your games and BoxArt just like the normal VGE. You will be able to launch games from this version of VGEE - so you may decide not to use the standard VGE at all. Double-click the boxart to play the game - or click it in such a way that you can edit the Title then-and-there. (Or press f2).

On the right is where all the details for the selected game are shown. Down the bottom is a link to edit these.

Click this link and all the games shown in the middle are hidden - and you can edit everything in that middle section. With the extra items available to edit - space will be accomodated by using scroll bars to scroll down to more items.

Up the top will be a toolbar, similar to the original VGEE - but better looking. Going for the brown-colour that makes up Vista's default theme (ie Vista taskbar colour). It will have the save info, clear, and delete text and icons there.

Down the bottom will be a section of frosted glass for Vista Aero users - similar to Windows Media Player. There will be nice looking buttons for editing the VGEE settings (inluding what the links on the left do, weather double-clicking a game starts playing it or editing it, etc). Also there'll be a button for playing the selected game. And Another button for symmetry - but haven't worked out what it'll do.

Since this app will hopefully become an integrel part of Vista for users (not just run it every time you get a new game, etc), it will hopefully look like part os WMP and the VGE.

If anyone can help with the design (ie the toolbar image, etc) that would be most appreciated. I we decide on a set of images, i could post them here so that people can make skins if they want.

Note that I can't garuntee all of the above-mentioned features will be avaiable straight away, or that all of them are possible with no extra assistance. I'm having a few problem with VS 2008 Express atm which is also delaying things.

Tell me what you think of the design.

Also I'll get everyone to hold back with the Exported files - with the new method of adding games still being worked out - I'm not sure how this will effect the export process - and if it will be possible to use it, or if it will be necessary.

Community Regular

Ryan R

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Just in case you're not good with word pictures - here's something I knocked up in ms paint. Remember I'm not artist. This isn't the final design, and the colour aren't exact - just used whatever ms paint gave me without going to the advanced colour sections. The bottom blue bit will be frosted glass for Aero users, and will be something else for others.

post-230055-1200871787_thumb.jpg

Enthusiast

morpheus2n

Posted
Posted
Hi, I have Vista x64 French version and VGEE don't work I have this error :

sanstitrekh5.png

Could you help me please :(

I search a little software to change Vista Games folder icon by png easily.

Why I have this error ?

Looks like theres no games in you folder that vista has added its self., its also worth makin sure you have set up your firewall properly as the pic tells me that vistas not able to connect

Community Regular

Ryan R

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On my site (http://vge.editor.googlepages.com) there are 'Support' links to a 'dummy game' (that should appear in the list preventing the message (not exactly an error) coming up. There's also a video that shows how to add the game to your VGE so that Vista downloads the BoxArt, etc). Note that in my experience (and a few others people too) that there are some Windows accounts that won't get the BoxArt for supported games no matter what. Only solution is to create a new account, which can be a pain.

Grand Master

Pupik

Posted
Posted

Any mirror for the latest beta? I'm getting this from the link in the original post:

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Community Regular

Ryan R

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Both sites were working now. In any event do a google on it - while most results link here or to my original webpage, there are some others who have uploaded it themselves.

I'll endeavor to upload it to another place soon.

Can I get feedback on the design for the new VGEE from members who have been here (in this thread or from the old one) for some time - I think I've got a really good design, but surely there must be a few small suggestions some of you have. Even tell me if you like it and have no suggestions. :)

Grand Master

ozgeek

Posted
Posted

Don't use this. I am not using this anymore. Just don't see the benefit of it after it screwed up my Games. Look here:

It was working fine for a while but then Vista automatically updated the information. I had some Steam Games in there but it keeps reseting to show Half Life: Source, a game I don't own.

gamesdk1.jpg

Community Regular

Ryan R

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Posted

Obviously you didn't read the announcement I made here and on my site:

Bug Fix - Action Required For Users of VGEE Beta 2.12 and Older

In previous versions of VGEE, you could add and edit games in your VGEE. However at a random time everything gets reverted, and you end up with many items resembling the game you chose to overwrite. Thanks goes to Justin B who helped suggest a new way to prevent this. If you have made changes to your VGE in a version older than Beta 2.12a, you will need to load each game in a newer version VGEE and then save each one again. If the suggestion works, your VGE shouldn't reset for 20 years.

That bug has been fixed for a long time now. You just had to perform the following steps to prevent what happened to your VGE. I wouldn't give up hope too soon though, since a- If you do those games again you'll find that problem won't return, and b-the next version of VGEE will be completely different (starting from scratch) in it's looks, abilities, and the way it changes your info (using the GDF method).

