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Geek Culture / Question - Do most commercial games create registry keys?

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Jeku
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Posted: 29th Jul 2009 06:12
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Hey all,

I'm going back to work on MyGameSync and I was trying to think of a good way to scan a user's hard drive for support game folders. I have tried some brute force methods (i.e. scanning the hard drive) and it's slooooow.

Another way I'm investigating is going through the registry with known keys with install paths and in turn that means the game is most likely installed on the hard drive. Do you think this is a good start? Do you think most commercial games write this information to the registry? I've taken a quick look through my registry and found many path keys for games on my hard drive, but I'm worried this might alienate great games that don't add keys.

Thanks

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AndrewT
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Posted: 29th Jul 2009 06:26
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I just took a look at my registry and it appears that RCT3, WoW, BF2, SoaSE and CS:S all have keys with install paths--and those are the only games I have installed. In fact even my brother's Fish Tycoon has a key. So I'd say you're probably good to go.

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ShaunRW
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Posted: 29th Jul 2009 07:40
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Sorry for sounding noobish. But whats the point of writing to the registry?


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Roxas
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Posted: 29th Jul 2009 14:02
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Usually all commercial games uses registry unless they are pirated repacks.. So you should scan registry for keys (They are usually in Installed programs, or in Software) and add option for user to add games manually that has no registry.

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SunnyKatt
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Posted: 29th Jul 2009 15:26
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All games you install use registry keys, because they are ran through an installer. Anything you run through an official installer will almost always make registry keys - the only problem is for people like me; when I switch computers I don't re-install my games. I just move the external hard drive that contains them over to the new computer.

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Jeku
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Posted: 29th Jul 2009 17:35
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Hmm, interesting. Thanks! I will keep the option to manually add games if the installer doesn't pick them up.

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SunnyKatt
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Posted: 29th Jul 2009 18:09
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Just go to the add/remove programs in windows - if it's listed there, it has a registry key.

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dark coder
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Posted: 29th Jul 2009 19:30
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XFire manages to rapidly search for games out of a list of several hundred on your PC so that must search the registry only. Plus you can manually add games with that too.

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Monk
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Posted: 29th Jul 2009 23:52
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How do you search the registry? Or is it not recommended if I dont have a clue...?

@Dark Coder, I saw something that looked like your avatar on the side of a pepsi bottle once...


I like work. It fascinates me. I sit and look at it for hours.
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Samoz83
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Posted: 30th Jul 2009 01:03
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Quote: "I saw something that looked like your avatar on the side of a pepsi bottle once"


Thats because it's a QR Code like a barcode
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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 30th Jul 2009 01:07 Edited at: 30th Jul 2009 01:16
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Almost every game made will produce either a desktop icon, or an icon in the start menu. Perhaps doing a word search against the file names there would be alot quicker?

The uninstall program list also has a list of file names stored in the registry file.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

There's a list of entries you can scan there, look for the variable DisplayName or the folder name. For instance my installation of Eve online is listed under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\EVE\DisplayName "Eve Online"

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Thraxas
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Posted: 30th Jul 2009 01:51
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Quote: "How do you search the registry? Or is it not recommended if I dont have a clue...?
"


I think you're pretty safe if you're just searching your registry. It's definitely not something I would recommend editing if you don't really know what you're doing.

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ShaunRW
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Posted: 30th Jul 2009 02:18
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So is it bad to write to the registry, even if you know what your doing?

The registry just points to files, am i correct?


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Roxas
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Posted: 30th Jul 2009 02:20 Edited at: 30th Jul 2009 02:20
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Quote: "I saw something that looked like your avatar on the side of a pepsi bottle once"


If you are curious what DarkCoder's avatar says, it says "Cats>Dogs"..

Quote: "The registry just points to files, am i correct?"

It is Windows bloated database for application settings that gets mess'd up easily.

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gamerboots
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Posted: 30th Jul 2009 02:27
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Quote: "How do you search the registry? Or is it not recommended if I dont have a clue"


Quote: "It's definitely not something I would recommend editing if you don't really know what you're doing."


I have to aggree with thraxas,
you can searh just fine, but where you get into trouble is when you start writing or deleting keys. you can instantly screw up a system in a major way if you write to or delete the wrong key

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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 30th Jul 2009 03:17
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That only happens if you don't know what you're editing or deleting. The window registry file is just a database full of information written by many applications. Obviously you don't want to delete information another application or windows itself requires. But at long as you proceed with all due caution, you shouldn't experiance any issues.

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Van B
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Posted: 31st Jul 2009 15:52
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Not every game, so really I think you'd need a database of game setups - either a record of the registry information or the default install location, giving an option to use both is the only way I think.

Some games don't even need installed, Trackmania Nations Forever can be copied between PC's with no problems, so I don't think you should rely on the registry solely.

