[APP] Shell Starter

[brienj]

SHELL STARTER - VERSION 1.0

I created a program that can easily change your Windows Shell to GameEx, or any other program you choose, and will also re-enable the Windows Shell temporarily so you can reload Windows instantly and reset the shell to the previous state after loading Windows. I have GameEx as my Windows Shell right now, but it was not very easy to exit GameEx and access Windows if I needed to, and so this program was made to do everything automatically for me. I set up GameEx to launch this program on exit.

The "Shell To Start" is the shell you want to temporarily start. I suppose you could start another shell besides the Windows explorer shell, but this is what I use it for.

The "Shell To Use" is the shell you want to become active after you reboot the computer. The program can set this value without actually starting a new shell by clicking the "Only Set As New Shell" button. This is the button you can use to set the shell to GameEx the first time.

If you click the Submit button, then the temporary shell will start, and the new shell will be set.

If you click the Exit without Submitting Changes button, then nothing will happen.

I was wondering how I could submit the program to you to let people use, as I no longer have a website for my creations, and would like this to be available on your site for everyone to use if they wish.

Thanks for making this great frontend, and if anybody has any programming request and would like more helpful tools like this made, just let me know.

[aldub516]

does this work with windows 8.1?

[tthurman]

Nice work brienj.

Go here and click on "upload file" over in the middle right hand side, and follow the prompts.

Once approved it will be available in the downloads section.

Thanks for your contribution!

[Draco1962]

Welcome Brien! While I don't use any shelling programs in the sense of your program, there are quite a few that may be interested in giving this a go. Once you upload it, you may want to make the folks in the PinballX forums aware as there are a few that are running pincabs that have expressed an interest in shelling their machines to load straight into PinballX. Good luck and thanks for the contribution!

[brienj]

does this work with windows 8.1?

I have only tested it with Windows 7, and it "should" work with Windows XP or Vista as well. I have no way to test it in Windows 8, but people could test it in Windows 8 and let me know if it works.

Nice work brienj.

Go here and click on "upload file" over in the middle right hand side, and follow the prompts.

Once approved it will be available in the downloads section.

Thanks for your contribution!

I will do that shortly, thanks.

Welcome Brien! While I don't use any shelling programs in the sense of your program, there are quite a few that may be interested in giving this a go. Once you upload it, you may want to make the folks in the PinballX forums aware as there are a few that are running pincabs that have expressed an interest in shelling their machines to load straight into PinballX. Good luck and thanks for the contribution!

Yeah, I use PinballX as well, and I am in the process of building an Arcade Pedestal and a Pinball Cabinet as well. That's one of the main reasons I did this, since I want to hide the OS, but also want to be able to access it easily if needed.

[brienj]

I don't know if the program has been accepted yet, or if I can only see it until it's approved, but here is the link to the program -

http://www.gameex.info/forums/files/file/68-shell-starter/

[DazzleHP]

That's quite the debut you made there brienj A great entrance and a great contribution. Thanks for sharing your work with the community! I look forward to what you come up with next

EDIT - Approved

EDIT 2 - Might i suggest you change the title of OP to [APP] Shell Starter or something similar. It will help members find what they are looking for

[brienj]

That's quite the debut you made there brienj A great entrance and a great contribution. Thanks for sharing your work with the community! I look forward to what you come up with next

EDIT - Approved

EDIT 2 - Might i suggest you change the title of OP to [APP] Shell Starter or something similar. It will help members find what they are looking for

Thanks. I've made a bunch of programs for modding/hacking games, so this was a cakewalk.

For many years I've wanted to build a MAME cabinet, and finally decided to make a pedestal type and hook it to the TV, and amazingly, I have my wife's full support on also building a pinball cabinet, no matter the cost.

So if I come up with anything else that can help with what I'm doing, I'll probably make another program again, and I can share it with you guys too.

Like I said before, if you have any ideas for other tools to make, I can see what I can do.

