Messages

Ok,

just noticed the responses.

There are 2 issues:

1 - the no walking bit is due to a strange bug where only x out of y clicks are actually processed (when putting breakpoints it all works as expected, but without them clicks go 'missing')

2- actionTextProperty can be null if moving away from the verbcoin upon opening it, this is easily fixed

I'll upload a new version (2.0.1) asap to fix these. (might be a few weeks, since near holidays)

----

If you still have issues (and if you cannot identify the source of the problem yourself) you could provide me with a download link (just PM me, not everybody needs to see your unfinished game ) to game sources which I can use to reproduce the problem so I can figure out a solution.

I've released a new version of the Verbcoin template for AGS 3.3 and send you a PM about it.

It addresses most concerns that have been raised over the years and adds a few spiffy new things.

[Scumm Verbcoin 2.0.0 is out!]

Scumm Verbcoin 2.0.0 is out! (only 6,5 years after the original release )

This new version is for AGS 3.3 only, and breaks older versions of the module. Therefore, it's released as a template file only. (See first post of the thread)

I was planning some beta testers to go through it to get some upgrading instructions, but no one volunteered so far.
So... be warned if you try to upgrade

Feel free to post bug reports here.

EDIT The documentation and the template have been sent to CrimsonWizard so it can be included in the next AGS release build.

Ok, the site's back up and the first post's been updated again. Thanks for unlocking the thread!

This project's still on, with me working on it.

That's all I'm saying for now

Looking good!

Graphics are awesome, as ever. Best of luck!

Ok, turns out my subscription is running 'till 16/03 (so deleted everything a little prematurely)

I won't re-upload the entire website, though. This does mean I can temporarily put back some files where needed.

@Darth: I uploaded the images again (shortened the path)

I'm changing hosting solution.

Anyone needing one of the old linux port builds, feel free to contact me.

Total down time might be a couple of days.

News:

* I'm bringing the t-vandepoele.be website down this weekend, made a full back-up to my hard disk. The plan is to bring it up again in a week or two at the latest. (Changing hosting solution)

* Beta testing will NOT commence, since I got delayed a lot (my job required/requires a lot of overtime the last couple of months and upto the end of februari at least), as alpha testing hasn't even started yet. Alpha testing will commence in the next couple of weeks.

I'll keep you posted. Until the website is back up again, this thread will be your source of news regarding the game.  

Hey there. I don't mean to offend (so sorry if this comes across the wrong way Elecktroshokker), but to me the verbcoin template that is distributed with AGS is somewhat of a mess. I can't tell what most of the functions are for without looking at the manual, because the naming convention is rather odd. Also, I seem to recall that none of the functions the template defines return a value, so you can't read anything back once it's been set..which seems rather unfriendly to me (writeonly??).

So I'm not here to bash the great work that Elecktroshokker has done, I'm here to present my take on the verbcoin interface. It has some similarities to the existing template, but not all of the functionality is the same between the two.

Hi there. I quite agree with you, I wrote the template long ago when I was just beginning to learn AGS. (whereas today I'm programming for a living, and would probably design the entire thing quite differently. The Picaroon interface code for instance is quite different from the verbcoin template.)

So basically: I don't mind at all, I think it's great people are taking that code and rewriting it to fit their needs. After all, it's just an example and can use much improvement, like what you've done.

Maybe once I get Picaroon - part 1 done, I'll take a closer look at your code and see if it would be useful to give you any of the improvements I made in my own code. I'll be in touch,

Cheers,

Tom

Hi,

are there plans to get the changes that were made for the Linux port into the SVN? That would be great! Also are the Linux sources available?

Best regards,
BigMc

I handed over all the sources of the pre- opensource AGS linux versions to Chris. I haven't been involved with the code anymore since AGS went opensource.

Heheheh... actually, it CAN be fixed without getting a patch into Allegro... at least for the linux build.

I'll dig through my sources and give you guys a set of pointers and examples. For now, take a look at this linker command:

Code: ags

-Wl,-wrap,pack_fopen

If you look it up you'll find the technique I used...

That doesn't seems to work. The idea seems to be that allegro functions also use ags's pack_fopen (otherwise would be no need to name that function pack_fopen). Since allegro wasn't compiled with the wrap functions this trick doesn't work.

