AGS 3.4.3 released
Current release number: 3.4.3.1
For Android
For developers
Released: 12th February 2019
Previous stable version:
AGS 3.4.1 forum threadPLEASE TAKE A NOTE: In this version "Default" template is now named "Sierra-style".(Need to make this warning, because several people have asked where did "Default" template go.)
This release is brought to you by:- BigMC (updates to Linux scripts)
- Crimson Wizard
- morganw
General notesAGS 3.4.3 is mainly a bug-fixing release, it contains fixes both critical and minor accumulated for the last year. Some of them were part of 3.5.0 development, but since former was taking too long I decided to create an update to 3.4.* branch.
Version number "3.4.2" is skipped because it was used during early development of 3.5.0.
Since this release AGS distribution no longer includes "no-MP3" engine variant and "Demo Game" project source.
1. MP3's patent has expired, which means you no longer should have issues if releasing a commercial game with mp3 audio:
The basic MP3 decoding and encoding technology is patent-free in the European Union, all patents having expired there by 2012 at the latest. In the United States, the technology became substantially patent-free on 16 April 2017. MP3 patents expired in the US between 2007 and 2017.
(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3#Licensing,_ownership_and_legislation)
2. "Demo Quest" game is an ancient project which has not been updated for many years. It does not look that good either. I recommend searching for contemporary open-sourced AGS games instead, for now.
Changes in the Patch 1:Engine: - Fixed serious mistake that would cause crashes in plugins which export their own managed types for game script.
Linux: - Fixed compilation against recent Allegro 4.4.3 release.
- Updated prebuilt binaries to be compatible with Debian 8 (jessie) and higher.
What is new in 3.4.3Common features: - Removed restriction preventing GUIs to be larger than the game's screen.
Editor: - Added missing audio options to Default Setup.
- Fixed GUI and Room editors sometimes having larger scrollable area than necessary.
- Fixed editable area was not resized when GUI size changed.
- Fixed TextWindow GUI's elements could be deleted or moved in the editor with key controls with no means to restore them.
- Don't modify filesystem permissions in Compiled directory when compiling the game. Editor no longer requires non-standard "takeown.exe" utility.
- Fixed Windows Explorer was sometimes locking the game files during compilation.
- Fixed rooms not being rebuilt when running game just created from a template.
- Fixed translations were not updated or available at all for the test run unless the game was fully rebuilt.
Engine: - Allowed engine to return integer of "0" value from script functions that are "void" by nature, for compatibility reasons. This may fix running particular old games.
- Fixed const-sized char[] arrays in managed structs did not work correctly and could even cause engine to crash.
- Fixed some compilers could instigate a crash in the on_event callback if it was called before the first room is loaded.
- Prevent game from crashing if there was an attempt to use a non-existant font index.
- Fixed crash when calling DisplayTopBar with a title longer than 200 characters.
- Fixed DisplayTopBar() was displayed on screen for the time calculated from the length of its title rather than its message text (regression).
- Fixed built-in inventory screen could crash the game again (regression).
- Made engine fallback to defaults if config contains invalid graphic scaling setting.
- Fixed crash in the Software renderer which was occuring if it failed anytime after setting display mode but prior to initializing scaling filter.
- Fixed graphic artifacts looking like thin vertical lines around sprites when running OpenGL renderer (aka "texel leaking").
- Fixed OpenGL not displaying tinted sprites at all if tinting shader does not work (now will display sprites without tint).
- Fixed 8-bit sprites could have broken colours if game is run using Direct3D or OpenGL.
- Fixed broken colours during fade-in and fade-out in 16-bit games.
- Fixed possible crash occuring when switching in and out the game window while game is being shut down.
- Improved a warning message displayed when sound driver was not initialized, and added a hint for players on how to supress it.
- Fixed double error message displayed if the game has an unsupported data format.
Linux: - Fixes Linux game launch script (fixes issues with itch.io client).
Android: - Long press on "Back" button now calls in-game menu (was displaying exit confirmation).
This change was made to counter removal of "Menu" button on many modern devices.
- Fixed long press on "Back" and "Menu" buttons not handled correctly on some devices.
WinSetup: - Always provide at least two standard fullscreen modes for selection, even if graphics driver failed to return a list of supported modes.
Templates:- Updated 9-verb MI-style to 1.6.3.