[Draco1962]

Brien - I hope you don't mind but I edited the OP with the program name, version, and embedded a hyperlink to the download location. If you should need to make any changes to the program and upload a new version, just edit the version number and hyperlink and update the OP with the version updated features. Thanks again for what will be a much needed and used app!

[tthurman]

For many years I've wanted to build a MAME cabinet, and finally decided to make a pedestal type and hook it to the TV, and amazingly, I have my wife's full support on also building a pinball cabinet, no matter the cost.

I would loive to see what you design and build, please keep us posted in the gamers rig section as you progress through your project(s).

[aldub516]

this could be a godsend. im just nervous to test it on windows 8

Let me ask. what can happen if it goes wrong? what would be the result? and are there any settings such as compatibility mode that would help? I will go ahead and test this but id like a little feedback as to my risks and such. Also i was wondering, how would you go about getting back to the windows explorer? would it automatically load it after exiting gameex from the first boot? or does it load it in the backround after the shell program? Say i shell it to gameex and follow your directives. I would power on computer, ideally gameex would be the first thing i ever see, and i am not playing games. What is happening in the backround, what would happen after i exit gameex, and how would i access explorer afterwards

thank you by the way, i could never wrap my head around programming and such. great app! one that will probably be used for a long time

[brienj]

this could be a godsend. im just nervous to test it on windows 8

Let me ask. what can happen if it goes wrong? what would be the result? and are there any settings such as compatibility mode that would help? I will go ahead and test this but id like a little feedback as to my risks and such. Also i was wondering, how would you go about getting back to the windows explorer? would it automatically load it after exiting gameex from the first boot? or does it load it in the backround after the shell program? Say i shell it to gameex and follow your directives. I would power on computer, ideally gameex would be the first thing i ever see, and i am not playing games. What is happening in the backround, what would happen after i exit gameex, and how would i access explorer afterwards

thank you by the way, i could never wrap my head around programming and such. great app! one that will probably be used for a long time

The program just changes the registry entry of your shell. You set the program to launch in the "Launch On Exit" setting in the "Tweaks/Performance" settings of GameEx. Once GameEx exits, it will then launch my program. You would click the Submit button and it would then temporarily change the shell to Explorer (or whatever you want it to temporarily use), then it would launch the temporary shell and Windows would then start. Then it would change the shell back to GameEx or whatever you set it to for the Shell To Use. Then after a reboot, GameEx would start as your shell instead of Windows.

All my program does is change registry entries for the shell and launches Windows for you automatically, then changes the shell back. From what I've read, Windows 8 uses the same registry entries, so there shouldn't be any problem. You can always hit CTRL+ALT+DELETE and start the task manager which would let you start the registry editor by typing "regedit" in the run box and then manually change the shell entry yourself and reboot. That is if Windows 8 has a Task Manager, I don't know. Windows 8 is only good for touch devices, on a PC, it's dumb, at least in my opinion.

[Draco1962]

Win 8 has a task manager. You may want to either provide the registry entries that will need to be entered in the event that the end-user needs to manually change them, or, as an enhancement to your program, perhaps add an optional alt key combo that will prompt them asking if they want to revert back to default and apply the change.

[aldub516]

i would also try to write up a small documentation on it.. For instance, i had no idea that i need to add it to run from gameex's exit in the tweaks section. That im sure is important info to get this working. Thanks again, i think ill experiment shortly

[brienj]

Win 8 has a task manager. You may want to either provide the registry entries that will need to be entered in the event that the end-user needs to manually change them, or, as an enhancement to your program, perhaps add an optional although key combo that will prompt them asking if they want to revert back to default and apply the change.

Yeah, I was thinking about updating it to save your current registry before applying the changes and then offer to go back to how it was. Not sure when I could get that don though.

