"Windows 32 bit" 3.3.1

[Cattlesquat]

So I'm gonna suggest there probably ought to be a "Windows 32-bit" icon/link on the main download page (http://www.vassalengine.org/download.php) that leads to a page explaining where to get the 32-bit JDK and then points you at the "Other" Vassal download package, etc?

Otherwise, the long drip drip drip...

[uckelman]

Thus spake Cattlesquat:
> So I'm gonna suggest there probably ought to be a "Windows 32-bit"
> icon/link on the main download page
> (http://www.vassalengine.org/download.php[1]) that leads to a page
> explaining where to get the 32-bit JDK and then points you at the
> "Other" Vassal download package, etc?
>
> Otherwise, the long drip drip drip...

So...

I _could_ make an installer for 32-bit Windows. It wouldn't be very
hard---it would amount to having one more JDK sitting around for jlink
to use, and having a second NSIS script containing only the 32-bit parts
I stripped out of the installer for 3.3.0.

The thing I'm dubious about is if in 2020, doing this is worth the effort.

--
J.

[Cattlesquat]

Heh. This is one of the more benign reasons that video games like to "phone home" on the internet a lot -- so the publishers can have an idea of how many people are *actually* using the thing on just how old a platform and stuff.

"Anec-data-lly", I was probably personally running 32-bit Windows until around late 2017 and there was no good excuse for that other than it still worked and I didn't "need" to go through the hassle of getting a new machine yet.

My gut instinct tells me that based on the Vassal demographic, that the one or two "tech support" reports on this aren't going to be the last ones.

Brian

[uckelman]

Thus spake Cattlesquat:
> Heh. This is one of the more benign reasons that video games like to
> "phone home" on the internet a lot -- so the publishers can have an idea
> of how many people are *actually* using the thing on just how old a
> platform and stuff.
>
> "Anec-data-lly", I was probably personally running 32-bit Windows until
> around 2017 and there was no good excuse for that other than it still
> worked and I didn't "need" to go through the hassle of getting a new
> machine yet.
>
> My gut instinct tells me that based on the Vassal demographic, that the
> one or two "tech support" reports on this aren't going to be the last
> ones.

I really want to say "here's a nickel, go buy yourself a modern computer",
but I can already envision this problem becoming a time suck if I don't make
32-bit Windows installer.

Sigh.

--
J.

[Flint1b]

I _could_ make an installer for 32-bit Windows. It wouldn't be very
hard---it would amount to having one more JDK sitting around for jlink
to use, and having a second NSIS script containing only the 32-bit parts
I stripped out of the installer for 3.3.0.

If you're already messing with the build script, you could automate it so it downloads and unzips the necessary JDKs automatically, of course only if they are not downloaded and unzipped yet. Adopt even has a REST API for this: https://api.adoptopenjdk.net/

But...

The thing I'm dubious about is if in 2020, doing this is worth the effort.

.. and also with the advent of jpackage and Flint already doing experiments with packaging Vassal with it:
- https://github.com/yanlyub/vassal/tree/ ... t-jpackage
- https://travis-ci.com/github/yanlyub/va ... /174784035

If Travis offers to run builds on linux/windows/mac, for FREE, why not use it

Another option would be to automate the whole build so that it can run on a "naked" ubuntu machine, install all requirements first then build all 4 distributions.

[uckelman]

Here's an installer for 32-bit Windows:

http://www.vassalengine.org/~uckelman/t ... ows-32.exe

Please try it on 32-bit Windows. Does it run and install VASSAL? Does VASSAL run after you've installed it?

[RobS]

It seemed to install okay, but when I click on the desktop icon to run it, two things happen.

Firstly, I get this error message:


Secondly, it opens a Chrome browser window (even without Chrome running) showing the front page of this website.

My system is 32-bit Win7.
According to my Control Panel, I have Java 8 Update 251 installed, although the Java website is "unable to verify" it. I'm sure it's there because I manually uninstalled and reinstalled it just a few days ago.

[uckelman]

Thus spake RobS:
> Secondly, it opens a Chrome browser window (even without Chrome running)
> showing the front page of this website.

After doing what? When does that happen?

> According to my Control Panel, I have Java 8 Update 251 installed,
> although the Java website is "unable to verify" it. I'm sure it's there
> because I manually uninstalled and reinstalled it just a few days ago.

