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 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en), 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.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/AGS-3.0.0.exe
(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/temp/editor28.gif?new)
Enjoy!
Hmmm, opening "Edit this.AGSGame" with the new editor no longer automatically loads the game in question? Is it per design, or has it simply not been coded in yet?
Also, it might be just me, but the new AGS seems to be significantly faster. :D
EDIT - Hmm, this can't be right.
I have 38 templates in my main AGS directory (I like to have all possible templates close at hand).
Only 4 of them show up when I'm making a new game, though. The Empty Game, the Default Game, and two other templates of mine.
I've found a bug when trying to create a new translation file after saving there occured this error message(and also when updating it):
---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
An unexpected error occurred. Please note down the following information and contact CJ.
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. ---> System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at AGS.Editor.GameSpeechProcessor.ProcessText(String text, GameTextType textType, Int32 characterID)
at AGS.Editor.TextProcessingHelper.ProcessAllGameText(IGameTextProcessor processor, Game game, List`1 errors)
at AGS.Editor.Components.TranslationsComponent.UpdateTranslationsProcess(Object translationList)
at AGS.Editor.BusyDialog.RunHandlerOnThread()
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at AGS.Editor.BusyDialog.Show(String message, ProcessingHandler handler, Object parameter)
at AGS.Editor.Components.TranslationsComponent.DoTranslationUpdate(List`1 translations)
at AGS.Editor.Components.TranslationsComponent._timer_Tick(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.OnTick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.TimerNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
I've also found something annoying in the editor.
I must tell in an example otherwise I cant explain:
When doubleclicking on field "Colours" the options menu to the bottom right(Apperance, Colour,....) opens normally. But when I click once on another field like "Sprites" the whole options menu gets blank.
Keep on that good work CJ! :)
QuoteHmmm, opening "Edit this.AGSGame" with the new editor no longer automatically loads the game in question? Is it per design, or has it simply not been coded in yet?
Interesting question. The new editor doesn't actually generate that file any more, or support it in any way. Did anybody else actually use that feature?
QuoteI have 38 templates in my main AGS directory (I like to have all possible templates close at hand).
Only 4 of them show up when I'm making a new game, though.
The new editor is only able to open games and templates made in 2.8 and 2.72. If the templates were compiled with a version older than 2.72, it won't be able to see them. Could this be the case with your templates?
QuoteI've found a bug when trying to create a new translation file after saving there occured this error message(and also when updating it):
Interesting, thanks for spotting that. Did you create a new game or import a game from 2.72? This is certainly a bug -- it's probably caused by having a dialog option or an inventory item description with no text in it. I'll look into it.
QuoteI've also found something annoying in the editor.
I must tell in an example otherwise I cant explain:
When doubleclicking on field "Colours" the options menu to the bottom right(Apperance, Colour,....) opens normally. But when I click once on another field like "Sprites" the whole options menu gets blank.
This is actually deliberate. The properties window shows you the properties of the currently selected window, so when you click "Sprites" it de-selects the main pane on the left, and there are no properties for the right hand tree-view.
QuoteThe new editor is only able to open games and templates made in 2.8 and 2.72. If the templates were compiled with a version older than 2.72, it won't be able to see them. Could this be the case with your templates?
Ah, that's probably it. That should probably be announced/documented, especially since, as I understand it, about 100% of the available templates around pre-date 2.72. Well, expect for the 2.72 version of the MI template, which is around somewhere.
Maybe I'll re-compile them all in 2.72 myself, in a couple of days.
EDIT - The plot thickens. Now I have 5 templates in the list (said templates are the ones which I've just re-compiled with 2.72, so all is well)... but none of them is the Default Game or the Empty Game. I've even tried re-downloading, several times. Neither 2.72 nor 2.8 now seem to read those two templates.
EDIT - Hey, is "Undo" gone from the walkable areas drawing options?
EDIT - ANd has "F2 -> Display Stats" gone the way of "Undo"? Also, now I've noticed we've lost all those handy shortcuts for going directly to game_start, on_event, on_mouse_click, repeatedly_execute, etc... I'll really miss those. :'(
EDIT - Finally, in the Game Settings thingy, many of the options are in bold, and many of the options are in regular font (I mean the ones the go "True" and "False"). Is there a reason for this? Or is this "boldening" random?
I imported my 256 colour game and it went in smoothly with no problems.
I must say that I prefer how scrolling rooms were handled in the older editor as opposed to this one. Feels so claustrophobic, especially on my huge monitor.
Edit: I found a problem. It seems to happen randomly but I can't view the settings for my player character [character 1 in the list] unless I open another character too and click from it to the ego. Then most times after when I open a room to edit I can no longer edit the ego's settings. Instead of the ego settings it shows me the settings for the last room I opened.
Adding a room and then saving the game doesn't save the room (or even asks me if I want to save it) , or am I doing something wrong here?
Also, I'd like to ask again if a support for 800x600 screen resolution could be done.
Apart from that, great work. Call me a big child, but I just love the random quotes in the logo screen ;D
Accented characters don't work in GUI interfaces buttons. In the previous version 2.72 this didn't happen.
Excuse my English
Thank you
Ive got a problem. When I tried turning on the Smooth Scaled Sprites option, all the blurred parts on the edges are turned black.
Is it Linux and Mac compatible yet?
If not, I suppose I'll have to still use WINE for the time being.
(minor 'bug')
I assume LucasArts-speech still doesn't support (Pamela) lipsync (as stated in the helpfile)...I didn't test it, but I'm sure you would have told us. So I don't think I should be able to set both the speechstyle to "Lucasarts", and the LipSync-type to "Voice (Pamela sync files)" at the same time.
Maybe the latter option should be grayed-out if the former was selected (and if already selected when the person changes from Sierra- to Lucasarts-speech, automatically swapped for "Text (automatic)"). This will make things clearer to those using the editor.
Misj'
Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires on Sun 10/06/2007 23:12:23
EDIT - Finally, in the Game Settings thingy, many of the options are in bold, and many of the options are in regular font (I mean the ones the go "True" and "False"). Is there a reason for this? Or is this "boldening" random?
Properties Editors show in
bold any properties that have been changed (non-default).
Quote from: Alliance on Mon 11/06/2007 15:55:52
Is it Linux and Mac compatible yet?
If not, I suppose I'll have to still use WINE for the time being.
That's up to the Mono team, you'll have to test it yourself: http://www.mono-project.com/
QuoteEDIT - The plot thickens. Now I have 5 templates in the list (said templates are the ones which I've just re-compiled with 2.72, so all is well)... but none of them is the Default Game or the Empty Game. I've even tried re-downloading, several times. Neither 2.72 nor 2.8 now seem to read those two templates.
Are you using the Default & Empty Game templates from the 2.8 Beta zip file, or from 2.72? I think the ones included with 2.72 were actually compiled with 2.70 or something so they wouldn't work, but there are new versions provided in the 2.8 distribution.
QuoteEDIT - Hey, is "Undo" gone from the walkable areas drawing options?
Hmm good point, forgot about that. I'd better add it back ;)
QuoteEDIT - ANd has "F2 -> Display Stats" gone the way of "Undo"? Also, now I've noticed we've lost all those handy shortcuts for going directly to game_start, on_event, on_mouse_click, repeatedly_execute, etc... I'll really miss those.
Is the F2 Stats thing useful? I can add it back if you guys think it's worthwhile having.
QuoteI must say that I prefer how scrolling rooms were handled in the older editor as opposed to this one. Feels so claustrophobic, especially on my huge monitor.
QuoteAlso, I'd like to ask again if a support for 800x600 screen resolution could be done.
Ok, I think I need to take another look at the layout of the room editing window.
QuoteEdit: I found a problem. It seems to happen randomly but I can't view the settings for my player character [character 1 in the list] unless I open another character too and click from it to the ego. Then most times after when I open a room to edit I can no longer edit the ego's settings. Instead of the ego settings it shows me the settings for the last room I opened.
Hmm well spotted, I think there's a problem with the room editor whereby when you open a room it will link its properties window to the previously open window as well as its own. I'll look into it.
QuoteAdding a room and then saving the game doesn't save the room (or even asks me if I want to save it) , or am I doing something wrong here?
Can you clarify what you did here? If you just create a room and then save the game, there won't be any changes to save?
QuoteAccented characters don't work in GUI interfaces buttons. In the previous version 2.72 this didn't happen.
Interesting, thanks for reporting this. I'll look into it.
QuoteIve got a problem. When I tried turning on the Smooth Scaled Sprites option, all the blurred parts on the edges are turned black.
I take it you're referring to in the game itself and not in the editor? I think this might be a result of me messing with AASTR2, I'll look into it.
QuoteIs it Linux and Mac compatible yet?
If not, I suppose I'll have to still use WINE for the time being.
No, and we heard you the first time. As SupSuper says, it's in the hands of the Mono guys.
QuoteI assume LucasArts-speech still doesn't support (Pamela) lipsync (as stated in the helpfile)...I didn't test it, but I'm sure you would have told us. So I don't think I should be able to set both the speechstyle to "Lucasarts", and the LipSync-type to "Voice (Pamela sync files)" at the same time.
Good point, I'll do that. I think the easiest way will be an error when you try to save the game, if you have both these settings set.
If I quit the editor from the "Welcome To AGS!" dialog, it stays in memory using 100% of the CPU core. I ran it four times (to see the different splash tag lines) and my quad-core machine slowed to a crawl.
QuoteAre you using the Default & Empty Game templates from the 2.8 Beta zip file, or from 2.72? I think the ones included with 2.72 were actually compiled with 2.70 or something so they wouldn't work, but there are new versions provided in the 2.8 distribution.
From the new 2.8 beta zip file. Which at first it read, but now it doesn't read anymore.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 18:24:35There's a screenshot further down this post.
I wanted to ask about that seeing as protected static functions are inaccessible. Then I realized that technically they can be accessed. Just they can't be accessed statically. So basically they have the same access privileges as protected functions.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 18:24:35Also, script Extender Functions have been added
I've found that these can also be used on custom data-types. In my own modules I can now use extender methods (in AGS 2.8+) for things like initialization and updating functions (where it is handled internally anyway yet I simply needed access to protected data).
Also regarding the
unsupported method I found for implementing member attributes (which can be used to mimic static properties, vector-based arrays, and control what happens when the data is changed), extender methods can be used for the get/set functions.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 18:24:35What are the new features compared with 2.8 Alpha 8?
* Added option to export scripts, import/export characters and GUIs, and import rooms
Hooray! Finally I can port scripts between my 2.8 games! :) Thanks Chris!
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 18:24:35Are there any known issues?
Yes:
* if you change a room script, you need to open and save the room itself before the script changes will take effect
These will be resolved in a future beta release.
Good to know. I look forward to it. ;)
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 22:50:22
QuoteHmmm, opening "Edit this.AGSGame" with the new editor no longer automatically loads the game in question? Is it per design, or has it simply not been coded in yet?
Interesting question. The new editor doesn't actually generate that file any more, or support it in any way. Did anybody else actually use that feature?
YES! This is one feature I've been waiting to see come back. It's not something that I couldn't live without, but it's something I find convenient, and I've really grown to love it.
Quote
Can you clarify what you did here? If you just create a room and then save the game, there won't be any changes to save?
Aw, now I feel really stupid. Yes, I just created a new room and didn't even set a background. Stupid me. No, it all works fine if you know what you do ;D
QuoteIf I quit the editor from the "Welcome To AGS!" dialog, it stays in memory using 100% of the CPU core. I ran it four times (to see the different splash tag lines) and my quad-core machine slowed to a crawl.
This works fine for me, what version of windows are you running?
QuoteFrom the new 2.8 beta zip file. Which at first it read, but now it doesn't read anymore.
Strange ... out of interest, if you delete all the other templates from the editor folder and just leave the default/empty game templates there, does it work then?
Quote
* Added option to export scripts, import/export characters and GUIs, and import rooms
Hooray! Finally I can port scripts between my 2.8 games! Thanks Chris!
Just a note about this -- expored scripts and characters are compatible with 2.72, but GUIs are not. The amount of work it would have required to import/export 2.72-style GUE files would have been extensive, so this editor uses a new .GUF format.
Hmm, further testing showed me that no, even if I remove all others those 2 still don't show up... BUT unzipping the zip file, as is, and moving them all into the NEW folder recently created and booting AGS from therein, DOES acknowledge the existence of Empty and Default Games. The most templates I can still see is 5, but then again, most of them pre-date 2.72 (can there not be made a concession here? Practically *all* templates predate 2.72).
What I think is, I've always unzipped AGS to the same folder. ANd I did the same with this new version. But I didn't delete the old files, just overwrote some and moved others into a folder called "Old AGS" (mind you, I didn't move any files which the new AGS needs). Possibly, some older file which has not been overwritten is conflicting. It's all, therefore, just a matter of tydiying up on my part.
Probably.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 11/06/2007 20:11:26
QuoteEDIT - ANd has "F2 -> Display Stats" gone the way of "Undo"? Also, now I've noticed we've lost all those handy shortcuts for going directly to game_start, on_event, on_mouse_click, repeatedly_execute, etc... I'll really miss those.
Is the F2 Stats thing useful? I can add it back if you guys think it's worthwhile having.
Well, if there is no longer any hard coded limits (crosses fingers) it really doesn't need to be added back. However, if there are some limits, and you have a large game, it would be nice to see how close you are to those limits.
In addition (not sure how easy this would be) could you add something at the end that gives you your current compiled exe file size, you give out all sorts of other information. And instead of having to use explorer to go through your file system to your compiled folder, you can just check in the stats.
I'm sure a lot of people have their folder open anyway, but some like me, start AGS from a shortcut on the desktop.
In summary, Stats are nice to know if their are still limits on what you can have. The small addition to stats if there are limits is minor and not important, but if it's something easy to add, might as well right?
So, i just opened my game in AGS 2.8, everything was fine, but it seems the script name of the characters there isn't anymore (there's just the script-o-name), so i had to insert the "Real name" of the character in the script instead of the old script name, in order to make it run. But when i tried to test it, i had some problem: i have a character, and when you click it the game changes player and room; in 2.72 everything worked fine, but now the game freezes when i click on the character. (while for the other characters i had to insert the "real name" in upper case, for the one giving me the problem AGS accepted it only in lower case, could this be the problem?)
EDIT:
I just noticed that what i inserted in upper case wasn't the character real name (which is the same but in lower case), but the view name; so i'm trying to use the character name and see if it works. Anyway i'd like to know where are the old script names ;)
EDIT n° 2:
Ok, i upgraded the whole script using the Script O Name, now everything works fine :D
Hi Chris! Nice work on the beta!
One question: How's the plugin support looking on 2.8? I imported TFE and tried to add a plugin but found no menu option, and clicking/right clicking the "Plugins" tree item did nothing.
Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!
Also nice work on making the AGSGame file XML! :D (Assuming it wasn't already XML and I just didn't notice) Will allow us to be crafty with views etc and our AGX plug-in. One thing though, would it be possible to add the filenames of imported sprites into the Sprites xml tags? This would give us uberpowers! :D
Again great work! Love the new UI and src control friendly script files! :)
lemmy
Chris
QuoteThe most templates I can still see is 5, but then again, most of them pre-date 2.72 (can there not be made a concession here? Practically *all* templates predate 2.72).
This is something we'll need to consider further. I'm hoping to include some of the more popular ones in the AGS distribution if the template authors agree to it, so it'd be interesting to get feedback on what should be included. I guess standard Lucasarts and verb-coin style templates would be a good start.
QuoteWell, if there is no longer any hard coded limits (crosses fingers) it really doesn't need to be added back. However, if there are some limits, and you have a large game, it would be nice to see how close you are to those limits.
In addition (not sure how easy this would be) could you add something at the end that gives you your current compiled exe file size, you give out all sorts of other information. And instead of having to use explorer to go through your file system to your compiled folder, you can just check in the stats.
Ah yeah of course, it would be useful to easily compare your game against the system limits. Fair point.
QuoteSo, i just opened my game in AGS 2.8, everything was fine, but it seems the script name of the characters there isn't anymore (there's just the script-o-name)
Hmm, these should work ... has anyone else had problems?
(The script name is not displayed anywhere in the editor since I'm trying to nudge people towards the script-o-names, but they should still compile successfully).
QuoteOne question: How's the plugin support looking on 2.8? I imported TFE and tried to add a plugin but found no menu option, and clicking/right clicking the "Plugins" tree item did nothing.
Adding plugins works the same as in 2.72 -- copy the plugin into the AGS Editor folder and restart the editor, and it should automatically appear in the list.
QuoteOne thing though, would it be possible to add the filenames of imported sprites into the Sprites xml tags?
This is already the subject of a separate feature request to remember the source of sprites, and is something I'd like to do. No promises on how soon, though.
QuoteAgain great work! Love the new UI and src control friendly script files!
Glad you like it! Feedback on the AGS source control integration would be appreciated, because I presume that only a relatively small proportion of the AGS user base will have a source control system installed.
i wanted to test ags 2.8 but i can't even start it.
i extracted all the files over the ags 2.72 files. now when i double click on the .exe file i get the standard windows error message. "AGS Editor for Windows has encountered a problem and needs to close".
i am using windows xp service pack 1. is it possible that ags 2.8 needs service pack 2? or did i forget something?
@Jack "Shade" Sparrow: Do you have the .NET Framework 2.0 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en) installed?
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 13/06/2007 19:29:44
Feedback on the AGS source control integration would be appreciated, because I presume that only a relatively small proportion of the AGS user base will have a source control system installed.
Hi CJ, just installed the beta! Great stuff! :)
I'd love to test the source control system integration, I'm sure it will improve dramatically our team distributed-collaborative-work.
Before starting, there's something I should know about it or some docs I missed? Some AGS-side setup to do?
Or I can just put the game data directory in a SVN repository and... go?
I feel as I missed something/somewhere... ???
Thanks :D
D.
@ LimpingFish: well actually it is installed. hoever i deleted it and installed it again and now it works. :) thanks for your help!
and well good job with ags 2.8!
Quote from: Jack "Shade" Sparrow on Wed 13/06/2007 20:20:49
i wanted to test ags 2.8 but i can't even start it.
i extracted all the files over the ags 2.72 files. now when i double click on the .exe file i get the standard windows error message. "AGS Editor for Windows has encountered a problem and needs to close".
I wouldn't recommend installing 2.8 over 2.72. Try unzipping it to a brand new, empty folder and see if you have more luck.
Do you even see the splash screen or does it not get that far?
QuoteBefore starting, there's something I should know about it or some docs I missed? Some AGS-side setup to do?
Or I can just put the game data directory in a SVN repository and... go?
If you have a source control system that supports MSCCI (the standard visual studio integration system) installed, then there will be an "Add to source control" option on the File menu in the 2.8 editor.
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 13/06/2007 22:45:05
If you have a source control system that supports MSCCI (the standard visual studio integration system) installed, then there will be an "Add to source control" option on the File menu in the 2.8 editor.
Oh, ok. I'll Google about that... I never used the visual studio integration system, just CVS/SVN sometimes.
Someone has a specific software system to suggest? Something free and with a Linux server component available would be the best for us... ;)
A quick google shows that AnkhSVN and TortoiseSVN might be worthwhile windows subversion clients to try
Quote from: SSH on Thu 14/06/2007 08:28:28
A quick google shows that AnkhSVN and TortoiseSVN might be worthwhile windows subversion clients to try
I already had TortoiseSVN installed on windows but I didn't see source-control stuff in the AGS File Menu. Maybe it was because I had no repository previously configured in Tortoise?
I tought that it wasn't compatible with the microsoft visual studio standard CJ mentions... but I'd be happy to be wrong about it!
By the way, I looked at the Perforce website and maybe the free version (two clients) is enough for us... and has a linux server component too.
By the way, hints from anyone else trying the AGS source-control system with free tools are appreciated :)
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 12/06/2007 19:34:12
QuoteIf I quit the editor from the "Welcome To AGS!" dialog, it stays in memory using 100% of the CPU core. I ran it four times (to see the different splash tag lines) and my quad-core machine slowed to a crawl.
This works fine for me, what version of windows are you running?
XP Pro SP2
Ahh...so it's finally time to start seeing:
Quote-------------------------------------
System Error:
-------------------------------------
The system has experienced a serious error and cannot continue.
Error: User running deprecated operating system: Windows XP.
Solution: Upgrade to Windows Vista. NOW.
Sincerely, Bill Gates.
------------------
OK
------------------
I was wondering when those updates would download. :P
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 13/06/2007 19:29:44I'm hoping to include some of the more popular ones in the AGS distribution if the template authors agree to it
This is a major news. I think it's a very very very good idea.
Ok, as I probably won't get time to work on AGS for a while, I thought it was about time I uploaded the latest build.
I've updated the first post with what's new and what still needs to be done.
Also, before you upgrade, could you guys please test that the "Check For updates" tells you about the new beta.
Yes it does.
I gotta say, it seems I've returned to AGS just in time. I can't wait to use Version 2.8 once it's ready for official release. ;D
Chris, thank you for adding the 800x600 support. I really apprechiate that!
Yay, a built in updater. Now that will be useful! :-*
I imported some 32-bit alpha'd sprites. They all look like the've been downgraded to 256 color in the editor. (I haven't tested them in-game yet.) Is that normal, or is there an import problem? I also noticed that I couldn't crop the alpha'd sprites like I can in 2.72.
I couldn't find the option to import a walkable area, etc. mask. The button was unmissable in 2.72 but seems to be missing in 2.8.
Finally, do you think we'll ever see 1024x768 support in AGS?
I tried the beta version with my adventure and the conversion worked almost fine.
I had 2 issues so far.
- sometimes charakter[Charaktername].dosomething was not converted to cCaraktername. When compiled i got an error for this. I could corrrect this by hand.
- goto-dialog dDialogname was not working. I had to use the index e.g. goto-dialog 3
I have tried around but the error is the same: in room-editor the backgrounds looks fine but in-game they are color-inverted and not in right resolution. with the sprites there isn't this problem.
I have tried running my game and the cursor and Character's move very jerky and slow.
[Edit]
Whoops. I guess It's just my computer because I played bog's adventure in the underworld and it was jerky to.
Sounds like the dual-core problem
Hello, sorry if this has been asked already, but is it possible in this build to import a mask for the walkable areas.
Thanks!
lemmy
QuoteI imported some 32-bit alpha'd sprites. They all look like the've been downgraded to 256 color in the editor. (I haven't tested them in-game yet.) Is that normal, or is there an import problem?
What colour depth is your game set to? Does the properties window for the sprite say that it's 32-bit with alpha channel?
QuoteI also noticed that I couldn't crop the alpha'd sprites like I can in 2.72.
This works fine for me. However, note that the default transparency option when importing is "palette index 0", so the transparent areas may not have been registered. I'll change that to "top-left pixel" for the next beta because it's confusing.
QuoteI couldn't find the option to import a walkable area, etc. mask. The button was unmissable in 2.72 but seems to be missing in 2.8.
QuoteHello, sorry if this has been asked already, but is it possible in this build to import a mask for the walkable areas.
Fair point, I'll need to add that back.
QuoteFinally, do you think we'll ever see 1024x768 support in AGS?
It would be technically easy enough to add, but at the moment the engine isn't really performant enough to run games at that resolution. It's something I'll look at for a future version, though.
Quote- sometimes charakter[Charaktername].dosomething was not converted to cCaraktername. When compiled i got an error for this. I could corrrect this by hand.
Hmm this should work, could you give an example of where it failed?
Quote- goto-dialog dDialogname was not working. I had to use the index e.g. goto-dialog 3
Well spotted thanks, this is a bug and I'll get it fixed.
QuoteI have tried around but the error is the same: in room-editor the backgrounds looks fine but in-game they are color-inverted and not in right resolution. with the sprites there isn't this problem.
Thanks for spotting this, I've managed to replicate it and will fix it for the next beta.
I keep getting an error when trying to work with custom structs. It's a recent development, but it seems that any time I try to declare an instance of a struct and then use it within the same script I get a null-pointer reference. Also importing/exporting it doesn't seem to be working either, giving me an unresolved import error. Presumably my computer's just screwing with me again...but if you'd like I can upload a sample script/game.
Quote
Quote
- sometimes charakter[Charaktername].dosomething was not converted to cCaraktername. When compiled i got an error for this. I could corrrect this by hand.
Hmm this should work, could you give an example of where it failed?
(Mostly) all charakters except the player:
charakter
.doSomething
For only one charakter i get an error:
function room_a() {
if (character[ETHERIALNPC].Moving != 1) {
character[ETHERIALNPC].Walk(90, 150);
character[ETHERIALNPC].AddWaypoint(100, 180);
character[ETHERIALNPC].AddWaypoint(70, 220);
character[ETHERIALNPC].AddWaypoint(250, 200);
character[ETHERIALNPC].AddWaypoint(140, 180);
}
}
ETHERIALNPC is the scriptname
For the the player charakter i get:
cEgo, character[0] or player depending on the function
cEgo with Walk
character[0] with FaceLocation
player with inventory functions or ChangeRoom
(all this functions were inserted through the interaction editor)
when give score at first time is used
*** TODO: Should only do this on first execution
is added, but it there is no comment(//) before this, so you get an error when compiling
One Question: Where is the setting for max possible score in 2.8? I can't find it in General Settings and @TOTALSCORE@ is 0 in the game
QuoteI keep getting an error when trying to work with custom structs. It's a recent development, but it seems that any time I try to declare an instance of a struct and then use it within the same script I get a null-pointer reference. Also importing/exporting it doesn't seem to be working either, giving me an unresolved import error. Presumably my computer's just screwing with me again...but if you'd like I can upload a sample script/game.
Strange, an example would be useful.
QuoteFor only one charakter i get an error:
What is the exact error message?
Quote
when give score at first time is used
*** TODO: Should only do this on first execution
is added, but it there is no comment(//) before this, so you get an error when compiling
This is deliberate, to force you to fix the script rather than wondering why your game doesn't work.
QuoteOne Question: Where is the setting for max possible score in 2.8? I can't find it in General Settings and @TOTALSCORE@ is 0 in the game
Well, I removed this because it seemed a bit too specific an option, and all that it did was set the @TOTALSCORE@ value. It can be easily simulated with your own variable, but if people find it useful I could add it back?
Quote
What is the exact error message?
undefined symbol 'ETHERIALNPC'
(for all lines with ETHERIALNPC)
Quote
It can be easily simulated with your own variable, but if people find it useful I could add it back?
I like to have it back.
Hmm, was the character's name "cEtherialNpc"? I can't seem to replicate this problem.
Ok, beta 3 is now up. See the first post for changes, but it basically fixes some issues and implements some missing stuff.
Also, this includes the first phase of removing system limts. As of beta 3 there are unlimited Views and GUIs (because these were the easiest two to do).
Now, I'm not going to bother removing limits where the current ones aren't causing a problem, so are there any limits that people are concerned about? I'm aware of the Frames Per Loop limit in views, which I'll look into. Anything else?
Hotspots and objects in rooms. I'm assuming that limitation still exists from the last time I used AGS?
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 08/07/2007 16:32:57
Now, I'm not going to bother removing limits where the current ones aren't causing a problem, so are there any limits that people are concerned about? I'm aware of the Frames Per Loop limit in views, which I'll look into. Anything else?
areas in general.
---------------------------
I think there's a bug in the 'Continue a recently edited game' list when I edit games in 2.72 and then open 2.8 the list is completely mixxed. (The names of the games aren't in the same order as their names)
For areas, as far as I know the current implementation is to use an indiced bitmap to store them, so unless there're big changes to the engine it's not possible to "remove" the limits, if the bitmap used are 8-bit, however, theoretically we can have up to 255 of each of these areas. I think we had some discussions about that earlier on, one main problem was with the editor displaying all these areas in different colours, which would be VERY hard to distinguish if there're so many areas. I think I had suggested to only display the currently area in a colour, and all the other areas in one single gray colour. Since the editor is being re-written, maybe it's time to reconsider this?
I'd definitely like limits removed on the max number of sprite/view/etc folders for reasons I've mentioned before (organization, categorization). Generally I think it would benefit everyone for the core items (characters, views, dialogs, rooms, room max anim frames, etc) to have dynamic creation since it will reduce the exe compile size for small games and allow people who need lots of something to have it if necessary.
Obviously it's not a win for you since you have to recode it, but everyone else comes out a winner, and it will save you headaches in the future with extension requests! :=
Also, I heard Berian say you could sleep in his bed at next Brittens if you did this.
Using the editor in 800x600 resolution doesn't seem to allow scrolling on large GUIs.
Also I keep getting an error whenever I try to run games. If I use the Test Game option in the editor I get a message that reads: "The engine does not appear to have shut down properly. If the problem persists, post the problem on the tech forum." If I compile the game and then try to run it outside the editor, it exits while or immediately after loading (can't tell which), but doesn't display a message. If I run the game windowed, I get an illegal operation error before it crashes. I tried this on two separate test games imported from V2.72, with the same result. The backups of both games still run just fine. I tried making a quick one room "game" in V2.8 beta 3 and again had the same result.
I don't seem to have the same problem with beta 2.
Item #3: Has support for .PCX files been dropped? I couldn't access them when loading background images for the afore mentioned "quick game".
And quick question: In the palette editor, the range of brightness on the RGB slots seems to have changed from 64 to 256. Will this actually allow a broader range of color in 256 color games? Also, I assume scripts using palette[SLOT].r etc. will need to be updated accordingly?
Quote from: Lyaer on Mon 09/07/2007 06:45:37
And quick question: In the palette editor, the range of brightness on the RGB slots seems to have changed from 64 to 256. Will this actually allow a broader range of color in 256 color games? Also, I assume scripts using palette[SLOT].r etc. will need to be updated accordingly?
I don't think so, as the original VGA 8-bit modes by hardware design use 6-6-6 bit colour format for the base colours, so the change to the 8-8-8 range was probably done to make people more confortable to use as in most softwares or systems, this scheme is used (also, to accomodate with the range used in 24-bit modes), in a 8-bit game, the colours will still be hashed to 64 levels-per-channel.
I miss the sliders for 8-bit colour mode. :(
Quote from: ProgZmax on Mon 09/07/2007 06:18:03Also, I heard Berian say you could sleep in his bed at next Brittens if you did this.
What do you mean "next" Brittens? ???
I had the same problem Lyaer had: i imported a game upgraded from 2.72 to 2.8 beta 1, wich worked fine, in the beta 3, and the program crashed...
I wonder if it's because i still have the beta 1 on my pc (on a different folder)
QuoteHotspots and objects in rooms. I'm assuming that limitation still exists from the last time I used AGS?
As Gilbot says, it won't be possible to completely remove the limit on hotspots, but I can certainly look into increasing it.
QuoteI think there's a bug in the 'Continue a recently edited game' list when I edit games in 2.72 and then open 2.8 the list is completely mixxed. (The names of the games aren't in the same order as their names)
Yes, this will happen if you use 2.72 after 2.8, because 2.72 doesn't understand the game names and will re-order things.
QuoteI think we had some discussions about that earlier on, one main problem was with the editor displaying all these areas in different colours, which would be VERY hard to distinguish if there're so many areas. I think I had suggested to only display the currently area in a colour, and all the other areas in one single gray colour. Since the editor is being re-written, maybe it's time to reconsider this?
2.72 currently does it with all of the areas gray except the currently selected one; 2.8 reverts to the old behaviour of showing them all. Which do people prefer?
QuoteI'd definitely like limits removed on the max number of sprite/view/etc folders for reasons I've mentioned before (organization, categorization).
There is no limit on the number of sprites per folder, or number of sprite folders, in 2.8.
QuoteUsing the editor in 800x600 resolution doesn't seem to allow scrolling on large GUIs.
Is this a big issue? As it seems like there are more people using 800x600 than I thought, I'll look into it.
QuoteAlso I keep getting an error whenever I try to run games. If I use the Test Game option in the editor I get a message that reads: "The engine does not appear to have shut down properly. If the problem persists, post the problem on the tech forum."
Um oops, looks like I made a bit of a teeny weeny mistake with the compiler in beta 3. For some reason, I don't get this problem with my test game, but I created a new one and it happened to me too. I'll get it fixed.
QuoteItem #3: Has support for .PCX files been dropped? I couldn't access them when loading background images for the afore mentioned "quick game".
Yes, the editor now supports the file formats supported by Windows GDI+, which means we lose PCX and TGA, and gain JPG and TIF. I appreciate that this isn't very convenient if you were storing your images in PCX files, I'm not sure how much effort it would take to re-implement manually.
QuoteAnd quick question: In the palette editor, the range of brightness on the RGB slots seems to have changed from 64 to 256. Will this actually allow a broader range of color in 256 color games? Also, I assume scripts using palette[SLOT].r etc. will need to be updated accordingly?
As Gilbot has said, this is just to make it more user-friendly since people are more used to dealing with colour components in a 0-255 range. When it compiles the game, the editor divides by 4 because the VGA hardware only supports 6 bits for each colour component.
Ok, because of the game crashing bug in beta 3, I'm releasing beta 4 now to correct it.
This also means that I'm releasing a new feature -- the Script Debugger -- slightly earlier than planned.
What is Script Debugging?
It allows you to stop the game from running at a certain point, and then step through your lines of script one by one, in order to track down problems.
If you've used any sort of Visual Studio program before, it's the same sort of thing -- but AGS doesn't currently allow you to inspect the values of variables. You can only step through lines of code.
What's the point of it?
If you have a complex script that's going wrong, sometimes it can be hard to work out why. With the debugger, you can step through each line of script one by one, and see how the game reacts to each line.
How do I use it?
There are two ways to use it:
1) Place a breakpoint in your script. You do this by clicking on a line of code in the script editor, then pressing F9. Then, when the game arrives at this line of code, it will stop running.
(NOTE: The editor will allow you to place a breakpoint on any line of script. However, in order for it to work, it must be placed on a line that has some code on it).
2) Press SCROLL LOCK while playing the game. This will break out when the next line of script is run.
Once the script has stopped, you can use the "Step Into" button (F11) to step through the lines of code, one by one. To allow the game to continue running normally, use the Run (F5) button.
Are there any known issues with it?
It will allow you to place a breakpoint on any line, even lines with no code. If you do this, the breakpoint will never be hit.
Feedback is welcome -- this is an experimental version, so I expect there'll be problems. Let me know how you get on.
just tried the script debugging, it works great! ;D
Anyway, is there any way to get rid of that yellow line in the script (without having to close it), when you finish testing? i find it quite annoying :P
Anyway, a really nice feature 8)
EDIT2: Stuff below doesn't happen with beta 4.
"Could not load sprite set file ACSPRSET.SPR
This means that the file is missing or there is not enough free
system memory to load the file."
I created a new game, imported three sprites, assigned them to views, created two new characters and assiged each view to one of them, then made a new room, drew a hasty walkable area and two walk behinds, hit save, then test. And this is beta 3. And I have about 1.5GB of memory free, so I doubt it's that... Unless something leaks.
EDIT:
Also, am I just imagining things or is the Setup Game option gone? And wasn't the key shortcut for Test game ctrl-T before?
EDIT3: And I miss the pop-ups telling about compile errors. Took me a good while to figure out what's wrong while nothing happens when I click Run. ¬¬
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 09/07/2007 20:22:10
2.72 currently does it with all of the areas gray except the currently selected one; 2.8 reverts to the old behaviour of showing them all. Which do people prefer?
IMO, better use the V2.72 method, since hotspot numbers had already been increased to 29, it's currently VERY difficult to differentiate between the areas, especially for the gray ones after #16(I think this i s exactly why the display method had finally changed previously?), furthermore, you don't know which colour correspond to which area until you try to paint something on the screen. Also, doing that would make increasing the numbers of other areas (when needed) more easily and straightfoward.
Quote from: Gilbot V7000a on Tue 10/07/2007 02:31:00
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 09/07/2007 20:22:10
2.72 currently does it with all of the areas gray except the currently selected one; 2.8 reverts to the old behaviour of showing them all. Which do people prefer?
IMO, better use the V2.72 method, since hotspot numbers had already been increased to 29, it's currently VERY difficult to differentiate between the areas, especially for the gray ones after #16(I think this i s exactly why the display method had finally changed previously?), furthermore, you don't know which colour correspond to which area until you try to paint something on the screen. Also, doing that would make increasing the numbers of other areas (when needed) more easily and straightfoward.
Can't we have an option to use whichever one we prefer. I have very few rooms with lots of hotspots, so it would be better to have the multicolour for those rooms and switch to the grey-all-but-active mode for when I've got lots...
why don't make the bitmap areas to vector-based polygons which are numbered 1....∞?
You could make as many as you want and you could make them overlapping and we wouldn't need to color them. But that would also be much to code for CJ but would be much better.
----------------------
I think in the file menu should be an item added to open the 'Start Game Dialog' and a 'New Game' item.
----------------------
The script debugging works fine and is very useable.
Keep on that good work CJ! ;)
It will be a huge change then, and also, overlapping is probably one BIG problem.
I find the 2.72 style much better. And overlapping can be already done very easily with a bit of planning forehand, some scripting and the use of properties.
That reminds me, would it be possible to make properties either class-independent or universal, perhaps with a checkbox in the property edit box? I mean, I could have a property called Value, which I could use just for inventory items, but then have a property called Health, which would be universal for characters, inventory items, hotspots, and things.
QuoteWhat do you mean "next" Brittens?
You sly dog!
Also:
QuoteThere is no limit on the number of sprites per folder, or number of sprite folders, in 2.8.
Yay! Does this extend to the view folders as well? Also, if I may, adding folder creation to dialogs would be a great way to help categorize multiple dialogs by character. Really, the more folder creation extensibility the better!
Edit: Did a quick import of Boyd Quest and noticed that
music module playback doesn't seem to work in this build. None of the xms, s3ms or mods in my music folder play but the oggs do.
Had a go at Beta 4, and it seems System.Gamma doesn't work.
Here's my code (worked in 2.72)
function GammaSlider_Change(GUIControl *control) {
System.Gamma = GammaSlider.Value;
}
It compiles all right in Beta 4, but moving the slider doesn't change the gamma.
I tried it myself, worked flawlessly. Are you running the game in fullscreen mode?
*smacks forehead* yes, that was it. I really shouldn't work after 3 in the morning. Sorry.
i do donload framework 2.0.but for install it want MICROSOFt WINDOWS INSTALLER 3.0 please.help me for link for download.
Here it is:
Windows Installer 3.0 Redistributable (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5fbc5470-b259-4733-a914-a956122e08e8&DisplayLang=en)
Windows Installer 3.1 Redistributable (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=889482fc-5f56-4a38-b838-de776fd4138c&DisplayLang=en)
When using the Script debugging feature and pressing F11 the game window is only visible for a few moments when it then jumps in the background.
Maybe make it possible that it stays in front when i press F11 or the button for it?
Quotejust tried the script debugging, it works great!
Glad to hear it!
QuoteAnyway, is there any way to get rid of that yellow line in the script (without having to close it), when you finish testing? i find it quite annoying
Ah hehe, yes this will happen if you close the game by using the X button on the game window while it is paused. I'll fix it, but in the meantime either use the Stop button in the editor, or allow the game to run and then quit it normally -- either of those will clear the yellow line.
QuoteAlso, am I just imagining things or is the Setup Game option gone? And wasn't the key shortcut for Test game ctrl-T before?
EDIT3: And I miss the pop-ups telling about compile errors. Took me a good while to figure out what's wrong while nothing happens when I click Run. ¬¬
Yes, the Setup Game option is gone. The fact that you've noticed seems to indicate that it's useful though, so I'll see about bringing it back.
As for the compile errors, perhaps the prompt should return if there are errors compiling. I'll look into it.
QuoteCan't we have an option to use whichever one we prefer.
I think this would be ideal, I'll look into it.
Quotewhy don't make the bitmap areas to vector-based polygons which are numbered 1....∞?
Considering the huge change involved in doing this, I don't really see any benefits.
QuoteI think in the file menu should be an item added to open the 'Start Game Dialog' and a 'New Game' item.
This is a possibility, I'll see how feasible it looks.
QuoteThat reminds me, would it be possible to make properties either class-independent or universal, perhaps with a checkbox in the property edit box? I mean, I could have a property called Value, which I could use just for inventory items, but then have a property called Health, which would be universal for characters, inventory items, hotspots, and things.
This is something I'd like to do, but I can't promise it for 2.8.
QuoteYay! Does this extend to the view folders as well? Also, if I may, adding folder creation to dialogs would be a great way to help categorize multiple dialogs by character. Really, the more folder creation extensibility the better!
Yes, it extends to view folders. All of these organisational folders are not compiled into the game (they are just an editor concept) therefore with the new editor they are unlimited.
QuoteEdit: Did a quick import of Boyd Quest and noticed that music module playback doesn't seem to work in this build. None of the xms, s3ms or mods in my music folder play but the oggs do.
Interesting, I'll look into it.
QuoteWhen using the Script debugging feature and pressing F11 the game window is only visible for a few moments when it then jumps in the background.
Maybe make it possible that it stays in front when i press F11 or the button for it?
It deliberately works this way. If you're stepping through several lines of script, it would be very annoying if the focus kept being lost from the editor, and you'd have to keep clicking back in the editor window to bring it back into focus in order to go to the next line.
I think it makes more sense to keep the focus on the editor, and allow you to manually alt+tab to the game window if you want to see what's on the screen.
Ok, beta 5 is now up. The list of changes is in the first post.
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];
The alternative of declaring a huge array just in case, like int characterStatus[100000] would be wasteful.
Dynamic arrays allow you to specify at run-time how large the array needs to be.
How do they work?
You declare a dynamic array 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
Note that if you just declare a dynamic array, and don't do the "new" thing, you'll get a Null Reference error if you try to use it.
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.
Do I need one?
Probably not. This feature is most useful for advanced scripters.
Congrats! :D
Just because of curiosity, can the size of a dynamic array be defined only once or can it be changed multiple times in-game?
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 17/07/2007 22:43:14
With the move towards removing system limits, it will no longer possible for module authors to declare things like:
int characterStatus[AGS_MAX_CHARACTERS];
No longer possible? Do you mean this won't compile anymore?
Regarding not being able to use dynamic arrays within a struct...it may be possible to implement them as if they were static members using the workaround I found for simulating static variables. For example, it may be possible (although I haven't downloaded the new beta yet; I will verify after I test it) to do something like this:
// script header
struct MyStruct {
import static attribute int CharacterStatus[];
};
// main script
int MyStruct_CharacterStatus[];
function game_start() {
MyStruct_CharacterStatus = new int[Game.CharacterCount];
}
int geti_CharacterStatus(this MyStruct*, int index) {
if ((index < 0) || (index >= Game.CharacterCount)) return SCR_NO_VALUE;
return MyStruct_CharacterStatus[index];
}
void seti_CharacterStatus(this MyStruct*, int index, int value) {
if ((index < 0) || (index >= Game.CharacterCount)) return;
MyStruct_CharacterStatus[index] = value;
}
NOTE: Presuming this method does work, it would only be available to simulate static dynamic array members. However you would not be able to access the static array within the script the get/set functions were defined in.
In any case, it's great to hear that we're getting some dynamic memory privileges. Presumably there's no need to delete[] the array? Thanks either way Chris.
Yeah, can we keep backward compatibility for old modules, please? Or is it simply that the #defines for AGS_MAX_CHARACTERS won't exist?
In Beta 5, when i make a new translation, language specific chars like äöüà Ÿ appear as a ? in the .trs file.
1. I can hear music modules again, yay!
2. is the 'always run full screen' setting in preferences supposed to work yet, because I have it set but games will still start windowed if their setup file is set to windowed.
So far Boyd Quest and all the mini-games work perfectly in the new build. Looks like it's getting close!
QuoteJust because of curiosity, can the size of a dynamic array be defined only once or can it be changed multiple times in-game?
It can't be changed, but you can replace it with a new one. For example:
int myarray[] = new int[20];
...
myarray = new int[30];
By doing so though, the array contents will be lost.
QuoteNo longer possible? Do you mean this won't compile anymore?
Yes. As of beta 3, for example, the AGS_MAX_VIEWS and AGS_MAX_GUIS constants no longer exist. This is because there is no limit, so it doesn't make sense to have these defined (what would they be defined to?)
QuoteRegarding not being able to use dynamic arrays within a struct
I'll try to add proper support for this to a later beta, because I appreciate it would be useful.
QuotePresumably there's no need to delete[] the array?
Nope, the arrays are handled by the garbage collector in the same way as it deals with Strings, DynamicSprites, etc.
QuoteYeah, can we keep backward compatibility for old modules, please? Or is it simply that the #defines for AGS_MAX_CHARACTERS won't exist?
As I said above, if you can think of a way to maintain backwards compatibility, I'm all ears. But since there is no maximum number of views, what would you suggest AGS_MAX_VIEWS should be defined as?
QuoteIn Beta 5, when i make a new translation, language specific chars like äöüà Ÿ appear as a ? in the .trs file.
Hmm strange, I'll look into it. Is this a new problem with beta 5, or is it just the first time you've tried it with 2.8 ?
Quote2. is the 'always run full screen' setting in preferences supposed to work yet, because I have it set but games will still start windowed if their setup file is set to windowed.
It should work, yes. Bear in mind that if you use F5 to run the game it will always be windowed because the debugger doesn't support full screen, but you can use Ctrl+F5 to run it without the debugger, which should abide by the Preferences setting.
QuoteSo far Boyd Quest and all the mini-games work perfectly in the new build. Looks like it's getting close!
Glad to hear it! ;)
I just gave it a go to properly try and test the new version of AGS.
First of all, thank you Chris for your fabulous work with rewriting the Editor. I can only guess how much time and effort it took to rewrite the whole thing. I really like the new look of the editor and how the interface is now standardized making it very convenient and easy to use -- great work! :)
Ok, I did some testing and found some minor issues (AGS 2.8 beta 5); I hope they haven't been already reported before, sorry if it's so:
1. "Edit room" and "Room script" do not appear on the navigation tree until it's updated
Started a new game and created a new room. The new room node was added to the tree but it had no child nodes: "Edit room" and "Room script". To make them appear I had to enter a description for the new room (another possibility is to add-then-delete yet another room to update the tree).
2. Problem with switching between rooms
If I have two or more rooms on the tree and try to switch to (load) the one with previously expanded parent node by double-clicking on that node, it collapses instead; and if I try double-clicking it again, it then expands and loads/shows the room. It always works ok on first try, if I select a node and press the "Enter" key instead of double-clicking, though.
3. Debugger doesn't break at a breakpoint placed within game_start()
It's really a minor one, but I could not make it break anywhere at game_start.
4. There is no rebuild all rooms option or I just couldn't find it
Would be handy to have it back, as there are situations with updated #defines and "imports" so we don't have to load and save each room one-by-one.
5. There is no "There were compilation errors" message on errors in room scripts
This message textbox appears on errors in global script and script modules but not on those in room scripts.
Dynamic arrays
It's really great to have those supported natively, thanks!
How feasible would it be to add some sort of a "resize" operator to manage dynamic array size without losing the values where possible.
Also, since initially the array pointer is null, would it be feasible to have a way to release it -- say, by doing: "array = null;". May be handy if we have many global arrays and want to be carefull on how much memory is used.
A workaround would be to do "array = new int[1];", of course.
Dynamic arrays look awesome. Look forward to the ones that work with structs.
Anyway, I got an error. I downloaded the new beta to a new folder and opened it just fine. Loaded a game I was testing in beta 4 with no problems. Looked briefly at one of my GUIs to see if there were sliders, and then exited without saving. After that I changed my monitor resolution from 800x600 briefly to 848x480 (which was weird so I switched back) and then to 1024x768, to see how the editor works in a higher resolution (typically use lower resolutions because I have poor eyesight and need to be able to see individual pixels in order to read some fonts and images). I went to open the editor again and got this message:
An unexpected error occurred. See below for details.
System.IndexOutOfRangeException: Index was outside the bounds of the array.
at AGS.Editor.SplashScreen..ctor()
at AGS.Editor.Program.RunApplication()
I switched back to 800x600 but still get the error, so I'm not sure what caused it.
QuoteQuote
In Beta 5, when i make a new translation, language specific chars like äöüà Ÿ appear as a ? in the .trs file.
Hmm strange, I'll look into it. Is this a new problem with beta 5, or is it just the first time you've tried it with 2.8 ?
First time i've tried it with 2.8
in 2.72 the same translation file is ok
QuoteFirst of all, thank you Chris for your fabulous work with rewriting the Editor. I can only guess how much time and effort it took to rewrite the whole thing. I really like the new look of the editor and how the interface is now standardized making it very convenient and easy to use -- great work!
Glad you like it! :)
Quote1. "Edit room" and "Room script" do not appear on the navigation tree until it's updated
2. Problem with switching between rooms
3. Debugger doesn't break at a breakpoint placed within game_start()
4. There is no rebuild all rooms option or I just couldn't find it
5. There is no "There were compilation errors" message on errors in room scripts
Thanks for these, I'll look into them. Number 2 might be a bit of a quirk with the windows treeview control, so I don't know if I'll be able to fix it.
QuoteHow feasible would it be to add some sort of a "resize" operator to manage dynamic array size without losing the values where possible.
Also, since initially the array pointer is null, would it be feasible to have a way to release it -- say, by doing: "array = null;". May be handy if we have many global arrays and want to be carefull on how much memory is used.
A workaround would be to do "array = new int[1];", of course.
Comparing and assigning to null is a good idea, I'll look into it.
Resizing arrays would be ideal, but I can't promise it'll make it into 2.8.
QuoteAn unexpected error occurred. See below for details.
System.IndexOutOfRangeException: Index was outside the bounds of the array.
at AGS.Editor.SplashScreen..ctor()
at AGS.Editor.Program.RunApplication()
Hmm, has your PC been running for 25 days now without a reboot? I have a feeling you've just stumbled onto a bit of an oversight on my part if that's the case, I'll get it fixed. In the meantime, to stop the error happening you'll need to restart your computer.
QuoteFirst time i've tried it with 2.8
in 2.72 the same translation file is ok
Ok thanks, I'll look into it.
I didn't mean to imply you won't provide dynamic array struct members (because you should), it simply occurred to me that the workaround I found for attributes may apply for static members until the official solution is provided. ;)
As for a resizing function, the following works, however unless it's possible to pass a dynamic array as a parameter (which I haven't actually tested), the function is specific to one array: TESTED! Passing a dynamic array as a parameter WORKS! :) See below for code.
It will be easier to provide a general function when we can have dynamic arrays within structs. And then Chris will implement it :P.
It's possible to pass a dynamic array as a function parameter (hooray!), however, as far as I can tell there's no way to get the size of the array (thanks Chris ;)), so I'll store that in a variable:
int arr[];
int arrSize = 0;
import int[] resize_arr(int iarr[], int currSize, int newSize, int defaultValue=0);
int[] resize_arr(int iarr[], int currSize, int newSize, int defaultValue) {
// currSize is just a placeholder for a proper get_array_size function
// if (iarr == null) return null; // can't currently check if array is null
if ((currSize < 0) || (newSize < 0)) {
// arr = null; // can't currently set array to null
//return null;
return new int[1]; // placeholder
}
int new_arr[] = new int[newSize];
int i = 0;
while ((currSize) && (i < currSize) && (i < newSize)) {
new_arr[i] = iarr[i];
i++;
}
while (i < newSize) {
new_arr[i] = defaultValue;
i++;
}
return new_arr;
}
function game_start() {
arr = resize_arr(arr, arrSize, arrSize + 10, 73);
arrSize += 10;
}
This function will resize the array to the specified size, then return the modified array. If the array is grown the new values will be filled with the defaultValue.
[EDIT:]
Apparently although it appeared to work, the function wasn't really working the way I thought it was, which may have yielded some unexpected results. Scorpiorus was right; you'll need to return the modified array.
Regarding getting the size of an array, this is definitely stored internally somewhere, because dynamic arrays still have proper bounds checking. This wouldn't be possible unless the size was stored. Now it's simply a matter of providing a reasonable means for the user to access this value.
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 18/07/2007 18:53:13
Yes. As of beta 3, for example, the AGS_MAX_VIEWS and AGS_MAX_GUIS constants no longer exist. This is because there is no limit, so it doesn't make sense to have these defined (what would they be defined to?)
As I said above, if you can think of a way to maintain backwards compatibility, I'm all ears. But since there is no maximum number of views, what would you suggest AGS_MAX_VIEWS should be defined as?
Well, if you're asking for suggestions, how about keeping the same value it used to be defined to? That would maintain backwards compatibility, would it not?
Chris, would it be possible to have those MAX_VALUE become complile time static variables. Something like if you have 10 views AGS_MAX_VIEWS is now 10, and can be used in array declarations and the like.
Since things like characters, views, and the like cannot be made dynamically, this shouldn't pose any code issues (other than difficulty).
Maintains backward compatability, and adds new functionality.
A problem will be, if you make these compile time variables, you'll need to recompile all rooms which may take reference to these values whenever you have add say a view, etc. to your game.
Hi,
I found this error when I compile my game in AGS 2.8 Beta 5:
Error: prepare_script: error -18...
...when I try to modify the code I got this message:
---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
An unexpected error occurred. Please note down the following information and contact CJ.
System.IndexOutOfRangeException: Ã Ândice fuera de los lÃmites de la matriz.
en AGS.Editor.AutoComplete.SkipWhitespace(FastString& script)
en AGS.Editor.AutoComplete.GetNextWord(FastString& script)
en AGS.Editor.AutoComplete.GetLocalVariableDeclarationsFromScriptExtract(String scriptToParse)
en AGS.Editor.ScintillaWrapper.GetListOfLocalVariablesForCurrentPosition()
en AGS.Editor.ScintillaWrapper.ParsePreviousExpression(Int32 startAtPos, String& charactersAfterDot, Boolean& staticAccess, Boolean& isThis)
en AGS.Editor.ScintillaWrapper.ShowStructMemberAutoComplete()
en AGS.Editor.ScintillaWrapper.ShowAutoCompleteIfAppropriate(Int32 minimumLength)
en AGS.Editor.ScintillaWrapper.OnUpdateUI(Object sender, EventArgs e)
en Scintilla.ScintillaControl.DispatchScintillaEvent(SCNotification notification)
en Scintilla.ScintillaControl.WndProc(Message& m)
en System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
en System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
en System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
---------------------------
then I don't type any key without get this message.
Excuse my English.
Quote from: Gilbot V7000a on Thu 19/07/2007 06:18:56
A problem will be, if you make these compile time variables, you'll need to recompile all rooms which may take reference to these values whenever you have add say a view, etc. to your game.
Perhaps there could be an option ion the editor for compatibility: 1: No compatibility, 2: Set to values used in 2.72, which will break if you exceed the old limits 3: Static compile-time constants that forces a recompile of all rooms each time you build.
AGS Editor GUI
Ah, I forgot to mention two things in my previous post:
Would it be practical for the Editor to remember which pane is currently selected to show (Properties or Events) in Edit Room (until a new room is loaded)? It's just I was adding several room event functions in a row and each time I pressed "..." and then double-clicked Edit Room to go back, it showed the Properties pane when I'd prefer the Events as I was working with them.
And also, if I double-click, say, Edit Room and a pane is shown and I then click Edit Room again, the pane vanishes and I need to click somewhere else then double-click Edit Room again to get it back.
Dynamic arrays
Yeah, some way to get the current size of a dynamic array would be really useful, especially for resizing arrays manually, for the time being.
I guess all these "get_size/sizeof (meaning get_item_count)", "resize" things need to be operators in order to properly handle arrays no matter what type of they are?
As for resizing an array manually, the following example demonstrates the idea:
int[] create_from_array_of_int( int a[], int old_size, int new_size )
{
int new_a[] = new int[new_size];
int i;
if (new_size > old_size) i = old_size - 1;
else i = new_size - 1;
while (i >= 0)
{
new_a[i] = a[i];
i--;
}
return new_a;
}
What I'd like to point out is that to "resize" an array it is necessary to return the newly generated array and then to catch it with a pointer:
...
int array[] = new int[100];
// resize "array"
array = create_from_array_of_int( array, 100, 200 ); // 200 is new size
...
I deliberately named it "create_from..." instead of "resize", as that is what actually is taking place here. Similar to Strings (eg: String.Append).
Edit: removed "if (new_size == old_size) return a;" as it may be confusing for semantic of the "create_from" style function. Thanks monkey_05_06!
if (new_size == old_size) return a;
Will actually return the address of the old array, meaning that modifying the "copy" will modify the original.
int a[] = new int[5];
int i = 0;
while (i < 5) {
a[i] = i + 10;
i++;
}
int b[] = a;
b[0] += 5; // a[0] (and b[0]) are BOTH now 15
Just a thought...will dynamic arrays open up the way to multidimensional arrays as well? Understandable if it doesn't, but you know what they say, "You never know if you don't ask." :)
[EDIT:]
Apparently I don't know what I'm talking about either. :=
dynamic arrays
Two questions :
1. Monkey (or maybe scorporius?) previously wrote that one has to return a modified array, or else the values in the array will be wrong.
Will the values in the array be wrong :
a) Only if the int[] got reassigned (using the new keyword) within the function?
(which would be normal, since an int[] is probably equivalent internally to an int* - so it is impossible to resize an array within a function that cannot have an int** as parameter)
b) Even if there was no new within the function ?
2. Is there any sort of limitation concerning the size of an exported int[]?
Until now, there was an error message if the sum of all exported data in a module was bigger than a fixed limit. But now, this sum could only be caluculated at runtime... So will the game crash at runtime if an exported array gets too big?
Quote from: Monsieur OUXX on Sun 22/07/2007 19:49:441. Monkey (or maybe scorporius?) previously wrote that one has to return a modified array, or else the values in the array will be wrong.
Well, if it's just about changing array element values then you do not necessary have to return an array, since an array is passed into a function by a pointer value (int *).
There is a different situation with the "new" operator, as it actually returns a new address of the created array, which you must somehow assign to a global array pointer if it's for resizing manually. So you have to return the new address then of course (since it's the only way to pass it back to the calling script).
Quote2. Is there any sort of limitation concerning the size of an exported int[]?
By exporting an array you just export a 4-byte pointer; so if there is some sort of a limit to how much you can export, then it's not about the size of an array but the number of array pointers being exported.
Hi. I just downloaded AGS 2.8 beta 5 and I have a problem: when I run the game, the game runs windowed instead of full screen. It only runs in full screen if I first go to the game setup and then I hit the 'Save and Run' button.
By the way, excellent job with AGS 2.8 :)
I don't experience this. I get full-screen unless I run setup to make it windowed (I always run windowed mode when testing). And from your description of the problem it's not rewriting the CFG (configuration) file? On my computer it generates this file.
Sorry I'm not much help...but it may just be your computer...?
Quote from: Sadistyk on Mon 23/07/2007 00:30:19when I run the game, the game runs windowed instead of full screen.
Note that running a game with the Debugger (F5) will always run it in a window instead of full screen so that you could easily switch between the game window and your script to debug. Try running without debugger (Ctrl-F5) instead.
The "Save and Run" option runs it with no debugger as well.
It works fine. I was running it with the debugger. Sorry for all the troubles.
Quote from: Reaper on Wed 18/07/2007 20:44:07
QuoteQuote
In Beta 5, when i make a new translation, language specific chars like äöüà Ÿ appear as a ? in the .trs file.
Hmm strange, I'll look into it. Is this a new problem with beta 5, or is it just the first time you've tried it with 2.8 ?
First time i've tried it with 2.8
in 2.72 the same translation file is ok
I can limit this error to text in the dialog script editor, every other text (dialog topics, text in room scripts tested so far) is correct in the .trs file
Edit: (gui)button text is not exported to trs file (gui labels are ok)
In the Editor in guis äöü are displayed as ^ but are displayed correct in the compiled game
Example Image (http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/1508/guicharsth2.jpg)
I hope I haven't missed anything... But how do I reorder rooms? Is the only way still to change the file name, or does that even work anymore?
In regards to the AGS_MAX_* constants, perhaps they could be included for non-strict scripting?
#ifdef AGS_SUPPORTS_IFVER
#ifver 2.8
#ifndef STRICT
#define AGS_MAX_CHARACTERS 300
#endif
#endif
#endif
Of course module writers would then have to make some sort of accommodation for this (which could actually be done anyway):
#ifdef AGS_MAX_CHARACTERS
int CharacterStatus[AGS_MAX_CHARACTERS];
#define MY_MODULE_MAX_CHARACTERS AGS_MAX_CHARACTERS
#endif
#ifndef AGS_MAX_CHARACTERS
int CharacterStatus[];
#endif
// game_start
#ifndef AGS_MAX_CHARACTERS
CharacterStatus = new int[Game.CharacterCount];
#define MY_MODULE_MAX_CHARACTERS Game.CharacterCount
#endif
It is a hassle if you have to do this for a lot of arrays, granted, but it could at least provide means for backwards/forwards compatibility of your module.... :-\
Seeing as you may have multiple modules relying on the same constant, I've decided it would probably be best to define your own macro for bounds-checking in this case instead of redefining the macro if it doesn't exist.
I have tried running my game and made two new rooms with the new version. Whenever I try to save the new rooms it shows this error.
Error (line 90): Variable 'new' is already defined in script "AutoGenerated.Ash"
. I do not have any line 90 in my room's script and there is no "_AutoGenerated.ash" file in my script's. Is this just my problem or is it the editor?
Question for Chris -
Will this or a future version support 800x600 (or higher) resolution, using actual 800x600 coordinates rather than 400x300 ones? Having to put everything at even-numbered pixels is kind of impractical :)
I think, quite possibly not this version, as the major update of this version is the rewritten editor, not the engine.
In my opinion it's better to say "support high resolution, using actual coordinates" than just saying 800x600 or above, as this applies also to "lower high resolutions" like 640x400 and 640x480.
QuoteRegarding getting the size of an array, this is definitely stored internally somewhere, because dynamic arrays still have proper bounds checking. This wouldn't be possible unless the size was stored. Now it's simply a matter of providing a reasonable means for the user to access this value.
Yes, the array size is known, it's just a matter of finding an elegant way of exposing it. Actually, trying to add dynamic arrays has made me realise that I probably need to rewrite the script compiler before I can hack much more into it, so that should be fun...
Quote
Well, if you're asking for suggestions, how about keeping the same value it used to be defined to? That would maintain backwards compatibility, would it not?
I guess that's one option. It would obviously mean that if a game had more views than the old limit, the module would break, but I suppose that's relatively rare.
QuoteChris, would it be possible to have those MAX_VALUE become complile time static variables. Something like if you have 10 views AGS_MAX_VIEWS is now 10, and can be used in array declarations and the like.
Since things like characters, views, and the like cannot be made dynamically, this shouldn't pose any code issues (other than difficulty).
There are two potential issues with this -- first, as Gilbert says, it would need to rebuild all rooms whenever the number of GUIs, etc changed. And second, I wouldn't want to rule out the possibility of adding dynamic creation of these things at a later date.
QuoteSystem.IndexOutOfRangeException: Ã Ândice fuera de los lÃmites de la matriz.
en AGS.Editor.AutoComplete.SkipWhitespace(FastString& script)
en AGS.Editor.AutoComplete.GetNextWord(FastString& script)
Hmm, would it be possible for you to upload or post the script that causes this error?
QuotePerhaps there could be an option ion the editor for compatibility: 1: No compatibility, 2: Set to values used in 2.72, which will break if you exceed the old limits 3: Static compile-time constants that forces a recompile of all rooms each time you build.
That's a possibility, but it seems to be over-complicating things for this feature -- and would also mean module authors couldn't rely on the behaviour of the constant.
QuoteWould it be practical for the Editor to remember which pane is currently selected to show (Properties or Events) in Edit Room (until a new room is loaded)? It's just I was adding several room event functions in a row and each time I pressed "..." and then double-clicked Edit Room to go back, it showed the Properties pane when I'd prefer the Events as I was working with them.
Hmm interesting point, I'll look into it.
Quote1. Monkey (or maybe scorporius?) previously wrote that one has to return a modified array, or else the values in the array will be wrong.
Will the values in the array be wrong :
a) Only if the int[] got reassigned (using the new keyword) within the function?
(which would be normal, since an int[] is probably equivalent internally to an int* - so it is impossible to resize an array within a function that cannot have an int** as parameter)
b) Even if there was no new within the function ?
Think of an int[] as a similar concept to an int* in C -- so if you don't use
new, then the original array will be modified. The requirement to return the array is only if its address changes, which is what
new will do.
Quote2. Is there any sort of limitation concerning the size of an exported int[]?
As Scorpiorus says, this is just exporting an address, so it counts as 32 bits of export data.
QuoteI can limit this error to text in the dialog script editor, every other text (dialog topics, text in room scripts tested so far) is correct in the .trs file
Thanks for the update, I'll look into it.
Quote
Edit: (gui)button text is not exported to trs file (gui labels are ok)
In the Editor in guis äöü are displayed as ^ but are displayed correct in the compiled game
Example Image
Yes, this is the main outstanding known bug with the editor, so far I haven't been able to work out why it's happening. I'm continuing to investigate.
QuoteI hope I haven't missed anything... But how do I reorder rooms? Is the only way still to change the file name, or does that even work anymore?
Do you mean change the room number, or change the order they appear in the editor's list?
QuoteI have tried running my game and made two new rooms with the new version. Whenever I try to save the new rooms it shows this error.
Error (line 90): Variable 'new' is already defined in script "AutoGenerated.Ash"
"new" has become a reserved word because of the dynamic array support. Do you have any views, characters, dialogs etc that are called "new"?
QuoteWill this or a future version support 800x600 (or higher) resolution, using actual 800x600 coordinates rather than 400x300 ones? Having to put everything at even-numbered pixels is kind of impractical
This version won't because it would require significant changes to the engine to support this, however it's certainly something I'll look into for future versions.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 29/07/2007 15:18:28QuoteRegarding getting the size of an array, this is definitely stored internally somewhere, because dynamic arrays still have proper bounds checking. This wouldn't be possible unless the size was stored. Now it's simply a matter of providing a reasonable means for the user to access this value.
Yes, the array size is known, it's just a matter of finding an elegant way of exposing it. Actually, trying to add dynamic arrays has made me realise that I probably need to rewrite the script compiler before I can hack much more into it, so that should be fun...
Well the script compiler is a big part of the engine, so it probably wouldn't hurt anything to get a fresh start out on that as well. Looking forward to your "elegant solution" though. ;)
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 29/07/2007 15:18:28trying to add dynamic arrays has made me realise that I probably need to rewrite the script compiler before I can hack much more into it
If you do so, anticipate future enhancements (OOP? ::))
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 29/07/2007 15:18:28
QuoteWill this or a future version support 800x600 (or higher) resolution, using actual 800x600 coordinates rather than 400x300 ones? Having to put everything at even-numbered pixels is kind of impractical
This version won't because it would require significant changes to the engine to support this, however it's certainly something I'll look into for future versions.
Ah, never mind, I found a workaround :)
Downloaded beta 5, tried to run it (agseditor.exe), it crashed.
It didn't mention coree.dll missing (so it shouldn't be a .NET framework problem), nor any other specific problem. Just the "default" crash message (which i get in French, but should be approximatively this in english : "Application couldn't initialize properly (0xc0000135). click on OK to stop the application")
I'm running XP with SP2.
[EDIT]I re-downloaded the 2.0 framework, and it worked fine. It probably got "corrupted" by one of the other dev-envs I'm using (Eclipse? Visual Studio?). But maybe you should try to enhance the detection of the required components?[/EDIT]
May be it's a .NET framework version problem? Try to update it (if possible) first and see if that helps.
Ok, beta 6 is now up. This fixes various issues, and removes the limits on the number of frames and loops you can have in a view.
This has involved some refactoring of the engine, so please make sure that any multi-loop animations that you have still work properly.
Also, it adds Cuppit, your friendly pop-up assistant. Please let me know whether you think he's useful and whether what he says is pitched at the right level. Obviously he's intended for use by beginners but he also pops up with a couple of tips, such as the Run button always running windowed, that would be useful for everyone.
Suggestions on anything else he should say or other situations where he'd be useful, would be appreciated.
Some little things:
QuoteFixed property grid disappearing if you double-clicked the current window in the project tree
It's also disappearing if you single-click anything in the project tree.
---------------
I don't know if this is intentional but if you click the 'delete last option'-button in the GUI menu, only the field to the left is deleted, not the code to the right.
---------------
Cuppit and his text is always at the same level(lower left), he's not moving.
Maybe design him a bit better; he looks not that good. ;)
But all in all the whole editor is very good. :)
Keep on that good work!
While I like Cuppit in Radiant's games, I don't think he fits into the editor that well... The tips are okay, but, well, I don't know... could put people off, without meaning to be harsh. Plus, the animated eyes flicker on my screen- the top half of the eyeballs show up pretty garish and transparent. I personally wouldn't mind having a mascot, but I agree with Lt. Smash, it should then look a bit better. Maybe using the original cup icon, only enlarged? Like that nefarious MSWord paper clip, stylewise?
I've started to work on a small, typical test game using the betas. So far I can't report anything screwing up. Also nice to have that loop frame limit removed; though so far I've taken care never to use too many frames, I'm sure I'll sleep a bit easier now knowing that, should I want, I can.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sat 04/08/2007 20:14:47
Also, it adds Cuppit, your friendly pop-up assistant. Please let me know whether you think he's useful and whether what he says is pitched at the right level. Obviously he's intended for use by beginners but he also pops up with a couple of tips, such as the Run button always running windowed, that would be useful for everyone.
Suggestions on anything else he should say or other situations where he'd be useful, would be appreciated.
I've never really been an fan of Microsoft's office assistants. Except for the cat...cats are fun. But generally I consider them to be completely and utterly useless.
An additional problem for me in this case is, that due to the design, I'm not 'invited' to read the text. To me Cuppit is not really friendly...just scary and annoying. So I agree with Smash and Ghost: a better design would be appreciated.
I know it's not the place (this is not the
critics lounge), but I just couldn't resist... :-X
Top: original design of Cuppit (for those who want to know what he looks like without having to start the editor)
Bottom: 'rough' sketch of a cartoony Cuppit (just something that flowed out of my pen).
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Cuppit_Misj.png)
Misj'
The current Cuppit is the one from META, isn't it? It's supposed to be scary/disturbing.
Yes, but most of us make humor games. Not horror games. Thus this version would only lower the quality of our product...
The Current Cuppit just looks ugly, and besides, why do we need a user-friendly assistant when we have Ashen?
i like misj cup. makes me wanna create a game while drinking a nice cup of hot chocolate.
To go along with the general consensus here, I too think that although it could provide some sort of nostalgic humour for those who are familiar with META, using the same Cuppit probably isn't the best idea. I'm not against the idea of an adaptive, dynamic assistant to help out the beginners, but this probably won't attract more users.
Thinking back to when I first started with AGS the gray default GUI and the low-res Roger sprites turned me off of AGS in a big way. But I saw some examples of games using different interfaces which is what turned me around. I imagine that if Cuppit had been around back in those days (in his present incarnation), I probably would never have used it.
On the other hand however, I find Misj''s Cuppit to be very aesthetically pleasing. Perhaps we could use his rendition?
Other than looks, I think it would be useful if the pop-up hints had links in them which could open help file articles. For example in the screenshot posted by Misj' where it says "Read the Scripting Tutorial in the manual," I actually expected to be able to click on "Scripting Tutorial" and be taken directly to it in the manual.
And I know it's already been thought of/mentioned, but I'm just curious as to the status of a couple things regarding dynamic arrays. Specifically the ability to retrieve the size of an array and the ability to include them within a struct. Again, I know they're being looked into, I'd just really like to know when I can hope to see these features implemented. Thanks.
My thought was, while Cuppid was fun for people who know what it is (which wouldn't be beginners, especially for those who really know what META's about), it's horrible, annoying and probably unhelpful for beginners (especially when these assistants are FOR beginners).
Since Cuppid was for humourous effect in the not-AGSEditor in META, so it would be odd to make it official for the real editor. IMO it is more appropiate to have more "normal" characters like Bluecup or Roger as official assistants. OR if the assistant system could be made like those lame M$Office style that the users can choose whatever characters they want, in that case the normal Bluecup and Roger can both be included, and additionally experienced users may choose the (supposedly) annoying Cuppid for comical effects.
Hehe, I was wondering what the reaction to Cuppit might be ;)
Really he's a placeholder because I'm no graphic designer -- I like Misj's although he does look a bit scheming and evil!
Obviously we can change his visual appearance if someone would like to contribute a new sprite for him, but overall do you think that what he's saying is useful for beginners? I think it also needs an option to turn him off permanently for experienced users.
Can't we have bluecup instead? (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/4042ma2bc404a.jpg)
(http://homepage.eircom.net/~limpingfish/001001.png) (http://homepage.eircom.net/~limpingfish/001002.png)
"Don't forget them semi-colons, kids!" "Error! Error!"
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 05/08/2007 15:00:13
Hehe, I was wondering what the reaction to Cuppit might be ;)
Really he's a placeholder because I'm no graphic designer -- I like Misj's although he does look a bit scheming and evil!
Obviously we can change his visual appearance if someone would like to contribute a new sprite for him, but overall do you think that what he's saying is useful for beginners? I think it also needs an option to turn him off permanently for experienced users.
Shouldn't that be what the "Stop bugging me" button does? If you've seen a hint once, you don't need to see it twice. Hopefully. :P
And not only do I like the look of Misk's Cuppit, I also like his design. The hint looks professional and unintrusive, while the current one could get in the way, since it doesn't move and can get on top of options.
Oh cool, more Cuppits!
Quote from: Radiant on Mon 06/08/2007 08:43:38
Oh cool, more Cuppits!
I smell a competition comming up.
Furthermore, the competition thread would keep this thread from being cluttered...which I am more than partly responsible of. But first we would have to answer the following three question:
1. Do we think an assistant is a useful addition?
2. What functionality do we expect from such an assistant?
3. Should the assistant be continuously present or should it pop-up?
My personal answers:
1. I hardly ever use them, and wouldn't miss it if it weren't there. I might however use them
with the following functionality:
2. A. Search option (much like in MSOffice)
B. If - in addition to general information about the current page - I get specific information
about the current option I'm selecting. Example: when selecting the kind of speech, I'm
informed what the difference between LucasArts and Sierra speech is.
C. A 'more' button brings up the designated site in the help-file
D. The text sometimes contains links to pages in the help-file (as described by Monkey)
E. Be able to turn him on and off (via the pull-down-menu)
F. Two levels: Beginner and Advanced.
Beginner would show all information, hints, etc.
Advanced would only show the assistant; but clicking on the assistant would show the
information, hints, and the possibility to (quick) search the help-file.
3. Based on option
A and
F I would say that the assistant (though not his tips) would
always be present (much like it's annoying MS counterpart). Since it's relatively easy to turn him
off (
E) I do not think this will invade the user's privacy too much.
Just my thoughts...
Misj'
I agree with basically every point you just said Misj'. You've really put some serious thought into this. ;D
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 29/07/2007 15:18:28
QuoteI hope I haven't missed anything... But how do I reorder rooms? Is the only way still to change the file name, or does that even work anymore?
Do you mean change the room number, or change the order they appear in the editor's list?
The room number. And this probably will affect the order they appear in the editor, too... I was wondering since there are two files for each room now, or so it seems atleast.
And I say an optional Tip of the Day thing or similiar appearing once a game is loaded, with a checkbox or something for it in the start up wizard's first page or so, but no assistant. I've always turned them off in everything. (MS Office, that is...)
The thing about the assistant is that yes, most of you are familiar with AGS and wouldn't use it -- but put yourself back in the shoes of never having used AGS before. Do you think it would have been helpful the first time you loaded it up to have the assistant there, or would it have just been annoying?
It may stop all those "cant add gui! pls hlp!"-type threads. Plus, it would be a boon to all those people who are too lazy to read the manual.
(http://homepage.eircom.net/~limpingfish/001003.png)
Yeah I can see an assistant coming handy with AGS 2.8's more "experienced developer" feel, we just don't want it to step on anyone's toes like Cuppit did. :P
Hello,
An unexpected error occurred. Please note down the following information and contact CJ.
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not find file 'D:\AGS\Editor\28beta6\vt\room2.asc'.
