Question about Compressing Games?

Technology and Gaming
#1

I noticed Black Mesa had a unique and efficient way of being distributed. The game (as we all know by know, hopefully) came in a regular folder holding both a .exe and a .7z zip file so the downloader could choose his installation method. It also came with a .md5 file the verify that the game was legitimate. The best part was that the .exe extracted the zip file. How did they achieve this? I tried googling it but had no luck. I’d like to use this for future projects.

And sorry if this isn’t the best place to post this. Didn’t want to post this in Black Mesa since this pertains to other mods/games too.

Thanks :wink:

#2

They used Nullsoft for the installer, which is an open-source and highly configurable installer creator.

In this case they chose to have to compressed files in its own file and the exe in another but they could’ve put the whole thing in a single exe file if they wanted.

#3

Or had the installer download the mod itself, but that would have just caused headaches on release day.

#4

I think they should release (or some fan should make) a stand-alone .exe file.

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.