Okay, I put the NSIS folder in the obvious place. The process ran without any errors. The win32 package was made. I put the package on another identical Qosmio and clicked the icon. It went through the installation process without a hitch. It ran as soon as the install was complete.
Window pops up, vanishes instantly. I cannot tell what the problem is. Python is installed on the machine, I have no idea now what next. Anyone?
Check the log file: that should tell you what, if any, errors are being reported.
The directory into which the log is placed should be as described on this page.
Offhand, one potential issue might be worth mentioning immediately: if you didn’t explicitly include any when building your installer, you might be missing packages (“morepy” is, I think, a particularly likely one).
Yeah, I went back to the start, tried the p3d file bare, and it will not execute. I rebuilt it and the error messages at the top say I am missing ElementPath, _xmlplus, direct.showbase.LerpBlendHelpers, libdirect, and resource.
Now I have to figure out where to get those. Once I get the p3d running, I suspect it will only take a couple of weeks to get the whole thing together. (/snipe)
Hmm… I don’t know those, I’m afraid. I’ll bow out for now; hopefully one of the more knowledgable members will recognise those names.
When you do return to building the installer, take note of my mention of missing packages above: that’s something that I’ve found rather easy to trip over. Based on my own experience, I sincerely doubt that you’ll get a working installation without including at least one package (again, “morepy” seems particularly likely, but others may be called for, depending on your project).
Oh, great. I located ElementPath and resource, plopped them right in the directory, and now I have MORE missing modules. The panda3d stuff is in my path already, I checked that. Running backward in quicksand carrying a bag of anchors.
I did a quick forum search, and it looks as though adding ElementPath might have been a mistake; in short, don’t assume that a message indicating a “missing module” is necessarily indicating that this is actually a problem.
These threads in particular seem as though they might be useful to you: 1; 2
I think that it might be better to approach this from a different perspective: First, undo the changes that you’ve made for those “missing modules”. Then rebuild the p3d file and, presuming that it completes the build, run it. We’re expecting that to crash. Once it does, look for the log file and see what that says–that, I think, is likely a better guide to where your problem lies.
Okay, back to the very beginning. I will ignore the “missing junk” smoke cloud for now.
I have executed the packp3d utility using the following command line:
packp3d -o evolve.p3d -m VNT06.py -d c:/panda3d-1.8.1/Evolve
The result is a file called evolve.p3d in the panda3d directory. When clicked or invoked through the command line, a window briefly appears and vanishes before you can read anything. I have done it repeatedly and it appears to contain nothing whatsoever. The build log that appeared when packp3d was invoked showed the usual litany of “missing modules”.
Now, where is that log file, what is its name and/or extension (searching through Wind Hose did no good)…
Thanks.
The relevant information is documented on this page, I believe: it describes the location of the “runtime directory” (in which the log file is placed within a sub-directory) on certain platforms (including Windows XP and Windows 7), as well as what to look for in there, I believe.
Okay, I took the steps of modifying the path so that it includes the panda engine, but it made absolutely no difference. The same results are produced.
Then I searched for the log file location, found it and examined it, and it has nothing for Panda in it. Windows 8, the stupidest operating system yet. Anyway, at a loss for the log, still have the same flicking window with no apparent log or results. Well. Not sure how to proceed at this. I can’t even get a p3d file made that works.
Have I mentioned my intense desire to strangle anyone associated with the development, distribution, or production of Windows? After an intense bout of arguing with a stupid megavirus, I managed to coax it into displaying the hidden directory (which normally is not hard to make visible). There I found the panda log file.
The salient lines:
:display: loading display module: libpandadx9.dll
:display(warning): Unable to load: Module not found
Now, I think this is not the problem, but worthy of mention. What gets me is this- I created a save file for games in progress (sort of duh), and I included the file. It is in the p3d file, it is in the source directory. When the code starts executing for my game, it says “file not found”. How stupid is that? It’s RIGHT IN THE DIRECTORY. It should be in the p3d file. I even copied it into the panda3d-1.8.1 directory as a test and it still does not see it.
Now, how do I get around that?
What extension does the file have? You have to add it to the packp3d command-line to be included using an -e or -n flag indicating the extension of the file to include, ie. -e dat including .dat files or -n png including PNG files, except storing them non-compressed.
As for the libpandadx9 missing, that’s an ignorable warning.
As for your actual problem, what does your main file look like? Behaviour like you have described could encounter if run() is not called. One way this frequently goes wrong is if you placed it under a name == ‘main’ check, which doesn’t match when running as a .p3d file.
Does the issue also occur when running the .p3d file via the Panda3D Runtime (rather than the pdeployed result)?
I just wrote a loop to create the file if it doesn’t find it. Whatever.
Now, I have it and it runs, but there is absolutely no sound. All the files are in place. Not making sense. I did find this in the log:
:audio: NullAudioManager
:audio: NullAudioManager
So now what? The music works normally, but the p3d version is stupid.
I haven’t gotten far enough to make a deployable. That was a miserable failure, so I have gone back to the very start and just concentrated on the issues involved in making the p3d. The game itself when invoked from ppython is perfect. When I make the p3d I encountered a series of things like missing modules etc.
I am working under Win8. I have never done a serious development on this OS and I find it is the… never mind.
Anyway, I have now made the p3d successfully but there is no audio. Otherwise everything is swimming.
Thanks.
Okay, I should specify things. I apologize, it’s been a long haul and I have been up for many, many long nights.
All my audio files are ogg format. Sorry I wasn’t specific earlier.
Two things occur to me: you may not be including the package for the audio system (presumably either fmod or openal, as appropriate), and/or the audio files may not be being included in the p3d file.
The former I’ve covered previously–just look to my previous post on including modules and include whichever is appropriate to your project.
As to the latter: as I recall, packp3d doesn’t by default include every single file in the target directory (I suppose simply in order that it not pick up the miscellany of irrelevant files that can potentially build up in a project directory–Blender projects, OS-generated backup files, etc.). As rdb mentioned previously, additional file types can be specified for inclusion using the “-e” and “-n” flags to packp3d (I think that I use “-e”, but don’t rely on my being correct in doing so).
[edit]
Don’t worry about it, it’s quite understandable, I believe. Good luck with what you’re doing, and I do hope that you get it working soon. 
Yeah, that did it. ogg files were omitted and the openal package was not present.
So now, I have the working project. I will be adding the icons and small stuff. Tonight I should have everything in place. Thanks for your help. Thanks to everyone.
Ah, I’m glad that you got it working! It’s a pleasure to have been of help. 