Utilities: A new and more powerful xdelta frontend (IT'S OVER 9000!)

Update By: PhOeNiX

Hi guys, this is Phoenix from SadNES cITy.

I wrote this piece of news to present my new xdelta front end, named Delta Patcher. My teammates and I were not fully satisfied by the the previous xdelta front ends, because they all lack patch customizations provided by the original command-line program. They only allowed the user to create
or apply a patch, ignoring all of the other useful options.

While Delta Patcher doesn't deal with all the options available, it has some very nice features that might be interesting for game hackers:

• You can choose among all the compression levels supported by the original xdelta.
• The program automatically deletes the unpatched file and renames the patched file after the original (this way it will act like PPF-O-MATIC or LunarIPS).
• If the user wants to keep a backup of the original file, it is absolutely possible to do so by simply checking the "Keep original file" box.
• It can ignore checksum during patch making and applying. This is particularly useful for PSX/PS2 games, since ISO images are very susceptible to minimal, albeit insignificant, changes to their file size.
• It is a stand-alone program. You won't need additional DLLs or the .NET Framework in order to make it work. Yuppie!
• It's easily translatable to other languages: just make your own ".po" file and put it in the resource folder (the tool comes with two language files: English and Italian).
• It's possible to associate the ".xdelta" extension to Delta Patcher. A very comfortable feature!
• Fully compatible with Linux!

Inside the package you will find two versions of Delta Patcher: the normal one and "Delta Patcher Lite". The lite
version allows patching operations only. It is meant to accompany patch releases, so that the users won't mistakenly use the "patch making" option. The full version is addressed to game hackers who know what they are doing. ;)

If you are interested in the sources, you can download them here. Just install wxWidgets and compile it.

Thanks for your time, and enjoy Delta Patcher!

RHDN Project Page

Relevant Link: (http://www.sadnescity.it)

Very nice!

As one of the authors of the existing xdelta frontends I'd like to say that my frontend was kept to the minimum amount of options possible so casual users who just want to patch a ROM don't get confused. If they see too many buttons and checkboxes... disaster ensues. I kind of assumed power users who need the extra features are able to use the command line version. That being said, it's always good to have more options, and even for those who know how to use the command line it's often more comfortable to use a nice GUI.

So thumbs up

Yes, you are right, but i have written this tool mainly to enable the checksum feature. Many users at our board could not apply an xdelta patch to their ISO even if it was dumped from the same game used to create the patch. Another reason why i made this tool is that i don't like .NET Framework for simple tools (it's seems to shoot a fly with a bazooka ). As far I know all the xdelta frontend, not only yours, need .NET to work and Mono doesn't support Windows Form (i like making cross-platform tools ).

-EDIT- For the final user there is Delta Patcher Lite, which is the same of xdeltaUI plus checksum enabling/disabling and original file backup.

As far I know all the xdelta frontend, not only yours, need .NET to work and Mono doesn't support Windows Form (i like making cross-platform tools ).

Totally false. Please don't spread misinformation. Mono fully supports WinForms 2.0

http://www.mono-project.com/WinForms

You certainly can make a cross platform application with WinForms and Mono.

Sorry for this, i was sure it used gtk# only