Messages

"Starfire Kingdom"

That's the best one I came up with.

I think the previously suggested title "Starfall" is awesome!

I've just contacted my friend, and, while the flash drive in question is now entirely inoperational, (due to repeated trips through the wash), he says that he almost certainly believes the game he tested it with was off of a CD-R as well. Looks like it's just CDs that pose the read-only problem.

As for me, I've yet to buy a flash drive, but I'm sure it will work fine for multi-station AGS editing!

Thanks again guys!!

Problem Solved! It would seem that the read-only setting which gets applied to files burned to a CD is the culprit! I used a zip disk and my game saves just fine!

Monkey, it sounds like you're saying that the read-only setting can be un-checked in a file's preferences window. This is very good to know, but I think I'd just as soon avoid the whole issue by using a zip or flash disk.

Now I ought to call my friend and find out the exact circustances of his error when saving changes to an AGS game on his flash drive. It's probably the case that one or more of his files is set to read-only as well.

I would suggest a sticky-thread covering all this, but then I guess not too many other folks ever run into this particular issue. More "operator-error" than anything, I suppose!Ã, 

Thanks a million, everyone, for helping me resolve this once desperate problem!!!

Hmm... so no one else has run into this at all? Perhaps it's the way I'm transferring the files.

You know, I believe I DID use a CD-R when I transferred my files to my second computer. My friend also tried creating a game on a flash drive and found that he could not save any changes back onto the flash drive when it was used in another machine. The fact that we consistently ran into this problem seemed to suggest an editing-lockout feature. Also, neither of us ever thought to zip the files before transferring. Perhaps this is a vital step?

The error message received when I attempt to save a game on the second computer is as follows:

ERROR: Unable to open custom exe 'Compiled\GOOD 1.exe' for writing. If you are currently running the game, shut it down.

From what you guys tell me, it sounds as if I might even be trying to edit the wrong exe file. Boy, would that be a stroke of genius! Well, I will try following your suggestions and see if I can't get it right.

Also, if a CD is no good for game file transfers, what would you suggest? I wager a zip disk would work alright.

I really appreciate the help you guys are giving me on this matter! Thank you, thank you!

EDIT: New developments. Just phoned my friend and he tried to edit my game (transferred to his hard-drive) that was transferred by way of CD-R.

An error message told him:

Unable to save the game files. If you recently copied your game off a CD, the files may have been set to read-only. Also make sure you have the necessary priveledges to write to your game folder.

So, it would seem that putting your game files on a CD is a no-no as it sets the files to "read-only," making them unalterable in the future. Now I just need to go steal my dad's ancient, dusty zip drive.

Oh, and SSH, excellent point about using the same version of AGS on both machines. I can't believe it never even crossed my mind! Even if it's not the source of this issue, having the same versions loaded will help avoid numerous other issues in future, I am positive.

Okay, I've tried tinkering around with this, finally broke down, searched the forums and several reference manuals now for information regarding this, (to little avail), and it would seem that:

1). AGS has a feature that prohibits you from editing any version of your game except when working with the genuine, original files (on the computer your game was originally started on). This means that a duplicate of your game, all files copied faithfully, transfered to a disk or another computer's hard drive will be rendered non-editable, to you and to everyone else.

2). There is no way to prevent this from happening. No manual override. If you don't stick to one machine, you don't get to work on your game. Period.

I guess my question is: "Is this really true or am I waaay off-base here?" I mean, I appreciate that someone out there (Señor Chris, quite likely) values the hard work everyone puts into their games and is actively protecting their content, but I think that there ought to be a manual override option where you can check a little box saying, "Please do NOT copy-lock my game," at the very least. I've really, really wanted to start editing my game from different computer stations, (ideally from off of a portable flash drive), but the current system has me tied down to just one location, and I'm not too thrilled with it.

Please tell me that there is still some hope here.

Thanks bunches in advance,
six_plus_one

Okay, this is the player character I've been working on for my very first AGS game.Ã, 

Front View
Side View
Back View

I am generally happy with her so far, but I KNOW she could benefit from some good ol' c&c.

The game is called "Sydnie and the Summer Vacation from Hell," and this here is Sydnie ("Syd" for short): your perpetually disenfranchised, gothy high school girl who gets roped into going on vacation with her folks to an isolated Carribean island resort (á la ClubMed). I realize the sarcastic, moody teen has got to be one of the most insipid and over-used varieties of adventure game characters, (after pirates and anthropomorphic dogs), but Sydnie's kibitzing should be, all said, no more irritating than that of, say, a certain Mr. Threepwood.

