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Simple Quake Launcher 2
SQL2 is a simple ZDL-inspired map/mod/demo launcher for Quake, Quake 2, Hexen 2 and Half-Life.

Obligatorial Screenshot

FEATURES:
- Small and easy to use.
- Detects maps and demos in folders, .pak and .pk3 files.
- Displays map titles ("message" worldspawn key).
- Can launch demos (displays map titles for them as well).
- Can create shortcuts to play the game using currently selected options.
- Can run a random map at random skill.

INSTALLATION:
Extract SQLauncher2.exe into your Quake / Quake 2 / Hexen 2 / Half-Life directory.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
.net Framework 4.5

LEGACY:
The older, WinXP-compartible iteration of this project can be found here.

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Great News 
This is awesome news. I think many folks here on func underestimate how difficult it is for newbs to run the game. Thanks MaxEd. 
Demos 
Most of my demos show up as red and "unsupported" however they do play back for the most part.

I love the addition of the shortcuts... very nice touch. 
As Before, Great! 
also great if yer not a newbie, but have been away from quake for quite a while, and forgotten where folders go, like ME! 
SQL 2.1 
Most of my demos show up as red and "unsupported"

Should be fixed now. Please update to SQL 2.1.

If there are still demos, which are displayed with "Unknown demo format" title, please post a link to them. 
Very Nice, Indeed. 
Wow, this is just a wonderful little program. Thank you very much.

And creating desktop shortcuts is GOLD! 
Praises 
Ingenious, you improved the original release even more! SQL is easly my most favorite tool to launch Quake-related contents by now. Thanks a lot for delivering a compact and usage-optimized launcher that's going to last! 
 
I can't run this yet, because Avast is nagging me ("this is a very rare file, we'll send it to our labs to analyze before letting you run it").

Anyway, the "EP1: Scourge of Armagon" title can be a bit misleading. You meant to say "expansion pack 1", but some people may read it as "episode 1". And the official nomenclature for both of the official packs is "mission pack" anyway, so changing it to "MP1: Scourge of Armagon" may be more clear.

In AdQuedit I name them like "Quake Mission Pack 2 (Rogue): Dissolution of Eternity", but most people don't like long names, so it's understandable that you want to keep it short.

The features seems really nice. Maybe it'll replace AdQuedit as my main launcher. 
Alright, I've Got It Working 
It has some limitations:

There's no way to define the mods' names. The modlist shows only the folder names, so there's no way to display "dopa" as "Dimension of the Past" other than renaming the folder itself, for example.

The maplist only shows the custom maps from the mod's map folder. It doesn't show the custom maps that are placed inside id1/maps, even though I place almost all custom maps in id1/maps and run them using my debug mod (to test custom engine features).

The launcher's settings aren't saved, it seems.

If those limitations were solved, I'd certainly use it as my main launcher. It's nice to have a maplist and demolist that can be used by any engine. 
Hrmmmm... IDK Mankrip 
Then that would become "Complicated Quake Launcher"(CQL), hehehe

But seriously, you'd need:

1)User definable/editable aliases for folder names, saved to the already in use .ini settings file?

2)In drop down box for maps, with custom Mod selected, include stock id/maps location "check box"/option?

3)The launcher does save the last session of use AND it can also create a shortcut for you in 2 location(your choice).

Which I think is even better than internal saving of many settings. As it allows you to bypass the launcher altogether and get right into your game.

Not to bad overall, could still maintain it's simplistic elegance and usability without becoming bloated. 
 
1) Yes.

2) Perfect!

3) Where is the .ini file saved? I've put the launcher in my Quake executable folder, but there's no .ini for it in there.

Also, I've only looked around at the launcher's options, but didn't use it to launch anything. Is the .ini file only saved when we launch the game? If the .ini file isn't saved upon closing the program without launching anything, that'd explain the absence of a .ini file.

[edit] Now I've used it to launch the game, and the .ini file was saved when I closed the program afterwards. But maybe the problem before was Avast getting in the way somehow. 
It's So "clean" Looking! 
The only way I could see avoiding clutter would be like this:

https://i.imgur.com/P8WRogC.jpg

1)"Create an alias for this folder", of course, would require a separate child window for name input.

and...

2)"Include the id1/maps folder" would be a checkbox.

Tooltip text could be "friendlier"!

Anyways, just a few thoughts. I can use it as is perfectly fine. 
 
The "EP1: Scourge of Armagon" title can be a bit misleading
Changed.

There's no way to display "dopa" as "Dimension of the Past" other than renaming the folder itself
What's wrong with renaming the folder itself?..

The maplist only shows the custom maps from the mod's map folder. It doesn't show the custom maps that are placed inside id1/maps, even though I place almost all custom maps in id1/maps
Sorry, mind-reading support is not yet implemented...
More seriously, this can't be done without also removing the ability to launch mods from subfolders (which was a requested feature for SQL1), because it implies adding all folders and subfolders within the game folder as mod items, which can potentially populate the Mods list with dozens of unrelated folders (see all the subfolders Arcane dimensions comes with).

