EXE wrapper for HTML5 - alpha test

EDIT: check out this newer thread for updates: http://www.scirra.com/forum/space-blaster-for-windows-demo_topic53658.html

Hi all,

Exporting an EXE still seems to be a popular feature request. Most EXE-around-HTML5 wrappers I've tried have all been too slow or had other shortcomings, but Awesomium just released 1.7 with WebGL support. I've tried it, and it seems fast enough for smooth gaming on the desktop. Since it supports WebGL, it should be comparable in performance to a native runtime, and you still get to use all your favourite third-party plugins and behaviors.

Awesomium is based on the open-source Chromium (the Google Chrome browser engine, which IMO is the best). You need a license to use Awesomium, but only if you made over $100K in revenue in one year, so it should be free for most indie devs (more info on their site).

I've made a test demo - note the Awesomium 1.7 release itself is currently alpha, and this implementation of the wrapper is also alpha, so please think of it as a proof of concept only!

The test demo just loads Space Blaster live from the web. Obviously when finished it will embed all your project files inside the EXE so no connection is necessary - this is just a simple test of the wrapper technology. Note the zip is 14mb, which is quite a large file size overhead compared to the size of the game, because it includes the entire Chrome browser engine. It shouldn't be too much bother since most have broadband these days.

I noticed a few sound glitches too BTW, but they cleared up after a while. Having sounds embedded in the EXE will probably help fix that, I hope.

Here's the test:

http://www.scirra.com/labs/c2-exewrap.zip

Give it a test and see how it runs for you.

Please note: we may make this a licensed-only feature.

started with an d9d3 dll missing error (I'm on my work PC at the moment) and after closing windows XP came up with an error, that the program is not responding. But the Game runs flawless :)

Ubivis, what was the exact name of the DLL? We might be able to bundle it...

Runs good on my desktop with Win7 64. Also tried with my netbook (Win XP) and it runs good with some slowdows of course.

In the netbook with Win XP it gives me an error on startup but then continues to load fine. The error says that it cannot find the d3dx9_43.dll file.

Also another minor thing I noticed it's that if you hit the alt key the game pauses because you opened the browser's menu.

I heard about Awesonium. This looks really interesting.

I gave it a quick test. It works fine for me, but the framerate is not as smooth as on Google Chrome (I have a 64 bit Windows 7 laptop). Nonetheless, it looks promising.

d3dx9_43.dll

as I said... this is a computer at work, no fresh DirectX9 Installed :)

This would be a great tool. Plus easier to monetize your creations to the masses.

I run on XP. No errors on startup. On exit I got a "Data Execution Prevention error" + "C2Wrap.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close".

I guess these are minor issue. The game run smoothly and it would have been cool to see a full screen (Alt+Enter) is native resolution.

Are they planning on making this available to Mac's too?

No errors here - it worked brilliantly! No noticable slow down. (That demo has really come along by the way!)

It seems too good to be true - Is the exe wrapper really here already?!

You move too fast!

*W7-64b

win7 64 pro

the only problem I've seen was the "program has stopped working" alert after closing the window

If you get the d3dx9_43.dll error, can you try installing this?

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=35

It's similar to the DirectX update that Construct Classic needs. Turns out Chromium itself also requires it.

t's similar to the DirectX update that Construct Classic needs. Turns out Chromium itself also requires it.

May have they been copying ? <img src="smileys/smiley3.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Downoloaded it, played it, it worked as intended from start to end.

And it played good. That's pretty impressive.

There's room for a lot of improvement on the performances though.

It worked nicely on my PC, but an eye on the usage of the graphic card and the cpu showed a strong activity on my quad-proc (from 60 to 80 % on each core, i5-2500K - 3.30 Ghz) and about 11% of usage of the GC "only".

Nevertheless, the proof is there, efficient exe wrapping is closer than it sounded a few months ago.

Yes, it works flawlessly on my win7 64bit laptop. No errors at all.

TBH, if it runs well, the CPU/GC usage doesn't matter - it's there to be used to get the best performance. It does max out a core on my desktop here, but the performance seems smooth. Choppiness is more worrying.

I'll see if I can improve it - Awesomium seems to force an inefficient way of drawing.

Hmm seems to take FOREVER to load here.. and when you open it sometimes, it starts instantly but missing sprites and invisible spaceship, but that might be the loading time.. used 5-10 min now still under 50% :S