NFE Updater System

Detailed layout and behavior notes for the v2.0.1 R1.1 updater foundation.

Updater design

The updater is intentionally separate from the main app. NFE launches resources/update/NFEUpdate.exe, then the updater can close NFE, download a package, verify the server checksum, stage the package, copy files, write logs, and reopen NFE after finishing.

Qt normal UI

Used when the updater is launched from NFE. It gives the full updater window with preview, update, repair, history, logs, rollback, and cache controls.

Win32 fallback UI

Used when opening NFEUpdate.exe directly or when Repair needs to replace broken/missing Qt runtime files. It does not load Qt, so it can repair resources/Qt/.

Updater settings

Updater preferences are saved in:

resources/SaveData/NoxenFE_Settings.ini

Check for updates on startup.
Check every N launches.
Auto-start checking when updater opens.
Auto-close NFE when starting updater.
Auto-open NFE after update/rollback.
Rollback limit and rollback manager.
Silent mode controls.
Package format choice: ZIP, 7z, TAR, or WIM.

There is no build-channel setting because the normal and one-file builds use fixed update URLs.

Folder layout

resources/
├─ SaveData/
│  └─ NoxenFE_Settings.ini
├─ Themes/
│  ├─ built-in/
│  │  ├─ Light.nfetheme
│  │  ├─ Dark.nfetheme
│  │  └─ System.nfetheme
│  └─ custom/
├─ Qt/
└─ update/
   ├─ NFEUpdate.exe
   ├─ NFEUpdateQt.dll
   ├─ Logs/
   ├─ RoleBacks/
   ├─ cashes/
   ├─ Checksums/
   └─ DownloadedUpdatePackage/

Checksum flow

The updater chooses the package URL for the build type and selected format.
It downloads the matching .sha256.txt file from the server.
It downloads the update package into the local update cache.
It computes SHA-256 for the downloaded package.
If the computed hash does not match the server checksum, the updater refuses to install it.
If the installed copy already matches the server package/checksum rules, it shows that NFE is up to date.