File name: 'D:\AGS\Editor\28beta6\vt\room2.asc'
at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
at System.IO.FileStream.Init(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Int32 rights,
Boolean useRights, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options,
SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES secAttrs, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy)
at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share)
at AGS.Types.Script.LoadFromDisk()
at AGS.Types.UnloadedRoom.LoadScript()
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.CommandClick(String controlID)
at AGS.Editor.ProjectTree.ProcessClickOnNode(String nodeID, MouseButtons button)
at AGS.Editor.ProjectTree.projectTree_NodeMouseDoubleClick(Object sender, TreeNodeMouseClickEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.OnNodeMouseDoubleClick(TreeNodeMouseClickEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
I loaded up my game, right-clicked the 'Rooms' -thing in the tree-view, selected to create a new room, then renamed the room2.* files to room100.*s, went back to the editor and tried opening room 2 from the list. Basically nothing new from the old editor, just you might want to do something about it?
I'm so used to the way the old room editor worked, as I could easily see a summary of all my rooms, etc. This new thing just confuses me. And I can't find the option to refresh the room list anywhere. I have a thing for numbering rooms very specifically, but the way the editor works now I have very little chance for that. Could double-clicking the Rooms option bring up an old-fashioned room editor view with all the rooms and their descriptions listed, and the option to load the rooms and refresh the list from there?
Don't rename files manually, the new editor keeps a track of your rooms rather than just scanning the directory for all room files like the old editor used to do.
I'll look into adding a Change Room Number option, but in the meantime a workaround would be to use the "Exclude from game" option, then rename the files, then use the "Import existing room" option to import it back in with its new name.
Ok, thanks for the info. I can work with that, I just wasn't aware it works that way.
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 08/08/2007 19:37:46
Don't rename files manually, the new editor keeps a track of your rooms rather than just scanning the directory for all room files like the old editor used to do.
Really? I'd find that impractical. I move room files around all the time to speed up compile time (i.e. moving all files not needed at the moment to a temp folder).
Chris Jones, you never cease to amaze me! Now I can make a character that runs an animation that goes on forever... and ever... and ever.
You are truly awesome.
I'll give it a test drive right now. btw, this version is going to be fully compatable with vista right? Last time I tried to get AGS 2.72 (compiled executables, not the editor, AGSEdit) to function, I couldn't get it to work. My cousin can got the executable to work on Windows Vista Business, so I think it's just my graphics card. Of course, it could also be that home premium is a piece of shit! Meh, i'll figure out something.
I can't even imagine what v3.0 is going to look like when ya get there. kudos!
Do a forum search, there're some discussions on Vista compatibility already (like this (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=30107.0) for example).
I'd never seen Vista (and won't be using it in the near future) so I'm not sure if there are any real problems. But skimming that thread I think it should work in most case, but the problem most people encounter is folder access rights (or something like that).
So, what did you mean by "couldn't get it to work"? It just didn't start, or crashed or otherwise?
I mean, I can get AGSEdit to run perfectly fine (the stable version, I mean. I'm going to see if I can try to get the beta version to run on here right now.) The thing is when I try to run a game executable (like TGCC, for example. I want to check it for bugs) or test a game, the engine crashes, saying that my laptop cannot support 320 x 200 graphics settings (and it's fairly unclear as to why). I've tried updating my graphics card, but that didn't help, so I'm assuming that it's a Vista issue (like maybe Vista Home Premium not reading the drivers right, but I'm not sure). My cousin pamela says she can get the executables to work in Vista Business edition, but I can't really say if just having the added fuctionality of Business is what causes the executables to work. Or she's lying. :-\ I really do not know.
I can always just try re-installing said graphics drivers, but I still seriously doubt reinstalling the software will work. At the very least, I can still make games, but my ability to debug erroneous code will be seriously hampered until I can solve this problem.
But yeah, thanks for the thread! I'll check it out to see of anyone in there has found a solution to this.
If your system can't do 320x200 (some "modern" OS/Graphic Card (driver)/Display can't do this) , just set up your game to run in a window or 640x400 and it should work fine.
Gil: I put in the Vista Compatablility thread that it works!
I also checked out the beta. The start-up graphic looks tres bien, and the interface seems soooo much easier to work with. The layout is more like Visual Studio, so I'm basically far more used to that. I'll make sure to give it a good run-through and see if it's stable enough to start developing ShipLife: Episode One on. If I run into any problems with it, I'll let you fellas know about in the most bitchy, moany way possible, alright? alright!
A few things:
1. I notice that the character and view tabs don't update to use the currently selected char/view in the list, and this would be far more efficient and nice than having to open a tab for each one you want to check and edit.
2. The undo option in the room editor only seems to undo the last pixel you erased/drew even if you did a continuous line.
3. Am I wrong in the observation that there's currently no way to edit hotspot/region/objects in the rooms aside from going into the room script manually or clicking on the properties button? It's rather unintuitive at present and could use some work, like a right click option for hotspots/regions/objects/etc that will take you to the relevant function in the room script (or double clicking them).
4. Currently, clicking on a property for anything in a room takes you to the top of the room script file rather than seeking to the relevant function.
5. Are the x-ed out areas in the Palette list supposed to be blank? If so then why do colors show up for them on the properties window? Also, you can't change the x-ed graphic to a color if you pick one.
A couple of suggestions:
1. A rectangular box zoom feature for painting hotspots. Yeah, we could import them all as masks but then why have the ability inside of ags at all? I've always had difficulty with this aspect since the lack of zoom makes it very difficult to make an accurate mask for areas with dynamic shapes and this would be a welcome addition.
2. Box/Ellipsoid shapes as draw tools. Would make most walkable areas trivial to implement.
3. Erase with right click rather than having to select the erase tool. This is more intuitive and easy to work with when you've just made a little mistake drawing. The erase would work based on the currently selected brush, so if you picked an ellipsoid it would erase the area of the ellipsoid you drew.
4. Erase entire region/hotspot/etc with Shift+right click on the target.
5. Undo with 'U' and possibly some undo levels (wouldn't need many).
6. R,G,B ranges from 0-255 in the color finder for text color and such would be nice.
7. Are you planning to re-implement a preview window for view animations at some point? I notice it's implemented for accessing views from the sprite manager sprite->assign to a view->choose, though that window needs to be resizable for larger animations. Perhaps double clicking on the view header could open this window as well?
8. A giant picture of you in the help selection flipping everyone off.
I was going to test this more thoroughly with one of my larger projects but some of my modules broke and I'm getting a lot of on screen messages and warnings.
Quote from: Radiant on Wed 08/08/2007 20:27:12
Really? I'd find that impractical. I move room files around all the time to speed up compile time (i.e. moving all files not needed at the moment to a temp folder).
Hmm interesting, I'll have a think about that.
Quotethis version is going to be fully compatable with vista right? Last time I tried to get AGS 2.72 (compiled executables, not the editor, AGSEdit) to function, I couldn't get it to work.
Yes, I am running it on Vista and it's fine. The only known issue is that most Vista graphics drivers don't support 320x200, so you'll need to up the resolution in the game Setup, or run the game windowed.
I'm working on some Vista enhancements like support for the Game Explorer in the next beta.
Quote1. I notice that the character and view tabs don't update to use the currently selected char/view in the list, and this would be far more efficient and nice than having to open a tab for each one you want to check and edit.
Well, that would go against the overall design of the new editor, which is to allow you to have lots of things open at once and flick between them.
Quote2. The undo option in the room editor only seems to undo the last pixel you erased/drew even if you did a continuous line.
Well spotted, it doesn't work properly with the freehand tool. I'll look into it.
QuoteAm I wrong in the observation that there's currently no way to edit hotspot/region/objects in the rooms aside from going into the room script manually or clicking on the properties button? It's rather unintuitive at present and could use some work, like a right click option for hotspots/regions/objects/etc that will take you to the relevant function in the room script (or double clicking them).
I'm not really sure what you mean. Since a hotspot/object/etc has various different events, you need to be able to select which one to edit. Perhaps the "..." button on the events pane is a bit small though, would anyone else want a right-click menu to edit scripts for these things?
Quote4. Currently, clicking on a property for anything in a room takes you to the top of the room script file rather than seeking to the relevant function.
I can't replicate this problem. Has anyone else had issues with this?
Quote5. Are the x-ed out areas in the Palette list supposed to be blank? If so then why do colors show up for them on the properties window? Also, you can't change the x-ed graphic to a color if you pick one.
This works the same way as the existing 2.72 palette editor.
Quote1. A rectangular box zoom feature for painting hotspots. Yeah, we could import them all as masks but then why have the ability inside of ags at all? I've always had difficulty with this aspect since the lack of zoom makes it very difficult to make an accurate mask for areas with dynamic shapes and this would be a welcome addition.
Yeah, zoom for room areas has been on the to-do list for a while, I should really get round to it.
Quote2. Box/Ellipsoid shapes as draw tools. Would make most walkable areas trivial to implement.
3. Erase with right click rather than having to select the erase tool. This is more intuitive and easy to work with when you've just made a little mistake drawing. The erase would work based on the currently selected brush, so if you picked an ellipsoid it would erase the area of the ellipsoid you drew.
8. A giant picture of you in the help selection flipping everyone off.
Good ideas, I'll look into them.
Quote4. Erase entire region/hotspot/etc with Shift+right click on the target.
5. Undo with 'U' and possibly some undo levels (wouldn't need many).
6. R,G,B ranges from 0-255 in the color finder for text color and such would be nice.
7. Are you planning to re-implement a preview window for view animations at some point?
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have a think about these.
Quote from: Pumaman on Thu 09/08/2007 19:16:58
Quote4. Currently, clicking on a property for anything in a room takes you to the top of the room script file rather than seeking to the relevant function.
I can't replicate this problem. Has anyone else had issues with this?
It also happened to me, but I can't remember what were the conditions.
I'm not sure if it's just my computer (as I do seem to find a lot of non-replicable, nonexistent problems with the autocomplete) but autocomplete doesn't appear to like functions that return a dynamic array. I'm getting a lot of strange values in autocomplete and simply telling it to ignore the functions seems to fix the problem. Again, this may just be my computer.
Great work CJ! Everything is working great so far ;D
Quote from: Pumaman on Thu 09/08/2007 19:16:58
QuoteAm I wrong in the observation that there's currently no way to edit hotspot/region/objects in the rooms aside from going into the room script manually or clicking on the properties button? It's rather unintuitive at present and could use some work, like a right click option for hotspots/regions/objects/etc that will take you to the relevant function in the room script (or double clicking them).
I'm not really sure what you mean. Since a hotspot/object/etc has various different events, you need to be able to select which one to edit. Perhaps the "..." button on the events pane is a bit small though, would anyone else want a right-click menu to edit scripts for these things?
Right-click menu of interactions that jumps to their script entries? Sounds nice...
I just want to add that I am very happy to see the "export" function concerning backgrounds. Now I never have to be worried about loosing the orig background. Great idea. Very usefull :)
I read that the #define preprocessor function can be used in headers. Can the #include preprocessor function in v2.8 also be used? I checked out the included help file, but it looks outdated.
I don't really want to test #include w/o being sure that it's included in AGS's framework (just in case it has to be placed in a certain area or will cause the program to crash)
Or does import serve the same function?
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Thu 09/08/2007 21:23:35
I'm not sure if it's just my computer (as I do seem to find a lot of non-replicable, nonexistent problems with the autocomplete) but autocomplete doesn't appear to like functions that return a dynamic array. I'm getting a lot of strange values in autocomplete and simply telling it to ignore the functions seems to fix the problem. Again, this may just be my computer.
Hmm yes, autocomplete doesn't seem to be working properly with functions that return dynamic arrays. I'll look into it.
QuoteI read that the #define preprocessor function can be used in headers. Can the #include preprocessor function in v2.8 also be used? I checked out the included help file, but it looks outdated.
No, AGS does not support #include. If you want to use an additional script, simply create an extra Script and its header will automatically included into the global script.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 12/08/2007 01:06:15
No, AGS does not support #include. If you want to use an additional script, simply create an extra Script and its header will automatically included into the global script.
I've got four files, the global script, the global header, my_script.asc, and my_script.ash. Do you mean that the header file 'my_script.ash' is automatically recognized by the global script invisibly? I say this because I can't seem to find any indication that the global script 'refers' to my_script.ash in the global script file, so I'm kind of confused as to whether there should be a reference pointing to my_script.asc from the global script and it wasn't made, or if the entire process is invisible and it's just assumed that global script goes, 'hi other scripts! I can see you and use all your functionality automatically. Nifty, eh?'
I'm probably just being a little overcomplicated about this, since I'm learning C++ and the MSVB linker freaks out if other scripts are not #included with and the functions within those scripts are used in main().
Also, autocomplete sometimes replaces my variables with functions while I'm typing, which is getting kind of annoying when I type something like star[blah] and I start typing the left bracket, and wind up with StartCutscene[blah]. It's not a really serious issue and can be easily retyped (differently, though!), but it can get kind of annoying.
You don't create new scripts outside of AGS. Within the AGS editor, right click on "Scripts" then choose "New script". Then AGS will automagically say "HI SKRIPTZ!" ;)
QuoteWell, that would go against the overall design of the new editor, which is to allow you to have lots of things open at once and flick between them.
I'm not sure I agree, Chris. On the one hand I see your point (more tabs, more things open = good) but on the other I don't see a problem with updating the currently selected tab if you're parsing down a view list/inventory list/whatnot. Virtually all programs I know of allow this, anyway? It would make quick checks/fixes faster since you wouldn't need to open a new tab just to check something really quickly. Ultimately I think it improves the overall usability of your software and convenience and that translates to happy thoughts!
QuoteI'm not really sure what you mean. Since a hotspot/object/etc has various different events, you need to be able to select which one to edit. Perhaps the "..." button on the events pane is a bit small though, would anyone else want a right-click menu to edit scripts for these things?
Couldn't a right-click on hotspot/region/object menu (or double-clicking) take you to the relevant code block by way of a list (interactions, mouseover, etc)? Since you can click on hotspots/objects/etc to select between them this seems a bit faster and more intuitive to me than going to the properties window. In fact, being able to select much of the functionality relevant to the hotspot would be nice (like baselines) from a popup menu (or shortcuts). I suppose you could alternately implement a submenu in the rooms editor that would feature these options based on the current mode?
Thanks for looking at my suggestions!
QuoteI've got four files, the global script, the global header, my_script.asc, and my_script.ash. Do you mean that the header file 'my_script.ash' is automatically recognized by the global script invisibly?
Yes.
QuoteI'm probably just being a little overcomplicated about this, since I'm learning C++ and the MSVB linker freaks out if other scripts are not #included with and the functions within those scripts are used in main().
AGS is not C++ :)
The language syntax is similar, but it's a completely different compiler; therefore you can't really make assumptions about how AGS works based on C++.
QuoteAlso, autocomplete sometimes replaces my variables with functions while I'm typing, which is getting kind of annoying when I type something like star[blah] and I start typing the left bracket, and wind up with StartCutscene[blah]. It's not a really serious issue and can be easily retyped (differently, though!), but it can get kind of annoying.
What's are people's opinions on autocomplete in 2.8? It's slightly more aggressive than the 2.72 version, but is it helpful or does it tend to get in the way?
QuoteOn the one hand I see your point (more tabs, more things open = good) but on the other I don't see a problem with updating the currently selected tab if you're parsing down a view list/inventory list/whatnot. Virtually all programs I know of allow this, anyway?
That would be one way of doing it, but it would basically mean that you could only have one view / inventory item / etc open at a time -- therefore if you wanted to edit two GUIs and flick between them you wouldn't be able to do so easily. I'm interested to hear what other people think about this.
QuoteCouldn't a right-click on hotspot/region/object menu (or double-clicking) take you to the relevant code block by way of a list (interactions, mouseover, etc)?
Ironically, since I've now implemented your suggestion of right-click erasing the room areas, it can't now be used for a context menu...
Anyway, beta 7 is up. This includes some Vista integration features, and some other bits and bobs which I hope you'll find useful.
I think this might be the last beta before going to Release Candidate stage, if no major issues are reported.
QuoteReally? I'd find that impractical. I move room files around all the time to speed up compile time (i.e. moving all files not needed at the moment to a temp folder).
Hopefully the new, faster Run command in beta 7 should make this unnecessary.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 12/08/2007 15:10:05QuoteAlso, autocomplete sometimes replaces my variables with functions while I'm typing, which is getting kind of annoying when I type something like star[blah] and I start typing the left bracket, and wind up with StartCutscene[blah]. It's not a really serious issue and can be easily retyped (differently, though!), but it can get kind of annoying.
What's are people's opinions on autocomplete in 2.8? It's slightly more aggressive than the 2.72 version, but is it helpful or does it tend to get in the way?
I've found it useful when if I want to type, say, "String.Format" I can simply put "Str.Format" and the autocomplete will have inserted the "ing" for me. However there are cases where I may have a String named "text" and I type "text =" only to find that it has been replaced with "TextBox =". The only way I found to get around it is to type some junk value at the end like "text* " then delete it, and then continue about my business.
It's hard to say whether this is more of a hindrance than it is useful as, like I said, I've found the current implementation to be useful. Perhaps you could simply tell the autocomplete to leave things alone when I type a space (or an opening bracket for arrays)?
One thing I definite dislike though is that autocomplete appears to be filling in values even within a string-literal. So I may be trying to type "this is some text on a label" but instead I'll end up with "this is some TextBox on a label". If nothing else I think this alone should be fixed, but that's just my opinion on the matter. ;)
QuoteIronically, since I've now implemented your suggestion of right-click erasing the room areas, it can't now be used for a context menu...
Agreed, though you could probably implement it as a submenu/buttons in rooms->objects and such, right?
Quote
That would be one way of doing it, but it would basically mean that you could only have one view / inventory item / etc open at a time -- therefore if you wanted to edit two GUIs and flick between them you wouldn't be able to do so easily.
Perhaps you misunderstand me (or I you), but I don't see why being able to update the currently selected tab with new content would affect opening new/multiple tabs and switching between those tabs? I could see someone accidentally selecting something on the right pane and switching the focused tab to it, but as long as what they were doing wasn't erased it would be no different from many editors I've used. If I understand you right you could just have the sidebar where you select views,etc deselect when you switch between tabs to prevent it from updating all the tabs ;).
Just played with the new rectangle and erase options int beta 7 and they're nice! One thing I noticed though is that if you create or delete a rectangle from Right-to-Left it doesn't show the rectangle being drawn. A few more feature improvements and the room editor will be about as user-friendly as it gets. Erase now works properly.
Edit: Right Click erase only works in hotspot mode. It doesn't work properly in walk-behinds, walkable areas or regions. Edit2: Ignore this, my right mouse button decided to break suddenly :(.
Something I've been wondering about for some time is how difficult it would be to implement a mannequin-style display for characters you want to appear in a room, sort of a drag-and-drop type thing to bring a character from the character list (or from the room editor menu if you prefer) and pop them into a room and position them, that way you could place them precisely where they need to be on walkable areas. This would only require one frame being brought over, obviously, and would be both a visual aide and a means to quickly set the x,y and room position of characters without having to guess their position in a room and then adjust it a bit at a time. Would this be tedious to implement?
Aha, I've found the problem with the room scripts not seeking properly: it's the
NAME property! When you
import a game the hotspots aren't assigned default names if they don't have names already -- but it does make generic names for the interactions like hotspot1_Interact, hotspot2_Look, etc. The NAME field needs this generic name convention applied to it as well so when you seek to the function it can find it ^_^.
Edit: Just to test something I deleted the imported game and re-imported from the original and now it seeks to the functions fine. This must have been a problem with beta 5 or 6 that carried over I guess?
BUG?!
I just spotted a big one: I imported a copy of my game to Beta7, played a bit, saved, then quit. No save games were found in the /compiled directory, and when I relaunched the game, no save games there, too.
To make sure I made a "one-room" game from scrap, saved, and the same result: No save game.
Running on Windows XP Home with Service Pack2 and all necessary net stuff installed.
Regarding the auto-complete issue I can see two alternatives:
-The User puts e.g. a underscore in front of all their own names.
-The auto-complete is changed so it won't until one presses the enter key.
About the tab-behavior mentioned by ProgZ:
Sounds like it should be implemented optionally, so everybody can choose the method they prefer.
Having multiple tabs is fine, but I can also see it getting in the way.
Quote from: Ghost on Sun 12/08/2007 16:23:22
BUG?!
I just spotted a big one: I imported a copy of my game to Beta7, played a bit, saved, then quit. No save games were found in the /compiled directory, and when I relaunched the game, no save games there, too.
Did you just *tested* the game in the editor?
Check this update:
Quote
* The "Run" and "Run without debugger" commands have been optimised so that they don't build the game EXE file, but instead load required files directly from the game folder. This means that the Run command is much faster than the old Test Game command in 2.72. To create the game EXE, use the Build EXE (F7) command.
I just tested this, too.
Initially, the game saves ended up fine in "My Documents".
After erasing "Save games folder name", I had to "Rebuild all files" first, though, before they were saved to the game's folder.
QuoteOne thing I definite dislike though is that autocomplete appears to be filling in values even within a string-literal.
Yeah I've noticed that, it doesn't seem to be recognising it as a string literal until you type the closing speech mark. I'll investigate.
QuotePerhaps you misunderstand me (or I you), but I don't see why being able to update the currently selected tab with new content would affect opening new/multiple tabs and switching between those tabs?
Perhaps we're getting our wires crossed, could you re-phrase your suggestion? My interpretation of what you said was that if I already had a View tab open, then if I double-clicked a different view in the project tree it would replace the existing open tab with the new one?
QuoteOne thing I noticed though is that if you create or delete a rectangle from Right-to-Left it doesn't show the rectangle being drawn
Good point, I'll look into it.
QuoteSomething I've been wondering about for some time is how difficult it would be to implement a mannequin-style display for characters you want to appear in a room, sort of a drag-and-drop type thing to bring a character from the character list (or from the room editor menu if you prefer) and pop them into a room and position them, that way you could place them precisely where they need to be on walkable areas.
I can see how that would be useful. It probably won't make it into 2.8 but it's a good suggestion for future.
QuoteAha, I've found the problem with the room scripts not seeking properly: it's the NAME property! When you import a game the hotspots aren't assigned default names if they don't have names already -- but it does make generic names for the interactions like hotspot1_Interact, hotspot2_Look, etc. The NAME field needs this generic name convention applied to it as well so when you seek to the function it can find it ^_^.
Ahhh thanks, yes there does seem to be a problem there. I'll look into it.
QuoteOne last thing. Am I missing the area where you select a new hotspot/walkbehind/etc color to draw, because I can't seem to find a place on the room editor to switch to a new one? Or to add a new object? :\
The drop-down list box above the property grid has all the available hotspot/walkbehind colours; to add an object, right-click on the background where you want it to be added.
These will be covered by the updating of the tutorial which I'll do for the next beta.
QuoteI just spotted a big one: I imported a copy of my game to Beta7, played a bit, saved, then quit. No save games were found in the /compiled directory, and when I relaunched the game, no save games there, too.
With beta 7, the default behaviour is to put save games in My Documents (see the Save Games Folder Name option in General Settings). Because F5 no longer re-builds the EXE file, if you launch it once by using Run in the editor, and again by double-clicking the EXE file in the Compiled folder, they'll be looking in different places.
Either use the F7 Build option to rebuild the EXE file, or just launch it by using the F5 Run option each time, and it should be looking in the same place as where it saved it.
Maybe it would be a good idea for the editor to delete the game EXE file when you use the Run option, to make sure you don't try and launch it by accident and wonder where all your changes have gone.
QuotePerhaps we're getting our wires crossed, could you re-phrase your suggestion? My interpretation of what you said was that if I already had a View tab open, then if I double-clicked a different view in the project tree it would replace the existing open tab with the new one?
Ah, not quite what I meant. What I meant was in the currently open tab if you single clicked one of the entries in the project tree it would auto-update the
currently open tab with the new information. So if, for example, you had a view tab open you could parse down the view list with single clicks (or the arrow keys) and it would update the currently active tab with the new view. Obviously if no tabs are open it wouldn't do anything, so no harm there. This also wouldn't affect the double-click to open a new tab setup you have implemented already.
Quoteto add an object, right-click on the background where you want it to be added.
Yeah, I edited this out of my post when I discovered my right mouse button had broken ;\.
Thanks!
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 12/08/2007 17:05:26
With beta 7, the default behaviour is to put save games in My Documents (see the Save Games Folder Name option in General Settings). Because F5 no longer re-builds the EXE file, if you launch it once by using Run in the editor, and again by double-clicking the EXE file in the Compiled folder, they'll be looking in different places.
All right. After I entered a name for a save game folder, everything worked nice. The folder was created in My Documents, and saved games where
correctly found when running from within AGS and when running the exe from the compiled folder.
Before I entered a name, though, it was still impossible to find the save games when running the exe from the compiled folder, and there was no folder in My Documents. Does that mean that there MUST be a folder name entered in General Settings? In that case I suggest setting it to a default.
Or do I still get something wrong? :(
Quote from: KhrisMUC on Sun 12/08/2007 16:48:38
I just tested this, too.
Initially, the game saves ended up fine in "My Documents".
After erasing "Save games folder name", I had to "Rebuild all files" first, though, before they were saved to the game's folder.
QuoteWhat I meant was in the currently open tab if you single clicked one of the entries in the project tree it would auto-update the currently open tab with the new information.
Ah I see what you mean, yeah that could work. Not sure if it could confuse some people though, I'll have a think about it.
QuoteBefore I entered a name, though, it was still impossible to find the save games when running the exe from the compiled folder, and there was no folder in My Documents. Does that mean that there MUST be a folder name entered in General Settings? In that case I suggest setting it to a default.
No, you don't have to set a folder name. But the save games that disappeared, did you save them when running from the Compiled folder, or when running using the editor's Run command? When running with the editor's F5 command, the save games will get saved to the game folder instead of the Compiled folder.
I'd strongly recommend everybody uses the save folder name as it means that if two different people use the same computer, their save games don't interfere with each other. Additionally, there are some issues with Vista when applications try to write to Program Files.
Just two small things:
1. I think it has been suggested before but wouldn't it be a bit more intuitive if the closing "X" button for tabs came directly after the tabs name (Firefox-style) and not at the other end of the screen? Also, is the only keyboard shortcut available for closing tabs "STRG+F4"? Because that is really uncomfortable, especially if you need it so often.
2. Also concerning keyboard shortcuts: Is there a list of all shortcuts in the manual? I tried a search for "keyboard" and "shortcut" but found nothing. I think that would really be helpful.
And I also encountered a strange error in the view pane when I was messing around with a new "Default Game". However, I was not able to reproduce it. Click picture for fullscreen.
(http://stefan.lohner-net.de/AGS/ags28/error_preview.jpg) (http://stefan.lohner-net.de/AGS/ags28/error.jpg)
I suggested CTRL (STRG?)+F4 because that's how most tabbed applications do it. I wasn't aware of any other key combos that worked. I agree an X on every tab would be a nice option.
I think he's using a MAC (as suggested by his captured image) so he may need to use some weird keys like STRG (? well, I'm never familiar with MACs).
Anyway, Ctrl-F4 is comfortable for me, as softwares I mostly use (Opera and some others) use this key for closing Tabs, I don't know if it would be annoying to press STRG-F4 on a MAC keyboard though (due to the placement of the keys?).
Quote
I suggested CTRL (STRG?)+F4 because that's how most tabbed applications do it. I wasn't aware of any other key combos that worked. I agree an X on every tab would be a nice option.
I don't know about this though, I tried turning this option on once in Opera and I hated it, so I turned it off and am content with the X on the far right. Maybe it can be made into an option though.
Quote from: AGA on Mon 13/08/2007 11:07:08
I suggested CTRL (STRG?)+F4 because that's how most tabbed applications do it. I wasn't aware of any other key combos that worked. I agree an X on every tab would be a nice option.
Control-W is also very standard (and slightly more convenient), as is Alt-F Alt-C (for file > close)
Quote from: Gilbot V7000a on Mon 13/08/2007 11:29:15
I think he's using a MAC (as suggested by his captured image) so he may need to use some weird keys like STRG (? well, I'm never familiar with MACs).
STRG is no weird MAC key, it is the name for the CTRL key on a german keyboard. So STRG+F4 == CTRL+F4
Just to clarify some things:
-Yes, STRG is CTRL on my German keyboard.
-No, I'm not using a Mac, just WinXP with the Flyakite OS X (http://www.flyakiteosx.com/) design.
-I agree with Radiant that Control-W would be more convenient (I have very small hands ... if you really want to see me struggling with the CTRL-F4 combination you may click here (http://stefan.lohner-net.de/AGS/ags28/keyboard.jpg) ;)
You could hold down CTRL with any digit of your choice in your left hand and tap F4 with any digit of your choice, the most popular one being the index.
It's a workaround. Doesn't require any extra modules or plugins.
Quote1. I think it has been suggested before but wouldn't it be a bit more intuitive if the closing "X" button for tabs came directly after the tabs name (Firefox-style) and not at the other end of the screen? Also, is the only keyboard shortcut available for closing tabs "STRG+F4"? Because that is really uncomfortable, especially if you need it so often.
I'm not sure abotu having the Close button on every tab, I don't like the way Firefox does that and personally I think it wastes too much space on the tab-bar. However, I guess I could look into adding it as an option for people who like it.
As for the keyboard shortcut, I can look into adding Ctrl+W as well, since as Radiant says it's the other common shortcut for this.
Quote2. Also concerning keyboard shortcuts: Is there a list of all shortcuts in the manual? I tried a search for "keyboard" and "shortcut" but found nothing. I think that would really be helpful.
Well, the keyboard shorcuts generally correspond to menu options, and so the shortcut key is shown on the menu. Ctrl+F4 is the only one I can think of that's "hidden" (though it is standard Windows behaviour).
QuoteAnd I also encountered a strange error in the view pane when I was messing around with a new "Default Game". However, I was not able to reproduce it. Click picture for fullscreen.
Hmm, interesting. Did this occur as soon as you opened the View window, or did it just randomly happen later?
QuoteHmm, interesting. Did this occur as soon as you opened the View window, or did it just randomly happen later?
It happened as soon as I opened the view window. This was also the very first time I opened the view window after downloading, extracting and starting AGS 2.8 beta 7 for the first time.
As a fellow Vista user, I really appreciate the built-in Games Explorer support. :) It sure is much easier than manually having the installer integrate the game by itself. However, the Developer Website field doesn't seem to work, since I don't get any link on the Developer Name, regardless of what URL I put in it. Also it'd be nice if we could add our own "boxart" like other games have, since they're easier to make than fancy icons.
I also remembered, given that Vista doesn't like having programs writing into the Program Files, how will the AGS Game Settings utility work?
Also, there's a bug with room importing. If you import a room with a non-standard name (not in the roomX.crm format), the game will stiull import it but not find it later on since it'll keep looking for roomX.crm.
As for some more crazy feature requests:
- Could you add some shortcuts to the tree view, for example, the Delete key to delete selected items and clicking on selected items to Rename them? (it's just how I instinctively do it before I remember I have to do it through the context menu)
- Some kind of built-in sound import. By this I mean being able to add music/sound/speech straight from the editor, instead of having to copy and rename them manually through Windows Explorer. Having them show up in the treeview and play them from there would also make them easier to reference during scripting.
QuoteIt happened as soon as I opened the view window. This was also the very first time I opened the view window after downloading, extracting and starting AGS 2.8 beta 7 for the first time.
Hmm, strange. I'll see if I can reproduce it.
QuoteHowever, the Developer Website field doesn't seem to work, since I don't get any link on the Developer Name, regardless of what URL I put in it. Also it'd be nice if we could add our own "boxart" like other games have, since they're easier to make than fancy icons.
Yeah, the Developer Website (and Game Description) are rather strange, since the Game Explorer asks you for that data, but then doesn't seem to do anything with it. Perhaps they'll use those fields in Vista SP1 ;)
As for the boxart, that's a good point, I'll see if I can add support for that.
QuoteI also remembered, given that Vista doesn't like having programs writing into the Program Files, how will the AGS Game Settings utility work?
That's a good point. It will still work, but Vista does some "backwards compatibility" stuff involving creating a fake Program Files folder in your User directory and putting the files there instead, which is all rather messy. I'll have to think if there's an easy way to handle the game setup in this context -- perhaps I should move the settings to the registry.
QuoteAlso, there's a bug with room importing. If you import a room with a non-standard name (not in the roomX.crm format), the game will stiull import it but not find it later on since it'll keep looking for roomX.crm.
Interesting, I'll look into it.
Quote- Could you add some shortcuts to the tree view, for example, the Delete key to delete selected items and clicking on selected items to Rename them? (it's just how I instinctively do it before I remember I have to do it through the context menu)
That's a reasonable request, I'll look into it.
Quote- Some kind of built-in sound import. By this I mean being able to add music/sound/speech straight from the editor, instead of having to copy and rename them manually through Windows Explorer. Having them show up in the treeview and play them from there would also make them easier to reference during scripting.
I'd like to do this, yes; sound and music deserve to be properly represented in the editor. However, time is dragging on, so I might postpone that for AGS 2.81.
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 14/08/2007 19:12:14QuoteI also remembered, given that Vista doesn't like having programs writing into the Program Files, how will the AGS Game Settings utility work?
That's a good point. It will still work, but Vista does some "backwards compatibility" stuff involving creating a fake Program Files folder in your User directory and putting the files there instead, which is all rather messy. I'll have to think if there's an easy way to handle the game setup in this context -- perhaps I should move the settings to the registry.
I don't own Vista, and I don't really intend to get it until absolutely necessary. However compatibility is very important to me, as to anyone who wants their game distributed widely. I have been writing a module that stores additional settings in the acsetup.cfg file (such as sound volume and gamma setting as well as game-specific configurations). By reading them from the .cfg on game start as well as on restore, I avoid the problem of user settings being changed back when restoring an old savegame.
As I understand it from your discription, this method will still work due to the backwards compatibility, but is somehow less than optimal? Should I rethink the feature if I want to guarantee compatibility with Vista and/or future versions of AGS? Obviously it wouldn't be possible to read/write settings to the registry from within an AGS game without the use of a plugin.
QuoteAs I understand it from your discription, this method will still work due to the backwards compatibility, but is somehow less than optimal? Should I rethink the feature if I want to guarantee compatibility with Vista and/or future versions of AGS? Obviously it wouldn't be possible to read/write settings to the registry from within an AGS game without the use of a plugin.
It should still work ok, it's just that Microsoft have indicated that the compatibility could be withdrawn in a few years time.
What I could look into is adding some sort of $SAVEGAMEDIR$ tag to File.Open so that you could write your own files to the save game folder (which would always be writable).
QuoteI don't own Vista, and I don't really intend to get it until absolutely necessary.
So that you can see what the Game Explorer is and what will happen in Vista if you enable it for your game, here are some screenshots.
First, the "Games" option on the start menu is what the user clicks to get to the Game Explorer:
(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/GameExplorer1.jpg)
Once your game has been registered with the game explorer, it'll show up like this:
(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/GameExplorer2.jpg)
If you supply a "Save games folder name" and turn on Save Game Screenshots and Enhanced Save Games in your game settings, then the player can right-click the game in the Game Explorer, choose "Saved Games", and get taken here:
(http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/images/GameExplorer3.jpg)
where they can double-click a saved game to launch it.
Thanks for the super quick reply and the elaborate description of the Vista features, CJ! The enhanced save game feature looks really, really neat. What will the sequence of savegames loaded through this feature be? Will game_start() be run before the savegame is actually loaded?
Also, just to understand how everything works - how does the game get registered in Game Explorer? Is this handled by the game's install program, or is it up to the user? Or does Vista register the game automatically the first time it runs?
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 14/08/2007 21:27:46What I could look into is adding some sort of $SAVEGAMEDIR$ tag to File.Open so that you could write your own files to the save game folder (which would always be writable).
Oh, that would be an excellent solution since it would also allow multiple users to each have their own game settings.
QuoteWhat will the sequence of savegames loaded through this feature be? Will game_start() be run before the savegame is actually loaded?
game_start will not be run, because a new game is not starting -- it will just resume from the save point.
Quote
Also, just to understand how everything works - how does the game get registered in Game Explorer? Is this handled by the game's install program, or is it up to the user? Or does Vista register the game automatically the first time it runs?
Look up "Game Explorer" in the manual that comes with beta 7, it's explained there. Basically you need to get your install program to run the game exe with a special parameter that registers it with the game explorer.
I thoght I won't see the day when I come back to the AGS community :) (your a grate bunch !).
Anyway to the topic:
I was searching and searching for the interaction editor?was it obselite or am I not finding it anymore(or did AGS turn only to scripting while I was away ???).
Cheers Chris,keep up the good work!
Thanks. The game_start thing can probably be worked around in some way (by adding some extra code to the on_event(eEventRestoreGame) script) - currently I write the RawTime to an external file in game_start to be able to monitor the time of the current play session across restores.
The help file (as always :)) clarified things a great deal. I only have one last question - not necessarily to CJ but to any Vista users: Does Game Explorer display the entire content of the save game folder or only the actual save game files?
Ohhhh, really like the Enhanced Save Games.
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 14/08/2007 19:12:14Yeah, the Developer Website (and Game Description) are rather strange, since the Game Explorer asks you for that data, but then doesn't seem to do anything with it. Perhaps they'll use those fields in Vista SP1 ;)
Yeah I've read that the Game Description will be added later (probably because the current Games Explorer has no room for it :p) but the Developer Website link should work, since other games use it:
(http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/5013/vistadevlinkbd0.png)
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 14/08/2007 19:12:14That's a good point. It will still work, but Vista does some "backwards compatibility" stuff involving creating a fake Program Files folder in your User directory and putting the files there instead, which is all rather messy. I'll have to think if there's an easy way to handle the game setup in this context -- perhaps I should move the settings to the registry.
Or you could just store it in ProgramData or AppData (the former for universal settings or the latter for user-based settings) like most games do. The AGS Game Utility could use a redesign anyways (post-AGS2.8 ) since it's become rather lacking and cluttered with time.
Quote from: lowesalex on Tue 14/08/2007 22:15:22
I thoght I won't see the day when I come back to the AGS community :) (your a grate bunch !).
Anyway to the topic:
I was searching and searching for the interaction editor?was it obselite or am I not finding it anymore(or did AGS turn only to scripting while I was away ???).
Cheers Chris,keep up the good work!
The interaction editor has been removed in AGS 2.8.
Quote from: GarageGothic on Tue 14/08/2007 22:23:13
Thanks. The game_start thing can probably be worked around in some way (by adding some extra code to the on_event(eEventRestoreGame) script) - currently I write the RawTime to an external file in game_start to be able to monitor the time of the current play session across restores.
The help file (as always :)) clarified things a great deal. I only have one last question - not necessarily to CJ but to any Vista users: Does Game Explorer display the entire content of the save game folder or only the actual save game files?
It'll show whatever you stick in the Save Games folder.
Edit: Forgot image, d'oh!
I got that the ine interaction editor is gone in this 2.8 version,but what is the main reason?or(maybe I didn't get it)maybe there is an alterantive way which isn't documented yet.
I don't see a reason way I should use the scripting tab when wanting to make simple click and text newbie games while advanced scripters say grate editor go on.]
But as I said before I might be wrong so correct me if I am wrong :).
In other words could thiere be in rooms > "room nubre >event editor
a drop down columb which gives you the basic interactions ?
for example:I paint a hotspot and click on events button then we see three columbs ,one represents the interation name(which exists) the second is the drop down option and clicking the triangle shows me option like writing message ,animation,etx, and the last will be the scripting opton or alternative is the interaction editor ::)
Thanks
Quote from: SupSuper on Wed 15/08/2007 03:42:08It'll show whatever you stick in the Save Games folder.
Thanks for clearing that up!
Quote from: lowesalex on Wed 15/08/2007 08:18:51
I got that the ine interaction editor is gone in this 2.8 version,but what is the main reason?or(maybe I didn't get it)maybe there is an alterantive way which isn't documented yet.
I don't see a reason way I should use the scripting tab when wanting to make simple click and text newbie games while advanced scripters say grate editor go on.]
But as I said before I might be wrong so correct me if I am wrong :).
In other words could thiere be in rooms > "room nubre >event editor
a drop down columb which gives you the basic interactions ?
for example:I paint a hotspot and click on events button then we see three columbs ,one represents the interation name(which exists) the second is the drop down option and clicking the triangle shows me option like writing message ,animation,etx, and the last will be the scripting opton or alternative is the interaction editor ::)
Thanks
Well simple interactions should become simple lines in scripting. ;)
I think the problem with the Interaction Editor was that it was becoming obsolete and very hard to update, so CJ scrapped it for now. Maybe we'll get a new one later. For now, interactions from 2.72 and former get converted to scripts in 2.8.
QuoteI was searching and searching for the interaction editor?was it obselite or am I not finding it anymore
Yes, the inteaction editor has been scrapped. I had a long, hard think about this but basically I felt that the Interaction Editor in 2.72 was too simple to really be able to make a game with, and that it gave a false sense of "easiness" of game creation to people who would very quickly come across something that it didn't support, and get frustrated with it.
I think the way forward is to have some sort of auto script-generating tool (maybe as a plugin) that works in a similar way to the interaction editor but it basically creates the script code for you.
Quotethe Developer Website link should work, since other games use it
Hmm yes, I see now. Perhaps it's like the parental controls and will only work if you have a digital signature (possible I suppose, to stop people hacking the game to redirect the URL to a porn site or something).
Thanks for explaining chris.
So before it becomes an official release change the tutorial only in the part to explain how to make a script.
Sorry but I just needed to let it out ;D
Where are the global messages?could thiere be a link to them,or even better when you click in the scrip lets say...on message 999 it jump strait to it so you can change it.
This is just a request but a frequent action in the game making process is to show text when using an interaction and go to room.
Couldn't it be possible not having the interaction editor but these two tasks?
It could come in handy when you try to correct spelling mistakes.
Without the interaction editor, there's no point having global messages.
It's much quicker to just type:
Display("It looks like a door");
than to open up Global Messages, add a new message, type "It looks like a door", go back to the interaction editor, add a "Display Message" command, type the message number in.
If you want a global string, you'll need to declare a new string in the top portion of your global script, export and import it.
I'm glad this piece of software is becoming more and more like a REAL programming utility. It's easier for those of us who program, and it introduces newbies to a very new idea.
How hard would it be to add a possibility for 160 x 200 resolution?
I dream of making a AGI type game, with the traditional resolution.
EDIT: Sure I could use AGI studio, but then it wouldn't be an AGS game, and I couldn't live with that.
we have the AGI plugin:
http://www.americangirlscouts.org/agsresources/AGS%20resources/plugins/ags_agi.rar
Oh, thank you!
The problems in my previous post (if you can remember back that far) have been addressed.
Currently, I have only one suggestion:
Can you make the room editor resizeable?
I run my desktop at 1280x1024 and the rooms I am creating are 1200x700.
The current room editor window only shows a small portion of the image with a lot of wasted screen space.
Example:
(http://www.nbepc.org/images/image.png)
(Image was reduced to 750x600 to make it forum friendly.)
It would be nice to be able to expand the viewport to fit the red rectangle.
Edit: Nevermind, the viewport resized itself the next time I started AGS. I assume that if I closed and re-opened the room editor it would have had the same effect.
Edit: It seems a lot of the tabs don't update until you close and re-open them.
Hmm, how did you make that happen? The pane should resize as you resize the main editor window, and it certainly does that for me...
Is it intended that AGS2.8 will run on Win ME/98? I got a error creating a default game when I tried the latest beta. The error message mentions something about some NT thing not being present. I'm on a linux computer at the moment so I can't quote the error exactly. If it's supposed to run on ME/98 then I will gladly recreate the error message and post it here.
Did you install .NET framework 2.0 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856EACB-4362-4B0D-8EDD-AAB15C5E04F5&displaylang=en) on the computer?
Quote from: RickJ on Sun 19/08/2007 13:48:02
Is it intended that AGS2.8 will run on Win ME/98? I got a error creating a default game when I tried the latest beta. The error message mentions something about some NT thing not being present. I'm on a linux computer at the moment so I can't quote the error exactly. If it's supposed to run on ME/98 then I will gladly recreate the error message and post it here.
Hmm, it should work in Windows 98, but then I don't have a copy of that any more to test it with. As GarageGothic says, make sure you've got .NET 2.0 installed, and if that doesn't fix it please do post the error message here.
Has anyone else tried to run 2.8 on Windows 98?
Anyway, beta 8 is now up. This fixes up various things, and includes a new version of the tutorials that have been fully updated to reflect 2.8.
I'm getting the feeling that it's almost time to move onto Release Candidate stage. Just out of interest, is anyone actually using the 2.8 betas to properly work on a game, and if so how've you found it compared to 2.72?
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 19/08/2007 16:22:32
Hmm, it should work in Windows 98, but then I don't have a copy of that any more to test it with. As GarageGothic says, make sure you've got .NET 2.0 installed, and if that doesn't fix it please do post the error message here.
Has anyone else tried to run 2.8 on Windows 98?
The only Win-ME computer I have at my disposel doesn't allow installation of .NET (yes, it should be possible, but trying to install .NET will crash te computer, and won't install it). So technically: no, I don't try it, because I couldn't.
Not really usefull to you, but worth mentioning (I thought) ;)
Misj'
Ps. It's also the only computer I know that actually runs stable on ME (and more stable on ME than on 98)...so it's a weird computer anyway.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sat 18/08/2007 20:14:39
Hmm, how did you make that happen? The pane should resize as you resize the main editor window, and it certainly does that for me...
I started a new game, changed the res to 800x600, created a new room and then loaded the background.
I run the editor at fullscreen, and the room editor pane is not manually resizable. It does resize itself if you close and re-open the room editor though.
At this point I consider it more a peculiarity than a bug, so no big deal.
I am starting to create my game with the new editor. I had a bit done in 2.72, but decided to start new when 2.8 appeared stable. (Besides, I had a bunch of poor scripting that I thought would be easier to correct by starting over than revising.)
I am downloading 2.8b8 now and will let you know how it goes.
Hmm, interesting. If you have the editor maximised, but then un-maximise it, does the pane adjust itself automatically?
Yes it does. But only after I load a background larger than the original black box.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 19/08/2007 16:22:32
Just out of interest, is anyone actually using the 2.8 betas to properly work on a game, and if so how've you found it compared to 2.72?
After having sorted the savegames (it was actually my fault that they were not found) I have fully switched to 2.8 with my current WIP.
No crashes so far.
I must admit it took a while to get adjusted to the new look and feel, more than I'd have thought. I'm a user since, what, 4 years and have of course formed some habits that must now be overcome ;) . But I really appreciate the numerous IDE improvements and the general design. It's, as I said when one of the first betas came out, a pretty large step, but I think it was really worth it. After a mere four days or so I started to adapt to the new workflow, and by now, I wouldn't like to switch back.
I think the new look will appeal to more modern and jaded newcomers, while oldtimers will appreciate 2.8 since it removes some age-old limits (take the view frames) and adds a fresh taste.
A few tiny naggings, though:
1) When importing sprites, 2.7 used to remember the size of the selection, but 2.8 resets to 0. Could this be brought back?
2) Maybe I'm just too stupid to find it, but where can I set tried and tested preferences like the folder I like to start with when importing sprites?
3) Drawing a selection rectangle is oddly unprecise. The selection doesn't seem to align to the pixels, so that often enough I find myself guessing if I'm getting the selection I want to. Zooming doesn't help, there's always part of the selection covering only half of a pixel.
4) This is merely a suggestion, but I'd like to have the option to turn off the start screen. I really like it, and it is a great help for newcomers, but when loading a game I've already worked upon, I'd rather like, say, the General Setting pane open.
Still:
My tribe has a tradition to build a statue out of any runny foodstuff to personal heroes of their choice. I've just bought a
very large jar of butter, Mr. Jones.
I love new editor!
But how to see objects? There should be a simpler way to find all objects. Like a list orMy objects are parts of the background and it's almost impossible to find one.
I'd say that new editor is extremely complex, compared to old one. But it possibly takes some time to re-orientate and I will like it more.
EDIT: Ah, stupid me. But auto-outlines (with selected one outlined different color) would be neat anyway.
EDIT2: Compilation errors tell the faulty line number, but I'm not a masochist enough to count dialog lines manually... how about a status bar/something to show current line number? In DIALOG editor? Other script editors show numbers.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 19/08/2007 16:22:32
I'm getting the feeling that it's almost time to move onto Release Candidate stage. Just out of interest, is anyone actually using the 2.8 betas to properly work on a game, and if so how've you found it compared to 2.72?
Go for it, says I. Seems ready and stable enough. And for me getting used to the new feel was rather easy. I already feel like my working with 2.8 is as efficient as it was with 2.72.
A few things that have come to mind, however:
- Start page. It's sure useful for newcomers and people hopping over from 2.72, but as it is it turns rather useless after a few starts. I was thinking if you could add some information on it, like some vital statistics (current exe size, if one is built, number of rooms, number of this and that, whatever seems important), maybe a summary of the most crucial general settings (name, game resolution, colour depth, states of sprite compression, save game screenshots, enhanced save games, etc.)
- I'd much more prefer the treeview categories closed (or collapsed?) when the game loads, as they now seem to load open
- Would it be possible to make the treeview and property grid movable to the left side of the main window?
Here is the error I get using beta-7 on a WinME machine. Yes, .NET, was installed downloaded directly from M$ and then installed.
When I start the editor and select "default game" from the new game wizard. The "Start" page is displayed and then the error box pops up displaying the following text. If I click the OK button I am returned to the open game dialog box. If I click continue there then the editor exits.
Quote
There was an eror creating your game. The error was: Feature requires Windows NT
Error Details: System.PlatformNotSupportedException: Feature requires Windows NT
at System.IO.FileSystemWatcher.StartRaisingEvents)_
at System.IO.FileSystemWatcher.set_EnableRaisingEvents(Boolean value)
at AGS.Editor.EngineCommunication.ResetWithCurrentPath()
at AGS.Editor.RefreshEditorAfterGameLoad(Game newGame)
at AGS.Editor.TasksLoadgameFromDisk(String gameToLoad, Boolean interactive)
at AGS.Editor.GUIController.ShowNewGameWizzard()
==============
On another note, I was wondering since there are a lot of changes, perhaps a "paths configuration" feature could be added so that we could specify different default directories for different types of items such as fonts, sprites, modules, etc. This would be handy for folks who work on or maintain multiple games. It would also be nice to have the option of separating the AGSEditor's executable from the game directory(s). Yeah, I know it's probably too late for feature requests this go round but hopefully there's no harm in asking. :=
Is it possible to choose to set it to the old-layout, if you want?
It's not a big deal, but I wasn't quite entirely comfortable with the new editor yet, and I was wondering whether this would actually give some users problems with finding things.
If not, no big deal, I can learn the new interface, or use the older one. Whatever gets the job done. :)
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 19/08/2007 16:22:32
I'm getting the feeling that it's almost time to move onto Release Candidate stage. Just out of interest, is anyone actually using the 2.8 betas to properly work on a game, and if so how've you found it compared to 2.72?
I almost completed a game with 2.72, then converted to 2.8 Beta and finished it there. I just began a new one only with 2.8 Beta. Especially the scripting with the new version is great, it feels more like an IDE.
Is the tabbing in the properties box working as intended? It always goes from left to right in the same line, I expected it to go down to the next property.
I've been using 2.8 with Boyd Quest! but it's not quite as convenient as 2.7 when it comes to previewing animations for proper frames/speed/etc so I'm holding out until there's some kind of animation viewer integrated into the views list.
Some issues:
1. Ghost is right in that once a rectangle is drawn it alters size to be somewhat larger than the shape selected.
2. Mousewheel support is a one-time thing: if you click in a field and scroll down it will select the new item and then deselect the field control so you can't move up/down the list. It would be nice if this was fixed to work like a normal mousewheel/arrow key selected field.
3. If you delete a script or font with their tab open the tab is not closed. All the other sections do this.
And finally, a couple of suggestions for the future:
1. Shift+left click support for selecting a sequence of frames in a view pane.
2. Cut/Copy/paste support for view frames (will work nicely with the above) between tabbed views.
3. I agree with InCreator's suggestion that a toggle button for outlining objects in a room would be most useful.
4. Bringing back objects that can be locked in place would be useful.
5. Folders for Dialogs. I know I'm the Folder King (tm) but this would really be useful for organizing dialogs by character/event.
6. Display the information from multiple tabs at once with a vertical/horizontal tiling scheme and scrollbars. This is probably difficult to implement with the current properties pane being where it is but it's worth a thought.
7. Better support for dialog window GUI borders. The way it's been for a long time is that if you vary too much from small, square shapes for the border pieces the result is edges that don't match up or overlap. Some check to prevent the overlap would fix this, though the minimum size of the window would then be determined by those shapes and not the text.
8. Different handling of dialog window GUI backgrounds. The current scheme essentially requires you to make a massive image as large as the dialog window could ever be. Some kind of tile scheme (or auto stretching) would fix this.
9. Return the functionality of the old view tab to the new one. I didn't particularly use some of the old options, but I'm sure a lot of people liked being able to set sounds to play on certain frames and preview their animation right there so they could adjust the playback speed or see if they missed any frames when importing.
Again, most of these are suggestions for the future but I think a good deal of them would be improvements overall. You're doing a great job CJ, and once I can preview my animations in the view tab I'll switch over!
Quote from: RickJ on Mon 20/08/2007 03:16:39
Here is the error I get using beta-7 on a WinME machine. Yes, .NET, was installed downloaded directly from M$ and then installed.
When I start the editor and select "default game" from the new game wizard. The "Start" page is displayed and then the error box pops up displaying the following text. If I click the OK button I am returned to the open game dialog box. If I click continue there then the editor exits.
Quote
There was an eror creating your game. The error was: Feature requires Windows NT
Error Details: System.PlatformNotSupportedException: Feature requires Windows NT
at System.IO.FileSystemWatcher.StartRaisingEvents)_
at System.IO.FileSystemWatcher.set_EnableRaisingEvents(Boolean value)
at AGS.Editor.EngineCommunication.ResetWithCurrentPath()
at AGS.Editor.RefreshEditorAfterGameLoad(Game newGame)
at AGS.Editor.TasksLoadgameFromDisk(String gameToLoad, Boolean interactive)
at AGS.Editor.GUIController.ShowNewGameWizzard()
Hmm, it seems like AGS is trying to check file attributes only available in NT systems (eg. the LastAccess date).
Maybe CJ is being secretly paid by Microsoft to subliminally convince people to upgrade their systems? :P
1)
Got this one, after I tried to add a 31st control to a gui:
Error: GUIMain: rebuild array failed (invalid object index)
Version: AGS 2.8.0.8
AGS.Types.AGSEditorException: GUIMain: rebuild array failed (invalid object index)
bei ThrowManagedException(SByte* message)
bei GUIMain.rebuild_array(GUIMain* )
bei ConvertGUIToBinaryFormat(GUI guiObj, GUIMain* gui)
bei drawGUI(Int32 hdc, Int32 x, Int32 y, GUI guiObj, Int32 scaleFactor, Int32 selectedControl)
bei AGS.Native.NativeMethods.DrawGUI(Int32 hDC, Int32 x, Int32 y, GUI gui, Int32 scaleFactor, Int32 selectedControl)
bei AGS.Editor.GUIEditor.bgPanel_Paint(Object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.PaintWithErrorHandling(PaintEventArgs e, Int16 layer, Boolean disposeEventArgs)
bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmPaint(Message& m)
bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
bei System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
bei System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
2)
When I start my game with F5, it seems that the working directory for "PlayVideo" is "_Debug", but for "File.Open" and "PlayMP3File" it's the game folder.
Another small "naggie": If you create a GUI button in 2.7 and then assign an image to it, the button resizes itself. In 2.8 this is no longer the case.
I just discovered this now because, frankly, I had not created new GUIs for my WIP with 2.8 up till now.
But I still have my jar of dirt... er, butter.
Don't know if this is the place to post bug-reports but here goes.
got following error when trying to create a blank new game using beta 8.
I'm running Vista Ultimate with Swedish Language-settings.
Error is "String not valid DateTime-string" prob due to parsing swedish date-format.
(http://homeweb.mah.se/~bitope/agserror01.png)
Something else I noticed is that importing gif animations works a bit differently in that I can't save images with transparent backgrounds and import them properly if I am using solid black as a color. The color is mistaken as transparent and removed as well. If I change the background color from transparent to a real color I'm not using it works fine, though. The delete key no longer brings up the prompt to delete a sprite, either. I notice it doesn't store the previous folder you used for loading images from. It would be nice to be able to set an image folder to seek to in the game preferences so when you went to open image files it would always start in that folder. Similarly, selecting sprites from the view area used to take you to the last visited location in the sprite manager but no longer does. Oh, and am I right in assuming you can't move existing views/etc into folders right now? I couldn't get it to work. I can't seem to delete the folders either. Or views.
Edit: Another problem. When I open the room of an imported game and save it and run the game all the hotspots/regions in that room crash AGS because the events functions created with the new hotspot/region names don't exist in the script editor and don't seek to the proper functions. Example: I have an unnamed hotspot 1 that was renamed hHotspot1 after being imported. The look event was renamed hhotspot1_Look but doesn't exist in the editor. As a result the game crashes instead of finding the proper function (function hotspot1_b()). Instead of renaming these differently couldn't you just give them the same name convention (hotspot1,hotspot2,etc) and tag the _a, _b,_c that already exists in the function names for look, interact and such rather than giving them new function names and routing to the old functions?
Instead of function hHotspot1_Look(){ hotspot1_b();} couldn't you just have it route to hotspot1_b{ }?
I just tried to save a room whilst loading another and I got the following error:
Error: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
Version: AGS 2.8.0.8
System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at load_room_file(SByte* )
at load_crm_file(UnloadedRoom roomToLoad)
at AGS.Native.NativeMethods.LoadRoomFile(UnloadedRoom roomToLoad)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadNewRoomIntoMemory(UnloadedRoom newRoom, List`1 errors)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadDifferentRoom(UnloadedRoom newRoom)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadRoom(String controlID)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.CommandClick(String controlID)
at AGS.Editor.ProjectTree.ProcessClickOnNode(String nodeID, MouseButtons button)
at AGS.Editor.ProjectTree.projectTree_NodeMouseDoubleClick(Object sender, TreeNodeMouseClickEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.OnNodeMouseDoubleClick(TreeNodeMouseClickEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
So I'm being a good little beta-tester and posting it. Have fun!
Also, could we at some point have an option to open AGS with all the nodes on the right closed? It's kind of annoying to have to scroll through everything, I'd much rather open up to what I need.
... And another thing... could we possibly have the limit to the number of room backgrounds allowed in an animation removed? I've got several backgrounds that could look a LOT better without this limitation.
Quote from: ProgZmax on Mon 20/08/2007 18:31:393. If you delete a script or font with their tab open the tab is not closed. All the other sections do this.
Yes also the actual ASC and ASH files aren't deleted either. This caused some concern (on my part) about compiling the game while the files still existed (with their tabs opened). Would the scripts be re-added to the game if the tabs were open and the files existed in the game folder? I don't know. But I did think about it. :D
Quote from: ProgZmax on Mon 20/08/2007 18:31:391. Shift+left click support for selecting a sequence of frames in a view pane.
Yes, for selecting a series...we'd also need Ctrl+left-click for selecting multiple frames regardless (irregardless ::)) of their order. ;D
Quote from: ProgZmax on Mon 20/08/2007 23:24:15When I open the room of an imported game and save it and run the game all the hotspots/regions in that room crash AGS because the events functions created with the new hotspot/region names don't exist in the script editor and don't seek to the proper functions.
You're saying the new functions (i.e., hHotspot1_Look) aren't being created? They're supposed to be auto-generated (as they were in the previous alphas/betas).
Quote from: Recluse on Tue 21/08/2007 02:38:07... And another thing... could we possibly have the limit to the number of room backgrounds allowed in an animation removed? I've got several backgrounds that could look a LOT better without this limitation.
This has been discussed several times before. One of the major problems is that animating something that large could lead to slow-downs in your game. You can use Objects/Characters to provide animation, or you could even use the RawDraw functions if you really need to.
QuoteYou're saying the new functions (i.e., hHotspot1_Look) aren't being created? They're supposed to be auto-generated (as they were in the previous alphas/betas).
Nope, they're not being created for imported games with unnamed hotspots/regions. It was a simple test to import a game from 2.72 and open a room with a lot of hotspots in it. The game compiled before I opened rooms, but once I started editing the rooms it auto-creates a hotspot name label and function name in the event list but didn't create the functions to go with them. Normally it would create the new event functions and then call the old interaction function from it, but it's not doing it now. Personally I think just renaming the hotspots and such to fit in with the created functions (like hotspot1_a, hotspot1_b) would be easier than creating a new naming convention like hHotspot1(hHotspot1_Look/Talk/Interact) and then casting to the older functions (or just renaming the hotspot1 stuff to the new names), but that's just me. Either way it's not working now ;\. And yeah, ctrl left click would be nice to select out-of-sequence frames as well.
Actually I'm not sure it was working with unnamed hotspots/regions...so don't quote me on that. But it should have been working :=
Here is a first impression from a brand new user.
I`ve followed the developement of ags for about a year now but never brought myself to beginning a game. Yesterday I started working through the tutorial because I wanted it to be up to date for 2.8. It`s nice and easy to follow by the way. However the first thing which really bothered me was area painting in the room editor.
First I made the mistake that when I wanted to create a walkable area I accidentally clicked with the area select tool in the preview window without having created an area before. Because of that it always told me I was using the eraser and I didn`t seem to be able to create an area until i created a new room and switched back to my old one.
Then when I got to paint my areas and tested the game I realized that my walkable and walkbehing areas weren`t quite good so I wanted to correct them. But that became a really tough task because of the non transparent areas. I just didn`t know up to where I needed to delete my walkbehind area for example because I couldnt see whats behind it. I don`t know if semi-transparent areas are on the suggestion tracker for the tracker doesn`t seem to work.
The third thing which bothered me was that I was only able to undo one step but I know that more undo steps are already on the to do list.
I haven`t worked through the whole tutorial yet. Only the first 3 pages. I can post how I am getting along with the rest of the tutorial and where a new user like me is getting into trouble if that is wanted.
Sorry for complicated writing for german is my native language. ;)
QuoteFirst I made the mistake that when I wanted to create a walkable area I accidentally clicked with the area select tool in the preview window without having created an area before. Because of that it always told me I was using the eraser and I didn`t seem to be able to create an area until i created a new room and switched back to my old one.
Heh, it got stuck in "hotspot 0". You probably would have gotten it to work if you had chosen a different colour, therefore started colouring a different hotspot. Not a big problem, really, and makes sense.
As regards non-transparent areas, it's just a matter of practice. My favourite personal method consists of deleting, at a stroke, most of the borders of the walkable/walk-behind, leaving only the center, then doing the corrections I want, and then FILLing the space in-between. But of course you can use masks.
Basically, you just need to get used to AGS. :)
Ouch! Old-style coding won't work anymore, such as
// script for Room: Player enters screen (after fadein)
character[LADA].Walk(80, 107, eBlock, eAnywhere);
My game is a mix of old and new scripts (due long production that lasts over AGS versions).
Problem is, there's no way to replace text for quick converting.
So how about this feature?
Until this, I'll have to use notepad-copy-paste-replace...
ALSO, "use game default settings" for resolution etc doesn't seem to work from editor. It uses window mode, whatever is selected, basically because F5 excecutes game, but doesn't seem to build EXE file. Weird...
Greetings all.
I'm trying the Beta 8 version of AGS and I consistently get an error message on two Windows XP machines (both are at Service Pack 2), one a laptop, the other a desktop. Both have .NET 2.0 (the SDK and the runtime). Both have all current critical updates installed from the Windows Update site. This error (which I reproduce at the end of this message) happens with the following steps:
(1) On the Welcome to AGS dialog, select the "Start a New Game" radio button. Click the "Continue" button.
(2) Click the "Next" button on the first "Start New Game" dialog.
(3) Click the "Default Game" option in the list view and click the "Next" button on the second "Start New Game" dialog.
(4) On the third "Start New Game" dialog, enter 'RogerAdventure' in the first text field and 'Roger's Adventure' in the second text field. (Without single quotes in both cases.)
(5) Click the "Finish" button.
Expected: I should be taken, presumably, to the AGS Editor with my default game.
Actual: The following error occurs:
There was an error creating your game. The error was: String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.
Error details: System.FormatException: String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.
at System.DateTimeParse.Parse(String s, DateTimeFormatInfo dtfi, DateTimeStyles styles)
at System.DateTime.Parse(String s, IFormatProvider provider)
at System.Convert.ToDateTime(String value)
at AGS.Types.SerializeUtils.DeserializeFromXML(Object obj, XmlNode node)
at AGS.Types.Settings.FromXml(XmlNode node)
at AGS.Types.Game.FromXml(XmlNode node)
at AGS.Editor.AGSEditor.LoadGameFile(String fileName)
at AGS.Editor.Tasks.LoadGameFromDisk(String gameToLoad, Boolean interactive)
at AGS.Editor.GUIController.ShowNewGameWizard()
- Jeff
Converting caused even more problems:
Room script, event "Enters before fadein" looks like this in room script:
#sectionstart room_b // DO NOT EDIT OR REMOVE THIS LINE
function room_b() {
In room editor, in room "events" properties window, for this event script "room_Load" is shown as default function instead... I didn't change anything.
Which leads to an error message:
prepare_script: error -18 (no such function or script) trying to run 'room_Load' (Room 6)
I changed manually function to room_a in room events window and room proceeded to load.
Problem seems to be that new AGS doesn't rename functions according to new default naming when converting game from older AGS. Weirdly enough, they still work until smallest change in script is done... either this or when room is re-saved in new AGS.
Another example:
(http://www.increator.pri.ee/i/pull/newags.png)
How to understand this? Strange, it works but when I even touch the script, it stops working?
Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires on Tue 21/08/2007 10:58:51
QuoteFirst I made the mistake that when I wanted to create a walkable area I accidentally clicked with the area select tool in the preview window without having created an area before. Because of that it always told me I was using the eraser and I didn`t seem to be able to create an area until i created a new room and switched back to my old one.
Heh, it got stuck in "hotspot 0". You probably would have gotten it to work if you had chosen a different colour, therefore started colouring a different hotspot. Not a big problem, really, and makes sense.
Ah, yes I see. But then I wouldn`t be able to use walkable/walkbehind area number 0 anymore. Or would I? Because there it still says i`m using the eraser.
e: Thanks for clearing this, Gilbot.
QuoteAs regards non-transparent areas, it's just a matter of practice. My favourite personal method consists of deleting, at a stroke, most of the borders of the walkable/walk-behind, leaving only the center, then doing the corrections I want, and then FILLing the space in-between. But of course you can use masks.
That`s also the way I did it. But still I think you could do it much faster if you could delete right to the point you want to.
That's because what is called area 0 is actually THE eraser.
When a pixel doesn't belong to an area it's "area 0".
I think what motiv talks about is one of those age old little quirks that we have grown accustomed to, and wouldn't even notice it.
Good to have some "fresh" feedback!
Thanks for all your feedback, guys. There's far too many posts for me to reply to everyone individually, but I've read all your comments and will look into issues raised.
There's a couple of things I didn't understand:
Quote2. Mousewheel support is a one-time thing: if you click in a field and scroll down it will select the new item and then deselect the field control so you can't move up/down the list. It would be nice if this was fixed to work like a normal mousewheel/arrow key selected field.
What do you mean by this? In which field is this happening?
QuoteOuch! Old-style coding won't work anymore, such as
// script for Room: Player enters screen (after fadein)
character[LADA].Walk(80, 107, eBlock, eAnywhere);
Please can you clarify this, it should work fine. Is your character named "cLada"? If so the compiler should recognise the "character[LADA]" form of accessing it.
QuoteALSO, "use game default settings" for resolution etc doesn't seem to work from editor. It uses window mode, whatever is selected, basically because F5 excecutes game, but doesn't seem to build EXE file. Weird...
It tells you this in the Preferences dialog, but perhaps it needs to be in bold or something. To run full screen, use Ctrl+F5 (but you won't be able to debug the game).
QuoteI haven`t worked through the whole tutorial yet. Only the first 3 pages. I can post how I am getting along with the rest of the tutorial and where a new user like me is getting into trouble if that is wanted.
Thanks for your feedback, it's definitely useful to hear from first-time users. As Ghost says, most current users will have got used to any quirks in the editor, so it's good to see these revealed by a fresh pair of eyes.
Finally, just to clarify the main reported bugs so that they don't get reported again:
* Start New Game crashes if you don't have DD/MM/YYYY Regional Settings
* A problem with importing interactions from 2.72 games
* Windows 98/ME crash editor on startupThanks for reporting these, I will be looking into them so there's no need to report them again.
QuotePlease can you clarify this, it should work fine. Is your character named "cLada"? If so the compiler should recognise the "character[LADA]" form of accessing it.
Nah, it this works fine I guess. Atleast with objects used same old way it does.
It simply led me to converting/wrong room function names I reported in 2 posts below.
Which was probably why this old-style coding didn't work, so it's function problem, not old style coding problem. But character name was cLada indeed.
I know it's a pretty major (as in big, not important ;)) feature request but I was thinking today: will the new editor make it possible for future implementation of associative arrays (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associative_array). I'm know this isn't the place for requests, but I'm simply curious if the editor rewrite would make this feasible.
I have one more little suggestion. Could the focus upon loading or creating a room be on something non-scrollable? If I now turn the scrollwheel down after doing so I get presented a dialog to choose a background frame to import...
Ive got a strange problem. Some of the dialog voice acting in my game cuts off at the end and then the character keeps talking until you click. The mode is on timer or skip but the timer won't stop it. Is this a problem with the beta version or is it because of something else.
I'm having humongous issues with the sprite importer. I like to use tiled sprites in my games (they're much easier to animate) When I go to import a sprite, the yellow overlay rectangle is off, it often seems to cover half a pixel, but never a whole one. It's very difficult to get the exact portion of an image because of this.
I think it may be an issue with the rectangle snapping to the edges of the pixel in the zoomed and imported bitmap, there may also be some fuzzy math involved in the conversion from the rectangle on screen to the pixels taken from the bitmap after it's imported.
On a side note, I would much rather have the negative rectangle we had before. It's much easier to tell when you haven't selected exactly what you wanted.
These half-pixel issues are pretty common when doing drawing in Java or .NET. Basically, the coordinate system is aligned to the corners of the pixels rather than to the center of them. The math to make everything look right is sensitive, and it's easy to end up with something that cuts pixels in half instead of marking the whole thing when you're zoomed in.
QuoteWhat do you mean by this? In which field is this happening?
Every pull-down tab I've tried will only let me move up or down
one entry before deselecting the pull-down tab altogether, CJ. I'd make a screenshot but I doubt it would be useful, basically the pull-down tabs respond to one mousewheel (or arrow key) press, move down or up one field and then the tab deselects and you must then click again in the tab and use the mousewheel or arrow key to go down or up another entry, etc. Hopefully that was a bit clearer.
Here's another suggestion, while you're mucking about with another new release.
Currently in order to run real "script" from the dialog editor we have to pass a parameter down into the global script. I find it rather annoying and troublesome to have to send an integer to the script, as the integers are hard to keep track of.
Is it possible that we could get rid of the run-script dialog function, and instead simply have some sort of escape sequence that tells the compiler to "run this as AGS script, not dialog script" like the following:
@S // Dialog startup entry point
return
@1
PLAYER: Why don't I have my barnacles?
CAPTAINBLACKBEARD: Oh, sorry, I have them right here.
<script>
cCaptain.Walk(cEgo.x - 10, cEgo. y, eBlock, eAnywhere);
cEgo.AddInventory(iBarnacle);
cCaptain.Walk(cEgo.x - 15, cEgo.y, eBlock, eAnywhere);
cCaptain.FaceCharacter(cEgo);
</script>
PLAYER: Thank you very much!
return
I feel that something like this would really help make the whole dialog process much simpler to use.
In lieu of this, perhaps we could pass a String to the global script instead of an int, this way we could have some sort of a logical identifier to what dialog the following code goes to.
You could always use #defines or eNums for it...
QuoteI know it's a pretty major (as in big, not important ) feature request but I was thinking today: will the new editor make it possible for future implementation of associative arrays. I'm know this isn't the place for requests, but I'm simply curious if the editor rewrite would make this feasible.
That would be a compiler feature, so the new editor would make no difference to its feasibility :P
QuoteI have one more little suggestion. Could the focus upon loading or creating a room be on something non-scrollable? If I now turn the scrollwheel down after doing so I get presented a dialog to choose a background frame to import...
Sounds fair to me!
QuoteIve got a strange problem. Some of the dialog voice acting in my game cuts off at the end and then the character keeps talking until you click. The mode is on timer or skip but the timer won't stop it. Is this a problem with the beta version or is it because of something else.
Has anyone else had a problem with speech in the 2.8 betas?
QuoteI'm having humongous issues with the sprite importer. I like to use tiled sprites in my games (they're much easier to animate) When I go to import a sprite, the yellow overlay rectangle is off, it often seems to cover half a pixel, but never a whole one. It's very difficult to get the exact portion of an image because of this.
Yep, this has already been reported here, I'm working on it for the next beta.
QuoteEvery pull-down tab I've tried will only let me move up or down one entry before deselecting the pull-down tab altogether
This is done deliberately in two places -- the function list in the script editor, and the type selector in the room editor. The former is done to make sure that the script has focus after you select a function (so that you don't have to click in the window to start typing); and the latter is done to stop the shortcut keys to the drawing tools from activating the list box and changing the displayed type.
All other drop-down lists should work normally.
QuoteIs it possible that we could get rid of the run-script dialog function, and instead simply have some sort of escape sequence that tells the compiler to "run this as AGS script, not dialog script" like the following:
It's a good idea, but it's too big a change to be incorporated into 2.8 at this stage. The dialog system is something I'm reviewing, however.
Ok, beta 9 is now up. This should fix most of the reported issues -- if there are any outstanding problems, please let me know.
I'd be interested to know whether this new version works on Windows 98 or not.
Wow, the fixed include 4 of my suggestions! I actually contributed, in a way! I'll try it out now. Thanks in advance, CJ!
Edit:
First, the small naggings I mentioned are fixed, and importing sprites is smooth as hell now.
Second: this is weird, and I am pretty sure I'm doing something wrong again. Let me describe what happens.
I made a new game from the default template.
I created a room and imported a 500 x 240 background. Game resolution was set to 320x240.
I saved, build the exe, then run with debugger.
Error message: Can't access [game folder in own files]
Build exe again, called game setup, selected save and run. Runs without fault.
----
Any ideas here?
You are a machine!
QuoteThis is done deliberately in two places -- the function list in the script editor, and the type selector in the room editor. The former is done to make sure that the script has focus after you select a function (so that you don't have to click in the window to start typing); and the latter is done to stop the shortcut keys to the drawing tools from activating the list box and changing the displayed type.
Couldn't you just get around this by having the room tools all displayed (but greyed out for sections where they don't work) that way you could cycle through the room elements quickly? The mousewheel could move up/down the various elements of a particular section in the right entities window (like moving up/down the views) and then clicking outside one of the areas could let you focus on the scrollbar again, though this wouldn't be immediately useful until/unless you implement my earlier suggestion of one-click viewing updated information in one tab. The two together would make for some nice streamlined viewing and editing, though!
I checked font deletion and that's working fine now, but I notice you can't delete View folders still or re-order views into/out of folders.
One thing I'd like to know out of curiosity is why you have the editor set to import room elements like this:
function hHotspot1_Look()
{
hotspot1_a();
}
Wouldn't it be cleaner/better just to import the elements to operate on one function call (updating hotspot1_a to hHotspot1_Look or just naming the hotspot look interaction hotspot1_a in the editor)? The way it is right now is kind of misleading since you seek to hHotspot1_Look to edit it and then have to manually seek to the function inside of it. It just seems unnecessarily complicated :). In case this isn't clear, why not:
function hotspot1_a()
{
//all the stuff
}
OR
function hHotspot1_Look()
{
// all the stuff
}
instead of
function hotspot1_a()
{
//all the stuff
}
function hHotspot1_Look()
{
hotspot1_a();
}
Okay... Chris and everyone else.
I've been thinking about this upgrade for awhile. I've usually used the upgrades when they come out since Chris is so damn intuitive about what needs to happen.
Question: Will this wreck all the games I've done thus far?
I probably think not.
I suggested a while ago a hybrid character/gui/object thing... did we get that? Just wondering.
The more I use AGS the more I marvel at it's singularity with the universe.
Just kidding.
The more I marvel at its versatility.
The other thing is I've noticed a dicotomy in the way objects can be displayed in that
Sometimes object[0]. somthing works
and sometimes oKey.works
It's probably because I turned off all the stuff in the entry screen because the program kept crashing.