One other option might be to look for shortcuts. Scanning the startup menu and desktop for game shortcuts might be an idea - people might not always put a shortcut on the desktop or use the default install location, but for every game they install, there will be a start menu item for it somewhere. Scanning the start menu for game shortcuts and comparing them with a database would work pretty well, once you have a database of course, filling the database might be a slightly more worrying prospect.


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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 31st Jul 2009 15:58
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My start menu is organised into games, office, photo, audio, etc... so the database system might have some slight problems there.

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Van B
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Posted: 31st Jul 2009 16:06
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Yeah, but it could scan the whole lot - every game that installs will add a start menu item, and as long as it's in that start menu folder, a scan would find the shortcuts, and from that it could work out what the game is, based on the executable name that the shortcut refers to.

In terms of speed, scanning the whole of the start menu shortcuts would be very fast, nothing compared to scanning the whole hard drive.


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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 31st Jul 2009 16:17 Edited at: 31st Jul 2009 16:32
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The executable name isn't a reliable means. Sometimes it's the initials of the game's name or even just launcher.exe or game.exe. All source engine games are called Source, I believe.

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 31st Jul 2009 16:29
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When I reformatted my computer recently, I was able to just copy and paste the whole 13GB WoW program folder onto my external and back onto my newly reformatted drive. It may use registry keys... but I think it checks for them and creates them if they aren't there. So, bottom line, I think it uses them, but doesn't require them? Not sure.

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Van B
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Posted: 31st Jul 2009 16:52
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It depends what Jeku checks for, like checking the root folder and executable name together would be enough to single out each game.

IMO it's the best option as it's the one most likely to occur, nobody goes hunting for games with explorer when they can just find the shortcut in the start menu, every game that Jeku would want to check puts a shortcut there. Even the name of the shortcut could be used as an extra check as most people wouldn't change that unless it ended up on their desktop. I make programs like this for a living, I'm not just pulling this outta my butt - there is no other reliable means of knowing when a game has been installed, it's the least taint-able aspect of game installation.


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thenerd
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Posted: 31st Jul 2009 16:55
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Quote: "The executable name isn't a reliable means. Sometimes it's the initials of the game's name or even just launcher.exe or game.exe. All source engine games are called Source, I believe."
actually, they are all "hl2.exe"

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David R
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Posted: 31st Jul 2009 19:03
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Quote: "The executable name isn't a reliable means. Sometimes it's the initials of the game's name or even just launcher.exe or game.exe. All source engine games are called Source, I believe."


I would assume Jeku's app wouldn't touch Source games anyhow, considering they're controlled by Steam (and hence 'synced' anyway)

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Jeku
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Posted: 31st Jul 2009 20:28 Edited at: 31st Jul 2009 20:30
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Thanks for the feedback, it's really helpful! My app will only scan the registry for keys that it knows, so there will be no blind scanning in hopes of registry keys. Also, the user will always be able to manually add a game.

Quote: "I would assume Jeku's app wouldn't touch Source games anyhow, considering they're controlled by Steam (and hence 'synced' anyway)"


My app syncs save games, and 99.9% of Steam games do not have that built-in.

One other problem I've found is that the game location is almost never the save game location, so once the game is found in the registry the app will do a quick check to see if the default save folder is there for that game. I will still have to manually enter game save locations into the database, but that's not a big deal.

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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 31st Jul 2009 20:30
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You may consider auto-syncing the My Games folder. All of the uses I've seen of that folder have been the saving of savegames.

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Jeku
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Posted: 31st Jul 2009 20:30
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I wish there was a standard for save games! There are a few titles (Fallout 3 comes to mind) that save games in the My Games folder, but those are few and far between.

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David R
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Posted: 31st Jul 2009 20:53
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Quote: "My app syncs save games, and 99.9% of Steam games do not have that built-in."


A percentage that will drop very quickly, as Valve have already stated they want all games on the service using Steam Cloud - so I wouldn't waste time developing solutions for a problem that is going to disappear fairly swiftly.

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Jeku
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Posted: 1st Aug 2009 00:52 Edited at: 1st Aug 2009 00:54
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Quote: "A percentage that will drop very quickly, as Valve have already stated they want all games on the service using Steam Cloud - so I wouldn't waste time developing solutions for a problem that is going to disappear fairly swiftly."


For one thing Valve wanting the developers to incorporate the Steam Cloud doesn't mean much, considering they aren't using it for all their games themselves. Valve has also had an achievements system for quite some time and only a small handful of 3rd parties have taken advantage of it. I can't see games opening up their saves for Steam Cloud unless there's a huge demand for it.

I talked to a Steam programmer late last year and at the time he said they would have to completely re-write how their Half-Life 2 system saves games in order to use the Steam Cloud. Currently the only game to use Steam Cloud is Left 4 Dead, which doesn't even have game saves.

And besides, my app is meant for all games, not just Steam games, so even if Steam Cloud magically absorbs every Steam game, there are still many games that are not on Steam, and will never be.

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