Archive: 1 more question...
1 more question...
Some installs I create seems to have some sort of "loading xx%...." dialog right at the start of installs, where others don't.
Why is this? Compression BZ2 or ZIP?
I want this to always display, as we have a 70Mb install loading from CDROM, and it takes a while to initialise, and could look like it's locked up to some users...
Thanks.
If it says "verifying installer: ...%" then it's the CRC check which you can enable or disable using CRCCheck. It doesn't depend on the compression you've used. It shows the dialog if the verification takes longer than a second.
If it says "unpacking data: ...%" then it's BZ2 solid compression. It also displays only if the decompression takes longer than a second. If it shows right when the installer starts you should consider some ReserveFile usage and/or moving functions that are called first to the top of the script (only those that extract files or use plug-ins).
Is there a way to FORCE showing something at startup? Our install takes about 10seconds+ to start when running from CDROM, with no indication for the user that anything is happening...
You can always use the Banner plug-in in .onInit to show something. But that's not supposed to happen... Can you attach the script?
Ok, We are running a CVS build (dated: NSIS 2.0b4 - CVS Mon, 21 Jul 2003, 07:44:16 GMT ), with some custom modifications to handle backuping up originals of installed files, and restoring them on uninstall.
It may be there is a problems with this old CVS. As it is, it is stable for us, and are are unlikely to update it until 2.0b4 is released (or possible 2.0 final), so will live with the problem for the moment.
Will look into the problem some more, or use the banner plugin.
Maybe is becuase the speed of the CDROM is lower ans since the app is runing from it.
The things that can affect the speed of installation:
1) RAM Memory, and Processor: better MB of RAM and Processor Clock help to do speed up files processing.
2) Drive Speed: Hard disk is better in speed, CD-ROM is the second and Diskettes in 3rd (saying based on basic computer drives). But the velocity can vary, depending on the drive qualities. Desfragmentation helps to speed up programs start.
3) Type of compression: Zlib or Bzip2, Zlib is faster, a good for small files, Bzip2 is more compact, a good for big files.
4) Connection Speed: if your installation is based on getting files online. Is better be already downloaded...
The best solution I think is to use Banner plugin, extract the installation program to temp, and run it, so you can eject the CD normally. To delete it, put in the program installer a instruction to delete itself when restart the computer.