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NFO Viewer

Plugin for Directory Opus

Allows you to view .NFO files in the Opus viewer pane using the correct line-drawing characters.

Directory Opus is a file manager for Windows. Read my guide, Getting to know Directory Opus, for an introduction.

The plugin allows you to view .NFO files in the Opus viewer pane using the correct line-drawing characters. The font size is also automatically scaled to fit the window's width.

.NFO, file_id.diz and .asc files typically contain graphics made using special characters which look wrong when viewed using the wrong font or code-page. This plugin was quickly thrown together to solve the problem.

Perhaps more importantly, the plugin's source code also serves as a simple example of how to embed a GUI control in the Opus viewer pane.

NFO viewer plugin screenshot
.NFO file displayed in the Directory Opus viewer pane.

  • General:

    • Opus is installed to C:\Program Files\GPSoftware\Directory Opus by default.
    • Opus, unless configured otherwise, will continue to run even after all its windows are closed. See: How to Exit Directory Opus.
    • Newer versions of the plugin require Directory Opus 9.1.0.4 (or above) and do not require you to install any fonts.
    • Older versions of the plugin require Directory Opus 6 (or above) and require you to install IBMPC.FON.
    • The 64-bit zip file includes both the 32-bit and 64-bit DLLs. The 32-bit copy in the x86 directory exists so that you can export a 32-bit version of Opus to a USB stick.
    • If you want double-clicked .NFO files to open in a standalone Opus viewer window then you should right-click an NFO file and use the Open With menu to associate it with d8viewer.exe in the Opus installation folder. You do not have to do this if you just want to view the currently selected NFO file in the Opus viewer pane (also known as the "preview pane").

  • Directory Opus 9 (and above) 32-bit:

    1. Download dopus9_nfo_110I_32bit.zip (PGP sig).
    2. Exit Directory Opus.
    3. Copy the Viewers directory from the zip to your Opus installation (where there should already be a directory with the same name).
    4. Restart Directory Opus.

  • Directory Opus 9 (and above) 64-bit:

    1. Download dopus9_nfo_110I_64bit.zip (PGP sig).
    2. Exit Directory Opus.
    3. Copy the Viewers and x86 directories from the zip to your Opus installation (where there should already be two directories with the same names).
    4. Restart Directory Opus.

  • Directory Opus 6 & 8:

    1. Download dopus6_nfo_1006.zip (PGP sig).
    2. Exit Directory Opus.
    3. Copy nfo.dll from the zip to the Viewers sub-directory of your Opus installation.
    4. Install the included IBMPC.FON font by going to Start -> Control Panel -> Fonts and selecting Install New Font. (Opus 8 users can also do this by selecting the file and running the Copy INSTALLFONT command.)
    5. Restart Directory Opus.

Version 1.1.0.18 (27th November 2011):

  • Tidied up some stuff in the code now that Windows XP is the minimum supported OS version.

Version 1.1.0.17 (18th February 2011):

  • Update to enable the plugin to support USB export on future versions of Opus (i.e. Opus 10).

Version 1.1.0.16 (3rd August 2009):

  • Requires Directory Opus 9.1.3.0 or above.
  • Small internal change. Unlikely to make a difference but update if you feel like it.

Version 1.1.0.15 (11th May 2008):

  • Requires Directory Opus 9.1.0.4 or above.
  • No longer requires IBMPC.FON; instead the file contents are converted from code-page 437 to UTF-16 and the standard Lucida Console font is used.
  • Disables ClearType antialiasing in the NFO viewer. ClearType settings for the rest of the system are left alone. ClearType is disabled in the NFO viewer because it results in ugly green fringes around many of the line-drawing characters, particulary the dithered blocks.
  • 64-bit support.
  • USB-Mode support.
  • Unicode filename support.
  • Localised into the same languages as Opus itself.
  • (Some of the features listed here for 1.1.0.15 actually appeared in slightly earlier 'preview' versions which were only released to the Opus forums.)

Version 1.0.0.6 (3rd October 2004):

  • Requires Directory Opus 6 or above.
  • Initial public release.

The plugin's C++ source code is available from the Pretentious Name Opus Plugin Source page.