Triad Patcher¶
Triad Patcher is a Ragnarok Online auto-patcher, written in Borland Delphi 6 and currently available in French and English. It is divided into the patcher executable itself and tools for creating configuration and patches. Works on all 32-bit Windows versions, Windows Vista and Windows 7 may require running as administrator, though.
Features¶
The patcher is able to patch local files, as well as multiple GRF archives (only version 2.00 is supported). The user interface offers displaying of patch news, full skinning with transparency support, support for additional languages, background music during patch process and usage of a static or dynamic banner in formats BMP, JPG, PNG and SWF. It has the capability to update itself and the configuration automatically. The patches are provided using a proprietary file format (Triad Patcher Patch, .tpp).
Initial Setup¶
After extracting the release archive, following steps are required, before the patcher is ready for distribution:
- Configuration of the patcher parameters, skin, language and patches.
- Setting-up a web-space for patch list, patch news and patch files. The last one being preferably in a sub-directory of the location, where patch list and news reside to avoid clutter. Details on installing and configuring a web-server and/or web-space are beyond the scope of this article.
Then completed, files config.tpc, Triad Patcher.exe and GRF.dll are distributed to the players as part of the other client files.
Configuration¶
Most of the configuration is required to be done only once, unless something client-side or connection-related requires changes. After setting all options in config.ini and languages.ini, and preparing related files such as skin and background music, everything is packed into a single file called config.tpc using a included tool located in Configurator\Triad Configurator.exe. The tool is pretty straight-forward, thus does not require further explanation. Configuration files should be kept after building the config, as there are no means to decompile it. Default configuration can be found in directory Configurator\Default.
All mentioned configuration files follow the schematics of an INI file.
Configuration (config.ini)¶
This file defines the main aspects of the patcher's behavior, such as visual and aural appearance and remote resource locations.
Section [baseoptions]¶
The section baseoptions recognizes following values:
language Defines the interface language. Value is one of the section names in language.ini.
about_lang Defines the interface language for the "About" window. Can be either 0 (French) or 1 (English).
about_header Custom text in the about box, which appears before other credits. Character | can be used as newline.
bmpskin_path Specifies the path for bmpskin_file. If blank, location of config.ini is assumed.
bmpskin_file Sets a file to be used as skin. Magenta () is used as transparency color. Position of skin elements is defined in section skinmap.
banner_width Defines the width in pixels of a banner, if any. The height is automatically set to 88.
banner_path Specifies the path for banner_file. If blank, location of config.ini is assumed.
banner_file Sets a file to be used as skin.
banner_type Specifies the type of the file specified in banner_file. Can be 0 (no banner), 1 (SWF), 2 (BMP), 3 (JPG) or 4 (PNG).
bgm_enabled Defines, whether background music should be played (1) or not (0).
bgm_file MP3 file to be used as background music.
btnsnd_enabled Specifies, whether click/button sounds should be played (1) or not (0).
create_log Whether a debug log file should be created by the patcher (1) or not (0). Note, that the logs are only available in French.
Section [urls]¶
The section urls recognizes following values:
news Absolute URL to the patch news to display.
register Absolute URL to the page, which is used for registering. It is displayed in the "About" dialog.
patchs_list Absolute URL to the patch list.
exec_file File name of the client to execute, when "Start" is clicked.
exec_args Parameters to pass to the client set in exec_file, like 1rag1 or 1sak1. Can be blank.
Section [skinmap]¶
The section skinmap specifies meaning of areas in file defined by bmpskin_file.
- Values body_* represent the background image.
- Values button_start_*, button_quit_* and button_about_* represent areas used for buttons (normal state).
- Finally, values button_startb_*, button_quitb_* and button_aboutb_* represent areas, which are used for buttons when the mouse pointer hovers them.
For an example, check the default skin.bmp together with default config.ini.
Section [interface]¶
The section interface specifies the size of the patcher window and layout of buttons, progress bar and patch news.
- Values body_* set the patcher window size.
- Values webbrowser_* specify the position and dimensions of the patch news.
- All width and height values should be same as specified in section skinmap. If larger values are specified, the surplus space is rendered in white.
- The "About" button must be always visible, thus at least 5x5 in size.
Section [interface_options]¶
The section interface_options recognizes following values:
button_start_enabled Specifies, whether the "Start" button should be enabled (1) or not (0).
button_quit_enabled Specifies, whether the "Close" button should be enabled (1) or not (0).
progressbar_enabled Specifies, whether the progress bar should be displayed (1) or not (0).
webbrowser_enabled Specifies, whether the patch news should be displayed (1) or not (0).
Note, that the "About" button cannot be disabled.
Section [progressbar_webbrowser]¶
The section progressbar_webbrowser recognizes following values:
progressbar_bordercolor Specifies the border color for the progress bar.
progressbar_backcolor Specifies the background color for the progress bar.
progressbar_forecolor Specifies the bar color for the progress bar.
webbrowser_bordercolor Specifies the border color of the browser.
All color values are written as hexadecimal RGB color values in format RRGGBB. For example full red being written as FF0000.
Section [textfont]¶
The section textfont recognizes following values:
button_name Font name to use for button text.
button_size Font size to use for button text.
button_color Color to use for button text.
button_bold Whether the text in buttons should be bold (1) or regular (0) type.
body_name Font name to use for status text.
body_size Font size to use for status text.
body_color Color to use for status text.
body_bold Whether the text in status line should be bold (1) or regular (0) type.
For button_name and body_name use only fonts, which can be expected on every Windows installation, otherwise it might lead to undesired or unreadable results. All color values are written as hexadecimal RGB color values in format RRGGBB. For example full red being written as FF0000.
