Problem running Defold programs on school network

Paul_Brookes · September 23, 2020, 9:46am

Hi, we’re trying to use Defold with some students on our school network however we can not run the programs they create. The problem appears to be that Defold uses the local user appdata folder and the IT team has locked down access to that due to virus risks. The error says “Launching New Local Engine failed. Create process error=1260. This program is blocked by group policy”.

Is there a way to change the settings in Defold so that it uses another folder other than the local appdata folder when you launch a program?

Thanks

britzl · September 23, 2020, 9:59am

When you do Project->Build the editor will launch a Defold engine process.

The Defold engine is a part of the editor download. When the editor is launched for the first time it unpacks the engine binary to some location on disk so that it can be used when you do Project->Build.

I’m guessing that you are using Windows and that the editor unpacks the engine to some location in the user home folder which your IT team has locked. I don’t think you can change the folder where everything gets unpacked. Could you get the IT team to add an exception for the dmengine.exe engine binary?

britzl · September 23, 2020, 10:21am

This might not be true actually. The resource unpacker is this file:

github.com/defold/defold

editor/src/java/com/defold/libs/ResourceUnpacker.java

dev

// Copyright 2020-2025 The Defold Foundation
// Copyright 2014-2020 King
// Copyright 2009-2014 Ragnar Svensson, Christian Murray
// Licensed under the Defold License version 1.0 (the "License"); you may not use
// this file except in compliance with the License.
//
// You may obtain a copy of the License, together with FAQs at
// https://www.defold.com/license
//
// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed
// under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR
// CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
// specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

package com.defold.libs;

import java.io.*;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.URISyntaxException;
import java.net.URL;

This file has been truncated. show original

And it gets the unpack path here:

github.com/defold/defold

editor/src/java/com/defold/libs/ResourceUnpacker.java

dev


      
          if (unpackPath.getParent().startsWith(Editor.getSupportPath())) {
              // Prevent from deletion by deleteOldUnpackDirs
              Executors.newSingleThreadScheduledExecutor().scheduleAtFixedRate(() -> {
                  try {
                      Files.setLastModifiedTime(unpackPath, FileTime.from(Instant.now()));
                  } catch (IOException e) {
                      logger.warn("Couldn't set lastModifiedTime for {}", unpackPath, e);
                  }
              }, 0, 1, TimeUnit.DAYS);
          }
          
          Path unpackedLibDir = unpackPath.resolve(platform.getPair() + "/lib").toAbsolutePath();
          System.setProperty("java.library.path", unpackedLibDir.toString());
          System.setProperty("jna.library.path", unpackedLibDir.toString());
          
          // Disable JOGL automatic library loading as it caused JVM
          // crashes on Linux. See DEFEDIT-494 for more details.
          System.setProperty("jogamp.gluegen.UseTempJarCache", "false");
          
          System.setProperty(DEFOLD_UNPACK_PATH_KEY, unpackPath.toAbsolutePath().toString());
          logger.info("defold.unpack.path={}", System.getProperty(DEFOLD_UNPACK_PATH_KEY));

DEFOLD_UNPACK_PATH_ENV_VAR is set to the string “DEFOLD_UNPACK_PATH”. This seems to indicate that you can set the system environment variable DEFOLD_UNPACK_PATH to a path of your choice where everything is unpacked.

britzl · September 23, 2020, 10:26am

You can also change the config file for the editor and change the vmargs to set the system property defold.unpack.path:

vmargs = -Ddefold.unpack.path=YOUR/PATH, … rest of the vmargs

Paul_Brookes · September 23, 2020, 10:45am

Thanks, I’ll have a look at this, but do you know where the config file for the editor is?

britzl · September 23, 2020, 11:31am

On macOS it’s a file named config and it is next to the executable inside the Defold.app. I think the config file is next to the exe on Windows.

Paul_Brookes · September 23, 2020, 12:45pm

Thanks, I’ve found that, they are Windows PCs. The vmargs line doesn’t contain “-Ddefold.unpack.path=”
at the moment, do I just add that? If it’s going to use a new local folder we create called Defold would I just enter -Ddefold.unpack.path=c:\defold ?

britzl · September 23, 2020, 3:40pm

Yes, it is not set by default.

Yes, I think that should work, but I haven’t tried. And the IT guys haven’t blocked the root of the harddrive?