Any info on the new version of SBI?

burnerO · Post by **burnerO** » Tue May 25, 2004 11:52 am

hrb2k3 wrote:then, at the main menu of dream inducer after you boot up on DC, you can change the theme/skin by pressing the Start button, since that button has no use in the current version.

A theme selector isn't impossible, but also isn't practical as you'd have to select a theme every time, because:

hrb2k3 wrote:if possible, we could even save the settings of which theme loads up first to the vmu as a DI settings file.

That's the Dreamcast end, which I've got nothing to do with.

As a side note, start exits DreamInducer back to Dc-load, which is useful for testing purposes with the serial cable.

burnerO · Post by **burnerO** » Tue May 25, 2004 2:06 pm

My apologies for flooding this topic.

At the moment I'm doing a complete rewrite of the meat of the code, and am trying to get it as lean and efficient as possible.

I'll post progress here as it comes.

I'm very grateful for all of the support I've received, and know that it only pushes me harder.

bugaboo · Post by **bugaboo** » Tue May 25, 2004 4:37 pm

i love selfboot inducer its so easy to use, but why do my sbi files always get associated as spywear include files, cos i've got spybot installed

and maybe get rid of the pressing start button crash that happens.

i think this should be the default format for new releases as you can try loads at once on one cd, saves on cds

burnerO, you're the best

BlackAura · Post by **BlackAura** » Tue May 25, 2004 8:15 pm

bugaboo wrote:i love selfboot inducer its so easy to use, but why do my sbi files always get associated as spywear include files, cos i've got spybot installed

Same extension. Spybot uses files with the extension .sbi for it's definition files. Just bad luck, I guess.

curt_grymala · Post by **curt_grymala** » Tue May 25, 2004 8:26 pm

Talked to burnerO tonight. Theme switching will not be implemented in Selfboot Inducer. However, we did sort of talk out an interesting way of possible accomplishing theme switching. Here are the steps that we talked out:

Create a new menu under Selfboot Inducer (similar to the way OneThirty8's Divx4SBI does).
Hack the DreamInducer bin file to look for themes in different directories (similar to the way Ian Micheal created his BOR loader) (maybe it would be possible to set it up so that the bin file pulled that directory out of a txt file, so that users could specify their own directories on the fly).
Create multiple copies of that new bin, all looking for the themes in unique directories.
Have all of those new DreamInducer bins become menu items on the new menu we created.
The user can then select a different theme from that new menu, which would, in effect, load a new DreamInducer bin that would use a different theme.

This idea is still in its infancy, but I thought I would post it here, to see if anyone else had thoughts on how to implement it. Most of those ideas were ones that I came up with, based on conversations in the DCStuff forums. Don't blame burnerO for coming up with such a badly thought out plan. Like I said, the idea is still in its infancy. Maybe some devvers can come up with some ideas on how to implement an idea like this, or at least point me in the right direction to get my thoughts more in-line.

Also - burnerO announced that he is planning on re-implementing the option to create a single menu with Selfboot Inducer, instead of using separate menus for Games/Apps/Demos/Emus. The user will be able to choose which menu structure they want to use.

Post by **Christuserloeser** » Tue May 25, 2004 8:37 pm

bugaboo wrote:and maybe get rid of the pressing start button crash that happens.

that's because of DreamInducer, not of SBInducer. burnerO can't fix that.

curt_grymala · Post by **curt_grymala** » Tue May 25, 2004 8:51 pm

Something I think a lot of people would like to see added (although it doesn't make a lick of difference to me, personally, except that I would have a lot less "Why doesn't this work?" posts in the Help Forum):

Support for creating Nero 6 images.

Is there anyway to figure out how to get Nero 6 to burn these projects? Possibly have someone use Nero 6 to create a disc image from an existing DC homebrew disc, and then pick it apart? I don't have a clue how anyone would go about this, but I am sure a lot of people would be happy to see this implemented somehow.

burnerO · Post by **burnerO** » Tue May 25, 2004 9:45 pm

What he said, and...

curt_grymala wrote:Support for creating Nero 6 images.