Community Regular

Ryan R

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Posted

I don't know if I've posted this already - but my express edition of VS 2008 has packed up - with the common error where I can't open any forms for editing, which is delaying everything. The current version of VGEE was made in VS 2005 Express - which is also on my PC - working fine.

Apparently Vista SP1 solves the problem with VS 2008 - so I'll wait for the final release of that. Unfortunately I lost my VS 2008 .iso file. Had a number of copies on my computer and I must've deleted one copy too many.

Currently, I have in a folder on my desktop about 15 small apps from Julius, each one does a little more than the last. A conversation yesterday revealed that he has successfully ben able to change game ratings and WEI ratings using the new method.

So what needs to happen is:

I get VS 2008 working

Assemble all the bits of code that Julius has worked on and write my own code to create the final app in the new design, adding new features

Get some beta testers

Release to everyone.

Thinking realisticly, the project could be 75% finished tomorrow if I spent all day on it and VS was working - but I'd rather say 1 month so I don't dissapoint too many people if it's not ready in time (or have I just done that now?) :blush:

Thanks for all the support everyone and the great feedback so far.

The attached images show how Julius changed a game with no rating to one with the 'Adult' rating using his code. It also shows the WEI rating set to 6.0 (used to be something lower prviously).

post-230055-1201214509_thumb.jpg

post-230055-1201214608_thumb.jpg

Enthusiast

morpheus2n

Posted
Posted
I don't know if I've posted this already - but my express edition of VS 2008 has packed up - with the common error where I can't open any forms for editing, which is delaying everything. The current version of VGEE was made in VS 2005 Express - which is also on my PC - working fine.

Apparently Vista SP1 solves the problem with VS 2008 - so I'll wait for the final release of that. Unfortunately I lost my VS 2008 .iso file. Had a number of copies on my computer and I must've deleted one copy too many.

Currently, I have in a folder on my desktop about 15 small apps from Julius, each one does a little more than the last. A conversation yesterday revealed that he has successfully ben able to change game ratings and WEI ratings using the new method.

So what needs to happen is:

I get VS 2008 working

Assemble all the bits of code that Julius has worked on and write my own code to create the final app in the new design, adding new features

Get some beta testers

Release to everyone.

Thinking realisticly, the project could be 75% finished tomorrow if I spent all day on it and VS was working - but I'd rather say 1 month so I don't dissapoint too many people if it's not ready in time (or have I just done that now?) :blush:

Thanks for all the support everyone and the great feedback so far.

The attached images show how Julius changed a game with no rating to one with the 'Adult' rating using his code. It also shows the WEI rating set to 6.0 (used to be something lower prviously).

Hell yeah looking good pitty your VS 08 is up the shoot but a month sound cool seen as wwhats in store id say thats bloody quick really lol

Community Regular

Ryan R

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Well during yesterdays lunch break I quickly installed VB .NET 2008 Express on my work laptop. I started on the official design today - and now have the left third of the app almost complete. (See image).

All it does at the moment is display the links which are customizable via the Preference form. You can have up to 20 links, which should be way more than enough for most people. Running the app full screen on my 1440x900 monitor - I could display up to 17 links in total.

The window is completely resizable, unlike VGEE, and everything moves in proportion. The current 'Preferences' button thingy willl be replaced by an icon/symbol of sorts - feel free to design one if you want.

The app is skinnable. The top and bottom toolbars are loaded as .bmp files - and the Preferences menu will later allow you to choose a folder containing the needed files in different colour schemes.

The most exciting thing will concern XP users. Since my work laptop is running XP SP2, and this new program will allow you to launch games from within it - it should be able to run on Windows XP. I have a slight advantage over those who have tried to make a VGE for XP already in that I have all the code for making the usual Vista edits, so all that really needs to be done is to create a few registry keys and folders in XP to match the Vista ones.

With this in mind - I can't continue to call the program Vista Game Explorer Editor. Currently I'm using 'Windows Game Explorer' - but I'm sure you have better names to call this app - so please post them here. Bear in mind that later on I should have the ability to extend the use of this app to not only browse through a games collection, but also that of movies, recorded TV shows, music, etc. I may also be able to incorporate support for the WMC remote control if people request it - but all this will be way down the track.

Requesting feedback - good or constructive.

post-230055-1201349509_thumb.jpg

Community Regular

Ryan R

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I wasn't planning on releasing any more updates to VGEE in order to add features - but I noticed yesterday that the www.allgame.com website is offline. So I quickly changed VGEE to do a Google Image search instead. If there is a title specified in VGEE when you click the 'Find Box Art' button - it will automatically start the search for you based on the words in the Title. Either run an old version of VGEE or visit http://vge.editor.googlepages.com to get VGEE Beta 2.14a

You can just install 2.14a over the top of the Beta 2.14 version - no need to uninstall (despite the warning if upgrading from 2.14).