Anyways, the main issues I have with the sprite so far are:

1). She is about the right size, but she lacks a great level of detail. Although simplicity is usually a good policy, I think she appers, perhaps, a little plain. Not saying that she is completely generic, but I think there is room for much improvement.

2). Her standing poses may come off as unnatural. I was going for "understimulated ennui" but think I may have instead acheived "recently injured" or "trick elbow." Also, she isn't curvy much, (she really ain't s'posed to be, but she's kind of stick-like as it stands).

3). Her back view is all wrong. Her side view: troubling.

4). As far as her walk cycle goes, well, let us say that I am no NOT cut out to be an animator. I used one of those 8-frame walk cycle reference sheets to improve the animation, (having abandoned my first dismal effort), and I think it's now much better, but still with problems aplenty. Namely:

Walk Cycle

4A). Her legs seems to start too far down her mid-section, and her knees are likewise too close to the feet, thereby causing her to resemble John Malkovich in Hitchhiker's Guide. An issue I intend to remediate before the game is finished.

4B). She has a little wrist-arm trouble, especially in the frames where her arms are stretched back behind her. Her shirts freaks out in a frame or two as well. This has also been scheduled for revision.

4C). She's very stiff. Her hips barely move and her head is completely stationary. I don't think this is a particularly natural look.

4D). Her legs tend to look very jaggy when walking, as they are no longer straight verticals. I don't know if this is generally acceptable or not. Looks a bit sloppish.

Wow. I guess I've got a number of problems with her so far, but I don't think she's by any means doomed. I think the current outlined style, for example, is far superior to the original deeply shaded one:

Old Version

Sorry for the enormous post, by the by.Ã,  Anyway, I'd love to hear your criticisms, vulgarities, etc. Thanks bunches!Ã, 

-six_plus_one

Ohmygawd! Yes!!

It works! It actually, really works!! Thank you so much Ish and Scorp!!

I'll make sure to take a good, hard look at these lines of code as well, I'm sure they will be instructive in my understanding of this language... Yipee! It works!!Ã, 

:)Ã,  THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH AGAIN GUYS!!!Ã,  :)Ã,  Ã, ...*freaks and dies of elation*

Well... due to my UTTER inneptitude with coding, I've decided to go ahead and just simplify the status bar. Now a click on the "Use" GUI button VERY simply does:

SetActiveInventory(-1);
SetCursorMode(8);

And the function repetedly_execute() portion of my script goes simply:

Ã,  if (GetCursorMode()==0) SetLabelText(0,0,"Walk to @OVERHOTSPOT@");
Ã,  if (GetCursorMode()==1) SetLabelText(0,0,"Look at @OVERHOTSPOT@");
Ã,  if (GetCursorMode()==2) SetLabelText(0,0,"Use @OVERHOTSPOT@");
Ã,  if (GetCursorMode()==3) SetLabelText(0,0,"Talk to @OVERHOTSPOT@");
Ã,  if (GetCursorMode()==8) SetLabelText(0,0,"Eat or wear @OVERHOTSPOT@");

This, while not perfect, seems to have the buttons and status bar working fine without crashing, except that it does not display, for example when in cursor mode 2, "Use (item A) on (item B)" when an active inventory item is set.

I know this IS what Ishmael was probably trying to give me help with (and by the way, thanks so much for your help, Ish, and sorry that I wasn't able to put your code to better use), but does anyone know of a very simple way to have the status bar display "Use (active inventory item) on @OVERHOTSPOT@" when and only when there is an active inventory item?

If it winds up likewise waaay too complicated for me to implement then I'm fine without it, but it would make the status bar act just the way I wanted.

Gawd, I MUST be a lost cause. Now it's telling me "Error: GetInvName: invalid inventory item specified" for the line:

GetInvName(character[GetPlayerCharacter()].activeinv,usinginv);

I noticed that when I disable (//) the line that tells a click on the INV GUI button in question to SetCursorMode to(8); that the game does not crash, nor does it register the button click.

So I suppose the problem occurs when the cursor mode gets set to 8, and from there it runs the GetInvName line above. I'm thinking that this must mean that no inventory item is being selected because of the fact that the (GetInvAt(mouse.x,mouse.y) doesn't set any inventory item as that command happens when the mouse is over a GUI button not an inventory item.

