Editing MG/Snapshots

For those who are interested in helping and/or exploring the latest features in MegaGlest, we offer snapshot builds. Every time the MegaGlet developers commit source code changes to the central source code repository, our [http://ci.megaglest.org/ continuous integration] system automatically starts building a new snapshot within 30 minutes.

==Careful!==
Beware that '''these builds are experimental and for testing purposes only'''. They may be entirely broken. 

'''Do not mix files from snapshots and stable versions''' - while they may seem to work initially they can make the game fail later or may introduce subtle bugs - so it is never a good idea to mix release versions and snapshots.

When you play network games with these snapshot builds, '''any other players must use exactly the same build'''. While setting up a game, the game host can and should '''inspect the revision numbers of all connected clients''' which display on right hand side of the game setup screen. Clients and the game host can verify their revision number on the main menu (below the logo), on the ''About'' menu and by running MegaGlest with the <tt>--version</tt> option on a terminal / command line.

==Generic instructions==
We provide the following packages:

*[http://snapshots.megaglest.org/linux/ Linux builds (32 bit & 64 bit)]

*[http://snapshots.megaglest.org/windows/ Windows builds]

*[http://snapshots.megaglest.org/mac/ OS X builds]

*[http://snapshots.megaglest.org/data/ Data package]
To use these snapshot builds:

*Download both the universal data package and the binary package which will work with your computer.
*Create a new directory such as <tt>megaglest-snapshot</tt> and change into it.
*Then extract (unpack, decompress) both archives there, starting with the data package.
*Finally, run the binary from there, ideally from a terminal / command prompt window so you will know what is going on (and possibly wrong).

== Windows instructions ==
===Download===

Please download the latest (check modification times) archives from
*[http://snapshots.megaglest.org/windows/ snapshots.megaglest.org/windows]
*[http://snapshots.megaglest.org/data/ snapshots.megaglest.org/data]

Altogether you will download two files, one from each of the above locations. One filename will end in <tt>.tar.xz</tt>, the other in <tt>.7z</tt>. You will not be able to see these file extensions ''after'' downloading but they show up on the website.

Note that the second file is somewhat large (roughly 260 MB). If - and only if - you already have an earlier copy of this file which is exactly the same file size (in bytes - right-click on the file in Explorer and see ''properties'' for the size in bytes, then compare it to that on the snapshot server) then you do not need to download it again. If in doubt, you better download a fresh copy.

Both archives were created on a Windows system not used for anything other than building these files. This system is also not directly accessible from the Internet. So these archives should be clean, but you are always welcome to [http://virustotal.com AV test] them (and the .exe and .dll files they contain) to verify this on your own. Should you see more than one or two AV engines report any findings (one or two incorrect detections are entirely normal) please let us know.

===Unpack===

To unpack these files, you also need [http://www.7-zip.org/ 7-Zip], WinRAR or some other file archiving utility which can handle all of the TAR, XZ and 7Z formats.

First unpack <tt>megaglest-binary-win32-i386-*.7z</tt> to a new directory.
Then unpack <tt>megaglest-standalone-data-*.tar.xz</tt> into this new directory, too. You end up with a directory containing <tt>megaglest.exe</tt> and a <tt>data/</tt> subdirectory. You will probably need to unpack the second file (the large ''standalone-data'' one) twice: the first time you unpack it you get another archive file. And when you unpack this second file you get the <tt>data</tt> folder.

===Run===

Then start Explorer and browse to this new directory you created. Then, in Explorer, shift-right-click on the new directory and select ''Start command prompt here''. This will work on any newer Windows version but not on Windows XP (you need to start cmd.exe there, then use the <tt>cd</tt> command to change into the directory you created and unpacked the files to). You should then get a new window with a black background and a text input, a so-called ''command prompt'' (also referred to as ''command line'', ''DOS box'' or ''terminal''). In there, type <tt>megaglest.exe</tt> and press enter, this should start the game. If the game does not start, double-check the directory layout described above.

===Problems?===

In case of any problems, please copy and paste the output you get when running <tt>megaglest.exe</tt> to [http://paste.megaglest.org/ paste.megaglest.org] (or a similar 'pastebin' service of your choice) and take a screenshot and post it to [http://imgur.com/ imgur.com] (or a similar image file hosting service), then pass the web addresses of where those files are to us. Please also show us a screenshot (or output of the <tt>dir</tt> command if you know how this works) showing the new directory you created and unpacked the files to.

==See Also==
*[[MG/Development]]
*[[MegaGlest]]
[[Category:MG]]
[[Category:Testing]]