What version of Java you have installed on Windows doesn't matter from
3.3.0 onward, as we're bundling Java with VASSAL now.

--
J.

[Cattlesquat]

Hi Joel - I received the same error today when I installed the Chatter-PR-test link you sent me on Github. I'm on 64-bit windows to be clear, but of course I was theoretically getting a normal 64-bit windows version in that case. Something may have gone awry with windows builds.

[RobS]

Thus spake RobS:
> Secondly, it opens a Chrome browser window (even without Chrome running)
> showing the front page of this website.

After doing what? When does that happen?

After I click away the aforementioned error message.

> According to my Control Panel, I have Java 8 Update 251 installed,
> although the Java website is "unable to verify" it. I'm sure it's there
> because I manually uninstalled and reinstalled it just a few days ago.

What version of Java you have installed on Windows doesn't matter from
3.3.0 onward, as we're bundling Java with VASSAL now.

I uninstalled both Java 8 Update 251 and the new Vassal, reinstalled the new Vassal and still no joy, same error message and behavior as with Java 8 installed.

[uckelman]

Thus spake RobS:
> "uckelman" wrote:
> > Thus spake RobS:
> > > Secondly, it opens a Chrome browser window (even without Chrome
> > running)
> > > showing the front page of this website.
> >
> > After doing what? When does that happen?
>
> After I click away the aforementioned error message.

That's going to be the launcher taking you to the URL we set there.
I'd forgotten that existed, as it hardly ever happens.

> > > According to my Control Panel, I have Java 8 Update 251 installed,
> > > although the Java website is "unable to verify" it. I'm sure it's
> > there
> > > because I manually uninstalled and reinstalled it just a few days
> > ago.
> >
> > What version of Java you have installed on Windows doesn't matter from
> > 3.3.0 onward, as we're bundling Java with VASSAL now.
>
> I uninstalled both Java 8 Update 251 and the new Vassal, reinstalled the
> new Vassal and still no joy, same error message and behavior as with
> Java 8 installed.

That's as expected. Neither Java 8 nor any other version of Java you have
installed will make a differencei---even if this hadn't been a bad build.

The problem was that I messed up the symlinks when I added a 32-bit Windows
JDK to my builds setup, which is why you got a bundled JVM that wouldn't
run. I believe I have it right now. Please try this new build:

http://www.vassalengine.org/~uckelman/t ... ows-32.exe

--
J.

[RobS]

The problem was that I messed up the symlinks when I added a 32-bit Windows
JDK to my builds setup, which is why you got a bundled JVM that wouldn't
run. I believe I have it right now. Please try this new build:

http://www.vassalengine.org/~uckelman/t ... ows-32.exe

It again seems to install with no problem, but when I try to run it, it now shows this error message:


It also still opens a Chrome window for the Vassal website.

Here are my computer specs:

[RobS]

I just want to add that the previous version of Vassal is perfectly okay for me. I'm not playing any PBEM games at the moment, nor do I plan to in the foreseeable future. I'm only planning to perhaps solo some games, for which the previous version is just fine.
I only replied to this thread after a private message from Cattlesquat asked me to try the new version.
That said, if the new version of Vassal can be made to run on my system, it would of course be nice.

[uckelman]

Thus spake RobS:
>
> "uckelman" wrote:
> >
> > The problem was that I messed up the symlinks when I added a 32-bit
> > Windows
> > JDK to my builds setup, which is why you got a bundled JVM that
> > wouldn't
> > run. I believe I have it right now. Please try this new build:
> >
> > http://www.vassalengine.org/~uckelman/t ... ows-32.exe[1]
> >
>
> It again seems to install with no problem, but when I try to run it, it
> now shows this error message:

I found what's wrong. See below.

> It also still opens a Chrome window for the Vassal website.

That's as expected when the launcher can't start Java.

There's no reason to think anything is wrong with your machine. It turns
out that I accidentally bundled 64-bit Java instead of 32-bit with that
test build.

I think I have it right this time. Please try this build:

http://www.vassalengine.org/~uckelman/t ... ows-32.exe

Thanks for testing these builds. It helps anyone who else who is still using
32-bit Windows have a 3.3 build they can install.

--
J.

[Cattlesquat]

Hi Rob - you're definitely not the only one with 32-bit Windows. You're not even the only one so far and it's super helpful you're on here enough to get us over the hump of some testing to get it right. And ultimately this will mean less time spent on "tech support" by the devs. Brian