But I'm thinking: I don't want to have a click on GUI button set an active inventory item, so maybe the key is to put a conditional line in the script for the "if (GetCursorMode()==8) {" part:

(i.e.: something like "if NO active inventory is set then do nothing, if active inventory IS set then proceed as planned").

Perhaps this would remedy both the crashing and the unresponsive button problem. () Maybe someone can help me figure out some prospective code for this.

Alright, so I added those codes in their respective sections, but I'm getting and 'Error: undefined token: InteractInventory' message when I try to run the game. I think the script editor is saying that InteractInventory isn't a correct function name, (no auto-complete window comes up when I type it in). Do you know what the function name is supposed to be or if the problem is a result of something else being off in my script or something?

Sorry again to be a bother. Thank you very much, Ishmael, for taking time to help me with this problem. Hopefully I am getting close to a successful resolution here.Ã, 

I'm sorry, but I'm still very much a newbie and I'm still not firm on this.

I went and set the cursor mode to interact on the opening of the inv window, but now where would I put the code to set the cursor to inventory mode and what would that code be?

I may actually be barking up the wrong tree here. All I REALLY want to do is have a working LucasArtsy status bar without the game error: "Error: GetInvName: invalid inventory item specified" coming up when I set to cursor mode 4 (or 8 in my case).

I may not want to give my player an inventory item to begin with, so my SetActiveInventory(1); "workaround" won't work for me, (and besides, it's really very sloppy), and I can't seem to otherwise guarantee that someone won't change over to that cursor mode before selecting an active inventory item (and thus crashing the game).

I want to apologize for my inexperience with all of this scripting stuff, but what can I do here? Perhaps I should NOT be using cursor mode 8 the way I am. I wanted to use cursor mode 8 only to eat things or put on clothing, y'know "personal uses", with just clicking the use button (mode 8 with "if cursor mode is set to 8" conditional on "other mouse click" interactions), then clicking the inv item in question. I'd use Cursor mode 4, but it doesn't seem to work. When I set the GUI button to set cursor mode to 4 it seems to not respond. Mode 8 seems to work perfectly except with the line:

GetInvName(character[GetPlayerCharacter()].activeinv,usinginv);

and so I don't really know how to proceed from here, and it looks like I may have to abandon the use of the status bar.Ã,  :'(

Sorry for such a lengthy post, but I'm climbing up the walls here, and I would greatly appreciate any help or advice anyone can offer me. Thanks bunches.

Okay, question.

GetInvName(character[GetPlayerCharacter()].activeinv,usinginv);

...requires that you have set an active inventory item, as evidenced by the error message ("Error: GetInvName: invalid inventory item specified") that you get when no active iventory item is set and you switch to the cursor mode corresponding to that line, right?

Well, to avoid crashing my game, I have set up the inventory part of my script as follows:

function show_inventory_window () {
GUIOn (INVENTORY);
SetActiveInventory(1);
SetCursorMode (MODE_USE);
SetMouseCursor (6);
SetInvDimensions(22,22);
}

...But now I need to make sure that one cannot open the inventory window before they have an inventory item in order to avoid the error message:

"Error: SetActiveInventory: player doesn't have any of that inventory."

My question is: What would the script be to disable the inventory button in the GUI when the player has no inventory items? Is there a non-scripting setting to do this? I remember the default game doing this. Is it bad form to start a game without the player having at least one inventory item?

Personally, I'm feeling that they look like they're kind of smirking. You might try a two-pixel-wide mouth instead, which might make him look more troubled/troubling, (not sure about that though). You could give him a five o' clock shadow. (surely I don't mean to tell you how to make him, but it might serve to make him look less "funny" as you say). I'd maybe try having his shoulders narrower, possibly posing him in a less-than-isometric stance (ie: rotated slightly) or just moving the arms in so they were partially in-front of his body, thusly reducing his shoulder width. Anything you may possibly end up doing in rescpect to shading (if that's the plan) will, I feel, help him greatly. Hope that helps some.

I like the center elements of the 3rd and 4th ones you posted best, as they appear to have definite metallic faces with an inverted-triangle shape. It serves to make them look sinister yet personable, as I personally think great bosses need great evil personas. Also, I much prefer the thick "legs" of #5 to, say, the skinny "arms" on #1, as I think the skinny-appendage look, to me, says "underling" and is more indicative of a mini-boss or normal enemy character than a final boss. Aaalso, (and this is more personal nit-picking) I think that while a number of "pieces" in the boss' body may communicate his vast size, (ala #3)(if he is going to be big that is) I still feel the simpler and more solid design of, say, #4, is more effective in shouting "Boss!" at me. However, I'm also really digging #5's corrupt-bloated-chinese-mafia-boss look, (perhaps I'm projecting to much persona onto them). I like the insect-like qaulity of #1 also, but when I really get freaked out by the look of a final boss, it is usually because I feel that he looks, somehow, intellectually superior (if not always structurally superior) to every other foe I have yet faced, and that often times means it is "human" in some capacity. Hope that's of some use to ya!