Example¶
[baseoptions]
language = english
about_lang = 1
about_header = MyRO.ORG (http://myro.org/)
bmpskin_path =
bmpskin_file = skin.bmp
banner_width = 545
banner_path =
banner_file =
banner_type = 0
bgm_enabled = 0
bgm_file = myBGM.mp3
btnsnd_enabled = 1
create_log = 0
[urls]
news = http://myro.org/p/news.htm
register = http://myro.org/register/
patchs_list = http://myro.org/p/patchlist.ini
exec_file = myro.exe
exec_args =
[skinmap]
body_left = 0
body_top = 0
body_width = 545
body_height = 469
button_start_left = 0
button_start_top = 0
button_start_width = 0
button_start_height = 0
button_quit_left = 0
button_quit_top = 0
button_quit_width = 0
button_quit_height = 0
button_about_left = 0
button_about_top = 0
button_about_width = 0
button_about_height = 0
button_startb_left = 1
button_startb_top = 470
button_startb_width = 84
button_startb_height = 22
button_quitb_left = 86
button_quitb_top = 470
button_quitb_width = 84
button_quitb_height = 22
button_aboutb_left = 171
button_aboutb_top = 470
button_aboutb_width = 84
button_aboutb_height = 22
[interface]
body_width = 545
body_height = 469
button_start_left = 395
button_start_top = 69
button_start_width = 84
button_start_height = 22
button_quit_left = 395
button_quit_top = 90
button_quit_width = 84
button_quit_height = 22
button_about_left = 395
button_about_top = 111
button_about_width = 84
button_about_height = 22
progressbar_left = 18
progressbar_top = 438
progressbar_width = 509
progressbar_height = 18
webbrowser_left = 17
webbrowser_top = 161
webbrowser_width = 511
webbrowser_height = 252
[interface_options]
button_start_enabled = 1
button_quit_enabled = 1
progressbar_enabled = 1
webbrowser_enabled = 1
[progressbar_webbrowser]
progressbar_bordercolor = C0C0C0
progressbar_backcolor = FFFFFF
progressbar_forecolor = C0C0C0
webbrowser_bordercolor = C0C0C0
[textfont]
button_name = MS Sans Serif
button_size = 8
button_color = 000000
button_bold = 0
body_name = MS Sans Serif
body_size = 8
body_color = 000000
body_bold = 0
Interface Language (languages.ini)¶
This file specifies to the patcher all available languages, which can be enabled in config.ini. Only one language can be active at a time, but the configuration can be distributed in different flavors; each with different language set. Each section name corresponds to the language name being set, see baseoptions -> language above for details.
In each language section, following values are recognized:
button_start Text for button "Start". Can be empty, for example when the text is part of the skin.
button_quit Text for button "Close". Can be empty, for example when the text is part of the skin.
button_about Text for button "About". Can be empty, for example when the text is part of the skin.
progressinfo_msg1 Message, when the associated client fails to start.
progressinfo_msg2 Message, when patch news are being downloaded.
progressinfo_msg3 Message, when patch news finished downloading.
progressinfo_msg4 Message, when patch list is being downloaded.
progressinfo_msg5 Message, when patch list finished downloading and is about being processed.
progressinfo_msg6 Message, when patches are about being downloaded.
progressinfo_msg7 Message, when there are no patches available at time being.
progressinfo_msg8 Message, when patches finished downloading and are about being applied.
progressinfo_msg9 Message, when patches were applied.
progressinfo_msg10 Message, when a patch is being downloaded.
progressinfo_msg11 Message, when patches are applied to a GRF archive.
progressinfo_msg12 Message, when a GRF archive is being repacked.
Patch List¶
This configuration file is the only one, which is not part of config.tpc, but is hosted remotely, on a web-space. It specifies, whether the patcher is allowed to patch and start the client, and what patches are to be applied. The name of this file can be chosen in config.ini, in section urls -> patchs_list.
Section [options]¶
The section options recognizes following values:
deny_getpatch Specifies, whether patching is allowed (0) or not (1).
deny_play Specifies, whether the associated client can be started (0) or not (1).
Section [patchs]¶
Section patchs contains a list of all available patches, where the key name specifies the absolute location of the patch file, while the value enables (1) or disables (0) given patch. Note, that patches are not identified by any patch ID, as usually done, but by their base name, thus it is preferable to start the name with their release date, followed by keyword, which describes the patch, like 2010-09-21palettefix.tpp.
Example¶
[options]`
deny_getpatch = 0
deny_play = 0
[patchs]
; fix for bards looking strange with some cloth colors
http://myro.org/patches/2010-09-21palettefix.tpp = 1
; disabled, because it is broken
http://myro.org/patches/2010-09-22newclient.tpp = 0
; fix for crash in party window
http://myro.org/patches/2010-09-25newclient.tpp = 1
Creating Patches¶
Patches are created with a included tool located in Packer\Triad Packer.exe in the original distribution. This tool allows to bundle multiple patches into a single patch, which uses a proprietary format, with extension .tpp. Note, that there are no means to extract the patch after it has been created, except using it with the patcher. After starting the tool, a window with four buttons can be seen, which have following functions:
Ajouter / Add Adds GPF patches and local files to the compile list. If a GPF file is selected, destination archive must be specified (ex. adata.grf), otherwise for local files, their final destination must be set (ex. myfolder\myfile.ext).
Empacter / Pack Compiles the added patches into a triad patch file.
Sauvegarder / Save Save the current compile list into a triad patch list, which can be loaded later for either reusage or resuming the creating of a patch. The patch list has the extension .tpl and is only meaningful to the packer.
Ouvrir / Open Opens a previously saved triad patch list. If there already was a filled compile list, it is discarded.
Finally after creating the triad patch, it has to be added to the patch list into the section [patchs] and uploaded to the location specified.