AGS 3.2 Final 5 - Recession-busting edition

[Fedx]

You might wanna check this, but I don't know if it's my computer or the instalation file



EDIT: It might be my computer, because I don't have the instalation file in my desk 

[Pumaman]

There was another anti-virus app that reported AGS as a trojan a while back, I think they fixed their definitions shortly afterwards.

[jkohen]

* Added option to automatically add side borders when running 4:3 games on widescreen monitors

Hi Chris,

Have you tested this on a properly set-up widescreen monitor? I can play 4:3 games on my widescreen monitors without any funny stretching, and it would be a pity if that no longer were the case because of a new feature. Any decent set of drivers and monitor allows to set up stretch-to-fit so it doesn't change the ratio.

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I cannot find a way to search within a thread.

[Pumaman]

Have you tested this on a properly set-up widescreen monitor? I can play 4:3 games on my widescreen monitors without any funny stretching, and it would be a pity if that no longer were the case because of a new feature. Any decent set of drivers and monitor allows to set up stretch-to-fit so it doesn't change the ratio.

The new option is configurable in the setup program so you can turn it off if you've set up your graphics card drivers to do the work instead.




Now, I'd like to move 3.2 on to the final release stage, but there are two outstanding bug reports that I haven't been able to reproduce:

There seems to be a bug in the new sound logic somewhere.  It was happening in the most recent beta, and it's happening in RC1 as well.  

When I play the same sound repeatedly, very fast, the sound is replaced by sounds that were previously playing

We all know that to have a character's talking view portrait appear on SierraWithBackground, the character must be in the same room, otherwise only the text window will appear. Now if you use DisplayTopBar function and then use a Character.Say for the first Character.Say played after DisplayTopBar it will have the TopBar in it, the second will have no problem.

Has anyone else had any problems like this?

If anyone is reading this and hasn't yet tried out upgrading their game to 3.2 RC1, please do so now (after making a backup copy, obviously) so that any issues can be fixed before the final release.

[Alan v.Drake]

Hello,
I was wondering... since you've enabled audio panning, then it would make sense to add a property to characters to have the audio linked in their views be panned relatively to their position to the viewport, could it be done ? (if it's not too late)

[subspark]

Thats actually a fantastic idea. To be able to control the amount of panning going on with character coords would be good too.

Cheers,
Sparky.

[monkey0506]

There seems to be a random non-fatal bug that I've noticed in these betas that I don't recall having encountered previously. I'm not sure what the exact circumstances of it are, and there's a possibility it may just be my system.

I'm experiencing (at random times) issues with open script(s) not having the "dirty" (changed) state of the file updated properly by compiling or even by saving the file directly. I know the files are in fact being saved as testing shows the changes are implemented, but when this happens I can only get the dirty state cleared for that file by selecting to close it, after which I am prompted whether I want to save the changes to the file. I've been telling it yes and there haven't appeared to be any major issues arising from it as I've said.

It is something I would say is "reproducible" in that I've encountered it several times, though what's bringing it about I'm not sure, and obviously since the files are in fact being properly saved there's no real way to track it down from a project upload or anything like that (presumably). Anyway, I've figured out how to deal with it, and as I said it might just be my system, but I don't recall having any issues with prior versions.

[Pumaman]

I was wondering... since you've enabled audio panning, then it would make sense to add a property to characters to have the audio linked in their views be panned relatively to their position to the viewport, could it be done ? (if it's not too late)

That's a good idea, thanks. It's too late for 3.2 now, but it's a good idea for a future version of AGS.

I'm experiencing (at random times) issues with open script(s) not having the "dirty" (changed) state of the file updated properly by compiling or even by saving the file directly. I know the files are in fact being saved as testing shows the changes are implemented, but when this happens I can only get the dirty state cleared for that file by selecting to close it, after which I am prompted whether I want to save the changes to the file. I've been telling it yes and there haven't appeared to be any major issues arising from it as I've said.

Well spotted, thanks -- I think this bug has been introduced as a result of a fix that I did in RC1.
The bug seems to happen if a script file is already open, then you go into an Events pane and add an event.

I'll get it fixed.

[monkey0506]

The bug seems to happen if a script file is already open, then you go into an Events pane and add an event.