Thanks Chris and everyone else involved.
theatrx
Quote from: theatrx on Sat 25/08/2007 07:05:28
Sometimes object[0]. somthing works
and sometimes oKey.works
oKey will not work in global scripts or modules. It is only scoped in the room the object is relevant to.
The scripting has not really changed at all in this version, except a few minor tweaks. The editor is what has changed.
Bug:
I doubleclicked a frame in view and then closed the window which came up and this error occured:
Error: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
Version: AGS 2.8.0.9
System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at ?A0xc23bfd61.doDrawViewLoop(Int32 , Int32 , ViewFrame* , Int32 , Int32 , Int32 , Int32 )
at drawViewLoop(Int32 hdc, ViewLoop loopToDraw, Int32 x, Int32 y, Int32 size, Int32 cursel)
at AGS.Native.NativeMethods.DrawViewLoop(Int32 hdc, ViewLoop loopToDraw, Int32 x, Int32 y, Int32 size, Int32 cursel)
at AGS.Editor.ViewLoopEditor.ViewLoopEditor_Paint(Object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.PaintWithErrorHandling(PaintEventArgs e, Int16 layer, Boolean disposeEventArgs)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmPaint(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.UserControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
QuoteFixed PlayVideo to look in the Compiled folder when running under debugger
Thanks a lot!
But I think, I was too unprecise about "File.Open" and "PlayMP3File".
They are using the folder in which "Game.agf" is instead of the "Compiled" folder.
Problems importing games:
One of them seems to get permanently stuck in "Importing game...". The other one brings up the following error in the output window: (which made me notice: the Output window needs a Copy button to copy error messages, and errors should be clared after loading a new game)
QuoteThere was an error saving the script for room 2: Room file is from an old version of AGS and cannot be processed
Although the game still loaded, but when selecting room 2:
QuoteError: Could not find file 'D:\Jogos\AGS28\The Legacy Lo\room2.asc'.
Version: AGS 2.8.0.9
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not find file 'D:\Jogos\AGS28\The Legacy Lo\room2.asc'.
File name: 'D:\Jogos\AGS28\The Legacy Lo\room2.asc'
at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
at System.IO.FileStream.Init(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Int32 rights, Boolean useRights, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES secAttrs, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy)
at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share)
at AGS.Types.Script.LoadFromDisk()
at AGS.Types.UnloadedRoom.LoadScript()
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadNewRoomIntoMemory(UnloadedRoom newRoom, CompileMessages errors)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadDifferentRoom(UnloadedRoom newRoom)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadRoom(String controlID)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.CommandClick(String controlID)
at AGS.Editor.ProjectTree.ProcessClickOnNode(String nodeID, MouseButtons button)
at AGS.Editor.ProjectTree.projectTree_NodeMouseDoubleClick(Object sender, TreeNodeMouseClickEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.OnNodeMouseDoubleClick(TreeNodeMouseClickEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
Problems with Vista integration:
When there's something wrong with the boxart, a "Unable to load custom icon" error comes up in the Output window. The message should probably be changed for clarity.
Also, when loading an Enhanced Savegame (from Windows), the game started in the default room, then faded out, then I got this error:
Quote---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
An error has occurred. Please contact the game author for support, as this
is likely to be a scripting error and not a bug in AGS.
(ACI version 2.80.932)
Error: RunAGSGame: unable to load new game file 'ac2game.dat'
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
Also, when registering the game onto the Games Explorer, the game now gets added twice, (if it's relevant, I used custom boxart for it) and only one is removed when unregistering.
I also noticed when registering games (though it also happens without it) that if the game is run from the command line with a non-exact filename (eg. "test" or "test.exe" instead of the correct "Test.exe"), the game still runs but comes out with this error:
Quote---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
You must create and save a game first in the AGS Editor before you can use
this engine.
If you have just downloaded AGS, you are probably running the wrong executable.
Run AGSEDIT.EXE to launch the editor.
(Unable to find 'ac2game.dat' in D:\Jogos\AGS28\Test\Compiled)
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
Also, being able to provide your own savegame extension worries me since there's no standard so conflicts may arise in the future (multiple games using the same extension). I think it'd be better if the editor generated its own extension. (for example, from the game name, so a game named "Lots of Stuff" would get savegame extension ".LotsofStuffSave" since games having the same name is much more unlikely)
Also, isn't it about time for the File menu to get a New option? :P (instead of always requiring an editor restart)
Another question...
I had asked this a few times but got so workable solution
Is there a way with the new beta to
if "View, Loop, Frame" is visible than...
Just wondering.
Once again... CHRIS!!! where do you get the time to do these major renovations!? I admire your mind. And thanks.
Windows ME/98 EvaluationOk, tried Beta-9 with Windows ME machine. It started up without any errors, however there were a few quirky behaviors.
- Initial Startup - On initial startup the start page borders and background were displayed and then it seemed to get hung for perhaps a minute (long enough the make one believe that it had hung for good). Then after awhile the remaining portions of the start page and editor are displayed and everything is normal.
- RUN - A default game was created. The first time "Run" command is executed (selected from main menu) the editor seems to hang again and an error message pops up stating that there is insufficient memory. My WinME machine has 192MB. I will recreate this and post the resulting message later when I am at my Win ME machine. Subsequent executions of RUN did not produce the error message and I am not sure but I think it still hung for awhile before the game window poped up.
- RUN Without Debugger - this seemd seemed to work better. There wasn't noticeable hang time or as noticeable as RUN.
- RUN Full Screen - This seemed to not work or it hung long enough to look like it wasn't going to work. I did ctrl-alt-end to abort and tried again, forcing windowed mode.
- Other Editor Hung - There seemed to be another instance of the editor hanging but at the moment, I can't remember what it was. I'll continue testing and try to remember better next time. :=
Just wondering if these are all related to lack of memory or other resources? Earlier betas didn't seem to have this problem so is there something that can be done to improve the performance or will more resources be required? If more resources are required then perhaps the System Requirements need to be updated to reflect this.
Usability Comments
Being the lazy cuss that I am Here are a couple of things I noticed...
- Navigation Tree - I've been using the Linux side of my brain lately and have grown accustomed to not double clicking everything in the world. I don't think single clicks in the navigation tree used for anything, are they? If not, why not use single clicks to open the file and/or select the associated editor tab.
- Smart Name Entry - One thing I really liked about Visio is that if you select an object and then start typing it figures out that you want to enter text in the object's text field. I was thinking that it would be nice for AGS to do something similar. For example, when an Object, GUI, etc is selected and text is entered why not set the focus to the Name or Description field of the selected item and allow the text to be entered there? If any other fields are selected for focus then of course this behaviour iwould be aborted.
- Interaction Functions ? - I was wondering what happens, or is supposed to happen, if an interaction function, created using the "Events" window, is deleted using the script editor? Currently, if an interaction function is so deleted, the game seems to build/test without errors but when you look in the Events Window the events are still there. Are those #SECTIONSTART, #SECTIONEND lines still needed, I noticed that they are not automatically inserted.
- TAB Spacing Option - I changed this in the preferences but it didn't seem to have an effect. Is this perhaps because the files remain open in the new editor?
- Saving Files - It isn't clear what SAVE and SAVE ROOM functions actually save. I guess that SAVE ROOM saves the CRM and ASC files but what does SAVE save? Does it save the currently selected file or does it save everything? What if I want to save a specific file or save it to another file name? Perhaps SAVE should be renamed to SAVE ALL or SAVE GAME. Also perhaps there should be a SAVE FILE function.
==============
Oh! and by the way, is the game file now contained in that XML file? If so very, very nice! Overall, there are some very nice features that I look forward to making use of. There is a small learning curve but it's a small price to pay for the new features.
The only disappointment I have is that the editor will no longer run under linux. I know that theoretically .NET apps can run under MONO but the little I've read on the subject suggests to me that it isn't as easy as it sounds and that it is unlikely to occur unless fair effort is made in this regard.
Anyway thanks for your hard work and a great programming environment.
Im sorry but have 2.8 version a global changes In comparison with more habitual 2.7 version?
As mentioned, the major change in V2.8 is the editor (completely rewritten, needs .NET, etc.). There're changes in the engine but are considered quite minor in comparison.
Thanks for needed changes, CJ! :)
New editor is... inspiring. A bit challenging at first, but inspiring.
Back to my projects! \O/
QuoteI made a new game from the default template.
I created a room and imported a 500 x 240 background. Game resolution was set to 320x240.
I saved, build the exe, then run with debugger.
Error message: Can't access [game folder in own files]
Build exe again, called game setup, selected save and run. Runs without fault.
Can you post the exact error message?
QuoteCouldn't you just get around this by having the room tools all displayed (but greyed out for sections where they don't work) that way you could cycle through the room elements quickly?
What I mean is that if the room types list has the focus, and then you start drawing a line onto the background and press "Ctrl+H" for example to change the drawing mode, it will also activate the list box and select "
Hotspots"... it shouldn't really when CTRL is pressed but it does for some reason.
Quote
One thing I'd like to know out of curiosity is why you have the editor set to import room elements like this:
function hHotspot1_Look()
{
hotspot1_a();
}
It's because you might not just have a single Run Script interaction -- if you had the interaction set up to do "Run Script, Display Message, Run Script" then it would import as:
function hHotspot1_Look()
{
hotspot1_a();
DisplayMessage(4);
hotspot1_b();
}
However, perhaps it could be improved to detect when there is just a single Run Script, and handle it more intelligently.
QuoteQuestion: Will this wreck all the games I've done thus far?
That's why this is a beta, so that we can find out!!
QuoteI doubleclicked a frame in view and then closed the window which came up and this error occured:
Hmm, and presumably you can't replicate it. This has been reported a few times now but it just seems to happen to people as a one-off ... I'll have to see if I can do anything about it.
QuoteBut I think, I was too unprecise about "File.Open" and "PlayMP3File".
They are using the folder in which "Game.agf" is instead of the "Compiled" folder.
Hmm, this debugger thing has opened quite a can of worms ... I'll look into it.
QuoteOne of them seems to get permanently stuck in "Importing game..."
Any chance you could upload this for me to take a look at?
QuoteThe other one brings up the following error in the output window: (which made me notice: the Output window needs a Copy button to copy error messages, and errors should be clared after loading a new game)
Quote
There was an error saving the script for room 2: Room file is from an old version of AGS and cannot be processed
Although the game still loaded, but when selecting room 2:
That error message seems reasonable enough for this situation; however it shouldn't really crash when you attempt to open the room afterwards, I'll look into that.
QuoteAlso, when loading an Enhanced Savegame (from Windows), the game started in the default room, then faded out, then I got this error:
Hmm that's very odd, did you save the game when playing the same EXE file that you registered to load it?
QuoteAlso, when registering the game onto the Games Explorer, the game now gets added twice, (if it's relevant, I used custom boxart for it) and only one is removed when unregistering.
Are you sure it's getting added twice, or is there just an entry already there from a previous attempt? Did you import your game twice from 2.72, for example? Whenever you start a new game or import a 2.72 game, a new ID is generated for the game, and it's this ID that is used to identify the game in the Game Explorer.
QuoteI also noticed when registering games (though it also happens without it) that if the game is run from the command line with a non-exact filename (eg. "test" or "test.exe" instead of the correct "Test.exe"), the game still runs but comes out with this error:
Yeah that's a known issue with AGS generally, that the game won't start if you do that from the command line. Windows doesn't seem to pass the full path to the EXE when you start the game this way, I haven't yet got around to looking into it.
QuoteAlso, being able to provide your own savegame extension worries me since there's no standard so conflicts may arise in the future (multiple games using the same extension). I think it'd be better if the editor generated its own extension. (for example, from the game name, so a game named "Lots of Stuff" would get savegame extension ".LotsofStuffSave" since games having the same name is much more unlikely)
Well, the editor does default the save game extension to the game name. I don't think it should prevent people from changing it if they want to, though.
QuoteI had asked this a few times but got so workable solution
Is there a way with the new beta to
if "View, Loop, Frame" is visible than...
Depends on what type of thing you're expecting it to be displayed on. If it's on a character for example, you can use the character.View/Loop/Frame properties to check.
QuoteOk, tried Beta-9 with Windows ME machine. It started up without any errors, however there were a few quirky behaviors.
Thanks for trying it out, and for your feedback. To be honest, I'm not really bothered about Windows 98/ME... it seems that nobody is using it any more. As long as AGS games still work on Win98, I don't think it's essential that the editor does.
Does anyone here still use Windows 98/ME on a day-to-day basis?
QuoteIf not, why not use single clicks to open the file and/or select the associated editor tab.
Well, mainly because of consistency with applications like Visual Studio. If AGS works in a way that people don't expect, it'll cause confusion and annoyance.
QuoteSmart Name Entry - One thing I really liked about Visio is that if you select an object and then start typing it figures out that you want to enter text in the object's text field.
Interesting idea, I'll think about it.
QuoteInteraction Functions ? - I was wondering what happens, or is supposed to happen, if an interaction function, created using the "Events" window, is deleted using the script editor? Currently, if an interaction function is so deleted, the game seems to build/test without errors but when you look in the Events Window the events are still there. Are those #SECTIONSTART, #SECTIONEND lines still needed, I noticed that they are not automatically inserted.
The #SECTIONSTART/END lines are not used any more, but the editor won't remove them from any old scripts.
QuoteTAB Spacing Option - I changed this in the preferences but it didn't seem to have an effect. Is this perhaps because the files remain open in the new editor?
Ah, hmm, you might need to restart the editor for it to take effect. I'll look into it.
QuoteSaving Files - It isn't clear what SAVE and SAVE ROOM functions actually save. I guess that SAVE ROOM saves the CRM and ASC files but what does SAVE save? Does it save the currently selected file or does it save everything? What if I want to save a specific file or save it to another file name? Perhaps SAVE should be renamed to SAVE ALL or SAVE GAME. Also perhaps there should be a SAVE FILE function.
Yeah, I'm not sure if the Save Room option needs to be there. The main Save option will save everything, including any open room, so I'm not convinced that the Save Room option is necessary.
QuoteOh! and by the way, is the game file now contained in that XML file? If so very, very nice! Overall, there are some very nice features that I look forward to making use of. There is a small learning curve but it's a small price to pay for the new features.
The Game.agf file contains the main game data, and is XML. However, I really wouldn't recommend editing it by hand.
QuoteThe only disappointment I have is that the editor will no longer run under linux. I know that theoretically .NET apps can run under MONO but the little I've read on the subject suggests to me that it isn't as easy as it sounds and that it is unlikely to occur unless fair effort is made in this regard.
Well, as I've said before in theory the use of an interpreted language like .NET should make it easier to run on other platforms, once their interpreters catch up.
QuoteIm sorry but have 2.8 version a global changes In comparison with more habitual 2.7 version?
What do you mean by "global" changes?
QuoteWhat I mean is that if the room types list has the focus, and then you start drawing a line onto the background and press "Ctrl+H" for example to change the drawing mode, it will also activate the list box and select "Hotspots"... it shouldn't really when CTRL is pressed but it does for some reason.
Fair enough!
QuoteHowever, perhaps it could be improved to detect when there is just a single Run Script, and handle it more intelligently.
That would be cool, since right now it seems like you need to reimport an old ags game from scratch with each new beta for the functions to work properly. Every time I've tried using a new beta with a previous beta build of an imported game (boyd quest) opening a room creates event functions that don't actually seek to anything, and in some cases the functions aren't even created, like hHotspot1_Look will show up in the properties list but when you go to the room script nothing is there (but there's a hotspot1 function). The game will compile but when you try to do anything with the hotspots it crashes since nothing is handling them.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 27/08/2007 22:20:15QuoteOh! and by the way, is the game file now contained in that XML file? If so very, very nice! Overall, there are some very nice features that I look forward to making use of. There is a small learning curve but it's a small price to pay for the new features.
The Game.agf file contains the main game data, and is XML. However, I really wouldn't recommend editing it by hand.
This seems to have become a pretty standard warning, however I have edited my AGF files "by hand" safely on numerous occasions. Clearly it's not "recommended" practice, but from what I've seen unless you're simply
trying to break AGS then you shouldn't have problems.
Some things to keep in mind if you do want to try editing your game's raw XML though:
0) You shouldn't normally
EVER have to edit your Game.AGF file manually. Doing so could break your game. Chris Jones (CJ, Pumaman, etc.) assumes no responsibility for anything you do to your game or your computer by manually editing this file; nor is there any promise that your game's data will be recoverable if you corrupt it by manually editing this file.
1)
ALWAYS back up your game's AGF file before editing it manually!
2) If you don't know what something is for
DON'T TOUCH IT!
3) If you don't know what tag is used to modify what you want, try looking for similar tags, but don't make up your own tags!
4) Some things are assigned a unique ID by AGS when your game's AGF is built for the first time. Specific examples include you're game's ID and the unique ID assigned to each script. Do NOT make up IDs.
There's really not a lot of good
reasons excuses for modifying this file directly, although in prior alphas/betas that didn't support importing/exporting SCM files, I have edited this file to (successfully) port ASC/ASH files between games (copying the script's XML data from the original game to the new game). This is no longer necessary now that full SCM support has be reimplemented. There are still other valid reasons to want to edit this file directly, though you must keep in mind that there are no guarantees when you do so.
P.S. Great work on all the new alphas/betas Chris. It's really coming along great.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 27/08/2007 22:20:15
QuoteSaving Files - It isn't clear what SAVE and SAVE ROOM functions actually save. I guess that SAVE ROOM saves the CRM and ASC files but what does SAVE save? Does it save the currently selected file or does it save everything? What if I want to save a specific file or save it to another file name? Perhaps SAVE should be renamed to SAVE ALL or SAVE GAME. Also perhaps there should be a SAVE FILE function.
Yeah, I'm not sure if the Save Room option needs to be there. The main Save option will save everything, including any open room, so I'm not convinced that the Save Room option is necessary.
Well, if you mess up something in many rooms or in the global things, but wish to keep your changes to one or two rooms, the Save Room option would still come in handy, in my opinion.
Wow you are fast....
I will keep it short:Could it be possible that when you create a new char in the game,you could click/duble click (linux/windows/whatever) the image and it will go right to the view section.(sort of a shortcut instead of the game thinking you want ego to be the char).
It will smoth the char making process.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 27/08/2007 22:20:15
Quote
One thing I'd like to know out of curiosity is why you have the editor set to import room elements like this:
function hHotspot1_Look()
{
hotspot1_a();
}
It's because you might not just have a single Run Script interaction -- if you had the interaction set up to do "Run Script, Display Message, Run Script" then it would import as:
function hHotspot1_Look()
{
hotspot1_a();
DisplayMessage(4);
hotspot1_b();
}
However, perhaps it could be improved to detect when there is just a single Run Script, and handle it more intelligently.
Maybe the scripts should be copied directly where hotspot#_x() currently goes? Keeping them in separate functions just makes it all messier.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 27/08/2007 22:20:15
QuoteOne of them seems to get permanently stuck in "Importing game..."
Any chance you could upload this for me to take a look at?
QuoteThe other one brings up the following error in the output window: (which made me notice: the Output window needs a Copy button to copy error messages, and errors should be clared after loading a new game)
Quote
There was an error saving the script for room 2: Room file is from an old version of AGS and cannot be processed
Although the game still loaded, but when selecting room 2:
That error message seems reasonable enough for this situation; however it shouldn't really crash when you attempt to open the room afterwards, I'll look into that.
I decided to try rebuilding all the rooms in AGS2.72 before importing and apparently some of the rooms were corrupted, so you might need to improve the error handling during importing. I restored a backup and re-imported and it all seems to work fine for now, I'll do some further testing and let you know how it goes.
It didn't crash, it just errored, since it didn't convert that room but it was still left in the room list.
I also noticed how interaction variables are left for me to fix, GAH, now I regret having fallen into the interaction editor trap. :P
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 27/08/2007 22:20:15QuoteAlso, when loading an Enhanced Savegame (from Windows), the game started in the default room, then faded out, then I got this error:
Hmm that's very odd, did you save the game when playing the same EXE file that you registered to load it?
Ah, found the problem, I loaded a savegame when running the game from AGS. Didn't know the EXEs were different.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 27/08/2007 22:20:15QuoteAlso, when registering the game onto the Games Explorer, the game now gets added twice, (if it's relevant, I used custom boxart for it) and only one is removed when unregistering.
Are you sure it's getting added twice, or is there just an entry already there from a previous attempt? Did you import your game twice from 2.72, for example? Whenever you start a new game or import a 2.72 game, a new ID is generated for the game, and it's this ID that is used to identify the game in the Game Explorer.
Dammit, you're right, looks like I left an entry lying around. Sorry for the mistake. :)
Is there any way to get the GUID that AGS uses to register the game for us advanced users that want to add more to it? (custom shortcuts for example) ;)
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 27/08/2007 22:20:15QuoteAlso, being able to provide your own savegame extension worries me since there's no standard so conflicts may arise in the future (multiple games using the same extension). I think it'd be better if the editor generated its own extension. (for example, from the game name, so a game named "Lots of Stuff" would get savegame extension ".LotsofStuffSave" since games having the same name is much more unlikely)
Well, the editor does default the save game extension to the game name. I don't think it should prevent people from changing it if they want to, though.
That's true. It only defaults the save game
folder though, the extension is left blank. (and brings up an error if you leave it blank)
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 27/08/2007 22:20:15QuoteThe only disappointment I have is that the editor will no longer run under linux. I know that theoretically .NET apps can run under MONO but the little I've read on the subject suggests to me that it isn't as easy as it sounds and that it is unlikely to occur unless fair effort is made in this regard.
Well, as I've said before in theory the use of an interpreted language like .NET should make it easier to run on other platforms, once their interpreters catch up.
Well currently AGS seems to be beyond Mono. I tried installing Mono for Windows and running AGS2.8 on it and... nothing happens. Absolutely nothing.
If it helps, I ran AGS2.8 through the Mono Migration Analyzer and it brought up this (http://supsuper.wurmz.net/stuff/output.html). Might give you a guideline if you wanna aim for future Mono support.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 27/08/2007 22:20:15
QuoteI made a new game from the default template.
I created a room and imported a 500 x 240 background. Game resolution was set to 320x240.
I saved, build the exe, then run with debugger.
Error message: Can't access [game folder in own files]
Build exe again, called game setup, selected save and run. Runs without fault.
Can you post the exact error message?
Unfortunately, I can't. I redownloaded the Beta, and was not able to reproduve the error.
edit: confused a few beta numbers in original post. but still the error is not reproducable. maybe I really did something wrong.
QuoteThat would be cool, since right now it seems like you need to reimport an old ags game from scratch with each new beta for the functions to work properly. Every time I've tried using a new beta with a previous beta build of an imported game (boyd quest) opening a room creates event functions that don't actually seek to anything, and in some cases the functions aren't even created, like hHotspot1_Look will show up in the properties list but when you go to the room script nothing is there (but there's a hotspot1 function).
These issues should be resolved as of beta 9. In previous betas there was a bug with the script editor where it was caching the pre-upgrade version of the script so sometimes you couldn't see the newly added functions.
If you're still getting these problems with beta 9 please let me know.
QuoteThis seems to have become a pretty standard warning, however I have edited my AGF files "by hand" safely on numerous occasions. Clearly it's not "recommended" practice, but from what I've seen unless you're simply trying to break AGS then you shouldn't have problems.
4) Some things are assigned a unique ID by AGS when your game's AGF is built for the first time.
This is the main reason I'd advise against manually editing the file. There are some assumptions that AGS makes, such as that character IDs will go up from 0 in ascending order through the Characters collection, that you could break by manually inserting a character into the XML file. You could then see strange results and corruptions happening as you continued to work on your game.
QuoteI will keep it short:Could it be possible that when you create a new char in the game,you could click/duble click (linux/windows/whatever) the image and it will go right to the view section.(sort of a shortcut instead of the game thinking you want ego to be the char).
I can see how this would make things a bit quicker to set up a character, I'll look into it.
QuoteMaybe the scripts should be copied directly where hotspot#_x() currently goes? Keeping them in separate functions just makes it all messier.
Well, I wanted to steer away from that for two main reasons:
1. Safety. Moving the code would mean AGS would have to parse the file and work out where the function started and ended in order to move it. While this can of course be done, for a one-off bit of code that upgrades from 2.72, I didn't think that the time it would take to get it right and tested was worth the effort.
2. You might have other code that calls the hotspot1_a() method; if it was to suddenly change name to hHotspot1_Look, the other code could break.
QuoteI decided to try rebuilding all the rooms in AGS2.72 before importing and apparently some of the rooms were corrupted, so you might need to improve the error handling during importing. I restored a backup and re-imported and it all seems to work fine for now, I'll do some further testing and let you know how it goes.
I'll look into that.
QuoteI also noticed how interaction variables are left for me to fix, GAH, now I regret having fallen into the interaction editor trap.
Hmm, what state is it leaving them in? I thought I had the upgrade process all automated now? (unfortunately I don't have a game with interaction variables to test it with, and 2.72 now seems to crash for me whenever I open the interaction editor...)
QuoteIs there any way to get the GUID that AGS uses to register the game for us advanced users that want to add more to it? (custom shortcuts for example)
If you just need it to use in an installer or something, you can find it by opening the GAME.AGF file and searching for "GUIDAsString".
QuoteThat's true. It only defaults the save game folder though, the extension is left blank. (and brings up an error if you leave it blank)
Ah, my mistake, you're right. I'm still not sure whether this is really a problem, because it's always the case with file extensions that two applications can clash and use the same extension.
QuoteWell currently AGS seems to be beyond Mono. I tried installing Mono for Windows and running AGS2.8 on it and... nothing happens. Absolutely nothing.
If it helps, I ran AGS2.8 through the Mono Migration Analyzer and it brought up this. Might give you a guideline if you wanna aim for future Mono support.
Yeah, it doesn't work at the moment. But judging by that report most of the errors are just things that Mono haven't implemented yet, so hopefully in a year's time it'll be well enough implemented to be able to run the editor.
QuoteUnfortunately, I can't. I redownloaded the Beta, and was not able to reproduve the error.
Hmm, let me know if it happens again.
QuoteQuoteI also noticed how interaction variables are left for me to fix, GAH, now I regret having fallen into the interaction editor trap.
Hmm, what state is it leaving them in? I thought I had the upgrade process all automated now? (unfortunately I don't have a game with interaction variables to test it with, and 2.72 now seems to crash for me whenever I open the interaction editor...)
Well the global script seems to contain them, but the room scripts still have stuff like:
function room_AfterFadeIn()
{
if (UNKNOWN_INTERACTION_VARIABLE_0 == 0) {
room_b();
UNKNOWN_INTERACTION_VARIABLE_2 = 1;
}
Again on the matter of importing: after importing a game, closing the editor and later going back to that game, I'm now getting warnings like "Function hHotspot1_Look already exists and could not be created" (for every single room function) when a room file brings up an error.
I was trying to fix the problem I had with raven when the voices would cut off so I converted all the files to mp3 and now when I press the rebuild all files button they are not compiled.
[edit] Well I fixed that part but I'm having another problem. I think the reason it's cutting off is because all the mp3 files that I converted into mp3 cut off on the end in the game. The actual file will play normally. Is there any reason why converted mp3's will not play?
I've recently found out that AGS will not play WAV files that are compressed in ADPCM format. While that's not a problem (conversion is easy), it would help if there was some sort of warning or log entry for this; I was rather confused why the sound wasn't playing.
I think that was well known for a long time though.
WAV are in general large and are not recommended for use in the final game anyway, use OGG or MP3 instead.
If you ZIP your final game, it doesn't make much of a difference in distribution. And who cares about hard drive space these days?
And judged by the forum responses, most people didn't know this.
Also, as far as I know you still can't preview .ogg or .mp3 sounds in the view editor, so .wav still has some value. Oddly enough, even on 2.72 I get weird metallic-echo distortion with some .wav configurations like PCM unsigned (even after they're converted to .ogg) but if I convert the .wav to PCM signed mono (any bit level) it works. It's a really odd problem I only noticed recently.
Quotefunction room_AfterFadeIn()
{
if (UNKNOWN_INTERACTION_VARIABLE_0 == 0) {
room_b();
UNKNOWN_INTERACTION_VARIABLE_2 = 1;
}
Hmm thanks, I'll look into this.
QuoteAgain on the matter of importing: after importing a game, closing the editor and later going back to that game, I'm now getting warnings like "Function hHotspot1_Look already exists and could not be created" (for every single room function) when a room file brings up an error.
This should stop happening once you've successfully saved the room. The problem is that if the room has compile errors when it is imported, until the errors are fixed the file can't be saved, which means that when the room is reloaded it's still a 2.72-format file and it will try to upgrade it again (hence the warnings).
Is this error happening to you with a room that you've successfully saved?
QuoteI think the reason it's cutting off is because all the mp3 files that I converted into mp3 cut off on the end in the game. The actual file will play normally. Is there any reason why converted mp3's will not play?
I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but I think I remember there being a couple of issues with the mp3 player cutting off files slightly early. I think the only solution that was found was to add 100ms of silence or something at the end of the file. OGG and WAV should work though.
QuoteI've recently found out that AGS will not play WAV files that are compressed in ADPCM format. While that's not a problem (conversion is easy), it would help if there was some sort of warning or log entry for this; I was rather confused why the sound wasn't playing.
This is a known issue, but perhaps it should be better documented.
I think the start page is a grand idea however I think it could be expanded in a few key areas:
1. All help and documentation can be explored inside the main window like the start page.
2. All documentation in the main window should be presented in wiki format for convenience.
3. A 'live' online start page with recent news and updates.
I personally like the idea of tight intergration and with the way things are going, it seems rather fitting to have everything within the editor viewport including help and doccumentation.
Does anybody agree with this little idea?
Cheers, Paul.
I prefer to have the manual as it is - easily at hand, portable, independent. And the F1 context help is very useful, I don't know how that'd work as well with an integrated help.
And what is 'wiki format'? I think everything's presented just fine right now anyway...
One complaint I have about the help file ATM is that if you open it using the editor (i.e., Help->Dynamic Help, Help->Contents, or Help->Index), you can't switch between it and the editor like you would normal windows (the focus is always forced back to the help file). You have to minimize the help file to switch back to the editor. Opening the help file manually doesn't do this.
It would be interesting if the help file were to be integrated (although we mustn't get rid of the external one; no sense having to open the editor just to peruse the manual), though I imagine that would probably put a fairly heavy load on CJ for something that (IMO) is really very low priority.
As for a 'live' start page, I think it would be cool, but I wouldn't make it a high priority item; I'd rather see...say...dynamic arrays within structs first. :=
Unhandled Error: Occurs when saving:
Quote
Error: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
Version: AGS 2.8.0.9
System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt. ---> System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at ccCompileText(SByte* , SByte* )
at AGS.Native.NativeMethods.CompileScript(Script script, Script[] headers, Game game, Boolean isRoomScript)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.SaveRoomOnThread(Object parameter)
at AGS.Editor.BusyDialog.RunHandlerOnThread()
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at AGS.Editor.BusyDialog.Show(String message, ProcessingHandler handler, Object parameter)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.SaveRoomButDoNotShowAnyErrors(Room room, CompileMessages errors)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.SaveRoomAndShowAnyErrors(Room room)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.AGSEditor_PreSaveGame()
at AGS.Editor.AGSEditor.SaveGameFiles()
at AGS.Editor.Components.FileCommandsComponent.CommandClick(String controlID)
at AGS.Editor.GUIController._mainForm_OnMenuClick(String menuItemID)
at AGS.Editor.MainMenuManager.MenuEventHandler(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.RaiseEvent(Object key, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEventInteractive(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEvent(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem.ProcessCmdKey(Message& m, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripManager.ProcessShortcut(Message& m, Keys shortcut)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripManager.ProcessCmdKey(Message& m, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.ProcessCmdKey(Message& msg, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.ProcessCmdKey(Message& msg, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ProcessCmdKey(Message& msg, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.ProcessCmdKey(Message& msg, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ProcessCmdKey(Message& msg, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ProcessCmdKey(Message& msg, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.ProcessCmdKey(Message& msg, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ProcessCmdKey(Message& msg, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ProcessCmdKey(Message& msg, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.ProcessCmdKey(Message& msg, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ProcessCmdKey(Message& msg, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.ProcessCmdKey(Message& msg, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ProcessCmdKey(Message& msg, Keys keyData)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.PreProcessMessage(Message& msg)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.PreProcessControlMessageInternal(Control target, Message& msg)
at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.PreTranslateMessage(MSG& msg)
Seems rather serious, because of the potential for loosing work. :o
When you change a chars name in the editor,it does not chane it in the script .
That has never been automated. You have to modify the script manually in these cases.
Quote1. All help and documentation can be explored inside the main window like the start page.
I like the idea of the help being inside the main window, but I'm not sure how difficult it would be to implement.
Quote3. A 'live' online start page with recent news and updates.
We're not Microsoft, I don't think the AGS website has enough bandwidth to be downloaded automatically when anyone starts AGS!!
QuoteUnhandled Error: Occurs when saving
Is it one particular room that causes this problem? Can you post (or upload) the script that makes it crash?
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 03/09/2007 22:28:14Quote3. A 'live' online start page with recent news and updates.
We're not Microsoft, I don't think the AGS website has enough bandwidth to be downloaded automatically when anyone starts AGS!!
Hahaha! Yes! ;D This post really made me laugh out loud.
Quote from: lowesalex on Mon 03/09/2007 21:06:44When you change a chars name in the editor,it does not chane it in the script .
Regarding this though...would it be possible for the editor to automatically run through the scripts and replace things like Character (script) names if they're changed? As I said, it never
has been automated, but if I rename cEgo to cRoger then couldn't the editor automatically change this in the scripts? Presumably if it could do this you would have to first close any open scripts...but I don't really know if something like this would even be possible/reasonable....Chris? ::) Of course I wouldn't say it's a high-priority request, but it would make sense if it's not too difficult to implement. Save those unaccustomed to this behaviour a bit of trouble. ;)
But what about the case where you have a new character cChar1, who you want to be your new player character, but you still want to have the old main character in the game, so you rename cEgo to cChar2 and cChar1 to cEgo, and end up having to run through everything to replace cChar2 with cEgo again?
I prefer the current style, anyway. You shouldn't go changing your character's script names in late developement anyway :P At the beginning replacing a few names manually shouldn't be too much work for you. As said, this is not Microsoft. You might actually need to do something all by yourself and on your own initative :)
Or, easier still, use cChar1 as your player character, without renaming him to cEgo.
Easier still, use the "player" tag/keyword/thingy.
Really, is this such a big deal?
I'd say probably no, it was just an idea. ;)
Yeah, but if your scripts say cEgo? This is ofcource the scenario where you haven't used the player thingy. And I bet the renaming would confuse newcomers even more :P
If the scripts say cEgo, it's really dumb to start a new character. Better to edit cEgo and change his views, do a bit of interaction copy/paste and voilà  . Making this mistake and having the hassle of revising the entire script is a warning that it's not the best way to accomplish it.
We can't really foresee what a newcomer will do, but it's likely they'll just go with the player keyword.
Well... yeah. But I still think it makes much more sense not to rename anything automatically. Just put a "Replace all" function in with the option to go through all scripts.
I'm with TK for this one actually. Auto-renaming is stupid and confusing for scripters, unless the engine uses interactive interface completely (like the old graphical script or interaction editor).
Okay, I get the point. It was just a thought. Currently we could just use Find->Copy->Paste, I was just curious if it might be possible to make an automated method of doing so (it wouldn't necessarily have to be automatic on changing the Character name; but if we could at least have a Find & Replace dialog that would simplify things).
I dont know if this is worth anything but when I double clicked on the rooms to edit them this came up:
-------------------------------
Error: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
Version: AGS 2.8.0.9
System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at load_room_file(SByte* )
at load_crm_file(UnloadedRoom roomToLoad)
at AGS.Native.NativeMethods.LoadRoomFile(UnloadedRoom roomToLoad)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadNewRoomIntoMemory(UnloadedRoom newRoom, CompileMessages errors)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadDifferentRoom(UnloadedRoom newRoom)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadRoom(String controlID)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.CommandClick(String controlID)
at AGS.Editor.ProjectTree.ProcessClickOnNode(String nodeID, MouseButtons button)
at AGS.Editor.ProjectTree.projectTree_NodeMouseDoubleClick(Object sender, TreeNodeMouseClickEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.OnNodeMouseDoubleClick(TreeNodeMouseClickEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
----------------------------------------
Keep up the good work!
Cheers, G
Back to testing the beta,I am trying to create a walk-behind area like I used to use in 2.7,but the game seems to ignor it???
Or I did not understand how to use it(played with it before posting)or the methd of doing so is more complicated then it shoud be(painting an area ,setting the baselin,test game char dissapears behind the area).
Cheers :)
Not sure if something like this has been mentioned before (I'm too tired to go through all the posts) so...
I started making a test game with the new beta 9 using the empty game template. I imported my graphics and then modified the on_mouse_click script. At first the player character didn't move at all when he was supposed to walk (ProcessClick( mouse.x, mouse.y, eModeWalkto )), then the game started crashing whenever ProcessClick was called (with eModeWalkto, it worked fine with Interact and Lookat). I have no idea what I changed when it started crashing. Then I tried using player.Walk( ... ) and the results weren't much better:
// cPm is the player character, cBartender is an NPC
// Game crashes with the Windows error reporting dialog thing...
ProcessClick(mouse.x, mouse.y, eModeWalkto); /// DOESN'T WORK!
//cPm.Walk( mouse.x, mouse.y, eNoBlock, eWalkableAreas ); /// DOESN'T WORK!
//cPm.Walk( mouse.x, mouse.y, eBlock, eWalkableAreas ); /// DOESN'T WORK SOMETIMES!
//cBartender.Walk( mouse.x, mouse.y, eNoBlock, eAnywhere ); /// WORKS!
Here's the game: http://www.serpentpictures.net/TESTGAME.zip (http://www.serpentpictures.net/TESTGAME.zip)
Awlright, here goes:
Error: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
Version: AGS 2.8.0.9
System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at bitmap_color_depth(BITMAP* )
at DrawSpriteToBuffer(Int32 sprNum, Int32 x, Int32 y, Int32 scaleFactor)
at AGS.Native.NativeMethods.DrawSpriteToBuffer(Int32 sprNum, Int32 x, Int32 y, Int32 scaleFactor)
at AGS.Editor.ObjectsEditorFilter.PaintToHDC(IntPtr hDC, RoomEditorState state)
at AGS.Editor.RoomSettingsEditor.bufferedPanel1_Paint(Object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.PaintWithErrorHandling(PaintEventArgs e, Int16 layer, Boolean disposeEventArgs)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmPaint(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
I flipped over to a loaded room tab after deleting a sprite an object used... and the room background was a white background with a red x...
If we could get some handling for the whole deleting sprites issue (present from 2.72) it'd be cool.
I seem to have found some sort of odd feature, I'm curious as to it's function, and I've seen nothing in the help files about it... I found this completely by accident, whilst attempting to copy and paste.
When I'm coding in 2.8, and I type out CTRL-SHIFT-[LETTER], I get weird symbols:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/ctrlshiftwtf.PNG)
I was wondering if anyone knew what these were and how to use them, or if they're remnants of some completely auxiliary system...
These are the symbols that the text editing component AGS uses puts in for unprintable ascii characters. You can look up the actual values they correspond to: http://www.asciitable.com
They have no real purpose for ags scripting, unless you wanted to use them as control characters in a module perhaps.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 03/09/2007 22:28:14
I like the idea of the help being inside the main window, but I'm not sure how difficult it would be to implement.
Actually, I like being able to alt-tab between the editor and the help page :)
Quote from: Radiant on Sun 09/09/2007 09:38:43
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 03/09/2007 22:28:14
I like the idea of the help being inside the main window, but I'm not sure how difficult it would be to implement.
Actually, I like being able to alt-tab between the editor and the help page :)
Likewise.
Quote from: Ishmael on Sun 09/09/2007 18:44:48
Quote from: Radiant on Sun 09/09/2007 09:38:43
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 03/09/2007 22:28:14
I like the idea of the help being inside the main window, but I'm not sure how difficult it would be to implement.
Actually, I like being able to alt-tab between the editor and the help page :)
Likewise.
I use two monitors and its really nice to be able to have the help window open on one of them and ags on the other, so Im happy the way it is now :)
I really like the new interface, but here is what happened when i was testing it:
I created new game called TestGame using empty template, then I created few GUIs and dialogs and quit whitout saving.
When I opened ags again there was, at recently edited games, three of my old games and a game called a NewGame. I thought the new game was the testgame i have created, so i opened it and it asked for backup copy, witch i didnt take. But instead of opening test game, ags opened my main game (Now there is two of my main games at recently edited games + my old games). And now i dont have a backup copy of my main game :(
Didnt bother to read all old posts so i dont know i its mentioned before.
CJ, I deleted my old game by mistake. Please can you fix this bug in AGS...? :=
Quote from: mchammer on Mon 10/09/2007 07:12:10
When I opened ags again there was, at recently edited games, three of my old games and a game called a NewGame. I thought the new game was the testgame i have created, so i opened it and it asked for backup copy, witch i didnt take. But instead of opening test game, ags opened my main game (Now there is two of my main games at recently edited games + my old games). And now i dont have a backup copy of my main game :(
Didnt bother to read all old posts so i dont know i its mentioned before.
We went through this, but apparently it should be on a some sort of known issues list or something, that 2.8 doesn't read the 2.72 game names correctly due to format differences in the save files, and may indeed break stuff. But still, you're told to make a backup of your game before trying this release. That should be enough... :=
Arr. I copied out the entire folder of any game I wanted to try 2.8 on when it first came out.
Anyway, don't the newest betas ask you (and reccomend you to!) whether you want to backup your old 2.7 game, and even do it for you? Hmmm....
Perhaps AGS should just ignore users when they click "No" on the backup dialog?
Quote from: SSH on Mon 10/09/2007 08:03:38
CJ, I deleted my old game by mistake. Please can you fix this bug in AGS...? :=
Quote from: Ishmael on Mon 10/09/2007 12:06:09
But still, you're told to make a backup of your game before trying this release. That should be enough... :=
Quote from: SSH on Mon 10/09/2007 13:46:30
Perhaps AGS should just ignore users when they click "No" on the backup dialog?
Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires on Mon 10/09/2007 12:08:30
Anyway, don't the newest betas ask you (and reccomend you to!) whether you want to backup your old 2.7 game, and even do it for you? Hmmm....
But i thought i was opening some unimportat testgame, that's why i didnt take backup. :)
QuoteIf we could get some handling for the whole deleting sprites issue (present from 2.72) it'd be cool.
A fix for this would be for ags to check objects for a reference to that sprite number when it's deleted and set them to default sprite 0 or some kind of internal 'error' sprite so people can tell it needs to be replaced.
Quote from: ProgZmax on Tue 11/09/2007 03:22:08
QuoteIf we could get some handling for the whole deleting sprites issue (present from 2.72) it'd be cool.
A fix for this would be for ags to check objects for a reference to that sprite number when it's deleted and set them to default sprite 0 or some kind of internal 'error' sprite so people can tell it needs to be replaced.
And the mysterious blue cups in everyone's games are back :)
But yeah, that could work. But how much work is it? How much use will it be in the end compared to the current system?
QuoteI dont know if this is worth anything but when I double clicked on the rooms to edit them this came up:
-------------------------------
Error: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
Version: AGS 2.8.0.9
Is it one particular room file that causes this problem, or are you unable to open any rooms? If it's one room, could you upload the CRM file?
QuoteBack to testing the beta,I am trying to create a walk-behind area like I used to use in 2.7,but the game seems to ignor it???
Or I did not understand how to use it(played with it before posting)or the methd of doing so is more complicated then it shoud be(painting an area ,setting the baselin,test game char dissapears behind the area).
Has anyone else had any problems with walk-behinds? As far as I'm aware it should work fine -- try setting its baseline to 200 and see if the character is always behind it. Also, check that the character doesn't have Ignore Walk Behinds turned on.
Quotestarted making a test game with the new beta 9 using the empty game template. I imported my graphics and then modified the on_mouse_click script. At first the player character didn't move at all when he was supposed to walk (ProcessClick( mouse.x, mouse.y, eModeWalkto )), then the game started crashing whenever ProcessClick was called (with eModeWalkto, it worked fine with Interact and Lookat). I have no idea what I changed when it started crashing
It's crashing because you only have one loop in the main character's walking view. You need at least 4 loops for a walking view -- the editor should probably validate this for you rather than allowing the game to crash, I'll look into it.
QuoteI flipped over to a loaded room tab after deleting a sprite an object used... and the room background was a white background with a red x...
Well, the Delete Sprite warning message does tell you that AGS doesn't automatically handle objects that use it. However, this could probably be validated for the currently open room.
QuoteI created new game called TestGame using empty template, then I created few GUIs and dialogs and quit whitout saving.
When I opened ags again there was, at recently edited games, three of my old games and a game called a NewGame. I thought the new game was the testgame i have created, so i opened it and it asked for backup copy, witch i didnt take. But instead of opening test game, ags opened my main game (Now there is two of my main games at recently edited games + my old games). And now i dont have a backup copy of my main game
Was it just the game name that was wrong, or the folder path as well? Did you open AGS 2.72 in between?
QuoteA fix for this would be for ags to check objects for a reference to that sprite number when it's deleted and set them to default sprite 0 or some kind of internal 'error' sprite so people can tell it needs to be replaced.
Yeah, this is feasible to check for the currently open room, anyway.
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 11/09/2007 22:27:36
QuoteI created new game called TestGame using empty template, then I created few GUIs and dialogs and quit whitout saving.
When I opened ags again there was, at recently edited games, three of my old games and a game called a NewGame. I thought the new game was the testgame i have created, so i opened it and it asked for backup copy, witch i didnt take. But instead of opening test game, ags opened my main game (Now there is two of my main games at recently edited games + my old games). And now i dont have a backup copy of my main game
Was it just the game name that was wrong, or the folder path as well? Did you open AGS 2.72 in between?
My AGS folders are 'Adventure Game Studio 2.72' and 'Adventure Game Studio 2.8beta9', but because folder paths are so long, AGS's recently edited games shows both folders 'Adventure Game Studio ...' So cant tell if path was wrong.
And i think i didnt open 2.72 in between. But not really sure about that.
You were right about the walkbehind problem ;D
Could you change the default baseline to 200?why wouldn't it be logical?
Oh and even better could there be a solid walkbehind option in the design opetions when choosing walk-behinds in the room editor?
There is a bug when using animated cursors. When you animate cursor by selecting i.e. view 2, cursor uses view 3 when animating. Seems that true view is always one number bigger than selected view.
Dunno if this is mentioned before, but AGS crashed whitout any error message when i created room 6 and selected edit room. I had room 5 script open while doing this (i was editing object0's use object event) , but room 5 itself wasnt open.
This error message popped up when clicked edit room.
Error: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
Version: AGS 2.8.0.9
System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at load_room_file(SByte* )
at load_crm_file(UnloadedRoom roomToLoad)
at AGS.Native.NativeMethods.LoadRoomFile(UnloadedRoom roomToLoad)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadNewRoomIntoMemory(UnloadedRoom newRoom, CompileMessages errors)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadDifferentRoom(UnloadedRoom newRoom)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadRoom(String controlID)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.CommandClick(String controlID)
at AGS.Editor.ProjectTree.ProcessClickOnNode(String nodeID, MouseButtons button)
at AGS.Editor.ProjectTree.projectTree_NodeMouseDoubleClick(Object sender, TreeNodeMouseClickEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.OnNodeMouseDoubleClick(TreeNodeMouseClickEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
QuoteYeah, this is feasible to check for the currently open room, anyway.
You could do a simple object property test whenever a room opens, couldn't you?
QuoteMy AGS folders are 'Adventure Game Studio 2.72' and 'Adventure Game Studio 2.8beta9', but because folder paths are so long, AGS's recently edited games shows both folders 'Adventure Game Studio ...' So cant tell if path was wrong.
Ok, well I think the best thing might be for me to make 2.8 use a different Recent Games List to 2.72, to avoid them getting mixed up.
QuoteYou were right about the walkbehind problem
Could you change the default baseline to 200?why wouldn't it be logical?
Hehe, if it defaulted to 200 then you'd get complaints from people saying that their walk-behind area wasn't working because the character was always behind it!!
QuoteThere is a bug when using animated cursors. When you animate cursor by selecting i.e. view 2, cursor uses view 3 when animating. Seems that true view is always one number bigger than selected view.
Thanks for this, it's fixed in beta 10.
QuoteError: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
Version: AGS 2.8.0.9
System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at load_room_file(SByte* )
Does this happen every time you try to open this room, or did it do it just the once? This is the second time that a crash on opening a room has been reported, but so far I've been unable to reproduce the problem...
Anyway, beta 10 is now up. The changes are listed in the first post, but the most significant thing about this release is that I've merged in the D3D accelerated engine; being in this beta should give it a bigger exposure to testing to find any faults.
Also, I've been thinking ... with a brand new editor and 3D Acceleration in the engine, perhaps this is the best opportunity there'll ever be to change to that mythical Version 3.0 ...
Quote
Does this happen every time you try to open this room, or did it do it just the once? This is the second time that a crash on opening a room has been reported, but so far I've been unable to reproduce the problem...
It has happend couple times when i have tried open a room (i think it doesnt matter witch room number i try to open). And when i get this error message once, i keep getting it everytime i press any 'edit room' button. But when i save, close AGS and open it again, everything works fine.
I am running 2.8b9 and just tried the 'Check for updates' function in the editor, knowing that there was an update to b10. The editer *seemed* to do a check and found no new beta updates.
Has this actually been implemented?
BTW I already have the d3d file in the directory.
Hi.
Quote from: PumamanOk, beta 9 is now up. This should fix most of the reported issues -- if there are any outstanding problems, please let me know.
I'd be interested to know whether this new version works on Windows 98 or not.
I just tried beta9 and beta10 on Win98SE, and after installing IE 5.01 (prerequisite for .NET) and .NET 2.0 they both run just fine, as far as I can tell. Games compile and run fine too.
One little thing I noticed: When you press CTRL-(character) in the scripting window, chances are that the editor prints the corresponding escape character. So when you close the tab by pressing CTRL-W you may end up with an unintentional end-of-transmission-character in your script for the interpreter to choke on.
This seems to happen only if the script is already marked as modified (*), not if you just open it and close it again.
This occurrs both in beta9 and beta10.
PS: Respect to Pumaman for all his efforts creating and maintaining such an excellent piece of software over all these years. Happy birthday :)
I have a request... and I would think this would be a quick easy addition to AGS. I am use to having my object panels, "The windows with views, and Gui's etc." on the left side of my workspace. Can you impliment a drag and drop control, or even just an option in preferences that flips sides.
Thanks,
Quote from: BStoltman on Wed 19/09/2007 07:54:55
I have a request... and I would think this would be a quick easy addition to AGS. I am use to having my object panels, "The windows with views, and Gui's etc." on the left side of my workspace. Can you impliment a drag and drop control, or even just an option in preferences that flips sides.
Thanks,
I've asked for this already, but it seems it went unnoticed. Anyway, I second this. One reason being my limited eyesight.
Just tried beta 10: it's rather strange, but while D3D works perfectly, i get a probleem with directDraw :o: i don't know how to explain it, but there's some "residual" of the precedent backround on the new one, when switching to another room...
Quote from: ciborium on Wed 19/09/2007 03:08:50
I am running 2.8b9 and just tried the 'Check for updates' function in the editor, knowing that there was an update to b10. The editer *seemed* to do a check and found no new beta updates.
I've tried this to and got the same. From 2.8b8 to 2.8b9 it was fine.
I have another problem. There is a compilation error:
Message: Error (line 66): macro 'MICHI' already defined.
File: _AutoGenerated.ash
I have one character named cMichi (realname "Michi") and i have a view named "Michi". When i rename the view into "vMichi" the debug-run and the built works without errors.
But when i run the game (DirectDraw or Direct3D) and talk to the character Michi the second time, i get the following message:
---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
An internal error has occurred. Please note down the following information.
If the problem persists, contact Chris Jones.
(ACI version 2.80.946)
Error: Out of memory: failed to allocate -1498717290 bytes (at PP=77)
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
Happy birthday AGS :D
And thank you CJ for your never-ending dedication to this editor!
Now that the D3D-Eninge is integrated into the official Beta, may I quote you (CJ) from the D3D-thread:
Quote from: Pumaman
There are possible solutions to the RawDraw issue, but first I want to get this engine to a stable state.
You think there is a chance of implementing that into this version?
Just letting you know, there's a bit of a slowdown with D3D on a game with 32bit, 800x600. Yeah, I know, hardly surprising. But there was no slowdown before, and there's no slowdown with DirectDraw. The game is mostly static slideshows, so the only point where the slowdown is perceptible is the mouse - it doesn't move smoothly at all, it jerks around.
You know he will need more info than that :P specs, what's happening code wise, what exactly is on screen, etc!
Yes, I was afraid of that... it's been so long since I last dabbled with this particular project, I've forgot most of anything about it.
Nevermind, then. If it happens to someone who's actually still actively using it, he/she'll be able to provide necessary detail. If not, then it must not be a biggie.
Yep, I'm getting a ghostly overlay of the previous room on the screen after a room change...
(http://homepage.eircom.net/~limpingfish/ScreenCap.jpg)
...I'm using the "Crossfade" room transition style, if that helps. I know the transitions weren't working properly in the D3D engine, but I'm using the DX5 option. :-\
I was going to test crossfading because I remember it working fine in the previous version and then this happened:
(http://members.cox.net/progzmax/agserr1.gif)
I'm running Boyd Quest in 16-bit mode.
Still can't delete views (or move anything into/out of folders for categorizing like you can with 2.72).
Didn't really notice anything else that wasn't working.
QuoteIt has happend couple times when i have tried open a room (i think it doesnt matter witch room number i try to open). And when i get this error message once, i keep getting it everytime i press any 'edit room' button. But when i save, close AGS and open it again, everything works fine.
Hmm, strange. If you notice any pattern to what makes it start happening, please do let me know.
QuoteI am running 2.8b9 and just tried the 'Check for updates' function in the editor, knowing that there was an update to b10. The editer *seemed* to do a check and found no new beta updates.
Hehe yeah sorry, I forgot to update the server to tell it beta 10 was out. This should now be fixed.
QuoteOne little thing I noticed: When you press CTRL-(character) in the scripting window, chances are that the editor prints the corresponding escape character. So when you close the tab by pressing CTRL-W you may end up with an unintentional end-of-transmission-character in your script for the interpreter to choke on.
Hmm yeah, this has been mentioned before, I'll see if I can fix it.
QuoteI have a request... and I would think this would be a quick easy addition to AGS. I am use to having my object panels, "The windows with views, and Gui's etc." on the left side of my workspace. Can you impliment a drag and drop control, or even just an option in preferences that flips sides.
Stuff like draggable/dockable windows and customizable toolbars are things that take quite a while to implement compared to the benefit that they offer, so I can't really see the point at the moment. However, since some people seem to feel strongly about having it on the left, I'll see if I can add a Preferences option.
QuoteJust tried beta 10: it's rather strange, but while D3D works perfectly, i get a probleem with directDraw : i don't know how to explain it, but there's some "residual" of the precedent backround on the new one, when switching to another room...
Hmm, which screen transition are you using?
QuoteI have one character named cMichi (realname "Michi") and i have a view named "Michi". When i rename the view into "vMichi" the debug-run and the built works without errors.
But when i run the game (DirectDraw or Direct3D) and talk to the character Michi the second time, i get the following message:
Beta 10 fixes a bug where the "MICHI"-type thing wasn't defined for characters, which was causing backwards compatibility problems. This has been fixed, but it means that if you have a character called "cMichi" and a view called "Michi" they will conflict. However, you shoudln't be getting a crash like that. Are you sure you're not using "MICHI" somewhere in the script where you want a view number, but are providing a character number instead?
QuoteThere are possible solutions to the RawDraw issue, but first I want to get this engine to a stable state.
You think there is a chance of implementing that into this version?
Probably not in 2.8. If you use a lot of RawDrawing you can continue to use the DX5 graphics driver, which should behave the same way as 2.72.
QuoteJust letting you know, there's a bit of a slowdown with D3D on a game with 32bit, 800x600. Yeah, I know, hardly surprising. But there was no slowdown before, and there's no slowdown with DirectDraw. The game is mostly static slideshows, so the only point where the slowdown is perceptible is the mouse - it doesn't move smoothly at all, it jerks around.
I wouldn't expect any speedup if it's just a room with a background and nothing else. D3D is mainly for speeding up rooms with lots of objects/alpha blending/etc.
QuoteYep, I'm getting a ghostly overlay of the previous room on the screen after a room change...
Interesting, could be a problem with the crossfade transtiion. I'll look into it.
QuoteI was going to test crossfading because I remember it working fine in the previous version and then this happened:
Thanks for the report, I'll look into it.
QuoteI wouldn't expect any speedup if it's just a room with a background and nothing else. D3D is mainly for speeding up rooms with lots of objects/alpha blending/etc.
Well, the thing isn't that I was expecting a speedup - it's that with D3D there's a slowdown. And with DirectDraw there is no slowdown, and in the *previous* build of the engine there was no slowdown.
This happens obviously on the first screen which consits of a screen-size GUI, and less obvious throughout the game whenever the mouse is on a hotspot - which is a situation in which many things occur in rep_execute, checking a room array to see if the hotspot's been clicked on before and performing some more checks to see whether the hotspot it's currently under is STILL the hotspot it was under when the game first detected there was a hotspot under the mouse (close-together hotspots with this interface were a pain in the behind, but I managed). All that just to make sure the mouse sets to the correct mode.
Like I said, work's been discontinued because I just didn't have the time and the guy who asked for it seems to have found someone else using some other engine, and there's a lot of stuff going on making it hard to pinpoint what causes the slowdown, so I just thought I'd mention it in passing.
QuoteQuoteJust tried beta 10: it's rather strange, but while D3D works perfectly, i get a probleem with directDraw : i don't know how to explain it, but there's some "residual" of the precedent backround on the new one, when switching to another room...
Hmm, which screen transition are you using?
Crossfade; anyway, i have the same problem LimpingFish has
Hey, Chris. I'm 99% sure these are bugs and not something I'm confusing with normal program behavior.
------
BUGS
------
EDIT: //SOLVED// Thankyou chris!
'Animated Cursor View' adds +1 to specified view number. If told cursor to use view 6 for animation, the game will use 7. //SOLVED//
**************************************************************
Functions in script like function trashcan_Look() don't work unless you have clicked the button on the right of the field in the 'Look at hotspot' field of the visual scripter. The field must also be empty before hand.
The same goes for any function for any room item. (hotspot, region, object) Clicking that button does not remove previously manually scripted functions, however, which is good.
**************************************************************
When using an if statement with an external variable such as 'import int DoorKeeperIsAgreeable;' in a room script, if the code ran due to the variable being equal to 1 is SetBackgroundFrame(1); the main character's color table becomes shifted. (The ego sprite looks somewhat inverted.) The game is set to 32 bit and if I choose the same background as frame 0 for frame 1 the problem still persists. If in the code I choose to set the background frame to the same number it is currently set on then no problem occurs.
-----------------
SUGGESTIONS
-----------------
'MinScalingLevel' & 'MaxScalingLevel' should be swapped and when 'UseContinuousScaling' is set to true, it should preserve the previous scaling value in 'MinScalingLevel'.
**************************************************************
'SetHotspotWalkToPoint' needs an x,y picker.
**************************************************************
Ability to delete Views.
**************************************************************
Remove automatic spaces after comma's. They are annyoing when going back over grammer.
**************************************************************
'AnimatedView' option in room object properties.
**************************************************************
Be able to change a hotspot's walk to point during gameplay.
**************************************************************
When right clicked 'Inventory Items' and chosen New Inventory Item, the properties for the new inventory item just created should be displayed below and not the properties of a previous item.
**************************************************************
When clicking inside a field in the properties panel of any game item the entire field sholuld be highlited for easy replacing. At least this should be the case for numeric fields.
**************************************************************
In addition to or instead of OnClick functions for buttons, include OnMouseDown and OnMouseUp options.
This is usefull for things such as scrolling invatory arrows particuarily when the user has set mouseOver sprites but doesnt want those mouseOver sprites to be displayed before the mouse button is released and the button can be disabled.
It's basically a much easier way to prevent buttons from flashing before they are turned off in addition to allowing users a more simplified control of buttons under both mouse states.
**************************************************************
Add 'Is Clickable' option to objects. Basically returns 'mouseover' functionality to an object behind the current object.
**************************************************************
The suggestions above are not demands and should require community approval before implmentation. If I have listed a bug or a suggestion for 2.8 that has already been posted then take my sincere apologies as i am using pay per use internet in the singapore airport and cant afford enough time to browse through other peoples post.
Cheers AGSer's.
As soon as I saw this thread's title, I thought, "why didn't he just post this in the AGS2.8beta thread?"
As soon as I read
Quote'Animated Cursor View' adds +1 to specified view number. If told cursor to use view 6 for animation, the game will use 7.
I confirmed that this is exactly what you should have done, because the issue has been adressed and I believe has been fixed in a latest beta.
No point in even reading the rest of the post now.
QuoteWell, the thing isn't that I was expecting a speedup - it's that with D3D there's a slowdown. And with DirectDraw there is no slowdown, and in the *previous* build of the engine there was no slowdown.
Hmm, interesting. Would you mind uploading the game so that I can give it a go and see if I can trace the source of the slowdown?
Just out of interest, have you got the "anti-alias scaled sprites" enabled in Setup? If so, can you try turning it off and see if you still get the slowdown?
QuoteFunctions in script like function trashcan_Look() don't work unless you have clicked the button on the right of the field in the 'Look at hotspot' field of the visual scripter. The field must also be empty before hand.
I'm not sure what you mean here. If you just manually add a function called "hDoor_Look" to the script, then it won't be picked up automatically, by design. The Events pane is where you tell AGS how to hook up the various events; however it's an interesting idea for future to pick these up automatically.
QuoteWhen using an if statement with an external variable such as 'import int DoorKeeperIsAgreeable;' in a room script, if the code ran due to the variable being equal to 1 is SetBackgroundFrame(1); the main character's color table becomes shifted.
Are you using a 256-colour character sprite in a 32-bit game?
QuoteRemove automatic spaces after comma's. They are annyoing when going back over grammer.
Hmm yes, this shouldn't be happening inside strings.
QuoteWhen right clicked 'Inventory Items' and chosen New Inventory Item, the properties for the new inventory item just created should be displayed below and not the properties of a previous item.
Well, this applies to all the different types of pane and is because AGS doesn't automatically open the newly created item. It would probably be a good idea if it did, actually.
Thanks for your other suggestions, if anyone else would find any of these useful, please do post and say so.
Excuse me pal. Would you mind cooling your temper. I'm overseas, I've got severe jet lag and If you go back over my post that I wrote only 4 minutes ago youll see I have added SOLVED to that issue. I did't realise beta 10 was out til i browed back in through the forums.
I suggest excersinging a little patience and self control when deciding to blast someone who has taken their time to look for bugs and think of improvements.
I should have posted it in this forum, sure. My apologies to the moderators. I'm a little zonked right now. I'm sure everybody else understands my situation.
QuoteNo point in even reading the rest of the post now.
Rui, that last comment was beligerant and immature. The rest of the bugs i listed have not been solved and I beleive I have some important suggestions for Chris to look over. So, please, please, grow up, son.
A toast to Chris Jones for eight years of hard work on the greatest thing to ever happen in the classic adventure game business.
Paul.
Me, a temper? Your own post sounds a lot more temperamental. 's ok, it's probably the jet lag speaking. Maybe you should rest for awhile, assume that you have that extra bit of time before the world ends in which to post. Best to post rested, this way you won't expose a tired you to the internet, where we can't see the jet lag. Which is something you say "everyone else will understand". I understand it perfectly well, I just had no idea you had it, seeing as I can't read minds yet. The last comment seems immature and beligerant to you, sure, because you're tired, and you've been trying to contribute to AGS despite your rough shape and what you get is a comment from one person saying that because you didn't notice a couple of minor things he won't bother with the rest. But here's the catch - that person is the only one who said it, and that person's opinion simply won't matter in the general development of AGS. What the jet lag stole from you is perspective. Which doesn't mean I like being patted on the head condescendingly... "daddy".
QuoteHmm, interesting. Would you mind uploading the game so that I can give it a go and see if I can trace the source of the slowdown?
Sorry, but the game is 100+mbs. I can try, if you still want me to, it's just be quite a process, but if you think it can be tracked down some other way, it might be better all around. Let me know if you have any suggestions, feel free to PM me for anything I should double-check that might be causing the slowdown.
QuoteJust out of interest, have you got the "anti-alias scaled sprites" enabled in Setup? If so, can you try turning it off and see if you still get the slowdown?
Assume you mean "smooth scaled sprites"? No, it's not enabled. FOr fun, I enabled "Downgrade to 16bit", but it made no difference.
QuoteAre you using a 256 bit sprite in a 32 bit game?
Yes actually. Thanks again Chris, I havent drawn any art for my main character yet. I'm using Roger right now.
Cheers.
I show my support for these suggestions:
Quote from: subspark on Sat 22/09/2007 11:52:26
Ability to delete Views.
**************************************************************
'AnimatedView' option in room object properties.
**************************************************************
Be able to change a hotspot's walk to point during gameplay.
**************************************************************
When right clicked 'Inventory Items' and chosen New Inventory Item, the properties for the new inventory item just created should be displayed below and not the properties of a previous item.
**************************************************************
In addition to or instead of OnClick functions for buttons, include OnMouseDown and OnMouseUp options.
This is usefull for things such as scrolling invatory arrows particuarily when the user has set mouseOver sprites but doesnt want those mouseOver sprites to be displayed before the mouse button is released and the button can be disabled.
It's basically a much easier way to prevent buttons from flashing before they are turned off in addition to allowing users a more simplified control of buttons under both mouse states.
**************************************************************
Add 'Is Clickable' option to objects. Basically returns 'mouseover' functionality to an object behind the current object.
**************************************************************
I am also getting ghost images of the previous room. It may be related to the garbage matte problem that I spoke of earlier.
I am running 800x600 32bit w/ alpha'd sprites.
EDIT: I stole LimpingFish's dark background to test for my garbage matte problem. Here is that pic.
(http://www.nbepc.org/images/testpic.png)
You can also see that the cursor has left a reverse shadow of its garbage matte along with my player character.
Quote from: subspark on Sat 22/09/2007 11:52:26In addition to or instead of OnClick functions for buttons, include OnMouseDown and OnMouseUp options.
This is usefull for things such as scrolling invatory arrows particuarily when the user has set mouseOver sprites but doesnt want those mouseOver sprites to be displayed before the mouse button is released and the button can be disabled.
It's basically a much easier way to prevent buttons from flashing before they are turned off in addition to allowing users a more simplified control of buttons under both mouse states.
Initial impression: RTFM (http://americangirlscouts.org/agswiki/Scripting_event_reference#on_event).
Although, I think more specialized functions would/could be useful.
Along the same lines as this I think it would be even more useful if there were some type of function for
simulating a click on a GUIControl. I can think of several instances where I have wanted to perform the normal "OnClick" functions of my GUIControls without actually clicking the mouse (for example, using keyboard keys to simulate mouse-clicks). There's no solution other than simply by-passing the "OnClick" function(s) altogether and using on_event instead.
Quote from: subspark on Sat 22/09/2007 11:52:26Add 'Is Clickable' option to objects. Basically returns 'mouseover' functionality to an object behind the current object.
Are you talking about this (http://americangirlscouts.org/agswiki/Object_functions_and_properties#Object.Clickable)? I'm not sure what "'mouseover' functionality" you're referring to, but the Object.Clickable property handles whether or not the object "'Is Clickable'".
Quote from: Pumaman on Thu 20/09/2007 20:58:01Stuff like draggable/dockable windows and customizable toolbars are things that take quite a while to implement compared to the benefit that they offer, so I can't really see the point at the moment. However, since some people seem to feel strongly about having it on the left, I'll see if I can add a Preferences option.
That would be very enough to have at hand :)
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Sun 23/09/2007 07:25:01
Along the same lines as this I think it would be even more useful if there were some type of function for simulating a click on a GUIControl. I can think of several instances where I have wanted to perform the normal "OnClick" functions of my GUIControls without actually clicking the mouse (for example, using keyboard keys to simulate mouse-clicks). There's no solution other than simply by-passing the "OnClick" function(s) altogether and using on_event instead.
Event functions still work like regular functions:
function on_key_press(int keycode)
{
if (keycode==9) // Tab
btnIconInv_Click(btnIconInv, eMouseLeft);
}
function btnIconInv_Click(GUIControl *control, MouseButton button)
{
gInventory.Visible = true;
mouse.Mode = eModeInteract;
mouse.UseModeGraphic(eModePointer);
}
Only with SupSuper's example, you'd get an error because you call the function before you define it. It takes a little juggling with placement of functions within the code, sometimes, to get it all tip-top, but apart from that he's totally right.
Apart from that he's still totally wrong if you want the function to be declared in the global script but called from a module script. :-
Another alternative to on_event would be putting the event functions in the module script...but I was hoping for a more generalized function. And even with the on_event method, if I want the normal event handler and the module's on_event handler to run the same code then I have to duplicate my code. If there were some type of click-simulation function...maybe a GUIControl.Click (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=23428.0) function...then I could simply code the interaction once and then simulate clicks as necessary.
I mean, we've been able to simulate mouse-clicks for ages using ProcessClick...but that ignores GUIs altogether.
QuoteAbility to delete Views.
The reason this isn't implemented is because views are still referenced by number, and thus if they could be deleted all the numbers could go out of sync. However I guess it could allow view 3 for example to be deleted, and rather than shuffling them all down one it could just leave a gap at 3.
QuoteWhen right clicked 'Inventory Items' and chosen New Inventory Item, the properties for the new inventory item just created should be displayed below and not the properties of a previous item.
This is now in beta 11.
QuoteAdd 'Is Clickable' option to objects. Basically returns 'mouseover' functionality to an object behind the current object.
Not really sure what you mean here, as monkey_05_06 says, there's already an Object.Clickable property.
QuoteI am also getting ghost images of the previous room. It may be related to the garbage matte problem that I spoke of earlier.
Ok, this should be resolved with beta 11, please let me know if you still have problems.
QuoteThe reason this isn't implemented is because views are still referenced by number, and thus if they could be deleted all the numbers could go out of sync. However I guess it could allow view 3 for example to be deleted, and rather than shuffling them all down one it could just leave a gap at 3.
Why not implement the ability to change the view numbers like you can with sprites. In fact why not unify the numbering system in the following ways:
Instead of Sprite 'Number' call it sprite 'ID' (like Rooms, GUIs and Views).
Unlock the ID field for GUIs, Views, and Sprites to be modifiable.
If we can rearrange our stuffs Id's regardless of them being in use and perhaps with a more user friendly warning system that allows editing of the Id's before we go and change them in the script to match then life would be a load easier.
QuoteNot really sure what you mean here, as monkey_05_06 says, there's already an Object.Clickable property.
Forgive me there Chris. I must have missed this one.
Cheers,
Paul.
No ghosting as far as I can see.
Yay! :)
I think it should be possible for AGS 2.8 to be able to load plug ins from a directory just like with scripts.
I strongly believe the same for all things including templates but thats another ball game.
Cheers,
Paul.
I just tried out Beta11. It might sound trivial, but the option to have the project tree switched to the left was surprisingly welcome. I've grown accustomed to the editor's new layout over the past few weeks, but now- no, there's no turning back, that panel stays to the left! Feels so much better!
Thanks for that little option, CJ!
I prefer the new layout to be honest. Having the pane on the right, for me, feels more like I'm using a newer engine.
I suppose that comes from the fact that most software in windows that include panes, such as Adobe Flash, have it on the right by default.
I welcome the option for left hand pane placement openly however.
Paul.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 18:24:35* Added ability to RawDraw onto dynamic sprites (see new DynamicSprite.GetDrawingSurface method); started to port RawDraw functions to object-oriented schema
You, Sir, have just converted me to a 2.8 user!
QuoteWhy not implement the ability to change the view numbers like you can with sprites. In fact why not unify the numbering system in the following ways:
Instead of Sprite 'Number' call it sprite 'ID' (like Rooms, GUIs and Views).
Unlock the ID field for GUIs, Views, and Sprites to be modifiable.
If we can rearrange our stuffs Id's regardless of them being in use and perhaps with a more user friendly warning system that allows editing of the Id's before we go and change them in the script to match then life would be a load easier.
Hmm, well ideally I'd like to phase out the ID numbering, since it's not very user friendly and is rather '90s. This is already done for GUIs, Dialogs, Characters, etc which can now be referenced by script names. Fonts, sprites and views are (IIRC) the only things still referenced by number.
QuoteIt might sound trivial, but the option to have the project tree switched to the left was surprisingly welcome. I've grown accustomed to the editor's new layout over the past few weeks, but now- no, there's no turning back, that panel stays to the left! Feels so much better!
Hehe, I actually have the same feeling as subspark -- I think it looks really odd with the tree on the left, but then I guess I'm just used to all the other modern applications like Visual Studio that have it on the right. If you want to live in the past, you're now free to do so ;)
Quote* Added ability to RawDraw onto dynamic sprites (see new DynamicSprite.GetDrawingSurface method); started to port RawDraw functions to object-oriented schema
You, Sir, have just converted me to a 2.8 user!
Hehe, glad to hear it! While we're on the subject of RawDrawing, are there any RawDraw functions that people would find useful but that AGS doesn't currently have?
Okay two things,
When in the GUI editor, and when your choosing a sprite for a button mouse state, if I choose to expand a folder, say, Overs or Downs in maybe a GUI folder, the next time I choose a sprite for the next state or the same one again the folders are collapsed.
It would be a far less tedious task if AGS remembered which folders I chose to expand.
The second thing is if I rename the first GUI, from say gActions to gMain the tab remains gActions even though the script-o-name had been updated.
Cheers,
Paul.
[quote author=Pumaman link=topic=31519.msg420261#msg420261
Hehe, glad to hear it! While we're on the subject of RawDrawing, are there any RawDraw functions that people would find useful but that AGS doesn't currently have?
[/quote]
It would be nice to have a RawDraw or Dynamic sprite function that had a "perspective squash", that is made a sprite drawn as if it were the a surface of a 3D object.
QuoteIt would be nice to have a RawDraw or Dynamic sprite function that had a "perspective squash", that is made a sprite drawn as if it were the a surface of a 3D object.
I thought about something like this (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=11643.0) 3 years ago. For making semi-realistic shadows... in which case, blend mode should be set too and whole sprite drawn in one color.
Tried out the D3D driver on my work PC and it gives me:
---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
There was a problem initializing graphics mode 320 x 200 (32-bit).
(Problem: 'Failed to create Direct3D Device: 0x8876086C')
Try to correct the problem, or seek help from the AGS homepage.
Possible causes:
* your graphics card drivers do not support this resolution. Run the game setup program and try the other resolution.
* the graphics filter you have selected does not work. Try another filter.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
This is the same with 16/32bit, and any size of window: 320x200, 320x240, 640x400, etc and this is running windowed, too. The other driver works fine. dxdiag confirms DirectX 9.0c installed OK.
#
Also, the welcome page still says "tree in the top-right" when you change the preferences to be on the left ;)
QuoteWhen in the GUI editor, and when your choosing a sprite for a button mouse state, if I choose to expand a folder, say, Overs or Downs in maybe a GUI folder, the next time I choose a sprite for the next state or the same one again the folders are collapsed.
It would be a far less tedious task if AGS remembered which folders I chose to expand.
The second thing is if I rename the first GUI, from say gActions to gMain the tab remains gActions even though the script-o-name had been updated.
Fair points, I'll look into them.
QuoteIt would be nice to have a RawDraw or Dynamic sprite function that had a "perspective squash", that is made a sprite drawn as if it were the a surface of a 3D object.
Hmm, this seems a bit of a specialized request, but I guess it would be useful for drawing shadows. I'm not sure what sort of algorithm would be necessary to do a perspective squash though.
QuoteThere was a problem initializing graphics mode 320 x 200 (32-bit).
(Problem: 'Failed to create Direct3D Device: 0x8876086C')
A quick google for "0x8876086C" seems to indicate that you need to update your graphics drivers. As it's an office PC, they could well have deliberately installed some very basic drivers that don't have 3D support, since obviously employees like yourself are there to write documents, not play games :P
QuoteAlso, the welcome page still says "tree in the top-right" when you change the preferences to be on the left
Well that's your fault for changing the preferences :P
Quote from: Pumaman on Thu 20/09/2007 20:58:01
QuoteI have one character named cMichi (realname "Michi") and i have a view named "Michi". When i rename the view into "vMichi" the debug-run and the built works without errors.
