As this thread was created to field comments on the new release, let me chime in:
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I think the new release is great, it looks nice, etc, but the first thing I noticed when you guys started working on CraXtion 4 was this shift that it had to be a "one-stop" application for everything Xbox. While this is nice, and I am sure lots of people love all the new features, I *personally* loved the simplicity of CraXtion being a batch-mode ISO Creation/Extraction tool. With that being said, there is no harm in there being features of the program that I personally will never use - I am sure others love all that new stuff
The main thing that surprised me was that you can no longer use GDFImage.exe with CraXtion. I am sure the ISO engine you guys built is better in a 1000 ways (as I am sure you have evidence to contend, just like the Qwix guys...), but there are a few of us out there who liked using the "official but unofficial" binary that came from MS$. (I know, I know, GDFImage was only used by early devs, and is not the tool used for production discs, etc, no need to go into that spiel!) No harm here however, I can always stick with 3.1 for my GDFImage fix! (It would be nice to see this flexibility come back someday though...)
The next thing that this app really needed was the ability to set a "favorite" directory. Meaning, don't rely on the common control dialog to remember the "previous" directory, but give the user the option to "force" the start directory. This is especially useful when you have a drive or folder that you always use for creating/extracting ISO's, and you want the dialogs to *always* start in that spot (instead of at the "My Computer" top level, or whatever the previous directory used by MS$ Common Dialog was) In this version this has actually gotten worse, since you are using multiple "browse for file/folder" methods. You can select an ISO in one, and then a new dialog comes up and is in some other directory altogether. It just makes for a lot more clicking/browsing when you are trying to do things in a "batch".
DoEvents: I think you could DoEvents a bit more. When working, CraXtion hardly ever repaints the screen. It makes it appear that it is hanging or something... I haven't worked much in .Net, but I am sure you can do a refresh or something else to help too. Just a thought, as it is only aesthetic at this point. Basically, I extracted a few ISO's and never saw the progress meter again as I moved to another window and then came back to see a big white square
The other thing I feel it really needs is the ability for CraXtion to create a directory on the fly when extracting ISO's. It would be cool if it pulled the title out of the XBE and just created a directory (instead of browsing, selecting/creating/etc). Of course you would need to set the top-level directory first, maybe the aforementioned "favorites" directory? It could be a "preference"
It would be nice to just select a group of ISO's, choose a top-level directory, and then click "Extract" and walk away. (I am referring to extract-to-folder only of course)
Also, I don't remember the installer prompting me for the install directory? Did I just miss that? I would have liked to choose a different directory, one that has all my other Xbox tools, but that isn't that big of a deal (I just don't generally install things on my C:\\ - That drive is set aside for OS only...)
Would I be way out of line asking for the source to version 3.1? There were only a few minor things that I wanted fixed in that release, and I could just do it myself if you guys are pinched for time with version 4 or simply don't plan on maintaining version 3.1 in any way...
Things I would like to fix in 3.1:
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- I would like to make the patch status window (listview?) system_modal (so the application_modal completion msgbox doesn't hide it 90% of the time, blocking the results of the patch operation)
- Fix BrowseForFile/Folder (Add a favorite dir, as I mentioned above).
- Place the Media Patch logic in an external INI/XML. That way as new patches come out I could just update the file, no need to recompile. (like a "default.acl")
- Batch Extract - Auto Create Directories: As I mentioned above.
- Batch Create - Auto Name ISO's: Same thing as Batch Extract, but in reverse
Alternatively, I wouldn't mind helping with the CraXtion 4 project to add these features, but I am sure that you guys prolly don't want to let someone else in the loop just to add a few minor things like this...
I hope you don't see my ideas/suggestions negatively. I really love CraXtion and have championed it for quite some time. I guess I simply want to see it more "batch" friendly, and save people even more precious time.
Keep up the good work guys, this looks impressive, especially next to the Alpha release that I helped test for you. I will send a donation over soon
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Topic: Craxtion - Version 4.0.0 (Read 1492 times)