Topic: AGS 3.4.0

[Crimson Wizard]

- Added support for dynamic array as return value of the struct's member
- Fixed Ctrl+Tab did not work for the first time when cycling through opened editor tabs.

This is so awesome, thanks a ton, CW! I can finally ditch 3.2.1

Those are other people work actually (like Gurok or monkey0506), although I forgot who did what exactly.

The version is usually a mix of many peoples work. I keep wondering if it may be a useful to add information about who did every change to the new version. Or maybe a list of people who worked on particular version? (I noticed some projects do that)

[Cassiebsg]

So, regarding small OGGs not playing. Cat sent me couple of OGG files and upon investigation I can confirm that the sound library which AGS uses has this issue with OGG and MP3 files. This is related to how it handles audio streams: when it sends final sound partition to device, it cannot know when the sound actually stopped playing there, so it sets some arbitrary "counter" value and waits until counter ends, then tells device to stop. Apparently for very small sounds this counter is not enough to make any of it being actually heard. In the sake of experiment I rised this counter x3 times, and those clips started playing.

I do not feel confident enough to meddle with this right now. Besides I heard Nick Sonneveld is working on replacing audio libraries with OpenAL (which is more up-to-date).

Okay, I've been adding some voice files to my game today and the mp3 are all being cut off... even the bigger files... I'll see about converting them to ogg and see if it improves.
But is the only solution to cutting sound files still to add silence to the end?

[Danvzare]

I'll see about converting them to ogg and see if it improves.
But is the only solution to cutting sound files still to add silence to the end?

Converting them to ogg probably won't help. The only solutions I know of is either to convert to wav, or add some silence to the end.

[Cassiebsg]

Okay, not sure if it was me converting them to ogg or fixing the number on the voice files, but now they're playing like they should.
Sorry for "spamming" in here.

[m0ds]

Hiya, is there some documentation or tips on how to build to Linux please? Do I need to unzup the Linux zip into the AGS 3.4 folder or something? I can't see any explanation and can't see Linux in my build options...presumably I'm missing something. thank you!

[Crimson Wizard]

Hiya, is there some documentation or tips on how to build to Linux please? Do I need to unzup the Linux zip into the AGS 3.4 folder or something? I can't see any explanation and can't see Linux in my build options...presumably I'm missing something. thank you!

Yes, you need to unzip the archive into AGS Editor folder, which should result in "Linux" folder appearing there. The "Linux" option must appear in the checklist under "Build Targets" option.

[Gord10]

I also noticed that the Linux files had to be added seperately when I worked on Lost Answer's Linux release. I had to unzip the files each time I compiled the game. Is it possible to make those files added automatically?

[m0ds]

Thanks for the info CW! That's cool, but I've got to agree with Gord. An "out of the box" version would be useful.

Anyway, I used the installer version, this clearly allows you to include the Linux stuff. But as Gord says after a compile you get a bunch of empty Linux "lib" folders. So do I then use the contents of the zip (on page 1) to fill them? It's a bit odd to be given the stuff but no explanation of how to use it at all.

[Crimson Wizard]

But as Gord says after a compile you get a bunch of empty Linux "lib" folders. So do I then use the contents of the zip (on page 1) to fill them?

All files are supposed to be added automatically to Compiled/Linux folder if they are correctly installed in the Editor location. If they are correctly installed into the Editor, but not added to the compiled game, that's a bug.

Possible things to check:
- do Linux/lib** folders actually have something inside Editor directory?
- is your game located on path where you have write access? (also try running AGS Editor with administrative rights and see if there is any difference).
- do you have some antivirus running, like Avast (known for causing troubles with AGS)?

Information which may help to diagnose the problem:
1) What operating system are you running.
2) What are contents of Linux subfolder inside Editor's program directory?

[m0ds]

Sure...Ok I ran AGS 3.4 as admin and that copied them all over when I re-compiled. I guess that answers that, thanks!

Whilst we're talking about it though, I do get compiling errors, "The plugin agsblend.dll does not have a Linux equivalent" etc. Are there equivalents for these, agsblend, agsd3dvsync, agsteam.dll - or how does one avoid these compiling issues if you have any info/suggestions on that please? I presume if the game isn't using them I can switch them off in the editor, but what if the game IS using them?

I'm curious about a comment you made elsewhere:

But I guess we must just admit that AGS does not support Linux. Over years no one actually took on maintaining the Linux version, so the chances anything will be fixed are close to zero.

and I just wanted to check if you were referring to running the AGS editor on Linux, or if you meant AGS games (or something else?)? Whichever was meant, on that sort of note, what kind of problems do you envisage for games compiled for Linux, and how far down the line are they likely to occur? It's hard to ask that clearly... really I'm just asking what the potential hazards of building to Linux directly through the editor are, or may be, because that quote suggests something we need at a later date may not be up to date, or kept up to date?

Thanks for the help! It's kind of a gamble when you go Linux with AGS games regardless of whether the editor builds it or not, so I know I can't just hit a button and hope for the best (probably have to learn something and find a virtual machine to test etc). But any extra information may help me and others, as I wouldn't know where to look to find it - so thanks!

