AGS 3.4.0 - Patch 2

Started by Crimson Wizard, Sun 05/02/2017 21:34:01

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Crimson Wizard

AGS 3.4.0 - Patch 2 released
Current release number: 3.4.0.14







Released: 6th February 2017

Previous stable version: AGS 3.3.5 forum thread


A minute of attention for those who did not have a chance to check 3.4.0 during its development:
AGS 3.4.0 contains a big load of changes, which may take a while to explore. The following (read-only) topic is created to make getting used to it easier:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=52499.0

Also, please, read "Upgrading to AGS 3.4" topic in the manual that comes with this version. It contains important information on most notable new features and few potential problems you may encounter when upgrading older projects.

Another important note on upgrading your project to latest 3.4.0 (read under spoiler):
Spoiler

AGS 3.4.0 now has a "Script API version" and "Script compatibility level" switches, which determine a range of built-in script functions you may use in your game (also called Script API).
"Script API Version" defines the TOP limit, or the latest version of scripting your game uses.
"Script compatibility level" defines the BOTTOM limit, or which OLD functions should still be available.

When you upgrade your game project from the older versions (3.3.* and lower), the Editor automatically sets "Script compatibility level" corresponding to the version of AGS this project was last saved in. This is done for backward compatibility. But you can change that anytime. Be prepared, however, that you may have to fix certain parts of your script. Usually necessary fixes are limited to renaming functions. Also, it is suggested to do "Rebuild all files" after you change any of those two switches.
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KNOWN ISSUES:
- Strings do not work with switch/case script commands as intended. They were supposed to be compared by value, but are instead compared as pointers. This worked in some early BETA versions, but was broken at some point. This hopefully will be fixed in one of the future updates.


Changes in the Patch 2:

Script API:
- Extended the list of System.OperatingSystem possible return values; now supports eOSAndroid, eOSiOS, eOSPSP

Editor bug fixes:
- Fixed incorrect Unicode-to-ANSI string conversion during game compilation which caused text containing non-latin characters become random mess in game, even if game fonts complied to the proper ANSI codepage.

Engine bug fixes:
- Fixed mouse cursor stuck at the left border of the screen when using OpenGL renderer (Android & iOS ports).
- Fixed InventoryScreen() script function caused game to crash if particular resources are not available.
- Fixed built-in inventory screen not working with Direct3D and OpenGL renderers.
- Fixed obsolete gfxfilter names are printed when using --help argument.

Cosmetics & convenience:
- Corrected error message displayed when engine cannot get write access to the disk (e.g. no more telling to not run from CD on Android).
 
Manual:
- Added information on static extenders.


Changes in the Patch 1:

Editor:
- Fixed #if(n)ver preprocessor directive failed to properly compare versions if the current and required versions have different number of digits.

Engine:
- Returned support for some older config options related to graphics mode, so that the engine would be able to use old config files.
- Fixed graphics mode initialization failure in certain less common setup cases, such as when requested window size was larger than current desktop resolution, or when the final mode appeared smaller than the precalculated one.
- Fixed couple of memory leaks occuring when saved game is restored.
- Fixed rare crash when restoring a game while having unreleased DrawingSurface pointers.
- Fixed compilation in C++11 mode.

WinSetup:
- Fixed "native game resolution" mode choice was not properly restored when loading config file.



What is new in 3.4.0

Common features:
- Added support for building game for multiple platforms (Windows and Linux options are maintained now).
- Added custom game resolutions.
- Added extended WFN font support (up to 256 characters).
- Made custom property values modifiable at runtime.
- Removed limit on custom properties number (was 30 properties per project), increased maximal property name and value length.
- Removed limit on GUI Control number (was 30 per GUI), increased maximal control name length.
- Removed limit on script modules number (was 50).
- Added Locked property to room Objects.
- Added Padding property for TextWindow GUI.

Editor features:
- New splash screen.
- Exposed Clickable property for room Objects in the Editor.
- Exposed TintLuminance property for room Regions in the Editor.
- Added "Close all tabs" command for the pane's context menu.
- Added Preferences option "Prompt dialog on closing multiple tabs".
- The sprite editor now highlights drop targets when you drag sprites around.

