[Cancelled] AGS 3.4.0 Early Alpha [many limits removed]

[Billbis]

Adeel, I am sorry, but where did you get the idea that a) you need a permission for this, b) I have a right to give such permissions???

Because you rock, sir. 

[Crimson Wizard]

Adeel, I am sorry, but where did you get the idea that a) you need a permission for this, b) I have a right to give such permissions???

Because you rock, sir. 

Regardless of this statement correctness, how that is even related to giving permission to make posts on the forum?

[Adeel]

I were asking for your permission due to the fact that it would be suitable only, to ask the other AGSers if you have decided to include the modules alongside the installer.

As for the hosting, I can provide two mirrors for all the AGSers' recommended modules (if the module authors are okay with this).

[Crimson Wizard]

I were asking for your permission due to the fact that it would be suitable only, to ask the other AGSers if you have decided to include the modules alongside the installer.

But that's not only for me to decide. I do not take over the creation of AGS or distribution process; if community made a decision, how I can do otherwise?
Also, nothing prevents anyone to package their own distribution.

[Adeel]

Will you please put this suggestion forward to all the persons who are involved in the distribution?

Also, nothing prevents anyone to package their own distribution.

But that will surely not be the official release. Everyone cares about the official release. Who cares about the unofficial releases, no matter how good they are?

[monkey0506]

This entire discussion has gone horribly off the topic at hand. Feature suggestions of this nature are not appropriate for a alpha/beta/RC/release thread. I'm not trying to deter you from discussing it, but as CW already pointed out, there is no reason why you can't create a thread yourself to discuss it. You should, seeing as you're the one who wants it implemented.

As to your suggestion however, I will point out that there would still be somewhat of a disconnect between "distributing modules with AGS" and the whole process of importing a script. RickJ suggested something similar along the lines of "library modules" which would work in a similar fashion to how the plugin manager works. You could choose on a per-project basis whether or not a specific module should be included without having to manually hunt down the SCM file each time. I began a basic implementation of this via the "Libraries" editor plugin, which isn't in a great condition ATM, and I don't know if I even still have the source files (though it would be simple enough to reverse engineer through reflection). You may want to look into that concept and see if it fits your request.

In any case, this sub-topic discussion should be moved elsewhere as it doesn't really involve this alpha version.

[Crimson Wizard]

Like monkey_05_06 said, and -

Will you please put this suggestion forward to all the persons who are involved in the distribution?
<...>
But that will surely not be the official release. Everyone cares about the official release. Who cares about the unofficial releases, no matter how good they are?

Adeel, you seem to misunderstand the current situation around creation of AGS and "official" distribution.
I do not hold the owning rights of that, nor anyone in particular do. I just do what I see is right and beneficial for AGS and present it for peoples test and approval. Not everything I did or suggested was approved in the past. You may do the same, if you like.
My versions or distributions do not become "official" just because it is me. They may yet become official if people agree they are good enough for it.
By saying that anyone can do their distribution I meant that anyone may suggest their own alternative that, if liked by most people around, will substitute what I did.
I give more weight to some of the opinions around here, mainly to those who were making games or been around for a long time and probably know more about game creators needs (that is my personal choice which seems reasonable to me), but in the end every people's opinion count.

Also, important thing is, I cannot do everything and keep eye on everything, nor I want to, frankly, nor, I guess, I have a right to, nor I think is reasonable for me to. That's why I am getting worried when people start to ask my opinion on everything.

[Pirate]

One limit I would love to see gone is only 999 lines of spoken voice per character!

[cat]

I think the best way to manage modules would be a central database and people get the modules from there via a GUI like NuGet or the Firefox Add-on System.

[AGA]

Someone light the Peder signal.

(too lazy to do it myself!)

[Billbis]

Could it be possible to allow runtime modification of the Name property for objects and hotspots?
Is is already possible for inventory items and characters...
Many thanks.

[Knox]

Since you've removed custom properties limit in this version, will this plugin I am using right now become absolete?  -->
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=42446.msg563322#msg563322

Also, do you think there could be a kind of "pre-load" sprites function in this version? Before playing a large animation, the user could just call the function like "preLoadSprites(0,100, true)" or something...and comes with a built-in progress bar for "loading" (which the user could choose to display or not).

This is what Im using now, but it preloads all the sprites so probably not really efficident(?)