But when i run the game (DirectDraw or Direct3D) and talk to the character Michi the second time, i get the following message:
Beta 10 fixes a bug where the "MICHI"-type thing wasn't defined for characters, which was causing backwards compatibility problems. This has been fixed, but it means that if you have a character called "cMichi" and a view called "Michi" they will conflict. However, you shoudln't be getting a crash like that. Are you sure you're not using "MICHI" somewhere in the script where you want a view number, but are providing a character number instead?
Again the "Michi" problem: it seems to be a problem with the dialog I will start. Each time the dialog shoud start I get a crash. If I change the global script to start another dialog it will work.
Is there something wrong with my diaolg script?
---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
An internal error has occurred. Please note down the following information.
If the problem persists, contact Chris Jones.
(ACI version 2.80.948)
Error: Out of memory: failed to allocate -120586240 bytes (at PP=77)
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
// Dialog script file
@S // Dialog startup entry point
return
@1
player: Can I enter the next room?
Michi: You're welcome
return
@2
player: Show me the next room
Michi: I have to stay here
return
@3
player: Bye
Michi: Bye
stop
Chris, when I import a module script, I think the script name in module information should also be used in the list pane window instead of 'module'. Also in that regard is that if I paste a new name for the list pane, and the script editor is open, it pastes the text into the script rather than in the selected field in the list pane.
Also, it would be really handy, particularly for beginners, if you could copy the text of an error output for use with the forums.
Cheers,
Paul.
Would be great if there were an option to show objects while creating walkable areas. If you have objects witch affect to the walkable area, you have to alternately click 'show objects' and 'show walkable areas' all the time to set the area right.
Btw, thanks for increasing max. object amount. Very useful to me :)
One useful method is to save the background with all objects in place and use it as reference to place the AGS objects and draw the different areas, then import the normal, object-free background afterwards.
But it would still be great to be able to e.g. see walkable areas when drawing regions.
Although this can theoretically be worked around using the same method.
Thanks for tip,
Im working on game witch has a lot of objects and have had a little problems (not really problems, I'm just lazy) drawing the walkable areas.
Actually, to unify that idea, I would like to see the room editor be able to blend things like walkable areas over walkbehinds and objects, etc. I hate having to click back and forth different displays to guess by eyeball. Would be nice if we could display everything at once like looking through layers of glass. If you know what I mean.
Cheers,
Paul.
Quote from: subspark on Fri 28/09/2007 00:52:08Would be nice if we could display everything at once like looking through layers of glass. If you know what I mean.
Welcome to Photoshop.
:P
You can use an external program that supports layers and then save each layer to a different BMP file and import them as masks.
I use Photoshop frequently, and it is great for layers. That said, AGS doesn't always translate bitmap masks well when importing and it would still be nice to be able to view elements in the editor.
Also, Chris, I don't know if anyone has asked this before but it would be really nice for AGS 2.8 to be able to combine the lighting amount with color tinting for regions. This makes a lot of sense particularly if your game is set in dark moody places like mine. I use a lot of greens and blues and I'm simply desperate to make the light color affect the character along with the light amount without having to use different character sprites for each room. Can we unify this system, please?
Cheers,
Paul.
Gotta love how the shadow and sprite deformation modules that I spent years coding might now be replaced by engine-internal functions. Serves me right for wanting to show off...
As for new RawDraw routines:
1) Copying the transparency map (either single color or alpha channel) from an existing sprite to a DynamicSprite of the same size. To support alpha channels, it would of course be necessary for DynamicSprites not to automatically remove the alpha channel (but this should probably be an optional, since that also has it's uses).
2) Not quite RawDraw, but DynamicSprite.Tint as someone suggested in another thread would be great.
3) It would also be great to be able to set linewidth for the RawDraw routines to only draw a single pixel in hi-res mode. Currently I use all kinds of workarounds (drawing double scale, then resizing) for this.
I've been working a lot with RawDraw, and I'll probably think of more suggestions. But these are things I've been missig just off the top of my head.
Edit: As for this -
QuoteIt would be nice to have a RawDraw or Dynamic sprite function that had a "perspective squash", that is made a sprite drawn as if it were the a surface of a 3D object.
I tried to implement this in my shadow module, but it turned out to be too slow, so I do support an engine function to do it. I think a geometrical deformation of a rectangle to a shape where you specify new coordinates for each of the four corners (similar to Photoshop's 'Distort' transformation) should do the trick.
Some nice rawdraw functions would include realtime (manual) scaling and rotation.
As far as views go it wouldn't really matter if a deleted view left a slot empty, you could always have the engine check for the first empty slot when a new view is created and toss it there, like if you delete view 2 of 6 views and create a new view it would automatically toss the new view into the second slot. This sort of thing should really be transparent from the user anyway, since view names are all that's really needed to reference views.
Also, is there any reason why you can't make the #'s of objects and such dynamically created/destroyed instead of just numerically bumping up their maximum limits? If you're going to make sweeping improvements, the best ones I can think of would be getting rid of static limits altogether because it benefits both the makers of small games and people who need a huge amount of things (it would also put an end to requests to have 1 extra hotspot or 10 more inventory items because hell, they can make as many as needed)!
Quote from: ProgZmax on Fri 28/09/2007 20:55:43Some nice rawdraw functions would include realtime (manual) scaling and rotation.
I don't understand how this is different from scaling/rotating a DynamicSprite and then RawDrawing it or displaying otherwise? What do you mean by "realtime"?
One small thing that annoys me is when I have the name of a GUI control selected and then hit DEL (not backspace) it deletes the control rather than the text. It would be good if AGS could run a check to see if text in a field is selected first before wiping my object from the screen. ;)
EDIT: I think its time that views can be flipped horizontally AND vertically. Can this be done, Chris?
Cheers,
Paul.
Quote from: GarageGothic on Fri 28/09/2007 10:23:362) Not quite RawDraw, but DynamicSprite.Tint as someone suggested in another thread would be great.
Yes. BTW, nice use of the number 2 for both your second
and third points. :P
Something else that I would actually find useful (although again, not a "RawDraw" function) would be some type of function to increase the "canvas" size of a DynamicSprite. Actually it would probably be even more useful if the function could accept
top,
left,
bottom, and
right parameters and pad the image out with X pixels on side Y. Something like DynamicSprite.Pad(int top, int left, int bottom, int right) that would increase the transparent "background" of the sprite. The reason for something like this would of course be to increase the size of the DrawingSurface in case we want to actually draw something outside the sprite's normal area. Uh...it's like the inverse operation of DynamicSprite.Crop?...please don't kill me! It was only a suggestion!
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Fri 28/09/2007 23:08:25BTW, nice use of the number 2 for both your second and third points. :P
Well, I thought it might make me seem less demanding ;)
Hehehehe! :D
Admittedly, I don't know how useful it would be for anyone or how difficult to implement, but a brainstorm I think worth mentioning:
RawDraw functions for Walkable Areas/Regions/Hotspots/Walk Behinds?
I imagine they would be somewhat unintuitive and of limited use in a program that deals primarily with prerendered backgrounds, but I still think they could produce some really interesting effects, as well as simplify SOME scenarios in which a creator needs to use many small areas that are constantly switched on and off.
And on a tangentially related subject, what about a z-baseline for Walk Behinds(Walk Belows?)?
I was very excited to see the new Beta release available - so, with great haste, I downloaded and installed it on my Windows XP Home Edition Computer. This Error message and a nasty warning sound erupted:
AGSEditor.exe - Application Error
X The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135). Click on OK to terminate the application.
OK
Did I do something wrong? HELP!
WackyWildCard
Do you have Microsoft's .NET Framework 2.0 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en) installed?
???Perhaps it's been awhile that I have not updated my XP ???
I'll keep you guys updated when I have some time to test it.
QuoteAnd on a tangentially related subject, what about a z-baseline for Walk Behinds(Walk Belows?)?
I like the sound of that. Walk belows? Thats brilliant. In fact I think we need to hand over the overall baseline control to polygons rather than a static straight line. It would surely solve a lot of problems with complex scenes.
AGS would basically push vertices in the Z direction the higher up from the bottom of the viewport you click them in. Then, in a small top down preview window, you could fine-tweak them to suite your background art.
Cheers,
Paul.
QuoteAgain the "Michi" problem: it seems to be a problem with the dialog I will start. Each time the dialog shoud start I get a crash. If I change the global script to start another dialog it will work.
Is there something wrong with my diaolg script?
---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
An internal error has occurred. Please note down the following information.
If the problem persists, contact Chris Jones.
(ACI version 2.80.948)
Error: Out of memory: failed to allocate -120586240 bytes (at PP=77)
Hmm that's strnage, your script looks fine. Would you be able to upload your game for me to take a look at?
Quotewhen I import a module script, I think the script name in module information should also be used in the list pane window instead of 'module'.
The name in the list pane is the filename of the .SCM file that you imported it from. I don't see any reason to change this, it means that the script file name will be as intended by the module author.
QuoteWould be great if there were an option to show objects while creating walkable areas. If you have objects witch affect to the walkable area, you have to alternately click 'show objects' and 'show walkable areas' all the time to set the area right.
I like that idea, I'll look into it.
QuoteI don't know if anyone has asked this before but it would be really nice for AGS 2.8 to be able to combine the lighting amount with color tinting for regions. This makes a lot of sense particularly if your game is set in dark moody places like mine. I use a lot of greens and blues and I'm simply desperate to make the light color affect the character along with the light amount without having to use different character sprites for each room. Can we unify this system, please?
I'm not really sure why regions don't allow you to specify the light level, since you can do it with ambient tints, etc. However, this probably isn't something I'll do for 2.8 since I want to try and release it sooner rather than later.
Quote1) Copying the transparency map (either single color or alpha channel) from an existing sprite to a DynamicSprite of the same size. To support alpha channels, it would of course be necessary for DynamicSprites not to automatically remove the alpha channel (but this should probably be an optional, since that also has it's uses).
2) Not quite RawDraw, but DynamicSprite.Tint as someone suggested in another thread would be great.
Interesting ideas, I'll look into these.
Quote3) It would also be great to be able to set linewidth for the RawDraw routines to only draw a single pixel in hi-res mode. Currently I use all kinds of workarounds (drawing double scale, then resizing) for this.
In the next beta I'm adding a UseHighResCoordinates property to the DrawingSurface, and a Thickness parameter to DrawLine, which should allow you to do this easily.
QuoteI tried to implement this in my shadow module, but it turned out to be too slow, so I do support an engine function to do it. I think a geometrical deformation of a rectangle to a shape where you specify new coordinates for each of the four corners (similar to Photoshop's 'Distort' transformation) should do the trick.
I'm not sure about this one, but I'll have a think. It won't make it into 2.8.
QuoteAlso, is there any reason why you can't make the #'s of objects and such dynamically created/destroyed instead of just numerically bumping up their maximum limits?
This depends on the type of thing that we're talking about. I've already removed the limits on views and GUIs because it was relatively simply to do; however with room-specific things like objects there is more to consider, such as how the data is stored when you leave the room. It's not impossible, just more complex (and potentially slower for saving/restoring games) to have a truly dynamic memory allocation here.
QuoteOne small thing that annoys me is when I have the name of a GUI control selected and then hit DEL (not backspace) it deletes the control rather than the text
Hehe oh yeah that is annoying, I'll fix it.
QuoteI think its time that views can be flipped horizontally AND vertically.
For what purpose would you use a top-to-bottom flip? The left-to-right flip feature is there because of the very common use of having identical left and right walking frames... but this doesn't really apply to up/down frames.
QuoteSomething else that I would actually find useful (although again, not a "RawDraw" function) would be some type of function to increase the "canvas" size of a DynamicSprite.
Interesting idea, I'll look into it.
QuoteRawDraw functions for Walkable Areas/Regions/Hotspots/Walk Behinds?
I imagine they would be somewhat unintuitive and of limited use in a program that deals primarily with prerendered backgrounds, but I still think they could produce some really interesting effects, as well as simplify SOME scenarios in which a creator needs to use many small areas that are constantly switched on and off.
Hmm, I'm not sure about this. Technically it could be possible, would anyone find this useful?
I got this when set (by accident) gui background image number to 44444:
Error: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
Version: AGS 2.8.0.11
System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at drawGUIAt(Int32 , Int32 , Int32 , Int32 , Int32 , Int32 , Int32 , Int32 )
at drawGUI(Int32 hdc, Int32 x, Int32 y, GUI guiObj, Int32 scaleFactor, Int32 selectedControl)
at AGS.Native.NativeMethods.DrawGUI(Int32 hDC, Int32 x, Int32 y, GUI gui, Int32 scaleFactor, Int32 selectedControl)
at AGS.Editor.GUIEditor.bgPanel_Paint(Object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.PaintWithErrorHandling(PaintEventArgs e, Int16 layer, Boolean disposeEventArgs)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmPaint(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
Issues with AGS 2.8: Change of behavior in "interaction > code" conversion.
Quotefunction room_AfterFadeIn()
{
dialog[0].Start();
player.ChangeRoom(2, -10, 190);
}
As interaction (2.72), this was the behavior:
- Game runs dialog
- After dialog finishes, game switches rooms and changes character position
As the now-converted code (2.8), this is the new behavior:
- Game changes character position
- Game runs dialog
- After dialog finishes, game switches rooms
Issues with DirectDraw mode: Room fades don't match the room resolution (in my case, the rooms switch from 320*200 to 320*240 while fading)
Issues with Direct3D mode: 320*200 won't work on it:
---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
There was a problem initializing graphics mode 320 x 200 (16-bit).
(Problem: 'Failed to create Direct3D Device: 0x8876086A')
Try to correct the problem, or seek help from the AGS homepage.
Possible causes:
* your graphics card drivers do not support this resolution. Run the game setup program and try the other resolution.
* the graphics filter you have selected does not work. Try another filter.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
QuoteI got this when set (by accident) gui background image number to 44444:
Hmm that's quite bad, I'll see if I can handle that better.
QuoteAs interaction (2.72), this was the behavior:
- Game runs dialog
- After dialog finishes, game switches rooms and changes character position
As the now-converted code (2.8), this is the new behavior:
- Game changes character position
- Game runs dialog
- After dialog finishes, game switches rooms
It's a good point, but realistically I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done about it. Perhaps it just needs to be made clear in the Upgrading to 3.0 guide to watch out for situations like this.
QuoteRoom fades don't match the room resolution (in my case, the rooms switch from 320*200 to 320*240 while fading)
Hmm, are you running in letterbox mode?
QuoteIssues with Direct3D mode: 320*200 won't work on it:
Looks like this is a limitation of your graphics drivers that they don't support 320x200 with D3D. I don't think it's a bug in AGS.
Anyway, beta 12 is now up. I've now renamed it from 2.8 to 3.0, because I think this is as close as we're ever going to get to a full rewrite, and the new editor and D3D engine are quite good justification for making the leap. And yes, I know the splash screen still says "2.8 beta version", but that'll be gone before long ;)
I think I've fixed that crash that people were getting occasionally when loading a room, please let me know if you get it again with beta 12.
Man Chris you're brilliant. DynamicSprite tinting and canvas resizing! I love you. And I have to go to work. Hell!!! >:(
But first I want to take a look around the new manual. :=
Oh...BTW...I like the "3.0" change. I've always been a bit confused about the history, but this is the third official complete editor revision isn't it?
Love the changes. Just curious though...how feasible might it be to implement some properties like Game.CursorModeCount and Game.FontCount? I would find properties like this rather useful. I was also wondering if we might find UseHighResCoordinates properties available in other places as well.
I'm pretty sure this has been asked before, but there's some chance to implement antialias on alpha blended images with D3D?
Quotehow feasible might it be to implement some properties like Game.CursorModeCount and Game.FontCount? I would find properties like this rather useful. I was also wondering if we might find UseHighResCoordinates properties available in other places as well.
CursorModeCount and FontCount would be very easy to add, I don't think anyone's asked for them before.
As for UseHighResCoordinates, the DrawingSurface provides a convenient separate place to implement this as a trial. If it proves useful, then I can certainly look into expanding it further.
QuoteI'm pretty sure this has been asked before, but there's some chance to implement antialias on alpha blended images with D3D?
This should already work, if you tick the "Smooth scaled sprites" option in Setup when using the D3D driver.
Thanks for the great addition. One small request:
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 18:24:35*DynamicSprite.CreateFromExistingSprite now preserves alpha channel
Could it please be made optional whether to keep or remove the alpha channel (with an optional bool at the end of the function perhaps)? I need to use transparency on shadows created from character sprites, and anti-aliased sprites don't support transparency.
QuoteIt's not impossible, just more complex (and potentially slower for saving/restoring games) to have a truly dynamic memory allocation here.
I'm not sure I agree; in fact, for those who use fewer than the current preset limits it could actually be
faster and have a smaller runtime size, and for those who need more it's there without the hassle of you increasing the limits every so often. I'm sure people with a massive number of objects/hotspots in a room would encounter some performance issues, but then they should already know what they're getting into with that, right? The way I see it there are only benefits -- both to you and to the users of ags -- to doing away with static limits. People who construct a tiny game that uses very few resources will compile to a smaller size (it might not be a massive difference but it will be there) and those who need more than x objects for, say, one specific room have it if necessary, with the added bonus of you only needing to implement it once :). You could, naturally, suggest some upper limit for reasonable gameplay in the help file for the objects/hotspots/everything else. Just a thought!
Hmm, when using the character.tint command the luminance seems half of what it should be. It doesn't pay respect to the region's list pane's values either. I still strongly believe the luminance AND the RGB tint properties should be a part of the regions list pane's properties. Why is adding this ability so complicated, CJ? Am I missing something?
Cheers, :)
Paul.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 30/09/2007 20:16:19Quotehow feasible might it be to implement some properties like Game.CursorModeCount and Game.FontCount?
CursorModeCount and FontCount would be very easy to add, I don't think anyone's asked for them before.
Actually I have asked about the FontCount before here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=27721.0). It was even put in the tracker, but that appears to be broken. But I would also find the CursorModeCount valuable.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 30/09/2007 20:16:19As for UseHighResCoordinates, the DrawingSurface provides a convenient separate place to implement this as a trial. If it proves useful, then I can certainly look into expanding it further.
Okay! :) I'm guessing that if things work out that this might be a move toward removing the 320x200 coordinate system from hi-res games?
QuoteOkay! Smiley I'm guessing that if things work out that this might be a move toward removing the 320x200 coordinate system from hi-res games?
Oooh yippee! A resolution independent coordinate system. That would be extremely valuable.
I remember CJ saying this:
QuoteQuoteRadiant: Will this or a future version support 800x600 (or higher) resolution, using actual 800x600 coordinates rather than 400x300 ones? Having to put everything at even-numbered pixels is kind of impractical
Chris: This version won't because it would require significant changes to the engine to support this, however it's certainly something I'll look into for future versions
(Page 6 of this thread.) Also I thought somebody said AGS 3.0 was going to be an engine rewrite in addition to the editor being upgraded. I'm sure it wasnt you Chris but could someone clarify the timeline for us
Cheers,
Paul.
Quote from: subspark on Mon 01/10/2007 05:30:49QuoteOkay! :) I'm guessing that if things work out that this might be a move toward removing the 320x200 coordinate system from hi-res games?
Oooh yippee! A resolution independent coordinate system. That would be extremely valuable.
Note the words
guessing,
if, and
might. Also, check the source. :P
Edit: Just making sure you knew who had said it. ;)
I said 'would be' not 'is' Monkey. ;)
I was excited that someone mentioned it.
BTW did you get my PM a few days ago?
Cheers,
Paul. 8)
Trying to Test Game with my walkcycle editor (which worked fine in an older 2.8 beta) I got:
Error: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
Version: AGS 3.0.0.12
System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at load_room_file(SByte* )
at load_crm_file(UnloadedRoom roomToLoad)
at AGS.Native.NativeMethods.LoadRoomFile(UnloadedRoom roomToLoad)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadNewRoomIntoMemory(UnloadedRoom newRoom, CompileMessages errors)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.RecompileAnyRoomsWhereTheScriptHasChanged(CompileMessages errors, Boolean rebuildAll)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.AGSEditor_PreCompileGame(PreCompileGameEventArgs evArgs)
at AGS.Editor.AGSEditor.PreCompileGameHandler.Invoke(PreCompileGameEventArgs evArgs)
at AGS.Editor.AGSEditor.CompileGame(Boolean forceRebuild, Boolean createMiniExeForDebug)
at AGS.Editor.Components.BuildCommandsComponent.TestGame(Boolean withDebugger)
at AGS.Editor.Components.BuildCommandsComponent.CommandClick(String controlID)
at AGS.Editor.GUIController._mainForm_OnMenuClick(String menuItemID)
at AGS.Editor.MainMenuManager.MenuEventHandler(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.RaiseEvent(Object key, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleMouseUp(MouseEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEventInteractive(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEvent(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
And then when compiling:
Error: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
Version: AGS 3.0.0.12
System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt. ---> System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at ccCompileText(SByte* , SByte* )
at AGS.Native.NativeMethods.CompileScript(Script script, Script[] headers, Game game, Boolean isRoomScript)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.SaveRoomOnThread(Object parameter)
at AGS.Editor.BusyDialog.RunHandlerOnThread()
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at AGS.Editor.BusyDialog.Show(String message, ProcessingHandler handler, Object parameter)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.SaveRoomButDoNotShowAnyErrors(Room room, CompileMessages errors)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.RecompileAnyRoomsWhereTheScriptHasChanged(CompileMessages errors, Boolean rebuildAll)
at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.AGSEditor_PreCompileGame(PreCompileGameEventArgs evArgs)
at AGS.Editor.AGSEditor.PreCompileGameHandler.Invoke(PreCompileGameEventArgs evArgs)
at AGS.Editor.AGSEditor.CompileGame(Boolean forceRebuild, Boolean createMiniExeForDebug)
at AGS.Editor.Components.BuildCommandsComponent.CompileGame(Boolean forceRebuild)
at AGS.Editor.Components.BuildCommandsComponent.CommandClick(String controlID)
at AGS.Editor.GUIController._mainForm_OnMenuClick(String menuItemID)
at AGS.Editor.MainMenuManager.MenuEventHandler(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.RaiseEvent(Object key, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleMouseUp(MouseEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEventInteractive(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEvent(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
A simple suggestion: now in order to perform an "integrate with windows" trick I have to run the game's .exe with an obscure command line parameter - either from installer or by making end-user do so.
Wouldn't it be nice if that could be performed from within winsetup? It will not require a lot of coding, but would be very convenient.
I haven't had time to play around with the new RawDraw commands, but it seems that the new handling of alpha channels has broken my old RawDraw based functions in that drawing RGB color (255,0,255) no longer works as a transparency mask for the sprite. In addition, this wouldn't work anyway if the alpha channel was retained for the DynamicSprite.
I guess the best way to handle this would be to add an out-of-range DrawingSurface.DrawingColor value that draws 100% transparency to the DrawingSurface (allowing a value range to draw an actual gradient alpha channel is probably too much to ask, though it would be awesome :)).
QuoteCould it please be made optional whether to keep or remove the alpha channel (with an optional bool at the end of the function perhaps)? I need to use transparency on shadows created from character sprites, and anti-aliased sprites don't support transparency.
As this existing functionality has been removed, I guess it's only fair that I add a way of adding it back :)
QuoteI'm not sure I agree
I'm not really sure how you can be in a position to disagree with my assessment of the work involved in modifying the AGS engine code, to be honest :P
QuotePeople who construct a tiny game that uses very few resources will compile to a smaller size
But it won't. AGS only writes out to disk the number of objects that you actually have, it's just the in-memory structures that are fixed size.
QuoteHmm, when using the character.tint command the luminance seems half of what it should be. It doesn't pay respect to the region's list pane's values either
Setting a character tint overrides any other tints, like ambient tint or region tint -- it doesn't attempt to combine them together. Also, I'm not really sure what you mean by "the luminance seems half of what it should be", are you saying the behaviour of the tint has changed since 2.72?
QuoteSystem.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at load_room_file(SByte* )
Bugger, I was sure I'd fixed that. Can you make it happen repeatedly or did it only happen the once? So far it's quite annoying because I haven't managed to find any way of reproducing the problem.
QuoteSystem.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt. ---> System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at ccCompileText(SByte* , SByte* )
at AGS.Native.NativeMethods.CompileScript(Script script, Script[] headers, Game game, Boolean isRoomScript)
Are you able to reproduce this one, or did it seem to happen as a result of the previous error?
QuoteA simple suggestion: now in order to perform an "integrate with windows" trick I have to run the game's .exe with an obscure command line parameter - either from installer or by making end-user do so.
Wouldn't it be nice if that could be performed from within winsetup? It will not require a lot of coding, but would be very convenient.
Interesting idea. What do people think about allowing the player to register/unregister the game with a button in setup? Is this giving them too much control or does it sound reasonable?
Quoteit seems that the new handling of alpha channels has broken my old RawDraw based functions in that drawing RGB color (255,0,255) no longer works as a transparency mask for the sprite.
Hmm good point, that will draw a pink line over alpha-channel sprites. I'll look into it.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 01/10/2007 20:55:25Interesting idea. What do people think about allowing the player to register/unregister the game with a button in setup? Is this giving them too much control or does it sound reasonable?
I think it's a valid suggestion, considering that more people distribute their games as .zip and .rar files than with installers (which - considering the number of AGS games I try out every month - is a good thing). However, I think this brings up another issue which has been bothering me for a long time - the many superfluous features of winsetup, which may confuse the player, requires mention in the documentation despite doing nothing for that particular game, or may even break the game if not blocked by game code (such as displaying a hi-res game in 320x200 causing unreadable fonts and crashes). Yes, some of them can be locked out in the .cfg file, but these settings will disappear if the .cfg is deleted for whatever reason.
How much work would it take to add a pane in AGSEdit to customize the winsetup, choosing which checkboxes and dropdown menu items to allow, and perhaps allowing for some minor customization of the layout (and maybe a piece of your own artwork to distinguish it from every other AGS game)? It's probably too late for the current version, but with the Direct3D driver option, a lot more end-users will need to run the setup program than before.
Not that I like to take apart CJ's lovely design of the winsetup, but I beleive ResHacker is the only way to do this right now.
Having said that, the idea of customizing the winsetup for a developers needs is truly welcome and overdue. So I am highly inclined to agree.
Cheers,
Paul.
It would be nice in AGS if the sprite importer could remember which folder it was in when the sprite was last chosen and I think the ability to change the transparency mode (bottom-right / pallet index 0) could be done in the right click menu. I'm tired of having to surf back through old folders when correcting a silly mistake of choosing the wrong corner for transparency.
EDIT: In the layout section of the list pane under the GUI editor, I think 'Height' should be moved below 'Width' (like in most apps). The same goes for item width and height.
I also think 'Left' should be renamed to 'X Position' and 'Top' to 'Y Position'.
Cheers,
Paul.
Still using beta 11, so i dont know if this exists at beta 12, the sprite manager showed only 64 sprites in a folder, even i had over 70.
EDIT: Nevermind, might be that i just had sprite manager open when i added more sprites with view editor, so it didnt update it. ::)
QuoteBut it won't. AGS only writes out to disk the number of objects that you actually have, it's just the in-memory structures that are fixed size.
Fair enough, but I see some potential in creating objects and the like during runtime as well, allowing them to (among other things) appear to change rooms with the player easily or to be replicated. If objects were made wholly independent from rooms there wouldn't be a whole lot of point to dynamically create them, but as it is now there would be quite a lot you could do with the ability to toss an object into a room on the fly or add a dozen or so extra as needed. Objects being independent of rooms would be more useful, granted, since you could just set their room number and they'd be where you wanted them without creating copies in other rooms. I'm not trying to hassle you, I just have some experience with static limits and then later seeing how much better things work out without them (and how many problems it avoids).
I had a question originally about alpha-blended sprites not displaying correctly in the editor window. I was going to grab some screenshots when I uncovered another (slightly more interesting) problem.
Something seems to be up with the SaveScreenShot(String filename) function.
I'm unable to use it to get any screenshots in both DirectDraw and Direct3D mode. I've placed the function inside one of my scripts, so it can't be a problem with the key_pressed function. I was able to use the function perfectly from 2.8, last I checked.
I think something with the new graphics engine isn't working, maybe the screenshot function is still pulling from an old surface, or something...
At any rate, I'm at a loss as to what to do, it won't work at all on my box.
EDIT: OH YEAH! My original problem... Ahem...
I've got some alpha blended sprites I'd like to use, but they seem to be displaying oddly in the editor, the entire background of the image is either white or black. However, the images display fine in the game in both DirectDraw and Direct3D mode... Just thought you should know. :D
Chris, just letting you know that the automatic 'space after comma' is still performed in the dialog editor.
Cheers,
Paul.
However, one place that I would find the spacing after a comma useful is immediately following the end of a string-literal. If a string-literal is followed immediately by a comma no space is inserted, however for any following parameters it would be.
Quote from: subsparkHaving said that, the idea of customizing the winsetup for a developers needs is truly welcome and overdue
Agreed.
CJ, AGS 2.8 is behaving differently to 2.72 in terms of character tinting. I can't seem to get it to tint at ALL in 2.72 and again in 2.8 it seems to be only allowing half of the value I set in to be displayed.
If you have time, I have uploaded my small game for you to look see.
http://www.shuugouteki.net/paul/Development/AdlantoPrototyp_CJ_BUGTest.zip (http://www.shuugouteki.net/paul/Development/AdlantoPrototyp_CJ_BUGTest.zip)
BTW, I sent you a PM, Chris. Did you get it? I wasn't sure.
Thanks,
Paul.
Quote from: Recluse on Tue 02/10/2007 04:09:36
I've got some alpha blended sprites I'd like to use, but they seem to be displaying oddly in the editor, the entire background of the image is either white or black. However, the images display fine in the game in both DirectDraw and Direct3D mode... Just thought you should know. :D
Same problem in 2.72 - maybe it's a feature to see transparent objects, but an outline would be fine as well.
Anyway I think it's only a problem with the editor window.
BIG BUG: Setting the 'Use GUI for dialog options' to anything other than '0' or a TextGUI results in the following error:
Out of memory: Failed to allocate - 120586240 bytes (at PP=77)
Also setting the GUI to go black when the interface is disabled results in visual artifacts.
Cheers,
Paul.
Thanks CJ for addressing our concerns about the E.I., The Scripting and Global Messages. ;)
When I get my new computer, with all the updates and the new AGS Beta installed, I will be excited to see how The Auto-Complete Scripting Tool works.
:D
Quote from: subspark on Mon 01/10/2007 23:03:54Not that I like to take apart CJ's lovely design of the winsetup, but I beleive ResHacker is the only way to do this right now.
All of my attempts to use ResHacker to change winsetup has resulted in corruption of the .exe file causing the game to refuse to run. Has anyone actually managed to do this?
QuoteHow much work would it take to add a pane in AGSEdit to customize the winsetup, choosing which checkboxes and dropdown menu items to allow, and perhaps allowing for some minor customization of the layout
Winsetup is a tricky one. Ideally I'd like to make it fully customizable but that would basically mean writing a whole new version of the GUI Editor specifically for customizing the setup program. It's just far too much work to implement it considering the benefits it would offer.
Alternatively, I could add a few options to disable various controls on the setup program, but it could well end up looking quite ugly if bits of the dialog were missing, and that would lead on to requests to be able to move controls around, and the whole thing ends up out of control.
You can always write your own Setup program in visual basic or something and have it write the acsetup.cfg file as appropriate.
QuoteIt would be nice in AGS if the sprite importer could remember which folder it was in when the sprite was last chosen and I think the ability to change the transparency mode (bottom-right / pallet index 0) could be done in the right click menu. I'm tired of having to surf back through old folders when correcting a silly mistake of choosing the wrong corner for transparency.
That's a fair point. I guess I could add a third option to the Preferences dialog, "remember the last folder used".
QuoteEDIT: In the layout section of the list pane under the GUI editor, I think 'Height' should be moved below 'Width' (like in most apps). The same goes for item width and height.
I also think 'Left' should be renamed to 'X Position' and 'Top' to 'Y Position'.
The property grid is always in alphabetical order, thus Height is above Width. Also, "Left" and "Top" are the modern "standard" naming for these properties, so people familiar with Visual Studio/etc should be able to get used to it more easily.
QuoteNevermind, might be that i just had sprite manager open when i added more sprites with view editor, so it didnt update it
Good point, well spotted ... I'll have to see about improving that.
QuoteObjects being independent of rooms would be more useful, granted, since you could just set their room number and they'd be where you wanted them without creating copies in other rooms.
This "objects being independent of rooms" request keeps popping up again and again; each time I say the same thing:
Characters can move between rooms, objects cannot. If you want to have an object that can move between rooms, use a character instead.
Can somebody please explain why, given the above, you would want objects to be independent of rooms?
QuoteSomething seems to be up with the SaveScreenShot(String filename) function.
Has anyone else had any problems with this?
QuoteI've got some alpha blended sprites I'd like to use, but they seem to be displaying oddly in the editor, the entire background of the image is either white or black. However, the images display fine in the game in both DirectDraw and Direct3D mode... Just thought you should know
That has always been the case, however I'll see if I can do anything to improve it.
Quotejust letting you know that the automatic 'space after comma' is still performed in the dialog editor.
Thanks, I'll look into it. Having said that, in dialog you probably should have a space after a comma :P
QuoteCJ, AGS 2.8 is behaving differently to 2.72 in terms of character tinting. I can't seem to get it to tint at ALL in 2.72 and again in 2.8 it seems to be only allowing half of the value I set in to be displayed.
If you have time, I have uploaded my small game for you to look see.
Thanks for uploading, I'll take a look at it.
QuoteBTW, I sent you a PM, Chris. Did you get it? I wasn't sure.
I don't check my PMs very often, I will do so in a moment.
QuoteBIG BUG: Setting the 'Use GUI for dialog options' to anything other than '0' or a TextGUI results in the following error:
Out of memory: Failed to allocate - 120586240 bytes (at PP=77)
Also setting the GUI to go black when the interface is disabled results in visual artifacts.
Thanks, I'll look into these.
QuoteWhen I get my new computer, with all the updates and the new AGS Beta installed, I will be excited to see how The Auto-Complete Scripting Tool works.
I'm not quite sure what you mean, the auto-complete in 3.0 is pretty much the same as it was in 2.72.
QuoteAll of my attempts to use ResHacker to change winsetup has resulted in corruption of the .exe file causing the game to refuse to run. Has anyone actually managed to do this?
You have to run it on the acwin.exe file before you compile the game; if you try to run it on the compiled exe file it won't work.
Pardon me, Pumaman. :-\ What I really meant to mention was the idea of some kind code generation wizard, in addition to the Auto-Complete Scripting Tool.
Would you still be willing to give that idea a chance? ??? :)
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 02/10/2007 19:21:05
Quotejust letting you know that the automatic 'space after comma' is still performed in the dialog editor.
Thanks, I'll look into it. Having said that, in dialog you probably should have a space after a comma :P
We do use spaces after commas in dialogue. We just are so used to pressing comma space, that in our dialogs and scripts we wind up with comma space space.
Quote from: subspark on Tue 02/10/2007 10:01:53
AGS 2.8 is behaving differently to 2.72 in terms of character tinting. I can't seem to get it to tint at ALL in 2.72 and again in 2.8 it seems to be only allowing half of the value I set in to be displayed.
If you have time, I have uploaded my small game for you to look see.
http://www.shuugouteki.net/paul/Development/AdlantoPrototyp_CJ_BUGTest.zip (http://www.shuugouteki.net/paul/Development/AdlantoPrototyp_CJ_BUGTest.zip)
What do you mean by "half of the value to be displayed"? I gave this a go and it seemed to work ok. Due to the very dark tint colour you're using, the characters always look quite dark even when the luminance is 100.
QuoteAlso setting the GUI to go black when the interface is disabled results in visual artifacts.
I tried this out but didn't get any problems, can you provide an example?
Quotethe characters always look quite dark even when the luminance is 100.
Thats the point! I'm not sure why this seems to be normal behavior. In my game I want the cEgo to walk through a series of dark and light places (affected by shadow and bright lights) but he seems to be too dark for the function to be of any use.
When I use regions to set tint properties, unfortunately, the luminance value is separate, so the character is tinted fine. That being normal behavior, when I use region light values instead, the light works how one would expect it to.
I'm not too cluey with this one so can you please clarify for me why the region's light and tint values are 'one or the other'? It's really handy to be able to use it instead of writing code, however, shouldn't it function more like
Character.Tint(int red, int green, int blue,
int saturation, int luminance)Sorry Chris, I hate to be a pest but I'm rather confused about this.
QuoteI tried this out but didn't get any problems, can you provide an example?
Sure thing man. You know, in my game, this behavior is REALLY weird!
http://www.shuugouteki.net/paul/Development/testforCJ.zip (http://www.shuugouteki.net/paul/Development/testforCJ.zip)
I appreciate your time on this CJ. Thanks.
EDIT: Looks like MIDI is broken in AGS 3.0. 'musicX.mid' (X being a number ;)) won't play. Not even on PlayMusic(X); command. I've tried it in room_load and room_load_after_fadein. Nada! Zip! Ziltch! :-X
Cheers,
Paul.
Quote from: WackyWildCard on Tue 02/10/2007 19:56:52
Pardon me, Pumaman. :-\ What I really meant to mention was the idea of some kind code generation wizard, in addition to the Auto-Complete Scripting Tool.
Actually I don't expect that will ever be in V3.00, CJ just made a suggestion, not saying that it's easy to work on and will make it in the near future. (He also mentioned that it may also be a plugin, so there're chance he won't even make it but someomne who's interested may.)
Wasn't that what the Interaction Editor was? A point-and-click (mostly) code generation thingy?
And on that note, where is it? Can we please have it back for v3.0.
Cheers,
Paul.
Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires on Wed 03/10/2007 08:34:52
Wasn't that what the Interaction Editor was? A point-and-click (mostly) code generation thingy?
Not exactly.
The I.E. provides suggestion for text script code equivalence
sometimes but the actions were not actually converted to text script format in the game files, they're stored in I.E. in some different format.
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 02/10/2007 19:21:05You can always write your own Setup program in visual basic or something and have it write the acsetup.cfg file as appropriate.
I tried doing this a while back (you may remember my suggestion to add the option of disabling "gamefile.exe --setup" functionality for the same reason), but ended up being stumped with the audio device detection code. I guess my best bet would be for someone skilled enough to write a fully functioning template that could be customized and compiled using a freely available tool like Visual Basic Express. Anyway, it won't be an issue for me for another 6 months at least, so I'll look further into it when I'm close to finishing my game.
QuoteYou have to run it on the acwin.exe file before you compile the game; if you try to run it on the compiled exe file it won't work.
Ah, of course. I didn't try that - and it's even a much better solution in that you don't have to implement your changes every time you re-compile your game :).
QuoteThats the point! I'm not sure why this seems to be normal behavior. In my game I want the cEgo to walk through a series of dark and light places (affected by shadow and bright lights) but he seems to be too dark for the function to be of any use.
Well, you're tinting with 100% saturation to (30,60,80), which is a pretty dark colour. Even with 100% luminance it's not very bright, and with lower luminance settings it's going to be even darker.
If you want a lighter tint, use a lighter colour tint like (100, 200, 250) or something, and then reduce the luminance to make him darker in different areas.
QuoteI'm not too cluey with this one so can you please clarify for me why the region's light and tint values are 'one or the other'?
There is no real reason why regions don't support a luminance value ... they just never have done. Adding support for luminance has been requested as a new feature but it's not something that has been added yet.
QuoteSure thing man. You know, in my game, this behavior is REALLY weird!
http://www.shuugouteki.net/paul/Development/testforCJ.zip
This seems to behave the same as 2.72. The "GUIs go black" setting is rather misleading as what it actually does is "Hide all GUI controls", so you'll only see the GUI background image. In fact, I think I will rename this option in the editor as it's quite badly named.
QuoteEDIT: Looks like MIDI is broken in AGS 3.0. 'musicX.mid' (X being a number ) won't play. Not even on PlayMusic(X); command. I've tried it in room_load and room_load_after_fadein. Nada! Zip! Ziltch!
I just tried this out and it was fine. Did you put the file in the Music folder?
QuoteI tried doing this a while back (you may remember my suggestion to add the option of disabling "gamefile.exe --setup" functionality for the same reason), but ended up being stumped with the audio device detection code
You don't need to detect anything, just provide the same options to the player that the current Setup does.
QuoteAnd on that note, where is it? Can we please have it back for v3.0.
As we've already discussed this a some length earlier in this thread, I'll just give you the short answer: No. :P
QuoteSomething seems to be up with the SaveScreenShot(String filename) function.
I'm unable to use it to get any screenshots in both DirectDraw and Direct3D mode. I've placed the function inside one of my scripts, so it can't be a problem with the key_pressed function. I was able to use the function perfectly from 2.8, last I checked.
I just tried this out with both DX5 and D3D and it was fine. What problem are you getting? Is the screenshot corrupt, or is it simply not creating the file? Did you remember to look in the save game folder?
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 03/10/2007 18:44:33You don't need to detect anything, just provide the same options to the player that the current Setup does.
I assumed that "digiwin=1096302880" and other values were device ids specific to the user's hardware. Are you saying that these numbers are always identical for the same listbox choice?
Got this when I was writing this at globalscript into my own function:
float T_HeadYLine = (IntToFloat(this.Scaling) / 100)*(EnemyType[this.ID]].H
After first time, i got it again every time i added or removed a letter from the line.
Still using beta11, but there didnt seem to be anything like this at beta 12 fixlist.
Error: Index and length must refer to a location within the string.
Parameter name: length
Version: AGS 2.8.0.11
System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index and length must refer to a location within the string.
Parameter name: length
at System.String.InternalSubStringWithChecks(Int32 startIndex, Int32 length, Boolean fAlwaysCopy)
at AGS.Editor.ScintillaWrapper.GetPreviousPathedExpression(Int32 startAtPos)
at AGS.Editor.ScintillaWrapper.ShowAutoCompleteIfAppropriate(Int32 minimumLength)
at AGS.Editor.ScintillaWrapper.OnUpdateUI(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at Scintilla.ScintillaControl.DispatchScintillaEvent(SCNotification notification)
at Scintilla.ScintillaControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
Edit: I could recreate the error by adding same kind of line to my other games.
Quote from: GarageGothic on Wed 03/10/2007 19:14:29
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 03/10/2007 18:44:33You don't need to detect anything, just provide the same options to the player that the current Setup does.
I assumed that "digiwin=1096302880" and other values were device ids specific to the user's hardware. Are you saying that these numbers are always identical for the same listbox choice?
Perhaps what is really required is some proper CJ-authored documentation of the file format in the Help file or elsewhere...
QuoteI assumed that "digiwin=1096302880" and other values were device ids specific to the user's hardware. Are you saying that these numbers are always identical for the same listbox choice?
Yes. But even more hilarious is the fact that AGS doesn't actually use the digiwin/midiwin settings any more, it just uses the digiwinindx/midiwinindx ones. And the digiid/midiid/digiindx/midiindx settings are for the DOS engine and therefore not required either.
QuotePerhaps what is really required is some proper CJ-authored documentation of the file format in the Help file or elsewhere...
Perhaps that would be a good idea... ;)
QuoteGot this when I was writing this at globalscript into my own function:
float T_HeadYLine = (IntToFloat(this.Scaling) / 100)*(EnemyType[this.ID]].H
Thanks for the info, I'll look into it.
QuoteI just tried this out and it was fine. Did you put the file in the Music folder?
Apologies Chris, I've just discovered my sound card has kicked the bucked. It's an onboard, so I'm going out today to buy my self a real one. Again sorry for the fuss.
Quoteuse a lighter color tint like (100, 200, 250) or something
Ahh! I was thrown off when I tried to increase luminace values to 200 to counter the 'then strange' darkeness. It's my own fault for having tunnel vision as the doccumentation clearly states values for Tints can go above 100. Sorry about that one CJ.
Cheers,
Paul.
QuoteAlternatively, I could add a few options to disable various controls on the setup program, but it could well end up looking quite ugly if bits of the dialog were missing, and that would lead on to requests to be able to move controls around, and the whole thing ends up out of control.
What about doing away with winsetup as it is now and adding some new gui controls in the editor to make a pop-up gui that
can appear when you double-click the exe? The designer could then make the gui look how he wants, add the options he wants (like play, config, etc) or not use one at all and have the game just run. It would be rather cool to have something like that, though I agree it's rather trivial just to design one yourself. This could have the added bonus of letting the designer create their own configuration file (and encryption for it) so people can't just alter settings through notepad. It's not really something needed but might make for a nice addition.
As far as explaining the benefits of room-independent objects:
1. You might not want to use characters if your game has a lot of them (there are still static character limits, no?).
2. Independent objects, and objects with more functionality would make the design of non-standard (not strictly adventure game) sequences easier for less RawDraw-savvy users. For instance, you could model an asteroid belt with lots of objects, and rather than recreate all those objects again for another room you could just transfer them. There are always workarounds, naturally (you could leave everything in one room and just change the backdrop and such) but it would be easier from a user's standpoint to be able to just reuse objects. This is just a generic example.
3. From a logical standpoint, a laser pistol or pipe or golf club carried by a player is an object and not a character. It's less confusing to have an object locked in a character's hand than another character locked in a character's hand (for the purpose of overlaid sprites).
4. The deletion system for objects is still the same as 2.72 I believe, such that if you delete an object between 0 and x the rest are decremented to fill the void, which messes with the existing scripts. If the objects were more dynamic this wouldn't be as much of an issue since deleted/moved objects would just be removed and when a new one was created it would fill the empty slot. This isn't strictly relevant to the discussion but I think it's important, since I've accidentally deleted mid-range objects before and had to go back and totally rework a room as a result.
Again, just my thoughts on some of this. Keep up the good work.
Quote from: ProgZmax on Thu 04/10/2007 00:53:40
What about doing away with winsetup as it is now and adding some new gui controls in the editor to make a pop-up gui that can appear when you double-click the exe?
I must say I like the sound of that idea. It would run down to being a "skinning tool", but it would really add to the tone of a game if the setup was made to fit the overall graphics style. I say since there's already such a lot of changes, and we actually have the 3.0, let's add that in if possible.
Wow. It's actually pretty cool to decide about other peoples workin time ;)
Quote from: ProgZmax on Thu 04/10/2007 00:53:40
This could have the added bonus of letting the designer create their own configuration file (and encryption for it) so people can't just alter settings through notepad.
I don't understand why this suggestion keeps coming up. Any player who's determined enough to hand-edit the cfg file probably knows what they're doing, and probably has a good reason for it. Is there really a rampant problem of players ruining games for themselves by changing the config settings?
As far as I can tell, the ability to change settings seems to be used mostly to make games that wouldn't otherwise run do so, and in cases where the developer sends out the game with some incorrect default configurations. But apparently, this failsafe keeps some people up at night.
Why give developers the ability to, for example, stop players from running 320x240 games in 640x480 mode? That's not a bonus, it's a guaranteed future headache. Save winsetup.exe!
I totally agree!
Quote from: Snarky on Thu 04/10/2007 01:42:26Why give developers the ability to, for example, stop players from running 320x240 games in 640x480 mode? That's not a bonus, it's a guaranteed future headache. Save winsetup.exe!
I love how the people who want the ability to customize winsetup give perfectly realistic examples such as limiting a hi-res game from being run at half resolution (which in my case, due to the use of non-scaling fonts causes the custom linebreaking code to crash the game) - and those against will counter with some irrational example such as limiting lo-res games from running in hi-res (for the sake of argument, I could see a reason to at least block smooth scaling in such a case to keep a uniform style). Can't we just agree that some settings can be obviously "wrong" while others should be allowed for compatibility?
Incidentally, we already have this ability to limit these things - checking the resolution in game_start and preventing the game from running. But wouldn't it make more sense to not even give the player that option if it's not supported? I do think encrypting the .cfg file as suggested is being overly paranoid though, and it complicates reading/writing custom settings from in-game.
QuoteAs far as I can tell, the ability to change settings seems to be used mostly to make games that wouldn't otherwise run do so, and in cases where the developer sends out the game with some incorrect default configurations. But apparently, this failsafe keeps some people up at night.
This certainly used to be the case, but with the introduction of the Direct3D engine, most people will benefit from using hardware accelleration while it may not be a good idea to have it as the default setting. So a lot of end-users will open up winsetup, see all the options and try to play around with them. Here the new filters are highly problematic as people have become accustomed from playing 3D games that higher resolution means higher quality, whereas in AGS it mainly means sluggish gameplay. I can easily imagine someone running a 640x480 game in 960x720 filtered, thinking they will get better graphics and in reality getting 320x200 with gigantic fonts and incredibly poor performance.
I argued all this in another thread (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=31685.0) but nobody seemed to get my point, so I'll just leave it at this.
QuotePerhaps what is really required is some proper CJ-authored documentation of the file format in the Help file or elsewhere...
Yes, that would be highly appreciated.
QuoteI don't understand why this suggestion keeps coming up.
And I have a problem understanding why some people think the designer of a game shouldn't be in control of these settings and how they are presented. Certain features (like resolution change) may exist in many games, but it is the
developer who decides what features are necessary, what features are implemented, and how they are presented. If someone has no intention of ever having translations for the game then why have a blank pull-down menu for it (the same goes for midi music)? What if your simple graphics are distorted by certain filter settings and you'd rather they weren't available to avoid confusion? What if you'd like to add a few options to the list yourself? I'm not going to agree with a concept that the developer of a game doesn't have the right to decide what setup options should even exist for their game.
Not being a Windows Vista user, I have another question regarding the setup program: Can Vista users somehow access winsetup.exe through the Games Explorer, or will they need to find the game's folder in the start menu like in XP?
Quote from: GarageGothic on Thu 04/10/2007 16:07:51
Not being a Windows Vista user, I have another question regarding the setup program: Can Vista users somehow access winsetup.exe through the Games Explorer, or will they need to find the game's folder in the start menu like in XP?
The Games Explorer entry has a "Setup game" option.
I also approve for having a register/unregister option in the Setup program, much easier to work with and a lot of applications do it. Of course keep the command-line option for games that
do have installers though. :)
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 30/09/2007 18:53:41
QuoteAs interaction (2.72), this was the behavior:
- Game runs dialog
- After dialog finishes, game switches rooms and changes character position
As the now-converted code (2.8), this is the new behavior:
- Game changes character position
- Game runs dialog
- After dialog finishes, game switches rooms
It's a good point, but realistically I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done about it. Perhaps it just needs to be made clear in the Upgrading to 3.0 guide to watch out for situations like this.
Hmm.. any suggestions on how to change the code to work how I want?
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 30/09/2007 18:53:41QuoteRoom fades don't match the room resolution (in my case, the rooms switch from 320*200 to 320*240 while fading)
Hmm, are you running in letterbox mode?
Nope, running a 320*200 game in its native 320*200 glory. I'm not sure if the rooms change exactly to 320*240, they just suddenly stretch beyond the screen during fades.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 30/09/2007 18:53:41QuoteIssues with Direct3D mode: 320*200 won't work on it:
Looks like this is a limitation of your graphics drivers that they don't support 320x200 with D3D. I don't think it's a bug in AGS.
Blast, foiled again!
And this is just me being picky, but since the DOS engine has long been unsupported, shouldn't things like:
"Cross-Platform Support
(...)
MS-DOS: No"
Be removed from the helpfile? Think of all the bytes you'll save! :P
I just updated my game to version 3.0 beta 12, and the Events list is empty in all of my rooms. The list is also empty when I create a new room, but not if I create a new game.
The functions I wrote in 2.72 still work, I just can't add any new ones and link them to the correct events.
QuoteWhat about doing away with winsetup as it is now and adding some new gui controls in the editor to make a pop-up gui that can appear when you double-click the exe? The designer could then make the gui look how he wants, add the options he wants (like play, config, etc) or not use one at all and have the game just run.
Problem is that the player is likely to want to run Setup if they can't start the game for some reason. If Setup used an AGS GUI it would need to start up AGS in order to display it, which would fail if the graphics driver was not supported or something like that and the player would be stuck.
Quote1. You might not want to use characters if your game has a lot of them (there are still static character limits, no?).
That's fair enough, however it would certainly be easier to remove the limit on characters than to make objects game-wide.
Quote3. From a logical standpoint, a laser pistol or pipe or golf club carried by a player is an object and not a character. It's less confusing to have an object locked in a character's hand than another character locked in a character's hand (for the purpose of overlaid sprites).
Then name it "oPistol" rather than "cPistol" so that it seems like an object when you're scripting with it. I don't think this is a valid reason to overhaul the way that AGS works.
Quote4. The deletion system for objects is still the same as 2.72 I believe, such that if you delete an object between 0 and x the rest are decremented to fill the void, which messes with the existing scripts. If the objects were more dynamic this wouldn't be as much of an issue since deleted/moved objects would just be removed and when a new one was created it would fill the empty slot. This isn't strictly relevant to the discussion but I think it's important, since I've accidentally deleted mid-range objects before and had to go back and totally rework a room as a result.
Well, objects have had script o-names for quite a while now, so you shouldn't really still be using numbers to access them. The same argument applies to other things like GUIs and Fonts.
QuoteAs far as I can tell, the ability to change settings seems to be used mostly to make games that wouldn't otherwise run do so, and in cases where the developer sends out the game with some incorrect default configurations. But apparently, this failsafe keeps some people up at night.
Why give developers the ability to, for example, stop players from running 320x240 games in 640x480 mode? That's not a bonus, it's a guaranteed future headache. Save winsetup.exe!
I completely agree with this. I can see the benefits of customizing winsetup to allow people to personalize the look of it for their games, but I wouldn't want to see people removing useful options just because they don't need to use the option on their PC.
QuoteCertain features (like resolution change) may exist in many games, but it is the developer who decides what features are necessary, what features are implemented, and how they are presented. If someone has no intention of ever having translations for the game then why have a blank pull-down menu for it (the same goes for midi music)?
The thing is that most AGS developers aren't professional game designers. They might not understand that the "Force letterbox resolution" option is the only way to get the game working on some PC's, so they might remove it thinking it's useless.
And I know of at least a few games that were initially released with no translations, but then translations were made available later. If the game author had removed the option, they'd have had to compile a new version of the game to add it back, which would then mean they'd be less inclined to actually add a translation later on.
QuoteI also approve for having a register/unregister option in the Setup program, much easier to work with and a lot of applications do it. Of course keep the command-line option for games that do have installers though.
I'll look into this one.
QuoteHmm.. any suggestions on how to change the code to work how I want?
I guess you could use a run-script in the end of the dialog script to run the rest of the script code?
QuoteNope, running a 320*200 game in its native 320*200 glory. I'm not sure if the rooms change exactly to 320*240, they just suddenly stretch beyond the screen during fades.
I'll see if I can reproduce this.
QuoteAnd this is just me being picky, but since the DOS engine has long been unsupported, shouldn't things like:
"Cross-Platform Support
(...)
MS-DOS: No"
Be removed from the helpfile?
Well, you never know when it might make a comeback!!
QuoteI just updated my game to version 3.0 beta 12, and the Events list is empty in all of my rooms. The list is also empty when I create a new room, but not if I create a new game.
The functions I wrote in 2.72 still work, I just can't add any new ones and link them to the correct events.
I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying that none of your interactions have been imported? You say you can't add any new ones ... what happens when you try? Do you get an error?
Quote from: Pumaman on Thu 04/10/2007 20:40:35
QuoteI just updated my game to version 3.0 beta 12, and the Events list is empty in all of my rooms. The list is also empty when I create a new room, but not if I create a new game.
The functions I wrote in 2.72 still work, I just can't add any new ones and link them to the correct events.
I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying that none of your interactions have been imported? You say you can't add any new ones ... what happens when you try? Do you get an error?
All the interactions were imported, but the events list is empty. Here's a screenshot to show what I mean.
(http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/609/screenshot104200725730phj8.png) (http://imageshack.us)
I can write my own functions, and call them from the imported interactions, but I can't write any new interactions.
That's bizarre, has anyone else experienced anything similar?
I don't know if this question has come here before. But I have Windows Vista Premium and it can't read no longer chm help file because Windows Vista don't support it any longer.
So how can I read the help manual and all the help file and indstruction file wich is supported in that AGS?
Where can I find free chm reader wich can read chm file like the help file? ??? :-[
Quote from: Fribbi on Thu 04/10/2007 23:34:03
I don't know if this question has come here before. But I have Windows Vista Premium and it can't read no longer chm help file because Windows Vista don't support it any longer.
So how can I read the help manual and all the help file and indstruction file wich is supported in that AGS?
Where can I find free chm reader wich can read chm file like the help file? ??? :-[
Yup. chm should have a HTML base, maybe it's better to keep the html structure?
Where can I find that html file? Is it still available somewhere here?
edit- Will I no longer be able to preview how the the animations of the sprites works like in AGS 2.7 Menu/View in the new AGS 2.8
Online AGS Manual: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/manual/
Thanks. I noticed some helpfile are empty there. But thanks again.
QuoteIf Setup used an AGS GUI it would need to start up AGS in order to display it, which would fail if the graphics driver was not supported or something like that and the player would be stuck.
I see what you mean with this.
QuoteThat's fair enough, however it would certainly be easier to remove the limit on characters than to make objects game-wide.
No arguments here!
QuoteThen name it "oPistol" rather than "cPistol" so that it seems like an object when you're scripting with it. I don't think this is a valid reason to overhaul the way that AGS works.
ok.
QuoteWell, objects have had script o-names for quite a while now, so you shouldn't really still be using numbers to access them. The same argument applies to other things like GUIs and Fonts.
There are times when accessing objects in the global script is useful, and script-o-names don't work in global. object[1] does, however, but if you accidentally delete that slot then you get into trouble.
QuoteThe thing is that most AGS developers aren't professional game designers. They might not understand that the "Force letterbox resolution" option is the only way to get the game working on some PC's, so they might remove it thinking it's useless.
And I know of at least a few games that were initially released with no translations, but then translations were made available later. If the game author had removed the option, they'd have had to compile a new version of the game to add it back, which would then mean they'd be less inclined to actually add a translation later on.
While what you're saying is completely true, the same argument can be applied to many aspects of designing a game in ags if you lack the understanding (scripting in particular). It's like saying 'we won't do this because some people don't know what will happen', but there are a lot of mistakes you can make in ags through lack of understanding and not reading the help file or searching the forums properly. I don't think you can ever go wrong giving a developer more control over their creation, in spite of the mistakes they can make, and a default gui that's essentially the same as the current setup would keep those without any interest in the setup file from being affected at all by the change :). Couldn't the pre-loader for the game do a quick video card resolution check and make certain minimum-playable settings automatically? Thinking more about it, I don't think compiling the setup inside the game exe would be a great idea, but certainly having your created setup gui in the editor compile as a new setup.exe when you compile the game would be cool!
Quote from: Fribbi on Thu 04/10/2007 23:34:03
I don't know if this question has come here before. But I have Windows Vista Premium and it can't read no longer chm help file because Windows Vista don't support it any longer.
Erm, that can't be right, CHM is Microsoft's latest help format, every major application uses it. Vista only dumped support for the old Win9x HLP format (probably to help push CHM forward), and that can still be restored from Microsoft's site.
Quote from: SupSuper on Fri 05/10/2007 13:24:21
Quote from: Fribbi on Thu 04/10/2007 23:34:03
I don't know if this question has come here before. But I have Windows Vista Premium and it can't read no longer chm help file because Windows Vista don't support it any longer.
Erm, that can't be right, CHM is Microsoft's latest help format, every major application uses it. Vista only dumped support for the old Win9x HLP format (probably to help push CHM forward), and that can still be restored from Microsoft's site.
Wonkypedia says: "Microsoft Compiled HTML Help is a proprietary format for online help files, developed by Microsoft and first released in 1997 as a successor to the Microsoft WinHelp format. It was first introduced with the release of Windows 98, and is still supported and distributed through Windows XP and Vista platforms. In 2002, Microsoft announced some security risks associated with the .CHM format, as well as some security bulletins and patches. They have since announced their intentions not to develop the .CHM format further, and will be moving to a new generation of Windows Help called Microsoft Assistance Markup Language in the Windows Vista operating system."
Quote from: ProgZmax on Fri 05/10/2007 00:38:51
While what you're saying is completely true, the same argument can be applied to many aspects of designing a game in ags if you lack the understanding (scripting in particular). It's like saying 'we won't do this because some people don't know what will happen', but there are a lot of mistakes you can make in ags through lack of understanding and not reading the help file or searching the forums properly. I don't think you can ever go wrong giving a developer more control over their creation, in spite of the mistakes they can make, and a default gui that's essentially the same as the current setup would keep those without any interest in the setup file from being affected at all by the change :). Couldn't the pre-loader for the game do a quick video card resolution check and make certain minimum-playable settings automatically? Thinking more about it, I don't think compiling the setup inside the game exe would be a great idea, but certainly having your created setup gui in the editor compile as a new setup.exe when you compile the game would be cool!
Isn't the current situation, where developers don't need to distribute winsetup, but can write their own setup app that modifies the cfg file instead, all the control that's really needed? That way, developers can customize setup as much as they like, and if they break something there's still game.exe --setup or manually modifying the cfg file to fall back on.
I think you definitely can go wrong giving developers more control. That's why Alt-X always quits any game, and can't be changed. I see the ability to set the right compatibility settings as an equally crucial failsafe.
QuoteThat's why Alt-X always quits any game, and can't be changed.
Actually, it can. But thankfully, no one bothers to... but it can. I love the current system, but Alt-X as an example shows that people have more sense than we may think. :)
Of course, it's not immediately obvious that you *can* change it. That might be related.
...and I've disabled alt-x before :). Being able to design your own wrapper in a sense is one thing, being able to design your own setup that adds functionality is something else, something a wrapper gui for the setup can't do.
Quote from: SSH on Fri 05/10/2007 13:39:04
Quote from: SupSuper on Fri 05/10/2007 13:24:21
Quote from: Fribbi on Thu 04/10/2007 23:34:03
I don't know if this question has come here before. But I have Windows Vista Premium and it can't read no longer chm help file because Windows Vista don't support it any longer.
Erm, that can't be right, CHM is Microsoft's latest help format, every major application uses it. Vista only dumped support for the old Win9x HLP format (probably to help push CHM forward), and that can still be restored from Microsoft's site.
Wonkypedia says: "Microsoft Compiled HTML Help is a proprietary format for online help files, developed by Microsoft and first released in 1997 as a successor to the Microsoft WinHelp format. It was first introduced with the release of Windows 98, and is still supported and distributed through Windows XP and Vista platforms. In 2002, Microsoft announced some security risks associated with the .CHM format, as well as some security bulletins and patches. They have since announced their intentions not to develop the .CHM format further, and will be moving to a new generation of Windows Help called Microsoft Assistance Markup Language in the Windows Vista operating system."
MAML isn't even widespread though. In any case, my Vista opens CHM, so :P
Anyways, I think it's about time I ask the big question here, now that the editor is near-final: what's the new plugin API like? I suspect ingame-plugins will still work the same (specially for backward compatiblity), but what about editor plugins? Given everyone's ranting about the interaction editor one way or another, I feel itchy to come up with a replacement.
Quote from: SupSuper on Sun 30/09/2007 15:03:48
Issues with DirectDraw mode: Room fades don't match the room resolution (in my case, the rooms switch from 320*200 to 320*240 while fading)
I can't reproduce this problem? Are you using the latest beta -- there were some problems with fades in earlier betas.
What exactly is happening when you say it's switching from 320x200 to 320x240? Does the screen all stretch out or something?
Quote from: Pumaman on Fri 05/10/2007 19:16:15
Quote from: SupSuper on Sun 30/09/2007 15:03:48
Issues with DirectDraw mode: Room fades don't match the room resolution (in my case, the rooms switch from 320*200 to 320*240 while fading)
I can't reproduce this problem? Are you using the latest beta -- there were some problems with fades in earlier betas.
What exactly is happening when you say it's switching from 320x200 to 320x240? Does the screen all stretch out or something?
Exactly. Though I just noticed AGS switches to 640x480 when I try to run on 320x200 (although it looks different from actually running on 640x480), so maybe it's a side-effect of that? It only happens on fade-outs, too. Here's a screenshot.
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/supsuper/AGS/snap003.png)
Another bug is that moving the cursor along the bottom or right edges of a dialog selection screen reveals the background below.
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/supsuper/AGS/snap004.png)
QuoteExactly. Though I just noticed AGS switches to 640x480 when I try to run on 320x200 (although it looks different from actually running on 640x480), so maybe it's a side-effect of that? It only happens on fade-outs, too. Here's a screenshot.
Hmm, I still can't reproduce this. Does it only happen with the DX5 driver? Would it be possible to upload a sample of this problem for me to take a look at?
QuoteAnother bug is that moving the cursor along the bottom or right edges of a dialog selection screen reveals the background below.
Thanks, I've reproduced this and will get it fixed.
QuoteAnother bug is that moving the cursor along the bottom or right edges of a dialog selection screen reveals the background below.
That bug was present in the Demo i sent you Chris. However I thought it was related to the GUI stuff I mentioned.
Just FYI.
Cheers,
Paul.
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 03/10/2007 18:44:33
I just tried this out with both DX5 and D3D and it was fine. What problem are you getting? Is the screenshot corrupt, or is it simply not creating the file? Did you remember to look in the save game folder?
I'm running everything from the "compile" folder and it's not creating the screenshot.
I hadn't checked the save game folder, because I didn't see it in the compile folder, is it stuck over in My Documents? I'm not at my machine right now or I'd have found it. I'll look for it once I get home.
BTW: Good job on adding the "Remember Last Folder Used" option, that was getting to be quite annoying for me as well.
Quote from: Recluse on Sat 06/10/2007 01:28:05
I'm running everything from the "compile" folder and it's not creating the screenshot.
I hadn't checked the save game folder, because I didn't see it in the compile folder, is it stuck over in My Documents?
Both of them, saved games and screenshots are in My Documents.
Well don't I look silly :-[
Thanks for the help... ;D
I don't think it's been brought up, and at this late stage it probably wouldn't make the 3.0 cut anyway, but the idea's crossed my mind several times about static extender methods.
A specific example of why one might need this would be the current implementation of the Room structure which is completely static, making it impossible to implement extender methods for the structure.
I figure it probably wouldn't be something
easy to implement, however I think it surely must have at least equal importance to the request for extender methods in the first place (due to the implementation of certain AGS structures like Room and Game).
I understand it probably won't be put in this version, but consideration for a future version would be much appreciated.
Quote from: Pumaman on Thu 04/10/2007 22:10:38Quote from: VK Dan on Thu 04/10/2007 20:58:39All the interactions were imported, but the events list is empty.
That's bizarre, has anyone else experienced anything similar?
Actually yes, I just deleted one of my cursor modes and following that my event list no longer showed any events. They all showed prior to deleting the cursor, but not after. In fact, even saving and loading the game in the editor didn't restore it. I could only see the events again after restoring the cursor.
I was trying to figure out how events now register the cursor modes. Idealistically we should be able to have as few or as many cursor modes as we would like and all event panes should reflect this by making events available for each mode. About the only hard-coded cursor that really makes sense (to me) being hard-coded would be the wait cursor, though I think if an option were made available to set up the wait cursor (with the ability to set it to "no cursor") it would be even better.
This of course is something that has been hard-coded into AGS for some time, though it would make games requiring fewer than the hard-coded 7 cursors easier to script (without having to force/emulate modes) while allowing games requiring more cursors easier to implement (having specialized events available instead of having to go through the catch-all of "Any click").
This is just my two cents on the matter and further opinions are welcome (though if too many opinions show up the mods may have to take the discussion to a separate thread).
Thanks.
Sorry if i always bring up the same kind of problems, but shouldn't ttf antialiasing work even without a solid background now that we have D3D? or it is a different problem from the alpha blended antialiasing?
QuoteI don't think it's been brought up, and at this late stage it probably wouldn't make the 3.0 cut anyway, but the idea's crossed my mind several times about static extender methods.
That's a reasonable idea, but yes it's probably too late for 3.0 now.
QuoteActually yes, I just deleted one of my cursor modes and following that my event list no longer showed any events. They all showed prior to deleting the cursor, but not after. In fact, even saving and loading the game in the editor didn't restore it. I could only see the events again after restoring the cursor.
Aha!! Thanks, I've reproduced the problem and will get it fixed. In the meantime the workaround is, as you suggest, to create cursor modes 8 and 9 again which will cause the events list to reappear.
QuoteI was trying to figure out how events now register the cursor modes. Idealistically we should be able to have as few or as many cursor modes as we would like and all event panes should reflect this by making events available for each mode. About the only hard-coded cursor that really makes sense (to me) being hard-coded would be the wait cursor, though I think if an option were made available to set up the wait cursor (with the ability to set it to "no cursor") it would be even better.
Yes, I tend to agree. This is something which I am working towards (it's supposed to already do this with modes 8 and 9, only making the events available if the modes exist -- but due to a bug with that at the moment, all the events disappear if you don't have a cursor mode 9 ;) )
QuoteSorry if i always bring up the same kind of problems, but shouldn't ttf antialiasing work even without a solid background now that we have D3D? or it is a different problem from the alpha blended antialiasing?
No, this is a different issue. Due to TTF rendering being a relatively slow thing to do, AGS renders the text to an internal dynamic sprite once, and then blits that sprite to the screen each game cycle. This means that the text gets antialiased against the sprite background rather than the room background, thus causing the issue that we have at the moment.
Ok, beta 13 is now up which addresses various issues.
I'm not planning on adding anything more to AGS 3.0 from this point, only bug fixes and very minor enhancements will be considered. The next release should be a Release Candidate.
I'm still unable to reproduce the crash loading a room that has been reported by a few people, if anyone manages to get this consistently please let me know.
When I try to play my FLIC animation using the run command in the editor under DirectDraw 5 I just get flickering bands of the animation. When I try it under Direct3D 9 I get the following error...
QuoteAn exception 0xC0000005 occurred in ACWIN.EXE at EIP = 0x00000000 ; program pointer is +1101, ACI version 3.00.953, gtags (0,5)
AGS cannot continue, this exception was fatal. Please note down the numbers above, remember what you were doing at the time and notify CJ on the Tech forum.
in "room5.asc", line 9
Line 9 is:
PlayFlic(0, 1);When I was using AGS 2.72 it all worked fine.
<<EDIT>>
Oh, and I am using Beta 13
<EDIT 2>>
And another issue - when running under Direct3D 9 and using the 'disolve' for room transitions I get a mismatched colour depths error, though it works under DirectDraw 5. My game is 16-bit
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 18:24:35* Added DynamicSprite.CopyTransparencyMask
* Added extra parameter to DynamicSprite.CreateFromExistingSprite to allow you to specify whether the alpha channel is copied or not
* Added COLOR_TRANSPARENT option to DrawingSurface.DrawingColor property to allow you to draw transparent areas onto the image
CJ, will you marry me? ;)
NO! Take me CJ! I'm not a gold digger like GarageGothic! ;)
Awesome progress on this! Debugger! D3D! RawDrawing to sprites!
I'm still having the problem where Exiting the editor from the "Welcome To AGS!" dialog leaves the AgsEditor.exe process running using 100% CPU. This time I'm using Win2k on an AMD Sempron (single core). It's quite intrusive - I tried running Process Explorer to see what threads were still alive but getting properties on the process locked up Process Explorer!
The Ags3d plugin works fine. It does highlight a workflow problem - I have to copy external files from the Compiled directory into _Debug. Any chance of that being done automatically? Or of running a post-build or pre-debug command (so I can run a batch file)?
Wish list:
* multi file search (and replace)
* a property pane that allows checkboxes (True/False is much harder to read)
* a drop down selection box that drops down on first selection, wherever you click (rather than requiring a selection, then a second click on the little arrow on the right) - like the old editor :=
* variable display in the debugger
* F10 to step over
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 07/10/2007 12:04:26QuoteI don't think it's been brought up, and at this late stage it probably wouldn't make the 3.0 cut anyway, but the idea's crossed my mind several times about static extender methods.
That's a reasonable idea, but yes it's probably too late for 3.0 now.
Fair enough. I figured it was probably too late to mention it for this version. Thanks for the consideration though!
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 07/10/2007 12:04:26QuoteI was trying to figure out how events now register the cursor modes. Idealistically we should be able to have as few or as many cursor modes as we would like and all event panes should reflect this by making events available for each mode. About the only hard-coded cursor that really makes sense (to me) being hard-coded would be the wait cursor, though I think if an option were made available to set up the wait cursor (with the ability to set it to "no cursor") it would be even better.
Yes, I tend to agree. This is something which I am working towards.
Glad to hear that I'm not just being stupid. Unless you're just being equally stupid, but if that's the case I'd glad to be thought of as having been as stupid as you! 8)
Thanks for the consideration on this request as well. Oh, and thanks for the FontCount/MouseCursorCount properties. Those should be useful. ;D
QuoteFixed Out of Memory crashes if you used a non-text window dialog options GUI
AGS now shifts the bottom row of pixels of a Dialog GUI background image 1 line above the top.
Also perhaps for those of us who wish to save space on background art, could we perhaps have an option to turn off all elements of a GUI including the background image. That way we don't have to paint in an ugly black square on our background art to emulate the GUI going black. (The background color and border should be the only elements visible).
EDIT: Could the developer choose what color to 'Grey' the inventory out with? I can't find an easy way to 'Brown' the inventory out without having all my inventory items disappear due to using the GUI background as the brown-out result.
Cheers, Paul.
I know it's probably too late, but considering the focus on RawDraw and DynamicSprites in this edition, as well as the slowness of DynamicSprite.CreateFromScreenShot when using Direct3D mode, I have one last request:
Could we please have a DynamicSprite.CreateFromScreenShot function with the (optional int x, optional int y, optional int width, optional int height) parameters of DynamicSprite.CreateFromBackground? In Direct3D mode it's just no longer viable to create and then crop a DynamicSprite from the full screenshot every frame.
Edit: I realized that although it's a bit of a hassle to work around, I can achieve the same effect with other means (especially now that we can use DynamicSprite.Tint to make RawDrawn characters match the room lighting). The only actual problem is that the workarounds don't support walkbehinds. It would still be a very welcome feature, but it's something that can wait.
But I came up with another suggestion instead, which would be a nice addition, if it's trivial to implement:
DynamicSprite.Resize(int width, int height, optional bool antialias)
Which would implement the same antialising used for character scaling on the DynamicSprite.
QuoteAlso perhaps for those of us who wish to save space on background art, could we perhaps have an option to turn off all elements of a GUI including the background image. That way we don't have to paint in an ugly black square on our background art to emulate the GUI going black. (The background color and border should be the only elements visible).
A move away from the built-in functionality of the current dialog options display towards one that uses a default gui (like you can do with text guis) would probably resolve this request once and for all, and that way you could change the default background to 'anything' (transparent, black, or an image) easily. Adding the possibility to allow additional controls to this dialog gui would open up some additional functionality as well (like instead of the dialog options forever growing upwards you could add scrolling arrows and lock the gui to a specific size). I don't know how much work it would be to redesign the way lucasarts-style dialogs work in ags so they would just route to some default gui, though. A workaround naturally is just creating a text gui anyway, but it might be cool to externalize the way dialogs in ags are handled and expand what you can do with them?
Nice work with the plugin support. I'm going to give it a look!
QuoteAdding the possibility to allow additional controls
I don't believe Chris will be adding anything new to 3.0 as of now...
But when the time is right, Chris, would you be so kind as to consider my less elaborate request?
Also, could we please have PauseMusic(); ResumeMusic(); commands please? Handy for when you pause and unpause the game. The same for ambient sounds I guess.
Thanks CJ,
Paul.
RawDraw to sprites?! :o
That means paperdolling!
Woohooooo!!
It just struck me that one function missing is DynamicSprite.CreateFromSurface(optional int x,y,w,h)...
Also, what colour are the new pixel create when one uses DynamicSprite.ChangeCanvasSize to make a sprite bigger?
And if I do:
DrawingSurface *rds=Room.GetDrawingSurfaceForBackground();
in a function, autocomplete doesn't work on rds. But If I declare rds as a non-pointer, autocomplete DOES work.
