PC Why, oh why, registry settings?

G

GlassDeviant

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Everyone knew how to use the settings files. There was nothing wrong with the settings files. Why have you wasted time implementing settings in the registry, a poorly conceived, designed and implemented system that was made obsolete way back when Windows Vista was launched? The registry is nothing but a trash heap of miscellaneous junk settings for every rinky-dink application on the planet. It makes backing up your programs (games and otherwise) a pain in the backside because the settings are not stored with the rest of the game files. This archaic crap-pile was a bad idea when it was introduced in Windows 95 and, with several alternatives available (ini files, cfg files, XML settings files, appdata/local, appdata/locallow, appdata/roaming), is an even worse idea now. It should have never been used for anything but OS settings and isn't used by most applications, let alone games, anymore.

It is a single point of failure that can completely take out your OS and programs from one tiny mistake. That's why there is a big fat screaming disclaimer about how you can break your computer with regedit. Forcing users to use it to get to settings that aren't exposed in the game settings is a terrible idea.

It is opaque and binary as opposed to anything human-readable.

It has to be in sync with the filesystem, so any mistake in the installer/uninstaller leaves corrupt entries.

It is monolithic, making, as I wrote before, backing up, restoring or moving an application to a different location a serious pain in the behind.

It's 2021, not 2009. Even when this game was first released in EA the Registry was a tired, old mess. So why implement it now when there was already a better way being used and many other options are available?

 
I play 7DTD on Linux, which does not have a registry.  The only non-XML settings I've seen are for the launcher and Unity.

 
Look Dave, I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over.

 
Now, if you use COM/DCOM, they use the Registry I believe.   You can then have multiple services on a beefy severs do specific game functions, that MIGHT take a load off many players computers.

Say having a squad of NPC bandits react to the player in an intelligent fashion .  Using DCOM, you get the server that provides that NPC service, controlling the NPCs as if they were other players in a MP server. 

I never liked COM/DCOM so I might of off track here.

Edit:

Right, my point!

So, maybe TFP are exploring the Registry for future use in some MMO 7D2D?

Or making it a tad harder to pirate the game?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Aldranon said:
So, maybe TFP are exploring the Registry for future use in some MMO 7D2D?

Or making it a tad harder to pirate the game?
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Most likely it is some library/tool/framework they are using which is the culprit.  I certainly would not expect them to suddenly start using the registry for anything like what the XML is used for.

 
1st. the registry is not dieing, maybe go into the registry and have a look at "Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\" (i have a lot of games using this now) and other structures in the registry.. it aint only for ms windows to use.

you'll see quite a lot of use there.

2nd. (and i could be wrong) but i seem to remember a lot of command line arguments were being added to the options xml/txt file that is no longer used.. this was breaking game aspects and creating a lot of bug reports or complaints for something it wasnt meant to do.. (i reiterate- i could be wrong) some worked and some didnt.

3rd. all player options that the player is allowed to change CAN be done in the game options menu... anything aside from that usually spells trouble later.

 
Can someone name one game option that exists in the registry that the OP might be talking about needing to go there to change? I’m trying to understand their complaint and am coming up short. 

 
Maharin said:
Most likely it is some library/tool/framework they are using which is the culprit.  I certainly would not expect them to suddenly start using the registry for anything like what the XML is used for.
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Maybe for steam itself, for keeping track of game settings/locations?

yeah, we’re gonna need to see those *specific* settings or registry keys/paths or *something* OP.

 
To answer your rant, this is how software gets developed. It starts at one way and then after a few years, it goes a different way, but you still have the code you started with along with the initial assumptions you made when you started the program that may not be true anymore. Circumstances have changed yet to go in and fix the code will cost more than it's worth or your programmers just don't want to mess with it. 

It's the way everything made by human beings is done. You'll have to put up with the registry until we transition to an entirely different operating system. 

 
Roland said:
Can someone name one game option that exists in the registry that the OP might be talking about needing to go there to change? I’m trying to understand their complaint and am coming up short. 
Click to expand...
I am too lazy to look that up but I can understand the complaint where it concerns

backing up, restoring or moving an application to a different location a serious pain in the behind.
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- looking at you, "invalid D-WORD value"s here.

Is it worth a rant over having to import a backup file you have to create instead of just copying a config file with the rest of the game folder? Probably not.

Did it evoke utterances from me that would make the swear-word filter die from indignation when I first became aware of the matter? You bet!

 
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