Electron Game Updater

Electron Game Updater is an application built with Electron and React, designed to simplify the process of installing and updating games on Windows. This application features support for multiple games, automatic updates, and seamless patching through compressed files.

Features

• Supports multiple games in one launcher
• Portable .exe for easy distribution
• Automatically updates game files and itself
• 7zip integration
• Custom game launch commands with parameters
• Displays dynamic remaining time, progress, and download speed during updates
• Reopens at the last selected game, so you don’t have to navigate to your most played game every time the launcher opens

How It Works

The application downloads and extracts the latest game files or patches from hosted URLs, comparing versions defined in a JSON configuration file. It auto-updates the games as well as the launcher itself.

Note: The diagram below is a simplified version of the application’s workflow.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js: Make sure you have Node.js installed. The highest supported version is 16.20.2. You can download it here.

Usage

1: Create and Host Your JSON Configuration File

The application requires a hosted JSON file that defines the games, their versions, and URLs for updates.

Example of a JSON file:

{
  "launcherVer": 2,
  "launcherUrl": "https://your-server.com/launcher.exe",
  "games": [
    {
      "name": "game1",
      "startCmd": "start game1.exe param1 param2",
      "clientVer": 1,
      "clientUrl": "https://your-server.com/game1-client.7z",
      "patchUrls": [
        "https://your-server.com/game1-patch1.7z",
        "https://your-server.com/game1-patch2.7z"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "game2",
      "startCmd": "start game2.exe paramA paramB",
      "clientVer": 1,
      "clientUrl": "https://your-server.com/game2-client.7z",
      "patchUrls": []
    }
  ]
}

• launcherVer: Version of the launcher.

• games: Array of games with their respective launch commands, version numbers, and URLs for the client and patches.

  • client: When you upload a new client, increment the clientVer by 1 and update the clientUrl if necessary. Note that when a new client is uploaded, patchUrls should be reset to an empty array, indicating that there are no patches associated with the new client version.

  • patch:

    • Use an array called patchUrls, where each URL points to an individual patch file (e.g., "https://your-server.com/game1-patch1.7z").
    • To apply incremental updates, ensure that each new patch file is appended to patchUrls in the correct order. For example, if there are three patches available, patchUrls should contain links to game1-patch1.7z, game1-patch2.7z, and game1-patch3.7z.
    • If the array is empty, no patch will be applied.

2: Clone This Repository

git clone https://github.com/gustavokei/electron-game-updater.git

3: Configure the Launcher

Edit the defaultConfig object in src/renderer/utils/getConfigFileLocal.js to point to your hosted JSON file:

const defaultConfig = {
  updaterUrl: "https://your-server.com/your-json-file.json", // Your JSON URL goes here
  launcherVer: 1,
  lastSelectedGame: "",
  games: [],
};

4: Customize the UI

Images and icons are located in src/renderer/assets. Customize these assets to fit your games.

Adjust the background-image properties of .game-icon and .game-patcher in src/renderer/styles.scss to use the same game.name property from your JSON configuration.

5: Install Dependencies

Navigate to the project's root directory and run:

npm install

6: Build the Application

To create the executable:

npm run build

This will generate a launcher.exe in the ./dist directory.

Extra: Development Mode

For development and testing, you can run the project in development mode with hot reload:

npm run dev

In development mode, the application ignores the launcherVer checking, which allows for easier testing without needing to increment the version for each change.

Additional Notes

Users are encouraged to open issues for any bugs or feature requests and to submit pull requests for improvements. Your contributions help make this project better for everyone!

This project is licensed under the MIT License, which allows you to use, modify, and distribute the software freely, as long as the original license and copyright notice are included in any copies or substantial portions of the software.