NeonCube¶

To use this guide you must have a basic understanding of Hercules, a Web Server and how to edit, upload and manipulate files. You also need to be versatile in making GRF and RAR files.

Programs you need¶

NeonCube
GRF Builder (or any program that can create/edit GRFs)
WinRAR (or any program that can write .RAR files)

Features¶

Supports patching 1 GRF file (with .GPF patches)
Supports patching other files in the RO folder (with .RAR patches)
Download patches over HTTP (does not have to be http: Port 80)
Detailed download progress.
Fully skin-able (control the width, height, X and Y coordinates of the buttons, windows, progress bar, and other controls using the neoncube.style file).
Built-in web browser (can display HTML, PHP, ASP, XML and even pages with flash movies (requires IE flash player plugin)).
Option to keep a backup of the GRF file.
Supports file deletion (delete a file from the GRF or delete a file from the RO folder)
Logs errors (neoncube/error.log)
Best of all, it is open-source (GNU GPL).

Setup¶

There are client and server files that need to be properly setup to work together.

Client Files¶

Download NeonCube
Extract the files to a temporary folder.
Make a folder on your desktop called RO (this is where all the NeonCube client files will go)
Copy the neoncube folder, neoncube.exe, and neoncube.exe.Manifest into the RO folder on your desktop.
You can rename neoncube.exe to something like ServerNamePatcher.exe
In the neoncube folder, decide which skin you will use (or edit/create your own). Delete the folders of the skins you are NOT using.
Open neoncube/neoncube.ini** with a text editor (ex: WordPad)
Read the examples then edit the values (all lines starting with ; are comments and can be removed if you want).

Sample neoncube.ini

[server]
server_name = YourRO
notice_url = yourro.com/patcher/index.html
patch_site = yourro.com
patch_port = 80
patch_list = /patcher/patchlist.txt
patch_folder = /patcher/patch/
executable = YourRO.exe
registration_link = http://yourro.com/cp/
skin = skin_rag
grf_file = yourro.grf
Backup_GRF = 1
startup_option = 3
[general]
archive_passphrase =

NOTES:

notice_url needs to be the full path to the Notice Page (including the page name)
Be sure patch_folder has a trailing /

Patch Server Files¶

If your notice_url, patch_site, patch_list and patch_folder are different, keep track of them throughout the rest of this guide.

/patcher/index.html¶

This is the News Page that the patcher will display (supports HTML, PHP, ASP, XML) Create this file on the web server you defined with notice_url

/patcher/patch/¶

This is the folder where you will put all the patches you create. Create this folder on the web server you defined with patch_site'

/patcher/patchlist.txt¶

This is the file that lists your patches and tells the NeonCube patcher (client) what to download and where to patch it. Create this file on the web server you defined with patch_site

Format:

patch#<TAB>destination<TAB>patch_name

patch# start with 1, and increment for each new patch

destination GRF will patch the grf, FLD will extract to folder

patch_name the name of the patch (including file extension, of course)

Sample patchlist.txt (take note of the TABs. Comments are allowed)

//this will extract patch1.gpf into the data folder
1 FLD patch1.gpf
//here, patch2.gpf will be mergegd with grf_file
2 GRF patch2.gpf
//You can also delete files from the data folder.
3 FLD data\filenametodelete.xml*
//Deleting files inside a GRF archive is still supported
4 GRF data\i_will_delete_you.txt*

Making a .GPF patch¶

make a data folder somewhere (ex: on your Desktop)
gather all the files you will be adding to your patch and put them in the data folder (recreating the proper directory structure, or course. So if loading screen is supposed to go ...\data\texture\À¯ÀúÀÎÅÍÆäÀÌ½º\loading00.jpg you have to make each of those folders inside your data folder)
run GRF Builder, click New and pick a name and place to save your patch. (I'd recommend naming patches by date in YYYY-MM-DD format. That way, as players are patching they have an idea how far along they are, since NeonCube displays the current patch name. So for today, it'd be 2008-02-10.gpf)
Then click Merge dir and browse to your data folder (on your Desktop if you put it there)
Transfer or upload this file to your patch_site and put it in the patch_folder
Edit your patch_list and add a line in the format described in #Client_Files

Making a .RAR patch¶

make a folder called RO somewhere (ex: on your Desktop)
then put all the files you want to patch into the "RO" folder, recreating the proper directory structure (ex: if you were patching the client, you'd put it directly inside the RO folder: ...\Desktop\RO\YouRO.exe)
You can even patch the data folder this way. Files would go inside ...\Desktop\RO\data\
Then run WinRAR, click Add
Pick a name and place to save the patch. (ex: name it by date in YYYY-MM-DD format)
click the Files tab. Then next to "Files to Add" click Append
now browse INTO the RO folder on your desktop, and select all the files INSIDE your RO folder
click OK, ok, to compress the rar
Transfer or upload this file to your patch_site and put it in the patch_folder
Edit your patch_list and add a line in the format described in #Client_Files

Example:

29 FLD 2007-12-29.rar

That means patch #29, FLD indicates it will be patching the folder, not the grf. and 2007-12-29.rar indicates the name of the patch, representing Dec. 29, 2007

Common Errors¶

Failed to get /patcher/patchlist.txt¶

This error indicates that the patcher is unable to locate the patch list file at the location you specified.

Check patch_site directive.
Check patch_list directive.

Patch list parse error (unexpected non-zero patch number)¶

This error indicates that your patchlist.txt file is present in the correct location. However, it also indicates that you have additional text/formatted/unformatted characters before your list actually begins.

Open your patchlist.txt file and make sure there are no characters (even spaces) before your first patch number.