AGS 3.0 Final - it's been a long road

[GarageGothic]

IceMan, have you tried putting a display command inside the conditionals to see if the function is even run? Have you defined the LEFT and MODE_USEINV values yourself somewhere? Otherwise, you could try inserting eMouseLeft and eModeUseInv instead.

[Ghost]

Did you "check" the Handle Inv Interaction In Scripts part in General Settings?

[IceMan]

GarageGothic:
Yes, the script is being run - I should have made that clear.  I put in a "QuitGame" line to check it, and the game closed only when I tried to use an inventory item on the screen.

Ghost:
No I didn't, and neither did I during 2.72 either.  When I did check it, I wasn't able to click on inventory items at all.  I'm using my own functions for the handling of inventory items, since my icon-based dialogue system also uses inventory items for topics.  That checkbox only seems to affect the actual inventory GUI, however, rather than the handling of "active" items.

Sorry I can't elaborate too well.  As I said, this problems only come around with 2.8, so I'm really stumped!

[SSH]

GarageGothic:
Yes, the script is being run - I should have made that clear.  I put in a "QuitGame" line to check it, and the game closed only when I tried to use an inventory item on the screen.

Just to point out a better way: go to the line in the editor and press F9 to set a breakpoint: that way you can stop the game when it tries to run that code, and then single-step.

[subspark]

I think AGS needs the ability to be able to copy GUI controls. Too many times do I have to recreate an array of buttons manually. Its rather frustrating and could easily be solved with a duplicate function.

Cheers,
Paul.

[SSH]

A wee confusion in the manual:

GetTranslation
GetTranslation (string original)

Gets the translated equivalent of the supplied string. You do not normally need to use this since the game translates most things for you. However, if you have used an InputBox or other form of user input, and want to compare the user's input to a particular string, it cannot be translated automatically. So, you can do this instead.
Example:

String buffer = Game.InputBox("Enter the password:");
if (buffer.CompareTo(GetTranslation("secret")) == 0) {
  // it matched the current translation of "secret"
}

If there is no translation for the supplied string, it will be returned unchanged, so it is always safe to use this function.

GetTranslation actually returns a String, but isn't shown like other string-resurning functions and it isn't clear. The example does show correct usage, however. In fact GetTranslation should really be made Game.GetTranslation or System.GetTranslation, rather like this manual entry:

static String Game.GetLocationName(int x, int y)

[Pumaman]

The game no longer seems to be able to handle inventory interactions (you can interact with items, just not use them on characters/objects/etc)

Strangely, it's OK with unhandled events.  This is only a problem for objects and so on that have a "UseInv" function.  I've been trying to figure out why, and am completely lost!!

I can't think of any reason why this should be the case. On a hunch though, if you remove the "SetActiveInventory(-1)" line, does it start working?

GetTranslation actually returns a String, but isn't shown like other string-resurning functions and it isn't clear. The example does show correct usage, however.

Fair point, I'll update the manual.

[subspark]

Did you consider my previous post CJ? About the ability to copy GUI controls?

Cheers,
Paul. 

[Pumaman]

As I've said, I'm no longer considering requests for new features, otherwise we'll be stuck in beta for the next 75 years. It's a good suggestion but one to leave for 3.01, I think.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

CJ, it seems that PopupY GUIs now have pirority over PopupModal GUIs. I noticed this when dabbling in the default game -

With the control panel on, moving the cursor to the top bar would still show the ICONBAR GUI. I thought it was some weird mistake of mine, so I manually enabled and disabled ICONBAR to suit my needs.

And I've just noticed the very same happens with the provided default (not the in-built one, the custom one) inventory window - even if open, the ICONBAR GUI will still pop up. This isn't standard behaviour, is it?

EDIT - Incidently, where's "Lock GUI controls" gone?

EDIT2 - Actually, it seems Popup Modal no longer pauses the game. Can this be?

Nah, it pauses. But the aformentioned behaviour's still there.

[IceMan]

CJ, nice hunch - that was exactly it!  Perhaps it was to do with the increased engine speed, or something...
Anyway, cheers, I'm relieved to have that outta the way!

[subspark]

As I've said, I'm no longer considering requests for new features, otherwise we'll be stuck in beta for the next 75 years

No problem Chris. I commend you on your work in refining such a fantastic new editor. I think AGS 3.0 is a masterpiece as it stands already.

Thanks for your hard work 

Paul.

[Pumaman]

With the control panel on, moving the cursor to the top bar would still show the ICONBAR GUI. I thought it was some weird mistake of mine, so I manually enabled and disabled ICONBAR to suit my needs.

As far as I know this has always been the case. It's slightly surprising if you're not expecting it, but I don't think this is anything that's changed in 3.0.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

It has? :s I've always expected popupY GUIs to be disabled while popup modals are on. If I wanted a popup modal that didn't disable the popupY I'd use a "normal" GUI.

In any case, it's strange and misleading that popup modals should pause the game and not prevent popupY from appearing.

BTW, I've noticed that when the popup modal is turned on, while the game is mostly paused, character movement isn't paused - it's stopped, which contradicts what happens when most system messages (Sure you wanna quit?, Save, Load, etc) appear.

If the latter has also always been there, then... well, I'd never noticed them before, but if I did, I'd have pointed this out way long ago. Both things are rather inconsistent. Sure you want to keep these behaviours?

[Pumaman]

I've noticed that when the popup modal is turned on, while the game is mostly paused, character movement isn't paused - it's stopped, which contradicts what happens when most system messages (Sure you wanna quit?, Save, Load, etc) appear.

Not sure what you mean here. When a popup modal GUI is turned on, character movement is stopped until you close the GUI at which point it resumes -- the same as the built-in Quit/Save/Load dialogs do.

Sure you want to keep these behaviours?

I agree that a popup-ypos GUI shouldn't appear while there is a popup modal GUI displayed, but the problem is that some people might now be relying on this behaviour so it's a difficult thing to change.

Anyway, beta 15 is up, which includes various fixes.
As it happens it's now a year since I started development on AGS 3, so it's really time to try and release something. I know I've said this several times before, but the next version really will be RC1!!

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Not sure what you mean here. When a popup modal GUI is turned on, character movement is stopped until you close the GUI at which point it resumes -- the same as the built-in Quit/Save/Load dialogs do.

Sure? Didn't happen with my test control-panel...

[Pumaman]

Well, it works with your new default game template's control panel...

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Then I must have been looking in the wrong direction. Sorry 'bout that.

Oh, almost forgot - great work overall! Indeed, RC1 seems to be the next step. Congrats on this major editor rework!

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

A couple things:

1.  The preview animation for the view tabs should probably have an option in preferences to 'always be on' and to 'always animate' so you don't have to check it for each and every tab.

2.  Still can't move existing views into/out of folders and can't delete folders in the view pane at all (even if you make a mistake).  I know you mentioned that deleting views poses some problems but I suspect they are all problems the user would need to fix anyway (going back through their work and removing references to those views/loops they deleted if they really needed to remove it, which wouldn't be difficult since the error messages would point right to those areas).

3.  I didn't notice an option in preferences anymore to disable warnings.  Am I missing it?

Nothing else really stands out as needing (imo) adjustment for a RC so excellent work, really.  Some future improvements such as being able to place characters visually in rooms and perhaps a modification to how dialogs work would be in order but those are clearly enhancements rather than fixes, and probably the only things I could think of that would enhance your editor at this point.  Great job!

[Gribbler]

Wow! Great verb coin GUI template! I'm going more into retro-style gui, can't wait for monkey_05_06's Monkey Island GUI to be included with soon to come final release.