Launchpad 4.1.1

This release changes two main things:

1. There's a new theme, Steampad, which matches more closely with Steam and is now the default. Lightpad and Darkpad are still available for use, and other themes are still planned as well.
2. There is now a Logging setting which, when enabled, will create a log.txt file that auto-truncates itself after 5 MB

Launchpad 4.1.0

This release makes no changes to Launchpad itself, but a significant change to the installer--it now installs purely at the user level and doesn't require any admin privileges.

Existing users are recommended to uninstall Launchpad first before installing this version, however, this is not required if you're already using Launchpad successfully and wish to keep it in Program Files.

Launchpad 4.0

Happy New Year!

To help bring in 2021 with style, Launchpad 4.0 is here with more GUI goodness than ever! The Launcher Manager and Launcher Editor have been released, meaning that you no longer need to touch a single line of .json code to create and manage your launchers--everything can be done from within the main GUI window!

Many other bug fixes and minor enhancements are included as well. While Launchpad is not yet feature-complete, its core functionality is working and accessible from within the main Launchpad GUI window, and it is running better than ever.

If you're a new user, now is the time to jump in! As always, I welcome bug reports, support requests, and especially pull requests!

Note: Until further notice, if you install Launchpad to the default location (your Program Files folder), you need to manually give Launchpad.exe administrator permissions so that it can create files within its own directory. I am working on a solution for this.

Launchpad 3.4.0

More GUI, smoother operation, fewer dependencies, and a full-featured installer!

This release brings Launchpad several more steps toward maturity. Not everything works yet, but all the core features are working and the installation and setup process has been greatly improved.

Launchpad no longer requires BnetLauncher to launch Blizzard games! Huge kudos to BnetLauncher for the inspiration behind the methods used to launch Blizzard games, and for being a reliable dependency of Launchpad for the past few years. Eliminating Launchpad's dependent applications has been the goal for a long time.

The remaining dependencies that Launchpad manages include:

• AutoHotKey - Will probably always remain a dependency.
• IconsExt - Will be replaced soon with a brand new Icon Browser UI!
• Protoc.exe - Will eventually be replaced, but I need to build a protobuf reader that doesn't require decompiling first, so it's here for now.

You are still free to use BnetLauncher together with Launchpad if you wish, but it's no longer required--by default, Launchpad will perform a similar set of steps on its own for any game of type BlizzardGame.

Some more miscellaneous features in this release:

• Can automatically detect the location of the Blizzard client, as well as all of your installed Blizzard games.
• Can automatically detect the location of your Epic Games client and will soon include better handling of Epic games
• Lots of GUI bug fixes and enhancements, including new styled GUI buttons
• Launchers can use any theme you want by setting the "ThemeName" config value for any game in your launcher file.
• The Darkpad theme is fully usable, so you can now choose between Lightpad, Darkpad, or you can easily create your own themes!
• Launchpad is now distributed with an installer (NSIS), which means it's one single compressed file and it doesn't have to download as many dependencies when you actually run it.

A few things to keep in mind:

• If you install Launchpad to the Program Files folder, make sure to run it with Administrative privileges so that it can install its dependencies. I'm working on a better solution for this.
• The Validate Launchers function does not work yet
• The Launcher Manager and Launcher Editor features do not work yet. Creating launchers is still done by creating a .json file yourself (there is an example file included showing basic usage)

There are a lot of features currently either underway or planned. As of this release, here is a rough status:

• Launcher Validation - 60% complete
• Better Epic Games client handling - 50% complete
• Launcher Editor GUI - 50% complete
• Launcher Manager GUI - 30% complete
• Icon Browser GUI - 25% complete
• Updates GUI - 25% complete
• Launch a list of processes before and/or after starting a game - Planned
• Close a list of processes before and/or after starting a game - Planned
• Manage controller binding config files and optionally choose one to load for each game - Planned
• Better Origin client handling - Planned
• Better Bethesda client handling - Planned
• More theme styling options - Planned
• More themes (including miscellaneous launcher-specific themes and game-specific themes to choose from) - Planned

As always, let me know if you run into any issues, or if you have a use case that isn't currently covered by Launchpad. And feel free to contribute pull requests!