Code: ags

function preloadAllSprites_Array()
{
  int spritescount;
  int v = 1;
  while (v < Game.ViewCount+1)
  {
    int l;
    while (l < Game.GetLoopCountForView(v))
    {
      int f;
      while (f < Game.GetFrameCountForLoop(v, l))
      {
        SpritesData[spritescount] = Game.GetViewFrame(v, l, f);
        f++;
        spritescount++;
      }
      l++;
    }
    v++;
  }
  Display("%d sprites written", spritescount);
   
  int s;
  while (s < spritescount) 
  {
    Sprites[s] = DynamicSprite.CreateFromExistingSprite(SpritesData[s].Graphic, true);
    s++;
  }
  Display ("%d dynamic sprites precached",s);
}

[Crimson Wizard]

Since you've removed custom properties limit in this version, will this plugin I am using right now become absolete?  -->
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=42446.msg563322#msg563322

There's a difference, unlike the plugin I did not change ResetRoom() function; currently it won't reset Object/Hotspot/Region properties to default values. Frankly, I haven't thought about this.

The specification for ResetRoom states:

Discards all the data that the engine has in memory about when the player last visited ROOM_NUMBER, and resets it as if they'd never been there. The next time the player goes to that room, all the objects and scripts will be in their initial state (as set up in the editor), and not how they were when the player left the room. The "First time enters room" event will be run when they enter this room again.

So I guess it would be proper to reset custom properties as well. I will add this to the future 3.4.0 update.

Also, do you think there could be a kind of "pre-load" sprites function in this version? Before playing a large animation, the user could just call the function like "preLoadSprites(0,100, true)" or something...and comes with a built-in progress bar for "loading" (which the user could choose to display or not).

I believe preload feature is a must, although I am not so sure about built-in progress bar. IMO the sprite precaching is usefull mainly for hi-res games with complex animations. Such games usually feature distinct UI style, and "default" progress bar will have little use for them, I think. Are there more opinions on this?

Could it be possible to allow runtime modification of the Name property for objects and hotspots?

I don't see anything that would prevent this at the moment.

[Knox]

So I guess it would be proper to reset custom properties as well. I will add this to the future 3.4.0 update.

Hmm, perhaps could we have the option per room to reset or not the custom properties?

I believe preload feature is a must, although I am not so sure about built-in progress bar. IMO the sprite precaching is usefull mainly for hi-res games with complex animations. Such games usually feature distinct UI style, and "default" progress bar will have little use for them, I think. Are there more opinions on this?

A default progress bar could be cool for quickly debugging/setting things up (kind of like the default slider control)...it could be cool that we could modify its art later on, kinda like how we can currently modify the text boxes? Perhaps the user can be able to plug in his own sprite number for the progress bar's background, and his own "bar" sprite as well? That way people can modify the look of the default progress bar as they wish.

Oh, and the progress bar could also be totally optional for those who wouldnt want it displayed.

[Crimson Wizard]

So I guess it would be proper to reset custom properties as well. I will add this to the future 3.4.0 update.

Hmm, perhaps could we have the option per room to reset or not the custom properties?

Won't that defeat the purpose of "ResetRoom"?

A default progress bar could be cool for quickly debugging/setting things up (kind of like the default slider control)...it could be cool that we could modify its art later on, kinda like how we can currently modify the text boxes? Perhaps the user can be able to plug in his own sprite number for the progress bar's background, and his own "bar" sprite as well? That way people can modify the look of the default progress bar as they wish.

Are you speaking about new Gui control type? In which case there should be one, although not directly connected to loading sprites.
Nothing will prevent from quickly setup such default bar if someone wants to.

[Billbis]

Could it be possible to allow runtime modification of the Name property for objects and hotspots?

I don't see anything that would prevent this at the moment.

Maybe I have not been clear enough, or maybe I am misinterpreting your answer. I was talking about the build-in Name property, for hotspots or objects, who are read-only (which prevent there runtime modification at the moment - AGS 3.2.1). Surprisingly, InvItem.Name and Character.Name can be editable at runtime. IIRC, those names are display by the @OVERHOTSPOT@ label, and thus it can be useful to allow runtime modification of these properties.
It is not a big problem because one can use your lovely editable Custom Properties () and a custom label to do it.
I am not directly concern by this, but one of the not-english-speaker french AGS user is.

[Crimson Wizard]

Could it be possible to allow runtime modification of the Name property for objects and hotspots?

I don't see anything that would prevent this at the moment.

Maybe I have not been clear enough, or maybe I am misinterpreting your answer.

Oh. I mean: "I don't see anything that would prevent from adding this functionality".

[Knox]

Won't that defeat the purpose of "ResetRoom"?

Crap, true. Ok forget that, hehe...

Are you speaking about new Gui control type? In which case there should be one, although not directly connected to loading sprites.
Nothing will prevent from quickly setup such default bar if someone wants to.

A new Gui control type would be cool...

[GarageGothic]

Does this build have the experimental resolution options=? Tried the widescreen variant the other day.

[Crimson Wizard]

Does this build have the experimental resolution options=? Tried the widescreen variant the other day.

No.