Topic: AGS 3.4.1

[NicolaGs]

* now minimizes OpenGL fullscreen mode when you alt+tab from it.

No. Not on my end at least. The game image stays on screen. The "windows" cursor appears on it but I'm not able to access the Windows environment... I'm forced to use ctrl-alt-del and then cancel to find that the game is minimized...
But, I already reported an issue with alt-enter not going to windowed mode correctly for me with OpenGL. I suspect it's a related issue.

I tried it on another PC and it works. So it seems to depend on the system. I had the problem with 2 laptops... I'll try to test this on other PCs...

[Crimson Wizard]

One other thing, can I check, at what point was a command called "switch" added please? Cos this has interfered with old code where we have ints called switch. Though I think I've fixed it by renaming our "switch" int to "switches", fingers crossed.

Switch was added at 3.4.0.
Unlike new functions, keywords cannot be turned off though. But "switch" syntax is very specific, compiler will tell you where your variable is very quickly.

[m0ds]

Thank you. new issue:

So I rebuilt the game through AGS 3.4.1, that's all I did, copy the compile folder over to a new folder and uploaded to Steam. Now we're getting a high number of "Avast" problems, with the EXE being flagged as a virus for many players.

I've read that Avast is a bit of a fecker when it comes to AGS EXE's. Do you have any suggestions? I honestly don't think the EXE itself has picked up any virus though it's not unfathomable.

I'm wondering if on Avast's end, they can see when an exe is getting used thousands of times, and then when a brand new version comes along, it assumes it's not been used before and insta-flags it or something.

avast advises they  have moved the cat lady.exe to the virus chest because it was infected with filerepmalware.  I did a scan but it showed up no malware

I read somewhere else that you say this is down to the GAME and not the ENGINE. But it's the engine that creates the EXE files so surely some of the problem lies there, though most of it may be with Avast and their overtly sensitive EXE shiznay. I don't personally use Virus software, to me it's a con. As such, it's not impossible it's picked up and packed in some kind of malware from my non-anti-virus computer but I mean...really? Malware can actually infect the internal EXE workings of an AGS game? How does that even happen? :/

Other note: No-one is saying this about the Doc Apocalypse EXE which is also built through 3.4.1, granted though that is going to have far few players than The Cat Lady's recent update built through 3.4.1. Point being, there is a slim chance of a real infection, but any up to date info about Avast issues you might know of would still be useful.

Thanks CW!

ps I'm not sure that anyone else has anything out (especially on steam or in public places) built through AGS 3.4.1 yet beyond us. If they have I'd be interested to know if they've had any Avast issues.

[Neo_One]

I have some questions.
1) When will you have an executable for Linux? The current version is a text file and depending on whether the user has marked the option "open as executable" You can run the game or you will open the text file.
2) When will the 2GB limit of the Acsprset.spr file be extended?
3) Have you planned to modernize the AGS GUI?
Otherwise I think AGS is on the right track.

[Crimson Wizard]

1) When will you have an executable for Linux? The current version is a text file and depending on whether the user has marked the option "open as executable" You can run the game or you will open the text file.

I do not understand your question. There are executables for Linux, available with the installer, or as a separate package (in the first post). What "text file" are you are talking about?

2) When will the 2GB limit of the Acsprset.spr file be extended?
3) Have you planned to modernize the AGS GUI?

I do not have any plans, and maybe won't work on AGS anymore. Can't tell for others.

new issue:

So I rebuilt the game through AGS 3.4.1, that's all I did, copy the compile folder over to a new folder and uploaded to Steam. Now we're getting a high number of "Avast" problems, with the EXE being flagged as a virus for many players.

I've read that Avast is a bit of a fecker when it comes to AGS EXE's. Do you have any suggestions? I honestly don't think the EXE itself has picked up any virus though it's not unfathomable.

I'm wondering if on Avast's end, they can see when an exe is getting used thousands of times, and then when a brand new version comes along, it assumes it's not been used before and insta-flags it or something.

There were a lot of cases of Avast false alarms, and I even tried getting some info from them once: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=54963.msg636564726#msg636564726
but later seem to forget about that.