Launchpad 3.3.1

The focus of this minor release is on improving the initial setup process for new users. Dialog windows will walk you through each of the required settings to get up and running.

Simply download and run Launchpad.exe to continue.

Note: Don't bother running LaunchpadUpdater.exe yet. It's a work in progress!

Launchpad 3.3

Launchpad 3.3 adds a better installer process that actually works for the initial install.

New to Launchpad? Simply download Launchpad.exe and run it. If it's already in the correct installation directory, click OK on the initial directory selection and the installation process will begin.

Launchpad 3.2

Launchpad 3 is here!

Highlights include:

• Revamped Launcher API specification with more options and clearer names (Note--this is a breaking change)
• Custom .json theme support with 1 theme built-in (Lightpad)
• Progress window support for game launchers (custom theme support for launchers coming soon)
• Rewritten installer backend that can pull the latest updates from Launchpad and its dependencies anytime

The focus for the upcoming versions will be continuing to move toward a functional Launcher Editor as well as Launcher Manager.

Note: The pre-compiled Launchpad.exe is currently experiencing some issues and will be working again next release. Feel free to run the AHK version directly for now!

Launchpad 2.0!

Launchpad 2.0 is a fairly minor release for most users, but under the hood, it has been almost entirely rewritten from the ground up.

The new version uses AutoHotKey v2-alpha. But don't worry! If you're an end-user of Launchpad, you won't have to even think about this. Launchpad will always include and manage its own version of AutoHotKey that is compatible with its code.

If you are using the .ahk version of Launchpad directly, you need to run it with a compatible version of AHK v2-alpha. There is a new Launchpad.bat file in the main directory which will use an "AHK_2" environment variable if it exists as the AHK 2 executable. If the environment variable does not exist, the .ahk file will be launched directly as normal.

There are big changes coming that are not quite ready yet, including a Launcher Editor and a Launcher Manager.

Launchpad 1.1

LauncherGen is now known as Launchpad! Along with this change, the app has been given a new logo, icon, and a greatly enhanced user interface. There's no Launcher Manager quite yet, but that is coming soon.

Highlights of this release include:

• Redesigned user interface to highlight the most useful functionality
• A new Settings screen with many new configuration options
• A new Tools menu to give you access to advanced functions (see below)
• Reload your launcher file anytime without having to restart the app
• Clean your generated launchers to remove all extra files created by the build process, either during the build or on application exit
• Perform an update of Launchpad's dependencies anytime
• Flush Launchpad's caches effortlessly, and optionally do so automatically when exiting Launchpad
• Relocate Launchpad's cache folder anytime
• Update Launchpad's API endpoint to get data from any custom server you choose

LauncherGen 1.0

Now with 100% more GUI!

This new release of LauncherGen contains all the functionality from previous versions, but rewritten to be better in every way. And now there's a GUI that makes LauncherGen far more useful.

Highlights include:

• A GUI allowing you to access all functions and configuration options of LauncherGen
• A remote API used for pulling the latest game and launcher data on the fly
• A simplified and yet more powerful format for the launchers config file
• Progress bars during intensive operations
• Smarter error handling (A continuing WIP)
• Optionally split the assets (shortcut files, icons, etc) directory from the generated launchers directory
• Optionally keep all generated launcher files in one directory for ease of access
• Update dependency files at any time with the click of a button
• Quickly open, change, and reload the launcher JSON file
• Quickly open or change the Launchers and Assets directories.

Not quite ready yet, but stay tuned:

• A full Launcher Manager GUI which you can use to visually build your LauncherGen launchers instead of editing a json file