AGS 3.3.0 Release Candidate

[Knox]

Moved question here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=48948.0

[Crimson Wizard]

I searched the forums and it looks like (to quote Subspark in a PM) AGS does it's own internal mouse averaging and smoothing procedures and that this was likely to compound precision issues with any system/hardware settings underneath.

I was wondering, is this something that is really complicated/too long to perhaps look into and have possibly fixed for a not-too-distant future release? To quote Subspark again, it looks like there would be 2 things to happen in order for that to be fixed: upgrading the AGS pathfinder (it calculates in 4:3 aspect regardless of the wider 16:10 runtime mode), and perhaps make the internal mouse processing going on in the engine an optional feature (not hard compiled into our games).

I think I saw this mouse problem myself; I thought it is related to the coordinates scaling AGS does to mouse cursor position. This is most noticeable with custom display resolution build, when the 4:3 game is proportionally stretched to large wide-screen window. Now when I read that thread I am a bit confused. Are there two problems, the second being lack of hardware acceleration support? I wasn't aware of this, and I do not even know where to start looking.
I think this problem deserves its own thread BTW (and it is an Engine problem, not Editor's).

I was planning to look into both mouse and pathfinder issues naturally since I am working on custom resolutions now. But I have no certain forecast.

[Knox]

Ah crap ok I wasnt sure where to put it...perhaps someone can move it in its own thread?

[Knox]

Ok I moved the post to the right thread, sorry about that

[Ryan Timothy B]

I'd like to point out that the thread this conversation started in was this one.
Also I believe Crimson had meant he actually wanted to see the png files themselves as well.

[cat]

Looks like the widths of the columns in the Output window cannot be changed. I had to copy the text to the clipboard to be able to read the text. Same goes for findresults.

[Radiant]

How stable is beta7 so far? Is it likely to be an RC?

I'm asking because I would like to use 3.3 for a big game release (i.e. Heroine's Quest). On that note, would it be possible to fix the following bug: In a game with Sierra-style portraits and a voice pack, the amount of time that the portrait runs its mouth animation depends on the length of the text string, whereas it should instead depend on the length of the voice sample (even though the amount of time the text box is visible IS dependent on the length of the voice sample). Pretty please with sugar on top?

And something that's been bugging me about the 3.X line is that the keyboard shortcut control-1 to open script #1 (and ^2, ^3 etc, and shift-control-1 for script header 1) that used to be in AGS2.7 no longer exists. Would it be hard to put that back?

[Crimson Wizard]

How stable is beta7 so far? Is it likely to be an RC?

I'm asking because I would like to use 3.3 for a big game release (i.e. Heroine's Quest).

Engine seem to be stable enough, at least as stable as previous 3.2.1, as it seems.
But I would hope the game be beta-tested first?
Editor has at least one crash issue (which does not seem to corrupt any data though). I am currently trying to track it down.

On that note, would it be possible to fix the following bug: In a game with Sierra-style portraits and a voice pack, the amount of time that the portrait runs its mouth animation depends on the length of the text string, whereas it should instead depend on the length of the voice sample

I will look into this, but can't give any promises regarding time; the speech logic in AGS is messy.

And something that's been bugging me about the 3.X line is that the keyboard shortcut control-1 to open script #1 (and ^2, ^3 etc, and shift-control-1 for script header 1) that used to be in AGS2.7 no longer exists. Would it be hard to put that back?

Hmm, what IS "script #1"? I am afraid that with current folder system (where scripts could be arranged in folders) this enumeration is pretty much nonsensical. What others think about this?

[monkey0506]

Even though the scripts can be placed in folders, the compiler still treats them from a top-down perspective. Having these shortcuts makes perfect sense, I wasn't even aware they were removed. Even if the compiler were changed to allow forward declaration (or rather, allow proper linkage for a reference to a forward declared but as yet undefined item), the shortcuts would still be just as useful.

[Crimson Wizard]

Even though the scripts can be placed in folders, the compiler still treats them from a top-down perspective. Having these shortcuts makes perfect sense, I wasn't even aware they were removed. Even if the compiler were changed to allow forward declaration (or rather, allow proper linkage for a reference to a forward declared but as yet undefined item), the shortcuts would still be just as useful.

Okay. Maybe tzachs will do this?

