I was paranoid about letting the web launch an application. I had to keep checking it each time to confirm that the batch job was the same, except for the link. yeah, I'm very paranoid about computer security.
So....
I wrote my own launcher using a
Notetab clip. Notetab is a FANTASTIC text editor that has a very powerful scripting language. Clips are what we call the little programs you can write in that scripting language. My Notetab editor is almost ALWAYS open, I use it for everything. So now when I want to start a descent game, I just browse over to
http://d3.descent.cx/tracker.d3, copy the ip address I'm interested in, then double click the notetab click and Notetab launches descent with that ip address in the parameters.
The clip is a simple one liner:
Code: Select all
^!Dos \"C:\\Program Files\\Descent3\\MAIN.EXE\" -launched -pilot Kilarin -setdir \"C:\\Program Files\\Descent3\" -directip ^$GetClipboard$ -nointro -nooutragelogo
(obviously, Notetab replaces ^$GetClipboard$ with the contents of the clipboard, which is the ip address you just copied from the web page)
If you don't want to use Notetab, you can, of course, just let the launcher write the batch file for you and run that. Or you could do the exact same thing with notepad, its just a few more clicks. Just create a batchfile somewhere easily accessable (your desktop for instance) The batchfile should have one line:
\"C:\\Program Files\\Descent3\\MAIN.EXE\" -launched -pilot YOURPILOTNAME -setdir \"C:\\Program Files\\Descent3\" -directip IPADDRESSHERE -nointro -nooutragelogo
When you want to launch, EDIT that batch file, copy the ip address from the web page, paste it into the batch file where the IPADDRESSHERE is, then save and run.
The Notetab clip is easier, and Notetab light is a
FREE download. So, If anyone wants to set up Notetab to do this for them, I'd be MORE than happy to help them get it working. Always happy to win a convert for my favorite text editor!