[m0ds]

Okie doke. Hopefully a false alarm then... not sure I can do much about it (their false positive form only allows a pithy 50mb EXE). thanks for the note!

[morganw]

1) When will you have an executable for Linux? The current version is a text file and depending on whether the user has marked the option "open as executable" You can run the game or you will open the text file.

I do not understand your question. There are executables for Linux, available with the installer, or as a separate package (in the first post). What "text file" are you are talking about?

It is the script that launches the executable, but it doesn't have the execute bit set
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=54571.msg636557425

[Crimson Wizard]

Okie doke. Hopefully a false alarm then... not sure I can do much about it (their false positive form only allows a pithy 50mb EXE). thanks for the note!

I actually have a suggestion: try to distribute "raw" engine exe with game file (*.ags) taken from Compiled/Data folder, instead of Compiled/Windows.
This may be bit inconvenient in regards to preparing a package, also you would have to manually change game icon in exe.

I believe there may be a need of an option to create Windows version same way as Linux one - with engine exe separate.

It is the script that launches the executable, but it doesn't have the execute bit set
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=54571.msg636557425

Oh, its the script that AGS Editor creates on compilation. I forgot it does one.

[m0ds]

Thanks! But yes I'm a bit confused... In my Compiled folder I've got my compiled game. In my Windows folder I've got my compiled game. In my data folder I've got some of my compiled game... And what is that game.ags file? Are you saying that .ags file needs to be distributed as well? It's not in my standard Compiled folder or my Windows folder though, just the Data one. And where should I be taking my game files from? I'm taking them from "Windows" currently and ignoring the root Compiled folder. (admittedly I might have copy+pasted the contents of windows to the root folder myself) Anyway, I might just try the breaking game into chunks option and send the small EXE to their Whitelisting thingy. God I hate avast.

[NicolaGs]

.ags file is the game content minus the engine executable (it's the raw file which is then used to create the Windows version and the Linux version)
In the Windows folder, the .exe is the engine + the data files.

The usual way to run the game in Windows is to directly use the game .exe file. But you can also copy acwin.exe (the game engine) from your Program files\AGS... folder in the folder containing the .ags file and acwin.exe will run the game using the .ags file.
In this last case, if you want to run the setup, run "acwin.exe --setup".

[Crimson Wizard]

Thanks! But yes I'm a bit confused... In my Compiled folder I've got my compiled game. In my Windows folder I've got my compiled game. In my data folder I've got some of my compiled game... And what is that game.ags file? Are you saying that .ags file needs to be distributed as well? It's not in my standard Compiled folder or my Windows folder though, just the Data one. And where should I be taking my game files from? I'm taking them from "Windows" currently and ignoring the root Compiled folder. (admittedly I might have copy+pasted the contents of windows to the root folder myself)

Ok, to elaborate.
Before 3.4.0 the structure of files in Compiled folder was very simple: only Windows version, made as bundled exe.

In 3.4.0 the Compiled folder itself keeps intermediate output which includes non-bundled "raw" game data, usable with any port (including Windows), and Compiled/Windows folder includes specifically Windows version.

In 3.4.1 we cleared things up by moving unbundled data into Compiled/Data, and Compiled folder itself is supposed to stay clear of any files.
I.e.:

* Compiled/ -- no files here, only subfolders
* Compiled/Data - raw game data, usable with any port if you add port's executable. Also, you may add some custom data files there, and they will be copied around to Windows, Linux etc versions.
* Compiled/Linux - game data combined with Linux binaries
* Compiled/Windows - game data bundled with Windows binaries

All this is explained in the manual, BTW, the topic is named "Distributing your game", also may be found by keywords "Compiling the game".

If you have upgraded your game from 3.4.0 to 3.4.1, you may have old files remaining in just Compiled folder that you can just delete. Unfortunately at the time being I was not able to invent a proper way to clean things up automatically. The problem is that this folder may contain user files, that is files that user put there themselve, and moving them somewhere could not be wanted. There might be some simple way to solve this, but... perhaps in the future update.