If there's any easy way to support Nero 6, I'd definately be willing to listen.

As I've said before in the thread, the start button issue isn't a bug per se.

toastman · Post by **toastman** » Tue May 25, 2004 10:28 pm

Christuserloeser wrote:
bugaboo wrote:and maybe get rid of the pressing start button crash that happens.
that's because of DreamInducer, not of SBInducer. burnerO can't fix that.

It's not a crash, and it doesn't need "fixing".
The start button stops the DreamInducer binary. It's the way Grendel designed it. It's there mainly for help with testing DreamInducer.
And Grendel has said that he has no intention of changing it either (IIRC).

burnerO · Post by **burnerO** » Tue May 25, 2004 10:53 pm

toastman wrote:And Grendel has said that he has no intention of changing it either (IIRC).

There won't be any updates to DreamInducer, as the source is gone.

This is going to sound extremely lame, but your avatar just made me hungry.

Alexvrb · Post by **Alexvrb** » Wed May 26, 2004 12:42 am

curt_grymala wrote:Also - burnerO announced that he is planning on re-implementing the option to create a single menu with Selfboot Inducer, instead of using separate menus for Games/Apps/Demos/Emus. The user will be able to choose which menu structure they want to use.

Cool.

curt_grymala · Post by **curt_grymala** » Wed May 26, 2004 4:15 am

One more thing that I realized may have been unclear. When I mentioned in the newspost that burnerO is planning on adding this feature:

An option to create a selfbooting disc image from a single SBI, similar to the way Selfboot creates disc images from plain files.

it meant that Selfboot Inducer will actually extract the files from the SBI, delete the unnecessary files (the ones related to DreamInducer), and create a selfbooting image from the files within the SBI. You will not be able to tell the difference between a disc made this way, and a disc made with Selfboot or DSSBS.
I realized that some people may have thought when I said "similar" to Selfboot, they actually thought that meant there would be one item on a single DreamInducer menu. They didn't realize that I meant exactly the same as a disc made by Selfboot or DSSBS from plain files. There are just a few extra steps that the program itself needs to take, which is why I said "similar".

ethoscapade · Post by **ethoscapade** » Wed May 26, 2004 7:17 am

Create a new menu under Selfboot Inducer (similar to the way OneThirty8's Divx4SBI does).
Hack the DreamInducer bin file to look for themes in different directories (similar to the way Ian Micheal created his BOR loader) (maybe it would be possible to set it up so that the bin file pulled that directory out of a txt file, so that users could specify their own directories on the fly).
Create multiple copies of that new bin, all looking for the themes in unique directories.
Have all of those new DreamInducer bins become menu items on the new menu we created.
The user can then select a different theme from that new menu, which would, in effect, load a new DreamInducer bin that would use a different theme.

i actually understand exactly what you mean by that, and i like it, but it would certainly be tedious if that's something that has to be done each and every time.

Also - burnerO announced that he is planning on re-implementing the option to create a single menu with Selfboot Inducer, instead of using separate menus for Games/Apps/Demos/Emus. The user will be able to choose which menu structure they want to use.

i've been making menus that way ever since i figured out the structure of the .dxl files (note to everybody else: this is not difficult), so if this was implemented into SBI, i could actually start unarchiving SBIs the normal way again without fear that it would mess up my custom menus. sweet.

az_bont · Post by **az_bont** » Wed May 26, 2004 7:27 am

burnerO wrote:
az_bont wrote:1. Switch to a new compression format. Something like 7-zip should cut SBI file sizes in half, making everyone happier. It's not too slow a format either, especially considering the small sizes of the files that SBIs usually contain. I've actually found it to be faster than ZIP in many circumstances.
Zip will remain the format of choice because:
1) Compatibility with existing files.
2) Compatibility with Mac Inducer.

1) Sorry if this sounds narrow minded.

What if you were to include both the 7-zip (or other compression format) decompressor, plus the regular one for zip files?