Anyway I created two branches:
- allegro_wrap: Uses Electroshokker trick. Probably depends on GNU ld and as explained I don't think it really works... but I could not find problems when using it.
- allegro_wrap2: When available, uses a GLIBC extension for dlsym which makes the internal pack_fopen functions unneeded. In this case allegro functions also use it.


Totally unrelated, with mpg123 1.13.3 I don't get any MP3 sounds (cat in KQ3). It worked before with the internal copy. It's just me?

Ahum, it's not simply a matter of adding this command, you have to change the ags code using wrapper functions which point to the real function. If you do that, you don't have to change the AGS library.

see (just dug up this link, there are other locations which explain it better) http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3662856/how-to-reimplement-or-wrap-a-syscall-function-in-linux

If you can't work this out, I'll post my entire ags code section which uses this when I'm on my home pc. (at work now)

Most internalized libraries are fixed by now, with the notable exception of AGS overriding allegro’s pack_fopen.
This can probably not be fixed without getting a patch into Allegro

Heheheh... actually, it CAN be fixed without getting a patch into Allegro... at least for the linux build.

I'll dig through my sources and give you guys a set of pointers and examples. For now, take a look at this linker command:

Code: ags

-Wl,-wrap,pack_fopen

If you look it up you'll find the technique I used...

------

Hmm... this thread is getting cluttered with people trying to build the source for windows, linux, mac, ... I propose using a section in the AGS wiki to coördinate this stuff, rather than lots of people setting up their own project site.

I'll post a link to the wiki here as soon as I've set it up. (this evening, don't have time right now)

Considering the headway you guys have been making (and my own lack of time and struggle with the almp3 & apeg integrations in 3.2.1), I figure I'd just release the linux video code which you can use as a starting point for proper unix video integration.

Here it is!

the GStreamer api & documentation

GStreamer is a plugin-based framework licensed under the LGPL. (for license mumbo jumbo, read here)

Also, I'd like to note that Allegro 4.4 is fully backwards compatible with 4.2 AND has OpenGL support.

Here's the challenge for you guys:

- working AGS 3.2.1 build on Linux, Mac
- built-in video support using gstreamer framework (for the Mac guys, have a look here and here for the binaries. For gstreamer on windows, look here)
- redesign audio support to use gstreamer, so audio will work properly on all platforms
- create ags plugin support on linux & mac

Have fun with it! If you've got questions, feel free to ask.

Some files contain very Windows specific code (acwavi.cpp) - while it probably wouldn't be overly hard to replace acwavi.cpp with something using ffmpeg to do the same in a cross-platform way, I know there was a previous Linux port, so some code must already exist - before I start redoing it from scratch, is that code available somewhere?

As far as I remember, video playback was never implemented in the Linux port. Indeed, the acpllnx.cpp just stubs out the PlayVideo function.

Actually, I implemented it using the gstreamer library (which is license-friendly) in my AGS 2.72 & 3.12 builds.
The linux video code will be in my 3.2.1 project build.

Ok. I'll PM you the link of the 272 & 312 project package, so you can review, and I'm not sure you want those released.

Thanks. I'd rather not release those versions of the 2.72 / 3.1.2 source code right now, I'd want to release them in a consistent state with 3.2.1.

- a working code::blocks project for AGS 3.2.1 with updated notes in the project

Great! Please do publically release this when you have it working!

Will do. Haven't had time yet this weekend to set it up, so probably later this week.

The only part of the source that is not yet released is the editor's Native DLL. Everything else is now in SVN.

Yes, please do release that -- would be really useful for other people trying to build in Linux. Could you upload it in a ZIP since I'm the only one that has permissions to check in to the trunk?

Ok. I'll PM you the link of the 272 & 312 project package, so you can review, and I'm not sure you want those released.

For the rest of you, here's some basic goodies:

Linux AGS Setup Utilities for 2.72 & 3.12 Source Code
Static libraries you can use to build AGS
Sources of the dependency libraries

The following libraries have to be compiled manually, after which the header files need to be put in the /include folder of the project, and the libraries in the /lib folder of the project.

# alogg library - patch: makefile changed so we get a static library #
description: use Ogg/Vorbis streams with Allegro

# almp3 library - patch: makefile changed so we get a static library #
description: use MP3 streams with Allegro

# alfont library 1.9.2 - patch: src files & makefile changed so we get a static library #
description: use fonts with Allegro

# libcda library 0.5 #
description: cd player functionality

The sources provided are (except for libcda) NOT the original sources found on the web. The makefiles were changed to create static libraries (.a), and for the alfont library the sources where also changed so it supports AGS.