As this thread (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=32607.0) shows, the functionality of the editor's Colour Finder is slightly confusing. Now that the entire editor has been rewritten, wouldn't it be a good time to fix this dodgy behaviour? Especially as version 3.0 also introduces Game.GetColorFromRGB which doesn't have the issues that the Colur Finder does (for instance, Game.GetColorFromRGB(255, 255, 255) correctly returns 65535, whereas Colour Finder values (31, 31, 31) return 65503, which is in fact RGB(255, 250, 255)).
Edit: In response to Supspark, I couldn't care less about a color wheel - I just want my colors to be accurate and pure when I need them to be.
I agree. A Photoshop based color wheel is definitely in order.
Also based on my other thread, http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=32622.0 (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=32622.0) the dialog system is really limited in terms of control. It seems to block EVERYTHING including rep_execute functions. Isn't this a little overkill? Can't we run animated objects in the background while a dialog is present?
Cheers all the same,
Paul.
I think the dialog system problem is more like a feature request for the engine, which shouldn't be here. :P
My above post WAS a feature request! I just referenced my original post that I posted before somebody explained what was going on. The functionality I need simply isn't there. So that issue has now become a feature request. :)
Paul.
Yeah, but you're requesting features for the engine. This is for the editor.
Oh I see. I'm on the same page now.
Relevantly, Chris has in fact said he is thinking about giving the Dialog System an overhaul so we'll leave it at that.
Cheers pal,
Paul.
Also :P
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 07/10/2007 17:55:16
I'm not planning on adding anything more to AGS 3.0 from this point, only bug fixes and very minor enhancements will be considered. The next release should be a Release Candidate.
This issue isn't relevant to 3.0 Gilbot.
QuoteI do keep meaning to overhaul the dialog system so maybe that's something for AGS 3.01
Cheers,
Paul.
I was talking about your original post here to request for feature: editor or the engine, no more feature request here please. :P
The problem was eventually anwsered elsewhere (that it may be settled in a future version) doesn't mean it was appropriate to start asking here at the first place.
Whatever man. ::)
Listen, I'm close to finishing my SCUMM template for 3.0. Again, if there are any programmers who can afford to help me finish it off for the next release of AGS, please PM me.
Cheers,
Paul.
Now that we can draw using high-res co-ordinates, it might be handy to have the option of getting the mouse position in high-res co-ordinates
Hi CJ,
just a few workflow-issues I spotted while I was thoroughly testing AGS 3.0 for the first time yesterday.
So some of the issues may have already been mentioned. Of course I used the latest beta, 13.
And sorry if these are really small issues, I just noticed that they stand in the way of a more perfect workflow.
1. I create a new game and, first of all, change the colour depth to 32bit. It gives me the standard warning about the possibility of corrupting sprites. Ok. Then I switch over to the sprite explorer and try to import a new 32bit image. However, AGS gives me the following error message:
"Cannot import a hi-colour or true-colour image into a 256-colour game."
Only after I save the game AND completely shut down the editor, then start it up again and load the game can I import the high-res sprite.
2. I like the way the brackets highlight when you type a closing bracket. However I miss the good old bracket checker (Ctrl+B). As things are right now I have to delete the bracket I want to check and then type it new to see to which opening bracket it belongs.
3. If I create a new room and import a background of 320x240 pixels the engine of course tells me, that the new background is bigger than the old one. Then the new background is shown. However there is a scrollbar at the right side of the image although the engine would have enough space to show it without scrollbars. To get rid of the scrollbar I have to save and close the room tab. Then I have to load a different room and close that again. Then when I reopen my old room the scrollbars are gone.
4. I tried to create a dynamic array of the type "short":
short array_test[];
short array_size = 10;
array_test = new short[array_size];
The last line gives the error: "Array size must be an int."
5. When an error occurs while compiling, a window pops up telling you that there was an error and that I should look at the output window. I do so, see the error and in practically 100% of the cases I double click it to open the corresponding script.
However, I miss the old behaviour that when you click "OK" in the error window it automatically opens the corresponding script and jumps to the line that gave the error.
Again, this would only save one doubleclick, but given the amount of errors my scripts have ... ;)
6. I think this has been asked before: will the view preview become available again?
7. When I type something like
sprite.DrawSurface(
...so, basically anything which ends in an opening bracket, I get an "unexpected eof" error with no further explanation. Whereas AGS 2.8 said something like "End of input reached in middle of expression in line ..."
8. Autocomplete.
8.1 First of all I think it is great that Autocomplete now picks up variables that are declared at the top of the script. However, perhaps the manual could state a little more obviously, that this happens after the script was quicksaved via "Ctrl+S". First I thought I have to close the script tab completely before any changes are made to Autocomplete.
8.2 If I type something like:
int temp_x;
int temp_y;
int temp_z;
and later realize I want to change it to:
int temp_1;
int temp_2;
int temp_3;
If I delete the "x" in the first line and type the "1" Autocomplete pops up (without any real reason. There is nothing selected in the list). If I would now just hit the "Down Arrow" to get to the next line of code I select the top entry of the Autocomplete list. So I first have to hit "ESC" to close the list, then move down to the next line, change the variable name, again have to click "ESC" and so on.
Why does Autocomplete pop up even if there is nothing it has to suggest?
8.3 Again I think this was mentioned before: DynamicSprite* and DrawingSurface* don't get picked up by Autocomplete if they are declared inside a function and not at the top of the script.
9. And finally something that really isn't a bother at all, I'm just wondering: I'm from Germany and some of panels' names show up in German? For example in the room pane I have "Entwurf" which roughly means "draft" or "Auflistung" which means "List". Somewhere else if have "Darstellung" which means "display".
Many thanks again for your great work with this new version. As many have said before: it takes some time getting used to it, but then it has so many advantages over the old version. :D
Quote from: TheMagician on Thu 11/10/2007 16:22:254. I tried to create a dynamic array of the type "short":
short array_test[];
short array_size = 10;
array_test = new short[array_size];
The last line gives the error: "Array size must be an int."
How about
short array_test[];
int array_size = 10;
array_test = new short[array_size];Quote9. And finally something that really isn't a bother at all, I'm just wondering: I'm from Germany and some of panels' names show up in German? For example in the room pane I have "Entwurf" which roughly means "draft" or "Auflistung" which means "List". Somewhere else if have "Darstellung" which means "display".
Might have something to do with .NET? Maybe there's kind of an auto-translate feature for recognized words. I assume you're using a german version of XP, so .NET tries to provide a german GUI.
4.
short array_test[];
int array_size = 10;
array_test = new short[array_size];
Surprisingly that works.
The size of the array must always be an int whether the array is of type int, short, GUI*, etc.
So whether you want to do:
short sh_arr[];
int sh_arr_size = 10;
sh_arr = new short[sh_arr_size];
or:
Character* c_arr[];
int c_arr_size = Game.CharacterCount;
c_arr = new Character[c_arr_size];
you'll still need to declare the size of the array as an int.
Although I would think that it would be possible using a short...obviously not.
You can still pass an enumerated value as the size of an array though. ;)
Thanks for the explanation, monkey. That helped me more than the comment before yours.
Having been using v3.0b13 to rework the walkcycle generator a bit, I've got some comments:
1. Please can there be a menu option/icon/keyboard shortcut to save just the current script file. If there is a keyboard shortcut for this, please can it be described somewhere?
2. Where's the view animation preview?
3. Setting 0 as the border colour for a GUI does not make it have no border, as the control implies
4. Using Find in the editor might be nicer if the find GUI was like the Firefox one, "hidden" in/just above the status bar
5. Right-clicking a script tab should have a save option. Also, it would be nice for that menu to have the option to switch between the header/script of a module
6. Importing a game with modules should name the module scripts after the module names, not just Module0, Module1, etc.
7. It would be nice to have an option to run the compiled game rather than the Debug version
8. It would be nice to be able to control the "working directory" of the debug run: the walkcycle generator loads files from its working directory and it isn't at all clear where that is when in Debug, so I have to run the compiled version.
9. There should be an toolbar icon or context menu option to set breakpoints, as well as F9
10. If I've added any breakpoints BEFORE using F5 (including trying to re-run after adding a breakpoint that worked) then the game fails to run and I get:
---------------------------
Illegal exception
---------------------------
An exception 0xC0000005 occurred in ACWIN.EXE at EIP = 0x004274DD ; program pointer is -41, ACI version 3.00.953, gtags (2039,36)
AGS cannot continue, this exception was fatal. Please note down the numbers above, remember what you were doing at the time and notify CJ on the Tech forum.
Most versions of Windows allow you to press Ctrl+C now to copy this entire message to the clipboard for easy reporting.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
10. It would be nice to have the old option of highlighting the outlines of GUI controls, becuase sometimes the controls are invisible until selected.
QuoteImporting a game with modules should name the module scripts after the module names, not just Module0, Module1, etc.
I've already asked for this on page 18 of this topic and the response was,
QuoteThe name in the list pane is the filename of the .SCM file that you imported it from. I don't see any reason to change this, it means that the script file name will be as intended by the module author.
I don't think he quite got what I was asking so I'll elaborate:
I meant that the name the Author 'chose' in the name field should also be loaded in the list pane window. It shouldn't derive it's name from the filename!! Module Authors can get lazy so module names should be internal :)
Cheers,
Paul.
The problem with that would be that some module authors choose descriptive names for the Name-field that wouldn't do well as a filename (and the scripts in the pane are listed by filename).
Well, I was talking about importing existing 2.72 games that had modules in them. In that case, the modules in the game just get called "Module0", "Module1", etc.
What's the status on the EditThis.AGSGame file? Is it really scrapped? I often opened my projects via that file, directly...
I tried to load a game in beta 13 that I'd been working on in beta 8. (It was originally from 7.2.) It loaded fine, but it didn't prompt me to upgrade anything, and now when I try to run the game itself it compiles and then crashes with this message:
(ACI version 3.00.953)
Error: prepare_script: error -18 (no such function in script) trying to run 'room_Load' (Room 1)
When I run my backup in beta 8 it still runs without problems.
Lyaer, this is probably a lingering problem with the older betas and creating new room scripts for the editor for imported games. Check the 'Enters room before' event and see if a room_Load function was made for it. If so, go there and see what's inside the function (if you imported from 2.72 then it is probably a routing function to something like hotspot1_a or whatever). Make sure the function it routes to (if there is one) exists. I had the very same problem on several of the earlier builds and it looks like it's still happening.
I searched my global script and my room 1 script and couldn't find anything that said room_Load, but I found the "player enters screen (before fadein) section and I changed the function from room_b or something to room_Load. I had to do the same thing with Repeatedly Execute, and then the game loaded. Problem is when I try to leave the screen I get an error saying
. . . trying to 'room_LeaveBottom'
I've looked all through the room script and all I have is a bunch of region scripts and the two I already mentioned. There is nothing that refers to leaving the room from the bottom or any other direction. It is supposed to make me go to room 2, but I must have used the editor or something. Is there any way to recover the function if there is nothing pointing to it?
EDIT: Nevermind. I see I can just add the script manually and it stops it crashing. But there are enough instances of this to hunt down that I am beginning to think it is time to move the relevant code to a new test game and start fresh. Thanks much, ProgZmax.
another thing that is missing from the Dynamic sprite stuff is simply creating a blank one from scratch which there is a lot more point to now that one can draw on sprites.
DynamicSprite.Create(width, height)
Quote from: Pumaman on Fri 05/10/2007 23:49:46
QuoteExactly. Though I just noticed AGS switches to 640x480 when I try to run on 320x200 (although it looks different from actually running on 640x480), so maybe it's a side-effect of that? It only happens on fade-outs, too. Here's a screenshot.
Hmm, I still can't reproduce this. Does it only happen with the DX5 driver? Would it be possible to upload a sample of this problem for me to take a look at?
Yep, it only happens with the DX5 driver on 320x200 full-screen, maybe it's a hardware-specific thing. I'm running Windows Vista with a Radeon X1650 Pro. I put my game here (http://supsuper.wurmz.net/stuff/The%20Legacy%20Lo.zip) if it helps.
I recently (well, yesterday) made a fresh XP install and just downloaded Beta13 and, of course, Net Framework 2.
Now, when I start a new game with the default template, set the colour depth to 16bit highcolour and import a sprite, the editor tells me that I cannot import a high-colour sprite into a 256 colour game.
When I save and quit, and then restart the editor, importing works.
I'm importing from a bitmap made in Photoshop, saved as 16bit. Quirk, or am I, once again, doing something wrong?
EDIT: Sorry. I just saw that this has already been mentioned.
QuoteWhen I try to play my FLIC animation using the run command in the editor under DirectDraw 5 I just get flickering bands of the animation. When I try it under Direct3D 9 I get the following error...
Thanks for reporting this, seems like the FLC player is broken, I'll look into it. At least this proves somebody is actually still using FLC's ;)
Quote
And another issue - when running under Direct3D 9 and using the 'disolve' for room transitions I get a mismatched colour depths error, though it works under DirectDraw 5. My game is 16-bit
I'll look into this.
QuoteI'm still having the problem where Exiting the editor from the "Welcome To AGS!" dialog leaves the AgsEditor.exe process running using 100% CPU. This time I'm using Win2k on an AMD Sempron (single core).
Has anyone else had this problem? Do you have the problem if you exit from the main editor, or is it only the Welcome To AGS dialog that causes it? I can't replicate this, it's very strange.
QuoteThe Ags3d plugin works fine. It does highlight a workflow problem - I have to copy external files from the Compiled directory into _Debug. Any chance of that being done automatically? Or of running a post-build or pre-debug command (so I can run a batch file)?
Ah, interesting ... plugins should be automatically copied to _Debug, I guess!
QuoteAGS now shifts the bottom row of pixels of a Dialog GUI background image 1 line above the top.
Are you saying this is a new problem in beta 13? I'll look into it.
QuoteAlso perhaps for those of us who wish to save space on background art, could we perhaps have an option to turn off all elements of a GUI including the background image. That way we don't have to paint in an ugly black square on our background art to emulate the GUI going black. (The background color and border should be the only elements visible).
Adding a proper "GUIs Go Black" option is a reasonable request!
QuoteDynamicSprite.Resize(int width, int height, optional bool antialias)
Which would implement the same antialising used for character scaling on the DynamicSprite.
The problem with this would be it wouldn't be possible to accelerate it with the D3D driver ... but as long as you only used the command rarely, I guess that wouldn't be an issue.
QuoteA move away from the built-in functionality of the current dialog options display towards one that uses a default gui (like you can do with text guis) would probably resolve this request once and for all, and that way you could change the default background to 'anything' (transparent, black, or an image) easily.
Yeah, the dialog system needs an overhaul. But not for 3.0 :)
QuoteIt just struck me that one function missing is DynamicSprite.CreateFromSurface(optional int x,y,w,h)...
I'm not convinced by this -- surely you'd create the surface from the dynamic sprite and then you can always crop/resize the dynamicsprite as appropriate?
QuoteAlso, what colour are the new pixel create when one uses DynamicSprite.ChangeCanvasSize to make a sprite bigger?
Should be transparent.
QuoteAnd if I do:
DrawingSurface *rds=Room.GetDrawingSurfaceForBackground();
in a function, autocomplete doesn't work on rds. But If I declare rds as a non-pointer, autocomplete DOES work.
Hmm, I tried this and it was fine. However, there is an issue with autocomplete where if you add lines to the end of a function, it won't pick up any variable definitions that are after the original position where the function ended when you opened the script.
QuoteAs this thread shows, the functionality of the editor's Colour Finder is slightly confusing. Now that the entire editor has been rewritten, wouldn't it be a good time to fix this dodgy behaviour? Especially as version 3.0 also introduces Game.GetColorFromRGB which doesn't have the issues that the Colur Finder does (for instance, Game.GetColorFromRGB(255, 255, 255) correctly returns 65535, whereas Colour Finder values (31, 31, 31) return 65503, which is in fact RGB(255, 250, 255)).
Perhaps the Colour Finder sliders should be 0-255 rather than 0-31, I'm not sure about this one...
QuoteNow that we can draw using high-res co-ordinates, it might be handy to have the option of getting the mouse position in high-res co-ordinates
Is this something anyone else would find useful? For now, we'll see how useful the HiResCooordinates feature of the surfaces is as to whether to expand it to cover other things.
Quote1. I create a new game and, first of all, change the colour depth to 32bit. It gives me the standard warning about the possibility of corrupting sprites. Ok. Then I switch over to the sprite explorer and try to import a new 32bit image. However, AGS gives me the following error message:
"Cannot import a hi-colour or true-colour image into a 256-colour game."
Thanks for this -- as part of adding the plugin support to beta 13 I broke part of the editor which notifies the different panes about configuration changes. I'll get it fixed.
Quote2. I like the way the brackets highlight when you type a closing bracket. However I miss the good old bracket checker (Ctrl+B). As things are right now I have to delete the bracket I want to check and then type it new to see to which opening bracket it belongs.
Well, the new approach is more in line with applications like visual studio ... would anyone else find the return of the Match Brace as a menu option useful?
Quote3. If I create a new room and import a background of 320x240 pixels the engine of course tells me, that the new background is bigger than the old one. Then the new background is shown. However there is a scrollbar at the right side of the image although the engine would have enough space to show it without scrollbars. To get rid of the scrollbar I have to save and close the room tab. Then I have to load a different room and close that again. Then when I reopen my old room the scrollbars are gone.
I'll look into this.
Quote4. I tried to create a dynamic array of the type "short":
Code:
short array_test[];
short array_size = 10;
array_test = new short[array_size];
The last line gives the error: "Array size must be an int."
I do see your point here, but there's not really any need to declare array_size as a short ... it is a bit of a dodgy issue with the script compiler, but just declaring array_size as an int will fix it.
Quote5. When an error occurs while compiling, a window pops up telling you that there was an error and that I should look at the output window. I do so, see the error and in practically 100% of the cases I double click it to open the corresponding script.
However, I miss the old behaviour that when you click "OK" in the error window it automatically opens the corresponding script and jumps to the line that gave the error.
Well, this behaviour is to prepare for the script compiler being able to report multiple errors in future, in which case you'd want to choose which one to jump to. Perhaps an option to get rid of the "There were errors" message box would reduce your number of clicks?
Quote6. I think this has been asked before: will the view preview become available again?
Well, it's available in the Characters pane that uses the view and in the View Selector; but it seems like people do want it back in the main view editor, so I'll look into this.
Quote7. When I type something like
sprite.DrawSurface(
...so, basically anything which ends in an opening bracket, I get an "unexpected eof" error with no further explanation. Whereas AGS 2.8 said something like "End of input reached in middle of expression in line ..."
The script compiler hasn't changed in this respect in AGS 3.0, so I don't think there's any different behaviour here. However I'm sure it could be improved.
Quote8.1 First of all I think it is great that Autocomplete now picks up variables that are declared at the top of the script. However, perhaps the manual could state a little more obviously, that this happens after the script was quicksaved via "Ctrl+S". First I thought I have to close the script tab completely before any changes are made to Autocomplete.
Ideally I'd like it to be constantly up to date, however so far I haven't found a performant way to do this. I'll continue looking at improvements, though.
QuoteWhy does Autocomplete pop up even if there is nothing it has to suggest?
It has always done this when you type 3 characters in a row, but perhaps it should only pop up if there is at least one match to what's being typed in.
Quote8.3 Again I think this was mentioned before: DynamicSprite* and DrawingSurface* don't get picked up by Autocomplete if they are declared inside a function and not at the top of the script.
Again, I can't replicate this problem ... it seems fine to me.
Quote9. And finally something that really isn't a bother at all, I'm just wondering: I'm from Germany and some of panels' names show up in German? For example in the room pane I have "Entwurf" which roughly means "draft" or "Auflistung" which means "List". Somewhere else if have "Darstellung" which means "display".
Where do you see this? Some of the built-in .NET components like the property grid will automatically translate their built-in text into your Windows language.
Quote1. Please can there be a menu option/icon/keyboard shortcut to save just the current script file. If there is a keyboard shortcut for this, please can it be described somewhere?
Hmm, the save operation should be fast even though it saves everything. Or do you not want it to save changes to other scripts?
Quote3. Setting 0 as the border colour for a GUI does not make it have no border, as the control implies
Can you clarify what you mean?
Quote6. Importing a game with modules should name the module scripts after the module names, not just Module0, Module1, etc.
Well, the module names don't tend to lend themselves to file names. There are modules with names like "Module that provides snow/rain effects", which wouldn't be very useful as a filename displayed in the project tree.
As this is only a one-off thing when you import a 2.72 game, I think it's better to leave it up to you to rename them to something useful for you.
Quote8. It would be nice to be able to control the "working directory" of the debug run: the walkcycle generator loads files from its working directory and it isn't at all clear where that is when in Debug, so I have to run the compiled version.
The working directory should effectively be the Compiled folder. Commands like File.Open should be redirected to pick up files from there.
Quote9. There should be an toolbar icon or context menu option to set breakpoints, as well as F9
Well, there is a main menu option ... but actually the script editor context menu could do with some modernisation, you're right.
Quote10. If I've added any breakpoints BEFORE using F5 (including trying to re-run after adding a breakpoint that worked) then the game fails to run and I get:
An exception 0xC0000005 occurred in ACWIN.EXE at EIP = 0x004274DD ; program pointer is -41, ACI version 3.00.953, gtags (2039,36)
Hmm, that's strange. Has anyone else had this problem? I can't replicate it.
QuoteWhat's the status on the EditThis.AGSGame file? Is it really scrapped? I often opened my projects via that file, directly...
That file is scrapped, yes. However, I'll look into adding an association for the GAME.AGF file to load the editor. It's likely that the final version of AGS 3 will come in an installer rather than zip file, which could set up this association.
QuoteI tried to load a game in beta 13 that I'd been working on in beta 8. (It was originally from 7.2.) It loaded fine, but it didn't prompt me to upgrade anything, and now when I try to run the game itself it compiles and then crashes with this message:
As others have said, this is probably due to some issues with earlier betas importing games from 2.72.
Quoteanother thing that is missing from the Dynamic sprite stuff is simply creating a blank one from scratch which there is a lot more point to now that one can draw on sprites.
DynamicSprite.Create(width, height)
That's a fair point.
QuoteYep, it only happens with the DX5 driver on 320x200 full-screen, maybe it's a hardware-specific thing. I'm running Windows Vista with a Radeon X1650 Pro. I put my game here if it helps.
Thanks, I'll take a look at it.
QuoteNow, when I start a new game with the default template, set the colour depth to 16bit highcolour and import a sprite, the editor tells me that I cannot import a high-colour sprite into a 256 colour game
Yep, this has already been reported and is a bug in beta 13, I'll get it fixed.
Looks like a bit of work to do. Thanks CJ!
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 14/10/2007 13:27:48
Quote3. Setting 0 as the border colour for a GUI does not make it have no border, as the control implies
Can you clarify what you mean?
GUI border color control says "set to 0 for no border" but this only works if the background colour is transparent (0) too. Otherwise it makes the border colour 0 (black)
Quote
Quote6. Importing a game with modules should name the module scripts after the module names, not just Module0, Module1, etc.
Well, the module names don't tend to lend themselves to file names. There are modules with names like "Module that provides snow/rain effects", which wouldn't be very useful as a filename displayed in the project tree.
As this is only a one-off thing when you import a 2.72 game, I think it's better to leave it up to you to rename them to something useful for you.
Module
descriptions are like that, but module
names are usualy just single words or camelcase and make good filenames, in my experience. What's long with long filenames anyway?
Quote
Quote8. It would be nice to be able to control the "working directory" of the debug run: the walkcycle generator loads files from its working directory and it isn't at all clear where that is when in Debug, so I have to run the compiled version.
The working directory should effectively be the Compiled folder. Commands like File.Open should be redirected to pick up files from there.
Definetaly NOT the case
Quote
Quote10. If I've added any breakpoints BEFORE using F5 (including trying to re-run after adding a breakpoint that worked) then the game fails to run and I get:
An exception 0xC0000005 occurred in ACWIN.EXE at EIP = 0x004274DD ; program pointer is -41, ACI version 3.00.953, gtags (2039,36)
Hmm, that's strange. Has anyone else had this problem? I can't replicate it.
I'll PM you my project so you can see if its specific to some code I wrote
Quote from: SSH on Sun 14/10/2007 15:44:18
Quote
The working directory should effectively be the Compiled folder. Commands like File.Open should be redirected to pick up files from there.
Definetaly NOT the case
Do you use a listbox to search for the files?
Because it looks like ListBox.FillDirList still uses the game folder instead of the Compiled folder.
EDIT:
the same:
DynamicSprite.CreateFromFile
DynamicSprite.SaveToFile
Bracket Checker:
QuoteWell, the new approach is more in line with applications like visual studio ...
But can't AGS transcend applications like visual studio and include this feature :) ... it has the advantage that you can also check the brackets from the opening bracket not just the closing one.
Script error messages:
QuotePerhaps an option to get rid of the "There were errors" message box would reduce your number of clicks?
It sure would.
Autocomplete:
Quotebut perhaps it should only pop up if there is at least one match to what's being typed in.
I think that would be an improvement.
DynamicSprite pointer not getting picked up within a function:
QuoteAgain, I can't replicate this problem ... it seems fine to me.
I just tested it again and it seems to be the same problem as with the "import sprites in high resolution" issue: When you save the script, close the tab and completely shut down the editor, then start it up again and load your script - then it get's picked up. (might have to do something with the Plugin issue you mentioned?)
Auto-translated text:
QuoteWhere do you see this?
Here are two example pics:
(http://stefan.lohner-net.de/AGS/ags3_beta13/room_pane.JPG) (http://stefan.lohner-net.de/AGS/ags3_beta13/character_pane.JPG)
Especially the word "Entwurf" doesn't make sense there.
And one new question/suggestion:
Is there currently a way to just erase (in other words: make transparent) one single pixel of a RawDraw surface? I know this won't be needed very often, but DrawRectangle or DrawCircle always erase more than one pixel.
QuotePerhaps the Colour Finder sliders should be 0-255 rather than 0-31, I'm not sure about this one...
I'm definitely for a shift to the 0-255 range. It means a more accurate (and wider) color selection.
QuoteAdding a proper "GUIs Go Black" option is a reasonable request!
If I read the question right, wouldn't a quick fix be to make the transparency setting of guis independent of the controls on the gui so you could adjust its opacity without affecting the text or other controls? Of course this would mean control-specific transparency options, but then people could have semi-transparent guis with solid, readable text or semi-transparent text on solid guis or whatever!
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 14/10/2007 13:27:48
QuoteI'm still having the problem where Exiting the editor from the "Welcome To AGS!" dialog leaves the AgsEditor.exe process running using 100% CPU. This time I'm using Win2k on an AMD Sempron (single core).
Has anyone else had this problem? Do you have the problem if you exit from the main editor, or is it only the Welcome To AGS dialog that causes it? I can't replicate this, it's very strange.
Just the Welcome dialog. It's 100% reproducible on two very different machines.
Quote
QuoteThe Ags3d plugin works fine. It does highlight a workflow problem - I have to copy external files from the Compiled directory into _Debug. Any chance of that being done automatically? Or of running a post-build or pre-debug command (so I can run a batch file)?
Ah, interesting ... plugins should be automatically copied to _Debug, I guess!
The plugin is copied fine I think - just not extra files that Ags3d needs (obj model files). Sounds like the problem SSH has with the Walkcycle generator.
Quote
Perhaps the Colour Finder sliders should be 0-255 rather than 0-31, I'm not sure about this one...
0-255 sounds good to me.
Quote
QuoteNow that we can draw using high-res co-ordinates, it might be handy to have the option of getting the mouse position in high-res co-ordinates
Is this something anyone else would find useful?
Yes please!
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 14/10/2007 13:27:48Quote8.1 First of all I think it is great that Autocomplete now picks up variables that are declared at the top of the script. However, perhaps the manual could state a little more obviously, that this happens after the script was quicksaved via "Ctrl+S". First I thought I have to close the script tab completely before any changes are made to Autocomplete.
Ideally I'd like it to be constantly up to date, however so far I haven't found a performant way to do this. I'll continue looking at improvements, though.
I've found that you don't
have to save the script as long as you have multiple tabs open, simply switching to another tab and then switching back will update autocomplete. But yes, do continue looking for ways to make it better. :=
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 14/10/2007 13:27:48Quote6. Importing a game with modules should name the module scripts after the module names, not just Module0, Module1, etc.
Well, the module names don't tend to lend themselves to file names. There are modules with names like "Module that provides snow/rain effects", which wouldn't be very useful as a filename displayed in the project tree.
As this is only a one-off thing when you import a 2.72 game, I think it's better to leave it up to you to rename them to something useful for you.
Would it be possible for scripts to have sub-branches made for each script which could then be listed by the "descriptive name"?
Scripts
|-> Module that provides snow/rain effects
|---> Module0.ash
|---> Module0.asc
|-> Global script
|---> GlobalScript.ash
|---> GlobalScript.asc
I wouldn't put too high a priority on it...just an idea I had.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 14/10/2007 13:27:48QuoteWhat's the status on the EditThis.AGSGame file? Is it really scrapped? I often opened my projects via that file, directly...
That file is scrapped, yes. However, I'll look into adding an association for the GAME.AGF file to load the editor. It's likely that the final version of AGS 3 will come in an installer rather than zip file, which could set up this association.
If you do distribute it via an installer,
PLEASE use an installer that has the option to 1) NOT create a Start menu folder and 2) NOT create a desktop icon. Both the Start menu and my Desktop are overcrowded as it is. Since I work entirely from the family computer (still living at home I am) I install all my programs to the second hard drive which is where I navigate when I need to open any of them.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 14/10/2007 13:27:48Quoteanother thing that is missing from the Dynamic sprite stuff is simply creating a blank one from scratch which there is a lot more point to now that one can draw on sprites.
DynamicSprite.Create(width, height)
That's a fair point.
Until then it's possible to work around this as such:
int width = System.ViewportWidth, height = System.ViewportHeight; // replace with your width/height values
DynamicSprite* sprite = DynamicSprite.CreateFromScreenshot(width, height);
DrawingSurface* surface = sprite.GetDrawingSurface();
surface.Clear();
surface.Release();Not saying don't do the new function...but not too difficult to get around "now that one can draw on sprites." ;)
QuoteYep, it only happens with the DX5 driver on 320x200 full-screen, maybe it's a hardware-specific thing. I'm running Windows Vista with a Radeon X1650 Pro. I put my game here if it helps.
I downloaded this and tried it out, and it seemed to work fine. Are you using beta 13? Can you try uploading the compiled EXE, in case something has been compiled differently?
QuoteGUI border color control says "set to 0 for no border" but this only works if the background colour is transparent (0) too. Otherwise it makes the border colour 0 (black)
I'll take a look at this. The problem with fixing things like this is that some people might be relying on the "broken" behaviour.
Quote
Module descriptions are like that, but module names are usualy just single words or camelcase and make good filenames, in my experience. What's long with long filenames anyway?
Well, the project tree isn't very wide, so if you can't easily tell which module is which, it's not very helpful. Anyway, my to-do list is rather long at the moment so this one is probably not something that I'll address.
QuoteDefinetaly NOT the case
Which command are you using? File.Open? Are you running with or without the debugger (F5 or Ctrl+F5)? I think there might be a bug where it doesn't map the directly correctly if you use Ctrl+F5.
QuoteHere are two example pics:
Especially the word "Entwurf" doesn't make sense there.
Interesting, looks like .NET tries to be clever by automatically translating certain words. "Entwurf" should be "Design", by the way. I'm not sure if there's anything I can do to stop it doing this.
QuoteI'm definitely for a shift to the 0-255 range. It means a more accurate (and wider) color selection.
Well, it wouldn't be any more accurate because the AGS Colour Number is still 16-bit, but it would at least be more user-friendly.
QuoteJust the Welcome dialog. It's 100% reproducible on two very different machines.
I'm at a loss as to what might be causing this. I've tried it several times and haven't been able to reproduce the problem.
Do you have any plugins installed? If so can you try removing them and see if the problem goes away?
QuoteThe plugin is copied fine I think - just not extra files that Ags3d needs (obj model files). Sounds like the problem SSH has with the Walkcycle generator.
Ah ok -- I'm not sure if this can be resolved from a plugin perspective...
QuoteWould it be possible for scripts to have sub-branches made for each script which could then be listed by the "descriptive name"?
Potentially -- but I don't see the need. You can rename the script from "Module0" to something descriptive in two clicks, I don't think it's worth making big workarounds for.
QuoteUntil then it's possible to work around this as such:
DynamicSprite* sprite = DynamicSprite.CreateFromScreenshot(width, height);
Aye, though I'd recommend CreateFromBackground instead. CreateFromScreenshot can be quite slow when using the D3D driver.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 14/10/2007 23:05:39QuoteWould it be possible for scripts to have sub-branches made for each script which could then be listed by the "descriptive name"?
Potentially -- but I don't see the need. You can rename the script from "Module0" to something descriptive in two clicks, I don't think it's worth making big workarounds for.
Okay, that's fine. Just a thought I had.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 14/10/2007 23:05:39QuoteUntil then it's possible to work around this as such:
DynamicSprite* sprite = DynamicSprite.CreateFromScreenshot(width, height);
Aye, though I'd recommend CreateFromBackground instead. CreateFromScreenshot can be quite slow when using the D3D driver.
I usually end up having my backgrounds at the wrong color depth...whereas CreateFromScreenshot is always created at the Game's color depth. My own fault probably... ::)
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 14/10/2007 23:05:39
QuoteJust the Welcome dialog. It's 100% reproducible on two very different machines.
I'm at a loss as to what might be causing this. I've tried it several times and haven't been able to reproduce the problem.
Do you have any plugins installed? If so can you try removing them and see if the problem goes away?
No plugins. Here's the contents of the ags directory:
C:\Documents and Settings\Steve>dir C:\dev\ags30b13
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is AC2E-2783
Directory of C:\dev\ags30b13
10/14/2007 08:43p <DIR> .
10/14/2007 08:43p <DIR> ..
11/06/2005 05:36p 792 acsprset.spr
10/07/2007 05:33p 1,421,312 acwin.exe
10/07/2007 05:31p 2,504,496 ags-help.chm
09/30/2007 06:20p 90,112 AGS.Controls.dll
10/07/2007 05:36p 1,355,776 AGS.Native.dll
10/07/2007 05:35p 159,744 AGS.Types.dll
10/07/2007 05:36p 1,699,840 AGSEditor.exe
10/08/2007 12:44p 90 connectionmap.xml
10/08/2007 12:44p 90 connections.xml
08/21/2007 07:36p 165,677 Default Game.agt
08/21/2007 07:37p 83,223 Empty Game.agt
06/05/2006 02:14p 479,232 msvcm80.dll
06/05/2006 02:14p 626,688 msvcr80.dll
10/08/2007 12:44p 342 settings.xml
14 File(s) 8,587,414 bytes
2 Dir(s) 9,843,900,416 bytes free
It happens if I click on "Exit" or if I close it with the [X] button.
Hi
I was very happy to read that in beta 13 theres this new feature:
Added COLOR_TRANSPARENT option to DrawingSurface.DrawingColor property to allow you to draw transparent areas onto the image
But this has nothing to do with drawing transparent walkbehind areas etc. onto my backgrounds, does it? :-[ Cause i can`t find that option.
QuoteAGS now shifts the bottom row of pixels of a Dialog GUI background image 1 line above the top.
This has been happening ever since you enabled support for regular GUIs for dialogs. So the current version (13) introduces this problem.
Thanks for being so patient with all these requests, Chris. I am inclined to agree with a proper AGS installer rather than a zip archive too.
Many cheers,
Paul.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 14/10/2007 23:05:39
QuoteGUI border color control says "set to 0 for no border" but this only works if the background colour is transparent (0) too. Otherwise it makes the border colour 0 (black)
I'll take a look at this. The problem with fixing things like this is that some people might be relying on the "broken" behaviour.
Well, the problem needs perhaps fixing in the documentation rather than the engine?
Quote
QuoteDefinetaly NOT the case
Which command are you using? File.Open? Are you running with or without the debugger (F5 or Ctrl+F5)? I think there might be a bug where it doesn't map the directly correctly if you use Ctrl+F5.
I think it's actually FillDirList that is the problem, as someone else mentioned. I'm using F5
Also, I just noticed this problem: I'm pretty sure eModeTalk<SPACE>to is not a valid script identifier:
(http://ssh.me.uk/img/eModeTalk_to.jpg)
and you can't import extenders:
import function SetMenuText(this *GUI, String desc);
gives an error
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 14/10/2007 23:05:39
QuoteYep, it only happens with the DX5 driver on 320x200 full-screen, maybe it's a hardware-specific thing. I'm running Windows Vista with a Radeon X1650 Pro. I put my game here if it helps.
I downloaded this and tried it out, and it seemed to work fine. Are you using beta 13? Can you try uploading the compiled EXE, in case something has been compiled differently?
http://supsuper.wurmz.net/stuff/Compiled.zip
Quoteand you can't import extenders:
import function SetMenuText(this *GUI, String desc);
gives an error
You're using it wrong Andrew. It's:
import function SetMenuText(this GUI*, String desc);It's not a pointer-to-this called GUI... :P
QuoteNo plugins. Here's the contents of the ags directory:
10/08/2007 12:44p 90 connectionmap.xml
10/08/2007 12:44p 90 connections.xml
What are these XML files? Probably nothing important, but do you have some sort of background program fiddling with running applications?
QuoteBut this has nothing to do with drawing transparent walkbehind areas etc. onto my backgrounds, does it? Cause i can`t find that option.
You can't draw onto room area masks at runtime. What you can do is change the walk-behind baseline using the SetWalkBehindBase command to enable/disable the area.
QuoteAGS now shifts the bottom row of pixels of a Dialog GUI background image 1 line above the top.
I just tried this out and couldn't replicate it. However, I noticed in your game you'd set game.dialog_options_y to -8 which means you see one row of pixels of the first option's text at the top of the GUI.
Can you explain exactly what the problem is or provide a screenshot?
QuoteWell, the problem needs perhaps fixing in the documentation rather than the engine?
I've investigated this further and it was a deliberate act to make color 0 non-transparent if you have a background color -- presumably in response to some sort of "bug" report a while back. So I'll change the help text for that property.
QuoteI think it's actually FillDirList that is the problem, as someone else mentioned. I'm using F5
Ah ok, yes FillDirList doesn't use the Compiled folder as reported (and I'll also fix those two DynamicSprite file functions).
QuoteAlso, I just noticed this problem: I'm pretty sure eModeTalk<SPACE>to is not a valid script identifier:
Hehe fair point, well spotted.
QuoteYep, it only happens with the DX5 driver on 320x200 full-screen, maybe it's a hardware-specific thing. I'm running Windows Vista with a Radeon X1650 Pro. I put my game here if it helps.
http://supsuper.wurmz.net/stuff/Compiled.zip
Thanks ... tried this out and didn't see any problems. All I did was start it up and press the top button on the GUI, it faded out and back in and looked fine. Or is there something specific I have to do to reproduce the problem?
QuoteI noticed in your game you'd set game.dialog_options_y to -8 which means you see one row of pixels of the first option's text at the top of the GUI.
I just set it to zero after actually having it on -1 since I posted the game and the problem still persists. Here is a screenshot. Pay close attention to the 1 'entire' line of black pixels that are above the gui bounds. Also note that in my gui background image, there is a 1 pixel line of black pixels at the very bottom of the bitmap. I did this to make the dialog option bars even and equal. I also expect the command game.dialog_options_y to -8 to only shift the text up or down and not wrap it around.
You can clearly see the black line appearing above the set bounds of the dialog GUI.
(http://www.shuugouteki.net/paul/Development/1pixelline.gif)
Here is the actual background image for the dialogs GUI. I brightened it for a clearer view. Note the black line is correctly at the very bottom along with 1 transparency pixel on the left.
(http://www.shuugouteki.net/paul/Development/dialog_bar.gif)
This is really freaking me out man.
Cheers,
Paul.
Ahh, I've now replicated it. It only happens with the D3D driver and I'd previously been trying with DX5. I'll get it fixed.
Have you ever thought about adding command-line options to the editor?
I would find very useful to have a 'compile' option in the editor. I even though about doing a plugin to implement this, but i guess it is not possible as of AGS 2.72.
I want to try the beta but got this error
---------------------------
AGSEditor.exe - Fehler in Anwendung
---------------------------
Die Anwendung konnte nicht richtig initialisiert werden (0xc0000135). Klicken Sie auf "OK", um die Anwendung zu beenden.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
The scripting only thing frightens and confuses me, and it seems like an odd choice removing the easy to use interactions editor if you want to make AGS more user friendly.
I'm prepared to learn but most people, especially artist types, are put off by being limited only to scripting to get things flying. I'm aware of the drop down autocomplete list, but it does little to explain the function of each thing.
(http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i211/Cluey3/scriptan.jpg)
If you're going to ensure people use scripting than at least make it a little less daunting for n00bs like me. Maybe a drop down menu with heads for different types of function, like "Message functions", "Game functions", "Character functions"
Also what happened to the preview view options?
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 15/10/2007 20:36:08
QuoteBut this has nothing to do with drawing transparent walkbehind areas etc. onto my backgrounds, does it? Cause i can`t find that option.
You can't draw onto room area masks at runtime. What you can do is change the walk-behind baseline using the SetWalkBehindBase command to enable/disable the area.
No no, sorry. What i thought this feature was is that while editting a room you now could draw your walkbehind areas with semi-transparent colour.
Hope that clears the missunderstanding
Quote from: mutterschiff on Tue 16/10/2007 20:20:29
I want to try the beta but got this error
---------------------------
AGSEditor.exe - Fehler in Anwendung
---------------------------
Die Anwendung konnte nicht richtig initialisiert werden (0xc0000135). Klicken Sie auf "OK", um die Anwendung zu beenden.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
Make sure that you have the .NET Framework 2.0 installed.
QuoteAlso what happened to the preview view options?
It's no longer there as far as I can tell. However you can preview your character's views by checking the Animate box on the Character's page.
When the autocomplete list is open, if you type a "+" then your identifier must be complete, but this doesn't trigger the closing of the autocompletion. e.g.
int someval = gMygui.X+
Also, my project is now in a state where it won't compile :( with F5 or F7
(http://ssh.me.uk/dev/AGScompileerror.jpg)
and the error file is at http://ssh.me.uk/dev/AGSEditor.exe.mdmp
and the game dir is in http://ssh.me.uk/dev/walkcyclist.zip
when i want to test my game with the beta i got this message
---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
The error was within an automatically generated script file, so you cannot edit the script. The most likely cause of errors here is that two things in your game have the same name. For example, two characters or two fonts with the same script name could cause this error. Please consult the error message for more clues.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
and in the window _AutoGenerated.ash(17): Error (line 17): unexpected 'eModePickup'
whis 2.72 works it without errors
QuoteHave you ever thought about adding command-line options to the editor?
I would find very useful to have a 'compile' option in the editor. I even though about doing a plugin to implement this, but i guess it is not possible as of AGS 2.72.
For what reason would you just want to compile the game without using the editor? I guess now that you can externally edit the script files this could be useful, would anyone else think so?
QuoteI want to try the beta but got this error
---------------------------
AGSEditor.exe - Fehler in Anwendung
---------------------------
Die Anwendung konnte nicht richtig initialisiert werden (0xc0000135). Klicken Sie auf "OK", um die Anwendung zu beenden.
As VK Dan says, make sure you have .NET 2.0 installed. This is the main reason the final release of 3.0 will probably come in an installer rather than a zip file.
Quote
If you're going to ensure people use scripting than at least make it a little less daunting for n00bs like me. Maybe a drop down menu with heads for different types of function, like "Message functions", "Game functions", "Character functions"
This has already been discussed and I agree that something like that is a good idea. However, in order to make sure that AGS 3.0 actually gets released at some time within the next 12 months, we have to stop somewhere!
QuoteAlso what happened to the preview view options?
You can preview the view in the characters pane and in the View Selection dialog when you're selecting a view in the property grid.
However, you're certainly not the first person to ask about this so I'm planning to add it back as part of the Views pane.
QuoteWhen the autocomplete list is open, if you type a "+" then your identifier must be complete, but this doesn't trigger the closing of the autocompletion. e.g.
Well, natually I'd suggest you put a space before the operator, but it's a fair point so I'll add plus and minus to select the item in autocomplete.
QuoteAlso, my project is now in a state where it won't compile with F5 or F7
Thanks for posting this. The error is that you have a missing closing bracket on line 140 of ReadBMP.asc:
this.rds.ChangeCanvasSize(FloatToInt(IntToFloat(this.Width)/2.0, eRoundNearest), FloatToInt(IntToFloat(this.Height)/2.0, 0, 0);I'll fix the compiler so that it doesn't crash in this scenario.
Quoteand in the window _AutoGenerated.ash(17): Error (line 17): unexpected 'eModePickup'
Do you have two mouse cursors both called "Pick up"?
QuoteFor what reason would you just want to compile the game without using the editor? I guess now that you can externally edit the script files this could be useful, would anyone else think so?
Well, you said it very well yourself, it can be useful from now on. The separation of room scripts from the content is very welcome, in my opinion. If the dialogs also were on a separate (human-readable) file, then, it would be heaven on earth for me... :)
But why would we have an IDE then in the first place? The way it works now, you can launch AGS and create a good part of the game in there, without having to switch, import, compile and seek files. And the scripting syntax for dialouges, to name an example, is totally readable, slightly more complicated than reading a dialogue in a novel. Why taking out of an IDE what belongs there?
Quote from: Ghost on Wed 17/10/2007 23:58:08Why taking out of an IDE what belongs there?
I'm not advocating to *remove* the dialog IDE, I just want that editing dialogues is *possible* outside the IDE. This way, there could be dialog editors, even graphical, much better than the one present in AGS.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 15/10/2007 20:36:08
QuoteNo plugins. Here's the contents of the ags directory:
10/08/2007 12:44p 90 connectionmap.xml
10/08/2007 12:44p 90 connections.xml
What are these XML files? Probably nothing important, but do you have some sort of background program fiddling with running applications?
These are created by AgsEditor.exe when it starts up. Should I be worried? Here are the contents:
connectionmap.xml
<?xml-version ='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<ConnectionMapList varName="connectionmaplist" />
connections.xml
<?xml-version ='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<ConnectionDefList varName="connectiondeflist" />
QuoteThis way, there could be dialog editors, even graphical, much better than the one present in AGS.
Chris already said he would revise the Dialog system a couple versions from now. Besides, I think AGS has come a long way on its own without external editors. If we break that tradition now, then AGS will be less likely to improve in the areas that are taken on by plugins. Wouldn't you rather AGS itself evolve to be the best it can be on its very own?
Thats just my opinion, however.
Cheers,
Paul.
I tend to agree a bit with you, but isn't providing more possibilities and means of setting up/controlling things (like using a third party sprite manager, dialog editor or a script editor, etc.) the point of incorporating the editor plugin API?
Using editor plugins just opens up possibilities to alternative ways of doing things, whenever people want to, and should not affect development in AGS itself (if that happens just give money to CJ and force him to work :=).
Well as long as CJ keeps moving forward regardless of what plugins can do then I'm content. :)
Cheers,
Paul.
Hey Chris, these graphical artifacts have been bugging me since 2.8 alpha 1.0.
The symptoms are displayed in red:
http://www.shuugouteki.net/paul/Development/visual_artifacts.gif (http://www.shuugouteki.net/paul/Development/visual_artifacts.gif)
I have a native desktop resolution of 2560x1600 running on a 30 inch Apple Cinema Display. I am about to upgrade to quad SLI for work but am currently running a GeForceFX 8800GTX.
Cheers,
Paul.
Edited by mod: Changed large image to a link to avoid messing up the forum. :P
Hmmm Have you tried changing the font size in your desktop setting?
(In fact since I'm not using English windows, the AGS editor never displayed text perfectly for me anyway.)
QuoteThese are created by AgsEditor.exe when it starts up. Should I be worried? Here are the contents:
Hmm how strange, it seems to have done this on my machine as well. I hate it when libraries like .NET just randomly start creating files without asking you... I guess they're harmless.
QuoteI just want that editing dialogues is *possible* outside the IDE. This way, there could be dialog editors, even graphical, much better than the one present in AGS.
Well, I think this sort of thing would be better provided through a plugin.
I'm not against having a /compile switch, but for now it's not a priority.
Quotethese graphical artifacts have been bugging me since 2.8 alpha 1.0.
Looks like you've got Large Fonts turned on. At the end of the day to make all the editor panes and dialogs adaptable to any system font size would take a lot of work, and I'm not sure that it's worth it. I'm slightly surprised that it has done this though, I thought that it would keep to the initial fonts that I compiled the editor with.
Ok, beta 14 is now up, which fixes various issues. There are still a few things outstanding, such as the return of the view preview, which I'll get done for the next release.
Quoteto make all the editor panes and dialogs adaptable to any system font size would take a lot of work,
Oh I'm begging you CJ. The only way for me to make anything out on my screen is to have my fonts at 120dpi. I'm not asking you to arrange a separate layout for each font size, just an additional one for the 120dpi setting.
I'll check out beta 14 now.
Thanks so much,
Paul.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 18:24:35* Added ability to start editor loading specific game from the command line (this will be tied into a registry association in an installer in a later release); and added /compile switch to load, compile game and exit
You could have explained what the command line argument for loading a specific game was...:P
Clearly you just pass the path to the Game.agf file, but there may be some bugs in the way it's working. I tried:
QuoteD:\AGS 3.0\Beta 14>agseditor.exe TestGame\Game.agf
D:\AGS 3.0\Beta 14>agseditor.exe .\TestGame\Game.agf
Both of which resulted in an error saying:
Quote---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
An error ocurred whilst trying to load your game. The error was: Could not find a part of the path 'D:\AGS 3.0\Beta 14\TestGame\TestGame\Game.agf'.
If you cannot resolve the error, please post on the AGS Technical Forum for assistance.
Error details: System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException: Could not find a part of the path 'D:\AGS 2.8\Beta 14\FSM\FSM\Game.agf'.
at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
at System.IO.FileStream.Init(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Int32 rights, Boolean useRights, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES secAttrs, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy)
at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize)
at System.Xml.XmlDownloadManager.GetStream(Uri uri, ICredentials credentials)
at System.Xml.XmlUrlResolver.GetEntity(Uri absoluteUri, String role, Type ofObjectToReturn)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.OpenUrlDelegate(Object xmlResolver)
at System.Threading.CompressedStack.runTryCode(Object userData)
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.RuntimeHelpers.ExecuteCodeWithGuaranteedCleanup(TryCode code, CleanupCode backoutCode, Object userData)
at System.Threading.CompressedStack.Run(CompressedStack compressedStack, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.OpenUrl()
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Read()
at System.Xml.XmlLoader.Load(XmlDocument doc, XmlReader reader, Boolean preserveWhitespace)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(XmlReader reader)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(String filename)
at AGS.Editor.AGSEditor.LoadGameFile(String fileName)
at AGS.Editor.Tasks.LoadGameFromDisk(String gameToLoad, Boolean interactive)
at AGS.Editor.InteractiveTasks.LoadGameFromDisk(String gameToLoad)
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
Apparently the game's folder is being doubled up this way (i.e., the editor is looking for "D:\AGS 3.0\Beta 14\TestGame\TestGame\Game.agf" instead of just "D:\AGS 3.0\Beta 14\TestGame\Game.agf")...but using:
QuoteD:\AGS 3.0\Beta 14>agseditor.exe ..\TestGame\Game.agf
Resulted in this error:
Quote---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
Unable to load the game '..\TestGame\Game.agf' because it does not exist
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
Which makes since seeing as the game's folder is in the AGS directory, not a level above it.
The only way I got the command line to auto-load the game was by providing the full path:
QuoteD:\AGS 3.0\Beta 14>agseditor.exe "D:\AGS 3.0\Beta 14\TestGame\Game.agf"
Which worked successfully.
Also had fun realizing that:
QuoteD:\AGS 3.0\Beta 14>agseditor.exe "D:\AGS 3.0\Beta 14\TestGame\Game.agf" /compile
Doesn't work...the proper syntax for the compile switch is:
QuoteD:\AGS 3.0\Beta 14>agseditor.exe /compile "D:\AGS 3.0\Beta 14\TestGame\Game.agf"
Also I wanted to ask: Could shortcuts automatically be created in the game folder (perhaps optionally by an editor preference)? You said that this will later be tied into a registry association...does this mean that we will see the emergence of an 'AGSGame' type file which will be associated with this command line loading? Either way it would be much appreciated. ;D
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 18:24:35* Fixed line wrapping losing a character if a single word was too wide to fit in the available space
Thanks! This is certainly a very welcome change. This behaviour has bothered me somewhat in the past and I'm glad to see it fixed. :=
Thanks for the update, CJ. Here's some more wishes for the AGS fairy ;)
1. A way to navigate between properties with the keyboard: TAB or ctrl-tab or pgup/pgdown or arrow keys or something should let you move up and down between properties of something in the editor so that it works more like a spreadsheet. Its a reall pain swapping between mouse and keyboard if you're editing lots of properties (i.e. moving all the controls in a GUI down).
2. In the GUI part of the game tree diagram, could we click a plus to expand the GUI to have a list of all the controls inside and select controls by clicking on them there?
3. Selection of multiple GUI controls at once to allow them all to be moved with in the GUI as a unit? :D
QuoteYou could have explained what the command line argument for loading a specific game was...
Well I wasn't really expecting anyone to try and use it at this stage, it was more on there for completeness!
QuoteClearly you just pass the path to the Game.agf file, but there may be some bugs in the way it's working. I tried:
You have to pass the full path. The only purpose of this command line is to allow it to be set up as a file association in explorer, which will automatically pass the full path in.
QuoteThanks for the update, CJ. Here's some more wishes for the AGS fairy
Thanks for the suggestions, they all sound reasonable -- but I'm trying not to get carried away with adding stuff at the moment, and instead try to bring it to a stable codebase to release 3.0.
Quote from: Pumaman on Fri 19/10/2007 19:54:10Well I wasn't really expecting anyone to try and use it at this stage, it was more on there for completeness!
You have to pass the full path. The only purpose of this command line is to allow it to be set up as a file association in explorer, which will automatically pass the full path in.
Fair enough. I just much prefer the ability to quickly open up one specific game. Especially in cases where I may open older copies of the same project and then end up editing the wrong one because I'm not paying attention to the directory shown in the 'recent games' list. :D
I think this is a bug. When I try to compile my game I get an error message saying "Invalid GUI number set for Dialog Options GUI". Right now the Dialog options GUI is set to 0 in the General Settings, which I thought meant that it would use the default black dialog GUI. This happened in beta 14.
Edit: It may be good to note that there are no GUIs in my game right now.
Edit2: Yes, I noticed that right after I created a new GUI the problem disappeared.
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Fri 19/10/2007 04:10:21
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 18:24:35* Added ability to start editor loading specific game from the command line (this will be tied into a registry association in an installer in a later release); and added /compile switch to load, compile game and exit
You could have explained what the command line argument for loading a specific game was...:P
(...)
Also I wanted to ask: Could shortcuts automatically be created in the game folder (perhaps optionally by an editor preference)? You said that this will later be tied into a registry association...does this mean that we will see the emergence of an 'AGSGame' type file which will be associated with this command line loading? Either way it would be much appreciated. ;D
As complicated as Pumaman made it sound, it just means that you can now associate AGS with AGSGame files. :P Try dragging one of them onto AGSEditor.exe. Or to associate them yourself, try opening one of them and tell Windows to open them with AGSEditor.exe (in the future, an installer will do this for you)
And now you know the behind-the-scenes workings of file associations! ;)
Actually no, the AGSGame file type is no longer supported (AGS 3.0+). Also I've tried setting up a file association with the AGS 3.0 editor, but I have thus far found it impossible to do so. I'm familiar with file associations, but as far as I can tell you can't assign one for the way the editor currently expects the command line argument.
I found another small bug. When choosing the background image for a GUI slider, there is no button there that leads you to the sprite manager, only the text area where to input the sprite number.
Not necessarily a bug, but a bit annoying:
When setting up custom properties, I have a "Description" string of 170 characters. Basically 2 lines of text.
It fits the properties box quite nicely and no error is displayed. However, when I try to build the game, the editor gives me an
QuoteUnexpected error: String is too long:
error.
Could you increase the string lenght for the description field in custom properties (to, say, around 200 characters, which should fit nicely in the box. Maybe a little experimenting with strings can give you the optimal string lenght).
While I'm sure this is no issue for most game developers, if you are creating a template those descriptions will come in handy for whomever starts using the template.
I agree. This sure would be mighty handy!
Paul.
Didn't we use to be able to give many GUI controls the same function by pointing them all to the same place? That functionality seems to be lost now.
Quote from: Lyaer on Sat 13/10/2007 23:56:23
I tried to load a game in beta 13 that I'd been working on in beta 8. (It was originally from 7.2.) It loaded fine, but it didn't prompt me to upgrade anything, and now when I try to run the game itself it compiles and then crashes with this message:
(ACI version 3.00.953)
Error: prepare_script: error -18 (no such function in script) trying to run 'room_Load' (Room 1)
When I run my backup in beta 8 it still runs without problems.
Quote from: ProgZmax on Sun 14/10/2007 00:34:14
Lyaer, this is probably a lingering problem with the older betas and creating new room scripts for the editor for imported games. Check the 'Enters room before' event and see if a room_Load function was made for it. If so, go there and see what's inside the function (if you imported from 2.72 then it is probably a routing function to something like hotspot1_a or whatever). Make sure the function it routes to (if there is one) exists. I had the very same problem on several of the earlier builds and it looks like it's still happening.
I get a similar error with beta 14. I Imported a game from v2.72, changed a room hotspot name/interaction response name, and presto!
prepare_script: error -18(no such function in script) trying to run 'room_a' (Room 1)
EDIT: nevermind, figured it out. Probably shouldve dug a bit more through the forum first. (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=18559.msg225968#msg225968)
Any chance you could add an error event handler which displays a "you removed an interaction which is still being referenced" message or something similar instead of this error?
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Sun 21/10/2007 04:50:32
Actually no, the AGSGame file type is no longer supported (AGS 3.0+). Also I've tried setting up a file association with the AGS 3.0 editor, but I have thus far found it impossible to do so. I'm familiar with file associations, but as far as I can tell you can't assign one for the way the editor currently expects the command line argument.
Sorry, I meant the new AGF type, which works fine for me (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/supsuper/AGS/ags_assoc.jpg).
Yes, of course. I was just being stupid. I actually realized that after posting. :=
And I also figured out how Windows handles file associations. The command prompt allows the pseudo-variable %CD% to expand the current directory but it doesn't work with file associations. However the ".\" syntax does work.
So I've set up AGF files (which are (obviously) created by the editor) to open the game and a custom file (which I would have to move to any game folders I wanted to use it in) for compiling the game. I've used 'AGC' as the extension (Adventure Game Compiler file? ;D) and just in case anybody else is interested in setting up an association:
"X:\PATHTOAGS\AGSEditor.exe" /compile ".\Game.agf"
Where X:\PATHTOAGS is the drive\path where AGS is installed. You could set up a batch file instead of a file association if that's your preferred method:
"X:\PATHTOAGS\AGSEditor.exe" /compile "%CD%\Game.agf"
QuoteI think this is a bug. When I try to compile my game I get an error message saying "Invalid GUI number set for Dialog Options GUI". Right now the Dialog options GUI is set to 0 in the General Settings, which I thought meant that it would use the default black dialog GUI. This happened in beta 14.
Edit2: Yes, I noticed that right after I created a new GUI the problem disappeared.
I found another small bug. When choosing the background image for a GUI slider, there is no button there that leads you to the sprite manager, only the text area where to input the sprite number.
Thanks, I'll fix those.
QuoteWhen setting up custom properties, I have a "Description" string of 170 characters. Basically 2 lines of text.
It fits the properties box quite nicely and no error is displayed. However, when I try to build the game, the editor gives me an
Unexpected error: String is too long:
error.
Interesting, I'll look into that.
QuoteDidn't we use to be able to give many GUI controls the same function by pointing them all to the same place? That functionality seems to be lost now.
In what way is that lost? What doesn't work?
Good evening, I'm here to bug you with more bugs. The OnClick event in GUIs doesn't seem to work at all. I make a new event, put some functions in it and click on the GUI in the game. Nothing happens.
Also, when I write gui.Width, the "Width" item doesn't light up automatically in the autocomplete list. I can't recall this happening with other items.
There's also this thing that annoys me. Whenever I declare a new variable, I need to go to a different tab in the editor before it appears in the autocomplete list. This slows down my working a bit.
Quote from: Pablo on Sun 21/10/2007 19:52:37
Good evening, I'm here to bug you with more bugs. The OnClick event in GUIs doesn't seem to work at all. I make a new event, put some functions in it and click on the GUI in the game. Nothing happens.
Did you make the GUI clickable? I keep forgetting to do this!
Actually that indeed was the reason with one of the GUIs. So thanks, SSH. I think that whenever one creates a new GUI it should be set as clickable by default. However, the reason was completely different for another GUI.
My GUI was named gPlatformEdit. When I created a new event in the event list, it named it "gPlatformEdit_OnCli". Notice, it got cut off in the end. Probably because of a length limit. Anyway, even though it was named like this, the function in the Global script was still named "gPlatformEdit_OnClick". So that's why it didn't work.
So CJ, please fix these problems because I'm sure they'll cause a lot of headache for the users in the future. :)
Interesting. I've actually had the "SomeFunction_OnCli" propblem before. I was new to AGS 2.8 at the time so I didn't catch it out as abnormal behavior.
AGS 3.0 is rapidly becoming more user friendly and worthy of its 3.0 version number! It's great!
Cheers,
Paul.
QuoteIn what way is that lost? What doesn't work?
We had control over what to link to - we could link both btnSaveGame and btnIconBarSaveGame to function SaveGame(etc, etc). We just typed what we wanted it to link to. Now we can't - and what's more, AGS itself seems to link controls to the script. So if I change the control's name, it's still linked to the function - but if the function gets deleted, then I have to delete the control and make another one.
Quote from: Pablo on Sun 21/10/2007 19:52:37Also, when I write gui.Width, the "Width" item doesn't light up automatically in the autocomplete list. I can't recall this happening with other items.
Are you saying that you're actually typing
gui.Width or are you saying that the Width member doesn't seem to be working for any of your GUIs? The
gui variable is actually an array so it should be
gui[ID].Width where ID is the GUI's ID number.
Quote from: Pablo on Sun 21/10/2007 19:52:37There's also this thing that annoys me. Whenever I declare a new variable, I need to go to a different tab in the editor before it appears in the autocomplete list. This slows down my working a bit.
Heh. Kinda makes you wonder what people did before the autocomplete. :=
Quote from: Pablo on Sun 21/10/2007 20:34:23whenever one creates a new GUI it should be set as clickable by default
I agree with this behaviour.
Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires on Mon 22/10/2007 01:17:45QuoteIn what way is that lost? What doesn't work?
We had control over what to link to - we could link both btnSaveGame and btnIconBarSaveGame to function SaveGame(etc, etc). We just typed what we wanted it to link to. Now we can't - and what's more, AGS itself seems to link controls to the script. So if I change the control's name, it's still linked to the function - but if the function gets deleted, then I have to delete the control and make another one.
It's in the 'Events' pane. Click on the lightning button:
(http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/9007/eventspanesl5.th.png) (http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/9007/eventspanesl5.png)
It does seem a bit out of place since there's only one item in the Events pane, however it's where things like Character/Hotspot/Object interactions are now handled (i.e., it's where their script functions are set) so it's consistent with the way interactions are set up now. Perhaps a bit confusing since for GUI[Control]s it used to all be on the floating menu, but again, consistent with the new editor.
Aaaaaaaaaah. CJ, I charge you guilty with a mental pixel-hunt! :=
Thanks muchly.
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Mon 22/10/2007 04:58:52
Quote from: Pablo on Sun 21/10/2007 19:52:37Also, when I write gui.Width, the "Width" item doesn't light up automatically in the autocomplete list. I can't recall this happening with other items.
Are you saying that you're actually typing gui.Width or are you saying that the Width member doesn't seem to be working for any of your GUIs? The gui variable is actually an array so it should be gui[ID].Width where ID is the GUI's ID number.
Neither. I completely understand how the gui array works, mind you. Try to write "gui[0].w" for example in the script editor. It should light up the Width item in the autocomplete list but it doesn't. This is just a minor bug, I just thought I'd point it out.
Quote from: Pablo on Mon 22/10/2007 10:20:30
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Mon 22/10/2007 04:58:52Quote from: Pablo on Sun 21/10/2007 19:52:37Also, when I write gui.Width, the "Width" item doesn't light up automatically in the autocomplete list. I can't recall this happening with other items.
Are you saying that you're actually typing gui.Width or are you saying that the Width member doesn't seem to be working for any of your GUIs? The gui variable is actually an array so it should be gui[ID].Width where ID is the GUI's ID number.
Neither. I completely understand how the gui array works, mind you. Try to write "gui[0].w" for example in the script editor. It should light up the Width item in the autocomplete list but it doesn't. This is just a minor bug, I just thought I'd point it out.
Works fine for me. Sometimes the autocomplete just goes a little crazy.
I came across what appears to be a bug.
My module reads out hotspot/object/character/item text properties for inserting in a label (so you can have a custom text appear in in when moving over the correct button etc.)
I added some hotspot text properties, which goes fine, but when I change the text later on, the editor seems to accept (save) the new texts, but when I launch the game it still displays the old text. If I save and restart the editor, the properties indeed still shows the old text.
Am I missing something here? I don't mind if the values of custom properties are non-changable during gameplay, but being non-changable during editing???
QuoteThere's also this thing that annoys me. Whenever I declare a new variable, I need to go to a different tab in the editor before it appears in the autocomplete list. This slows down my working a bit.
I'm still considering how to improve the autocomplete. At the moment it does a full refresh when you switch tabs, however if it did this every time you typed a character the editor would grind to a halt. I need to look into more intelligent methods of updating it.
QuoteI think that whenever one creates a new GUI it should be set as clickable by default.
I agree, I'll do this.
QuoteMy GUI was named gPlatformEdit. When I created a new event in the event list, it named it "gPlatformEdit_OnCli". Notice, it got cut off in the end. Probably because of a length limit. Anyway, even though it was named like this, the function in the Global script was still named "gPlatformEdit_OnClick". So that's why it didn't work.
Well spotted, thanks, I'll get this fixed.
QuoteNeither. I completely understand how the gui array works, mind you. Try to write "gui[0].w" for example in the script editor. It should light up the Width item in the autocomplete list but it doesn't. This is just a minor bug, I just thought I'd point it out.
This works fine for me too ... I wonder if it's something to do with your crazy Finnish keyboard ;)
QuoteI added some hotspot text properties, which goes fine, but when I change the text later on, the editor seems to accept (save) the new texts, but when I launch the game it still displays the old text. If I save and restart the editor, the properties indeed still shows the old text.
Hmm, changing properties doesn't seem to mark the room as "changed", so it won't save it. I'll look into a fix, in the meantime the workaround is to change something else as well (eg. the room description) to flag it as modified which will cause it to save.
QuoteThere's also this thing that annoys me. Whenever I declare a new variable, I need to go to a different tab in the editor before it appears in the autocomplete list. This slows down my working a bit.
Just to give you a tip for your current workflow: instead of using the mouse to switch to another tab and then back again you can also press Ctrl+S. This updates autocomplete as well.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 22/10/2007 20:35:51
I'm still considering how to improve the autocomplete. At the moment it does a full refresh when you switch tabs, however if it did this every time you typed a character the editor would grind to a halt. I need to look into more intelligent methods of updating it.
It wouldn't necessarily have to be updated on every typed character. Would it be possible that whenever the user types a semicolon, the autocomplete would update? Or would this be just completely useless and silly?
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 22/10/2007 20:35:51
This works fine for me too ... I wonder if it's something to do with your crazy Finnish keyboard ;)
Heh, perhaps so.
This new engine is great, and a lot faster - thanks CJ!
I've come across a really confusing problem, though since importing DNG2 into it..
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'm using a self-written inventory system, coded inside the on_mouse_click function, and use the ProcessClick function:
if ((button==LEFT) && (GetCursorMode()==MODE_USEINV)) {
ProcessClick(mouse.x, mouse.y, MODE_USEINV);
SetCursorMode (MODE_WALK);
SetActiveInventory (-1);
}The answer is probably right under my nose, and it's probably some minor change I'm missing, but it all works with 2.72. Please help!
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.
Did you "check" the Handle Inv Interaction In Scripts part in General Settings?
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!
Quote from: IceMan on Thu 25/10/2007 09:04:31
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.
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.
A wee confusion in the manual:
Quote
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:
Quote
static String Game.GetLocationName(int x, int y)
QuoteThe 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?
QuoteGetTranslation 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.
Did you consider my previous post CJ? About the ability to copy GUI controls?
Cheers,
Paul. :)
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.
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.
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!
QuoteAs 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.
QuoteWith 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.
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?
QuoteI'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.
QuoteSure 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!!
QuoteNot 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...
Well, it works with your new default game template's control panel...
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!
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!
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.
Ok. I've been using the latest beta of Adventure Game Studio. I'm starting to slowly practice the new functions and script commands. So far, I'm doing good! Just a minor snag, so far: I can't seem to get the sound and music files to play in my game. I have updated my computer, and those same sound and music files play just fine by themselves in Winamp Player - but not in a dummy game that I'm making. I've followed the instructions to a T in the Manuel: SOUND1.WAV and MUSIC1.MP3 - just dummy sounds and songs not final game sounds and songs.
???
I've included my dummy game that I've been monkeying around with. THIS IS NOT MY ACTUAL GAME THAT I'M DESIGNING. Please feel free to test it out, and tell me what I could be doing wrong:
<A HREF='http://www.flyupload.com/?fid=5907185'>Download Now</A>
Thank you so much for your help!
WackyWildCard
I'm pretty sure this is nothing to do with the beta, or AGS. It looks like your files aren't named properly - they're actually called MUSIC0.MP3.mp3, MUSIC1.MP3.mp3, SOUND1.WAV.wav, and SOUND2.WAV.mp3. Fix that and they should work OK (they seem to play for me, anyway - Sound2 needs the mp3 extention, not wav).
If you're using Windows, you might need to uncheck the 'Hide extentions for known file types' option (Tools -> Folder Options -> View) to get the names to display properly in Explorer.
Just a few things I'd like to know:
It has been mentioned that the new version of AGS will come with an installer; does this mean it's no longer a "clean", copy-in-a-folder-and-you-are-done software? Will it have an entry in the Software folder of Windows?
What exactly does this NET Framework do? I installed it to be able to use the new AGS version and I understand that a framework is programming-related- so what other use has this framework?
Apart from that there's nothing but positive feedback here. I tinkered around a bit with the newest release, no troubles. I must say the new templates are very, very good. Both the new default template and (expecially) the verb coin are top quality. Great job, just remember to update the TUTORIAL to mention them!
I commend you, Mr. Jones.
:)
Thanks Ashen for your helpful Input.
Heh. Sometimes I need a different point of view to get things working. Heh.
Thanks again, and have fun!
WackyWildCard :)
I want to make an english translation for my adventure. But in the English.trs file the GUI text is missing. Even updating does not help. If I remember correctly in 2.72 GUI text could be translated.
Tested in AGS 3.0 beta 15
Quote from: Ghost on Fri 02/11/2007 23:42:13
What exactly does this NET Framework do? I installed it to be able to use the new AGS version and I understand that a framework is programming-related- so what other use has this framework?
It's basically just a bunch of DLLs that all .NET applications (usually coded in C#) need.
I'm getting this error a *lot*. I'm getting it when playing the game with the editor on, F5-style.
Error: The process cannot access the file 'C:\AGS\MY templates\IF Mouse\dbgrecv.tmp' because it is being used by another process.
Version: AGS 3.0.0.15
System.IO.IOException: The process cannot access the file 'C:\AGS\MY templates\IF Mouse\dbgrecv.tmp' because it is being used by another process.
at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
at System.IO.File.Delete(String path)
at AGS.Editor.EngineCommunication._watcher_Changed(Object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
at System.IO.FileSystemWatcher.OnChanged(FileSystemEventArgs e)
at System.IO.FileSystemWatcher.NotifyFileSystemEventArgs(Int32 action, String name)
at System.IO.FileSystemWatcher.CompletionStatusChanged(UInt32 errorCode, UInt32 numBytes, NativeOverlapped* overlappedPointer)
at System.Threading._IOCompletionCallback.PerformIOCompletionCallback(UInt32 errorCode, UInt32 numBytes, NativeOverlapped* pOVERLAP)
I get it twice, even.
EDIT - I *really* get this a *lot* while testing with F5 and debugger on. Oh, and using breakpoints and F11.
EDIT 2 - And apparently even without using breakpoints and F11. And now, an unprecedented problem - AGS is crashing quite often with this error, always when on F5's test window.
I've been using the last day to work into the new 3.0 editor and I really dig it so far. It's really improved A LOT!
My knowledge of AGS in its newer versions is a bit rusty, so please cope with me. Plus, while having read a lot of the threads on the development, I can't promise I've seen all the information - so, I hope I don't repost any issue - if I did, please excuse that.
First things first, I have only very minor complaints sorted kind-of by importance from very to not-very:
- I dislike the way tab-indents are handled. In the old editor and all other programs, a tab is not broken up into the "spaces" it consists of, the new editor does that. It's really confusing for tab-lovers such as me. You press tab, hit left-arrow (which used to jump back a tab) and now, with 3.0, you're going back one space "into" the tab. I didn't see anything wrong with the old, standard way of tabbing.
- I love how modules are "gone" and now represent a new script-file, that's very nice. While it's been possible to split up code between several files (or modules), it's always been quite the annoyance with the module-manager etc., now it's really awesome. However, I would suggest to add directories for the files. For example:
+ Mouse cursors
+ Fonts
- Scripts
+ Renderer
+ Tile-System
- Global Script
o Script
o Header
+ Other file
+ Plugins
I know that this is a matter of taste, but the "double" entries in the scripts-hierarchy are somewhat confusing (as the only difference lies in the last letter of the file-extension). What do the others think?
- It was somewhat tricky with the manual to get the way RawDrawing works now. I managed to get it down, now, but maybe there should be a dedicated entry in the manual for "old" users? Or have I overseen that?
- New tabs open on the left. I think I read something about this, but couldn't find the post now. To me, that's very irritating. I expect new tabs to open on the right, not on the left pushing all other tabs away to the right. If this is really down to taste and other people prefer this "left-way", then maybe make it customizable in the preferences?
- I noticed *= and /= are not supported. Any special reason for that? I think both symbols are pretty useful.
- When I load a bigger game, the editor appears "stuck" for a few seconds. Specifically, after clicking "Ok" on the "load-recent-games" dialog. The dialog appears and nothing happens for a second or something. Then the right-hand side hierarchy-pane blinks and the game is loaded. How about a small "Loading game..."-message-box in that time? Especially for users with slower machines working on larger games.
- And, the least important issue: when I start up the Editor, the hierarchy-pane on the right-hand side isn't pulled to the left enough. The words (for example "Inventory Items") are cut off in the middle. My resolution is 1280x960 with WinXP, I suppose this is a simple calculation flaw?
I'm very happy with the new stuff, though. Amazing work! :)
I just found two very small issues with creating a new game:
1) When you create a game using the blank template the first thing you are presented with is a compilation error because there is no room 1 and no character 0. This is right, but only because I haven't had chance to add them yet. Prehaps you could skip the compile check when a new game is made? It's not a big problem but could be a little off-putting for someone who's not quite sure what's going on, and the compile error comes before the warning about using a blank template.
2) If you create a new game but don't save it, the AGS folder is created and all the files made but the game title you entered is not saved. The game appears in the game list but with the default title of 'New Game'. Should the game name entered during the creation be saved when the folder is created?
They're both very small issues in an otherwise fantastic program
Quote3. I didn't notice an option in preferences anymore to disable warnings. Am I missing it?
Not sure what you mean by this, can you clarify? What sort of warnings are you talking about?
QuoteNothing 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!
Thanks, glad to hear you think it's worthwhile!
QuoteIt has been mentioned that the new version of AGS will come with an installer; does this mean it's no longer a "clean", copy-in-a-folder-and-you-are-done software? Will it have an entry in the Software folder of Windows?
Not sure what you mean by the "Software folder", if you're talking about the Start Menu then yes it would. There are a couple of reasons for using an installer -- for example we've had problems in the past with people not unzipping the file correctly, or trying to run AGS from within the zip rather than decompressing it first; these are problems that would be avoided by using an MSI.
QuoteWhat exactly does this NET Framework do? I installed it to be able to use the new AGS version and I understand that a framework is programming-related- so what other use has this framework?