[***Addendum***]

Quote: Have you tried creating another game and running it?
-----

I have made another AGS game and it acts the same way, unfortunately. When my PC was in the 256 color mode, I checked in the control panel, display, advanced settings window and it said that I only had two possible graphics settings with whatever the current driver was, both in 256 colors. I can't remember if my old set of resolution/color-depth options allowed for, say, 320x240@16million, and I'm not certain if I'm even on some "new driver" or not, but there is certainly something different here. I have also tried setting a game to 800x600@16million. I am able to set Windows to that resolution, so you'd think AGS could do it too in that case, but still the black (or white, but always blank otherwise) window and MIDI only.

Also, I forgot earlier, but I tried a system restore when I was stuck in 256 color mode, and it did not even manage to change the 256 color mode back to normal, this is sort of a troubling thought, as system restore's usually fix any Windows settings that have gotten altered when I can't seem to change back manually. I know I must sound like a complete ditz at this point and that the problem is likely exclusive to my PC, but I can usually figure a way out of these horrible little situations, it's just this time, I'm stumped, and to make matters worse, it's affecting my beloved AGS. :'( Hopefully I can get ahold of another PC or a laptop soon and continue my game from there, that is if this condition proves irreversible.

***Addendum***
Well, after some poking around, it seems that not only is AGS having problems, but a number of programs/things have gone loopy. Looks like I'll be re-formatting the whole schmeer come Friday, which is good because I'll finally be rid of all those annoying little spyware thingies (for a time at least) and the go-thru-7000 folders-to-get-to-my-MIDI-folder setup I had been using. I just hope I remember to back up everything, I've never really reformatted before. My buddy, an old hand at this kinda thing, is gonna help so it should go okay, I'm just lucky my PC didn't up an die on me, (as has happened numerous times before!) Anyway, I simply must have AGS working again and this will surely do the trick! Well, Wish me Luck!

Okay, so I realize this is most likely not a problem on AGS's end, but AGS isn't working under it, so hopefully someone can offer me some ideas here. First a little background...

Just this morning (and for the past several months) I had been successfully running AGS and trying to make a trial game on it. Later this morning, I left a Windows XP Pro disc in the CD drive at startup (I'm using XP Home, but got Pro thru my college) and it began to auto-run at startup, (and I didn't want to install it yet). I am ashamed to admit it, but I freaked and hard-reset my PC, (stupid, stupid), and thusly it restarted with the choices screen ('safe mode', etc) and I chose to 'start with the last known working settings.' When Windows started, though, it was in 256 color mode and lowered resolution, (previously @ 1024x768, I think @ 32 million colors). Now, Windows was not allowing color-depth or resolution resetting through Windows (stuck @ 256, likely @ 640x480 or 320x240) so I again hard-restarted on startup, selected 'last known working...' again and the color depth was back to 32 million. Then I was able to reset the resolution thru Windows. (whew).

NOW, however, when I try to run my AGS game, the first time I run it, it freezes up, only to be closed with ctrl+alt+del, and all subsequent runs will only give me the error message:
-------------
There was a problem initializing graphics mode 320x200 (16-bit).
(Problem: 'Can not set video mode')
Try to correct the problem, or seek help from the AGS homepage.

Possible cause: your graphics card driver does not support this resolution. Run the game setup program and try the other resolution.
--------------
So, I've tried a number of things: I've re-installed the nVidia driver, I've tried messing about in the display settings, but nothing. I'm assuming I altered the driver I was using and now it doen't support lower resolutions. 

Also, my game is really set @ 320x240, but it gives this error saying 320x200. Hmmm... at higher game resolutions, the game only opens a black window with no mouse or anything, just the starting MIDI playing and must be ctrl+alt+delete to task manager close it. All other games I have made in AGS act the same. This really makes me sad as I was just getting somewhere with learning AGS. Can anyone suggest how I might fix this problem and get back on my working AGS Editor? Thank You for any help you can offer.