AGS 2.6 Final - it's that time of year

[Pumaman]

I just gave that a go, seems fine. What's the problem?

[Scorpiorus]

hmm, for me the 1st button (object 0) (on ICONBAR) has no image then win2k

[EDIT]:

I've just checked it on win98se - the same result

I tried ags256d and noticed that there the button is shown but in that version it's image number is 23 (yeah, that number).

~Cheers

[Pumaman]

Hmm, I tried it again and it did happen to me this time. Well spotted, I'll look into it.

[Scorpiorus]

Now I remember I had this problem before. I was playing with the text window GUI and once I done with it the pop up menu button image slot got changed to 23 (so meaning there is no image assigned).

By the way, when you convert a GUI to the text window and there is an object number 0 representing a label, it's not only affects the ICONBAR but also the text window itself. When converted a text window's object 0 is still the label and not a button.

~Cheers

[Pumaman]

Yeah, good point - that was a bit sloppy of me really, should've spotted that earlier.

Anyway, it should now be fixed in RC2.  

[scotch]

The speed enhancements in RC1 give the previously posted alpha demo about a 25% FPS increase on my system \o/ 83fps to 103fps.

If anyone wants to see the improvement for themselves:

Old: http://agsforums.com/Alpha32.zip
New: http://agagames.com/scotch/alphaRC1.zip


Edit: the second one has an alpha blended cursor, so it would run even slower without the optimisation.

Also, downgrading the graphics to 16 bit in setup actually decreases the framerate for me, altough it could be useful for people who can't run 32 bit colour.

[Privateer Puddin']

Not sure if this is allowed but How about an option to disable the downgrading?

Downgrading takes the fps to around 500 but the game looks silly then

[SSH]

* Added auto-complete for plugin functions and functions defined in the script header.

This only works for the first function/variable on each "import" line in the header, subsequent ones on the same line are not completed.

[Scorpiorus]

Anyway, it should now be fixed in RC2.  

It works fine now. Thanks CJ!


Sorry CJ, but it seems I found a couple more. They hadn't appeared in 2.6 exactly so tell me if I should create a separate topic:

Not sure if it was reported before but when you add a GUI object and start dragging the rectrangle in the top-left direction the object appears to be somewhat reflected. And it's height and width are negative values then

Also I have a problem with the text parser in dialogs. If I type a text in and then try to erase it with the backspace key AGS doesn't refresh the text input window, so when I write again a new text overlaps the previous one until I hit the enter. Then the parser box is refreshed. Happens with both standart (bottom black box) and custom GUI (display opts on GUI). Actually I can get rid of it. To eliminate this I have to either set the dialog options GUI to be additionaly a text window or tick Anti-alias TTF fonts checkbox. Oh, all this doesn't depend on the video mode set. As well mo matter it is in window or fullscreen.
EDIT: common text boxes work without problems.

And about a char type in the AGS manual. The last states the range is -128...127 but I believe in script the range is 0..255. At least Display("%d", char i=200) says so.

Also, downgrading the graphics to 16 bit in setup actually decreases the framerate for me, altough it could be useful for people who can't run 32 bit colour.

I got 100fps on P4 2.4Ghz/Geforce400mx and 45fps on Celeron 300A (375mhz)/TNT2. Downgrading to 16bit increases speed but... !disabling! the MIDI made the speed to fall down dramatically to about 45-50fps at any resolution. hmm... Could it be win2k as on win98 it's ok... :

~Cheers

[Gregjazz]

Possible bug:

There seems to be some issues importing characters into a game. If you import a character whose starting room was set to "-1", it actually tries to put him into Room-1.crm. Starting room "-1" usually means that the character is not in the game to start, right?

[Pumaman]

Also, downgrading the graphics to 16 bit in setup actually decreases the framerate for me, altough it could be useful for people who can't run 32 bit colour.

If you run it in a window, you may well not notice an improvement (assuming your windows desktop is set to 32-bit), since windows then has the overhead of converting AGS's 16-bit graphics back to 32-bit to display on the desktop.
Switch to fullscreen and you should notice the speed boost of 16-bit.

Not sure if this is allowed but How about an option to disable the downgrading?

Downgrading takes the fps to around 500 but the game looks silly then

That would kinda defeat the point of the option. The idea is that most people won't use it, but it will allow people with slow PC's to play your game, albeit not looking as good.

This only works for the first function/variable on each "import" line in the header, subsequent ones on the same line are not completed.

Hmm that's true; the autocomplete is mainly designed for functions though, and since they are always on seperate import lines it will catch all of those. The variables appearing is a bit of a side effect really. Still, I'll think about it.

Not sure if it was reported before but when you add a GUI object and start dragging the rectrangle in the top-left direction the object appears to be somewhat reflected. And it's height and width are negative values then

Ick yeah, and then the object becomes invisible... that's wonky, well spotted once again, I'd better get that fixed.

Also I have a problem with the text parser in dialogs. If I type a text in and then try to erase it with the backspace key AGS doesn't refresh the text input window, so when I write again a new text overlaps the previous one until I hit the enter.

Ah, I've only tested this feature with the dialog options in a text window, I'll look into it.

And about a char type in the AGS manual. The last states the range is -128...127 but I believe in script the range is 0..255. At least Display("%d", char i=200) says so.

