Installing on Winlator

[biomagnet]

Hello! I hope this isn't too forward or annoying, I'm kind of bouncing around to locate resources on figuring out how to get 7th Heaven to run via Winlator for the growing Retro Handheld community that typically runs Android on those devices. I made a post over on the official repo and they suggested I look here if I were a coder. I'm afraid I'm not, just someone trying to locate someone who might be able to figure out what Winlator and any forks might need to run 7th Heaven more easily.

Does anyone here know where my next step might be, or might someone be interested in taking a look? Please and thank you for your time.

[ShieldBrother2]

1. It would be more prudent to use the windows version of 7th Heaven, as winlator is literally emulating the filesystem and services tree/s.
2. In order for 7th Heaven to run properly on windows, some version of the .net framework is required (i forget which specific version, maybe 4.5?? dont quote me, easiest way to check would be to install 7th heaven on a fresh windows image and see which version it downloads as a dependancy).
3. Currently, for some unknown reason, NO windows emulator on android ships with a functional build of winetricks (the best/easiest/most stable way of acquiring windows based dependancies like .dll's and .net framework version) meaning you are stuck with finding a WORKING offline installer or porting over libraries and directories directly from a windows machine with everything already installed.
   3a. I have asked a few developers myself why their project/s don't include winetricks. Some have asked what anyone would need it for, others have suggested to install mono. I know these people are intelligent, they code really great applications, so they are either trolling me or have never played an older game, a multiplayer game on windows, a multi-platform console game on windows, have never used wine on a linux distrobution, or are afraid of repecussion from macrohard. I honestly do not know which it is, and I go between some variant of the list week-to-week.
4. There are 2 emulator projects I have come across that ships winetricks, but they both ship older versions with no way of updating to latest build PROPERLY. The 1 project that I was working on, and had the most promise to get legitimate working .net framework IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER, mobox, is currently archived on github and most likely abandoned by the developer. Another one with some promise is xodos, but I have done little testing and the last time I did i had NUMEROUS issues concerning mouse input, controller input, and general ease of use that I just will never have the time to sit down and diagnose/reverse engineer the scripts/app by myself to fix. Xodos seems like it needs another year in the oven just to get functioning mouse inputs, or functioning START button on a controller.
5. Brunodev, the author of the original winlator (not bionic, frost, [insert nth version/fork here]) has stated on github issue pages numerous times they have no plan to ever get winetricks working. Multiple people have asked why, including myself, they have never gotten a response.

Feel free to try and keep asking. Feel free to explain that mono is not, and most likely will never be, a suitable replacement for .net framework. I have given up almost entirely on any android based windows emulator shipping out of the box, PROPER, support. Winetricks itself doesnt handle updates the way regular apps do, it isnt technically an application to begin with, more like a database of scripts with a GUI and CLI. Updating, even on a linux distro, if not purged from the system first, can lead to numerous issues including an entirely separate, and new, version being installed to the same system that the older version is already installed on. THIS IS BY FAR THE BIGGEST ISSUE, barring the sentimentality from developers that winetricks is unnecessary (which is just insane), or the fact that some developers I've spoken to HAVE NEVER HEARD ABOUT WINETRICKS TO BEGIN, IO HAVE HAD TO EXPLAIN TO THEM WHAT IT DOES/WHY IT'S NEEDED.

It truly drains me, I just want to play my games, and these people either are trolling the entire community or have no business coding these applications to begin with. I AM TO THE POINT WHERE I HAVE ALMOST ENOUGH KNOWLEDGE IN C BASED LANGUAGES TO CODE A SCUFFED AS FUCK EMULATOR, still might end up being more useful than 99.99% of the options we've been given, to-date.