Greetings Commanders,
a big update of the Python Lobby Client is coming up. In addition to a multitude of bugfixes and improvements, we have made two big technical changes:
- Switching the client’s underlying framework from Python2.7/PyQT4.8 to Python3.5/PyQt5.9
- Redoing our release model and the client updater
As I wrote before, our release cycle will soon have three stages: Unstable (Beta) releases, Stable Preview releases, and Stable releases (you can find a thorough explanation in that article). To support that, the client updater had to be rewritten.
Because of the client updater rewrite, we need to be cautious and make sure there is ample testing of the updater – we’ve seen what happens when there is a bug in the updater – before releasing this update to all of FAF.
Please only apply the following instructions if you’re not scared of being a beta tester and all the potential inconveniences this brings – applying this change is not mandatory to keep playing FAF.
Therefore, here is what you should do to get the newest version of the Lobby Client:
- Make sure FAF is closed
- Find your “FA Lobby.ini” file – it should be in
C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\ForgedAllianceForever\FA Lobby.ini - Double-Click the file to edit in Notepad (or use any text editor you like)
- Insert this into the file:
[updater] gh_release_url="https://api.github.com/repos/Wesmania/client/releases?per_page=20" - Save and Close the File
- Start FAF
- You should be prompted to update – run the update and install it.
The effect of this change is that instead of using the main FAForever/client repository to update, the updater will look in Wesmania/client where Wesmania (Mazornoob) has been maintaining and releasing the Unstable branch and where he is now hosting the test releases.Please play around with the updater (there are a few versions released) and keep running this client branch until we make an announcement for the final release – there will be a few updates coming on this release branch to give you opportunities to test the new updater in action.
If you have any feedback or problems with this test release, please let me know using the forums: Feedback Thread
As always, you can also contact our moderator team with any problems you have at any time.
To revert back to the normal client version, you have to follow these steps:
- Delete the lines you added to your “FA Lobby.ini” file
- Reinstall the old client version from Github.
Many thanks to Mazornoob, who has done a huge amount of work on this, and Grothe, who contributed a number of improvements.
Happy Hunting,
— Duke