Here is the registry entry it affects though -

\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell

[brienj]

i would also try to write up a small documentation on it.. For instance, i had no idea that i need to add it to run from gameex's exit in the tweaks section. That im sure is important info to get this working. Thanks again, i think ill experiment shortly

I'll add that info to the app page soon. You can also set it up as an application to run in the external programs section.

[aldub516]

i can confirm for you that is 100% works as intended on windows 8.1. Just for education purposes, if i wanted to revert back as if i never used it, how or what reg key would i change? i saw the line posted above, but what exactly would i do or change.. Assuming that above reg key is the default for windows, i guess i would just copy that over where i find the shell starters reg?

Or further more, if i used the app to set explorer back to the shell on boot, and then just deleted the app, would that set the reg keys back to default on its own? I like the shell app, but if i decide i dont need it id like to change the setting back to as original as possible

To any one else, dont let this deter you in anyway. I technically have no reason to have to change this back, or not use the app. Its actually an incredible app and a great update to instant sheller. Easy clean setup, and just a click to start explorer back up and your right back to your pc. The anal part of me is what wants to know about keys

[DazzleHP]

if i used the app to set explorer back to the shell on boot, and then just deleted the app, would that set the reg keys back to default on its own? I like the shell app, but if i decide i dont need it id like to change the setting back to as original as possible

After reading the instructions (no testing), i would assume that would be the correct course of action. As far as i understand it, this app only alters registry entries, meaning once you have chosen what to shell and rebooted, the program is no longer used. That is until you manually run it again.

Tom's Instant Sheller works in the same way i believe

[brienj]

i can confirm for you that is 100% works as intended on windows 8.1. Just for education purposes, if i wanted to revert back as if i never used it, how or what reg key would i change? i saw the line posted above, but what exactly would i do or change.. Assuming that above reg key is the default for windows, i guess i would just copy that over where i find the shell starters reg?

Or further more, if i used the app to set explorer back to the shell on boot, and then just deleted the app, would that set the reg keys back to default on its own? I like the shell app, but if i decide i dont need it id like to change the setting back to as original as possible

To any one else, dont let this deter you in anyway. I technically have no reason to have to change this back, or not use the app. Its actually an incredible app and a great update to instant sheller. Easy clean setup, and just a click to start explorer back up and your right back to your pc. The anal part of me is what wants to know about keys

Just select explorer.exe to be your shell in the "Shell To Use" and click the Submit button, then your shell would be back to the Windows Shell. The path for explorer is 'C:\Windows\' at least on all previous versions of Windows, I would assume that to be the case for Windows 8 as well. Thanks for the confirmation it works on Windows 8.

[aldub516]

thanks for that little update. Again, flawless functionality within windows 8.1 Thanks man!

I think the only reason i never used toms sheller was there was no confirmation that it would work with windows 8. This being a new app i felt safer.

[brienj]

I would loive to see what you design and build, please keep us posted in the gamers rig section as you progress through your project(s).

I attached a little teaser picture of the progress of the pedestal.

thanks for that little update. Again, flawless functionality within windows 8.1 Thanks man!

I think the only reason i never used toms sheller was there was no confirmation that it would work with windows 8. This being a new app i felt safer.

Glad it works. BTW, I also made another little program that will launch EF-12 full-screen and then destroy the game running after you use the hot-key to go back to GameEx. I could never figure out a way to make the game go fullscreen, other than clicking on the maximize button, and my program will do that automatically for you after it launches. Also, the game would not be killed by GameEx when you pressed the hot-key to go back to GameEx, so my program will also kill the game if you set it to launch after game exit in the GameEx settings. Not sure if anyone here knows about the game, but I found it about a week ago and it's a pretty fun 3D fighting engine. Been searching hard to find some custom created content for it. It's like a 3D M.U.G.E.N. I may end up just making some of my own fighters, but it's been a long time since I messed with 3D Studio Max. Anyways, if anyone shows interest in EF-12, I'll upload that program too.