It's the system on which the new editor runs. I guess you could think of it as a huge set of script modules providing various functionality, that the AGS Editor uses to avoid having to re-invent the wheel.
Various applications these days run on the .NET Framework so once you've installed it once for one application, any other programs that use it will work as well.
QuoteI want to make an english translation for my adventure. But in the English.trs file the GUI text is missing. Even updating does not help. If I remember correctly in 2.72 GUI text could be translated.
What type of GUI text is missing? The translation should include all GUI Label and GUI Textbox texts.
QuoteI'm getting this error a *lot*. I'm getting it when playing the game with the editor on, F5-style.
Error: The process cannot access the file 'C:\AGS\MY templates\IF Mouse\dbgrecv.tmp' because it is being used by another process.
Version: AGS 3.0.0.15
Hmm, interesting. I've never seen this myself, but I'll see if I can work out what's happening.
Quote- I dislike the way tab-indents are handled. In the old editor and all other programs, a tab is not broken up into the "spaces" it consists of, the new editor does that. It's really confusing for tab-lovers such as me. You press tab, hit left-arrow (which used to jump back a tab) and now, with 3.0, you're going back one space "into" the tab. I didn't see anything wrong with the old, standard way of tabbing.
Heh thanks, I hadn't noticed that. I'll add it as a preferences option.
Quote- I love how modules are "gone" and now represent a new script-file, that's very nice. While it's been possible to split up code between several files (or modules), it's always been quite the annoyance with the module-manager etc., now it's really awesome. However, I would suggest to add directories for the files. For example:
Not sure about this one, but I'll have a think about it for a future version.
Quote- It was somewhat tricky with the manual to get the way RawDrawing works now. I managed to get it down, now, but maybe there should be a dedicated entry in the manual for "old" users? Or have I overseen that?
Fair point, I'll add something to the manual about this.
Quote- New tabs open on the left. I think I read something about this, but couldn't find the post now. To me, that's very irritating. I expect new tabs to open on the right, not on the left pushing all other tabs away to the right. If this is really down to taste and other people prefer this "left-way", then maybe make it customizable in the preferences?
To be honest, I don't think this is a big enough issue to be worth the hassle of changing at this point. Also, it's the same behaviour that the recent Visual Studio IDE's use.
Quote- I noticed *= and /= are not supported. Any special reason for that? I think both symbols are pretty useful.
No special reason, these have never been supported. There's never been the demand to add them.
Quote- When I load a bigger game, the editor appears "stuck" for a few seconds. Specifically, after clicking "Ok" on the "load-recent-games" dialog. The dialog appears and nothing happens for a second or something. Then the right-hand side hierarchy-pane blinks and the game is loaded. How about a small "Loading game..."-message-box in that time? Especially for users with slower machines working on larger games.
A "Loading" dialog is a possibility, I guess.
Quote- And, the least important issue: when I start up the Editor, the hierarchy-pane on the right-hand side isn't pulled to the left enough. The words (for example "Inventory Items") are cut off in the middle. My resolution is 1280x960 with WinXP, I suppose this is a simple calculation flaw?
Could you provide a screenshot, I don't get this behaviour? Do you have Large Fonts turned on?
QuoteI'm very happy with the new stuff, though. Amazing work!
Glad you like it!
Quote1) When you create a game using the blank template the first thing you are presented with is a compilation error because there is no room 1 and no character 0. This is right, but only because I haven't had chance to add them yet. Prehaps you could skip the compile check when a new game is made? It's not a big problem but could be a little off-putting for someone who's not quite sure what's going on, and the compile error comes before the warning about using a blank template.
Hmm, interesting point. I'll have to think about this one.
Quote2) If you create a new game but don't save it, the AGS folder is created and all the files made but the game title you entered is not saved. The game appears in the game list but with the default title of 'New Game'. Should the game name entered during the creation be saved when the folder is created?
Thanks, I'll have a look at this one.
BTW, it has been mentioned that Ctrl-B for matching brackets was a really useful feature that's now gone missing, replaced by the other bracket highlighting. Why not both? The latter is great when coding, the former is almost essential during code-check and especially when you have to change really old and convoluted code (happens to me all the time...).
Quote from: Pumaman on Sat 10/11/2007 20:17:42
QuoteI want to make an english translation for my adventure. But in the English.trs file the GUI text is missing. Even updating does not help. If I remember correctly in 2.72 GUI text could be translated.
What type of GUI text is missing? The translation should include all GUI Label and GUI Textbox texts.
I have text in GUI labels and buttons. The text of the labels is shown in the translation file, the text of buttons is not.
Thanks for the response there, Pumaman. Here's the screen, I do NOT have "large fonts" enabled.
(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/dkh2/ags_help_screen.jpg)
Note that Photobucket has downsized the screen to 800x600, my resolution is actually 1280x960...
I'm happy with all your answers. The tab-indents were a main problem, the rest is really, really minor, so it's definitely no problem if - for example - the order of newly-created tabs stay the way they are at the moment or anything.
BTW, food for thought for later versions - the current way the text parser is implemented makes it easier for us, in the futures, to define manually what type of word we want any word to be - not just Normal or Ignore, but maybe Verb and Noun and Object and Name and whatever. Then a simple function to get the type of verb would open lots of doors.
Just a thought.
Can the 40 object per room limit be removed? (Or increased to say 200 or so)
Also,
I get an out of bounds error when trying to address objects beyond 20.
example:
object[21].Graphic = 2;
produces the out of bounds error, while:
object[20].Graphic = 2;
does not.
<stares at gojerry>
It's been increased to 40? And you already need more?
QuoteBTW, it has been mentioned that Ctrl-B for matching brackets was a really useful feature that's now gone missing, replaced by the other bracket highlighting. Why not both? The latter is great when coding, the former is almost essential during code-check and especially when you have to change really old and convoluted code (happens to me all the time...).
Well, it's easy enough to just delete and re-type the closing bracket if you want to simulate a "match brace" type feature? Would pressing Ctrl+B actually be any faster?
QuoteI have text in GUI labels and buttons. The text of the labels is shown in the translation file, the text of buttons is not.
Ah, oops ... thanks for spotting this, I'll get it fixed.
QuoteThanks for the response there, Pumaman. Here's the screen, I do NOT have "large fonts" enabled.
Hmm, that's strange. Does anyone else get a problem like this? I can't replicate it.
QuoteCan the 40 object per room limit be removed? (Or increased to say 200 or so)
Well, if you have that many objects in one room you're quite likely to run into performance problems. Can you give an example of a situation where you need more than 40 objects in a room?
QuoteI get an out of bounds error when trying to address objects beyond 20.
Thanks for this, I'll fix it.
QuoteBTW, food for thought for later versions - the current way the text parser is implemented makes it easier for us, in the futures, to define manually what type of word we want any word to be - not just Normal or Ignore, but maybe Verb and Noun and Object and Name and whatever. Then a simple function to get the type of verb would open lots of doors.
Sounds reasonable, but not really appropriate for the 3.0 thread. Perhaps you'd like to start another thread about this to see if it's something other people would be interested in.
QuoteWell, it's easy enough to just delete and re-type the closing bracket if you want to simulate a "match brace" type feature? Would pressing Ctrl+B actually be any faster?
No, but it wouldn't feel like a hack...
QuoteSounds reasonable, but not really appropriate for the 3.0 thread.
Agreed, it's very specific. I think I started a thread about it a long while ago, but it seemed there was very little interest... I only remembered it because I noticed how much simpler it would be to edit the words categories now, and decided to bring it up again... in a passing, very-low-priority way.
One thing I noticed while testing my AGS_MAX_* constant workaround was that SCM files exported by AGS 3.0 appear corrupted if you try to import them in older versions of AGS. Sometimes they will import properly anyway; other times they will not.
One of the greatest parts of the SCM file type was that it allowed portability not just between OSes, but also between versions of AGS. Has the way the SCM files are saved changed since AGS 2.72? If so, is there any way to restore the old behavior in saving these files?
QuoteNot sure what you mean by this, can you clarify? What sort of warnings are you talking about?
Sure. I mean compile warnings like ags 3.0 special 'normal view x has less than 4 loops and could crash the game', which pulls up a nice box to tell me about it and a loud beep every time I compile. I'd just like an option to disable these warnings altogether (and I can't seem to find one) since I'm aware of what they are :).
QuoteWell, if you have that many objects in one room you're quite likely to run into performance problems. Can you give an example of a situation where you need more than 40 objects in a room?
I can: multi-tiered rooms! I've recently been experimenting with this in Boyd Quest, making several playable rooms on one screen, each offset by enough pixels to not be visible and then popping the player to the new walkable zone. This saves me a great deal of time, both in consolidating rooms in an area together and allowing me to bypass the often annoying look-up-destination-coords-and-flip-between-rooms-to-get-them-right phase since it's all in one area. As a result, I tend to use more objects and certainly more hotspots.
You could also make an asteroid belt without using Rawdraw if you had enough objects....
Oh, one thing I forgot to suggest was perhaps a more robust naming system for sound, music and voice files? I can't begin to explain how many times I've had to go back and listen to sound or music files to remember what they were. An option in the editor to do a push-button load of any supported sound file into a 'slot' that would remember the filename would fix this, I wager. That way the files could still be played numerically in the engine, but the editor would display their filename (and maybe a preview button?) so you knew exactly what they were. A preview would also warn you of garble issues with sounds rendered in pcm signed mono (I think that's one I've had trouble with).
QuoteWell, it's easy enough to just delete and re-type the closing bracket if you want to simulate a "match brace" type feature? Would pressing Ctrl+B actually be any faster?
Well but that only works for the closing bracket, whereas Ctrl+B also worked with the opening bracket.
But I agree, it's only a minor issue.
QuoteOne of the greatest parts of the SCM file type was that it allowed portability not just between OSes, but also between versions of AGS. Has the way the SCM files are saved changed since AGS 2.72? If so, is there any way to restore the old behavior in saving these files?
Hmm, ah yes there does seem to be an issue there. I'll get it fixed.
QuoteSure. I mean compile warnings like ags 3.0 special 'normal view x has less than 4 loops and could crash the game', which pulls up a nice box to tell me about it and a loud beep every time I compile. I'd just like an option to disable these warnings altogether (and I can't seem to find one) since I'm aware of what they are
The message box for both warnings and errors is controlled by the "Show message box when there are compile errors" option in Preferences. Or are you asking for an option that shows the message on errors, but not on warnings?
QuoteOh, one thing I forgot to suggest was perhaps a more robust naming system for sound, music and voice files? I can't begin to explain how many times I've had to go back and listen to sound or music files to remember what they were.
In a way, I think this is something that should have been part of AGS 3.0. However, it's also something that's ripe for a plugin to implement. With the editor plugin API in AGS 3 being much more usable than in 2.x, it should be possible to provide a music/sound manager through a plugin -- somebody's already working on one, I think. And if nothing is made in the end, it's always something I can add to a future version.
QuoteI can: multi-tiered rooms! I've recently been experimenting with this in Boyd Quest, making several playable rooms on one screen, each offset by enough pixels to not be visible and then popping the player to the new walkable zone. This saves me a great deal of time, both in consolidating rooms in an area together and allowing me to bypass the often annoying look-up-destination-coords-and-flip-between-rooms-to-get-them-right phase since it's all in one area. As a result, I tend to use more objects and certainly more hotspots.
However, doing this sort of thing leaves AGS with a huge background image to process and lots of objects to process too. It's not something I'd recommend doing for performance reasons, therefore I'd prefer not to encourage it by allowing unlimited objects.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 12/11/2007 20:50:44QuoteOne of the greatest parts of the SCM file type was that it allowed portability not just between OSes, but also between versions of AGS. Has the way the SCM files are saved changed since AGS 2.72? If so, is there any way to restore the old behavior in saving these files?
Hmm, ah yes there does seem to be an issue there. I'll get it fixed.
Thanks as always Chris. ;)
Edit: Now this might be a silly question, but the DrawingSurface functions aren't really suited to (i.e., even feasible for a future version), say,
creating an alpha channel are they? I was thinking that if I did:
DynamicSprite* sprite = DynamicSprite.Create(100, 100, true);
DrawingSurface* surface = sprite.GetDrawingSurface();
surface.DrawImage(0, 0, 82, 50);
surface.Release();
Overlay* ov = Overlay.CreateGraphical(sprite.Graphic);I could create a semi-transparent Overlay. If that's simply not reasonable I could just set the sprite as the background of a GUI and use the GUI.Transparency instead.
QuoteThe message box for both warnings and errors is controlled by the "Show message box when there are compile errors" option in Preferences. Or are you asking for an option that shows the message on errors, but not on warnings?
Exactly. I'm not so concerned about warnings but I definitely want to know about errors :).
Bug, bug, bug...
And a pretty big one, if I'm not doing something wrong somewhere.
I'm trying to RawDraw a sprite/image to the screen. I have the game set to 16-bit, have the image saved as standard 24-bit bmp-file (same configuration worked perfectly fine in all older ags-versions), I call Surface.DrawImage ( x, y, sprite_slot ) with the slot and it comes out like this:
(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/dkh2/test.png)
In the editor, it looks perfectly fine though (compare to my current avatar). Am I doing something wrong?
(AGS 3.0 Beta 15 - DirectDraw 5)
I can't believe no one would've picked this up until now, though, so I'm kinda sure I have done something wrong somewhere... I've tried it on multiple projects (including empty games), it's always the same.
Are you sure the room background is the same colour depth as the sprite? Because if it isn't (i.e., if you imported the room background before remembering to set the game's colour depth like I always do) then you'll get funky results like this.
Just as a test, does doing this yeild similar results?
DynamicSprite *sprite = DynamicSprite.Create(Game.SpriteWidth[SPRITE_SLOT], Game.SpriteHeight[SPRITE_SLOT]);
DrawingSurface *surface = sprite.GetDrawingSurface();
surface.DrawImage(X, Y, sprite.Graphic);
surface.Release();
DynamicSprite.Create (AFAIK) always creates a new sprite at the game's current colour depth. So if it properly draws the sprite to the DynamicSprite then it may just be a colour depth issue with your background.
Ah, I didn't even have a background imported. That used to be impossible to forgot due to an error in the older versions, now with 3.0 you can actually leave the room black and run your game (which is great), but it can cause these ugly errors. Hmm... Maybe a simple message-box could help here, CJ, warning the user when the background color-depth is wrong? Definitely leave it so that you don't need to import an image for a room though (I really love this as I hated how you had to have black-only images floating around on your hard-drive for creating simple test-games in the older versions).
Thanks monkey! :)
"if you imported the room background before remembering to set the game's colour depth like I always do"
Can't possibly imagine how I might have pin-pointed it so quickly. :=
Regarding the "black background", I think you're probably just using Rui's new Default Game template which does define a Room1.CRM file but it's just a blank, empty room with a black background, most likely imported at 8-bit colour depth (since that is the "default" colour depth for AGS).
Hmm... No, I'm sure I used the Empty Game Template. It comes with a room as well, though. Maybe the addition of rooms in 8-bit to any template should be over-thought again as it can cause problems, especially with people new to the editor or version?
Hmm yeah, the room background colour depth thing. The reason it works this way is because originally it was supposed to be a handy feature that you could have some rooms with different colour depths to do fancy effects. But nowadays I'm becoming more convinced that AGS should just convert all the room backgrounds to the game colour depth automatically...
It would be nice if you could select different color depths on import for compression purposes (because who really can tell the difference between a 16- and 32-bit background?) and have it converted to the proper color depth on run-time. But perhaps it would cause too much of a slowdown.
I originally considered using 16-bit backgrounds and 32-bit characters to make the download smaller (my 640x480 game has around 35 rooms, and another few backgrounds used for cutscenes). But it created too many problems with RawDraw and DynamicSprites. Now that we can RawDraw directly to sprites, that is not really an issue anymore, so it could in fact be possible. But I would prefer it if it was in fact supported by the engine and wasn't just a hacky workaround where I have to remember to reset the color depth every time I re-import my art resources.
I think a lot of games could benefit from 32-bit sprites - think Nelly Cootalot with anti-aliased characters - but most of the time the extra file size of the backgrounds just doesn't seem worth it. So rather than forcing all art into the "correct" color depth of the game, I'd rather suggest making it easier and less problematic to mix color depths.
Quote from: GarageGothic on Fri 16/11/2007 19:47:36
...because who really can tell the difference between a 16- and 32-bit background?
I can. All you need is a small gradient, and you can easily see the difference.
Even simple gradients tend to look very grainy in 16bit but work perfecly in 32bit... might be me mesing up things again...
And something that has often puzzled me: If I save a room as a 16bit BMP and import it into AGS, set to 16bit too, all I get is a blank screen. Saving it as 24bit then works. Is that me misunderstanding something about colour depth?
Hi, while working on SOTE with the latest beta (15), there was a total system freeze while compiling.
On reboot, the editor didn't open the game... not finding the xml root element in the Game.agf file. I (h)examined the file and it was just a pair of megabytes of NULL bytes... :(
I restored the file from a backup (and I'm not sure of what could happen... please warn me if something can seriously break by using an old Game.agf with the newsest files - for example, there are new views/rooms/sprites that weren't present at the backup time... but I suppose that the Game.agf is primarily a collection of general settings/room index....)
By the way, my suggestion here is making AGS keep some sort of Game.bak updated to the latest non-potentially-distructive operation (before opening Game.agf for writing the XML serialization, I suppose).
Another v3 thing: I didn't read exactly ALL the recent threads, has the source versioning control been described somewhere? I setup a Perforce server and we'd like to work in concurrency but I'm not sure of what can be done without causing some breakage.
I saw that rooms and scripts are in separated files, and that's great, but what happens with global stuff such as the Game.agf and the sprites file?
I hope that in the final version documentation it will be fully described what can be done causing no harm and what can't :)
BTW, we SOTE guys love AGS 3 :)
Bye!
D.
QuoteIt would be nice if you could select different color depths on import for compression purposes (because who really can tell the difference between a 16- and 32-bit background?) and have it converted to the proper color depth on run-time. But perhaps it would cause too much of a slowdown.
As Ghost says, if you have any kind of smooth gradient (eg. the sky) then converting to 16-bit can make it look grainy.
QuoteAnd something that has often puzzled me: If I save a room as a 16bit BMP and import it into AGS, set to 16bit too, all I get is a blank screen. Saving it as 24bit then works. Is that me misunderstanding something about colour depth?
Not sure what you're saying here, can you clarify? Does AGS appear to import the image but actually just give you a black screen?
Quotewhile working on SOTE with the latest beta (15), there was a total system freeze while compiling.
On reboot, the editor didn't open the game... not finding the xml root element in the Game.agf file. I (h)examined the file and it was just a pair of megabytes of NULL bytes...
Hmm, well AGS doesn't actually open the Game.agf file until it has constructed the XML to save, so if it has hung in the middle of the actual file write that seems to indicate a potentially serious problem.
However, I'll certainly look into adding some sort of backup of the file, like 2.72 used to do for the main data file.
QuoteAnother v3 thing: I didn't read exactly ALL the recent threads, has the source versioning control been described somewhere? I setup a Perforce server and we'd like to work in concurrency but I'm not sure of what can be done without causing some breakage.
There is a "Source Control integration" page in the manual that briefly describes it. At the moment, AGS doesn't add the sprite file or the music/sound files to source control, because they are large binary files and therefore not really suited to source control systems. This does pose a bit of a problem for using the source control feature, because the scripts and rooms are the only things that you can sensibly check in/out on different PC's. With the current way the sprites are stored, I'm not sure what can be done to make this more usable.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 18/11/2007 22:37:07As Ghost says, if you have any kind of smooth gradient (eg. the sky) then converting to 16-bit can make it look grainy.
Well, that's really beside the point. A lot of games that don't even use gradients - pretty much anything with hi-res line-drawings - would benefit from anti-aliased characters while 32-bit backgrounds are not really necessary. I would probably convert my whole game to 16-bit if it wasn't for anti-aliasing only being availble in 32-bit.
I'm just asking you to please not force me to use 32-bit backgrounds just because the final game will run in 32-bit mode. I appreciate that you might not consider it important enough to make a special checkbox for it when importing my art, but please don't force the editor to convert all my backgrounds to the game's color depth automatically (as you said in your reply to monkey and dkh), bloating the size of my distribution file for no good reason.
I beg to differ.
32-bit backgrounds are essential to my work, and the day the function appeared in the editor was a godsend. Without the ability to display 32-bit backgrounds, I may as well bin AGS right now, because, to be honest, if we were still stuck with 16-bit highcolour, I'd have found an alternative program by now.
Jesus H. Christ, why is it that I'm always misunderstood in these bloody forums. Are my communication skills really that poor?
I have never said that we shouldn't have 32-bit backgrounds. I merely responded to CJ's mention of forcing 32-bit color games to convert all background to 32-bit, asking him to please keep the current feature where it's possible to import backgrounds in 16-bit and then switch back to 32-bit before importing your sprites.
I understood what you wrote perfectly, and I agree that keeping things as they are is the best way to handle it. I'm also not sure why 32-bit is 'essential' to pre-rendered art but I'm one of those old guys that likes to preserve color count and filesize when possible!
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 18/11/2007 22:37:07
Hmm, well AGS doesn't actually open the Game.agf file until it has constructed the XML to save, so if it has hung in the middle of the actual file write that seems to indicate a potentially serious problem.
I just wanted to clarify that the system freeze didn't probably depend on AGS: it was a total Windows freeze (I don't know the details: it happened to my friend BobaFonts... maybe some hardware issue or... eeek... Vista issue :)) that happened in the worst moment...
Quote
However, I'll certainly look into adding some sort of backup of the file, like 2.72 used to do for the main data file.
Perfect, thanks ;)
Quote
There is a "Source Control integration" page in the manual that briefly describes it. At the moment, AGS doesn't add the sprite file or the music/sound files to source control, because they are large binary files and therefore not really suited to source control systems. This does pose a bit of a problem for using the source control feature, because the scripts and rooms are the only things that you can sensibly check in/out on different PC's. With the current way the sprites are stored, I'm not sure what can be done to make this more usable.
Mmm yes, I can understand the problem here. Rooms and scripts are the most changed units, so I suppose that this is a "good enough" situation... and we just have to be careful to not add sprites without manually "keep in sync".
I'll let you know of problems/ideas as we have time to experiment with collaborative development :)
Thanks, bye!
D.
As a small request, could you make the Sprite Manager window (the one that appears when you're selecting which sprite to use for GUI graphics, views and such) resizable, or at least a bit bigger? I find it too small to browse through lots of sprites right now.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 18/11/2007 22:37:07
QuoteAnd something that has often puzzled me: If I save a room as a 16bit BMP and import it into AGS, set to 16bit too, all I get is a blank screen. Saving it as 24bit then works. Is that me misunderstanding something about colour depth?
Not sure what you're saying here, can you clarify? Does AGS appear to import the image but actually just give you a black screen?
Exactly: Saving as bitmap gives me the option to save as 16/24/32. Saving a room background as 16bit and then importing gives me the black screen. Saving as 24bit works fine. AGS compiled game file size also remains the same. It never really bothered me since file compression in AGS is so good that with a zip file you won't run into much trouble, but I like to understand the things I do.
QuoteI'm just asking you to please not force me to use 32-bit backgrounds just because the final game will run in 32-bit mode. I appreciate that you might not consider it important enough to make a special checkbox for it when importing my art, but please don't force the editor to convert all my backgrounds to the game's color depth automatically (as you said in your reply to monkey and dkh), bloating the size of my distribution file for no good reason.
Well, the other option would be to automatically convert the backgrounds to the game colour depth at run-time, rather than the editor. This might make room transitions a bit slower, but it would mean that there'd be no need to worry about colour depth mismatches screwing up RawDraw.
QuoteI just wanted to clarify that the system freeze didn't probably depend on AGS: it was a total Windows freeze
Ah, ok then!
QuoteAs a small request, could you make the Sprite Manager window (the one that appears when you're selecting which sprite to use for GUI graphics, views and such) resizable, or at least a bit bigger? I find it too small to browse through lots of sprites right now.
Sounds easy enough, I'll look into that.
QuoteExactly: Saving as bitmap gives me the option to save as 16/24/32. Saving a room background as 16bit and then importing gives me the black screen. Saving as 24bit works fine. AGS compiled game file size also remains the same. It never really bothered me since file compression in AGS is so good that with a zip file you won't run into much trouble, but I like to understand the things I do.
Can you post a sample 16-bit BMP file that imports as a black screen into beta 15?
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 19/11/2007 22:36:12Well, the other option would be to automatically convert the backgrounds to the game colour depth at run-time, rather than the editor. This might make room transitions a bit slower, but it would mean that there'd be no need to worry about colour depth mismatches screwing up RawDraw.
That would be awesome. I suggested exactly that in one of my previous posts, but didn't think it would be possible for speed reasons. But I guess with DynamicSprite now converting the sprites to the game's color depth, it'd be pretty much the same process.
Quote from: GarageGothic on Sun 18/11/2007 22:54:06
A lot of games that don't even use gradients - pretty much anything with hi-res line-drawings - would benefit from anti-aliased characters while 32-bit backgrounds are not really necessary.
This is a confusing sentence.
More sense:
"A lot of games that don't even use gradients - pretty much anything with hi-res line-drawings - would benefit from anti-aliased characters, but 32-bit backgrounds may not really be necessary to them."
Regardless, my bad.
ProgZ:
Because, as I'm sure you know, importing pre-rendered 32-bit images into a 16-bit game results in colour banding (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_banding).
And, depending on the image, this effect can range from minor banding in dark areas to fairly extreme banding in images with low contrast. Overall, it's something I'd rather avoid. :)
Does anybody else have problems with DynamicSprite.CreateFromScreenshot creating only black sprites when running the Direct3D version? I haven't had time to test with previous betas, so it might have been there since the start, but I don't remember seeing the issue before. My game is 640x480 with 32-bit color.
Edit: I should add that this happens no matter whether I run the game windowed or full-screen. If I run the game in DirectX everything looks like it should. I also made sure to test with CreateFromBackground, which worked normally.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 19/11/2007 22:36:12
Can you post a sample 16-bit BMP file that imports as a black screen into beta 15?
Here it is.
http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/faulty.bmp (http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/faulty.bmp)
I have a few items of
personal interest, though not really anything terribly important.
1) Should the old RawDraw- functions be considered "old-style-"/"non-object-oriented"/"non-strict" scripting? I've noticed that whether object-oriented scripting is enforced or not these functions are still available.
2) What exactly is the default parameter for DrawingSurface.Clear? I figured it would be our old friend "magic pink", 63519 (RGB: 255,0,255). However this color no longer appears to be magic when using the DrawingSurface functions. Next I tried the new constant: COLOR_TRANSPARENT. In place of this I just got pure white. Finally I tried SCR_NO_VALUE, the 'default' default value for AGS. Here I just got a light blue color. Finally I just set up an if/else clause to avoid passing anything when I needed transparency.
3) AFAIK it's not possible to use escaped character constants in AGS, but for some reason it seems possible to escape the apostrophe:
char c = '\'';However it doesn't actually yield the result you might expect to find in this case:
Display("c: %d %c", c, c);Displays:
c: 92 \
This becomes even more interesting when I realized that A) this only works in (improperly) escaping the apostrophe (which always yields \ instead) and B) it's possible to escape the apostrophe multiple times within a single character constant. I find it somewhat unsettling when the following actually compiles:
char c = '\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'';Even more unsettling that it still yields keycode 92.
4) Regarding this bit of sillyness:
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Tue 13/11/2007 05:44:22Now this might be a silly question, but the DrawingSurface functions aren't really suited to (i.e., even feasible for a future version), say, creating an alpha channel are they?
I think the actual question here should be:
Would it be possible for DrawingSurface.DrawImage to support alpha channels?The way it stands now if a DrawingSurface is cleared out (DrawingSurface.Clear()) and then a sprite with an alpha channel is drawn or a sprite is drawn at partial transparency using DrawingSurface.DrawImage, the alpha channel you might expect (or at least
I might ;)) is destroyed and the pixels are merged with the pink background of the DrawingSurface. I understand that this too could lead to other issues, but it would make DrawingSurface.DrawImage function much more powerful if it supported alpha channels.
It does seem that simply getting/using the DrawingSurface functions with a sprite which already has an alpha channel works okay, you simply can't use DrawImage to merge alpha channel'd sprites with anything and maintain the channel (in 'transparent' areas of the DrawingSurface being drawn onto).
I've noticed something that seems to be a bug. It's probably been there since Lip sync was introduced (but at least since 2.72):
If Lip Sync is activated and the VoiceMode is set to VoiceOnly, talking characters don't animate (using their TalkingView).
My guess is that the speech routine replaces the to-be-displayed String with "" and thus LipSync, trying to match the frame characters to "", always returns the default frame (0).
QuoteDoes anybody else have problems with DynamicSprite.CreateFromScreenshot creating only black sprites when running the Direct3D version? I haven't had time to test with previous betas, so it might have been there since the start, but I don't remember seeing the issue before. My game is 640x480 with 32-bit color.
Hmm, I'll look into this.
QuoteHere it is.
http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/faulty.bmp
I just imported this with beta 15 and it looked fine. Can anyone else reproduce this problem?
Quote1) Should the old RawDraw- functions be considered "old-style-"/"non-object-oriented"/"non-strict" scripting? I've noticed that whether object-oriented scripting is enforced or not these functions are still available.
It's a good question. The problem is that the "enforce object based script" setting can vary in which commands are available depending on your AGS version -- this can make it quite hard for module authors to code a module that works across multiple versions.
For this reason I'm tempted to leave them for now, but I'll reconsider at a later date.
Quote2) What exactly is the default parameter for DrawingSurface.Clear? I figured it would be our old friend "magic pink", 63519 (RGB: 255,0,255). However this color no longer appears to be magic when using the DrawingSurface functions. Next I tried the new constant: COLOR_TRANSPARENT. In place of this I just got pure white. Finally I tried SCR_NO_VALUE, the 'default' default value for AGS. Here I just got a light blue color. Finally I just set up an if/else clause to avoid passing anything when I needed transparency.
Fair point, I guess COLOR_TRANSPARENT should work in this situation. I'll look into it.
Quote3) AFAIK it's not possible to use escaped character constants in AGS, but for some reason it seems possible to escape the apostrophe:
How bizarre. It's not something I'm going to investigate now because of its minor nature, but I should come back and fix it at some point.
QuoteIt does seem that simply getting/using the DrawingSurface functions with a sprite which already has an alpha channel works okay, you simply can't use DrawImage to merge alpha channel'd sprites with anything and maintain the channel (in 'transparent' areas of the DrawingSurface being drawn onto).
Can I just clarify what you're wanting to do here? Do you want DrawImage to copy across the alpha channel if you draw a source image with alpha onto a destination with alpha?
QuoteIf Lip Sync is activated and the VoiceMode is set to VoiceOnly, talking characters don't animate (using their TalkingView).
My guess is that the speech routine replaces the to-be-displayed String with "" and thus LipSync, trying to match the frame characters to "", always returns the default frame (0).
I just tried this and it seemed fine. Are you using Sierra-style speech?
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 21/11/2007 20:19:16Quote1) Should the old RawDraw- functions be considered "old-style-"/"non-object-oriented"/"non-strict" scripting? I've noticed that whether object-oriented scripting is enforced or not these functions are still available.
It's a good question. The problem is that the "enforce object based script" setting can vary in which commands are available depending on your AGS version -- this can make it quite hard for module authors to code a module that works across multiple versions.
For this reason I'm tempted to leave them for now, but I'll reconsider at a later date.
Yes but that didn't stop you trashing the GetGameParameter and RunDialog functions. := I imagine simply adding a few more imports to the BackwardsCompatible module would fix it if you do decide to enforce the DrawingSurface methods.
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 21/11/2007 20:19:16Quote2) What exactly is the default parameter for DrawingSurface.Clear? I figured it would be our old friend "magic pink", 63519 (RGB: 255,0,255). However this color no longer appears to be magic when using the DrawingSurface functions. Next I tried the new constant: COLOR_TRANSPARENT. In place of this I just got pure white. Finally I tried SCR_NO_VALUE, the 'default' default value for AGS. Here I just got a light blue color. Finally I just set up an if/else clause to avoid passing anything when I needed transparency.
Fair point, I guess COLOR_TRANSPARENT should work in this situation. I'll look into it.
Okay, thanks.
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 21/11/2007 20:19:16Quote3) AFAIK it's not possible to use escaped character constants in AGS, but for some reason it seems possible to escape the apostrophe:
How bizarre. It's not something I'm going to investigate now because of its minor nature, but I should come back and fix it at some point.
Definitely fair. I actually just came across it by being very stupid, so I doubt it actually poses a real threat. ;)
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 21/11/2007 20:19:16QuoteIt does seem that simply getting/using the DrawingSurface functions with a sprite which already has an alpha channel works okay, you simply can't use DrawImage to merge alpha channel'd sprites with anything and maintain the channel (in 'transparent' areas of the DrawingSurface being drawn onto).
Can I just clarify what you're wanting to do here? Do you want DrawImage to copy across the alpha channel if you draw a source image with alpha onto a destination with alpha?
Yes, basically I think that's what I want to do. As in the previous example, if I wanted to merge multiple sprites together into a single DynamicSprite which had been created using DynamicSprite.Create(WIDTH, HEIGHT, true) then the alpha channel wouldn't be copied onto the destination image where (it would seem IMO) appropriate. Not sure how feasible it might be and it's probably not a high-priority issue, but I would find it useful.
Once more, thanks CJ! 8)
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 21/11/2007 20:19:16
QuoteIf Lip Sync is activated and the VoiceMode is set to VoiceOnly, talking characters don't animate (using their TalkingView)
[...]
I just tried this and it seemed fine. Are you using Sierra-style speech?
No, LucasArts-style. I tested it with a game template that was made for 2.62 and has been messed around with pretty excessively, so I created a default game using 3.0B15, added a talking view to Roger using two distinctive sprites, activated Lip Sync and put "A/E/I/O/U" in the 1-field.
Everything works fine until I put "SetVoiceMode(eSpeechVoiceOnly);" in game_start.
As intended, there's no textual overlay above Roger & I can hear the samples play, yet the frame stays at #0.
If you want to take a look, here's the "game" download (http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Default.zip).
Quote from: KhrisMUC on Thu 22/11/2007 00:18:40
No, LucasArts-style.
Hi KhrisMUC,
lip sync isn't as easy as it sounds. The manual says that the voice sync feature only supports Sierra-style.
In your Default\Speech folder aren't any .PAM files. They are necessary to make the sync. You have to set up the phenomes in Pamela. Then open the wave file with Pamela and place the phenomes on the wave file. Save the pam file with the same name as the wave file. When you rebuild VOX Files, this pam file is compiled into the speech.vox and will be used to sync the animation of the talking frames during the game.
Uh? What KhrisMUC is doing is perfectly right. I tested his project file with VoiceAndText and with just Voice, and it definitely works with voice and text and definitely not with just voice. You don't need pamela to have lip syncing work in ags at all, just the built-in editor.
tristan78, I'm aware of all that.
I don't want true Pamela-lip sync but AGS's built-in character-frame-method.
Open my game, comment out the line in game_start and test it. Interact with Roger and you'll find that Roger animates fine using the two talking view frames.
That's all I want, except I want it to also work with the game set to VoiceOnly (which it doesn't).
(It's not urgent or anything and I wouldn't use VoiceOnly myself for the obvious reasons, but I thought I'd mention it.)
Edit: ProgZmax: Glad you confirmed it, I was afraid I was overlooking something obvious :)
Quote from: ProgZmax on Thu 22/11/2007 22:04:19
You don't need pamela to have lip syncing work in ags at all, just the built-in editor.
Why I allways use the Pamela lip sync, when it's much easier ???
Sorry for confusing...
KhrisMUC:
If you want pamela support for a voice-only game, you can fake it by loading the speech font into an editor and removing all the letters. Then if you set it to "text and voice" mode you can't see the text! (Be sure to use a separate font for everything else though!)
Iceman:
1. I don't want pamela support. (Read my posts.)
2. I'm aware there are workarounds. I'd set the font color to transparent though.
3. I'm not looking for a workaround; I'm reporting what seems to be a bug.
Ah ok, I didn't realise anybody was actually using the non-pamela lip sync feature. I'll look into it.
Loading up the latest 3.0 editor beta gives me:
Quote
---------------------------
Error
---------------------------
An unexpected error occurred trying to start up the AGS Editor. Please consult the details below and post the error to the AGS Technical Forum.
System.BadImageFormatException: Could not load file or assembly 'AGS.Native, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format.
File name: 'AGS.Native, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'
at AGS.Editor.NativeProxy..ctor()
at AGS.Editor.NativeProxy.get_Instance()
at AGS.Editor.ApplicationController..ctor()
at AGS.Editor.Program.startupTimer_Tick(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.OnTick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.TimerNativeW indow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callb ack(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
WRN: Assembly binding logging is turned OFF.
To enable assembly bind failure logging, set the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog] (DWORD) to 1.
Note: There is some performance penalty associated with assembly bind failure logging.
To turn this feature off, remove the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog].
2.72 runs without any trouble though. Running Vista x64 with the latest .NET Framework installed.
edit:
Some more information. When I load up the AGS beta, it shows the splashscreen for about a second before the error shows up. When I close the error window the splashscreen is still there, and nothing happens. I have to manually close the process using the task-manager, which results in the following error:
---------------------------
Application Error
---------------------------
An unexpected error occurred. See below for details.
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at AGS.Editor.Program.RunApplication(String[] args)
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
Quote from: def on Fri 23/11/2007 20:08:36
Loading up the latest 3.0 editor beta gives me:
Quote
---------------------------
Error
---------------------------
An unexpected error occurred trying to start up the AGS Editor. Please consult the details below and post the error to the AGS Technical Forum.
System.BadImageFormatException: Could not load file or assembly 'AGS.Native, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format.
File name: 'AGS.Native, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'
at AGS.Editor.NativeProxy..ctor()
at AGS.Editor.NativeProxy.get_Instance()
at AGS.Editor.ApplicationController..ctor()
at AGS.Editor.Program.startupTimer_Tick(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.OnTick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.TimerNativeW indow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callb ack(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
WRN: Assembly binding logging is turned OFF.
To enable assembly bind failure logging, set the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog] (DWORD) to 1.
Note: There is some performance penalty associated with assembly bind failure logging.
To turn this feature off, remove the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog].
2.72 runs without any trouble though. Running Vista x64 with the latest .NET Framework installed.
It looks to me like it can't find AGS.Native.dll. Try re-extracting AGS, and make sure you get all the files. ;)
I've done some research on this and it looks like the AGS Editor might not work on 64-bit Windows at the moment. Is anyone else using a 64-bit version of Windows and managed to run it successfully?
I'll look into it and see if I can fix it for the next beta.
Quote from: VK Dan on Sun 25/11/2007 00:49:58
It looks to me like it can't find AGS.Native.dll. Try re-extracting AGS, and make sure you get all the files. ;)
All files are there, so I guess it's what Chris said. Thanks for looking into it Chris.
I got this weird crash when clicking near the edge of the screen:
(http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/2061/agscrasheu5.png)
I've just imported a walkbehind mask and moved the room's edges, though I dunno if that's relevant.
EDIT: the bug appears when clicking randomly.
after adding more character animation frames (there were a few missing), the bug doesn't seem to occur anymore. I think it might have something to do with animations.
Quote from: Electroshokker link=topic=31519.msg427453#msg427453after adding more character animation frames (there were a few missing), the bug doesn't seem to occur anymore. I think it might have something to do with animations.
How do you mean? Were there whole loops missing, or did you just randomly add a couple of walking frames?
Def, could you see if RC 1 works on your 64-bit system?
Again, when using 800x600: When working on views, clicking on "create new frame" in any loop causes the whole view panel to snap back so that is displays the first loop. That means that, when editing anything from loop 3 on, you "lose focus" and have to scroll down to that loop.
Bug: In save game screenshots, characters/GUI/Objects do not show up; only the room background. I use the standard method to save those shots (as described in the manual).
IMPORTANT:
If you provide ony the first frame in walking loops, the character doesn't move! This should be altered.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 25/11/2007 17:55:17
Def, could you see if RC 1 works on your 64-bit system?
It works. It starts up at least, havn't had time to test it fully but I guess it should be ok. Thanks for the quick fix Chris!
QuoteAnd, depending on the image, this effect can range from minor banding in dark areas to fairly extreme banding in images with low contrast. Overall, it's something I'd rather avoid.
Save your images as 16 bit then, Fish! :D
AGS 3 is looking great so far, Chris. Just needs that old view move into/out of folders and folder deletion chestnut and I'm sold!
Perhaps now I will invest some effort into an alternate dialog editor, or is that something you plan to revamp yourself in the future? I'd need to know if certain things I have planned are even possible within the editor/engine constraints first, at any rate.
I've run into a strange problem that I've been trying to troubleshoot, and although it behaves a bit inconsistently, I've narrowed it down to this:
I'm using a GUI as an effect overlay (for rain etc.), and while converting some of my old functions to use the new DrawingSurface routines, I tried applying a DynamicSprite as the GUI background in the repeatedly_execute_always. This works fine, until I bring up other (tried normal as well as pop-up mode) GUIs on the screen. For some reason, this freezes the animating overlay, BUT whenever the newly opened GUI updates in some way (mouseover buttons, updating label text), my animating GUI background is also allowed to update for one frame.
As far as I can tell, the problem is that while the other GUIs are visible the GUI.BackgroundGraphic isn't actually updated, possibly due to some kind of engine optimization, because I pass the same DynamicSprite.Graphic to it every frame. If I pass a random sprite number instead, it updates correctly.
To rule a couple of other things out: The DynamicSprite IS being redrawn every frame, I've confirmed this by RawDrawing the same sprite to the screen within the same function for debug purposes, and the function IS running every frame, since the background RawDrawing updates correctly no matter what GUIs are open (and even if the game is paused).
Edit: I just tested that this is independent of whether the DirectX or Direct3D engine is used.
Edit 2: Blocking events such as Say also freezes the animating GUI.
Edit 3: I found a workaround. Now I'm forcing the GUI to update by changing GUI.BackgroundGraphic to 0 before resetting it to the DynamicSprite.Graphic.
(Sorry for double posting, but this is another bug (in the editor) totally unrelated to the above, and I didn't want to confuse things)
A minor issue, but if you create custom cursor modes, their events in the room editor's Object Event pane will refer to "hotspots" instead of "objects".
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 25/11/2007 17:55:17
Quote from: Electroshokker link=topic=31519.msg427453#msg427453after adding more character animation frames (there were a few missing), the bug doesn't seem to occur anymore. I think it might have something to do with animations.
How do you mean? Were there whole loops missing, or did you just randomly add a couple of walking frames?
I had an empty loop and others with only one frame.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 18:24:35
* Editor plugin API new event BeforeShowContextMenu on the ProjectTree to allow you to intercept context menus and add extra items to them (you must create any extra items using GUIController.CreateMenuCommand method)
I can't seem to get that right. I added an event handler for BeforeShowContextMenu that tries to add a menu with: _editor.GUIController.CreateMenuCommand(evArgs.Component, CONTROL_ID_CONTEXT_MENU_OPTION, "Simple edit");
Which does... nothing. I also tried using AddMenu but that just ends up adding an option to the Editor's main menu. Clearly I'm clueless. :P
And since we've reached RC stage, I think it's time I get picky. The new AGS Editor icon looks awful on my desktop. The old one went up to 48x48px. The new one doesn't. It makes me sad. Why, Chris, why?!? :(
try this:
MenuCommand mc = _editor.GUIController.CreateMenuCommand(evArgs.Component, CONTROL_ID_CONTEXT_MENU_OPTION, "Simple edit");
evArgs.MenuCommands.Commands.Add(mc);
QuoteAgain, when using 800x600: When working on views, clicking on "create new frame" in any loop causes the whole view panel to snap back so that is displays the first loop. That means that, when editing anything from loop 3 on, you "lose focus" and have to scroll down to that loop.
Ah, this seems to happen when the focus moves from one loop to another. I'll look into it.
QuoteBug: In save game screenshots, characters/GUI/Objects do not show up; only the room background. I use the standard method to save those shots (as described in the manual).
Are you using DX5 or D3D driver? Does the problem happen with the other driver?
QuoteIf you provide ony the first frame in walking loops, the character doesn't move! This should be altered.
I think this might be design, I'll check into it.
QuoteIt works. It starts up at least, havn't had time to test it fully but I guess it should be ok. Thanks for the quick fix Chris!
Glad to hear it!
Quote
Perhaps now I will invest some effort into an alternate dialog editor, or is that something you plan to revamp yourself in the future? I'd need to know if certain things I have planned are even possible within the editor/engine constraints first, at any rate.
I'm still not sure what to do with the dialog editor. It is on my re-vamp list but I've no firm plans for it at the moment.
QuoteAs far as I can tell, the problem is that while the other GUIs are visible the GUI.BackgroundGraphic isn't actually updated, possibly due to some kind of engine optimization, because I pass the same DynamicSprite.Graphic to it every frame. If I pass a random sprite number instead, it updates correctly.
This sounds plausible, if you change the image in the dynamic sprite it might well not refresh the GUI... there are probably other similar issues with using dynamic sprites in various places and then changing their content. Anyway, I'll get this one fixed.
QuoteA minor issue, but if you create custom cursor modes, their events in the room editor's Object Event pane will refer to "hotspots" instead of "objects".
I'll look into it.
QuoteI had an empty loop and others with only one frame.
Thanks, I'll see if I can reproduce it.
Quote
can't seem to get that right. I added an event handler for BeforeShowContextMenu that tries to add a menu with: _editor.GUIController.CreateMenuCommand(evArgs.Component, CONTROL_ID_CONTEXT_MENU_OPTION, "Simple edit");
Which does... nothing.
You need to create the command with CreateMenuCommand, but then add it to the Commands collection in the EventArgs, as smiley has demonstrated.
Quotetry this:
MenuCommand mc = _editor.GUIController.CreateMenuCommand(evArgs.Component, CONTROL_ID_CONTEXT_MENU_OPTION, "Simple edit");
evArgs.MenuCommands.Commands.Add(mc);
Be careful here! The component that you supply to CreateMenuCommand will be the component that gets notified when the command is clicked. Thus, for adding your own commands you need to pass your component rather than the one that created the menu.
So the code you might want could be this:
MenuCommand mc = _editor.GUIController.CreateMenuCommand(this, CONTROL_ID_CONTEXT_MENU_OPTION, "Simple edit");
evArgs.MenuCommands.Commands.Add(mc);depending on which class that code is in.
QuoteAnd since we've reached RC stage, I think it's time I get picky. The new AGS Editor icon looks awful on my desktop. The old one went up to 48x48px. The new one doesn't. It makes me sad. Why, Chris, why?!?
Hehe, I'll look into this one!!
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 26/11/2007 23:02:37This sounds plausible, if you change the image in the dynamic sprite it might well not refresh the GUI... there are probably other similar issues with using dynamic sprites in various places and then changing their content. Anyway, I'll get this one fixed.
Thanks, as I said in my edit above, I found the workaround of resetting the GUI.BackgroundGraphic to 0 before setting it to the DynamicSprite.Graphic, and that seems to do the trick, but this behaviour was a bit surprising. Though it's cool to discover that the GUIs are optimized not to update unless any value changes.
A minor thing, which I'm sure nothing can be done about: DynamicSprite.CreateFromScreenshot is horribly slow in windowed mode under the Direct3D drivers. Full screen is not a problem at all, though slightly more sluggish than DirectX mode. But in windowed mode it takes a second and half to open my savegame menu just because it's grabbing a 80x60 thumbnail screenshot.
Edit: The framerate drops by 5-10 fps when I run Direct3D in windowed mode anyway, so maybe it's just my graphics card.
QuoteI'm still not sure what to do with the dialog editor. It is on my re-vamp list but I've no firm plans for it at the moment.
To my mind, the best way of handling it would just be to have each dialog topic call a new script with the same functionality as, say, a room script. That way you could call any of the say commands to handle dialog and do more complex things if you like without ever calling run script (walk, change room, etc). The scripts would still need to handle return/stop/and goto in some form (it could auto generate a return at the end so as not to break anything I guess?) so I'm not sure how feasible it would be, since to make it all work together the script-only options would probably need to be made into function calls like ddialog.return, ddialog.stop and so on. The added bonus here, though, would be not having to relay between your global script and the dialog script (dialog_request would be obsolete).
Oh man there are so many ways to improve the dialog editor. It would be beneficial to start a suggestion thread for the dialog editor at some stage. Your priority list might be extremely flooded right now Chris but I do believe at some point we should all discuss our options for it as a community.
Cheers,
Paul.
Quote from: GarageGothic on Mon 26/11/2007 23:54:01I found the workaround of resetting the GUI.BackgroundGraphic to 0 before setting it to the DynamicSprite.Graphic, and that seems to do the trick, but this behaviour was a bit surprising. Though it's cool to discover that the GUIs are optimized not to update unless any value changes.
Aha! I think I have encountered exactly the same error while working on Beta 3 of my Flashlight module (already released). The way I got around it was by completely destroying the dynamic sprite altogether before rebuilding it and setting the GUI's background to the DynamicSprite.Graphic property. It took me a while to figure out how to get it to start updating properly. :=
Edit: Actually I also set the background graphic to 0 as well. So I deleted the sprite and set the GUI's background to 0. Yes...that made it update. :)
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Wed 21/11/2007 22:16:38As in the previous example, if I wanted to merge multiple sprites together into a single DynamicSprite which had been created using DynamicSprite.Create(WIDTH, HEIGHT, true) then the alpha channel wouldn't be copied onto the destination image where (it would seem IMO) appropriate.
Actually I've just worked around this by using DynamicSprite.ChangeCanvasSize and then drawing the additional items onto the sprite where applicable instead of drawing everything onto a new sprite.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 26/11/2007 23:02:37
Are you using DX5 or D3D driver? Does the problem happen with the other driver?
The problem I described happens when using the default DirectDraw5 drivers.
Using Direct3D9 seems to save the GUI at least, but the image's totally screwed (mismatched colours, striped running across screenshot).
Other than that I can report no other issues (apart from those already adressed); RC1 runs smooth and stable on my PC.
QuoteA minor thing, which I'm sure nothing can be done about: DynamicSprite.CreateFromScreenshot is horribly slow in windowed mode under the Direct3D drivers. Full screen is not a problem at all, though slightly more sluggish than DirectX mode. But in windowed mode it takes a second and half to open my savegame menu just because it's grabbing a 80x60 thumbnail screenshot.
This is a "feature" of Direct 3D. Basically, 3D hardware is designed to be very fast for copying data from main memory into the video memory, but is very slow at copying it back. With windowed mode the effect is worse because what actually happens is that it takes a screenshot of your entire desktop (eg. at 1280x1024 resolution) and then trims it down to the size of the game window -- thus the reason why it's slower in windowed mode than full screen.
QuoteTo my mind, the best way of handling it would just be to have each dialog topic call a new script with the same functionality as, say, a room script.
One potential approach would be some sort of Dialog.DisplayOptions command that would allow the player to select an option, and then return which one was clicked, thus making it easier to implemnet custom dialog scripts.
But, any changes here will not be in 3.0 so could we please leave them for another day.
QuoteThe problem I described happens when using the default DirectDraw5 drivers.
Using Direct3D9 seems to save the GUI at least, but the image's totally screwed (mismatched colours, striped running across screenshot).
I'll look into this.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 26/11/2007 23:02:37
Quote
can't seem to get that right. I added an event handler for BeforeShowContextMenu that tries to add a menu with: _editor.GUIController.CreateMenuCommand(evArgs.Component, CONTROL_ID_CONTEXT_MENU_OPTION, "Simple edit");
Which does... nothing.
You need to create the command with CreateMenuCommand, but then add it to the Commands collection in the EventArgs, as smiley has demonstrated.
Quotetry this:
MenuCommand mc = _editor.GUIController.CreateMenuCommand(evArgs.Component, CONTROL_ID_CONTEXT_MENU_OPTION, "Simple edit");
evArgs.MenuCommands.Commands.Add(mc);
Be careful here! The component that you supply to CreateMenuCommand will be the component that gets notified when the command is clicked. Thus, for adding your own commands you need to pass your component rather than the one that created the menu.
So the code you might want could be this:
MenuCommand mc = _editor.GUIController.CreateMenuCommand(this, CONTROL_ID_CONTEXT_MENU_OPTION, "Simple edit");
evArgs.MenuCommands.Commands.Add(mc);
depending on which class that code is in.
Thanks. :)
Some other issues with the plugin API:
- Room scripts don't seem to be reachable through the Scripts class. Doing something like "_editor.CurrentGame.Scripts.GetScriptByFilename("room1.asc")" will bring up an exception.
- Games saved with plugins will bring up warnings if those plugins aren't found, even if said plugins don't save any custom data.
Quote from: SupSuper on Wed 28/11/2007 15:45:58
Some other issues with the plugin API:
- Room scripts don't seem to be reachable through the Scripts class. Doing something like "_editor.CurrentGame.Scripts.GetScriptByFilename("room1.asc")" will bring up an exception.
- Games saved with plugins will bring up warnings if those plugins aren't found, even if said plugins don't save any custom data.
The CurrentGame.Scripts collection holds game-wide scripts. Room specific scripts are held within the room itself, but I don't think these are exposed on the plugin API. I'll look into it.
I think you should know that the items in the list pane such as general settings, colors have different names in their tab text. General Settings turns to Game Settings and Colors turns to Palette. Even Sprites turns to Sprite Manager. Is this technically and aesthetically correct, CJ or should it be refined?
Cheers,
Paul.
I have a problem with gui transparency: even if i change the value (i check using a display command), it is always shown completely visible; i tried with RC1 and beta 14
In the View editor I created a new folder, in that folder I created a new view. In the view pane I checked the "show preview" box and got the following error message. The AGS editor continues running however.
Quote
Error: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
Version: AGS 3.0.0.16
System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. ---> AGS.Types.InvalidDataException: Invalid script name; name must only include letters, numbers and underscores
at AGS.Types.Utilities.ValidateScriptName(String name, Int32 truncateToLength)
at AGS.Types.View.set_Name(String value)
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at System.RuntimeMethodHandle._InvokeMethodFast(Object target, Object[] arguments, SignatureStruct& sig, MethodAttributes methodAttributes, RuntimeTypeHandle typeOwner)
at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethodFast(Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, MethodAttributes methodAttributes, RuntimeTypeHandle typeOwner)
at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks)
at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture)
at System.Reflection.RuntimePropertyInfo.SetValue(Object obj, Object value, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] index, CultureInfo culture)
at System.Reflection.RuntimePropertyInfo.SetValue(Object obj, Object value, Object[] index)
at AGS.Editor.ProjectTree.projectTree_AfterLabelEdit(Object sender, NodeLabelEditEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.OnAfterLabelEdit(NodeLabelEditEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.TvnEndLabelEdit(NMTVDISPINFO nmtvdi)
at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.WmNotify(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
Btw, does anyone think else think that single clicking on the navigation tree would be more convenient than double clicking? I know it's a bit late and that perhaps it's already been discussed, I appologize in advance if this is the case.
[edit-1]
Quote
Unable to register for Vista Game Explorer: Unable to replace resource: BeginUpdateResource failed
I also get this error when doing a "Build All" under Win2000.
Also where is the .AGS file or how do I build it? Has it been obsoleted in this version?
[edit-2]
Now another error - previously I did a "Build Exe" that crashed because of not enough disk space. There was an error listing but I did not post it here because it was my fault I ran out of disk space and everything seemed to be alright. And so I did the stuf in Edit-1 above.
Next I tried to test doing a "Run" command from the menu. I said that AniTest.exe was already in use. So I exited the editor and tried running the game AniTest.exe from file explorer. Afain the same message. I started the AGS editor again but was unable to load the game getting this error:
Quote
! An error occured whilst trying to load your game. The error was: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
If you cannot resolve the error , please post ....
{list of function calls relating to bitmaps, sprites, and sprite manager}
{can't cut and paste from message box }
I think the disk space crashed somehow wiped out the only object's sprite.
Quote from: khnum on Thu 29/11/2007 17:08:36
I have a problem with gui transparency: even if i change the value (i check using a display command), it is always shown completely visible; i tried with RC1 and beta 14
Is your game set to 256 colors?
QuoteNOTE: Transparency currently only works in hi-color games.
(Maybe I should add that it works fine for me and always has.)
QuoteBtw, does anyone think else think that single clicking on the navigation tree would be more convenient than double clicking?
I agree entirely however I believe a single click action should only apply to non expandable list items. If a single click could activate the expandable item then theres no point in being able to click the + in the first place.
I believe AGS also needs the ability to:
- Sprite preview on double click. (Shows full sized sprite at 100% scale)
- Ability to move sprites into folders.
- Better sprite management with import character tool.
Cheers,
Paul.
I'm positive that I brought up the idea of single-click navigation through the tree views way back in one of the early betas, CJ, and I believe your concern at that time was difficulties with updating the currently selected tab (and saving the changes made in between). I think it would be a great idea, however, and would cut down on the need to open up several tabs just to make a slight change here and there! Alternatively, this functionality could be added as an option in preferences?
QuoteI think you should know that the items in the list pane such as general settings, colors have different names in their tab text. General Settings turns to Game Settings and Colors turns to Palette. Even Sprites turns to Sprite Manager. Is this technically and aesthetically correct, CJ or should it be refined?
Whilst I'd normally say that this is too minor to both with, I can somehow forsee it getting posted as a bug once a month unless I change it, so I'll do so! ;)
QuoteI have a problem with gui transparency: even if i change the value (i check using a display command), it is always shown completely visible; i tried with RC1 and beta 14
As KhrisMUC asks, what colour depth is your game?
QuoteIn the View editor I created a new folder, in that folder I created a new view. In the view pane I checked the "show preview" box and got the following error message. The AGS editor continues running however.
Thanks, I'll get this fixed.
QuoteBtw, does anyone think else think that single clicking on the navigation tree would be more convenient than double clicking? I know it's a bit late and that perhaps it's already been discussed, I appologize in advance if this is the case.
As Progz says this has been suggested before, it's a reasonable suggestion but not something I'll do for the initial release of 3.0.
QuoteUnable to register for Vista Game Explorer: Unable to replace resource: BeginUpdateResource failed
I also get this error when doing a "Build All" under Win2000.
Hmm that's strange, has anyone else had this error? The only time I've seen this reported was under WINE, which didn't support the BeingUpdateResource method.
QuoteAlso where is the .AGS file or how do I build it? Has it been obsoleted in this version?
There is no longer a .AGS file; the EXE is built directly. It was basically an intermediate compilation file in 2.72.
QuoteI think the disk space crashed somehow wiped out the only object's sprite.
That's possible. If it runs out of disk space whilst writing the sprite file, it's perfectly possible that the file could get corrupted and you'd lose your sprites.
Hey, Chris sorry to bother with rather stupid request and such.. but ok tilll now what troubles me are the following
1)You can't use File commands to delete a file. Though somehow AGS can delete files(savegames)...
2)File commands work only if the file is in the compiled folder. If you put the file in a folder into the compiled it can;t be opened..
3)PlayVideo function works this way
PlayVideo("Compiled\Data.wmv",1,1);
when there is no music.vox
But then you have to change the line and put all the files in the main game folder thous creating one great mess..
Quote1)You can't use File commands to delete a file. Though somehow AGS can delete files(savegames)...
2)File commands work only if the file is in the compiled folder. If you put the file in a folder into the compiled it can;t be opened..
These are deliberate choices, to increase security and to give game players confidence that the game can't damage their computer by randomly deleting or accessing their files.
However, it would be reasonable to allow you to delete files from the game folder, if that would be useful.
Quote
3)PlayVideo function works this way
PlayVideo("Compiled\Data.wmv",1,1);
Not sure what you mean here. Why are you putting "Compiled\" into your file name?
Quote
As KhrisMUC asks, what colour depth is your game?
I'm using 32-bit, i know it doesn't work using 256 colors
Quote
Quote
Also where is the .AGS file or how do I build it? Has it been obsoleted in this version?
There is no longer a .AGS file; the EXE is built directly. It was basically an intermediate compilation file in 2.72.
The reason I ask is that games that make use of RunAGSGame() to call mini games can reduce the size the their distribution by ditributing .ags files for the mini-games rather than the exe files. I suppose that I could buy the argument that it's not enough of a problem enough of the time to be concerned about it, especially in modern times where a few hundred KB is hardly worth mentioning. :)
The one bright spot is that the MiniGame module won't have to check for it any more and the documentation won't have to explain what it is. More bytes, less confusion; it's a fair trade-off I suppose. :D
Quote from: Pumaman on Fri 30/11/2007 21:26:23However, it would be reasonable to allow you to delete files from the game folder, if that would be useful.
The ability to delete files within the game's compiled folder would be great. Presumably such a function would reject anything with extensions such as EXE, VOX, DLL, CRM, etc. which are clearly
game-essential files.
Also, this isn't really the place for feature requests (especially now that this has finally gotten to the long-awaited RC stage), but while we're on the topic of AGS's file manipulation functions, would it be possible to implement a function for
prepending to a file (appending to the beginning of a file)? The only alternative now is to manually rewrite the entire file which is slow because it has to be read out one and written back one char at a time (actually I'm not sure but ReadRawLineBack may work as well, though for longer files it would still be slow).
Quote from: khnum on Fri 30/11/2007 22:29:40I'm using 32-bit, i know it doesn't work using 256 colors
It works fine for me in most cases. One thing to note is that transparency does not work with alpha-channeled sprites so if your GUI background has an alpha channel (for whatever reason) (or possibly even if any Buttons have an alpha channel) then transparency will not work.
The reason I said 'most cases' is that specifically when working with my Flashlight module, while switching back and forth between alpha channeled and non-alpha sprites I've encountered some strange behaviour, but it's likely not a related issue.
QuoteOne thing to note is that transparency does not work with alpha-channeled sprites so if your GUI background has an alpha channel
Oh, that's why it didn't worked :-\
Quote from: Pumaman on Fri 30/11/2007 21:26:23
Quote1)You can't use File commands to delete a file. Though somehow AGS can delete files(savegames)...
2)File commands work only if the file is in the compiled folder. If you put the file in a folder into the compiled it can;t be opened..
These are deliberate choices, to increase security and to give game players confidence that the game can't damage their computer by randomly deleting or accessing their files.
However, it would be reasonable to allow you to delete files from the game folder, if that would be useful.
Quote
3)PlayVideo function works this way
PlayVideo("Data\myvideo.wmv",1,1);
Not sure what you mean here. Why are you putting "Compiled\" into your file name?
The file is at g:/documents and settings/jimmy/desktop/compiled/data/myvideo.wmv
I wrote the code wrong by accident.
PlayVideo("Data/myvideo.wmv",1,1);
that should be correct.
I'm not sure if it's been suggested or not, but it would be nice if the there was an option to sort the sprites in the editor by number. If they get out of order, it's a pain to try to put them back to how they were. Also, (although this may be too much work) it would nice to sort them by loop, since adding sprites later gives totally different numbers.
Finally, it would be nice if the sprite numbers to start over in each folder and sub-folder.
Quote from: Elessar on Sat 01/12/2007 22:41:06Finally, it would be nice if the sprite numbers to start over in each folder and sub-folder.
Um, and how exactly would you refer to a sprite in script if they didn't have unique numbers?
Quote
Finally, it would be nice if the sprite numbers to start over in each folder and sub-folder.
Quote
Um, and how exactly would you refer to a sprite in script if they didn't have unique numbers?
Elessar is going down the path towards sprites having enum values.
It would be nice to be able to renumber sprites. I know AGS is reliant on static numbers but this could change could it not?
Cheers,
Paul.
subspark, it's already possible to change sprite numbers in the editor (since AGS v2.56 as I see):
Sprite Manager :: Right click over a sprite :: Change sprite number...
It should of course be used with care.
Whoops. My bad. I must have bee mistaking it for views. Never mind then. ;D
Paul.
Theres a problem with the view preview.
The animation preview doesn't take delay into account when playing delayed frames. It treats the delay as zero.
Would it be possible for a future version of AGS to support built in transition views?
I noticed that the walking views MUST have one of the idle (standing) sprites in frame 1 for the animation to work properly in-game. To be honest, this seems a little 'backwards' and should work rather like the following:
Views:
Idle: stationary and/or blinking character
Walking: walking frames only
Transition: frames that are called in sequence before walk views are played. (smooths out transition from standing still to first walking frame)
Does this make sense to anyone, or am I myself confused?
Maybe this sort of thing is better for the end user to do, I don't know. As long as it's easy and logical for artists like me.
EDIT: I think the name 'NormalView' in the character pane is inaccurate. It should be 'WalkingView'.
Also why don't any of the other default character views show up in the main window for an animation preview?
Cheers,
Paul.
Okay, sorry if this is a noobish question, but what does RC stand for?
Also, does this still count as a beta? I've got a game I want to work on with the new AGS 3.0, but I don't want to risk having it wiped out because of an unknown bug. (With my luck, it'll be something no one has ever encountered before.) Besides, I've been working on this game for a long time.
Thanks in advance!
[EDIT] Ah, never mind. When I opened the editor, it said "release candidate", which I take to mean this is still in beta. Ok, no need to answer this. :P
Would it be a fuss to configure AGS to open your default drawing tool(GIMP for example,or MS paint etc...)or choosing it in the setting area while creating a new frame ,room and so forth.
This is good for integration without limiting creativity and not adding extra code to make an AGS drawing tool.
Can you elaborate? What action would launch your preferred drawing app?
QuoteIf you provide ony the first frame in walking loops, the character doesn't move! This should be altered.
I can't replicate this. Does anyone else have this problem?
QuoteAlso, this isn't really the place for feature requests (especially now that this has finally gotten to the long-awaited RC stage), but while we're on the topic of AGS's file manipulation functions, would it be possible to implement a function for prepending to a file
This isn't a standard file I/O function, and AGS would internally have to copy the file across anyway. It sounds like rather a specialized request to be in the engine.
QuoteThe file is at g:/documents and settings/jimmy/desktop/compiled/data/myvideo.wmv
I wrote the code wrong by accident.
PlayVideo("Data/myvideo.wmv",1,1);
that should be correct.
Ok, so what's the problem?
QuoteI'm not sure if it's been suggested or not, but it would be nice if the there was an option to sort the sprites in the editor by number. If they get out of order, it's a pain to try to put them back to how they were. Also, (although this may be too much work) it would nice to sort them by loop, since adding sprites later gives totally different numbers.
I'm not really sure what the point of this would be. The sprite numbers don't really mean anything, so what would be the benefit of having them in number order?
QuoteTheres a problem with the view preview.
The animation preview doesn't take delay into account when playing delayed frames. It treats the delay as zero.
Well spotted thanks, I'll fix it.
QuoteWould it be possible for a future version of AGS to support built in transition views?
That's really a completely separate feature request, please post a new thread if you're serious about it.
Quote
I noticed that the walking views MUST have one of the idle (standing) sprites in frame 1 for the animation to work properly in-game. To be honest, this seems a little 'backwards' and should work rather like the following:
There is some merit in your suggestion, but I don't think it's worth changing such a fundamental part of the way AGS works and confusing everyone, for no real gain.
QuoteWould it be a fuss to configure AGS to open your default drawing tool(GIMP for example,or MS paint etc...)or choosing it in the setting area while creating a new frame ,room and so forth.
Before the final release I am planning to add a feature whereby you can double-click a sprite in the sprite manager and it will open up in your default paint program.
"Before the final release I am planning to add a feature whereby you can double-click a sprite in the sprite manager and it will open up in your default paint program.
"
Thanks :)
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 03/12/2007 22:45:55
QuoteI'm not sure if it's been suggested or not, but it would be nice if the there was an option to sort the sprites in the editor by number. If they get out of order, it's a pain to try to put them back to how they were. Also, (although this may be too much work) it would nice to sort them by loop, since adding sprites later gives totally different numbers.
I'm not really sure what the point of this would be. The sprite numbers don't really mean anything, so what would be the benefit of having them in number order?
When selecting sprites to put into a loop, sometimes I accidentally move one or more sprites out of place. When the sprites all look similar, it's hard to find out which one goes where. Thus, it would be nice to be able to sort by number, which would put everything back into the proper order. Also, since new sprites will get assigned the first available number, there can be huge jumps because of deleted sprites. So to make the sorting practical, it would help if the numbers started over in each folder.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 03/12/2007 22:45:55QuoteAlso, this isn't really the place for feature requests (especially now that this has finally gotten to the long-awaited RC stage), but while we're on the topic of AGS's file manipulation functions, would it be possible to implement a function for prepending to a file
This isn't a standard file I/O function, and AGS would internally have to copy the file across anyway. It sounds like rather a specialized request to be in the engine.
I was thinking along the lines of C++'s seekp function which allows you to move the "put" pointer. You could use
out.seekp(0) to set the pointer to the beginning of the file before writing, thus creating a "prepend" effect.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 03/12/2007 22:45:55Before the final release I am planning to add a feature whereby you can double-click a sprite in the sprite manager and it will open up in your default paint program.
Could you also include an option in preferences to override the OS default setting?
QuoteWhen selecting sprites to put into a loop, sometimes I accidentally move one or more sprites out of place. When the sprites all look similar, it's hard to find out which one goes where. Thus, it would be nice to be able to sort by number, which would put everything back into the proper order. Also, since new sprites will get assigned the first available number, there can be huge jumps because of deleted sprites. So to make the sorting practical, it would help if the numbers started over in each folder.
How about a plugin that works similar to the audio plugin, in that you can rename all the sprites in the manager and re-order them? Internally they would still be numbered (just as they are for the audio manager) but externally you could call them Bill_Walkleft_1, Bill_Walkleft_2, etc. :).
It's an interesting idea, but I thought AGS stores all sprites internally?
Paul.
QuoteSo to make the sorting practical, it would help if the numbers started over in each folder.
And if you referred to sprite 14 on script, how would the game know which folder you're talking about?
Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires on Tue 04/12/2007 23:23:05And if you referred to sprite 14 on script, how would the game know which folder you're talking about?
Game.SpriteFolders[FOLDER_ID].Sprites[14] ;)
And then we can have:
Game.SpriteFolders[FOLDER_ID].Sprites[14].Width
Game.SpriteFolders[FOLDER_ID].Sprites[14].Height
Game.SpriteFolders[FOLDER_ID].Sprites[14].ColorDepth
Game.SpriteFolders[FOLDER_ID].Sprites[14].GetDrawingSurface :o
Actually I prefer keeping the sprites mostly the way they are, though some sort of naming convention would be nice (and welcome). :=
And within the IDE, such as specifying images for GUIs and objects? We see the sprite manager but that's only for our ease of use, AGS still just uses the number.
Well, it's a bit difficult to explain, but i'm having troubles with RC1: every time i import a new sprite, it is immediatly replaced by my sprite 0 :-\
anyway, until today (still with RC1), everything worked (in fact i have imported up to 53 sprites)
I tried replacing my sprite 0 with another image, but it returns to its previous state
and ags doesn't let me remove it, saying it is used in a loto of place, as different gui backgrounds, while i only use it in a view for a character :'(
Why do you need to remove sprite 0?
Any attempt to remove sprite 0 or change its appearance would result in a permanent ban from this community! :=
Spoiler
Ah well, using the empty game template doesn't provide our almighty mascot in slot 0 :'(, but we may say it's a 1-pixel cup...
Quote from: SSH on Wed 05/12/2007 10:51:11
Why do you need to remove sprite 0?
I don't need to remove it, but since every sprite I import get replaced by the image stored in sprite 0, i thought maybe removing it could solve the problem, but i can't
If I have recently been editing two different copies of the same game, I can't tell which is which at AGS startup:
(http://ssh.me.uk/img/agsstartup.png)
See: there are two walkcycle generators, and I can't tell which is which... can we make that dialog resizable or scrollable or something?
Sorry, but I didn't really have time to check the new editor at the moment.
Where did the exact palette import for 8-bit backgrounds go? Did I overlook something?
Minor bug - can't see it reported anywhere, but apologies if I missed it.
The Object Y coord as reported in the Editor is wrong. The 'StartY' property seems to be the top edge of the sprite, while the Object.X script property and Object.SetPosition both still use the bottom.
Quotesometimes I accidentally move one or more sprites out of place. When the sprites all look similar, it's hard to find out which one goes where. Thus, it would be nice to be able to sort by number, which would put everything back into the proper order
This would be reasonable to implement, but I'm not sure if anyone else would find it useful?
QuoteAlso, since new sprites will get assigned the first available number, there can be huge jumps because of deleted sprites. So to make the sorting practical, it would help if the numbers started over in each folder.
This is not possible, as others have pointed out if you had a line in the script like:
object.Graphic = 46;
there'd be no way to distingiush between which folder you wanted to grab sprite 46 from.
QuoteCould you also include an option in preferences to override the OS default setting?
Certainly.
QuoteWell, it's a bit difficult to explain, but i'm having troubles with RC1: every time i import a new sprite, it is immediatly replaced by my sprite 0
Ok, why don't you tell us exactly what you did -- which menu options you chose, in what order, and what happened at each stage.
QuoteSee: there are two walkcycle generators, and I can't tell which is which... can we make that dialog resizable or scrollable or something?
Hah, I'll look into it.
QuoteWhere did the exact palette import for 8-bit backgrounds go? Did I overlook something?
Due to the very small number of people using 8-bit these days, not all of its features have been ported across. If it's something you really need I can look into re-adding it.
QuoteThe Object Y coord as reported in the Editor is wrong. The 'StartY' property seems to be the top edge of the sprite, while the Object.X script property and Object.SetPosition both still use the bottom.
Hmm yeah, this has always been the case in the editor. It's probably about time to bring it in line with the script.
oh my! 8 bit going the way of the dodo, but it's only 2007! I personally would enjoy further 8 bit support... I'm sorry for not reading the entire thread but are there other 8 bit specific features that haven't made their way across the 3.0 divide?
QuoteThis would be reasonable to implement, but I'm not sure if anyone else would find it useful?
If you can manage to allow AGS to reorder sprites both in the sprite editor and to update any slots in the pane editor (excluding assigned slots in scripts) then I would find this very useful.
Too many times have I gotten things out of order as those big numbers below my sprites can be very confusing sometimes. :'(
Cheers,
Paul.
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 05/12/2007 19:40:58
QuoteWhere did the exact palette import for 8-bit backgrounds go? Did I overlook something?
Due to the very small number of people using 8-bit these days, not all of its features have been ported across. If it's something you really need I can look into re-adding it.
Yes, it's of utmost importance to me,
but since I don't have time to play around at the moment, unless someone else really need it I think it's not very urgent. (Moreover, I'm still using the V2.6 branch actually.)
Quote from: MrColossal on Wed 05/12/2007 21:32:58
I'm sorry for not reading the entire thread but are there other 8 bit specific features that haven't made their way across the 3.0 divide?
Well, at least I'll say the current lack of immediate slider control in the palette tab makes it very difficult to tweak the palette in 8-bit. Instead of just clicking on a colour and move the sliders you hav eto popup the colour picker on the right, which is very inconvenient as I always accidentally choose a pre-defined colour but there's no undo feature, that makes me very difficult to find out what the original colour was.
Can AGS import palettes from say, Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro?
Paul.
Yes, but it's still inconvenient to tweak individual entries.
Oh I get you. Yeah that does sound like a rather tedious process.
Perhaps Chris will still re-add the 8 bit palette support for the minority?
Paul.
Quote
Also, since new sprites will get assigned the first available number, there can be huge jumps because of deleted sprites. So to make the sorting practical, it would help if the numbers started over in each folder.
Quote
This is not possible, as others have pointed out if you had a line in the script like:
object.Graphic = 46;
there'd be no way to distingiush between which folder you wanted to grab sprite 46 from
There have been discussions about similar features to achieve these same results before. Personally I liked the idea of associating sprite numbers with enums possibly generated from the file name the sprite was imported from. Anyway. I think it's a little late for anything like that to make it in this verson. Maybe next time.
Hmmm I'll suggest, that rather to make it as confusing as starting over in a folder, maybe we can add a option (can be unchecked, so can still revert to previous behaviour) to set a base number to each folder, so that when you import a sprite in a certain folder, it will search for the first available slot starting from that base.
Like, for example you assign a base 0f 3000 to a certain folder, and slots 3000, 3001 are already used. If you import one more sprite into that folder it would be #3002. If you further tile (batch) import 10 sprites in a row, they'll be #3003-3012.
