The final release of 3.0 is finally here!
What's AGS 3.0? Why has it been so long since 2.72?The AGS Editor has been undergoing a complete rewrite, to make it much more user-friendly and easier to extend in future. Additionally, 3D hardware acceleration has been added to the game engine.
What does it look like?There's a screenshot further down this post.
Does it have any system requirements?Yes. The editor is now written using the .NET Framework 2.0, which is a
free download from Microsoft, and it's also on Windows Update.
If you get an error about "mscoree.dll", then that means you are missing the framework.
WHAT??? Does this mean people will need .NET Framework to play my games?Relax! No, only the editor uses the framework. You'll need it to make games, but the AGS Game Engine does
not use .NET and so people will not need it in order to play your games.
What are the new features compared with 2.72?There are various new features as a result of the new editor, such as the ability to have more than one script open at a time. Also, the new editor supports source control integration with systems like SourceSafe and Perforce.
Also, script Extender Functions and dynamic arrays have been added (see below).
What are the changes in 3.0 Final?* Updated Close Tab icon and List All Tabs icon thanks to Klaus
* Fixed Preferences dialog crashing if you had set the Tab Size to 0 in 2.72
What are the changes in 3.0 RC 5?* Added Quick Launch Bar option to Setup (off by default)
* Improved error message when two views have the same name
* Sprite Usage check now includes detecting if the sprite is used as a GUI Text Window edge
* Sprite Selector pop-up window now remembers its size for the next time
* Creating a view frame now automatically selects it in the property grid
* Right-click, "Edit Room" on a room now opens the editing pane, like double-clicking the "Edit room" sub-node does
* Changed editor to automatically create any missing loops in character views, rather than giving warning message
* Fixed exporting text window GUIs not including the edge images
* Fixed DrawingSurface.DrawImage interpreting the transparency parameter backwards
* Fixed corrupt EXE files sometimes being generated if you had Split Resources turned on
* Fixed mouse cursors so that setting cursor sprite to 0 makes the cursor invisible
* Fixed engine crash on startup if there was no acsetup.cfg file
* Fixed dialog options getting chopped off if you used a negative game.dialog_options_y setting
* Hopefully fixed intermittent crash when deleting room background
What are the changes in 3.0 RC 4?* Changed to using Inno Setup installer, meaning more options to allow you to disable the start menu items, etc
* Embedded help file for SCUMM_GUI module in Verb Coin template
* Included v1.5 of Verb Coin template thanks to Electroshokker
* Added "Leave as-is" and "No transparency" sprite import options, and added a tooltip to explain what they do
* Added "Create In Folder" option to Start New Game wizard, now defaulting to My Documents rather than the AGS folder
* Added right-click "Copy co-ordinates to clipboard" feature to the "Nothing" mode of the room editor, as it was a regression against 2.72
* New icon is now used for the editor main window as well as for the exe file icon
* Renamed "BorderColor" to "TextColor" in text window properties pane
* Installer now puts the demo game in the Common Application Data folder to be compatible with Vista's security filters
* Fixed renaming a hotspot or object not updating the name in the property object list
* Fixed installer not overwriting some DLLs if you already had an older AGS installed in that folder
* Fixed the start menu demo shortcut's working directory to stop it giving plugin errors
Are there any outstanding issues?* intermittent editor crash when loading room
* a crash has been reported starting the game when breakpoints have been added
* a bug has been reported where the editor uses 100% CPU if you exit from the welcome screen
* Alt+Tab stops working after you use PlayVideo when using the D3D driver.
If you can reproduce any of these, please let me know.
What feedback do you want?General feedback is good, as are any bugs that you find that aren't on the Known Issues list above. Minor suggestions for improvements to the editor are also welcome.
In particular, I'd like the following things tested:
* Please make sure any multi-loop animations still work correctly.
* 256-colour support -- if you have a 256-colour game, please try it out and make sure it works ok.
* If you have a Source Control provider installed, please try out the source control integration feature and see if it works for you.
What is an extender method?It's a feature that people have been asking for for quite a while; the easiest way is to give an example:
function SayHello(this Character*)
{
this.Say("Hello");
}
and then later on in the script you can do:
player.SayHello();
character[EGO].SayHello();
etc
Basically, it allows module authors to add extra methods to the built-in types like Character.
What are dynamic arrays?With the move towards removing system limits, it will no longer possible for module authors to declare things like:
int characterStatus[AGS_MAX_CHARACTERS];
Dynamic arrays allow you to specify at run-time how large the array needs to be. You declare one like this:
int characterStatus[];
GUI *guisToUpdate[];
and then, in your script code, you can do:
characterStatus = new int[Game.CharacterCount];
guisToUpdate = new GUI[Game.GUICount];
etc
Currently dynamic array are supported as global and local variables, but you can't currently put one inside a struct.
Also, at present you can create arrays of basic types (int, char, etc) and of built-in types (String, Character, etc) but not of custom structs.
Where can I get it?Here, but
BE CAREFUL. It's not yet a final official release, so keep a backup copy of your game before trying it out.
http://www.bigbluecup.com/AGS-3.0.0.exe
Enjoy!