Editor Plugin API:
- Exposed GUI Panes to plugin API.

Engine features:
- Added support for any runtime display resolution (now restricted only by your system specifics).
- Added support for vertical sync in Direct3D rendering mode.
- Made engine try to use all implemented graphic renderers in the order of priority, if user selection failed to initialize.
- Rised default sprite cache limit for desktop platforms to 100 MB (was 20).
- Game writes latest translation and mouse speed setting to config file on exit.

Scripting features:
- Added managed user structs; although currently limited to containing only non-pointer variables in them.
- Added support for dynamic arrays in non-managed structs.
THERE ARE KNOWN ISSUES:
Spoiler

It was found that dynamic arrays in struct do not work when you make an array of those struct, for example:
Code: ags

struct MyStruct
{
    int dynamic_array[];
};

MyStruct single_object; // <--- this will work
MyStruct arr_of_structs[10]; // <--- this won't work

Such array caused troubles which were too complicated to fix in time, and require more time to investigate. A decision was made to block creation of arrays of structs, containing dynamic arrays. If you try to declare one in your script you will get an error. Hopefully this restriction will be raised in the future updates.
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- Added support for dynamic array as return value of the struct's member function.
- Added support for static extender functions.
- Added "do..while" kind of loop, in addition to previously existing "while".
- Added "for" operator and related loop construct.
- Added "switch" and "case" operators and related branching construct.
- Added "break" and "continue" operators working in any loop or switch.
- Added missing compound assignment operators (*=, /=, and so on).
- Made preprocessor macros usable in definition of another macro.
- Added "#region" and "#endregion" preprocessor commands.

Script API:
- Added Script API version switch to the project's General Settings. For every supported API version a "SCRIPT_API_vXXX" macro is introduced, where XXX are version numbers.
- Added Script Compatibility Level switch to General Settings. For every compatible version a "SCRIPT_COMPAT_vXXX" macro is introduced.
- Added AudioChannel.Speed property.
- Added CharacterDirection enum and optional "direction" parameter for Character.ChangeRoom().
- Added Character.FaceDirection().
- Added Character.DestinationX and Character.DestinationY properties.
- Added RunActiveOption() and Update() member functions to the DialogOptionsRenderingInfo type.
- Extended Dialog Options API: added support for dialog_options_repexec() and dialog_options_key_press() functions to improve handling of the custom dialog options; added related compatibility project option and support for "NEW_DIALOGOPTS_API" macro in scripts.
- Added game.dialog_options_highlight_color variable.
- Added File.Seek() function and File.Position property.
- Added IsInteractionAvailable() method to Hotspot, Object and Character types.
- Added Game.AudioClipCount property and Game.AudioClips[n] array.
- Added Game.IsPluginLoaded().
- Added GUIControl.ZOrder property.
- Added GUI.Click() and Button.Click() functions which call OnClick event handler of corresponding GUI or button.
- Added GUI.ProcessClick() function that processes click on GUI only, similarily to how old ProcessClick processed click on room objects only.
- Added Mouse.Click() function to simulate mouse click on screen.
- Added Room.GetProperty() to substitute global GetRoomProperty().
- Added Room.ProcessClick() to substitute global ProcessClick().
- Added SetProperty() and SetTextProperty() functions to Room, InventoryItem, Hotspot, Object and Character types.
- Added optional "luminance" parameter to Region.Tint() and Region.TintLuminance readonly property.
- Added SetAmbientLightLevel() to set global light level for anything in the room.
- Added Character.SetLightLevel() and Object.SetLightLevel() functions to set individual light levels. Negative light levels can be used in 8-bit games to produce darkening effect.
- Added System.RuntimeInfo property which returns a short description of current graphics mode, scaling filter and enabled game resources.