[Crimson Wizard]

Sure...Ok I ran AGS 3.4 as admin and that copied them all over when I re-compiled.

Can you please clarify, where is your game project located (user documents, or other place?)

Whilst we're talking about it though, I do get compiling errors, "The plugin agsblend.dll does not have a Linux equivalent" etc. Are there equivalents for these, agsblend, agsd3dvsync, agsteam.dll - or how does one avoid these compiling issues if you have any info/suggestions on that please? I presume if the game isn't using them I can switch them off in the editor, but what if the game IS using them?

This is a complicated issue. AGS developers and contributors cannot always support plugins on all operating systems, firstly because we are not ones who create them, secondly because source code is not available for every plugin.
There were a number of plugins that were rewritten into open source and (supposedly) portable code, by JJS, and they may even be integrated into the engine (I think that is done by default for Linux too). AFAIK AGSBlend is one of them. But this is a temporary solution, because if original plugin's author releases a new version, there will be inconsistency. I can understand why JJS did this, - because his aim was to make existing games run on Linux - but normally it is plugin authors who should make their plugins portable (or some contributor willing to port and maintain that plugin).

What happens if plugin was not built-in with the Linux port, nor present as Linux library: engine tries to use existing hard-coded "placeholders" - which lets you at least start game, at the cost of missing functionality. But if neither plugin or placeholder is present, then game can just not load.

I'm curious about a comment you made elsewhere:

But I guess we must just admit that AGS does not support Linux. Over years no one actually took on maintaining the Linux version, so the chances anything will be fixed are close to zero.

and I just wanted to check if you were referring to running the AGS editor on Linux, or if you meant AGS games (or something else?)?

What I mean is that we cannot guarantee normal work to same degree as we guarantee it on Windows. It may work, or it may have various weird issues. The problem is simply that there is no one who would test and fix Linux version on regular basis.

[m0ds]

Thanks for the info. In this instance, I could do away with blend and sync...but agsteam being the Steam achievements, I would need to keep that But presumably, along your line of advice, it exists, cos monkey05_06 will have used it somewhere surely. But sure, now I understand that side of things a bit better, cheers. Oh, and it's just in c:\mygame

I literally just downloaded AGS 3.4 to try the Linux thing, so can't give any hints if its version related or specifically the way it copies the Linux files, but earlier versions have not had issues writing files nor need to run as admin to do so (though of course, those were all Windows only, with no alternative options in the editor).

[morganw]

If you are working on a folder that's located in the root of a disk, you should probably disable inheritance and give yourself "Full Control" of that folder, or just use a folder that is inside your user profile instead. The built-in / free Microsoft antivirus seems to be getting a bit more heavy handed with it's on-access scanning; I'm noticing a lot of slowdown on the computers I manage at work, which disappears when I add an exception for programs that are active. Plus I've personally seen game compilation fail if the game folder is open in Explorer (must be some kind of indexing or thumbnail generation interfering with it, or could also be related to on-access virus scanning).

Anyway to sum up, after making considerations for the above, I can build a Linux game without manually copying files around.

[[delete}]

It may work, or it may have various weird issues.

In ancient 1980's times, once dragons adventure games and humans Linux were one.
In our Earthsea time, dragons adventures move between the Windows realm and the timeless region west of west, known as the westernmost and most free isles.

and associated song

[m0ds]

Hm, well I can't find anything amongst the Ancient aliens theory to suggest they ever got adventure games working for Linux

[Gord10]

I tried running AGS 3.4.0.13 as administrator and compiling Linux game this way. No, the required Linux files didn't get copied for me. I am on Windows 10 without antivirus (I've recently formatted the PC).

Game is on D:/Lost Answers, AGS is at C:\Program Files (x86)\Adventure Game Studio 3.4.0.

Edit:
I thought it was because of the white space in the folder name. I tested in LostAnswersTest folder, still the same error.

[m0ds]

Did you try the installer version of 3.4, or did you use the 2 zip files? Maybe the installer helps? (though if your ags is in x86 that sounds like you used the installer)..

[morganw]

I think it's a problem with the build process using hardlinks, a regular user can't hardlink into the AGS installation folder:

Code: DOS

1. C:\Users\mwill>fsutil hardlink create in_my_profile "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adventure Game Studio 3.4.0\Linux\ags64"
2. Error:  Access is denied.

...and you can't hardlink across filesystems, so you can't have your installation on C: and your game somewhere else, like D:.

[Crimson Wizard]

I think it's a problem with the build process using hardlinks, a regular user can't hardlink into the AGS installation folder:

Code: DOS

1. C:\Users\mwill>fsutil hardlink create in_my_profile "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adventure Game Studio 3.4.0\Linux\ags64"
2. Error:  Access is denied.

...and you can't hardlink across filesystems, so you can't have your installation on C: and your game somewhere else, like D:.

I think the idea of using hardlinks was not very suitable for this case; recently I realized that if you uninstall AGS Editor, all your compiled Linux games (in Compiled folders) will break.
This must be changed to simple file copy.

[morganw]

Sounds good. I think if 10MB of disk space is that critical to someone, they'll be having bigger problems than building AGS games.
Edit: The engine components could be hashed if a rebuild needs to know if the engine is up-to-date.