This can tidy up stuff a lot, like in the default template, the roger sprites in the default folder are numbered 2000 onwards, which is quite clear and tidy. To renumber the sprites one by one using the right-click method currently is quite annoying IMO.
This is useful especially to people like me, who dig hard into using the numbers in the codes (so I wasn't really benefited by the OO changes, they just made my codes messy), like for example there're 4 sets of sprites, each with 6 sprites arranged in order, I'll just number the sprites used in the 1st set 101, 102, ... , 106; the 2nd set 201, 202, ..., 206; etc. Thus, if I want to locate the kth sprite in the nth set I just need to use the formula (100*n)+k, which is efficient especially when you have a large number of sprites that you need some structure in the order of their numberings.
I've found a very minor bug with adjusting gamma in D3D mode. If you abort the game (alt-x/ctrl-q) before resetting the gamma the screen will remain at that setting until you close the confirmation box. This doesn't occur with directdraw.
Edit:
There's also a bug in the sprite import that I keep forgetting to mention, but it definitely prevents me from importing a good portion of my sprites without a lot of re-working.
You can see that everything looks fine so far and the sprite seems ready to load in
(http://members.cox.net/progzmax/importbug1.gif)
And then it loses the true black elements.
(http://members.cox.net/progzmax/importbug2.gif)
This seems to happen when palette index 0 is the same color (though at a different index than) another color used in the sprite -- in this case 0,0,0 at index 18. If I change palette index 0 to a unique color it imports fine, but this shouldn't really be necessary if it is reading the color indexes properly since index 0 is saved as transparent in the gif(and the other index is not). It also shows up clearly in the preview.
Something that happens in 3.0 and does not in 2.72 is when setting transparent color to palette 0 and quick importing sprite animations it displays the index 0 color as the background. In 2.72 it properly recognizes it as transparent and leaves it out.
Additional weird behavior: you have to physically load a single image in order to adjust the transparent color (palette 0, top-left, bottom-left,etc) because the Quick methods do not allow you to set these options like they did in 2.72. Perhaps the import sprite window should show up for Quick imports (or at least have the transparent color drop-down). Another option would be to have a menu toggle for this so you can save your transparent color setting and select it outside of the sprite menus?
Quote from: Gilbot V7000a on Thu 06/12/2007 05:23:06
Hmmm I'll suggest, that rather to make it as confusing as starting over in a folder, maybe we can add a option (can be unchecked, so can still revert to previous behaviour) to set a base number to each folder, so that when you import a sprite in a certain folder, it will search for the first available slot starting from that base.
This can tidy up stuff a lot, like in the default template, the roger sprites in the default folder are numbered 2000 onwards, which is quite clear and tidy. To renumber the sprites one by one using the right-click method currently is quite annoying IMO.
I like that idea. I got annoyed at having to renumber every single sprite, so I gave up. But now I have lots of "random" numbers in my folders, which makes it hard to figure out what is what.
Quoteoh my! 8 bit going the way of the dodo, but it's only 2007! I personally would enjoy further 8 bit support... I'm sorry for not reading the entire thread but are there other 8 bit specific features that haven't made their way across the 3.0 divide?
Well, the 8-bit support is still there but a couple of the advanced import features in the editor (like Exact Palette Background Import and the palette settings when importing animated backgrounds) are no longer supported.
To be honest, I'm not even sure how well the 3.0 editor works with 8-bit games. I haven't given it much testing myself, and I'm not sure if anybody else has really tried this?
QuoteYes, it's of utmost importance to me, but since I don't have time to play around at the moment, unless someone else really need it I think it's not very urgent. (Moreover, I'm still using the V2.6 branch actually.)
Well yeah, the other option is to recommend that people stick with 2.72 if they want to make an 8-bit game. I'm not sure at this point.
QuoteHmmm I'll suggest, that rather to make it as confusing as starting over in a folder, maybe we can add a option (can be unchecked, so can still revert to previous behaviour) to set a base number to each folder, so that when you import a sprite in a certain folder, it will search for the first available slot starting from that base.
This sounds like a good suggestion to me. Probably too late for 3.0 though.
QuoteI've found a very minor bug with adjusting gamma in D3D mode. If you abort the game (alt-x/ctrl-q) before resetting the gamma the screen will remain at that setting until you close the confirmation box. This doesn't occur with directdraw.
Hmm, this looks like it's going to be difficult to fix due to the different ways that the D3D and DDraw drivers shut down. I don't think it's a major problem so I won't worry about it for now.
QuoteThis seems to happen when palette index 0 is the same color (though at a different index than) another color used in the sprite -- in this case 0,0,0 at index 18. If I change palette index 0 to a unique color it imports fine, but this shouldn't really be necessary if it is reading the color indexes properly since index 0 is saved as transparent in the gif(and the other index is not). It also shows up clearly in the preview.
Could you post a GIF file that has this problem so that I can experiment with it and get this fixed?
QuoteSomething that happens in 3.0 and does not in 2.72 is when setting transparent color to palette 0 and quick importing sprite animations it displays the index 0 color as the background. In 2.72 it properly recognizes it as transparent and leaves it out.
Do you mean Quick Import Animated GIF, the Quick Import Multiple Sprites or both? What colour depth is your game?
QuoteAdditional weird behavior: you have to physically load a single image in order to adjust the transparent color (palette 0, top-left, bottom-left,etc) because the Quick methods do not allow you to set these options like they did in 2.72. Perhaps the import sprite window should show up for Quick imports (or at least have the transparent color drop-down). Another option would be to have a menu toggle for this so you can save your transparent color setting and select it outside of the sprite menus?
Well, my reason for dropping this confirmation is because of an assumption that nowadays 99% of the time everyone uses top-left pixel, and that prompting for the choice would be more annoying in 99% of situations.
Is this a valid assumption to make?
If it's supposed to be Quick, maybe it'd be better adding a Preferences option for the Quick Import methods.
I like the trend of steamlined userfriendlyness that is inherrant with AGS 3.0.
Pehaps we could have an option to 'Update Sprite' or 'Update Folder' if AGS could remember the image's file name and directory upon import. All sprites are still compiled into the exe of course.
Paul.
QuoteIs this a valid assumption to make?
I often need to change the pixel locations or choose palette 0 depending on the sprite (square inventory items are one example where I would import as palette 0 rather than top-left pixel) so I would definitely like some kind of easy way to select between them again; perhaps a right-click menu setting with a transparency tree?
QuoteDo you mean Quick Import Animated GIF, the Quick Import Multiple Sprites or both? What colour depth is your game?
Quick import animated gif. 16-bit so I can ignore individual palettes/use transparency.
QuoteCould you post a GIF file that has this problem so that I can experiment with it and get this fixed?
Certainly. Here is the one I used in the example: http://members.cox.net/progzmax/joeyfloatdown.gif
Any other one I try that uses the same color values as index 0 has the pixels made transparent on import (using the top left type settings) while palette 0 just leaves the background solid. If you try this sprite in 2.72 you'll notice that when importing a quick gif animation with palette 0 selected it will properly import it. The color index confusion issue existed in 2.72 but I just got around it with palette 0, which is probably why I never thought to bring it up before :(. If you need more gifs just ask.
Speaking of transparency options, I've always wondered: why isn't there an option to import sprites without transparency?
SNAP! I was so going to ask that at one point. I hate having to add one pink pixel to all of my GUI sprites.
Would this be reasonable to change?
Paul.
Well, usually import without transparency is using colour 0 - true black doesn't seem to be often used, and if you're going hi-colour then it becomes "true horrid pink", thankfully never used, much. Any more than that becomes relatively specialised.
Well obviously you can work around it (I do use black a lot so I usually just import with unused transparent space and have AGS crop it to fit) but it'd be nice if you didn't have to. ;)
Just a quick note: The Find function (CTRL-F while in the script editor) is labeled "Find and Replace" but doesn't actually include a Replace section. I really do think that this would be worthwhile to add, as it can get annoying to have to open notepad to use it's Find and Replace, and even more annoying to replace code manually.
Sorry if this has been mentioned before. I didn't have time to check.
I'm sorry if this has been reported before, but I didn't feel like going through all 37 pages of the thread to check, and it's not mentioned in the "outstanding issues" bit. I haven't had much time to play around with the 3.0 editor yet, but one thing which annoys me somewhat is the way you open the branches of the project tree:
The most direct way is to click the "+" icon next to the part you want to open. This works perfectly, but let's face it, hitting the icon is a bit too much of a pixel hunt to be worth the bother. So instead I doubleclick the text, which does the same thing - almost. If I doubleclick "Rooms" or "Scripts", the room or script which is under the cursor after the list opens, will automatically open up too, meaning that I'll have to close that random tab every time.
Maybe this is typical .NET 2.0 behavior, but it does cause a bit of confusion and a few seconds of lost time whenever I open one of those branches.
Another smallish observation that I hope hasn't been reported before:
The editor seems to move lines with only closing curved-brackets (}) all the way to the left by itself. In my personal style of scripting, this gets pretty annoying. Take a look at this snippet:
function Test ( )
// test something
{
if ( test == 1 )
// if test equals 1
{
// do something
}
}
When typing that, the editor currently moves the FIRST closing curved-bracket (}) all the way to the left, although it should have a TAB before it.
Please either get rid of this "automatic formation" or - if it is there for some reason - allow us to switch it off! :)
Oh, and one "tiny, tiny" question: I was wondering how reasonable a struct-in-struct-implementation would be? I know this has been discussed before, but I can't find anything on the tracker. Now, with the editor becoming more OO every release (which is a great progression), it really would seem a logical step and very, very usable. So, I was just wondering how hard that'd be to implement for you and whether it's possible at all.
Quote from: GarageGothic on Mon 10/12/2007 23:22:49the room or script which is under the cursor after the list opens, will automatically open up too, meaning that I'll have to close that random tab every time.
Yes, I've noticed this as well. I was partly worried I was just going insane again (perhaps due to having to close a random tab all the time ;)) and partly unconcerned. But seeing as someone else mentioned it I feel safe saying that I too would appreciate a fix to this minor issue.
Quote from: dkh on Mon 10/12/2007 23:30:01I can't find anything on the tracker.
First off, I'd like to know where you found the tracker at. I've been looking for it for ages but it's not there (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/tracker).
Quote from: dkh on Mon 10/12/2007 23:30:01I was wondering how reasonable a struct-in-struct-implementation would be?
A better approach would be to allow pointers to custom structs (and obviously allowing these pointers within other struct types). Pointers-to-structs would be much more versatile than simply structs-within-structs.
Another small but annoying bug:
When having more loops than a view can display in a single screen, moving the slider down and clicking anywhere (including on a frame) will initially scroll the window back up to the top. This is most noticeable when you load in a frame at around loop 12 or so after moving the slider down and then try to enter in a new frame there or clicking on another loop. You have to move the slider down again, click a new frame, and restart the process.
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Tue 11/12/2007 04:51:03
First off, I'd like to know where you found the tracker at. I've been looking for it for ages but it's not there (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/tracker).
Main-Page -> Knowledge Base -> Tracker (or here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/tracker.php))...
When you are adding interactions to, say, room objects, its annoying that whenever you change object or return from editing the script that the "view" of the object keeps returning to properties rather than staying on interactions.
QuotePehaps we could have an option to 'Update Sprite' or 'Update Folder' if AGS could remember the image's file name and directory upon import. All sprites are still compiled into the exe of course.
This is planned for a future version, and is the reason why AGS tracks the filename that the sprites were imported from.
QuoteCertainly. Here is the one I used in the example: http://members.cox.net/progzmax/joeyfloatdown.gif
Interesting, it seems to be that .NET automatically converts animated GIFs to 32-bit which then means the palette info is lost and two slots with the same RGB can't be distinguished. I'll look into a way around it.
QuoteSpeaking of transparency options, I've always wondered: why isn't there an option to import sprites without transparency?
It's a good point, I can't guarantee anything for 3.0 though.
QuoteJust a quick note: The Find function (CTRL-F while in the script editor) is labeled "Find and Replace" but doesn't actually include a Replace section. I really do think that this would be worthwhile to add, as it can get annoying to have to open notepad to use it's Find and Replace, and even more annoying to replace code manually.
Yeah, I keep meaning to add the Replace function but never get round to it. It'll come eventually!!
QuoteThe most direct way is to click the "+" icon next to the part you want to open. This works perfectly, but let's face it, hitting the icon is a bit too much of a pixel hunt to be worth the bother. So instead I doubleclick the text, which does the same thing - almost. If I doubleclick "Rooms" or "Scripts", the room or script which is under the cursor after the list opens, will automatically open up too, meaning that I'll have to close that random tab every time.
Yeah this seems to be default treeview behaviour and it is annoying, I haven't found a way to stop it doing this yet.
QuoteWhen typing that, the editor currently moves the FIRST closing curved-bracket (}) all the way to the left, although it should have a TAB before it.
I can't replicate this. When you type the closing } and press return, it should move it back to the indent level of the previous line, then subtract the tab size. Does anyone else get this problem?
QuoteOh, and one "tiny, tiny" question: I was wondering how reasonable a struct-in-struct-implementation would be?
This, and pointers to custom types, are relatively complex to implement because of dealing with save games, but it's something I'm keeping under review.
QuoteWhen having more loops than a view can display in a single screen, moving the slider down and clicking anywhere (including on a frame) will initially scroll the window back up to the top.
Aye, this has already been reported and will be fixed.
QuoteWhen you are adding interactions to, say, room objects, its annoying that whenever you change object or return from editing the script that the "view" of the object keeps returning to properties rather than staying on interactions.
This was reported a while back and I agree it's annoying; so far I haven't managed to find a way to stop the property grid doing that...
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 11/12/2007 20:05:55
QuoteWhen typing that, the editor currently moves the FIRST closing curved-bracket (}) all the way to the left, although it should have a TAB before it.
I can't replicate this. When you type the closing } and press return, it should move it back to the indent level of the previous line, then subtract the tab size. Does anyone else get this problem?
Here (http://media.putfile.com/asd-90-60) is a quick streaming video, which shows the problem, just so we're not somehow talking about something different.
Hmm, that page just gives me a codec error; could you try to explain what's happening?
Quote from: dkh on Tue 11/12/2007 10:55:14
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Tue 11/12/2007 04:51:03
First off, I'd like to know where you found the tracker at. I've been looking for it for ages but it's not there (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/tracker).
Main-Page -> Knowledge Base -> Tracker (or here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/tracker.php))...
Thanks for that link. I'd tried:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/tracker - The link my bookmark was set to
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/tracker.php - The link given if I go to "adventuregamestudio.co.uk" -> Knowledge Base -> Tracker
and
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/tracker - checking if changing from my bookmark's URL to the 'new' URL would work
But for some reason never tried http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/tracker.php.
In order to properly find the tracker you have to manually navigate to www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk. Simply typing adventuregamestudio.co.uk in the address bar doesn't redirect, so if you try to access the tracker, you get a 404 page instead.
@Pumaman: Okay, well, it's pretty much like my example. Imagine I type this:
function test ( int a )
{
if ( a == 1 )
{
do_something ( );
Now I want to close the if-bracket, so, I hit return after the "do_something ( );"-line, it sends me in the correct spot (2 tabs from left, right underneath the "d" from "do_..."). So, now I hit backspace to go one tab to the left and enter my closing bracket. Now it looks like this:
function test ( int a )
{
if ( a == 1 )
{
do_something ( );
}
And now I want to end the function, so I hit return to get to the next line and at this point, it moves the closing-bracket from the last line above all the way to the left like this:
function test ( int a )
{
if ( a == 1 )
{
do_something ( );
}
Hi to everybody,
my name is Giuseppe,
I write with Ags Didactic Software,
a lot of times the didactic software are performed with Windows 98,
I desire to ask if it is possible to increase the game superior resolution to the 800x600?
Thanks
Sorry, the highest resolution you can use is still only 800x600.
Hello. Today, I tried to run my game using the latest version of AGS, and when It's running, I can see the desktop of Windows in a corner of the screen.
(http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/429/dibujoxd3.png)
How can I fix this??
Salu2
Another tiny issue: could the autocomplete-box maybe pop up for function parameters even if the name of the function and the opening bracket is separated by one or maybe even more spaces?
At the moment, this shows the helper:
test_function( [...]
But this doesn't, and, since I call functions with a space in between name and bracket, it's kinda bothering:
test_function ( [...]
If you import a module from an SCM file, it's imported stuff doesn't get added to the autocomplete until after you look at the module's scripts...
QuoteSo, now I hit backspace to go one tab to the left and enter my closing bracket.
This is by design, you just need to adjust to how to use it :)
When you want to end the function,
don't press backspace before typing the }. Just press return on the last line of code, type } then return, and AGS will then back-tab it for you.
Because you're manually backspacing it, you're getting 2 levels of un-indentation.
QuoteHello. Today, I tried to run my game using the latest version of AGS, and when It's running, I can see the desktop of Windows in a corner of the screen.
Is this with the DX5 or D3D driver? If you try the other one, does it still happen? What resolution and colour depth are you using? Is this full screen or windowed?
QuoteAnother tiny issue: could the autocomplete-box maybe pop up for function parameters even if the name of the function and the opening bracket is separated by one or maybe even more spaces?
Potentially, however this probably isn't something I'll get round to for 3.0.
QuoteIf you import a module from an SCM file, it's imported stuff doesn't get added to the autocomplete until after you look at the module's scripts...
Hmm, I'll look into this.
When you compile your game (either through Build EXE or rebuild all files) it only seems to compile the music.vox file the first time. The next time you compile the file is not deleted, but its not overwritten with a new version either. I've tried adding new music files, changing whether a piece of music is used, saved, run, compiled, deleted the compiled files, but the only way to get a new music.vox file seems to be restarting the editor, then compiling again. Obviously this is misleading as you'd expect the files in the compiled folder to be the latest versions if you've just run the Build EXE option.
I think this is a problem with AGS, but I am using the Audio Manager editor plug in
It only seems to happen when I use it with: fullscreen and DirectDraw 5 and the "Force alternate letterbox resolution" is checked. Now I use the Direct3D 9 and it works fine. The resolution is 320x200 and the depth is 32bits(true color).
QuoteWhen you compile your game (either through Build EXE or rebuild all files) it only seems to compile the music.vox file the first time. The next time you compile the file is not deleted, but its not overwritten with a new version either. I've tried adding new music files, changing whether a piece of music is used, saved, run, compiled, deleted the compiled files, but the only way to get a new music.vox file seems to be restarting the editor, then compiling again.
Hmm, I'll look into this.
QuoteIt only seems to happen when I use it with: fullscreen and DirectDraw 5 and the "Force alternate letterbox resolution" is checked. Now I use the Direct3D 9 and it works fine. The resolution is 320x200 and the depth is 32bits(true color).
Hmm, there seems to be a couple of issues with DDraw 5 in letterbox mode. I'll look into it.
In the meantime, RC 2 is now up. This includes various fixes as we draw gradually closer to the final release.
Sweet and silky. RC2 swallowed the 2.72 code for Once Upon A Crime with ease and has none of the issues I reported beforehand. Screenshots with both drivers work fine, too.
Can we hope for a chrismas present with a 3.0 in the name? ;)
Hmm. Now that animated cursors are fully operational there seems to be no option to specify the actual animation delay for cursors in runtime.
The view preview has an animation delay spinner that when set to 0, excluding manually delayed frames, animates desirably quickly. I think this animation delay spinner should be outside of the view preview section and it should govern general animation speed for mouse cursors and character animation.
Simply less confusing and more unifying. :)
Cheers,
Paul.
Edit:QuoteCan we hope for a chrismas present with a 3.0 in the name?
Wait! Not before my Christmas present to all you SCUMM fans! ;)
I'd just like to draw everyone's attention to the following.
AGS can as of now use external paint programs for editing sprites.
AGS can now, thanks to the brilliant new audio plugin by smiley (which could reasonably be included in the AGS zip), fully manage sound, music and speech files.
Am I the only one to be flabbergasted, blown away and simply amazed by these recent developments? Probably. It's just so great not to have to multitask so much anymore - anything I need to edit I now reach WITHIN AGS.
Well, except fonts.
Heh. Still, now you can easily even use the sprite manager as a repository for BMP fonts, later to be converted with FontEdit.
Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires on Wed 12/12/2007 23:08:34
Am I the only one to be flabbergasted, blown away and simply amazed by these recent developments?
You're right Rui, it seems that it's somehow taken as a "given feature", but it's really a nice addition. And I bet some plugin or another will pop up eventually that includes font edits, too.
Also, as irrelevant as it may sound, I totally love that new exe sprite. It's... sexy.
I think we should take this oppertunity to thank Chris for such a loveley new editor. His work is certainly something you cannot take for granted.
Hip hip horray! :=
Paul.
Nice work with the sprite import, CJ. Works perfectly now!
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 18:24:35* You can now double-click a sprite to open it in your default image editor; new Preferences option to allow you to specify your image editor
At first I wasn't sure how AGS would know when to update the sprite, so I tried it out. I must say Chris, I nearly crapped my pants off. The sprite is saved to a temporary file, I use my image editor to modify and save it, then when I close my image editor program, AGS automatically updates from the now modified temporary file. Absolutely brilliant.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 18:24:35* Added Replace option to Find dialog in script editor
* Welcome screen now allows you to scroll right to read the full path of the recently edited games
* Fixed double-clicking a root node in the project tree opening a child as well as expanding it
* Fixed DrawingSurface.Release to update GUI if the dynamic sprite was being used a GUI background
Yes, yes, and
HELL YES. Chris I may be straight, but I am totally gay for you right now. :=
...hmm...I somehow envision that ending up in someone's signature...
Chris, I noticed you still included v1.1 of my verbcoin template.
I'm updating it to v1.4 this weekend (minor bugfix and further code cleanup compared to v1.3), so you can include that version in the next release candidate. (or AGS 3.0 final)
Wouldn't want people to be bothered by the bugs that existed in v1.1
QuoteSweet and silky. RC2 swallowed the 2.72 code for Once Upon A Crime with ease and has none of the issues I reported beforehand. Screenshots with both drivers work fine, too.
Glad to hear it!
QuoteCan we hope for a chrismas present with a 3.0 in the name?
Well, I guess that depends on whether you guys have been good boys and girls this year...
QuoteNow that animated cursors are fully operational there seems to be no option to specify the actual animation delay for cursors in runtime.
This has always been the case -- if you want to adjust it you need to change each individual frame speed. Yes this needs to be implemented, but not for 3.0.
QuoteAlso, as irrelevant as it may sound, I totally love that new exe sprite. It's... sexy.
If you're running Vista, set it to show the Extra Large icons -- now that version is sexy. ;)
QuoteI think we should take this oppertunity to thank Chris for such a loveley new editor. His work is certainly something you cannot take for granted.
Why thankyou! It's a pleasure, of course.
QuoteNice work with the sprite import, CJ. Works perfectly now!
Thanks for the update, I'm glad it's sorted.
QuoteYes, yes, and HELL YES. Chris I may be straight, but I am totally gay for you right now.
I guess I'll have to hold you to that at the next Mittens.
QuoteChris, I noticed you still included v1.1 of my verbcoin template.
I'm updating it to v1.4 this weekend (minor bugfix and further code cleanup compared to v1.3), so you can include that version in the next release candidate. (or AGS 3.0 final)
Ah yes, thanks for that. Is your latest version based off the modified version of 1.1 that was included with AGS, ie. having the new template icon?
Win98/ME
In previous betas AGS 3.0 took a long time to load and was barely useable. I'm not sure when it happened but now with RC1 it works great, no performance issues as far as I can tell. Just so you know...nce work.
Sprite Manager
I miss being able to reorganize sprites by selecting and dragging them to other folders. I hope this feature makes a come back in a future release.
GUI Editor Delete
When you have a GUI tab open the Delete key will delete the selected control, makes sense so far. However, if an editable field in the property or event pane has focus it is easy to get the idea that the delete key will delete whatever is selected in that field, rather than deleting controls from the GUI itself. I suppose it's something everyone will eventually get used to but I can also see this as being an endless source of "How come stuff keeps disappearing from my GUI?" type questions in the Beginners Tech forum.
GUI Editor Lock Control Position
Being able to keep controls from accidentally being moved around (usually from just selecting them) is another lost feature that I hope finds it's way back home soon.
GUI Editor Ctrl-Up/Dn
Being able to index to the next or previous control is very useful. However, I haven't been able to figure out how to use this feature while editing properties. For example, if you are editing a control's script name, it would be nice to hit a hot key that increments to the next/previous control and keep focus in the same field. It's a small point and perhaps I just haven't figured out how to do it yet
Anyway, these are the only comments I have so far, other than to say great work and thanks.
[edit]
Sorry about that I didn't mean to shout, just forgot the "/" in the closing bold tag :=
Quote
I miss being able to reorganize sprites by selecting and dragging them to other folders. I hope this feature makes a come back in a future release.
Yeah, several people (including myself) have mentioned this and I think it will happen in the future. I hope this functionality gets extended to views as well, since I have upwards of 120 views already and can't take advantage of the new folder structure of ags 3.0 otherwise. At least with the sprite folders you can delete a sprite and re-import it in the folder of choice right now :).
Just small thing, really doesn't affect anything at all... but I've got to do my part for AGS, however small. ;D
When you open acwin.exe without a game running, you get this message:
QuoteYou must create and save a game first in the AGS Editor before you can use
this engine.
If you have just downloaded AGS, you are probably running the wrong executable.
Run AGSEDIT.EXE to launch the editor.
However, the correct program to open is actually AGSEditor.exe.
Hehe. :=
Quote from: Pumaman on Thu 13/12/2007 20:45:56QuoteYes, yes, and HELL YES. Chris I may be straight, but I am totally gay for you right now.
I guess I'll have to hold you to that at the next Mittens.
Ahh...I'd better start saving now so as to be able to make it then. :D
On a more 'on-topic' note, I was just thinking regarding the external sprite editing, would it be possible for to implement a sort of 'Update now' button instead of waiting for the program to be exited completely? The reason I ask is (though it's overkill to the extreme), I primarily use Photoshop (due to familiarity) which takes a while to load up. If AGS could just tell Photoshop to open the file and then I could click an 'update' button back in AGS, then I could leave Photoshop open whilst doing any sprite editing.
I understand if it's too much to ask for this release, but if it's possible I would much appreciate it.
QuoteI could click an 'update' button back in AGS
I have to agree entirely with Monkey on this. If we're making a lot of sprite edits with many files we tend to save a lot.
Perhaps AGS could update when this 'temp' file has changed due to a save from Photoshop. This way an update button wouldnt be neccesary and AGS could remain as is.
Cheers,
Paul.
Like any good tester I've been trying to intentionally break AGS 3.0, and this is what happened when I removed all the frames from a loop while it was animating in the view window:
(http://members.cox.net/progzmax/ERROR.png)
Should probably auto-disable animation I guess to prevent this?
Also, I found an intermittent issue with FaceLocation not working properly, though since I've proven it to be intermittent I can't really provide any cause for it, but here's an example:
cAuggie.FaceLocation(cAuggie.x,cAuggie.y+10,eBlock);
This is supposed to make Auggie face down so he'll use loop 0 for talking. It works fine in 2.72, but when I compiled under AGS 3.0 he was using loop 1 instead. For some reason, when I commented out the line, compiled, uncommented the line and recompiled it worked just fine. It could just have been an import bug, but I think it's worth mentioning!
Edit:
The preferences setting for selecting transparency color doesn't seem to actually do anything yet. I thought it was working until I imported a gif animation that showed up as black again, so I tried switching from palette 0 to top-left and it still loaded a black background. When I chose 'import new sprite from file' and set it to use top-left transparency it imported properly, as did the gif animation import afterwards. This would also indicate that palette 0 still isn't working reliably, however ;(.
Edit 2: I notice that the paste option does not show up initially in the right-click menu for scripts, though it does work from the menu, and once you've pasted once it seems to work fine afterwards.
Sweet and sexy hotness!!! I downloaded it twice!! ;D
EDIT: Would there possibly be a way in the next RC to load and edit room backgrounds as well?!? It would seem that most of the implementation is there, the focus just needs to be changed.
Just an idea. ;D
There seems to be a bug when renumbering rooms where a message pops up saying that the room.asc file can't be found and then it copies in a blank one. The original is completely gone, so I would imagine that it probably got overwritten with the blank.
There also is a problem importing non-standard room names such as _blank.crm. This used to work and was a workaround for "new room" not having the ability to select a template to create the new with. A couple of times the editor hungup and I had to kill it from the task manager. It also locked up when trying to import a room that had no room.asc file (actually it was mis-named by accident).
The _blank.crm templating feature seems to be missing so all the above were attempts to find a work around. Perhaps in the next version we supplement "new room" and "new script" with a simple template selection scheme.
By the way, is there any way to disable auto-indentation in AGS 3.0?
I use my own custom formatting of script which always interfere with it.
Also, I noticed pressing Ctrl-T in script editor swaps two lines around. I suspect it can now make people mess up their codes if they accidently press it instead of F5 trying to "Test game". Personally, I do that mistake now and then as I'm working in both AGS 3.0 and 2.72 versions. I think that's because formerly you have to close the script editor window to test a game but now it is part of the AGS main GUI and so I see treeview on the right and spontaneously think I can test it from here.
Another thing about the frame SPD setting, would it be feasible to also display that under each frame in a loop as it used to be? It's now harder to estimate how loop will run: need to click each frame to see the delay value. And by estimate I mean it in a bit different sense that just view preview, as I, for example, need to see the exact values for each frame at once.
p.s. And where is the loop counter in debug mode gone? Again it's maybe personal by I always found that a nice built-in feature to have, especially for quick test games :)
EDIT:
Out of curiosity, what control component does the AGS Editor use to display tabs if I may ask? :)
Quote from: Pumaman on Thu 13/12/2007 20:45:56
QuoteChris, I noticed you still included v1.1 of my verbcoin template.
I'm updating it to v1.4 this weekend (minor bugfix and further code cleanup compared to v1.3), so you can include that version in the next release candidate. (or AGS 3.0 final)
Ah yes, thanks for that. Is your latest version based off the modified version of 1.1 that was included with AGS, ie. having the new template icon?
Yup, v1.4 is available now. There should be no errors whatsoever anymore in it. I'll probably write some documentation you can include in the help file soon.
A small issue concerning tiled sprite import:
The order is still
147
258
369
while I believe it should be
123
456
789
QuoteWhen you have a GUI tab open the Delete key will delete the selected control, makes sense so far. However, if an editable field in the property or event pane has focus it is easy to get the idea that the delete key will delete whatever is selected in that field, rather than deleting controls from the GUI itself. I suppose it's something everyone will eventually get used to but I can also see this as being an endless source of "How come stuff keeps disappearing from my GUI?" type questions in the Beginners Tech forum.
I don't really follow what you mean here. If you're editing a field in the property grid and press delete, it will delete the field and not the control. Even if the control was selected, you get an "Are you sure" confirmation message so I think it's unlikely anybody would have any mysteriously disappearing controls.
QuoteOn a more 'on-topic' note, I was just thinking regarding the external sprite editing, would it be possible for to implement a sort of 'Update now' button instead of waiting for the program to be exited completely? The reason I ask is (though it's overkill to the extreme), I primarily use Photoshop (due to familiarity) which takes a while to load up. If AGS could just tell Photoshop to open the file and then I could click an 'update' button back in AGS, then I could leave Photoshop open whilst doing any sprite editing.
Hmm, something like this would start to get messy quite quickly. If AGS has to keep track of which sprites it thinks you're editing in your external program and then import them back in at arbitrary times (during which you might or might not have saved them, closed the paint program, deleted them, etc) it all just starts to get quite awkward.
For something like this I think a better feature would simply be the "re-import from source file" option that we've discussed before.
QuoteLike any good tester I've been trying to intentionally break AGS 3.0, and this is what happened when I removed all the frames from a loop while it was animating in the view window:
Thanks, I'll look into it.
QuoteAlso, I found an intermittent issue with FaceLocation not working properly, though since I've proven it to be intermittent I can't really provide any cause for it, but here's an example:
Has anyone else had any problems with FaceLocation?
QuoteThe preferences setting for selecting transparency color doesn't seem to actually do anything yet. I thought it was working until I imported a gif animation that showed up as black again, so I tried switching from palette 0 to top-left and it still loaded a black background.
It only sets the default transparency type for when you start up the editor. The sprite import window still remembers the previous setting from the previous import, so the preferences setting won't have any immediate effect.
QuoteEdit 2: I notice that the paste option does not show up initially in the right-click menu for scripts, though it does work from the menu, and once you've pasted once it seems to work fine afterwards.
Hmm well spotted, I don't think I'll be able to fix this one for 3.0 but will get it done for a later release.
QuoteEDIT: Would there possibly be a way in the next RC to load and edit room backgrounds as well?!? It would seem that most of the implementation is there, the focus just needs to be changed.
I know I keep saying this, but I really am done with adding new features now! There really will only be bug fixes between now and the Final.
QuoteThere seems to be a bug when renumbering rooms where a message pops up saying that the room.asc file can't be found and then it copies in a blank one. The original is completely gone, so I would imagine that it probably got overwritten with the blank.
Thanks for the report, I'll look into it.
QuoteThere also is a problem importing non-standard room names such as _blank.crm. This used to work and was a workaround for "new room" not having the ability to select a template to create the new with. A couple of times the editor hungup and I had to kill it from the task manager. It also locked up when trying to import a room that had no room.asc file (actually it was mis-named by accident).
I haven't been able to replicate this, do you have any more information about when this problem occurs?
QuoteBy the way, is there any way to disable auto-indentation in AGS 3.0?
I use my own custom formatting of script which always interfere with it.
Sounds reasonable, probably not for 3.0 however.
QuoteAlso, I noticed pressing Ctrl-T in script editor swaps two lines around. I suspect it can now make people mess up their codes if they accidently press it instead of F5 trying to "Test game".
Hehe good point, I'll see if I can disable that.
QuoteAnother thing about the frame SPD setting, would it be feasible to also display that under each frame in a loop as it used to be? It's now harder to estimate how loop will run: need to click each frame to see the delay value. And by estimate I mean it in a bit different sense that just view preview, as I, for example, need to see the exact values for each frame at once.
Fair point, this has come up before and we don't really want to be losing features from 2.72.
Quotep.s. And where is the loop counter in debug mode gone? Again it's maybe personal by I always found that a nice built-in feature to have, especially for quick test games
Well, it was lost as part of adding D3D support and it didn't seem important enough to add it back in. Did anyone else use the loopcounter?
QuoteOut of curiosity, what control component does the AGS Editor use to display tabs if I may ask?
The main tabbing area control is a custom one that I wrote specifically for this.
QuoteYup, v1.4 is available now. There should be no errors whatsoever anymore in it. I'll probably write some documentation you can include in the help file soon.
Thanks, I'll grab a copy of that.
QuoteA small issue concerning tiled sprite import:
The order is still
147
258
369
while I believe it should be
123
456
789
Fair enough, this is a change from 2.72 so it should be returned to its old behaviour.
Hi there. I have a question: why can't you use the 'index 0' transparency with hi-colour games?? I used to find this very useful.
There is no 'index 0' in hi-color graphics (they don't use a palette to store the color of each pixel as 256col graphics do).
However, you can use teh evil pink: 255-0-255.
Use that color to draw transparent areas, then import the sprite with the index 0 setting.
Replicated something... With animation enabled I changed the loop bit in the view preview to a view that didn't have any loops, this popped up and refused to go away until I killed the editor process:
Error: Indeksi oli sallitun alueen ulkopuolella. Indeksi ei saa olla negatiivinen, ja sen on oltava kokoelmaa pienempi.
Parametrin nimi: index
Version: AGS 3.0.0.18
System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Indeksi oli sallitun alueen ulkopuolella. Indeksi ei saa olla negatiivinen, ja sen on oltava kokoelmaa pienempi.
Parametrin nimi: index
kohteessa System.ThrowHelper.ThrowArgumentOutOfRangeException(ExceptionArgument argument, ExceptionResource resource)
kohteessa System.ThrowHelper.ThrowArgumentOutOfRangeException()
kohteessa AGS.Editor.ViewPreview.UpdateDelayForThisFrame()
kohteessa AGS.Editor.ViewPreview._animationTimer_Tick(Object sender, EventArgs e)
kohteessa System.Windows.Forms.Timer.OnTick(EventArgs e)
kohteessa System.Windows.Forms.Timer.TimerNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
kohteessa System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
Basically the same thing ProgZ posted, I believe.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 16/12/2007 20:52:13This would start to get messy quite quickly. If AGS has to keep track of which sprites it thinks you're editing in your external program and then import them back in at arbitrary times (during which you might or might not have saved them, closed the paint program, deleted them, etc) it all just starts to get quite awkward.
Fair enough.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 16/12/2007 20:52:13For something like this I think a better feature would simply be the "re-import from source file" option that we've discussed before.
And this falls back into that 'new feature request' that you're trying to get out of this thread so we can get an AGS 3.0 Final already. :=
Perhaps for AGS 3.01 we can have an 'Re-import from Source' as well as a 'Open Source for editing' option? I try to keep my AGS projects under control, though the sprites I import often come from various locations (my Windows folders are quite a mess). If it's not too much to ask, the option to open the source file in the specified program would be quite wonderful. :-*
But enough of this. On with the release so we can get started on v3.01 already. ;D
I have no idea where to begin looking, but I noticed this:
I have an intro cutscene with a total of three consequent dialogs in it (to keep it somewhat organised), two ChangeRoom()s and some character.Walk and .Say commands among there. So nothing too fancy. The thing is, I can skip the cutscene right at the start, tho it takes almost a second to actually do so, just sitting there still untill that. But if I wait some five or so seconds into the cutscene and try to skip it, the game just hangs, with nothing happening. Used to work fine when I worked on the game with 2.72 and 2.8. And actually back then the dialogs used to run a bit more dialog_request scripts than now.
Any chance that you have RawSaveScreen() running in the global EnterRoomBeforeFadeIn event? That function is quite slow when using Direct3D mode, so trying to skip past multiple instances of it could cause problems. Just a thought, but most likely it's something else.
QuoteFor something like this I think a better feature would simply be the "re-import from source file" option that we've discussed before.
Or what about my suggestion Chris? I get the feeling that it was inadvertently overlooked. :)
It's basically what the programmer has done with Zbrush which was explained on Zbrush Central as being a reasonably wieldy task.
Is it worth your time to explore for AGS 3.01? If so, i'll post it in the suggestions thread.
Cheers,
Paul.
Quote
Quote
When you have a GUI tab open the Delete key will delete the selected control, makes sense so far. However, if an editable field in the property or event pane has focus it is easy to get the idea that the delete key will delete whatever is selected in that field, rather than deleting controls from the GUI itself. I suppose it's something everyone will eventually get used to but I can also see this as being an endless source of "How come stuff keeps disappearing from my GUI?" type questions in the Beginners Tech forum.
I don't really follow what you mean here. If you're editing a field in the property grid and press delete, it will delete the field and not the control. Even if the control was selected, you get an "Are you sure" confirmation message so I think it's unlikely anybody would have any mysteriously disappearing controls.
I don't believe it! The other day this happened repeatedly and reliably. I was editing the name of event function to be called. I selected a couple characters and pressed the delete key. Nothing happened to the field but the control was gone and the properties grid was then tied to another component. Now I can't duplicate it either. := :=
The only two things I can think of that may have changed between now and then are:
1. I am now using RC2. It's possible that I was using RC1 when this happened and so it's not a problem anymore.
2. The game in which this was happening was recently upgraded from AGS 2.72, when I tried just now to replicate this problem I created a new game from a template of the game that originally gave the problem.
I suppose I should go back and check what happens on the original just to be sure. I'll let you know if I find a way to duplicate this.
I still can't believe it!! ** pounds head on table ** ;D
Quote
Quote
There also is a problem importing non-standard room names such as _blank.crm. This used to work and was a workaround for "new room" not having the ability to select a template to create the new with. A couple of times the editor hungup and I had to kill it from the task manager. It also locked up when trying to import a room that had no room.asc file (actually it was mis-named by accident).
I haven't been able to replicate this, do you have any more information about when this problem occurs?
The room is created but the asc file is overwritten. It's kind of similar to renaming problem but there doesn't seem to be a warning message about it.
Btw, instead of (or in addition to) bringing back that _blank feature, would it be reasonable in a future version to add an ImportAs feature that would make a copy of the room or module, get the new name from a popup dialog, and then import the copy? Perhaps the existing "New" command could be enhanced to provide this functionality. The only other thing one could ask is that files from both the game directory and the editor director be listed as possible imports or templates. :)
Quote from: GarageGothic on Mon 17/12/2007 05:09:27
Any chance that you have RawSaveScreen() running in the global EnterRoomBeforeFadeIn event? That function is quite slow when using Direct3D mode, so trying to skip past multiple instances of it could cause problems. Just a thought, but most likely it's something else.
None of those around that I know of. The character does pass through a continous lightning region, though, as for graphical effects.
The new icon is GORGEOUS! :D
But... *nitpick*
(http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/396/ags3iconvg3.png)
It doesn't show up in the titlebar.
QuoteReplicated something... With animation enabled I changed the loop bit in the view preview to a view that didn't have any loops, this popped up and refused to go away until I killed the editor process:
Thanks, this is now fixed in RC 3.
QuoteI have an intro cutscene with a total of three consequent dialogs in it (to keep it somewhat organised), two ChangeRoom()s and some character.Walk and .Say commands among there. So nothing too fancy. The thing is, I can skip the cutscene right at the start, tho it takes almost a second to actually do so, just sitting there still untill that. But if I wait some five or so seconds into the cutscene and try to skip it, the game just hangs, with nothing happening. Used to work fine when I worked on the game with 2.72 and 2.8. And actually back then the dialogs used to run a bit more dialog_request scripts than now.
If you sit back and watch the cutscene rather than skipping it, does it complete successfully?
QuoteOr what about my suggestion Chris? I get the feeling that it was inadvertently overlooked
Sorry, I've been ignoring some suggestions in this thread recently. Please re-post it in the AGS 3.01 Wishlist thread if it's something you'd like to see added.
QuoteThe room is created but the asc file is overwritten. It's kind of similar to renaming problem but there doesn't seem to be a warning message about it.
Ok, well the renaming problem is now fixed in RC 3 so hopefully that should solve the problem.
QuoteBtw, instead of (or in addition to) bringing back that _blank feature, would it be reasonable in a future version to add an ImportAs feature that would make a copy of the room or module, get the new name from a popup dialog, and then import the copy? Perhaps the existing "New" command could be enhanced to provide this functionality. The only other thing one could ask is that files from both the game directory and the editor director be listed as possible imports or templates.
I guess there's various ways of doing this -- one would be to have a right-click "Create copy" option on rooms, or another way would be to have a Room Template option for new rooms, like the way New Games work. If it's something you'd find useful, please post in the other thread.
QuoteThe new icon is GORGEOUS!
It doesn't show up in the titlebar.
This is of course a deliberate feature :=
I'll look into it for the final.
Ok guys, we're at RC 3 and this really is finally it. The only thing I plan to do between this and the final version is to fix any reported bugs, otherwise it's almost time for an official release.
Well, let me be the first one to congratulate. Installing- neat. Demo game- wise choice to include (but possibly not the wisest... it looks a bit garish in my jaded eyes...) Importing old 2.72 project- almost flawless.
The only thing that puts me off a little is the installation itself; I tend to have at least two copies of AGS in different directories, if only for some obscure backup purposes. Maybe an oldfashioned, alternative download would be possible?
And I admit I am a bit confused about the new Hotspot list in rooms; when I change the Hotspots name from hHotspot1 to, say, Shelf, I would expect AGS to add the prefix "h", and also to update the name in the combobox INSTANTLY. It does so, but after quitting the editor...
I'm temporarily using a computer with Windows Vista installed (my own laptop unfortunately went the way of the dodo), and when I first installed RC3 to the default directory and tried to test the demo game, I was met by a compiler error about the folder not being accessible. I'm sure this has something to do with user rights, but I wasn't asked to elevate to admin status like other programs do.
After this, I uninstalled and re-installed to a different folder, outside Program Files, and the test ran perfectly. Perhaps the demo files need to be installed to My Documents/Program Data instead, depending on the user's Vista setup?
Quote from: Ghost on Fri 21/12/2007 22:42:44
The only thing that puts me off a little is the installation itself; I tend to have at least two copies of AGS in different directories, if only for some obscure backup purposes. Maybe an oldfashioned, alternative download would be possible?
Sorry, but I agree with this issue. Can we have the old fashioned compressed folder? Does the editor really needs an isntaller to work (i.e. needs to set some register keys or whatever)?
I think the installer is mostly to make it look more professional and prevent typical zip-failures (running from zip, unproper extraction, etc). Not sure how much work it would be to provide both Installer and ZIP versions.
Regarding the shiny new installer goodness, I'll leave the following notes (which might not be bugs but still stuff people should be aware of):
- Do not install over an older AGS 3.x installation. The installer might not properly update all the files and you'll end up with a nicely bugged AGS.
- If you already have an AGF assocation, remove it. At least for me, the installer screwed up my existing AGF association and made it not work, so I had to manually remove it through registry and reinstall to fix it.
- The DemoQuest shortcut will bring up errors if AGS has any editor plugins (probably because the shortcut uses the DemoQuest folder as the working path and it'll try finding the plugins there and fail)
Quote from: SupSuper on Sat 22/12/2007 01:11:49Not sure how much work it would be to provide both Installer and ZIP versions.
Unless Chris has some type of nifty system to automatically build the files into an installer when he compiles new versions of the editor, it's technically a bit more work providing an installer than just a ZIP version. It would be up to Chris whether he wants to release a ZIP version though. If he does he should probably put some ('WARNING: Not for use by incompetent fools.') disclaimer to prevent future ZIP-issues.
Personally I would find a ZIP version preferable, but as I said, it's ultimately up to CJ on this one.
However, I do have on request. Would it be possible to
NOT create a Start Menu folder for shortcuts? I have AGS located at 'D:\AGS' which is where I always go if I need to get to AGS, so having a shortcut in the Start Menu doesn't really benefit me, and I try to keep my Start Menu as clutter-free as possible. Thanks either way though.
Quote from: SupSuper on Sat 22/12/2007 01:11:49- Do not install over an older AGS 3.x installation. The installer might not properly update all the files and you'll end up with a nicely bugged AGS.
I have verified this. Attempting to install over RC2 apparently didn't work:
Quote---------------------------
Error
---------------------------
An unexpected error occurred trying to start up the AGS Editor. Please consult the details below and post the error to the AGS Technical Forum.
System.MissingMethodException: Method not found: 'Void AGS.Types.IAGSEditor.add_GetScriptHeaderList(AGS.Types.GetScriptHeaderListHandler)'.
at AGS.Editor.ApplicationController..ctor()
at AGS.Editor.Program.startupTimer_Tick(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.OnTick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.TimerNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
Manually deleting the files or running the installer once more and telling it to 'Remove Adventure Game Studio 3.0 RC 3' and then running the installer once more cleared up this issue.
Along the same note though, I wanted to take a look at the version of the DemoQuest now included. However, when I clicked on the "Open the Demo Game" shortcut (that I was just describing a while ago, saying that I don't need :P), it didn't open the correct game project. See, I've been working with the DemoQuest files for some time now trying to reach some type of reasonable middle ground betwixt the two versions of the files that I have. One of these projects was in the folder 'DemoQuest' so AGS didn't overwrite it, it simply opened my game project.
Renaming
my DemoQuest project and 'repairing' AGS (via the installer) added what is now apparently a third version of the DemoQuest project files that I can now work with...considering two of the three versions I now have don't include
ANY of the
mini-games and one includes some of the embedded into the main game project. My goal is to properly separate the mini-games as they should be.
Quote from: SupSuper on Sat 22/12/2007 01:11:49- If you already have an AGF assocation, remove it. At least for me, the installer screwed up my existing AGF association and made it not work, so I had to manually remove it through registry and reinstall to fix it.
I can't seem to replicate this. My AGF association is set as follows:
"D:\AGS\AGSEditor.exe" "%1"And after (properly) installing RC3 to the AGS directory, my file association works fine.
Quote from: SupSuper on Sat 22/12/2007 01:11:49- The DemoQuest shortcut will bring up errors if AGS has any editor plugins (probably because the shortcut uses the DemoQuest folder as the working path and it'll try finding the plugins there and fail)
I can't verify this either, but that's simply because I'm not yet using any plugins (though the Audio Manager is coming along quite nicely, and I've considered it if I ever get around to starting an actual
GAME project. ;))
Edit @GG's post below:
It's understandable how an installer could be useful, setting up registry entries and such, but I always kind of liked AGS in a ZIP file. It's just not the same in an installer. ;D
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Sat 22/12/2007 04:39:09Personally I would find a ZIP version preferable, but as I said, it's ultimately up to CJ on this one.
I'd prefer a .zip version too. Since all the betas were posted as .zip there's little reason why an installer should be necessary (for those who know what they're doing). Perhaps the best way of limiting distribution would be just to link to a .zip of AGS 3.0 final in the beta thread, and link to the installer version on the main page and in the final release thread.
Chris, v1.5 of the Verbcoin Template is up. (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=32745.0)
Latest discovered bug is fixed now.
I also wrote a help file you can include in the AGS help file, if you like.
Quote from: GarageGothic on Sat 22/12/2007 04:51:44I'd prefer a .zip version too. Since all the betas were posted as .zip there's little reason why an installer should be necessary (for those who know what they're doing). Perhaps the best way of limiting distribution would be just to link to a .zip of AGS 3.0 final in the beta thread, and link to the installer version on the main page and in the final release thread.
In fact, I think the .zip version should be easily accessible overall. No need to limit this whatsoever, as I really don't see why one should go gung ho with the installer business. I'm personally incredibly turned off by installers and I see many of you are just as well. This is good :)
I was thinking if it'd be possible to have an option in the installer to just unpack the files to the designated directory, without any registery entries, Add/Remove Program entries, shortcuts or whatnot. This would both elimiated the unzipping issues and provide old fashioned people (like myself, too) a way to have AGS the way we've learned it and like it, totally under our control and not in Windows' leash.
If not, provide a .zip download too please :)
I also prefer the zip version for a number of reasons.
[edit] same points more concise and clear, hopefully?
If you install an application in windows you expect that the "Program Files" folder is an appropriate location. However, AGS doesn't support the concept of having one path for the AGS executable and another path for the data it creates. It also doesn't support the concept allowing the user to specify different default paths for different resources. Also support for the simultaneous installation of multiple-versions of AGS has been done manually by maintaining separate directories for each version of AGS and the games supported by the respective version.
IMHO, when some one installs a windows program he expects that he will be able to configure that application's paths so that he can specify the default locations where documents, data, ect are created and where templates and other resources are located. He doesn't expect that user created content will stored in the installation directory of the application.
In my opinion it would be better to use the zip distribution until the issues such as the ones above are discussed, addressed, or dismissed.
Actually I 'll just say I can't think of a reason why to change AGS. We all like rar files...
In the manual it is said, that to change the colour of the textwindow GUI, you have to change it's foreground colour. Unfortunately, I only do find the options to change the background colour. What am I doing wrong?
(http://www.gwebspace.de/hassu-irc/andere/colour.png)
Hey CJ. I just wanna say that while the main GUI is pretty good and clearly easier to program, I gotta say that it sucks that the interaction editor is gone as that was useful.
I hope it can come in some shape or form to help us with the event-driven code.
QuoteDemo game- wise choice to include (but possibly not the wisest... it looks a bit garish in my jaded eyes...)
Well, the demo game is in theory an open project, it's just that recently I think RickJ has been on his own in improving it ;)
Maybe in today's times having the demo game as an 8-bit palettized game is slightly misleading to people, but it should still be useful.
QuoteImporting old 2.72 project- almost flawless
How do you mean, "almost" flawless? What went wrong?
QuoteMaybe an oldfashioned, alternative download would be possible?
QuoteSorry, but I agree with this issue. Can we have the old fashioned compressed folder? Does the editor really needs an isntaller to work (i.e. needs to set some register keys or whatever)?
Well, it would of course be possible to have a ZIP file and MSI available for download, but I'd rather not maintain both because it's a hassle.
The main reasons for moving to an installer are:
* To stop the predictable 'bug reports' in Beginner's Tech from people who've tried to run the editor from within the zip file without decompressing it first
* To check for .net Framework installation in a friendly way. The version in the zip just gives a "MSCOREE.DLL error" if you don't have the framework installed.
* To set up the file association for the GAME.AGF file to start the editor
However, the installer doesn't stop you from using multiple versions of AGS -- just give it a different directory name to install into and it can run side by side with other versions.
Quotewhen I change the Hotspots name from hHotspot1 to, say, Shelf, I would expect AGS to add the prefix "h", and also to update the name in the combobox INSTANTLY. It does so, but after quitting the editor...
Good point, I'll get this fixed. You don't have to quit the editor by the way, just change to Objects mode and then back to Hotspots.
QuoteI'm temporarily using a computer with Windows Vista installed (my own laptop unfortunately went the way of the dodo), and when I first installed RC3 to the default directory and tried to test the demo game, I was met by a compiler error about the folder not being accessible. I'm sure this has something to do with user rights, but I wasn't asked to elevate to admin status like other programs do.
Hmm, this is interesting ... I'll have to look into where programs are supposed to install user-changable data in Vista.
QuoteDo not install over an older AGS 3.x installation. The installer might not properly update all the files and you'll end up with a nicely bugged AGS.
Thanks, I'll fix this.
Quote- The DemoQuest shortcut will bring up errors if AGS has any editor plugins (probably because the shortcut uses the DemoQuest folder as the working path and it'll try finding the plugins there and fail)
Thanks, I'll fix this too.
QuoteHowever, I do have on request. Would it be possible to NOT create a Start Menu folder for shortcuts? I have AGS located at 'D:\AGS' which is where I always go if I need to get to AGS, so having a shortcut in the Start Menu doesn't really benefit me, and I try to keep my Start Menu as clutter-free as possible. Thanks either way though.
Unbelievably, the Microsoft Installer tool doesn't support optional start menu shortcuts. I might look into moving to another installer tool like Inno Setup for a future release; but for now what I can add is an option whether to install the demo game or not.
QuoteChris, v1.5 of the Verbcoin Template is up.
Latest discovered bug is fixed now.
I also wrote a help file you can include in the AGS help file, if you like.
Thanks, I'll get those included.
QuoteIn the manual it is said, that to change the colour of the textwindow GUI, you have to change it's foreground colour. Unfortunately, I only do find the options to change the background colour. What am I doing wrong?
Ah, the foreground/text colour is displayed as "BorderColor", which is wrong. I'll rename it for the next version.
QuoteHey CJ. I just wanna say that while the main GUI is pretty good and clearly easier to program, I gotta say that it sucks that the interaction editor is gone as that was useful.
We've discussed the demise of the interaction editor at length and I don't think there's any point continuing that discussion now. I think somebody was going to see if they could make a plugin to provide an interaction editor-type thing, so we'll see how that goes.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sat 22/12/2007 20:33:30
QuoteImporting old 2.72 project- almost flawless
How do you mean, "almost" flawless? What went wrong?
Sorry, that was misleading. In fact, it *was* flawless, I just got the warning that there were views with only one frame. (Sorry!)
Inno setup is pretty easy to use, but the state of the art is NSIS (http://sourceforge.net/projects/nsis/). It's harder to use, but really powerful.
If I try to set "Custom text-window GUI" (General Settings->Text output) to the script o-name of a GUI, I get an error like this:
Quote---------------------------
Properties Window
---------------------------
Property value is not valid.
--------------------------- --------------------------- ---------------------------
^ Details OK Cancel
--------------------------- --------------------------- ---------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
gTextbox is not a valid value for Int32
------------------------------------------------------
The property box expects an integer. Easy enough to fix, but I thought I might be able to put a GUI's o-name there. Guess not. := (It might be worth at least mentioning that this property MUST be the GUI ID)
Also, it seems that the
dialog array isn't defined if you don't have any dialogs. I'm not saying I need access to the array in a game without dialogs...it simply threw me when I got this error after deleting all the dialogs:
QuoteGlobalScript.asc(535): Error (line 535): Undefined token 'dialog'
QuoteUnbelievably, the Microsoft Installer tool doesn't support optional start menu shortcuts. I might look into moving to another installer tool like Inno Setup for a future release; but for now what I can add is an option whether to install the demo game or not.
You can do all of this and more quite easily via scripting with the Nullsoft Installer package, and I highly recommend it. Also, I don't really 'get' all the fuss over using an installer. It isn't taking anything away from the engine; on the contrary, it's making the overall presentation more professional and eliminating possible extraction woes for people who don't happen to have this or that extractor program (yeah, people like that are still around!).
To get back on topic, the fix for no frame animations seems to work fine now, though I notice you physically have to click on either the scroll bar or on a frame before the scroll wheel will move up or down the view list. That's really all I've noticed so far.
Quote
t isn't taking anything away from the engine; on the contrary, it's making the overall presentation more professional and eliminating possible extraction woes for people who don't happen to have this or that extractor program (yeah, people like that are still around!).
Except that the people who are presumably being helped are in fact being led down the garden path of "just let it install in the default "Program Files" folder which is not really appropriate since AGS does not behave in a manner consistent with what people have come to expect from "installed" windows apps. Yes the intelligentsia among us will know better and direct the installer to deposit the new files in a "..\Ags.Vx.xx" directory rather than "C:\Program FIles" but what will the uninformed minions do, who are so clueless that they would attempt to execute a zip file? What do you suppose they would do?
All I'm saying is that if it has an installer and it installs just like any other windows app then people are going to have certain expectations, meritorious or not. And if peoples' expectations are not met then, justified or not, they will have a negative opinion about it. I suppose just as many people would disagree with me about this as those who would agree. As they, say time will tell... Just my $0.02
Rick
P.S. I had a heck of a time getting sprites with a transparent color. I suspect that it is operator error on my part o I am not asserting a bug thing here. I mention it just in case and ask for someone to confirm this behavior has always been the case,
I had a newly created eight bit game. I was importing sprites that were created for another 8-bit game. I had used graphics gale to create the sprites and had used the "eliminate unused colors" feature of gale to delete any colors not used in the spite. When I imported the sprites and selected "use upper eft hand pixel?" as transparent color then there was no transparent color. I eventually got it to work by selecting the "map colors to game pallette". It also seemed that I had to do this even with sprites that had been converted to the game pallette.
I have figured out what to do to get my work done. But it seems like it is now harder than it used to be. Has anyone had similar experience or can anyone clarify/confirm any of this. I myself, am not sure if I have unwittingly ventured down a new process path or if the new editor has some slightly different behavior in this respect. Please comment...
I'm with RickJ on this. Another point is that installing something clutters the Windows registery a step further, and I have a feeling the MS installer doesn't do a very good job cleaning it's mess afterwards, but I haven't confirmed that for this case yet.
Quote from: Pumaman on Fri 21/12/2007 18:31:53
QuoteI have an intro cutscene with a total of three consequent dialogs in it (to keep it somewhat organised), two ChangeRoom()s and some character.Walk and .Say commands among there. So nothing too fancy. The thing is, I can skip the cutscene right at the start, tho it takes almost a second to actually do so, just sitting there still untill that. But if I wait some five or so seconds into the cutscene and try to skip it, the game just hangs, with nothing happening. Used to work fine when I worked on the game with 2.72 and 2.8. And actually back then the dialogs used to run a bit more dialog_request scripts than now.
If you sit back and watch the cutscene rather than skipping it, does it complete successfully?
Yes, works just fine. There is a dialog with some selectable options in it inside the cutscene, but that's supposed to be jumped over with the help of the game.skipping_cutscene variable. Anyway, the situation is the same with RC3.
As I mentioned before, I'm using a borrowed laptop these days. It runs AGS games fine in DirectX 5 mode, but it seems to have some problems with the Direct3D mode. No matter which resolution I choose, windowed mode or not, my 640x480 game crashes on startup with this message:
Quote---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
There was a problem initializing graphics mode 640 x 400 (32-bit).
(Problem: 'Failed to create Direct3D Device: 0x8876086C')
Try to correct the problem, or seek help from the AGS homepage.
Possible causes:
* your graphics card drivers do not support this resolution. Run the game setup program and try the other resolution.
* the graphics filter you have selected does not work. Try another filter.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
DxDiag doesn't find any problems. The chipset is a Mobile Intel 945GM (which is crap, I know, but it runs Hitman: Contracts and GTA: San Andreas fine). It has pixel shader 2.0 so that shouldn't be an issue either. I've installed the latest updates available through the "HP Update" downloader (again, I know, I know, you don't have to tell me, but since it's not my computer I'm not going to install any drivers not directly provided by the manufacturer).
I should mention, it always refers to "640 x 400" (or "320 x 200" if set to lores), not "640x480" which is the proper resolution for the game. "Force alternate letterbox resolution" is checked and greyed out in winsetup.exe, which I think is standard for 640x480 games.
Edit: Oh yeah, it's running Windows Vista and DirectX 10.
QuoteIf I try to set "Custom text-window GUI" (General Settings->Text output) to the script o-name of a GUI, I get an error like this:
Perhaps this should more explicitly specify that it needs the GUI number rather than name :P
QuoteAlso, it seems that the dialog array isn't defined if you don't have any dialogs. I'm not saying I need access to the array in a game without dialogs...it simply threw me when I got this error after deleting all the dialogs:
Hmm yeah, this happens for inventory items too, and it was something that was deliberately done, but I can't remember why ... perhaps the 0-sized array was causing problems. Of course, since you couldn't delete dialogs in 2.72 this would never have been a problem before ;)
QuoteExcept that the people who are presumably being helped are in fact being led down the garden path of "just let it install in the default "Program Files" folder which is not really appropriate since AGS does not behave in a manner consistent with what people have come to expect from "installed" windows apps.
This is a good point, I agree, and it's now resolved in RC 4.
QuoteP.S. I had a heck of a time getting sprites with a transparent color. I suspect that it is operator error on my part o I am not asserting a bug thing here. I mention it just in case and ask for someone to confirm this behavior has always been the case,
I have to admit I haven't done much testing with 8-bit games, so there could well be a problem. Has anyone else had tried, successfully or not, to make an 8-bit game with AGS 3.0?
QuoteAnother point is that installing something clutters the Windows registery a step further, and I have a feeling the MS installer doesn't do a very good job cleaning it's mess afterwards, but I haven't confirmed that for this case yet.
Well, it can do. But in AGS's case, the only thing it does to the registry is adds the .AGF file association and adds the Add/Remove Programs entry, both of which are removed when you uninstall it.
QuoteYes, works just fine. There is a dialog with some selectable options in it inside the cutscene, but that's supposed to be jumped over with the help of the game.skipping_cutscene variable. Anyway, the situation is the same with RC3.
Are you able to upload something that demonstrates the problem? If there's a bug here I'd like to get it resolved before the Final release.
QuoteAs I mentioned before, I'm using a borrowed laptop these days. It runs AGS games fine in DirectX 5 mode, but it seems to have some problems with the Direct3D mode. No matter which resolution I choose, windowed mode or not, my 640x480 game crashes on startup with this message:
That looks like the general "Direct3D initialization failed" message; but I don't think I've seen this before where other 3D games do work and AGS doens't. Has anyone else got DirectX 10 and successfully run AGS in D3D mode?
Anyway, RC 4 is now up with a few fixes. I wasn't planning on there being an RC4, but some valid concerns have been expressed about a couple of essential features from 2.72 that have gone missing, so these have been addressed.
In other news, I'm now taking a couple of weeks off, so have a great Christmas and New Year, folks!
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 23/12/2007 13:52:21
QuoteYes, works just fine. There is a dialog with some selectable options in it inside the cutscene, but that's supposed to be jumped over with the help of the game.skipping_cutscene variable. Anyway, the situation is the same with RC3.
Are you able to upload something that demonstrates the problem? If there's a bug here I'd like to get it resolved before the Final release.
Here's the compiled EXE, for tests if it's a hardware or configuration issue, ie. does it work for everyone else? I'll sort the source (which is a mess after a year of in-and-out development) out and upload that if it's not just my machine.
http://www.veriloylykauha.net/files/PaavosQuestCutsceneBuggity.zip
Regarding the zip/exe situation, may I be so bold as to suggest two things: Either we should poll users regarding which release method they prefer, on the site, or alternatively offer, for AGS 3.0, both a .zip download and an installer download and then measure how many downloads each of them garners.
I really, really can't imagine any]/b] existing users of AGS on this forum wanting the installer method for decidedly cluttering up their existing installs, start menus & registry and so forth. I'm absolutely dumbfounded by this situation.
Quote from: Mortis on Sun 23/12/2007 15:06:07
Regarding the zip/exe situation, may I be so bold as to suggest two things: Either we should poll users regarding which release method they prefer, on the site, or alternatively offer, for AGS 3.0, both a .zip download and an installer download and then measure how many downloads each of them garners.
Actually a few years ago, the exact poll was done on the AGS site, at that time most people prefer ZIP to installers. So I think this may be a good idea to do this again.
IMO, of couse it's the best solution if we have both, but I think CJ mentioned in a few posts up that he may not be able to maintain both versions. Though I hate installers SO much I think it's up to CJ to decide which is best.
P.S. Another solution is to make the installer at the same time an extractable image, like for example I could extract the RC3 MSI with 7Zip (haven't downloaded RC4 yet) but unfortunately I couldn't just use the extracted files as-if, which is a very bad thing. Bad news is, that probably depends on the installer maker used, which CJ may not have many choices.
There's an unpacker for Inno Setup:
http://innounp.sf.net/test020.rar
Usage:
innounp -x AGS-3.0.0-RC4.exe
The files are extracted into two folders ({app}->AGS and {commonappdata}->demo game) in the current directory.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 10/06/2007 18:24:35
* Editor plugin API: Added ability to add script headers (eg. for enums, #defines) to compiler; and ability to get the list of script headers to access autocomplete data
Thanks a lot!
I installed RC3, copied the files over to another location and uninstalled it, then ran the editor from where I had copied it and it worked just fine... I can live without the file type association and it seems nothing else is neccesary for AGS to work. The only point remaining being the .NET Framework check.
BUG: When I declare a fixed array in module, using a #define constant as show below I get the following compile error: MyModule.asc(46): Error (line 46): expected ']'
MyModule.ash
#define BugReport_MAXCATLISTSIZE 50;
MyModule.asc (line #46)
String Catlist[BugReport_MAXCATLISTSIZE];
That's not a bug.
Take the semicolon off the end of the #define line. :=
aaaaah, an uninstaller! Now I can uninstall it without opening the control panel, finally!
Why it keep asking me if I want to save game before quitting even if I just saved a second before? aw, whatever. It's fine as it is.
Quote
Take the semicolon off the end of the #define line. Larry Values!!11
What a dufus I am!!! Thanks Steve...
Updating the hotspot boxes now works; however, I can now give any possible script name to a hotspot? 2.72 always took care to add the prefix "h", now I can enter anything as long as it doesn't contain spaces...
Quote from: Cinfa on Mon 24/12/2007 11:31:38Why it keep asking me if I want to save game before quitting even if I just saved a second before? aw, whatever. It's fine as it is.
Been that way for as long as I remember, and I'd feel quite out of place without it.
There may be somewhat of a bug with the installer. Add/Remove Programs seems to think RC4 is taking up 400.0 MB on my HDD. Clearly this is wildly inaccurate. Probably nothing to do with AGS itself, though such statistics could cause concern among newer, perhaps less tech-savvy users who may actually believe AGS is eating up their HDD space. :=
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Tue 25/12/2007 06:48:12
There may be somewhat of a bug with the installer. Add/Remove Programs seems to think RC4 is taking up 400.0 MB on my HDD. Clearly this is wildly inaccurate. Probably nothing to do with AGS itself, though such statistics could cause concern among newer, perhaps less tech-savvy users who may actually believe AGS is eating up their HDD space. :=
My counter says 16.78 MB: 11 MB of AGS and about 5 of an adventure. Windows is counting all the subfolders of AGS, maybe you have a subfolder with 390 MB.
Ack! I do have several open game project folders and I've extracted them all out into the main D:\AGS directory to try and combine any necessary files and clean up my AGS folder. I didn't realize that Windows did this. := Thanks
I know you're not around, Chris, but I'll mention this anyway. Any chance of having a 'add to quick-launch bar' option in the installer? That's the way I usually run AGS myself (having added the icon manually), so it'd be nice to see.
QuoteI'm now taking a couple of weeks off, so have a great Christmas and New Year, folks!
The same to you Chris. Merry Xmas to all and an awesome new year!
2008 is certainly going to be a BIG one!
I'm running DX10 and AGS runs flawlessly. The only slight 'querk' is when it switches resolutions from desktop to the game, instead of switching once, it flashes on and off about 6 times before the game starts. Apart from this I am very impressed with it's stability.
Best Wishes and Cheers to all,
Paul.
BUG: Changing GUI dimensions
Executing either of the following statements causes a run-time error "Error SetGUISize Invalid dimensions. I tried various values all with the same result. The game resolution is 320x200x8.
gReport.Height = 100;
gReport.Width = 50;
When I double click my .agf file it loads AGS but it doesnt load any of the plugins in the AGS root directory.
Cheers,
Paul.
I have been toying with some of the new DrawingSurface functions and I noticed that the auto complete seems to work inconsistently. For example in DrawingSurface *surface = Room.GetDrawingSurfaceForBackground();
surface.DrawingColor(14);
xd=radius;
while (x+xd>=x-radius){
yd=Maths.Sin(Maths.DegreesToRadians(45));
surface.
typing "sur" on the line immediately following the definition of surface will call up the auto complete, but typing "sur" inside the while statement will not. typing "surface." will also not bring up the list of associated functions within the while statement. I have not tested this with any other Pointers.
This doesn't happen exclusively within while statements either. I've had it where on one line "sur" will bring up the auto complete and on the next it won't. But I'd need to dig up the code to verify that one.
A strange one: Using the empty game template does, when renaming Inventory item 2, create the following message:
An internal error has occureed. Please note down the following information.
If the problem persists, contact Chris Jones.
(ACI version 3.00.966)
Error: Unable to create local script; Runtime error: unresolved import 'iInvItem2'
Strange. Only happens when iInvItem2 is deleted or renamed, I tried to create, delete and rename 1 - 20 and no other number caused the message.
It's easy to avoid this, all you need to do is keeping Item2's scriptname, but strange all the same.
Creating a new game uses the MyDocuments path as default location.
That's sort of inconvenient, as I keep all my game folders in the AGS dir. Plus, there's no browse button to change it quickly. Thus I end up having to c&p "I:\AdventureGameStudio\AGS 3.0RC4".
Actually, if possible, I would like a Preferences option to set the "default project directory" as all my projects just go to "D:\AGS\".
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Tue 01/01/2008 21:42:46
Actually, if possible, I would like a Preferences option to set the "default project directory" as all my projects just go to "D:\AGS\".
I like this idea too, very handy.
Should I create a new thread for the following issue?
I tried to import a Mask for walkable areas in my game, and it complained the mask was 800x600 while the game room was 400x300.
The mask file is 800x600 because the game resolution and all backgrounds are 800x600. In the property window I see under "Visual" the "HeightInGameUnits" ='s 300 and the "WidthInGameUnits" ='s 400.
In the same Property window the ImageHeight = 600 and ImageWidth = 800. Resolution lists 640x400, 640x480 and 800x600.
Not sure why it thinks the game units are half the size of the image dimensions. Any help is appreciated, thanks.
That's because the game's resolution is 400x300 (http://americangirlscouts.org/agswiki/Graphics%2C_Characters%2C_Text_%26_Rooms#Objects_don.27t_align_properly_in_high-res_mode) (even though the displayed resolution is 800x600).
As far as I know, the only type of "areas" that can have a hi-res mask are the walk-behind areas, you still need to use 400x300 masks for walkable areas.
So, for "hi-res" games (640x400, 640x480, 800x600) you can't have per pixel precision when say placing sprites, etc., stuff can only be placed at even coordinates of the displayed image.
Quote from: Gilbot V7000a on Wed 02/01/2008 03:45:27
That's because the game's resolution is 400x300 (http://americangirlscouts.org/agswiki/Graphics%2C_Characters%2C_Text_%26_Rooms#Objects_don.27t_align_properly_in_high-res_mode) (even though the displayed resolution is 800x600).
As far as I know, the only type of "areas" that can have a hi-res mask are the walk-behind areas, you still need to use 400x300 masks for walkable areas.
So, for "hi-res" games (640x400, 640x480, 800x600) you can't have per pixel precision when say placing sprites, etc., stuff can only be placed at even coordinates of the displayed image.
Thanks for clearing this up. You are right, walk behinds do allow an 800x600 mask. If those work, any possibility that future versions can work with 800x600 versions of hotspot, walkable area and region masks?
Otherwise, I'm not understanding how one can iterate frequently on backgrounds if I can't use hotspot, walkable area and region masks with 800x600 background images. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I import a new background graphic, I will have to redraw the mask areas each time? What about the code that is written for each hotspot, etc area. Do I have to rewrite that?
Quote from: Sparkplug.Creations on Wed 02/01/2008 05:10:02
Thanks for clearing this up. You are right, walk behinds do allow an 800x600 mask. If those work, any possibility that future versions can work with 800x600 versions of hotspot, walkable area and region masks?
As quoted in the BFAQ WIKI entry, there's a tracker entry (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/tracker.php?action=detail&id=367) about it. It is one of the most sought features for years. The problem is, having this change of behaviour will probably break a lot of compatibilities with older versions. It depends on when CJ finds it right to have the time to make such a "bold" move.
Quote
Otherwise, I'm not understanding how one can iterate frequently on backgrounds if I can't use hotspot, walkable area and region masks with 800x600 background images. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I import a new background graphic, I will have to redraw the mask areas each time? What about the code that is written for each hotspot, etc area. Do I have to rewrite that?
No, as far as I know unless the background is of different size to the original, the area masks shouldn't be destroyed when you import a new bg to a room, so you shouldn't need changes to them. If you import masks for the areas rather than drawing them with the (limited) tools of the editor, you may just draw the masks like this:
1) Shrink a bg image to half in both horizontal and vertical directions, and then draw the mask in a separate layer; or
2) Draw the mask in a separate layer, and then shrink it half in both horizontal and vertical directions (remember to turn OFF any filtering while resizing, or it will ruin the mask by say, anti-aliasing the edges).
whichever fits you.
Just noticed the following minor glitch:
The manual states that the values for the transparency-parameter from DrawSprite ( ) should range from 0-100 while it seems that they range from 0-99 in fact. When calling DrawSprite ( ) with a transparency of 99, the sprite is drawn without any transparency, with 100 it's not drawn at all (or completely transparent).
This should be easy to fix.
Additionally, the value is still used as opacity. 20 yields a barely visible sprite, while with a setting of 80, it's almost completely opaque.
Transparency should behave the other way 'round.
yep. is it transparency or opaqueness? ;D
We could always use "alpha" instead, which would probably be more accurate. I think transparency is the simplest term for it.
yes.
alpha=0 -> transparent
alpha=100 -> opaque
why 100? why not 256?
I'd prefer 0-1.
There's little point in changing the name of the value. To be consistent with Character.Transparency and Object.Transparency the functionality should simply be reversed so 0 = opaque and 100 = invisible as it should be according to the documentation. I don't see any problem in doing this before 3.0 final since this is a newly introduced function and anyone converting their game from 2.72 will have to change their code considerably to use the DrawingSurface functions anyway. Doing so now should affect very few people.
The actual bug seems to be this reversal of the 0-99 transparency scale, not as dkh points out that Transparency 100 doesn't draw the sprite at all, which is the expected functionality.
I have encountered a bug.
My music files aren't found when my game is compiled and ready to be distributed. The music files work fine when running the game from the editor (both with and without debug mode on) and from Windows Media Player, but don't work when running the game from the executable. The files are in MIDI format. Is that a problem with the editor or my machine?
Another thing I've noticed:
Here's an island map:
(http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/5378/islandmapee5.png)
The brown path is drawn using a 5x5 square brush. I've imported the same pic as WA map and erased every WA besides the path.
If Roger is at spot A and I click near B, he won't even move. I have to make him walk to a spot about halfway in between first.
Then I painted over the path, using a 10x10 brush, keeping the structure.
With this new map, the pathfinding works flawlessly.
I assume that in the first case, A* gives up before the path is discovered. If this is true, would it be possible to include a game var that'll force A* to carry on?
EDIT:
dkh: To be honest, I'm a bit confused by your reply. What exactly is your point?
Ishmael: The manual talks about 3 pixels so I assume that's the grid space the pathfinder is using. Drawing areas with a 5x5 brush should be more than enough to get the pathfinder to work properly.