E-Explorer (which is the decided name for the new project at this time) - is still being built. The middle part of the program now has all of the items that you'll use to make edits or add games manually. I would post a screenshot - but since I'm developing this in XP which uses the Classic theme it doesn't look so great. Later on when we get a few skins thinks may look better for the Classic/Standard themes of Windows.

Julius is almost finished with his code, so all of the GDF functions should be a sinch to implement when we get to that stage.

If any of you have the Direct X SDK with the GDF maker - and you want to help speed up this project - you could help out by writing down all of the GUIDs for each Content Descriptor for the differeant ratings system (ie Blood, Cartoon Violence, etc). Either post them here or send me an email. If you email them then I'll post here so that no-one repeats the work for no reason.

Email address is vge.editor@gmail.com

The way to work out the the GUIDs for each one takes some time - what you do is you create a new project. Add a certain rating system (note which one in your file) - then add any old rating - then add one content descriptor. Compile the project - then browse to that folder where you saved it and open the .xml file.

You'll see a line such as: <Descriptor descriptorID="{D49A8F0C-B183-4a34-8D86-33F2DC0E2D6C}" />

So in your file write something like

******************************** File ****************************************

Descriptor ID's

ESRB

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blood {D49A8F0C-B183-4a34-8D86-33F2DC0E2D6C}

and so on

Other Rating System

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blood {E49G8F0C-E145-2f35-3F52-73F5HJ7E2E3F}

and so on

******************************** File ****************************************

Please note that the above example is incorrect - I am 99% sure that those GUIDs are for different descriptors - but I don't know which.

Community Regular

72001

Posted
Posted
I wasn't planning on releasing any more updates to VGEE in order to add features - but I noticed yesterday that the www.allgame.com website is offline. So I quickly changed VGEE to do a Google Image search instead. If there is a title specified in VGEE when you click the 'Find Box Art' button - it will automatically start the search for you based on the words in the Title. Either run an old version of VGEE or visit http://vge.editor.googlepages.com to get VGEE Beta 2.14a

You can just install 2.14a over the top of the Beta 2.14 version - no need to uninstall (despite the warning if upgrading from 2.14).

E-Explorer (which is the decided name for the new project at this time) - is still being built. The middle part of the program now has all of the items that you'll use to make edits or add games manually. I would post a screenshot - but since I'm developing this in XP which uses the Classic theme it doesn't look so great. Later on when we get a few skins thinks may look better for the Classic/Standard themes of Windows.

Julius is almost finished with his code, so all of the GDF functions should be a sinch to implement when we get to that stage.

If any of you have the Direct X SDK with the GDF maker - and you want to help speed up this project - you could help out by writing down all of the GUIDs for each Content Descriptor for the differeant ratings system (ie Blood, Cartoon Violence, etc). Either post them here or send me an email. If you email them then I'll post here so that no-one repeats the work for no reason.

Email address is vge.editor@gmail.com

The way to work out the the GUIDs for each one takes some time - what you do is you create a new project. Add a certain rating system (note which one in your file) - then add any old rating - then add one content descriptor. Compile the project - then browse to that folder where you saved it and open the .xml file.

You'll see a line such as: <Descriptor descriptorID="{D49A8F0C-B183-4a34-8D86-33F2DC0E2D6C}" />

So in your file write something like

******************************** File ****************************************

Descriptor ID's

ESRB

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blood {D49A8F0C-B183-4a34-8D86-33F2DC0E2D6C}

and so on

Other Rating System

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blood {E49G8F0C-E145-2f35-3F52-73F5HJ7E2E3F}

and so on

******************************** File ****************************************

Please note that the above example is incorrect - I am 99% sure that those GUIDs are for different descriptors - but I don't know which.

All Rating Discritptors

<Descriptor descriptorID="{9F3B6BCD-A23B-4645-B3D1-FF8CB32A096F}" />

Online - Experience Can Change

Teen - Descriptors

<Descriptor descriptorID="{9BE7B916-F237-4328-8157-24282DA66151}" />

Fantasy Violence

<Descriptor descriptorID="{1A796A5D-1E25-4862-9443-1550578FF4C4}" />

Language

<Descriptor descriptorID="{E04AAEE8-950C-43c4-B75C-D87736A7FAFD}" />

Comic Mischief

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