Do I need Install Shield?

[NewsArchive]

Hello

I have just downloaded InstallShield Express and have a week to decide
whether I need it, but so far I haven't managed to get it to work. I am a
total beginner to programming; I have a very simple game application
written using Visual C++, with dynamic linking to MFC. I want to distribute
it on floppy disk, if possible. The .exe file, when zipped, will fit on a
floppy, but when I try to create a set-up program for it, it becomes too
large. It says in the help file that it should automatically split it over
two disks, but it doesn't seem to be.
so, my questions:
1. How can I make it go onto two disks? I just get an error saying that
it's too large for Disk 1. I have chosen custom media, with 1.44 Mb.
Please help with this one, as I can't even try it out until I get this
working!
2. Do I really need to have an installer program at all? Could I just copy
my .exe onto disk, as I'm not using anything unusual in the MFC that the
user's computer might not have.
3. Is there any way to make it smaller? When I specify which files to
include in the installation could I use an already zipped file? I have
already specified the .cab compression when given that option, but it is
still not as small as I'd like.
4. Do I need to include the Windows Install program? There are sevearl
options regarding this, and I've checked them all. The game will be used on
Windows 95/98 primarily, and possibly NT in time.
5. Would there be a better installer version for what I need? If Install
Shield express requires me to include the Installer program, etc. for a
Windows 95/98 program, perhaps there's a better way of doing it if I'm
mainly interested in these platforms.

Please help with any advice!

Thank you
Rob

[NewsArchive]

You don't mention what version, so I'll assume 3.x (not 2.x). In ISX 3.x,
if you get the error indicating it is too large, what it really means is
that the information for the first disk is too large. As far as I know,
your out of luck at this point. I never found a way around this.
Fortunately for me, I can sacrifice this since the bulk of my needs are
electronic distribution and CD's. There is no way to make the installation
program itself smaller.

You will need to include the Windows installer if you want to make sure your
clients can seamlessly install your application. If you package to a Setup
file (not just an MSI), but do not include the Installers, when the users
try to install they will get an error (1604). If you want to keep sizes
down, don't include the Installers, and warn them that if they get the
error, they will need to install the Installer themselves. You can provide
access to these yourself (instmsiA.exe for win95/98 and instmsiW.exe for
NT). These are available under the \Redist\Language Independent\i386 folder
for ISX 3.x.

You *could* just copy the EXE, but I wouldn't. If you are dynamically
linking to the MFC, you better ship it. You will probably find that at
least some customers won't have the right version. Also, these days clients
assume you will have a nice installation program, including an
uninstallation to go with it. In the days of DOS you could assume clients
wouldn't mind copy files manually, but these days it's a safe bet that will
be a turn off to most.

Hope that helps...
Dominic

"Rob" <res23@spam.ac.uk> wrote in message news:39d105c1@12.41.20.38...
> Hello
>
> I have just downloaded InstallShield Express and have a week to decide
> whether I need it, but so far I haven't managed to get it to work. I am a
> total beginner to programming; I have a very simple game application
> written using Visual C++, with dynamic linking to MFC. I want to
distribute
> it on floppy disk, if possible. The .exe file, when zipped, will fit on a
> floppy, but when I try to create a set-up program for it, it becomes too
> large. It says in the help file that it should automatically split it
over
> two disks, but it doesn't seem to be.
> so, my questions:
> 1. How can I make it go onto two disks? I just get an error saying that
> it's too large for Disk 1. I have chosen custom media, with 1.44 Mb.
> Please help with this one, as I can't even try it out until I get this
> working!
> 2. Do I really need to have an installer program at all? Could I just
copy
> my .exe onto disk, as I'm not using anything unusual in the MFC that the
> user's computer might not have.
> 3. Is there any way to make it smaller? When I specify which files to
> include in the installation could I use an already zipped file? I have
> already specified the .cab compression when given that option, but it is
> still not as small as I'd like.
> 4. Do I need to include the Windows Install program? There are sevearl
> options regarding this, and I've checked them all. The game will be used
on
> Windows 95/98 primarily, and possibly NT in time.
> 5. Would there be a better installer version for what I need? If Install
> Shield express requires me to include the Installer program, etc. for a
> Windows 95/98 program, perhaps there's a better way of doing it if I'm
> mainly interested in these platforms.
>
> Please help with any advice!
>
> Thank you
> Rob
>
>