Quote from: KhrisMUC on Thu 03/01/2008 13:39:28
I assume that in the first case, A* gives up before the path is discovered. If this is true, would it be possible to include a game var that'll force A* to carry on?
That would certainly create a noticeable lag though - with complicated paths like this, the game might seem frozen for several seconds, confusing the user.
But this is similar to adding "noloopcheck" for functions: when running heavy loops, the game might appear frozen for quite some time (which is why AGS used to "crash" in those situations). Since we have "noloopcheck" now, it'd probably be consistent to add the path finding-option as well.
The pathfinder's easy to confuse with narrow walkable areas, as it atleast used to be said in the manual I think, but wide enough it's just fine. This made making simple mazes rather pointless since the user could let the pathfinder solve it :P
QuoteAnother minor glitch:
In the lower-right corner, where the help for parameters are displayed, when I activate a GUI button's ClipImage-property, it says: "If true, the button image will not be allowed to overflow outside the size of the button". This is both misleading and wrong. First of all, it should be: "If false [...]" and second, you can also shrink a button-image with the function.
The above turned out as a misunderstanding...
No, it should be "If true..." like it is. If ClipImage is set to true then the image will be clipped if it exceeds the size of the button. Which is exactly what it says.
@dkh's post below: Not a problem. It's just ClipImage controls whether or not the image will be clipped. Get it? :=
Oh, then I misunderstood ClipImage all along. I'll change my post in order to not confuse people.
Never mind my above post. I figured it out. No bugs found so far. Good job CJ.
:-[
QuoteHere's the compiled EXE, for tests if it's a hardware or configuration issue, ie. does it work for everyone else? I'll sort the source (which is a mess after a year of in-and-out development) out and upload that if it's not just my machine.
http://www.veriloylykauha.net/files/PaavosQuestCutsceneBuggity.zip
I tried this out and tried skipping the cutscene at various points but it seemed to work ok. Specifically what are you pressing and at what time and in which screen to cause it to hang?
QuoteEither we should poll users regarding which release method they prefer, on the site, or alternatively offer, for AGS 3.0, both a .zip download and an installer download and then measure how many downloads each of them garners.
I've already listed the reasons why an installer is beneficial. If a ZIP version is offered, then some people will download it, get the MSCOREE.DLL .net error and post bug reports -- hassle which could be avoided by only offering an installer version.
However I will consider providing both if it's feasible to do so.
QuoteWhy it keep asking me if I want to save game before quitting even if I just saved a second before? aw, whatever. It's fine as it is.
It's actually not an easy task to determine if anything has been changed because of all the different things that you can modify -- therefore it's easier to simply always ask this question.
QuoteUpdating the hotspot boxes now works; however, I can now give any possible script name to a hotspot? 2.72 always took care to add the prefix "h", now I can enter anything as long as it doesn't contain spaces...
Yes, you can use any name you want. It's still recommended to use the "hHotspotName" convention but you don't have to if you don't want to.
QuoteI know you're not around, Chris, but I'll mention this anyway. Any chance of having a 'add to quick-launch bar' option in the installer? That's the way I usually run AGS myself (having added the icon manually), so it'd be nice to see.
Yep, this'd be easy enough to add. I'll make it un-checked by default.
QuoteExecuting either of the following statements causes a run-time error "Error SetGUISize Invalid dimensions. I tried various values all with the same result. The game resolution is 320x200x8.
gReport.Height = 100;
gReport.Width = 50;
I can't replicate this, can you be more specific about what causes it? What resolution is your game? Is it only a specific GUI that has this problem?
QuoteWhen I double click my .agf file it loads AGS but it doesnt load any of the plugins in the AGS root directory.
Are you definitely using RC 4? This was a problem in RC 3 but should now be fixed.
QuoteI have been toying with some of the new DrawingSurface functions and I noticed that the auto complete seems to work inconsistently.
When you're adding new code to the bottom of a function, autocomplete can get confused and not recognise local variables. It's something I'm aware of but I'm not sure if I'll have time to fix it for 3.0 Final. A workaround is to save and close the script, and then open it up again.
QuoteA strange one: Using the empty game template does, when renaming Inventory item 2, create the following message:
Error: Unable to create local script; Runtime error: unresolved import 'iInvItem2'
Do you have a room script that's referencing iInvItem2? Try a Rebuild All to find out.
QuoteCreating a new game uses the MyDocuments path as default location.
That's sort of inconvenient, as I keep all my game folders in the AGS dir. Plus, there's no browse button to change it quickly. Thus I end up having to c&p "I:\AdventureGameStudio\AGS 3.0RC4".
This change is necessary because of Windows Vista not allowing you to write to the AGS folder if you've installed it in Program Files.
Since creating a new game isn't exactly something you do on a daily basis, I don't think the copy & paste here is a particular chore that needs addressing.
QuoteActually, if possible, I would like a Preferences option to set the "default project directory" as all my projects just go to "D:\AGS\".
I like this idea too, very handy.
I'm intruiged, how often do you create a new game? I was under the impression that it would be so rarely that this wouldn't be anything worth worrying about...
QuoteI tried to import a Mask for walkable areas in my game, and it complained the mask was 800x600 while the game room was 400x300.
Gilbot's answer is correct, but I appreciate that this is rather counter-intuitive for people new to AGS. It should probably automatically import and resize the mask for you, which is something I'll consider for a future version.
QuoteOtherwise, I'm not understanding how one can iterate frequently on backgrounds if I can't use hotspot, walkable area and region masks with 800x600 background images. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I import a new background graphic, I will have to redraw the mask areas each time? What about the code that is written for each hotspot, etc area. Do I have to rewrite that?
As Gilbot says this is handled automatically so you should be able to import new backgrounds without any problems. It's simply that internally all the masks (except the walk-behinds) are stored in low-res to save disk space since pixel-perfect precision isn't generally needed with walkable areas and hotspots.
QuoteThe manual states that the values for the transparency-parameter from DrawSprite ( ) should range from 0-100 while it seems that they range from 0-99 in fact
Which command are you talking about here?
DrawingSurface.DrawImage?
QuoteAdditionally, the value is still used as opacity. 20 yields a barely visible sprite, while with a setting of 80, it's almost completely opaque.
Transparency should behave the other way 'round.
If that's the case it's definitely a bug (assuming that you're also talking about DrawingSurface.DrawImage) because the manual states that 0 is opaque and 100 is fully transparent.
I'll investigate this.
QuoteI assume that in the first case, A* gives up before the path is discovered. If this is true, would it be possible to include a game var that'll force A* to carry on?
As dkh says, the problem is that this could lead to Move commands taking a noticeable amount of time. Pathfinding is quite an expensive thing to do, and AGS scales down the walkable area mask by a factor of 3 before calculating it, in order to improve the speed.
But also, if you click in a non-walkable area, for performance reasons AGS scans every 5th pixel moving outwards to find the nearest walkable area, so potentially with <5-pixel thick areas it might skip over the walkable area altogether; maybe this is causing your problem. I'll investigate whether this can be improved.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 07/01/2008 22:20:47QuoteActually, if possible, I would like a Preferences option to set the "default project directory" as all my projects just go to "D:\AGS\".
I like this idea too, very handy.
I'm intruiged, how often do you create a new game? I was under the impression that it would be so rarely that this wouldn't be anything worth worrying about...
Actually I'm rather fond of making new game projects. I'm always testing out new ideas as well as developing new modules. Most of which get tossed by the wayside for various reasons, but I'd say at least once every week or two I'm making a new game project.
It's not a huge issue for me to just type D:\AGS but it would save me some time and potential aggravation trying to find that project I just made that has suddenly gone missing (I almost NEVER use the My Documents folder for anything as this is a shared computer and I just put all my files on the second HDD).
As for the ZIP vs. Installer issue, I'm not bothered so much by it as long as the installer is customizable to my liking (;)) and the uninstaller properly removes all files/associations/registry entries/etc. which is usually my main concern with installers.
Yeah I too have a number of side projects and like to experiment on a regular basis. I would also like a Preferences option to set the "default project directory".
Besides, it's an issue every AGS developer is going to have every single time a new project is started. And counting by the number of developers out there that could amount to quite a few inconveniences. ;)
Cheers,
Paul.
I often make new projects to test out modules, plugins, templates... just sharing.
I think it's pretty common practice to create new games for various reasons as monkey, subspark, and rui have said. The only thing that is in my MyDocuments directory is default crap other application installers have dumped in there. I honestly don't understand the resistance to implementing user configurable default paths for the various AGS files/entities (i.e. games, fonts, sprites, modules, etc). It seems to me that the number of programmers and engineers here at AGS are increasing and so likely an increased demand for this.
Minor issue: You can set multiple views to have the same name. The only error generated will say "Macro XXX is already defined." from "_AutoGenerated.ash". It would probably be better to have the error say "View XXX is already defined." or best to just disallow this altogether.
@Rick's post above: I don't think that every AGS user will need or indeed even want the ability to set this. Chris isn't against making AGS more customizable, he's simply trying to focus on the more important issues, which IMO is best for the program and the community overall. This is IMO a pretty low-priority, non-essential request; but it was just that: a request. The reasoning behind it defaulting to the My Documents folder (if you had read a little more into it ;)) is that Windows Vista doesn't like programs trying to write to the Program Files folder.
I find it a bit weird that in the Characters-category of the project tree the character-list shows the characters' script names and not their "real" names since almost every other tree item is listed by their specified name and not their script name.
I just tried to replace the Main background of a room with multiple backgrounds. When I tried to delete the extra backgrounds (note that this was
after I had replaced the main background), it gave me this error.
QuoteError: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
Version: AGS 3.0.0.20
System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at draw_room_background(Void* , Int32 , Int32 , Int32 , Int32 , Int32 , Int32 , Int32 )
at AGS.Native.NativeMethods.DrawRoomBackground(Int32 hDC, Room room, Int32 x, Int32 y, Int32 backgroundNumber, Int32 scaleFactor, RoomAreaMaskType maskType, Int32 selectedArea)
at AGS.Editor.RoomSettingsEditor.bufferedPanel1_Paint(Object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.PaintWithErrorHandling(PaintEventArgs e, Int16 layer, Boolean disposeEventArgs)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmPaint(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
I found a bug: If you try to set a cursor's sprite to -1 it kicks up an error and replaces the image with a big red X which can only be gotten rid of by first setting a valid sprite number and then closing and re-opening the game.
Why did I set it to -1? Because clicking on "Don't use any sprite" for my wait cursor just set it to sprite 0 which is the blue cup. I didn't want to use the blue cup sprite, I wanted no sprite. :=
Also, it seems that you can't use GUI 0 as the "custom text-window GUI" because setting that value to 0 just uses the default built-in window.
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Tue 08/01/2008 19:09:18
I didn't want to use the blue cup sprite, I wanted no sprite. :=
But you can just use a sprite of a transparent pixel instead.
Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Tue 08/01/2008 19:09:18
Why did I set it to -1? Because clicking on "Don't use any sprite" for my wait cursor just set it to sprite 0 which is the blue cup. I didn't want to use the blue cup sprite, I wanted no sprite. :=
I always use the transparent pixel trick for this.
QuoteAlso, it seems that you can't use GUI 0 as the "custom text-window GUI" because setting that value to 0 just uses the default built-in window.
This has been so for a long time, and for a many times I've spent a few minutes wondering why my custom text window is not working, and why the option kept turning itself off :P Would it be possible to for example make -1 the default one?
Quote from: Gilbot V7000a on Wed 09/01/2008 01:04:11Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Tue 08/01/2008 19:09:18
I didn't want to use the blue cup sprite, I wanted no sprite. :=
But you can just use a sprite of a transparent pixel instead.
That's what I ended up doing of course. ;)
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 07/01/2008 22:20:47
QuoteUpdating the hotspot boxes now works; however, I can now give any possible script name to a hotspot? 2.72 always took care to add the prefix "h", now I can enter anything as long as it doesn't contain spaces...
Yes, you can use any name you want. It's still recommended to use the "hHotspotName" convention but you don't have to if you don't want to.
Fair enough :)
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 07/01/2008 22:20:47
QuoteA strange one: Using the empty game template does, when renaming Inventory item 2, create the following message:
Error: Unable to create local script; Runtime error: unresolved import 'iInvItem2'
Do you have a room script that's referencing iInvItem2? Try a Rebuild All to find out.
Ah, yes. Another report that was, actually, my fault- apologies.
Quote from: Ishmael on Wed 09/01/2008 01:26:40
QuoteAlso, it seems that you can't use GUI 0 as the "custom text-window GUI" because setting that value to 0 just uses the default built-in window.
This has been so for a long time, and for a many times I've spent a few minutes wondering why my custom text window is not working, and why the option kept turning itself off :P Would it be possible to for example make -1 the default one?
In my opinion, a more reasonable solution would be that no custom GUI has the ID of 0 and instead 1 would be the first ID in the GUI list.
There's possibly a very serious bug if you delete inventory items. It seems that although it shows the IDs for any items listed after the deleted item being updated, it doesn't always update them internally. If you'd like I can upload the CrashInfo.dmp file and/or possibly the game projects (working with the Demo Quest project, using multiple (two) projects).
I was
ONLY accessing the inventory items via their script o-names.
There isn't any apparent relevance between running the game from the OS or using RunAGSGame; most of the errors persist either way.
Crash instances:
- Referencing InventoryItem.ID from a room script using the o-name of an item
- Referencing Game.InventoryItemCount from game_start
- Using an inventory item (clicking on it in eModeInteract)
- Looking at an inventory item (clicking on it in eModeLookat)
- Referencing InventoryItem.ID from the global script using the o-name of an item
I also tried adding blank items back in place of the items I removed which seemed to clear up some of the errors, but most remained.
The error doesn't seem to bear any relevance to where the items may have previously been at in the item list as I thought. The errors seem almost random now. For example, adding the blank items back as placeholders cleared up the interact-mode issue, while the look at-mode issue remains.
I'm actively updating this post while I test out other things to try and provide as much information about the problem as possible. Please forgive me if any part of my post is confusing. I will try to clarify anything as needed.
I hope this is the right place to mention this.
I'm working with larger than normal character sprites 591 tall by 351 wide (temp size for testing purposes) and when I go to preview the animations, the preview window is not able to show the whole view at once. Here's a picture of what I'm seeing:
http://sparkplugcreations.org/temp/AGS_char_preview.jpg
The sprites are of the characters mouth moving as a test, but eventually I'd like to use animations that are much more detailed and elaborate, using full body motion.
Is it possible to allow one to resize the preview window or use a pop-up window that can be resized? Thanks!
I got this error message when the game try to play a sound:
---------------------------
Illegal exception
---------------------------
An exception 0xC0000005 occurred in ACWIN.EXE at EIP = 0x0043E03D ; program pointer is +1501, ACI version 3.00.966, gtags (1,0)
AGS cannot continue, this exception was fatal. Please note down the numbers above, remember what you were doing at the time and notify CJ on the Tech forum.
in "room2.asc", line 24
Most versions of Windows allow you to press Ctrl+C now to copy this entire message to the clipboard for easy reporting.
An error file CrashInfo.dmp has been created. You may be asked to upload this file when reporting this problem on the AGS Forums. (code 0)
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
the function is:
19 function oObject0_Look()
20 {
21 character[1].Walk(258, 227, eBlock);
22 character[1].FaceLocation(295, 211);
23 PlaySound(0);
24 DisplayMessage(0);
25 }
if I delete line 23 nothing change
in "room2.asc", line 24
Wrong line?
Quote from: Crazy on Sat 12/01/2008 13:55:51
in "room2.asc", line 24
Wrong line?
same thing :(
thebaddie - if that function can run for every room you will need to create a message 0 in every single room or you will get an error when trying to use it in a room without that message number defined. You can find the area to add display messages in rooms in the properties sidebar under 'messages'. If you are still getting an error make sure that you have a sound0 file in the sounds folder. Also, make sure character[1] is actually IN the room where you are doing this. character[1] probably isn't your main character, so you should probably do an if(character[1].Room == player.Room) test before you move him around unless this function occurs only in one room and character[1] is always in that room.
Quote from: ProgZmax on Sat 12/01/2008 14:35:32
thebaddie - if that function can run for every room you will need to create a message 0 in every single room or you will get an error when trying to use it in a room without that message number defined. You can find the area to add display messages in rooms in the properties sidebar under 'messages'. If you are still getting an error make sure that you have a sound0 file in the sounds folder. Also, make sure character[1] is actually IN the room where you are doing this. character[1] probably isn't your main character, so you should probably do an if(character[1].Room == player.Room) test before you move him around unless this function occurs only in one room and character[1] is always in that room.
room has a 0 message
sound folder has SOUND0.wav
character[1] is in room and he is the main char
every message in the room run correctly, the 2 message with sound crashes the game
maybe cause i imported the game from the 2.72 ver?
EDIT:
a screenshot:
(http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/2842/eseml2.th.jpg)
1: cMarco is the main player
2: message 0
3: the object (http://img407.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eseml2.jpg)
BUG FOUND IN changeRoom FOR RC4
I might have found a bug in the function "changeRoom" from AGS 3.0 RC4. KhrisMUC says it works fine with AGS 2.72
When you set the automatic rooms transitions to "fades" and then put a "changeRoom" in interaction "player stands on hotspot" or "player stands on region", then the following thing happens :
- player first teleports to the coordinates passed as parameters to "changeRoom"
- THEN the automatic fadeOut/fadeIn occurs
It behaves exactly as it used to behave when end-users misused functions changeRoom/fadeIn/fadeOut and then complained that they occured in the wrong order.
Seems to be a BUG here, too -
If I open AGSeditor.exe, it'll recognize the audio plugin, which is located in the AGS folder, the same one where AGSEditor.exe is located. No problems there.
But if I open an *.agf file, I get the following error:
---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
There was an error loading plugin 'ags.plugin.audiomanager.dll'.
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: O sistema não conseguiu localizar o ficheiro especificado. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070002)
at System.Reflection.Assembly.nLoadFile(String path, Evidence evidence)
at System.Reflection.Assembly.LoadFile(String path)
at AGS.Editor.EditorPlugin..ctor(String fileName, AGSEditorController pluginEditorController)
at AGS.Editor.Components.PluginsComponent.LoadEditorPluginIntoMemory(String fileName)
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
So basically, when opening from the *.agf file, it seems not to find the plugins located at the main folder.
QuoteActually I'm rather fond of making new game projects. I'm always testing out new ideas as well as developing new modules. Most of which get tossed by the wayside for various reasons, but I'd say at least once every week or two I'm making a new game project.
Fair enough, I'll put this on the list for 3.0.1
QuoteBesides, it's an issue every AGS developer is going to have every single time a new project is started. And counting by the number of developers out there that could amount to quite a few inconveniences.
But that's simply not the case. I'm sure at least 90% of developers will be happy to create their games in the My Documents folder, so it's not the major issue that you make it out to be.
QuoteYou can set multiple views to have the same name. The only error generated will say "Macro XXX is already defined." from "_AutoGenerated.ash".
Thanks, I'll look into this.
QuoteI find it a bit weird that in the Characters-category of the project tree the character-list shows the characters' script names and not their "real" names since almost every other tree item is listed by their specified name and not their script name.
Hmm, I'll think about this one.
QuoteI just tried to replace the Main background of a room with multiple backgrounds. When I tried to delete the extra backgrounds (note that this was after I had replaced the main background), it gave me this error.
Thanks for the report, I'll look into this.
QuoteI found a bug: If you try to set a cursor's sprite to -1 it kicks up an error and replaces the image with a big red X which can only be gotten rid of by first setting a valid sprite number and then closing and re-opening the game.
I'll look into this.
QuoteAlso, it seems that you can't use GUI 0 as the "custom text-window GUI" because setting that value to 0 just uses the default built-in window.
This has always been the case -- I know that it's not an ideal situation but it's no worse than 2.72 so it's not something I'm going to change right now.
QuoteThere's possibly a very serious bug if you delete inventory items. It seems that although it shows the IDs for any items listed after the deleted item being updated, it doesn't always update them internally. If you'd like I can upload the CrashInfo.dmp file and/or possibly the game projects (working with the Demo Quest project, using multiple (two) projects).
Yes, that'd be useful if you would please. I just tried deleting some inv items but it didn't seem to cause any problems.
QuoteI'm working with larger than normal character sprites 591 tall by 351 wide (temp size for testing purposes) and when I go to preview the animations, the preview window is not able to show the whole view at once. Here's a picture of what I'm seeing:
It's a reasonable point, 2.72 did this as well. I guess ideally it should scale down the sprite to fit the preview window.
QuoteI got this error message when the game try to play a sound:
---------------------------
Illegal exception
---------------------------
An exception 0xC0000005 occurred in ACWIN.EXE at EIP = 0x0043E03D ; program pointer is +1501, ACI version 3.00.966, gtags (1,0)
Can you confirm whether it's the sound or the DisplayMessage causing the problem? (try commenting out each command, one at a time, and see if it still crashes).
Are you using the "Always display text as speech" setting? If so, is the player character visible at the time?
QuoteI might have found a bug in the function "changeRoom" from AGS 3.0 RC4. KhrisMUC says it works fine with AGS 2.72
Interesting, I'll try and replicate this.
QuoteIf I open AGSeditor.exe, it'll recognize the audio plugin, which is located in the AGS folder, the same one where AGSEditor.exe is located. No problems there.
But if I open an *.agf file, I get the following error:
Hmm, strange ... I can't replicate this. Are you using RC 4? When I double-click to launch an AGF file, it does correctly load the plugins from the AGS folder.
Ah, I just remembered that because of the reports with installer issues I just hadn't gotten around to downloading the latest beta yet, and since I always keep myself up to date I assumed... whoops! ::) Ok, if it's been fixed it's been fixed! :)
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 13/01/2008 15:42:24
QuoteI'm working with larger than normal character sprites 591 tall by 351 wide (temp size for testing purposes) and when I go to preview the animations, the preview window is not able to show the whole view at once. Here's a picture of what I'm seeing:
It's a reasonable point, 2.72 did this as well. I guess ideally it should scale down the sprite to fit the preview window.
Thanks, though I prefer being able to preview it in original size, if the only solution is to shrink it down to fit within the current preview window, I'll accept that!
QuoteIt's a reasonable point, 2.72 did this as well. I guess ideally it should scale down the sprite to fit the preview window.
Could you make it so that when you click on the animated view window it just expanded/shrinks the frame to fit the sprite dimensions/default size? I'm not sure how challenging that would be, but at least you'd be able to also see the image at its proper size. Another alternative would be launching it in an external image viewer?
I know the issue of deleting views and folders for views has come up before. They can't be deleted because rather than referencing them by name, they are referenced by a number called an index. If one gets deleted, the numbers automatically change, which could break scripts easily.
Here are some possible solutions I'd like to suggest:
- allow deletion, but the index numbers don't get updated
- user can hide views so they don't clutter up the list
- default to referencing names first and index values second
-Reid
I'm trying to use PlayVideo with .wmv files. I can see and hear these videos just fine in my windows media player, but when I try to play them within a game, either I get video and no sound or I do get sound, but no video. Any ideas what's causing this?
PlayVideo("video_file.wmv", 1, 0 ); // 1 to use ESC to quit and 0 to play in original sound with AVI audio.
Hmm, is it because it's a .WMV file that it can't play the audio? I'll try converting the video to .AVI and see if I get audio.
-Reid
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 13/01/2008 15:42:24
QuoteI got this error message when the game try to play a sound:
---------------------------
Illegal exception
---------------------------
An exception 0xC0000005 occurred in ACWIN.EXE at EIP = 0x0043E03D ; program pointer is +1501, ACI version 3.00.966, gtags (1,0)
Can you confirm whether it's the sound or the DisplayMessage causing the problem? (try commenting out each command, one at a time, and see if it still crashes).
Are you using the "Always display text as speech" setting? If so, is the player character visible at the time?
what a strange thing...
if I comment line 21 or line 22 or line 21 and line 22 the game dosn't crash
instead commenting line 23 or 24 the game crash...
19 function oObject0_Look()
20 {
21 //character[1].Walk(258, 227, eBlock);
22 //character[1].FaceLocation(295, 211);
23 PlaySound(0);
24 DisplayMessage(0);
25 }
Template Text Problem
When creating a game from a template, if the template.txt file is too long, the OK button on the dialog, that pops up showing the template.txt file, is off the bottom of the screen and can't be pressed. In earlier versions I believe you limited the number of lines displayed in the dialog.
Error Re-size GUI
When resizing a gui get invalid dimensions error. I am setting the dimensions in a module and have tried hard coding the dimensions. There are two guis and somewhere along the line the first one started working without giving the error. The second one does however. I reported this previously and you couldn't replicate the problem, so here is the game that has the problem. Press the F1 key to open the second gui and cause the problem.
http://demo.agspace.ws/project/archive/BluBug.zip (http://demo.agspace.ws/project/archive/BluBug.zip)
As a little bonus press the esc key, fill out the form, and check out this url -- I think you'll enjoy seeing this ...
http://typo.i24.cc/rickj (http://typo.i24.cc/rickj)
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 13/01/2008 15:42:24QuoteActually I'm rather fond of making new game projects. I'm always testing out new ideas as well as developing new modules. Most of which get tossed by the wayside for various reasons, but I'd say at least once every week or two I'm making a new game project.
Fair enough, I'll put this on the list for 3.0.1
Thanks, I'll keep my eye out for it.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 13/01/2008 15:42:24QuoteYou can set multiple views to have the same name. The only error generated will say "Macro XXX is already defined." from "_AutoGenerated.ash".
Thanks, I'll look into this.
QuoteI found a bug: If you try to set a cursor's sprite to -1 it kicks up an error and replaces the image with a big red X which can only be gotten rid of by first setting a valid sprite number and then closing and re-opening the game.
I'll look into this.
Thanks Chris. The latter here probably isn't a major issue as most people will use the Sprite Manager instead, but I just figure it could be handled a bit nicer. :P
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 13/01/2008 15:42:24QuoteAlso, it seems that you can't use GUI 0 as the "custom text-window GUI" because setting that value to 0 just uses the default built-in window.
This has always been the case -- I know that it's not an ideal situation but it's no worse than 2.72 so it's not something I'm going to change right now.
That's fair enough. It's nothing major, just something I noticed that seemed a bit odd as GUIs can have an index of 0.
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 13/01/2008 15:42:24QuoteThere's possibly a very serious bug if you delete inventory items. It seems that although it shows the IDs for any items listed after the deleted item being updated, it doesn't always update them internally. If you'd like I can upload the CrashInfo.dmp file and/or possibly the game projects (working with the Demo Quest project, using multiple (two) projects).
Yes, that'd be useful if you would please. I just tried deleting some inv items but it didn't seem to cause any problems.
I'm not sure which problems exactly these particular dumps relate to, but I'm pretty sure they're all related to the inventory issues. If you need me to generate some specific dumps I'll go ahead and track some of those down for you. Or if you need me to upload the game project files I can try that.
http://www.meleepta.com/file.php?dir=ags&file=CrashDumps.rar
QuoteCould you make it so that when you click on the animated view window it just expanded/shrinks the frame to fit the sprite dimensions/default size? I'm not sure how challenging that would be, but at least you'd be able to also see the image at its proper size. Another alternative would be launching it in an external image viewer?
I guess I could do that, yes. However I think it's something for 3.01...
QuoteHere are some possible solutions I'd like to suggest:
- allow deletion, but the index numbers don't get updated
- user can hide views so they don't clutter up the list
- default to referencing names first and index values second
Yes, suggestion (1) is my plan but it's not something I'll have time to do for 3.0; it'll have to wait for the next version I'm afraid.
QuoteI'm trying to use PlayVideo with .wmv files. I can see and hear these videos just fine in my windows media player, but when I try to play them within a game, either I get video and no sound or I do get sound, but no video. Any ideas what's causing this?
Is this problem specific to 3.0, or do these videos play correctly on 2.72? Are you using Direct3D or DirectDraw graphics driver?
Quotewhat a strange thing...
if I comment line 21 or line 22 or line 21 and line 22 the game dosn't crash
instead commenting line 23 or 24 the game crash...
Does the character have at least 4 loops and at least one frame in each loop?
QuoteTemplate Text Problem
When creating a game from a template, if the template.txt file is too long, the OK button on the dialog, that pops up showing the template.txt file, is off the bottom of the screen and can't be pressed. In earlier versions I believe you limited the number of lines displayed in the dialog.
Well, whether it's off the bottom of the screen or not will depend on the user's screen resolution. I'm not going to try to fix this, I think template authors just need to be careful that they don't make their template.txt file ridiculously long.
QuoteError Re-size GUI
When resizing a gui get invalid dimensions error. I am setting the dimensions in a module and have tried hard coding the dimensions. There are two guis and somewhere along the line the first one started working without giving the error. The second one does however. I reported this previously and you couldn't replicate the problem, so here is the game that has the problem. Press the F1 key to open the second gui and cause the problem.
Thanks, I'll look into this.
QuoteAs a little bonus press the esc key, fill out the form, and check out this url -- I think you'll enjoy seeing this ...
http://typo.i24.cc/rickj
Well, I got an error that plugin ags_filenet was missing, but if it's what I think it is that's pretty cool! ;)
QuoteI'm not sure which problems exactly these particular dumps relate to, but I'm pretty sure they're all related to the inventory issues. If you need me to generate some specific dumps I'll go ahead and track some of those down for you. Or if you need me to upload the game project files I can try that.
Thanks -- have you deleted the sprite for one of the sides/corners of your textwindow GUI? And on a side note, I've just realised that the editor doesn't stop you doing so, which it should really.
I don't think I've changed it at all. Though I did have to export the text window GUI and reimport it. Since I've been unable to find a valid link to any of the DemoQuest minigame files, I've been working on converting some of the rooms from an older version of the quest myself. Currently I'm working with the LEC room, and I've been trying to remove most of the non-essential components from the minigames. This lead to the text window GUI being GUI 0, which lead to the need to export and reimport it to continue using it as a text window. I can see if attempting to repair the GUI, or just defaulting on the GUI fixes the problem.
Hi monkey, The links in the DemoQuest GiP thread have been working since last Dec 1. They are repeated here below for ease. The Gui rooms were the most difficult for me to convert/upgrade their scripts. I am not familiar with all functions each style gui has traditionally provided, I'm too old to have played that many games, the documentation was sparse if at all existent, and multiple literal script translations from AGS version to AGS version left many things non-functional and no clue as to how they were supposed to work.
The GUI rooms could use a thorough redesign where each GUI room is based on a solid, current, and peer reviewed template. So that if someone saw a GUI example they like they could just use the template associated with that room. I plan on starting this process with the new verb coin template that is to be included with the AGS distribution. Misj has been kind enough to contribute low res graphics for it but I haven't had a chance to do much with it yet.
If you have an interest in improving any of the Gui rooms give me (i.e. RickJ) a PM so we can coordinate our efforts and so I can give you all the files and resources you may need. There probably should be some open discussions as to what is needed here in the tech forum as well.
Mini-GamesThe Arcade and Gui rooms have been converted to mini-games. They can now be played from within DemoQuest just as before and they may also may be played directly from the OS. Beta releases of all the mini games are available below. They come with source code, graphics, etc.
DemoCycle-A0100 (http://demo.agspace.ws/project/archive/DemoCycle-A0100.zip)
DemoSlot-S0100 (http://demo.agspace.ws/project/archive/DemoSlot-S0100.zip)
DqAgi-S0100-B03 (http://demo.agspace.ws/project/archive/DqAgi-S0100-B03.zip)
DqAgiPnC-S0100-B02 (http://demo.agspace.ws/project/archive/DqAgiPnC-S0100-B02.zip)
DqSci0-S0100-B02 (http://demo.agspace.ws/project/archive/DqSci0-S0100-B02.zip)
DqSciPnC-S0100-B02 (http://demo.agspace.ws/project/archive/DqSciPnC-S0100-B02.zip)
DqVerbCoin-S0100-B02 (http://demo.agspace.ws/project/archive/DqVerbCoin-S0100-B02.zip)
Cheers
RickJ
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 14/01/2008 20:50:43
Quotewhat a strange thing...
if I comment line 21 or line 22 or line 21 and line 22 the game dosn't crash
instead commenting line 23 or 24 the game crash...
Does the character have at least 4 loops and at least one frame in each loop?
no only 1 loop and 1 frame cause it's a wip... then i'll try with more frames
Quote from: thebaddie link=topic=31519.msg434176#msg434176no only 1 loop and 1 frame cause it's a wip... then i'll try with more frames
Would anyone have any strong objections to me changing those editor warnings into compile errors when you don't fill in all 4 loops in character views, because this isn't the first time that people seem to have ignored the warning and then reported a bug?
Quote from: Monsieur OUXX on Sun 13/01/2008 02:28:04
BUG FOUND IN changeRoom FOR RC4
I might have found a bug in the function "changeRoom" from AGS 3.0 RC4. KhrisMUC says it works fine with AGS 2.72
When you set the automatic rooms transitions to "fades" and then put a "changeRoom" in interaction "player stands on hotspot" or "player stands on region", then the following thing happens :
- player first teleports to the coordinates passed as parameters to "changeRoom"
- THEN the automatic fadeOut/fadeIn occurs
It behaves exactly as it used to behave when end-users misused functions changeRoom/fadeIn/fadeOut and then complained that they occured in the wrong order.
I tried putting a ChangeRoom in a Player Stands On Region event, and it seemed to work fine. CAn you post the surrounding script?
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 15/01/2008 19:36:28Would anyone have any strong objections to me changing those editor warnings into compile errors when you don't fill in all 4 loops in character views, because this isn't the first time that people seem to have ignored the warning and then reported a bug?
While I already find it annoying that they give warnings, I see how it could save the tech forum from a lot of questions. Adding three bluecup loops for each character isn't much extra work, and I also realize that the alternate solution of having the game default to loop 0 when a non-existing loop is selected would just make it harder to troubleshoot, so by all means do change it to compile error.
Quote
Quote
As a little bonus press the esc key, fill out the form, and check out this url -- I think you'll enjoy seeing this ...
http://typo.i24.cc/rickj
Well, I got an error that plugin ags_filenet was missing, but if it's what I think it is that's pretty cool! Wink
Here is a link to a copy of Dorcan's plugin ags_filenet.dll
[http://demo.agspace.ws/project/plugins/ags_filenet.dll (http://demo.agspace.ws/project/plugins/ags_filenet.dll)
Once I get it working, it will be made available to everyone as open source.
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 15/01/2008 19:36:28
Would anyone have any strong objections to me changing those editor warnings into compile errors when you don't fill in all 4 loops in character views, because this isn't the first time that people seem to have ignored the warning and then reported a bug?
Hmmm... Personally I would find it *really* annoying. The way they are now, the warnings are annoying enough.
Maybe if the editor creates four (empty) loops upfront whenever one creates a character, then you could leave the warnings and avoid the issues that you mentioned, without getting too much in the way.
Wasn't leaving the UP/DOWN loops a feature for just using LEFT/RIGHT movement?
I would really find it annoying. Especially if it was a stationary character that I'd randomly have to assing loops for just so the engine liked it. Especially if I was just testing code, and loading templates, and etc.
Actually, I already find the warnings that *are* there quite, quite annoying.
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 14/01/2008 20:50:43
QuoteI'm trying to use PlayVideo with .wmv files. I can see and hear these videos just fine in my windows media player, but when I try to play them within a game, either I get video and no sound or I do get sound, but no video. Any ideas what's causing this?
Is this problem specific to 3.0, or do these videos play correctly on 2.72? Are you using Direct3D or DirectDraw graphics driver?
Actually, this happens to me in 2.72 whenever I try to use .wmv files. It
also happened, and therefore may be caused by a similar problem, when I used .mpg files in Unbound.
I had FDDShow installed, and when AGS tried to display the mpgs, FDDShow would attempt to decode them, bypassing WMP altogether. Of course, it resulted in a blank screen. Uninstalling FDDShow fixed the problem.
I guess if certain video filetypes (WMV, MPEG, AVI, etc) are defined to be handled by a media program/decoder
other (or with a higher priority) than WMP, the problem occurs.
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 15/01/2008 19:36:28Would anyone have any strong objections to me changing those editor warnings into compile errors when you don't fill in all 4 loops in character views, because this isn't the first time that people seem to have ignored the warning and then reported a bug?
I'd like those warnings to be changed into compile errors, but does it sound reasonable if the compiler only checked the player character for all 4 loops?
An NPC just standing around, using e.g. only the down loop doesn't crash the game anyway, iirc.
QuoteWould anyone have any strong objections to me changing those editor warnings into compile errors when you don't fill in all 4 loops in character views, because this isn't the first time that people seem to have ignored the warning and then reported a bug?
A toggle setting in preferences would satisfy both groups, I wager (on by default).
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 15/01/2008 19:36:28
Quote from: thebaddie link=topic=31519.msg434176#msg434176no only 1 loop and 1 frame cause it's a wip... then i'll try with more frames
Would anyone have any strong objections to me changing those editor warnings into compile errors when you don't fill in all 4 loops in character views, because this isn't the first time that people seem to have ignored the warning and then reported a bug?
when i programming and the compiler give me a warning error i don't care too much of it, cause a warning means like "Hey, are you sure you want to do that think?" and respond "Yes, i'm sure", so if a get "Hey your char has only 1 frame!" " i respond "Yep, I want only 1 frame, go on". So it's a good idea to change it to an error message.
So sorry for my goofy explain ;)
sorry if I'm asking a stupid question, but I can't find global messages in the new editor. :-[
Is it still possible to change them?
I thought AGS 3.0 is supposed to try to get rid of limits... I think global messages are not used anymore? I'm not sure... confirmation, anyone?
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 15/01/2008 19:36:28
Would anyone have any strong objections to me changing those editor warnings into compile errors when you don't fill in all 4 loops in character views, because this isn't the first time that people seem to have ignored the warning and then reported a bug?
I don't have any strong suggestions except that in my games most NPC only have one loop and it would annoy me creating extra loops just to make it compile. i think thats what warning are for. You can use it but if you make it wrong it could break your game. But I understand that bug reports because of this warning are annoying too.
Personally most of the time I know what I'm doing, and I wouldn't want any extra errors for things that really aren't game breaking...
I recall AGS just using the last used loop/closest possible loop in place of an unexisting one at some point? Or have I just managed to not come across this problem before? If so, would such behaviour be possible to implement at some point to completely get rid of the warnings? (And document it in the manual so we can smack people for not reading it..)
QuoteError Re-size GUI
When resizing a gui get invalid dimensions error. I am setting the dimensions in a module and have tried hard coding the dimensions. There are two guis and somewhere along the line the first one started working without giving the error. The second one does however. I reported this previously and you couldn't replicate the problem, so here is the game that has the problem. Press the F1 key to open the second gui and cause the problem.
Ah, heh. The problem here is that your gLogin GUI is set up as being 321x300 in the editor. This doesn't get validated until this line of your script:
guix.Height = Game.SpriteHeight[guix.BackgroundGraphic];
at which point it validates both the width and height and finds that 321 is too wide. It's a bit misleading, so I'll try and make the error message more useful. The fix is to just change the GUI size in the editor to 320x200.
QuoteI don't think I've changed it at all. Though I did have to export the text window GUI and reimport it.
Ah, it could be that textwindow GUIs don't import properly then. I'll look into that.
QuoteI'd like those warnings to be changed into compile errors, but does it sound reasonable if the compiler only checked the player character for all 4 loops?
I think the best solution here is that rather than generating warnings, the editor automatically creates some extra empty loops to make it up to at least 4 for each character walking view.
QuoteActually, this happens to me in 2.72 whenever I try to use .wmv files. It also happened, and therefore may be caused by a similar problem, when I used .mpg files in Unbound.
I had FDDShow installed, and when AGS tried to display the mpgs, FDDShow would attempt to decode them, bypassing WMP altogether. Of course, it resulted in a blank screen. Uninstalling FDDShow fixed the problem.
Hmm yeah, I've heard other reports of FFDShow causing problems. Out of interest, can you try with the Direct3D driver and see if they play?
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 16/01/2008 20:44:11QuoteI don't think I've changed it at all. Though I did have to export the text window GUI and reimport it.
Ah, it could be that textwindow GUIs don't import properly then. I'll look into that.
I haven't been able to get importing the text window to work properly. Actually, it looks fine except the fact I get a folder in my sprite manager "gTextwindowImport" with nothing in the folder...the sprites aren't being carried over.
Which actually probably wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't already deleted the sprites because apparently it doesn't automatically detect sprite usage by a text window? Even after setting the image, if I then go back to the manager and try to detect usage I get nothing.
The reason I initially thought this was all due to inventory was because there
was an error with a line such as:
player.InventoryQuantity[iNote.ID] = 1;It kept telling me that iNote.ID was an invalid ID number.
iNote was the item's o-name so I don't know why the ID was apparently invalid. This issue was cleared up by adding blank items back in place of the items I had deleted. Removing these "extra" items after recompiling and running the game apparently got rid of the error. It may possibly just have been a fluke.
This is when I then noticed the other errors, because I had deleted the sprites used by the text window during this time as well.
Ok, RC 5 is now up which fixes various reported issues.
Now, it's time to consolidate the remaining outstanding bugs.
These are the ones that I can't replicate:
* Game hangs when skipping cutscene
--> Ishmael, please post an update and more details about when this happens as requested
* Problem with ChangeRoom when standing on regions
--> Monsieur OUXX please post more information about this as requested
* Editor crash when loading room
--> has anyone had this problem with recent versions?
* Crash starting the game when breakpoints have been added
--> has anyone experienced this recently?
* Editor uses 100% CPU if you exit from the welcome screen
--> has anyone apart from Steve experienced this?
This one I can replicate, but so far haven't been able to fix:
* Alt+Tab stops working after you use PlayVideo when using the D3D driver.
Based on your feedback to this, I'll decide shortly whether another release is necessary or whether RC 5 can become the Final version.
Thanks for the fixes CJ. Hopefully we won't encounter any other major items of importance so we can get this one out there! ;)
Quote* Changed editor to automatically create any missing loops in character views, rather than giving warning message
I tried this out by making a new view with one loop containing one frame. AGS creates the missing three loops as empty loops, and still gives the warning:
Quote
Character 3 (Quake): normal view 8 has no left/right frames and could crash the game.
Personally I can live with that- it's just a warning after all. But it's a bit misleading (the character also lacks the up loop)
Yeah, I haven't changed that warning; however, the engine is less likely to crash from an empty loop than it is from having the loop completely missing.
Quote(the character also lacks the up loop)
That's not a problem, AGS is designed to work with 2-directional characters who only have left and right loops.
QuoteAGS is designed to work with 2-directional characters who only have left and right loops.
Which is why the warning seems frivulous unless it happens when there are less than two loops...
The warning only appears if you have no frames in the left or right loops, because AGS doesn't support character views with less than 2 directions.
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 16/01/2008 23:05:02
* Game hangs when skipping cutscene
--> Ishmael, please post an update and more details about when this happens as requested
Oh, sorry, I had toyed around with it but forgot to post my results. Although I didn't really achieve any results... However, I'm not absolutely sure, but it could be that the fast-forward runs into a set of dialog options if the cutscene is skipped at the right time where it's past the skip test but not yet past the options. I can script myself around this though, if it indeed is the case.
Sorry if this has been posted before.
When I click on file/preferences I get the following error:
Error: Value of '0' is not valid for 'Value'. 'Value' should be between 'Minimum' and 'Maximum'.
Parameter name: Value
Version: AGS 3.0.0.22
System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Value of '0' is not valid for 'Value'. 'Value' should be between 'Minimum' and 'Maximum'.
Parameter name: Value
at System.Windows.Forms.NumericUpDown.set_Value(Decimal value)
at AGS.Editor.PreferencesEditor..ctor(EditorPreferences prefs)
at AGS.Editor.GUIController.ShowPreferencesEditor()
at AGS.Editor.Components.FileCommandsComponent.CommandClick(String controlID)
at AGS.Editor.GUIController._mainForm_OnMenuClick(String menuItemID)
at AGS.Editor.MainMenuManager.MenuEventHandler(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.RaiseEvent(Object key, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleMouseUp(MouseEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEventInteractive(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEvent(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
This first appeared with the demo game loaded, then I started a new project and it occured again. Seems to happen every time.
later,
-junc
This happens when you simply press file>preferences? I think you may need to re-install AGS or something. I'm (definitely) not an expert on this, but nothing happens when I do that other than the preferences menu comes up. Maybe the file was corrupted during download somehow? What version of AGS are you using?
Edit:
@ Chris: Just a thought, though it should probably go in the 3.01 wishlist: I really like the tabbed scripts and rooms, but find it slightly annoying that I have to right click to close them. How hard would it be to implement an "X" close icon on the side of the tabs, like in Firefox?
juncmodule, you haven't by chance tried installing over an older version of AGS have you? There shouldn't be problems trying to do this, though the installer might not install all the files properly...
Oh, I've got one more question that's been nagging me, but I keep forgetting to ask. When I imported my game from AGS 2.72 to AGS 3.0, this script was added to the top of my global script:
// Automatically converted interaction variables
int IntVar_Global_1 = 0;
export IntVar_Global_1;
Does anyone know what that means? Can I get rid of it without harming my game?
I dunno what it is, but it's not commented, so if you take them out you'll probably do yourself mischief.
At a guess, let me see - maybe you were using variables that were created using the Interaction Editor, if that was possible, and now that the IE is gone AGS has converted them into a better format.
I've gotten one of those from every game I've converted and had no problem with removing it because I never used the IE anyway (things with those initials are just the devil :P).
Just to be on the safe side, you might try commenting out the import line in your script header and the variable itself in the global script. Next click "Build->Rebuild all files". That way it will recompile all your room scripts. So long as you don't get any compile errors then you're safe to remove the lines altogether.
Quote from: NiksterG on Sat 19/01/2008 17:24:00
@ Chris: Just a thought, though it should probably go in the 3.01 wishlist: I really like the tabbed scripts and rooms, but find it slightly annoying that I have to right click to close them. How hard would it be to implement an "X" close icon on the side of the tabs, like in Firefox?
You can close tabs with ctrl-F4 or ctrl-W, I think much faster than a dedicated button, but it's just my opinion.
QuoteHowever, I'm not absolutely sure, but it could be that the fast-forward runs into a set of dialog options if the cutscene is skipped at the right time where it's past the skip test but not yet past the options. I can script myself around this though, if it indeed is the case.
Ok, well do let me know if you can confirm whether that's the case.
QuoteWhen I click on file/preferences I get the following error:
Error: Value of '0' is not valid for 'Value'. 'Value' should be between 'Minimum' and 'Maximum'.
Hmm, did you set the Tab Size to 0 at all, maybe in 2.72? It shouldn't be able to get set to 0, but I'll add a check in to reset it to 2 if this happens.
QuoteI really like the tabbed scripts and rooms, but find it slightly annoying that I have to right click to close them. How hard would it be to implement an "X" close icon on the side of the tabs, like in Firefox?
Somebody else asked about this a while back, but there didn't seem to be much enthusiasm for it. As Cinfa says you can use Ctrl+F4 or Ctrl+W to close the tab, and there's an X button on the right hand side of the tab strip.
QuoteOh, I've got one more question that's been nagging me, but I keep forgetting to ask. When I imported my game from AGS 2.72 to AGS 3.0, this script was added to the top of my global script:
// Automatically converted interaction variables
int IntVar_Global_1 = 0;
export IntVar_Global_1;
Well, as the comment says it's an automatically converted interaction editor variable. I believe the default game templates in AGS 2.72 come with a "Global 1" interaction variable so this will probably get imported into most people's AGS 3 games, but if you weren't using the interaction editor you can safely delete it.
As monkey_05_06 suggests, do a Rebuild All after commenting it out to make sure no room scripts are using it.
Ah, got it. I will try that. If anything goes wrong, I'll be sure to let you know. ;)
I didn't realize there was an X in the corner for closing tabs. I was looking at the tabs themselves for a close button, which IMO is more intuitive. However, I didn't know about the key combinations, which are definitely very helpful. Thanks for that info!
And one last note: I really appreciate how much work Chris is putting into this editor. I think this is the greatest game editor ever made! Keep up the great work, Chris! 8)
Quote
Quote
Error Re-size GUI
When resizing a gui get invalid dimensions error. I am setting the dimensions in a module and have tried hard coding the dimensions. There are two guis and somewhere along the line the first one started working without giving the error. The second one does however. I reported this previously and you couldn't replicate the problem, so here is the game that has the problem. Press the F1 key to open the second gui and cause the problem.
Ah, heh. The problem here is that your gLogin GUI is set up as being 321x300 in the editor. This doesn't get validated until this line of your script:
guix.Height = Game.SpriteHeight[guix.BackgroundGraphic];
at which point it validates both the width and height and finds that 321 is too wide. It's a bit misleading, so I'll try and make the error message more useful. The fix is to just change the GUI size in the editor to 320x200.
Hmmmm, It's confusing because if there is no attempt to change the height there is no error and everything seems to work. Why is it necessary or desirable to validate the old or previous height (or width) value anyway? Why not just leave well enough alone, discard the old values and then do whatever is done using the new ones?
I am setting the gui height larger than the background graphic so that there is room to place gui controls that are dynamic or programatically manipulated at runtime. In this way they are visible at design time and do not interfere with the placement of the gui's visible/static controls. When the gui is displayed it is resized to the dimensions of the background graphic to hide the dynamic elements. There they remain hidden until a script moves them into view to implement some feature such as opening a drop down list or setting focus to a data entry field.
When working with 320x240 resolution gui's tend to take up most of the screen so it would be useful be able to create guis with dimensions greater than the screen width/height so that there is a place for dynamic controls as described above. It would be great if AGS could accomodate this technique in some way.
Quote from: RickJ on Sun 20/01/2008 04:18:23
When working with 320x240 resolution gui's tend to take up most of the screen so it would be useful be able to create guis with dimensions greater than the screen width/height so that there is a place for dynamic controls as described above. It would be great if AGS could accomodate this technique in some way.
Hmm yes, I can appreciate this. The reason the size is validated is to stop people accidentally setting the size to 640x480 (which would be easily done because of AGS's somewhat confusing co-ordinate system) and then ending up with a huge off-screen GUI taking up memory and resources without them realising it.
I'm not sure what the best way to balance this is against the fact that sometimes it's useful to have the GUI slightly bigger so that you can host off-screen controls or scroll it around the screen.
Hi.
This are some bug/modifications that would be nice to do
*When you change the description of a room, it doesn't update the list
*When you create new subfolder in sprites or views you can't move the existents views into the new folder, some kind of copy/cut/paste would be nice
*When you are editing a room, and you change to do some walkeable areas or walk behinds all the objects hide and you can't see where they are, it'd be nice if there were a checkbox where you could hide or show them.
*Add 5 Ctrl+Z level (I made doble click and I lost all because I fill the screen twice) it should have a few more undo levels
*Add windowed mode the posibility of zoom like 1x, 2x or 3x I have a 1280 resolution and I work with windowed because it's easier but.. it's really small and I can hardly recognaize the things
*Add editing room zoom, it can't be so hard, just a + button and a - button.
* (I don't know if you are working on it but...) I don't know what is the use of the break point in AGS it should allow you to see a value when you stop the code at least that is what I do when I program in VB.NET and It helps a lot when you are looking for an error or just seeing what a function return in a easier way.
Well that's all for now. If I figure out something else I will tell you.
Thanks for the great new version! :)
Quote from: El_Yind on Sun 20/01/2008 22:31:22
- When you create new subfolder in sprites or views you can't move the existents views into the new folder, some kind of copy/cut/paste would be nice
- Add 5 Ctrl+Z level (I made doble click and I lost all because I fill the screen twice) it should have a few more undo levels
- Add editing room zoom, it can't be so hard, just a + button and a - button.
I totally agree.
EDIT:
ok, the zoom thing is a bit tricky, but the folder thing could be really useful.
Well, yes, of course, everybody knows zoom is as easy as adding a + and - button, just add them and you get instant zoom. I did it in AGS once - a button with "+" as text, and another with "-" as text, and you know what? In-game, whenever I clicked them, the main screen zoomed in and out. Amazing. It's like the "Make my Game" feature, except this one really works.
Quote from: El_Yind on Sun 20/01/2008 22:31:22
This are some bug/modifications that would be nice to do
Please don't post the same thing in two threads (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=33204.msg434933#msg434933). My suggestion is that you modify these two post so the one here contains only bug reports, as V3.00 is close to a release and I think feature requests are not very appropriate now, while the post in the other thread should contain only suggestions. If you want to keep their contents this way I may delete one of these posts so only one is kept.
Quote
Hmm yes, I can appreciate this. The reason the size is validated is to stop people accidentally setting the size to 640x480 (which would be easily done because of AGS's somewhat confusing co-ordinate system) and then ending up with a huge off-screen GUI taking up memory and resources without them realising it.
I'm not sure what the best way to balance this is against the fact that sometimes it's useful to have the GUI slightly bigger so that you can host off-screen controls or scroll it around the screen.
Presummably you are thinking about making an additional validation at game start since the current method of validating the property grid dimensions only when attempting to change to new dimensions does not prevent the above situation from happening nor does it make much logical sense either.
Perhaps the validation routine could just clamp the GUI size to the screen resolution instead of generating a runtime error. This would have no visible effect except that less resources would be unknowingly used or wasted.
QuoteI'm not sure what the best way to balance this is against the fact that sometimes it's useful to have the GUI slightly bigger so that you can host off-screen controls or scroll it around the screen.
Well, one option I see is just to trust users of ags to deal with GUIs themselves (and the consequences for being dumb and having a massive gui floating offscreen). Alternatively, you could just have the engine auto-invisible any guis that are COMPLETELY beyond the viewport visible area (simple rect comparison)? Surely no one would object to making a gui no one can see invisible, and it would be a simple matter for the user to set it back to visible when they move it within a viewable area.
How about an "expert mode" that turns off some checks like that one?
Something I noticed yesterday: why did you change the palette 0 option in sprite importing only to work on games < 16-bit? I can no longer import my 8-bit sprites that have no transparent areas as a result (rectangular inventory items, gui components,etc), which is rather daunting. Items like this:
(http://members.cox.net/progzmax/invbone.gif)
no longer import properly.
I design all my games in 16-bit mode by default so I can take advantage of transparencies/lighting and such (I'm sure I'm not the only one). Could you please reset this so it works even in the higher color modes again :) ?
(http://members.cox.net/progzmax/index0.gif)
Isn't that what the "No transparency" transparent colour option is for?
Re whole GUI thing, I tend to agree that it's best left for the user to decide. After all, the great thing about AGS is it's versatility, and too many fool-proofs like this might, in the long run, hinder some of that versatility. Warning is good, checks is good, but in the end AGS has to trust that the user knows what he's doing. And if he doesn't, it's his own fault, really.
OneDollar's post made me go back and check my version, and I discovered something odd...it was still listed as RC3 even though I uninstalled BOTH rc3 and rc4 to get rc5. I was installing them back to the same folder, however, so there must have been some lingering files left over. Now that I have uninstalled ags again and reinstalled to a new folder, the option OneDollar describes is there and it works wonderfully - so false alarm, I guess! There must have been some lingering problem with rc3 or rc4's installer, but hopefully that's fixed now. Sorry about that!
Quote*When you change the description of a room, it doesn't update the list
This seems to work fine for me, what exactly are you doing?
Quote*Add windowed mode the posibility of zoom like 1x, 2x or 3x I have a 1280 resolution and I work with windowed because it's easier but.. it's really small and I can hardly recognaize the things
That's what the Graphics Filter options in Setup are for. You can choose a 2x or 3x graphics filter to provide this.
Thanks for your other suggestions, however I'm not really taking suggestions for 3.0 any more. For now, please post these in the wishlist thread instead.
Quote from: SSH on Mon 21/01/2008 16:33:39
How about an "expert mode" that turns off some checks like that one?
As the behaviour we're talking about hasn't changed from 2.72, I'm not going to risk breaking things by messing with it now. But it's certainly something I can consider for the next version.
Right, 3.0 Final is now uploaded.
Please try this out guys and make sure it's stable.
Assuming there are no major problems, in a few days I'll make it official and publish it to a new thread, to the website and make a ZIP version available.
Wow. 6/7 months around this new engine.
Time sure does fly. And in the meantime CJ has been listening paitently do our every word, and putting everything in its place.
CJ, you, sir, are "da" proverbial "man".
EDIT - BTW, there's this oldish issue -
QuoteQuoteI'm working with larger than normal character sprites 591 tall by 351 wide (temp size for testing purposes) and when I go to preview the animations, the preview window is not able to show the whole view at once. Here's a picture of what I'm seeing:
It's a reasonable point, 2.72 did this as well. I guess ideally it should scale down the sprite to fit the preview window.
I'd just like to point out that this is noticeable in the demo game - not very good form to present a demo game where you have an animation of a closed door opening it's hatch and upon previewing find you can't see the hatch, which is what is animating.
Then again, the Demo Game is unfinished, and that's not very good form either. I feel tempted to suggest replacing the DemoGame with OpenQuest.
Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires on Mon 21/01/2008 22:02:43
Then again, the Demo Game is unfinished, and that's not very good form either. I feel tempted to suggest replacing the DemoGame with OpenQuest.
I suspect this is best discussed elsewhere, but I'd also be wary of distributing Demo Quest in its current state with AGS. I'd still offer it for download though, as a lot of the more advanced code is very useful.
I can't believe 3.0 is (almost) here! Seriously, I've got a stupid grin on my face. Wonderful work CJ!
Quote
I'd just like to point out that this is noticeable in the demo game - not very good form to present a demo game where you have an animation of a closed door opening it's hatch and upon previewing find you can't see the hatch, which is what is animating.
Can you be more specific? Which room and which door?
Quote
Then again, the Demo Game is unfinished, and that's not very good form either. I feel tempted to suggest replacing the DemoGame with OpenQuest.
The main thing that is unfinished is the story which isn't really necessary for it's purpose. The story was invented in an attempt to generate some developer interest and encourage artistic contributions. Other than that I think the script is pretty clean and serves it's purpose (at least in my opinion). The GUI Example mini-games are outdated and should be redone so that they are based on usable templates, otherwise there is not much sense in changing them. Also I've not gotten any comments or feedback in a long time so I have been just going on my own.
Maintaining DemoQuest is pretty much one of those thankless jobs that has to be done. I don't mind doing it and happy to continue but I am kind of burnt out and if someone else would like to take over I have no objection ;).
QuoteCan you be more specific? Which room and which door?
Not in-game - when previeweing the animation for Dar's door in the editor, you can't see the door hatch at all. Since it's a "opening door hatch animation", it's not good. Sorry for not being more specific, thought the quote provided the context.
QuoteThe main thing that is unfinished is the story which isn't really necessary for it's purpose.
That and the fact there are references, in-script, to, say, a Gendr-O-Matic behind the alley of Dar's - but there's no such alley or object. And a door that is supposed to lead to the basics, an essential feature, but which doesn't go anywhere.
A demo game is supposed to be an example of what the engine can do and how to do it, it's an introduction. Not very good if the introduction has gaping holes like that.
That said, I'm sorry if it came out the wrong way - Demo Quest is looking fabulous, especially compared with it's predecessor, the new title screen along is fantastic, and no one can' look at it without saying "That guy made a great job". I'm just thinking of showing it to an outsider for the first time. It's like releasing a beta version of a game to a public who believes they're getting a full version.
So the final version of AGS 3.0 won't get classic SCUMM template (MI and FOA style)? Damn. I was so much looking forward to that...:( I'm working on a game for some time now and I can handle everything: backgrounds, animations, cutscenes etc. but I cant't figure out coding enogh to built my own SCUMM gui. The one that monkey_05_06 did for 2.72 was great. I was hoping that in 3.0 there will be one buit especially for that version. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitching about 3.0 and all, it's a fantastic editor. And verbcoin is great too but to add that real Lucas-Arts feel to it you really need to have SCUMM...
QuoteWhere 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.
You might want to remove this from the first post. :D
QuoteSo the final version of AGS 3.0 won't get classic SCUMM template (MI and FOA style)?
No but AGS 3.01 will hopefully feature our MI2 style SCUMM template officially that Ashen and I have been working hard on over the past two months. It will be released as a separate download before that time and will include two versions, one with the framework (GUI, minimal graphics, main character, example puzzle) and a demo with full speech, complete dialog and a range of interesting and intriguing puzzles.
Keep your eyes peeled as we are we are actively working towards a release and soon.
Cheers,
Paul.
I'm loving 3.0, it feels more creative to be using 3.0 than the older version. Yet at the same time, I feel like an era has passed.
I agree with Rui here: A great job, Mr. Jones. You have taken a load of work on your shoulders, and still give it to us for free. The new version is bound to find new users taking it home, much like I once did- and having it as a permanent guest on their hard drive, keeping a genre alive and adding to it.
I tip my hat in all respect!
(Also, last version runs totally stable, so I think you've really done it!)
QuoteThen again, the Demo Game is unfinished, and that's not very good form either. I feel tempted to suggest replacing the DemoGame with OpenQuest
I think that's a bit harsh. It's all very well to complain that the demo game isn't finished, but it's a community project and I know RickJ has put a lot of effort into it (for which I'm very grateful -- thanks Rick! :) ). If it's unfinished then it needs people to help out and finish it off.
QuoteI suspect this is best discussed elsewhere, but I'd also be wary of distributing Demo Quest in its current state with AGS. I'd still offer it for download though, as a lot of the more advanced code is very useful.
Well, I've had so many e-mails and messages over the months saying "where is the demo game?" and "why can't i download the demo game" that I thought it was better to distribute it with AGS 3 than not to. I've been holding off for a long time waiting for a "finsihed" version, but sooner or later you have to just take the plunge and go with it.
Of course there's room for improvement, but that would obviously need volunteers to make it happen. Hopefully having it included with AGS will provide some extra motivation for people to help out.
I suppose overall my main concern with the demo game is the fact that it's a 256-colour game in what is a hi-colour world these days. Hopefully that shouldn't confuse too many newbies though.
QuoteSo the final version of AGS 3.0 won't get classic SCUMM template (MI and FOA style)?
I'd love to include one, but I don't think we had a completed one that was compatible with AGS 3.0 last time I checked?
QuoteKeep your eyes peeled as we are we are actively working towards a release and soon.
Looking forward to it :)
QuoteI'm loving 3.0, it feels more creative to be using 3.0 than the older version. Yet at the same time, I feel like an era has passed.
QuoteI agree with Rui here: A great job, Mr. Jones.
Thanks, I'm glad you guys are finding it an improvement.
I'm just looking forward to getting it released and out of the way now so that we can continue onto the next version ;)
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 22/01/2008 19:36:59If it's unfinished then it needs people to help out and finish it off.
I think I've mentioned once or twice in passing that I've been working with this. I'm far from having any "official demo updates", but I'm trying to do my part to contribute here.
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 22/01/2008 19:36:59I suppose overall my main concern with the demo game is the fact that it's a 256-colour game in what is a hi-colour world these days. Hopefully that shouldn't confuse too many newbies though.
I wonder how many people would object to upgrading to 16-bit. I have encountered some issues trying to port graphics between versions of the 'quest because it seems AGS doesn't save 8-bit images? I have to re-encode them to 8-bit before I can import exported graphics (both games at 8-bit).
It would also allow the possibility of showing the graphical capabilities of the engine. It's been discussed several times that one of the apparent "flaws" with AGS is that it
apparently doesn't support "
superior graphics", and only does "old-school pixel games". Perhaps if we included a high-res example in the demo we could show that AGS can be used for more advanced graphics as well. But this discussion probably does belong elsewhere. In fact, I think I'll go start a thread (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=33542.0).
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 22/01/2008 19:36:59QuoteSo the final version of AGS 3.0 won't get classic SCUMM template (MI and FOA style)?
I'd love to include one, but I don't think we had a completed one that was compatible with AGS 3.0 last time I checked?
Regarding my template, I'm still working on a "AGS 3.0 version". I haven't actually tested importing the 2.72 template into 3.0 to see if it works and I'm not sure how soon I'll have the new version of the template ready. Of course subspark and Ashen are actively working on their MI2 template. I don't mean to seem competitive, but mine is clearly different in that it's an MI1 template :P so I will continue developing it. My goal is to get as near to the official SoMIâ,,¢ (enhanced CD version) GUI as is possible using AGS. I believe we can all remember some of my moments of extreme anality about this. ;)
No hard feelings if you choose a different SCUMM Verb-box template though. I'm still developing mine for my own personal reasons (who knows, maybe one day I'll actually make a game with it (which of course has always been my plan) :o). But it would definitely be good to include a template for this type of interface.
Quote from: Pumaman on Tue 22/01/2008 19:36:59QuoteI'm loving 3.0, it feels more creative to be using 3.0 than the older version. Yet at the same time, I feel like an era has passed.
QuoteI agree with Rui here: A great job, Mr. Jones.
Thanks, I'm glad you guys are finding it an improvement.
I'm just looking forward to getting it released and out of the way now so that we can continue onto the next version ;)
Chris you're a machine. A sexy love machine. But we'll save that discussion for later. :-*
I too would like to say that I find 3.0 to be a huge improvement. At the first 2.8 alpha release I wasn't sure I liked it. It was new. It was terrifying. And so much didn't work at the first alpha release! It seemed like all was lost. :P But as you've worked on this, it has truly grown on me. Any time I have to open AGS 2.72 I now find myself feeling lost. "What is this?" I find myself asking, "Where has everything gone? Why can't I have two scripts open at once? And why the hell is the game pane hiding over there on the left side where I can't see it?!?"
It will definitely take some adjusting for any user wishing to upgrade, but you got it straight from the monkey's mouth: AGS 3.0 is far better than any prior release of the editor to date!
Quote from: monkey_05_06why the hell is the game pane hiding over there on the left side where I can't see it?!?"
I actually prefer having the tree on my left side. When I first tried out the beta of AGS 3.0, I couldn't stand the pane being on the right side. So the first thing I did was go into the prefences and change it back to the left side. ::)
The strongest force in the universe is the human resistance to change. ;D
Nice job Chris. Excellent work.
Any reason why the download link for 3.0 hasn't been added to the main homepage yet?
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 21/01/2008 21:56:32
Please try this out guys and make sure it's stable.
Assuming there are no major problems, in a few days I'll make it official and publish it to a new thread, to the website and make a ZIP version available.
Gotcha. Just with it being called the FINAL that usually means all checking and bug reports have been fixed doesn't it? Anyhow, no worries :)
just a suggestion: a message that inform the user that he's using special chars in messages... by now the error message appears only if the message is displayed during the game and not during the editing
i think this could be usefull
Quotejust a suggestion: a message that inform the user that he's using special chars in messages... by now the error message appears only if the message is displayed during the game and not during the editing
Well, it's not a problem if you use a TTF font. In the editor, it's impossible for it to predict which font you might use to show the message with.
However, one change I'll probably make in a future version is to simply replace the special chars with ? or something, rather than have it abort the game.
QuoteJust with it being called the FINAL that usually means all checking and bug reports have been fixed doesn't it?
Hehe, I made the mistake of assuming that in the past ;)
Actually the main reason for this is simply to get more people to test it, since some people won't want a "beta" version but will try a "Final" version. This allows more chance of spotting any obscure bugs before unleashing it on the general public.
I have a problem using {this icon} (http://www.bottomap.com/PersonalPages/Cinfa/TheMarsInitiative/GUI/TheMarsInitiativeIcon.ico) when compiling.
AGS says it contains too much icons, but I just added all formats Vista supports (http://www.axialis.com/tutorials/tutorial-vistaicons.html#t2 (http://www.axialis.com/tutorials/tutorial-vistaicons.html#t2)), plus:
48*48 24bit
32*32 24bit
16*16 24bit
32*32 8bit
24*24 8bit
16*16 8bit
16*16 4bit
Which one of these should I remove? ???
Hmm, try removing a couple to take it down to 10 formats within the icon file, and see if that works...
Quote from: Pumaman on Wed 23/01/2008 18:09:11
Hmm, try removing a couple to take it down to 10 formats within the icon file, and see if that works...
Yes, I removed all the 24bit images and now it compiles, but I have no idea how it's seen now on a 98.
Whatever.
Boom:
---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
An unexpected error occurred. Please post the following information on the AGS Technical Forum.
System.Runtime.InteropServices.ExternalException: GDI+ is not properly initialized (internal GDI+ error).
at System.Drawing.Graphics.FromHdcInternal(IntPtr hdc)
at System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs.get_Graphics()
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.PaintBackColor(PaintEventArgs e, Rectangle rectangle, Color backColor)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.PaintBackground(PaintEventArgs e, Rectangle rectangle, Color backColor, Point scrollOffset)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.PaintBackground(PaintEventArgs e, Rectangle rectangle)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnPaintBackground(PaintEventArgs pevent)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.OnPaintBackground(PaintEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.PaintWithErrorHandling(PaintEventArgs e, Int16 layer, Boolean disposeEventArgs)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmEraseBkgnd(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.UserControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
And this:
---------------------------
Adventure Game Studio
---------------------------
An unexpected error occurred. Please post the following information on the AGS Technical Forum.
System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at System.Drawing.SafeNativeMethods.Gdip.IntGdipDeleteMatrix(HandleRef matrix)
at System.Drawing.SafeNativeMethods.Gdip.GdipDeleteMatrix(HandleRef matrix)
at System.Drawing.Drawing2D.Matrix.Dispose(Boolean disposing)
at System.Drawing.Drawing2D.Matrix.Finalize()
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
I just tried to change the main background of a room with this 24bit png:
(http://www.bottomap.com/PersonalPages/Cinfa/TheMarsInitiative/GUI/TitleScreen.png)
edit: I have just recovered the installation of Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0, and now it works.
Sorry for bothering.
That definitely looks like an internal .NET error, and I'm glad you've sorted it by reinstalling -- but I'm a bit worried that a major Microsoft distribution like .NET could go wrong like that...
Quote from: Pumaman on Thu 24/01/2008 20:16:15
That definitely looks like an internal .NET error, and I'm glad you've sorted it by reinstalling -- but I'm a bit worried that a major Microsoft distribution like .NET could go wrong like that...
The automatic update messed up all. I downloaded the redistributable version and recovered the installation.
Quote from: Cinfa on Thu 24/01/2008 23:56:34The automatic update messed up all.
Welcome to Micro$oft.
Quote from: Microsoft Customer ServiceThank you for calling Microsoft Customer Service, could you hold for an hour while we transfer you to a representative in India, who barely speaks any English in an accent so thick they may as well be speaking Cantonese, at your expense?
Noticed three small flaws with Beta 15 (but the update-list doesn't mention anything from Beta 15 - Final, so I guess it's okay to report):
1. When I open/close normal round brackets "()" in comments, it still displays them yellow. That's not necessary and distracts.
#2 is not relevant any more, I guess, see discussion below
2. The drop-down list in the script-files doesn't seem to recognize all functions correctly. I have a large script-file with ~10 class member functions and ~20 global functions in it and it only shows around ~8 of them at a time (usually only the ones near the cursor). PLUS (and that's worse) it seems to have gotten confused with the curly brackets "{}": inside one of my functions the list suddenly switches to the global function after the one I'm actually in if I move my cursor to the end of a "}" of a FOR-LOOP. It seems to confuse that with the real end of the FUNCTION. I can provide exact code, but not publicly if necessary, but maybe you find the mistake without the exact code just with the report.
3. When I click a function from the drop-down list, it jumps to the line. That's great, but if it has to scroll down to find the function I searched for, it will scroll only so far as to show me the TITLE (in the lowest line). It'd be a lot more convenient if it would try to scroll so much until the first line of the function is actually in the highest line and thus show more of the function itself (but check against the eof of the script, of course).
I tried to make it all clear, but ask if I didn't achieve that, I'm kinda tired. If you want to keep some or all of my suggestions for later updates, that's fine.
Looking forward to the official announcement of AGS 3.0! :)
Quote from: dkh on Fri 25/01/2008 00:06:01
3. When I click a function from the drop-down list, it jumps to the line. That's great, but if it has to scroll down to find the function I searched for, it will scroll only so far as to show me the TITLE (in the lowest line). It'd be a lot more convenient if it would try to scroll so much until the first line of the function is actually in the highest line and thus show more of the function itself (but check against the eof of the script, of course).
I think it's better if the searched line is in the middle. Maybe one wants to search something at the beginning, and another is searching a last line.
Quote from: dkh on Fri 25/01/2008 00:06:011. When I open/close normal round brackets "()" in comments, it still displays them yellow. That's not necessary and distracts.
Well it is still necessary to properly close off all parentheses and I find it quite useful. There's been times when I've miss counted my parentheses and ended up with some funny problems because of it, especially in complicated logical statements. Besides, I tend to finish my statements off by typing ) until I see a red one. :=
Quote from: dkh on Fri 25/01/2008 00:06:012. The drop-down list in the script-files doesn't seem to recognize all functions correctly. I have a large script-file with ~10 class member functions and ~20 global functions in it and it only shows around ~8 of them at a time (usually only the ones near the cursor), PLUS it seems to have gotten confused with the curly brackets "{}", inside one of my functions, it suddenly switches to the global function after the one I'm actually in, if I move my cursor at the end of a "}" of a FOR-LOOP, it seems to confuse that with the end of the function. I can provide exact code, but not publicly if necessary, but maybe you find the mistake without the exact code.
The drop-down list should be functioning properly. I haven't had many problems with it. If you're adding new functions, or extending existing ones it sometimes goes a little funny, but switching tabs and switching back seems to update this (along with autocomplete) so they should update their cached copy of your scripts.
Quote from: dkh on Fri 25/01/2008 00:06:013. When I click a function from the drop-down list, it jumps to the line. That's great, but if it has to scroll down to find the function I searched for, it will scroll only so far as to show me the TITLE (in the lowest line). It'd be a lot more convenient if it would try to scroll so much until the first line of the function is actually in the highest line and thus show more of the function itself (but check against the eof of the script, of course).
I would actually like this option as well. If the script could be scrolled to where the top of the function is at the top of the script, or at least as near as the length of the script will allow, it would be great.
Cinfa:
Hmm... I personally stick to my opinion, I'd say it should always jump/scroll just so much, that the "function xyz ( )"-line defining the function is on the topmost-position. Maybe you were thinking about the search-feature, cinfa? For that, I agree, middle is the best spot, but for clicking a function name in the drop-down box, you don't click it when you want the function above that, you look for the exact function - and since the "function xyz ( )"-line HAS to be the first, having that in the first line in the window will actually be the most clear. But I guess that's up to CJ to consider/decide.
Monkey:
1. What? It's not necessary to close paranthesis in the comments. :p For example:
call_test ( 1 );
// this is just a litte something (a test, actually)
In the second line, there, it shouldn't mark my paranthesis yellow, red, etc. The compiler should not evaluate my comments (in my opinion), it shouldn't "touch" these lines. If I forget to close a bracket in the comments shouldn't matter, because it doesn't. It won't change the program, because comments are entirely discarded when compiling.
2. Ah, I see. Well, in future it might be best to somehow update the cache more efficiently, but for now, you're right. Updating it like that makes it work. :)
Two more small suggestions:
1. How about allowing people to hit CTRL+C when having an image selected in the Sprite Manager and having that shortcut copy it to clipboard. I always forget that AGS doesn't seem to allow this yet when I work with sprites.
2. How about increasing the maximum entries in the script drop-down list? Now, it only extends a little bit and I soon have to use the scroller on the right. It could easily display five times as many entries, that would be a lot easier and faster to work with and that it would cover up a larger part of the actual script shouldn't be a problem, because you don't need the code when you're browsing in that list.
Oh sorry, I didn't realize you said "in comments". My mistake there.
However, the script editor does all sorts of funny things in comments that don't matter. Autocomplete still works. The brace-matching still applies. Etc. and so forth. These things don't apply within comments, but personally I never found it enough of an issue to ask for a fix. Even if it does warrant a fix, I would still rate it at very-low priority. I wouldn't want CJ spending too much time on this if it's not something easily changed.
Sorry again about the mix-up. ::)
I'm pretty sure I've found a bug to do with the hotspots.
On using the AnyClick property and editing the desired code (in this case QuitGame(0)) it doesn't work. Only on right-clicking to change the cursor from WALK TO to LOOK AT does it work.
Walkto has always had this behaviour. You'll need to put special code in on_click to handle it otherwise...
Quote from: dkh on Fri 25/01/2008 00:06:01
Noticed three small flaws with Beta 15 (but the update-list doesn't mention anything from Beta 15 - Final, so I guess it's okay to report):
Thanks for these, I'll look into them for 3.01.
Anyway, this thread is now closed because 3.0 is now released.