Yes if you want a launcher application then you would have to build one yourself with a third party program. Nigec, one of the members on here (not seen him online for a while mind) made a launch app a few years back using action script. I believe he even shared his code in a thread somewhere on here.
* edit: found the thread @
http://www.visionaire-studio.net/forum/thread/config-ini-editorAll the launchers are (most likely) doing is probably allowing you to tweak the config.ini & then run the game exe.