Preview Downloader - user manual

Preview Downloader - user manual

5. Requirements and additional information

For proper operation of the Preview Downloader it is required to meet several conditions, which are briefly mentioned here. This part of the document contains a more detailed description of the requirements.

5.1. Windows operating system

Preview Downloader was written in a scripting language typical for Windows and therefore it will work only on Windows systems.

The Preview Downloader script was supposed to work on as many Windows versions as possible. Although Windows XP is not supported by Microsoft for many years and less and less users use it, the iStripper program still works on Windows XP systems and that's why the Preview Downloader should be able to work with Windows XP as well.

Preview Downloader has been tested on computers with Windows XP SP3 (32-bit), Windows 7 SP1 (64-bit) and Windows 10 (32-bit). It was not tested on Windows Vista and Windows 8 due to lack of access to hardware with these systems. Due to the similarity of Windows Vista and Seven and the similarity of Windows 8 and 10, it was assumed that the Preview Downloader will also work on Windows Vista and Windows 8.

5.2. iStripper installed

After installing and running iStripper, it creates files, directories and entries in the Windows registry. The Preview Downloader uses the same files, directories and entries that iStripper created. If the user does not have an iStripper installed, then the files, directories and entries do not exist, so Preview Downloader will not be able to retrieve the information necessary for its proper functioning.

NOTE: After installation, iStripper must be started at least once so that it can download information about available shows from the server. This information will be saved in a file from which Preview Downloader will read the data.

5.3. Diacritics and special characters

Information about your collection, as well as files that make up the collection, are saved by iStripper in several directories. By default, these directories are:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\vghd\data\
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\vghd\models\

where username is your username in Windows.

The Preview Downloader script uses the above paths and files stored in them. Due to the technology in which the Preview Downloader was created, it is important that the above paths do not contain diacritics and special characters.

Diacritics are graphic symbols added to letters in the alphabets of some countries. Sometimes you can find other names such as "accent" or "accented character". These are all kinds of letters with acutes, graves, carons, such as ą, á, ę, é, ł, ž etc. Some users use these characters in their username. In addition, in some countries, the names of directories in Windows were localized (translated into the language of a given country) and, for example, the name "Users" could have been translated into a language that contains diacritics.

Paths containing diacritical characters will be incorrectly read by the Preview Downloader, as a result the script will not work correctly. The path may not be recognized and the script will think that the location with the given name does not exist. If the path to the data directory contains diacritics, Preview Downloader will not be able to read the data in it. If the path to the models directory contains diacritics, Preview Downloader will not be able to save the downloaded previews.

Therefore, it is recommended to use names that do not contain diacritics. If this can not be avoided, it is recommended to move the collection to directories whose name does not contain diacritics. The method of moving the collection is described below.

When moving the collection to new directories user should pay attention to one more important thing. Paths to new directories should not contain the following special characters: ! (exclamation mark), % (percent), ^ (caret), & (ampersand). These are characters that have a special meaning in batch scripts, such as Preview Downloader. While executing a script, such characters may affect its functioning. As a result the script will perform an invalid operation that may lead to unexpected results.

5.4. Moving the collection to a new directory

This chapter describes the method for manually moving a collection to a new location. It comes down to ten steps. Some of the steps described below require editing the Windows registry. Editing the registry is not recommended for people who do not know what the system's registry is and what the risk of its improper editing may be. It is recommended to strictly follow the steps described in this manual and do not make any other edits.

1. Close iStripper to make sure that no files are modified when you move the collection. To close iStripper, right-click the "S" icon in the system tray and select Quit.

2. Create a new folder to which the existing collection will be moved. Give it any name that will not contain diacritics and special characters, e.g. "iStripper". When creating a new folder, make sure that the selected disk has enough free space. It is recommended to choose a non-system disk.

3. Go to the directory where your collection is currently located. If you have never moved your collection before, it will be stored in the default iStripper installation directory. The default directory is:

in Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 systems:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\vghd\

or

%localAppData%\vghd\

in Windows XP system:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local settings\Application data\vghd\

or

%userProfile%\Local settings\Application data\vghd\

4. Inside there should be three folders named: bin, data, models. Select the data and models folders and cut them (Ctrl+X).