Editor bug fixes:
- Fixed Undo history was deleted when an Editor panel changes its docked state.
- Fixed crashes under certain circumstances when a script editor is closed.
- Fixed crash if selecting a character without a normal view in the room editor.
- Fixed Ctrl+Tab did not work for the first time when cycling through opened editor tabs.
- Fixed "Go to Line..." command did not always move cursor to correct line. Also, do not select that line.
- Made the project completely rebuild itself whenever "Enable Debug Mode" value in the General Settings differs from the setting used for the last build, to prevent inconsistency in compiled scripts.
- Fixed a crash when trying to run game setup from the Editor while "Compiled" folder does not exist.
- Fixed project items could sometimes get incorrectly arranged inside the folder.
- Fixed writing faulty timestamps in project file on some occasions that could spoil usage of file versioning control.
- Fixed Help window positioning on multi-monitor desktop.
- Fixed error in autocomplete occuring when there is a single-line comment in the end of the script.
- Fixed incorrect compiler parsing of a static function call inside array index brackets.
- Fixed compilation of struct member functions having name identical to existing global function.
- Fixed compilation of structs having members with names identical to non-basic types, global variables and game entities (such as characters, GUI, etc).
- Corrected few error messages related to struct's function declaration.
- Fixed compiler reporting errors as "runtime errors" under certain circumstances.

Engine bug fixes:
- Fixed result of using transparency parameter of the DrawingSurface.DrawImage() in 32-bit games when drawing opaque sprites over surfaces with alpha channel.
- Fixed DynamicSprite.CopyTransparencyMask() was overwriting magic transparent pixels on destination with alpha values from mask.
- Fixed the speech portrait position was not adjusted for character walking between its lines, when BasedOnCharacterPosition portrait placement is used.
- Fixed occasional pathfinding failure on straight lines with complex walkable areas.
- Fixed using '[' special character in Display-like commands discarded all of the backslashes before it (e.g. "\\[" should now print \[ as expected).
- Fixed WAVE audio not looping after restoring a game
- Fixed a bug that caused MP3 clip continuously increase its base volume if the directional volume modifier was applied.
- Fixed queued audio clips did not update their volume when default audio type volume changes.

WinSetup:
- Added support for "default_translation_name" option in the "[language]" section of the config file.





Thanks to everyone who contributed to and tested this version!




Mehrdad

Great!!!. Nice job CW for your hard works and others  ;-D
My official site: http://www.pershaland.com/

Danvzare

Thanks for another great release CW and everyone else who helped bring this new patch to life. :-D

Crimson Wizard

This is just a small bug-fixing patch :), I was not even planning to release one until GoodGuy found that critical bug with Editor not saving non-latin characters to games.

I think I will post actually new version later today (3.4.1), because we need to start public beta test.

Dave Gilbert

AWESOME! Will update soonish and test it out.

One small request for a future update. Something I've always meant to bring up before now:

Quote
Exposed Clickable property for room Objects in the Editor.
Can the same be done for hotspots?

Thanks again, Mr. Wizard!

-Dave

Crimson Wizard

Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Mon 06/02/2017 15:54:13
One small request for a future update. Something I've always meant to bring up before now:

Quote
Exposed Clickable property for room Objects in the Editor.
Can the same be done for hotspots?

I think this should be added to the missing properties list we are trying to gather:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=54358.0

There is a list of properties that cannot be set from script, but could also be a counter list of properties that cannot have their initial values set in the editor.


Monsieur OUXX

#7
what am I doing wrong?
- I downloaded 3.4.0-P2 (3.4.0 Patch 2) in zip version from the main AGS website
- I created a new game with the Empty template
- I get the warning "player is set to start in room 1 which doesn't exist" (that's normal)
- I create an empty room. It receives number 1.
- I run the game.
- PROBLEM: I get runtime error "unable to load 'room1.crm'. This room file is assigned to a different game."


=========

EDIT: found solution here (not tested). Weird. It used to work before with the default black background.
 

Julius Dangerous

___________________________________________________________

rmonic79

Hello guys and thanks for your work.
Question! For no mp3 variant i have to replace acwin file in the main folder?

Crimson Wizard

Quote from: rmonic79 on Fri 17/02/2017 12:44:48
Hello guys and thanks for your work.
Question! For no mp3 variant i have to replace acwin file in the main folder?
Yes, you just need to download no-mp3 ZIP archive and replace acwin in AGS Editor program folder. (make sure to backup normal one just in case)
Also, alternatively, if you install new AGS with installer program, you may select no-mp3 engine option.

I hoped we could make an option in the editor for choosing engine, but not this time...

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