AGS 3.2.1 now released!

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Hm.  I actually just got a new mouse and now the "get coordinates" function barely works at all.  It works maybe 1 click in every 5.  It wouldn't be a problem if I could still use the right mouse button, but that functionality seems to have been taken out entirely.

I changed it to middle mouse because of the consistency issue with the right button being erase in certain room modes.  It just gets confusing and kludgy to have the right mouse 'sometimes' bring up a menu and 'sometimes' erase.  The middle button should always bring up a menu or coords, and since it works for me (at least on the last build I have) I can't say what could be the problem. 

If we want something other than middle mouse I strongly suggest mapping it to a keyboard key instead of going back to the right mouse because of the sheer inconsistency of the button behavior.  I think with any good UI you want a consistent control scheme (like alt-f4 always quits, for instance).  The more consistent the controls, the easier it is to use and remember.

[TomatoesInTheHead]

Middle mouse button works okay for me, though I'd prefer lmb/rmb + control key. The middle mouse button (mouse wheel) is just not too good to click and sometimes a click accidentially triggers a wheel up/down event (zooming in the room editor, I think).

What I would like to see though is that the coordinates are not only copied to clipboard, but also set as the WalkTo point of the currently selected hotspot. Especially because pasting the coordinates into the property editor does not work directly, since the property editor uses a semicolon instead of a comma to seperate the X and Y coordinate.

[Ryan Timothy B]

[..] but also set as the WalkTo point of the currently selected hotspot.

Well, honestly, there should be a button to the side of the WalkToPoint on side pane that acts just like a color picker in a paint program, and when you click a spot in the room it'll make that point the new WalkToPoint.

[Ghostlady]

am importing my game from 3.1.2 into this latest version.  I've noticed two things so far.  My music for the rooms doesn't carry into the next rooms but starts over with every new room and my text outline is displaying improperly.  For the music, do I need to change the properties of each music file from Inherit to DefaultRepeat? Any suggestions about the font outlining?


What's the problem with your text outline?
Has anyone else had these problems with the room music?

I am somewhat confused with this music.  In the last version of AGS, the music was defined with each room.  Now that seems to be a problem because it is starting over when changing from room to room.  So, I removed the "playmusic" from all the rooms but the first and set the properties in the audio folder, but it seems this does not always work in other rooms.  So since I have imported a game, what is the correct way to do this?  Each room should have the playmusic or only the first?

Here is a sample of the text in the gui, which displays okay with the outline. The second sample, look at the text to the right and the third sample, text to the left.  You'll see, especially with the o's, that certain parts look like they are disappearing.

[Icey]

Try using the music file's name then .Play
Example
music1.Play(eAudioPriorityHigh);

[Ghostlady]

That's what is in the script.  When it imported, it created it that way.

[TomatoesInTheHead]

[..] but also set as the WalkTo point of the currently selected hotspot.

Well, honestly, there should be a button to the side of the WalkToPoint on side pane that acts just like a color picker in a paint program, and when you click a spot in the room it'll make that point the new WalkToPoint.

Or that, yes. Whatever fits best (interfers least with other functions, is most intuitive, and most efficient), or maybe even both options.

[Pumaman]

I am somewhat confused with this music.  In the last version of AGS, the music was defined with each room.  Now that seems to be a problem because it is starting over when changing from room to room.  So, I removed the "playmusic" from all the rooms but the first and set the properties in the audio folder, but it seems this does not always work in other rooms.  So since I have imported a game, what is the correct way to do this?  Each room should have the playmusic or only the first?

Ah well spotted, yes this seems to be an error in the upgrade process, where the editor just adds a music.Play() to the room load -- it should in fact check if music is already playing before doing this.

Here is a sample of the text in the gui, which displays okay with the outline. The second sample, look at the text to the right and the third sample, text to the left.  You'll see, especially with the o's, that certain parts look like they are disappearing.

Ah, I think this is because AGS 3.2.1 now supports anti-aliasing TTF fonts on transparent GUIs, which it didn't before. However this particular font doesn't seem to be anti-aliasing very well (someone else had a similar problem), so we probably need to look into improving this.

[Calin Leafshade]

Ah, I think this is because AGS 3.2.1 now supports anti-aliasing TTF fonts on transparent GUIs, which it didn't before. However this particular font doesn't seem to be anti-aliasing very well (someone else had a similar problem), so we probably need to look into improving this.

I think it's more to do with the outlining process of the fonts. Currently the outline seems to be done on pixel basis over the un-AAed glyphs.

Really the outline should be rendered by freefont so that it can AA the outline properly

[Matti]

Ah, I think this is because AGS 3.2.1 now supports anti-aliasing TTF fonts on transparent GUIs, which it didn't before. However this particular font doesn't seem to be anti-aliasing very well (someone else had a similar problem), so we probably need to look into improving this.

Yep, I have the same problem. Some characters seem to be closer to each other than others.. it's not a big problem but doesn't look very good.

Yeah I guess Calin's right.

[Pumaman]

The way the outline currently works, it renders the text in black 8 times at 1-pixel offsets around the actual text location, then renders it on top once in the correct colour.

