User:DOUG/Sandbox Lich Stuff

GTK3 Beta Test

Welcome to the GTK3 Ruby Lich Public Beta!

Before we begin, there are a couple of things you should know about participating in this beta program:

1) It IS a beta program. If something can go wrong, it just might, here. So follow these instructions carefully to have the BEST shot at recovering your Lich installation and continuing to enjoy Gemstone.

• It is vitally important that you NOT participate in the GTK3 beta if you are not already a Lich user. If you are new to Gemstone and Lich, do not use this Public Beta. Instead, use the stable installer build at https://bit.ly/WinLich .

• If you are already a Lich user, and you are comfortable participating in the Public Beta, then you should at an absolute minimum, back up your existing Lich folder. The beta installer does not touch the existing lich folder, but if something can go wrong, you should have a copy saved somewhere.

• If you are already a Lich user, and you are comfortable participating in the Public Beta, then you should rename your existing Ruby installation. If you accepted the default installation from the stable installer build, your Ruby installation is at C:\Ruby4Lich . You can simply rename that folder C:\save-Ruby4Lich , and you will be able to easily revert back from the beta to your current Ruby4Lich installation.

• Remember that the GTK3 beta is intended to retire GTK2, given its age and lack of updates. What this means to you is that any Lich program that uses a graphical user interface (GUI) will behave differently. The team has updated the LICH.RBW file and the core scripts distributed by Tillmen to work with GTK3. The team has also updated some of the more popular scripts and included them in a subdirectory for you to use, if you wish.

2) If you are happy with what you have read so far, and are eager to get started, exit all characters from the game.

3) Back up your lich directory and rename your existing Ruby4Lich (or other Ruby) installation.

4) Download the BetaGTK3-Ruby4Lich installer here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/upkg2qy1vmip31z/BetaGTK3-Ruby4Lich.exe?dl=1

5) Run the installer. Be patient, it may take some time especially on non-SSD harddrives - it is installing 70K plus files.

6) When done, click FINISH on the installer, and you will see the GTK3Lich folder on your desktop. Run the LICH.RBW file from that folder and confirm you can log in with Lich active.

At this point, you can make plans to copy the GTK3Lich files into your existing Lich directory so you don't have to redo everything. You did remember to back up your existing Lich directory, right? If not, do it now before you start moving scripts around.

Any and all errors please share in the #scripting channel on Discord. Please ensure you provide a current run of ;version with your report

Enjoy!

GTK3 Public Beta FAQ

Q: Why am I renaming my Ruby4Lich directory instead of just deleting it? A: During the beta test you may find a critical script that you cannot live without that simply does not work right. If you delete your existing Ruby4Lich installation, and later decide to exit the beta test, you'll have to reinstall Ruby4Lich to continue enjoying Lich and Gemstone. Renaming will save you time, if you decide the beta program is not for you.

Q: What should I do when I see a bunch of information about a script that I'm running needing to be fixed? A: Come to Discord#scripting and put the script name up with a reference to GTK3. The team will look at it, and convert it or notify the script author to do the update.

Q: I just copied the new GTK3Lich scripts into my standard Lich folder, and now nothing works right. What do I do? A: Check to be sure you also copied the Lich.rbw file over - without that, your install will not work properly.

Q: Why are we doing this when the existing installer works? A: Three reasons - the most important being that we want to update to a faster and more stable Ruby. Second, we want to get onto the more current graphics display framework (GTK3), since the older existing graphics display framework (GTK2) is not updated and has some defects in it. Third, some exciting new scripts are being developed that will only work with the more current graphics display framework.

Q: What's my emergency recovery procedure if I just want to go back to what I know? A: Tricky question! That will depend on what you did or chose not to do from the recommendations. The short list is to restore your original LICH folder from the copy you made at the very beginning, then uninstall the GTK3Beta-Ruby4Lich application and delete the folder, then rename your saved Ruby4Lich folder back to just Ruby4Lich. Then, try starting up your restored LICH installation. If it asks you how to deal with lich.rbw, just associate the file with the Ruby4Lich\bin\rubyw.exe application. That should restore your functionality. If it doesn't, swing by Discord#scripting and let us know.