Do not get updated versions of these libraries, unless Chris Jones tells you otherwise.

Next on my list to prep for public release:

- a working code::blocks project for AGS 3.2.1 with updated notes in the project

Instead of going to 5, look at upping from allegro 4.2 to 4.4 (stable branch), which adds OpenGL support and is completely backwards compatible with 4.2

(Proof: In the latest Linux builds I'm using a statically linked 4.4)

Best thing for the engine is for the code to receive a nice makeover to better programming practices. And some proper documentation. (I can assist a little, since I've been tinkering with the Linux build for quite a while now)

Sweet. I'll see if I can make a linux build of 3.2.1 soon.

Chris, are any parts of the source still closed?

I could release my linux Code::Blocks projects (with instructions) with your permission. (Can I release older versions of the engine or only the latest?)
I'm sure some of the more enthousiastic folks out there would love to start from a proper IDE setup, rather than starting with raw code.

Also, SVN will help a ton in re-integrating all the changes I made into AGS.

Anyways, great to see the engine going open source. That'll speed things up a notch or two. (I'd love to debate my usage of the Allegro 4.4 branch in Linux and the OpenGL integration, the last of which I haven't had any time for so far.)

EDIT:

Oh, and for your question: * Is it cross-platform (ie. is there anything platform-specific that would break the Mac and Linux ports?)

Hell yeah a bunch of stuff breaks for Linux... but I can help with that. I'd be happy to help any linux enthousiast to get it up and running.

Glad to see this is still being worked on!
I just checked the latest build of my old test game with the RC3 runtime. Runs great, but no sound unfortunately (Ubuntu 10.10):

Unable to initialize your audio hardware.
[Problem: Insufficient digital voices available]

Then again, using the older engine now also gives me no sound with no error messages...strange.

Yeah, first priority is to figure out how to get sound again. I've been looking at it from multiple angles but the only solution I can come up with is replace the default allegro audio system with a different one. (Like gstreamer audio. Hey, I'm already using that for the video, might as well extend it.)

The cause is PulseAudio, which takes over default ALSA, but doesn't do so properly, breaking a lot of stuff in the progress. And even if they get it right, pulseaudio delays the sound due to the way it works. Not a great choice there for the distros to having rushed in using it. Does anyone with a different OS get sound working?

I've also upped the allegro library version to 4.4, which seems to work just fine (it's fully backwards compatible with 4.2). Why? Since it's got OpenGL extensions, and I hope to use them for the linux build, allowing for a new option there and quicker rendering.

Of course, if Chris were to switch over to 4.4 with the windows version he could add OpenGL too... Though he probably has as little time to work on this as me.

Just saw this in the release notes.

All special paths point to /home/$username$/.ags/$gamename$ so your save games will end up there instead of where the executable is

Does this work now? I tried saving my game, and although it did save, it did it in the directory of the executable itself. Does it need to just be shoved into a non-user directory in order to use the special savepath fix?

I'll give it a shot and see if that's the case.

Make sure the .ags folder exists in you userhome.

Put the game in your userhome under, let's say the "AGS Games" folder. When saving the game you'll see a new folder being created in the hidden .ags folder.

The sound issue appears to be something to do with Allegro, if http://opensnc.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/FAQ#The_game_has_no_sound.21_.28Linux.29 is anything to go by. Seems static compiling doesn't get around that issue then, disappointing.

Hey, thanks for that link. I've been digging into the sound issue for a while now, but no luck so far. Forcing ags to run under aoss would be nice (heck, ANY sound would be nice), but my 64-bit pc doesn't allow it (RL_PRELOAD bug), and my 32-bit image is pretty much screwed up again. (after multiple experiments)

I'll try the approach described on a fresh virtualbox soon. For those who want to know if this works quicker:

Code: ags

sudo apt-get install alsa-oss

Create a file named AGS272_with_sound in the game folder. Using a simple text editor (like nano, gedit, kate, etc.), write the following contents to it:

Code: ags

#!/bin/bash
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=.:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
aoss ./AGS272 $@

Make the file executable:

Code: ags

chmod +x opensurge_with_sound

Then try starting ags using ./AGS272_with_sound


EDIT: seems this simple approach doesn't work. drat.