Should I wrap my JAR in an EXE?

Newbie & Debugging Questions
#1

When distributing my game (for example, on this site): Should I provide an EXE launcher that wraps the JAR, only the JAR, or both? Thanks

#2

Depends on what you want.
For a game you run from one file a JAR is normally fine.
If it is a big game which has to install itself first, an EXE is sometimes a good idea, at least for having an icon and such…

You should stop creating topics for this btw…

#3

Just remember that .exes can only be run on windows. Provide a startup script or something for other platforms(.bat/.sh)

#4

Obviously.

#5

How does this help the topic/op in any way? I was just reminding the op that distributing as an exe is not always the best option. Contribute to the topic instead of just filling it with meaningless posts.

#6

Ok, sorry, you are right.
Lets get back now.

#7

Definitely use the exe/platform specifics if you’re looking for maximum exposure. A lot of people won’t know what a jar file is, so they won’t know to click on it. Obviously for small projects this doesn’t make much of a difference, though.

#8

Thanks all of you. So I see an .exe is usually recommended (for Windows).

Could you suggest a good program to do an EXE launcher? Is Launch4j okay?

Also, is there a way to make sure that the EXE itself is compatible on all Windows platforms?

#9

L4J does the job admirably. The .exe will run on any Windows platform; whether the rest of it does is another matter.

Cas :slight_smile:

#10

In mac and linux, I simply change the .exe extension to .jar and it runs perfectly with Jar Launcher. (Note that this works only for java exe wrappers)

#11

You might also want to check out JWrapper: http://www.jwrapper.com/

I personally prefer jars, but I understand the appeal of executables.

#12

You can put your JAR into a RPM with Redline, it’s even better.