I'll get it fixed.

Interesting...during the course of a normal...wait...I don't have a normal work flow, what am I saying? During the course of a spontaneous divulging into tricking AGS into allowing me to use polymorphism simply coz I think it's funny (amongst other things, I have a life...somewhere :) I doubt I ever would have produced the exact circumstances. Glad to hear you got it from my description.

[Pumaman]

Ok, RC 2 is now up. This fixes various issues (including that one!), and although there are a couple more things I need to address it seemed like a good time to get the latest release out there.


Again, if anyone hasn't tried their game with 3.2 yet, please do so now, so that we can find any bugs before it becomes a final official release!

[Crimson Wizard]

Again, if anyone hasn't tried their game with 3.2 yet, please do so now, so that we can find any bugs before it becomes a final official release!

Since I finally got a completed game, I will do this now.

[RickJ]

I may have found a compiler/runtime bug.   I have created a module.  An object with properties and methods resides in the module.  I have a public method that originally had 11 optional parameters defined.  In the global script I create an instance of this object and call this method from game_start() and pass 3 of the 11 optional parameters. 

When testing the game I get a runtime error indicating that a script link has failed and the following text: 'BluBox::Init^11'.   BluBox is the object and Init is the method being called when this error occurs.

A close inspection of the module header and module script reveals that the prototype matches the actual function definition (except of course for the default values and the ';' vs '{' ending).  The object instantiation and method call in the global script also appear to be correct.

So to investigate further the cause of this error the Init method was deconstructed by removing all the parameters from the prototype, definition, and call of the method.  This eliminated the error.   So then the method was reconstructed one parameter at a time with an intervening test.  No errors were encountered until the 11th parameter was added and then the error reappeared.

Now here is the strange part, the 11th parameter was eliminated and I expected to get the same results as before - no errors with 10 parameters.  But to my surprise the same error persisted, this time supplying this text in the error message: 'BluBox::Init^10'. 

Now I backup to 9 parameters and everything seems to be OK.    I thought this was a strange behavior and thought I'd report it.  The only other factors  I can think of that may be orworth mentioning is the fact that both prototype and function definition spanned multiple lines and so multiple space and tab characters occurred between parameters  for aesthetic reasons.  Also the optional parameters are GUIControl pointers set to default value of zero.  I am also using previous AGS release (AGS Editor .NET (Build 3.1.2.82) v3.1.2 SP1, February 2009).

[Crimson Wizard]

Here's an issue, but I don't know what is the right behavior here.
Closing "Music" folder by clicking on Expand/Collapse box on the project tree removes Audio Clip from the Audio page, if one was opened before, and opens what looks like general Music properties on Properties Table.
This ONLY happen if Audio tab is active. If any other tab is active (Room, Script, Dialog, etc) this does not happen.
If you switch to different tab, close "Music" folder, then return to Audio tab, then you may open and close "Music" folder as much as you want and Audio Clip is not removed, and general Music properties are not shown,
unless you explicitly click on "Music" folder name (as opposed to Expand/Collapse box).
If you open another audio clip (or same once more), all start to happen again as did previously.


Also, I have a suggestion to add a way (a button perhaps ) to toggle repeatitive audio playback on/off.

[Pumaman]

Now here is the strange part, the 11th parameter was eliminated and I expected to get the same results as before - no errors with 10 parameters.  But to my surprise the same error persisted, this time supplying this text in the error message: 'BluBox::Init^10'.
I am also using previous AGS release (AGS Editor .NET (Build 3.1.2.82) v3.1.2 SP1, February 2009).

This was a bug in AGS 3.1.x but should already be fixed in the latest 3.2 RC 2. Could you try it out and confirm that this fixes the problem for you?

Here's an issue, but I don't know what is the right behavior here.
Closing "Music" folder by clicking on Expand/Collapse box on the project tree removes Audio Clip from the Audio page, if one was opened before, and opens what looks like general Music properties on Properties Table.
This ONLY happen if Audio tab is active. If any other tab is active (Room, Script, Dialog, etc) this does not happen.