The launcher's settings aren't saved, it seems.
The settings are saved only if the game was launched at least once before closing the launcher. 
SQL 2.2 
Also, SQL 2.2 is now available.

- Quake: improved demo map path validation logic.
- Quake: renamed official mission pack menu items ("EP" -> "MP").
- UI: added a tooltip to Command Line textbox.
- UI: custom command line parameters can now be cleared by MMB-clicking them.
- Fixed several issues related to (re)storing and displaying of custom command line parameters.
- Fixed a bug in folder maps detection logic. 
#12 
this can't be done without also removing the ability to launch mods from subfolders

In standard cases:
quake.exe -game mod_dir +map ../../id1/maps/custom_map.bsp

For mods in subfolders, just add extra an "../" for each subfolder level.

Sorry, mind-reading support is not yet implemented...

I won't reply to this thread anymore. 
Very Cool 
But you got the Quake 2 expansions wrong. "xatrix" should be The Reckoning and "rogue" is Ground Zero.

Also, maybe add an option to run in native (desktop) resolution. Or just change the resolution drop down menu to two boxes where you can set your width and height and maybe put a checkbox for windowed/fullscreen.

On another note, you could try pulling the mod names from https://www.quaddicted.com/reviews/, the mod folder name is usually the same as the zip file. Maybe build a list on the first launch and cache it? 
SQL 2.3 
But you got the Quake 2 expansions wrong.
OOPS... Fixed.

Also, maybe add an option to run in native (desktop) resolution.
Added. When selected, the game will be launched in fullscreen.

You could try pulling the mod names from https://www.quaddicted.com/reviews/
Too much work for a cosmetic feature, I'm afraid... 
Thank You :) 
I've been using SQL for quite some time now and it makes my life so much easier. No more feeling like a middle-aged 733t hax0r creating BAT files just to play a game.

Quality of life for the win!

Thanks and have a happy new year. :) 
Nice! 
Hi MaxED, I've been using v1.0 for some time. I liked the simplicity and ease of use. Just one minor thing I've noticed in v2.3 is that the difficulty selections include "Medium" instead of "Normal". Just a minor thing, but normal is what it's actually called.

Also, demos I have recorded of ad_sepulcher are shown as an "Unknown demo format". http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/sevin_ad_sepulcher.7z 
SQL 2.4 
Both issues are now fixed (FTE/FTE2 demo reading logic could use more testing, but I'm too lazy to search all the internets for demos in these specific formats...):

- Quake: improved .DEM reader compatibility (FTE/FTE2 demos support).
- Quake, UI: renamed "Medium" skill to "Normal". 
Thanks :) 
I really appreciate this 'simple' tool. 
I Love ZDL 
and I love this 
Bug Report 
It could just be on my end, but SQL doesn't let me enter anything into the blue boxes in the command line, it stops after one character. Trying to launch a game afterwards causes it to crash, and trying to exit it causes it to turn black and freeze. Also, moving/dragging the launcher via the mouse causes it to jitter/lag, at least it looks not as smooth as moving any other window on Windows 7. Apart from that I think that everything works as intended.

However, I have one special question:

While SQL is able to detect and support multiple engines, having more than one engine in your Quake folder is not advised, because they can conflict in the DLLs they use and also in how they read and write to the config.cfg in ID1 and mod folders. For example, when I use Quakespasm and then try to use another engine, the console informs me that a lot of CCMDs and CVARs are invalid, the resolution gets reset from 1920x1080 fullscreen to 640x480 windowed and nothing is rendered apart from a gray screen. To prevent that, I copy all of my Quake data and make a seperate folder for every engine I use. I have no experience in writing Batch, Powershell or Visual Basic scripts for playing around with environment variables to do this in a more efficient way. What would be the best or most ideal method to solve this problem? Any help is kindly appreciated.

Thx in advance :) 
@DabbingSquidward 
Did you try using the middle mouse button before entering your own parameters? 
Win7 
I am having none of those issues on Win7 and I use SQL often. The blue text fields work fine for me.

Check that you have .net Framework 4.5 installed.

re: config.cfg files being overwritten. Get your config the way you like it. Save it as a new file with a new name. When other naughty engines cause problems just exec that saved config from the console.

Boom, back in bid-ness!!!

Also don't use Darkplaces and you won't have dll conflicts with Quakespasm. DP needs to die already. 
@DabbingSquidward 
You might get something out of this: http://neogeographica.com/site/pages/guides/engines.html#08

Particularly the part about "Library Conflicts".

It does mean that you will need to store the Quake engine in its own subfolder, and I don't remember off the top of my head how easy it is to work with that sort of setup using SQL. 
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