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Updated README with a better description of the project
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README.md
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README.md
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SKCraft Launcher
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================
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This launcher features a powerful package deployment system for
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Minecraft. We use it to provide updates for our server, and you may
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find it useful too.
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This project provides an open-source Minecraft launcher platform for downloading,
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installing, and updating modpacks.
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Unlike the previous iteration of the launcher,
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due to time constraints, we have gone back to making launchers suited for
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one server (or one provider), meaning that you will have to modify the
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launcher as necessary and distribute your own .exe, .jar, .app files
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to fit your requirements. However, this is fairly easy to do because
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nearly every string has been translated, and all the important
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properties reside in one single file. See [the
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relevant page](http://confluence.skcraft.com/display/LAUN/Launcher+Customization)
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for more information. You are invited to fork this repository on
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GitHub and make the necessary changes.
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Introduction
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------------
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For the time being, the launcher is no longer a general purpose
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Minecraft launcher.
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We've maintained this launcher since the days of Minecraft Alpha (circa 2010) for sk89q's
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(who you may know as the author of WorldEdit, WorldGuard, etc.) Minecraft server.
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It continues to be maintained because other launchers are more difficult
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to use, require more work to do everything, have fewer features, have come and gone,
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and are not open source. (Plus, we can brand the entire launcher as needed and have full
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control over its direction.)
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* Users can very easily select and install modpacks. The interface makes it fairly
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clear the available options.
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* When building the modpack, convention is preferred over configuration. We do not like
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having to maintain configuration files (or perhaps just I).
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* The server modpack can be built from the same folder. (On previous launcher versions, we
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accomplished this with a separate Python script that was not released. It was a pretty
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old script, because it was made for the days when you had separate client and server
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.jar files for mods.)
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* The update system is extremely powerful and versatile, with incremental updates, file
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removal detection, optional feature/mod selection, and so on.
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For those are familiar with the 3.x launcher series, be aware that 3.x also served
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as a general-purpose launcher. Unfortunately, that also split time away from "making a good
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modpack/server launcher" and so that goal has been suspended for the time being. With
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that in mind, you **no longer** ask users to install URLs for individual modpacks; rather,
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you provide a URL that has a list of all available modpacks. This was a long desired
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feature, but was never done due to time constraints.
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This repository holds the 4.x version. As you may know, MC 1.6 changed how the
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game was launched. Since the 3.x codebase was fairly ancient, the launcher was rewritten
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to support MC 1.6 but primarily to also clean up the code. XML was dropped because
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we have to bundle a JSON library now anyway, and we all know how much everyone hates XML.
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Lastly, the source in this repository is the one for my (sk89q) server, so you will have
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to remove the branding and change some property files. All of this is documented on the wiki.
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* [Home page](http://opensource.skcraft.com/)
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* [Documentation](http://confluence.skcraft.com/display/LAUN/Launcher)
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* [Issue tracker](http://issues.skcraft.com/browse/LAUN)
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Architectural Changes from 3.x
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------------------------------
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This launcher has gone through two major updates since the days
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of Minecraft Alpha, but the update system (and its features) has been carried
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over between launcher versions. The biggest change from
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[version 3.x](https://github.com/sk89q/skmclauncher) is perhaps the changeover
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to JSON from XML due to the new requirement that a JSON parsing
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library must be bundled with the launcher (we use Jackson JSON). Prior
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versions of the launcher utilized the JAXB implementation bundled with
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the Java runtime.
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Also note that we've decided to bundle additional libraries (notably
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Guava), which brings the file size of the launcher up by a few
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megabytes, which is fairly negligible.
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Note that documentation may be lacking in some places. If you run into problems,
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**do not be hesistant to ask**. While the launcher versions have always had many features,
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documentation has always been lacking due to time constraints. The launcher also exists
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primarily for my server and not for the purpose of providing a platform, but
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we try to make as many resources available as possible.
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Compiling
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---------
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