Well, it is stored as -128 to 127, so this would work:
char i = -10;
int result = 5 * i;
result would be -50
but Display assumes it's unsigned, so yeah there's a bit of a conflict there. Hmm.

ere seems to be some issues importing characters into a game. If you import a character whose starting room was set to "-1", it actually tries to put him into Room-1.crm. Starting room "-1" usually means that the character is not in the game to start, right?

I don't understand what you mean by "it actually tries to put him into Room-1.crm" - could you elaborate?

[Scorpiorus]

Well, it is stored as -128 to 127, so this would work:
char i = -10;
int result = 5 * i;
result would be -50
but Display assumes it's unsigned, so yeah there's a bit of a conflict there. Hmm.

Strange all my scipts rely on it to be unsigned and as I remember I tried to display the int*char value. And it proved me that the char is unsigned. EDIT: or you mean it is the result int that mistakenly considered to be unsigned when displayed?

[Privateer Puddin']

Well, with the downgrading, the glass is not transparent, so in a real game this could cause problems, that was my thinking when bringing this up.

[Gilbert]

I'm not sure, but I think "24 bit true colour graphic modes" should be an option in setup as some people may not be able to run in 32bit due to their cards/drivers, furthermore 32bit and 24bit modes are actually technically identical. Or did the engine use 24bit modes if initialization of 32bit modes failed?

[MrColossal]

woops!

problem, i updated my MAGS game to the RC2 and when it tints the screen the tint doesn't go away

it hangs around and if i move the mouse over it or anything appears on it [like a gui] it disappears

[SSH]

Related to the anti-aliasing disabled for text over transparent GUIs to avoid the pink effect:

Would it work if the TTF was auto-outlines to first draw the outline with AA turned off and then draw the real characters with AA turned on?

Just an idea...


EDIT:
Also, these days, having up the script editor doesn't stop you from doing things in the main window anymore... when did that change?

[Pumaman]

Strange all my scipts rely on it to be unsigned and as I remember I tried to display the int*char value. And it proved me that the char is unsigned. EDIT: or you mean it is the result int that mistakenly considered to be unsigned when displayed?

Hmm, I checked and you're right, it is unsigned. Well, I never knew that, I have to admit     I'll change the manual to convey this fact. Well spotted once again

Well, with the downgrading, the glass is not transparent, so in a real game this could cause problems, that was my thinking when bringing this up.

Yeah indeed - well the "downgrade" option should only be used by people as a last resort if their PC is really too slow to run the game at 32-bit. I see what you're saying though, and yes for example scotch's alpha demo looks silly in 16-bit because you can't see yourself behind the window.

I'm not sure, but I think "24 bit true colour graphic modes" should be an option in setup as some people may not be able to run in 32bit due to their cards/drivers, furthermore 32bit and 24bit modes are actually technically identical. Or did the engine use 24bit modes if initialization of 32bit modes failed?

The engine will automatically use 24-bit if 32-bit is not supported - but again, this will lose the alpha channel. In this case though, there's nothing the player can do about it if their graphics card just doesn't support 32-bit.

problem, i updated my MAGS game to the RC2 and when it tints the screen the tint doesn't go away

it hangs around and if i move the mouse over it or anything appears on it [like a gui] it disappears

It that with the TintScreen command? I'll look into it.

Related to the anti-aliasing disabled for text over transparent GUIs to avoid the pink effect:

Would it work if the TTF was auto-outlines to first draw the outline with AA turned off and then draw the real characters with AA turned on?

Yep that should work, good idea. I think this was mentioned before but I forgot about it

Also, these days, having up the script editor doesn't stop you from doing things in the main window anymore... when did that change?

erm, 2.56 I think.

[SSH]

Also, these days, having up the script editor doesn't stop you from doing things in the main window anymore... when did that change?

erm, 2.56 I think.

Damn! and i'd been quitting the editor all this time! It's a great feature, CJ... thanks for putting that in! Sorry for the lateness!

[Scorpiorus]

Hmm, I checked and you're right, it is unsigned. Well, I never knew that, I have to admit     I'll change the manual to convey this fact. Well spotted once again

Great! The reason I'd prefer it to be unsigned because then it's more comfortable to iterate (for example characters) in a while loop. I could use an int but it's an old habit to put in work a 1byte vars if possible.

Yeah indeed - well the "downgrade" option should only be used by people as a last resort if their PC is really too slow to run the game at 32-bit. I see what you're saying though, and yes for example scotch's alpha demo looks silly in 16-bit because you can't see yourself behind the window.

On the other hand, were it totally transparent in 16bit, the alpha-blended GUIs would become invisible as well. A workaround for the game developer could be to store different sprites for 16bit and 32bit modes (when needed) and then by checking the system.color_depth variable display the approprite graphic. For the game in question it could be so: store only 32bit graphic image and display alpha blended sprite while running at 32bit and replace it with the transparent object in hi-color.
EDIT: What about an option for each sprite - meaning whether all its alpha-transparent pixels (0<alpha<255) are drawn at full opacity or totally transparent?

~Cheers

[Pumaman]

EDIT: What about an option for each sprite - meaning whether all its alpha-transparent pixels (0<alpha<255) are drawn at full opacity or totally transparent?

That's a possibility - another option would be for it to check the alpha on each pixel as part of the downscaling process, and remove the pixel completely if alpha <128. That could end up with some strange looking results though I guess.