[Radiant]

Also, this may be an important issue: several people report bugs in the ordering (of characters/walkbehinds/objects) when using DirectX 9, especially when two of them have the same baseline.

[Radiant]

But I would hope the game be beta-tested first?

Yes, testing is currently in progress under AGS3.2.1.

I will look into this, but can't give any promises regarding time; the speech logic in AGS is messy.

Thank you

A related question is whether the dialog, if it advances automatically, does so when the sound file is finished playing, or whether there's a slightly pause in between for reasons of clarity.

[Radiant]

Final request for this beta (and sorry to bother you with so many last-minute issues), I would really appreciate a counterpart to Dialog.HasOptionBeenChosen() that allows the programmer to manually set or reset this flag, in particular to clear it when an NPC has new information available.

[Crimson Wizard]

It looks like I finally reproduced the crash on room load!

Steps:
1. Open a room with some existing objects for editing.
2. Create a new object.
3. Save room.
4. Open different room (or build a game).
5. Crash.

[cat]

Confirmed (kind of):

I opened a room, added an object saved it. No crash.
Opened other room, added object, clicked on first room to open it, got message box if I want to save -> crash!

Spoiler

Error: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
Version: AGS 3.3.0.1142

System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
   at load_room_file(SByte* )
   at load_crm_file(UnloadedRoom roomToLoad)
   at AGS.Native.NativeMethods.LoadRoomFile(UnloadedRoom roomToLoad)
   at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadNewRoomIntoMemory(UnloadedRoom newRoom, CompileMessages errors)
   at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadDifferentRoom(UnloadedRoom newRoom)
   at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.LoadRoom(String controlID)
   at AGS.Editor.Components.RoomsComponent.ItemCommandClick(String controlID)
   at AGS.Editor.Components.BaseComponentWithFolders`2.CommandClick(String controlID)
   at AGS.Editor.ProjectTree.ProcessClickOnNode(String nodeID, MouseButtons button)
   at AGS.Editor.ProjectTree.projectTree_NodeMouseDoubleClick(Object sender, TreeNodeMouseClickEventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.OnNodeMouseDoubleClick(TreeNodeMouseClickEventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

[close]

Where do I find the additional logfile that should be written with the lastest AGS version?

[Crimson Wizard]

Where do I find the additional logfile that should be written with the lastest AGS version?

Should be in "my documents/ags/agsnative.log" or "user/documents/ags/agsnative.log" depending on Windows version.

But I think I found what's causing this.

[cat]

Hm, I can't find the folder but as long as you know what is causing the problem...

[cat]

Final request for this beta (and sorry to bother you with so many last-minute issues), I would really appreciate a counterpart to Dialog.HasOptionBeenChosen() that allows the programmer to manually set or reset this flag, in particular to clear it when an NPC has new information available.

Just saw this - you can use this module I made as a workaround: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=46332.0

[AGD2]

Yeah, I can't find the agsnative.log file or directory either. In any event, nice job on tracking this down! It's exactly the same crash I experienced many times over. I've been able to consistently replicate it by following cat's method above. The project I was working on had me adding new objects between rooms frequently so I ran into it quite a bit.

By the way, any chance of addressing that issue I mentioned in my previous post? The quirk where having two identically-named sprite folders in the Sprite Manager will always cause AGS to jump to the first folder instance when trying to change a sprite via GUI, room object, View frame etc. (Meaning that when the Sprite Manager opens, it highlights a different sprite/folder than the one it should.)

[Crimson Wizard]

Meh, looks like I screwed with that log file. Good thing it wasn't needed in the end.

By the way, any chance of addressing that issue I mentioned in my previous post? The quirk where having two identically-named sprite folders in the Sprite Manager will always cause AGS to jump to the first folder instance when trying to change a sprite via GUI, room object, View frame etc. (Meaning that when the Sprite Manager opens, it highlights a different sprite/folder than the one it should.)

Hmm, I cannot reproduce this, it works correct for me. I even tried making same loop having sprites from both folders, and when I double-click a frame, it opens correct sprite folder and highlights correct sprite.
Maybe there's something else behind your problem?
Have anyone else seen such behavior?

As a side-note, why does AGS allow to create subfolders with identical names under same parent?! Looks like something overlooked, in my opinion.