AGS Awards 2018 - Awards Client (Feedback and future improvements)

Hobo · Tue 26/02/2019 19:54:22

Does the award client run at default 40 or is it 60 fps?
All my character animation delays and speeds are currently tuned to 60 fps and I'd like to know if I need to adjust them before exporting.

Snarky · Tue 26/02/2019 20:20:29

Hah! We're lucky if it runs at 40 fps. Depending on your rig and how much is going on in the ceremony, it can drop significantly below that. It's a beast. I've taken some steps to try to improve it, by reducing unnecessary processing in repeatedly_execute functions, but it hasn't made a huge difference yet. (I'm also thinking of some code to adjust animation speeds depending on the framerate, but I'm not sure I dare.)

The client actually determines the animation speed of each character itself, based on a formula that tries to get everyone to have roughly the same walkspeed. This is necessary because there is no timing data for most of the animations, and they vary from 2-frame to 20-frame+ walkcycles. So it shouldn't matter, in theory. (The formula isn't exactly foolproof, so there is quite a bit of variation in practice, but it's "good enough" for the most part.)

Click'd · Tue 26/02/2019 20:33:14

I think this is a cool idea, but have you tried using software actually made for this kind of thing?

You may now throw stones. Or produce.

Jack · Tue 26/02/2019 20:39:37

Everyone here could use Unity or UE4 if we wanted.

Snarky · Tue 26/02/2019 20:53:50

Quote from: C.L.I.C.K. on Tue 26/02/2019 20:33:14
I think this is a cool idea, but have you tried using software actually made for this kind of thing?

Now where's the fun in that?

Snarky · Tue 19/03/2019 11:46:55

Hey, Wyz has updated and ported the IRC (sockets) plugin to Linux, so there will be an experimental Linux version of the client this year (without copy-paste support, though). Is there anyone on Linux who wants to test it?

VampireWombat · Tue 19/03/2019 16:04:56

Sure, I can test it.

Snarky · Tue 19/03/2019 17:49:13

Cool! Wyz will have to provide the code/build. It would be great if you could participate in the Beta test on Monday, 25. March (20:00 GMT) using the Linux client, but we may also want to try to do some testing before that.

Snarky · Thu 21/03/2019 07:00:55

Bump to officially announce the client Beta Test, Monday 25. March, 20:00 GMT.

If you could join for the beta test, that would help us out a lot!

(The beta version of the client will be available for download that morning. It should be around 250 MB compressed, perhaps 1 GB uncompressed.)

Cassiebsg · Thu 21/03/2019 14:26:42

I'll buy my ticket right now!

Crimson Wizard · Thu 21/03/2019 16:04:27

Quote from: Snarky on Tue 26/02/2019 20:20:29
Hah! We're lucky if it runs at 40 fps. Depending on your rig and how much is going on in the ceremony, it can drop significantly below that. It's a beast. I've taken some steps to try to improve it, by reducing unnecessary processing in repeatedly_execute functions, but it hasn't made a huge difference yet. (I'm also thinking of some code to adjust animation speeds depending on the framerate, but I'm not sure I dare.)

Sorry if I asked before, is the new version open sourced? I have some older sources from 2018 on my disk (from bitbucket) although I don't remember why did I get them in the first place...

Snarky · Thu 21/03/2019 21:41:10

There are some things in the client that are secret up until the ceremony, so it will be open-sourced after the event.

You may have got the project source from last year in order to test an engine bug that had something to do with plugins.

Snarky · Mon 25/03/2019 08:50:06

Hey, a reminder that the AGS Awards beta test is taking place tonight, at 20:00 GMT.

Here are the client builds for Windows and Linux (for the final version I hope to create a Wineskin wrapper so you can easily run it on Mac as well):

[Edit: Downloads removed after beta. Wait for the release of the final version.]

Windows: Download .z7 (189 MB) - Download .zip (235 MB)
Linux: Download .z7 (270 MB)

The unzipped client is about 400 MB on Windows, after I turned on sprite compression.

You can connect up at any time if you just want to hang out, but note that if you are the first person to connect (and you're not a channel op on #awards), you'll end up stuck behind the stage.

Dave Gilbert · Mon 25/03/2019 15:35:50

Hm. I can't seem to get this to run on my mac even using Windows Parallel (yes I'm a mac user now). I will try to get it working, but if not I won't be able to take part.

Cassiebsg · Mon 25/03/2019 15:45:03

Wyz talked about possibly building to Mac too, but he was missing someone to test or something?
Try PMing him, he might have something.

Snarky · Mon 25/03/2019 16:32:04

There is not going to be a Mac-native port, but I'll try to create a Wineskin-wrapped version for Mac users.

Meanwhile, as a reminder: the purpose of beta testing is to find bugs. If you come across anything that isn't working, please make a note of it. If there's a crash, please save the crash message. Screenshots are also a great way to demonstrate if something is visibly broken. Logs are written to $APPDATADIR$ (Which on my Windows 7 machine is set to C:\ProgramData\Adventure Game Studio\AGS Awards 2018 by default).

milkanannan · Mon 25/03/2019 17:19:27

Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Mon 25/03/2019 15:35:50
Hm. I can't seem to get this to run on my mac even using Windows Parallel (yes I'm a mac user now). I will try to get it working, but if not I won't be able to take part.

I think someone was going to livestream it? (Also a Mac user here.

)

VampireWombat · Mon 25/03/2019 19:58:53

Well, I'm trying to test the client. But won't open. No errors or anything, just nothing.
I've tried modifying the acsetup.cfg using one from a game that does work and still nothing...
Edit: There were no errors unpacking the files. I've even tried copying all of the files from a working game except for the ags file and still nothing...

Snarky · Mon 25/03/2019 20:06:22

Can you run winsetup?

Snarky · Mon 25/03/2019 20:34:12

Ah, VampireWombat, you're on Linux, right? There might have been an issue, depending on when you downloaded the file.