2) Is Mac Inducer still being actively developed? If so, then there are Mac versions of popular compressors. If not 7z, then maybe RAR?

But if SBI will stick to the Zip format, might I make a suggestion? Use 7-zip (the program, not the format) as it creates fully compliant ZIP files roughly 10% smaller than other compressors.

burnerO wrote:
az_bont wrote:2. I don't know how limited BCX is, but it would be great if Selfboot Inducer could be extended to perform like Krypt's DMU format. It's on his website stuck in a corner of stuff that isn't used, which is a shame. It allows you to customize stuff a bit more and a lot easier - every application or emulator you add can have it's own configurable things, like skins and such.
I'm more of a limit than the language is, but I'll check it out.

Cool

.

Alexvrb · Post by **Alexvrb** » Wed May 26, 2004 1:16 pm

curt_grymala wrote:I realized that some people may have thought when I said "similar" to Selfboot, they actually thought that meant there would be one item on a single DreamInducer menu. They didn't realize that I meant exactly the same as a disc made by Selfboot or DSSBS from plain files. There are just a few extra steps that the program itself needs to take, which is why I said "similar".

I knew what you meant, and that is indeed a fabulous new feature. BurnerO, you've got SBI on the track to be the only program needed for compiling self-booting DC homebrew discs. I mean, it was good before, but it looks like the next version will be outstanding.

burnerO · Post by **burnerO** » Wed May 26, 2004 4:03 pm

The forced Consolevision Ip.bin logo is disabled, since that is often requested.

If Tools\Iplogo.mr exists, it will use that instead.

cube323 · Post by **cube323** » Wed May 26, 2004 10:49 pm

Hey everyone. I'm glad to see this topic has gotten so much attention. I eagerly await the next update to SBI

It is my favorite way to burn DCemu's and Home brew.

Anyway, my only suggestion is a small and simple one.

Essentially, when I am at the main menu (in one of my SBI created collections), and I press the "Start" button instead of pressing the "A Button," the menu crashes.

Is there any way to make pressing "Start" and pressing the "A" button do the same thing? (Start the EMU or Game)

I know I can just try to avoid pressing "Start" from the main menu, but you'd be suprised how many times I do it unintentionally.

That's mainly it. Other than that I really have to say that I love SBI. It's easy to use and it's even fun as well. Please get us that new version soon.

Thanks Very Much.

emptythought · Post by **emptythought** » Wed May 26, 2004 11:37 pm

Read the previous page. They were just talking about this.

BlackAura · Post by **BlackAura** » Thu May 27, 2004 12:05 am

az_bont wrote:What if you were to include both the 7-zip (or other compression format) decompressor, plus the regular one for zip files?

I don't think there's a command-line 7-zip decompressor available.

2) Is Mac Inducer still being actively developed? If so, then there are Mac versions of popular compressors. If not 7z, then maybe RAR?

It is. I have part of a Linux version (extracting SBIs, building the disc structure, burning to CD, no GUI yet) done as well.

There is no version of 7Zip available for MacOS, and I can't see on for any other OS either.

The problem with RAR (and most other compression formats) is that it's a proprietary format, and there's no decompressors available that we could legally distribute.

That basically limits us to zip, .tar.gz (same compression as .zip, but slightly smaller file size) and .tar.bz2 (better compression for large sets of files, but not necessarily for small sets of files). The .tar.* archives are best for Linux/Unix and MacOS X, but not for Windows. Zip files are better on Windows, and work (mostly without problems) on MacOS X and Linux.

curt_grymala · Post by **curt_grymala** » Thu May 27, 2004 4:50 am

What BA said, plus this: The main complaint of people in the past has been the fact that the SBI file structure has changed each time a new version has come out. burnerO is tired of hearing those complaints, and I really don't feel like re-doing a couple hundred SBI's to make them compatible with the new version of SBInducr. Zip is perfectly fine, and works beautifully. Even with the largest game files (like FOF demo, etc.) you would only save a few kilobytes by switching to a different compression format, and the hassle really is not worth it. Zip is fine, and I don't see it changing any time soon.