My question is a basic one: how do patchers work?
My understanding so far is that the EXE is only the patcher / launcher. When it's run, it checks the files against a website or server to see if they match (I will be using libcurl). If they don't, it updates them. Then, when you hit Play, it runs the actual game DLL which plays the game.
First, is this the correct idea?
Second, in Windows (I use Leadwerks and Visual Studio Express), what's the command to launch the DLL?
Finally, how do you update the launcher itself? Does that game do that once the launcher quits? Or does the updater launch another updater DLL? I guess it doesn't matter which but what's the "right" way to do it?
Thanks!