However I think the outline rendering is being anti-aliased too, it could be that disabling the anti-aliasing of the black text would provide a better look.

[Akril15]

I created a short script to give my main character multiple idle views that play randomly, but I discovered an odd little quirk. A couple of the idle animations had only 1-3 frames per loop, and for some reason, if one of those animations started playing while the main character was at a diagonal angle (yes, all of the idle animations have diagonal loops), she will turn up, down, left or right.

Adding several more frames to the blinking idle views so that each loop had roughly the same number of frames as the other idle views fixed this problem, but it had me stumped for a while. Khris suggested that I make a post about it here. Here's my description of the script repeated from my original thread:

I've put a variable named "IdleTimer" at the top of the Global script and placed this code under repeatedly_execute:

Code: ags

  if (player_idle==true && player.Animating==false) {
  IdleTimer++;
  if (IdleTimer>=300) {
    if (player.View==36) {
      player_idle_sm(); //small svga
        }
    //other if statements will follow once I've got this working
    }
}

And this is what player_idle_sm looks like:

Code: ags

function player_idle_sm() {
   int RandomIdle=Random(3);
  if (RandomIdle==0)  {
    player.SetIdleView(171,  4); //idle1
    IdleTimer=0;
      }
  else if (RandomIdle==1) {
    player.SetIdleView(171,  4); //blink1
    IdleTimer=0;
  }
  else if (RandomIdle==2) {
    player.SetIdleView(174,  4); //idle2
    IdleTimer=0;
    }
  else {
    player.SetIdleView(172,  4); //blink2
    IdleTimer=0;
    }
}

The way this all works is that I have IdleTimer work as a sort of "pseudo-timer": its value keeps increasing as long as player_idle is set to true and the player isn't animating, and once it reaches 300, one of several idle views is selected at random, then IdleTimer is reset to 0.

[Pumaman]

Interesting, has anyone else had a problem like this?

[Ali]

The way the outline currently works, it renders the text in black 8 times at 1-pixel offsets around the actual text location, then renders it on top once in the correct colour.

However I think the outline rendering is being anti-aliased too, it could be that disabling the anti-aliasing of the black text would provide a better look.

I think it would be a shame to move away from anti aliased fonts when it's so close to looking good.

I posted about this a little while ago. Perhaps the solution would be a 2px outline (or 16 black versions?). If their was an option to render the original colour twice on top of a 2px outline (like strong AA in Photoshop) I can imagine that making it much more readable.

I tried to mock up an example in Photoshop, but even with 'Crisp' AA it was far bolder with 8x outlines. 4x outlines looked similar. I also tried 5x which had one of the outlines offset by 2px and rendered the original colour text twice.

[Intangible]

Is there any word on when this will become the official release, or when the bugs identified thus far will be fixed? I ask because I'm just on the verge of adding sound/background music to my own game, and if 3.2.1 offers big improvements in this area, I'd prefer to use it instead of 3.1.2.

Or is 3.2.1 such an improvement that I should just switch right away, without waiting for the release to be officially on the website or the bugs to be fixed?

[mjomble]

Is there any word on when this will become the official release, or when the bugs identified thus far will be fixed? I ask because I'm just on the verge of adding sound/background music to my own game, and if 3.2.1 offers big improvements in this area, I'd prefer to use it instead of 3.1.2.

Or is 3.2.1 such an improvement that I should just switch right away, without waiting for the release to be officially on the website or the bugs to be fixed?

Looks official to me already

[Gilbert]

Since this is announced on the main page, this version is officially released.
Further fix/upgrade will go to a new version (be it one with version number advanced or have the version kept but called a Service Release).

[Intangible]

Oh. It's just that the "Download AGS" page still links to the 3.1.2 SP1 release, so I assumed that the new one was still in some "shakedown" state, or something.

If you don't mind my asking, from people who have already installed the new one, is it worth the upgrade (factoring in any new bugs that were introduced)?

[Mehrdad]

Hi

I have problem with play FLC on 16bit color.I need fast to fix that ...please.also for Theora video too.but FLC is better than and enough for me.thanks a lot
this is discussion for that:

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=43565.0

Mehrdad

Edit: Sorry.problem solved.I did play video before fade-in.

[Pumaman]

I think it would be a shame to move away from anti aliased fonts when it's so close to looking good.

I posted about this a little while ago. Perhaps the solution would be a 2px outline (or 16 black versions?). If their was an option to render the original colour twice on top of a 2px outline (like strong AA in Photoshop) I can imagine that making it much more readable.

I tried to mock up an example in Photoshop, but even with 'Crisp' AA it was far bolder with 8x outlines. 4x outlines looked similar. I also tried 5x which had one of the outlines offset by 2px and rendered the original colour text twice.

Now that the engine source code is released, somebody can have a play around with this and see if they can get it looking good. Then we can build that into the next version of AGS.

Oh. It's just that the "Download AGS" page still links to the 3.1.2 SP1 release, so I assumed that the new one was still in some "shakedown" state, or something.

What "Download AGS" page are you looking at? The one on the website was updated on 17 April to link to 3.2.1 and looks correct to me.