This is actually the correct behaviour, but I can see how it could seem like a bug. The problem is that because the audio folders (like "Music") have properties themselves, there needs to be a way to edit them -- and this is how you do it.
Because there is a single Audio pane that changes its view as you select different audio items in the tree, this is the result you get.

The other option would be to make audio work like Views/Dialogs where each one opens a separate tab, but then you start drowning in open tabs, I might make it a preferences option in a future version.

Also, I have a suggestion to add a way (a button perhaps ) to toggle repeatitive audio playback on/off

Do you mean the in-editor audio preview? Having some sort of Loop option wouldn't be a bad idea, however this probably won't make it into 3.2 at this stage.

[subspark]

BUG: AGS compiles and runs fine with errors in the script such as naming a View that doesnt exist but later on (and seemingly at random) picks them up and then wont run the game until the code is fixed.
This late detection is rather unusual.

Also, I can't seem to open more than one room at once. I can't remember if this was normal or not. It would be good to be able to edit more than one room for corrospondance between interactions/coordinates/etc.

SUGGESTION (Aesthetic): Switch Character.ChangeView(VIEW) to Character.SetView(VIEW) to stay consistant with objects.

Edit: Is there any reason why repetedly_execute in room scripts are named inconsistantly with the global script? It may sound ridiculous but I actually prefer the slightly longer name for aesthetics and clarity sake.

Cheers,
Sparky.

[Pumaman]

BUG: AGS compiles and runs fine with errors in the script such as naming a View that doesnt exist but later on (and seemingly at random) picks them up and then wont run the game until the code is fixed.
This late detection is rather unusual.

Was this an error in a room script? If so then it could just be that AGS doesn't rebuild all the rooms when you rename a view, so whenever you next try and save the room it will detect the error.

Also, I can't seem to open more than one room at once. I can't remember if this was normal or not. It would be good to be able to edit more than one room for corrospondance between interactions/coordinates/etc.

This has always been the case. You can open multiple room scripts but not rooms themselves.

SUGGESTION (Aesthetic): Switch Character.ChangeView(VIEW) to Character.SetView(VIEW) to stay consistant with objects.

These are different because a character *always* has to have a View, whereas an object does not necessary have a view assigned at all -- it's a fundamentally different mechanism from characters with Change, Lock and Unlock -- hence why the name is different.

Edit: Is there any reason why repetedly_execute in room scripts are named inconsistantly with the global script? It may sound ridiculous but I actually prefer the slightly longer name for aesthetics and clarity sake.

You can name it repeatedly_execute in the Room Events panel if you want... of course there is the wider issue of whether Rep EXec should be a room event or whether it should just be a specific named script function, but this is down to legacy reasons.

[subspark]

Most appreciated for yours answers Chris! And yeah that was a room script quirk and is completely normal as I understand it now.

Cheers,
Sparky.

[Crimson Wizard]

I have this small suggestion - to completely pause the game when Pause/Break is pressed (and unpause by any other key).
Reason is quite uncommon: this will make it easier to do proofreading when testing a game, because you won't worry of speech text dissapear too early 
Well, maybe there could be other usage for this, like simply pausing game if you need to take a break and there's some action episode goes on which involves timing...

[TerranRich]

Ah, so like an instant pause button. This should be script controlled (i.e. if user pressed "Pause/Break", then InstantPause() or something), because some people might have timed puzzles and that would essentially be a cheat.

[GarageGothic]

Crimson Wizard, you can check for IsKeyPressed(393) in repeatedly_execute_always (for some reason the pause/break button doesn't have an eKey code assigned). Something like this:

Code: ags

bool pausekeypressed;

function repeatedly_execute_always() {
  if ((IsKeyPressed(eKeyF1)) && (!pausekeypressed)) {
    if (!IsGamePaused()) PauseGame();
    else UnPauseGame();
    pausekeypressed = true;
    }
  else if ((pausekeypressed) && (!IsKeyPressed(eKeyF1))) pausekeypressed = false;
  }

(I didn't use keycode 393 in this test because it messes with the AGS debugger and doesn't work well when testing in debug mode. I think the keycode should work in a compiled game though)

Of course you would have to change speech skip to mouseclick or timer only (or using game.skip_speech_specific_key ) so the keypress wouldn't automatically cause the text to disappear.