Taelon is an add-on installer for the game Dark Reign. It replaces the batchfiles distributed with the addons from the Auran website, since these do not work reliably under Linux. It also provides native Linux replacements for the FTG archive tools distributed wth the game.
To be clearer, this program is designed to operate with Dark Reign running under Wine (there is no native port), but since all it does is manipulate files it does not need to run under Wine itself.
Basic syntax is:
taelon
Type 'taelon' for a brief usage listing.
When the installation is as simple as unzipping the file to a certain game directory, I don't provide an installer.
For instance, here's how to install the map "Jake":
unzip -d ~/win/programs/dkreign/dark/scenario/multi 02jake.zip
Fairly simple, eh?
The directory hierarchy is contained in the zipfile itself (if only Auran had adopted this method for all the units). To install, just do the following:
unzip -d ~/win/programs/dkreign fanblade.exe
Beware that in contrast to other units, the Fanblade will install a multiplayer custom mission rather than a single player one.
Use "taelon terr" to manipulate it. The Terrorists work fine with v1.4. Don't try to use 'terr' to uninstall the Terrorists as installed by 'terr.bat' on Windows; it will not work, and may break catastrophically (though probably not). Only use 'terr uninstall' when 'terr installl' has been used previously.
To install a unit:
taelon unit ~/win/programs/dkreign gore.zip
where 'gore.zip' is the zipfile containing the unit you want to install.
Be warned that units will only appear in one scenario named after the unit by default, these are accessible under 'Single player' > 'Play custom mission'. Manual editing is required to add a specific unit to all missions; alternatively, installing the Combo Pack adds a large subset of available third-party units & buildings to all missions.
There's no particular requirement to uninstall units installed through 'taelon unit', since they take minimal space, only appear in their scenario, and do not inhibit multiplayer with stock installations. However, it's simple to uninstall them manually:
rm -r ~/win/programs/dkreign/dark/addon/gore rm -r ~/win/programs/dkreign/dark/scenario/single/gore
Install the combo pack:
taelon combo install ~/win/programs/dkreign combo.exe
Uninstall it and revert to normal:
taelon combo uninstall
Since source wasn't provided for these command-line utilities, you can run them with Wine. 'makesprite.exe', 'makerow.exe', 'makepal.exe', 'mkcursor.exe', 'maketiles.exe', and 'showsprite.exe' are available at /dark/sprutils.
To install a building:
taelon build ~/win/programs/dkreign solar.zip
Uninstall works in exactly the same way as with units.
'walls.zip' does not work; it crashes Dark Reign. I believe that it doesn't work on Windows either, unfortunately I don't have a Windows machine at this time to confirm the theory. 'build.sh' installs in exactly the same way as 'walls.bat' from the original archive, and all other buildings work fine.
Only the Auran addons are currently supported, since these are the only ones of which I am currently aware. If you want me to add installers for another style of addon, drop me an email, it shouldn't be a problem.