5. Return to the newly created folder to which you will move the collection. For the purposes of this example, we named it iStripper. Open it and paste the previously cutted data and models folders (Ctrl+V). Depending on the size of the collection, the transfer can take from several minutes to several hours.

6. When the collection is transferred, you can take the next step. It requires editing the Windows registry. The steps described here are considered advanced methods and are not recommended for users who don't know what the system's registry is and what the risk of its improper editing may be. It is recommended to strictly follow the steps described in this manual and do not make any other edits.

Open the registry editor. Depending on the version of Windows, the shortcut to the registry editor may be located in different places, which is why we will use a universal method that works identically in each version of the system, from Windows XP to Windows 10:

  • press simultaneously Windows Logo + R keys on the keyboard,
  • in the opened window, type "regedit" (without the quotes) and press Enter (or click OK).

7. After opening the registry editor you will see a window divided into two main parts. The left part of the window shows the key tree. It looks similar to the folder tree in the Windows explorer. The right part, on the other hand, shows a set of variables in a given key. In the left part of the window (in the key tree), find the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Totem\vghd\System

8. Make a backup copy of the key in case something goes wrong while editing. Right-click on the System key and select Export (pl. "Eksportuj").

Select any name and location for the exported backup and click Save. The copy will be saved as a file with the .reg extension.

Additional information: In case something goes wrong while editing the registry, the .reg file can be used to restore previous settings. To restore the previous settings in case of an incorrect edit, simply double-click the .reg file and agree when asked about adding information to the registry.

9. In the right part of the window, locate two variables named DataPath and ModelsPath. These variables contain information about the paths to the data and models folders that you are currently moving. Change the value of each of the two variables one by one. Double-click with the left mouse button on the DataPath variable name. In the small window that appears, in the Value data field (pl. "Dane wartości"), enter (or paste) the path to the new data folder. For this example, it will be:

F:\iStripper\data

Click OK to save changes. Then edit the ModelsPath variable. Double-click on the name of the ModelsPath variable and in the window that appears, in the Value data field (pl. "Dane wartości"), enter (or paste) the path to the new models folder. In this example:

F:\iStripper\models

Click OK to save changes. Editing the registry is completed. New paths to folders containing your collection have been saved. You can close the registry editor window.

10. Wait for the file transfer to finish and run the iStripper program to make sure that the collection is read and played correctly.

5.5. Quick edit mode in Windows console

On some versions of Windows, the console has the Quick Edit Mode enabled by default. This mode allows you to select text in the console window with the mouse. Unfortunately, enabling the quick editing mode makes it impossible to use the Preview Downloader with the mouse. If, after running the script, the buttons are inactive and dragging the mouse with left button pressed will highlight the text, it means that the quick edit mode is enabled. To disable it, follow the instructions below.

1. Launch Preview Downloader and right-click on the title bar. From the available options in the menu, select Properties (pl. "Właściwości").

2. In the Properties window, go to the Options tab and locate the Quick Edit Mode option (pl. "Tryb szybkiej edycji"). If it is checked, uncheck it and click OK.

3. It seems that the quick edit mode is still active, because it is still possible to select the text with the mouse. However, you just need to right-click anywhere in the console window area and the quick edit mode will be turned off. Now it will be possible to control Preview Downloader with the mouse.

5.6. Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools Add-on

This chapter applies only to Windows XP users.

To make the Preview Downloader work properly in Windows XP, it is necessary to install Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools from Microsoft. This add-on contains a set of tools, including bitsadmin.exe - a tool for downloading files over the Internet. Thanks to the bitsadmin.exe tool, Preview Downloader can download free previews from the iStripper server. If bitsadmin.exe does not exist on the system, Preview Downloader will not be able to download free previews.

Windows Vista and newer systems are equipped with the bitsadmin.exe utility by default. Windows XP didn't have one. The tool has been released with the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools add-on. This add-on is included in the Preview Downloader package. You can also download it from Microsoft website: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=18546 (the link will be opened in a new tab).





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