Do I need data.zip when installing Windows XP version

For topics that do not fit in another sub-forum.

Moderator: Oberlus

Post Reply
Message
Author
maxand
Space Floater
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2008 5:42 am
Location: Australia

Do I need data.zip when installing Windows XP version

#1 Post by maxand »

I'm running Windows XP SP2, downloaded FreeOrion-0.3.8-Setup.exe from SourceForge, installed it and it seemed to fire up ok though i haven't actually tried playing it yet. Seems a nice game so far.

What's confusing me is all the garbage in the SourceForge release. On going to http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile ... p_id=75752
I can see:

FreeOrion-0.3.1-data.zip Platform-Independent .zip
FreeOrion-0.3.1-RC1-Setup.exe
FreeOrion-0.3.1-RC2-Setup.exe
FreeOrion-0.3.1-RC3-Setup.exe
FreeOrion-0.3.1-RC4-Setup.exe
FreeOrion-0.3.1-RC5-Setup.exe
FreeOrion-0.3.1-RC6-Setup.exe
FreeOrion-0.3.1-RC7-Setup.exe
FreeOrion-0.3.8-Setup.exe

Now, I know RC stands for Release Candidate, so I wasn't too worried about not downloading RC1-7. What threw me, though, was this FreeOrion-0.3.1-data.zip, so I downloaded it to be on the safe side and, not knowing where to put it, stuck it in the same folder as the Setup.exe file. Setup.exe didn't even want to look at it during the installation. Peeking inside data.zip, I found it full of (surprise, surprise) data files. Not even a Readme.txt to help me.

On top of this, on the Download page it said "Before downloading, you may want to read Release Notes". Fine, where the hell are they? Certainly not the FreeOrion Documents. No Release notes in the Installation directory.

So...

Will I need FreeOrion-0.3.1-data.zip if I'm running v0.3.8 on XP?
If so, how do I use it and where do I empty it?
Where do I find the Release Notes?
Why isn't all this very basic advice posted somewhere that's easy for a n00b like me to find?

Other than that, FO seems promising.

User avatar
Geoff the Medio
Programming, Design, Admin
Posts: 13586
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2003 1:33 am
Location: Munich

Re: Do I need data.zip when installing Windows XP version

#2 Post by Geoff the Medio »

maxand wrote:Will I need FreeOrion-0.3.1-data.zip if I'm running v0.3.8 on XP?
No.
Where do I find the Release Notes?
As far as I know, the text on the sourceforge page,
Below is a list of files contained in this release.
Before downloading, you may want to read the release notes.
is put there by sourceforge, not by us... It shows up on other projects' download pages in the same place. That said, you can look at this thread for something that could be called release notes for FreeOrion.
Why isn't all this very basic advice posted somewhere that's easy for a n00b like me to find?
The issue of whether you need data.zip and where are the release notes questions haven't been asked before, and due to the answer to the data.zip question, there's nothing more to say about what to do with it.

maxand
Space Floater
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2008 5:42 am
Location: Australia

Re: Do I need data.zip when installing Windows XP version

#3 Post by maxand »

Thanks Geoff for clearing this up so succinctly! :)

Post Reply