Messages

I could never get this or overhotspot working.

Could you post your code and tell what happens, does it show errors, or no errors but no result either?

Updated the list of changes, please check the last update post again:
https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/ags-engine-editor-releases/ags-4-0-early-alpha-for-public-test/msg636662979/#msg636662979

Ah, I rushed this release, and forgot to review all post-3.6.1 changes, like System.GetEngineString. They are also merged into AGS 4 now.
I must gather these and add to the changelog too.

I think the tabs icons depends on it being enabled in the Editor preferences and I think it defaults on not being enabled - not sure on this last part.

I did not know that, this is bad, it should be on by default. Otherwise nobody will know it's there.

[Editor:]

Updated to Alpha 10
(Please use download links in the first post)

This update does not contain any major additions, was made primarily to sync fixes with the latest 3.6.1 release.
Contains updates and fixes from 3.6.1 up to Patch 2 (except ones related to backwards compatibility).

Other changes:

Editor:
- More panes in the Editor are DPI-aware (rescale well with the system font scaling).
- Editor tabs now display icons indicating their contents (may be disabled in Editor Preferences).
- Room panel tabs now display room names.
- Support reordering folders in Project Explorer with drag & drop.
- Support importing plain script files: ash, asc or both, - besides script modules (*.scm).
- Added "Controls transparency" slider to GUI edit pane.
- Fixed few problems occuring when importing old rooms into the new editor.
- Fixed some of the new files could be left after old room upgrade in case of a failure.
- Fixed import, palette remap and compilation of 8-bit room backgrounds in 8-bit games.
- Fixed double warning message when trying to close the Editor while a game test is running.

Script API:
- Added Character.MoveStraight() complementing WalkStraight().
- Added String.Join(), String.Split() and String.Trim() functions.
- Added System.GetEngineInteger() and System.GetEngineString() for returning diagnostic information about engine's runtime state. Possible arguments are defined by EngineValueID enum.

Engine:
- Overlay.X and Y properties of textual screen overlays, such as blocking speech, now treat assigned values correctly as screen coordinates and return values set by user consistently. They also return the assigned values without any offsets for textual overlays created using a TextWindow (having extra borders and padding).
- Added "--no-plugins" command-line argument that denies loading any plugins; also added respective config option.
- Fixed taking screenshots not working properly (regression in AGS 4.0).


The two new functions System.GetEngineInteger(EngineValueID value, int index = 0) and System.GetEngineString(EngineValueID value, int index = 0) may now be used to get some values that describe engine's state, rather than game's state.
Here's the list of currently supported parameters:

Code: ags

// Engine value constant name pattern:
// ENGINE_VALUE_<I,II,S,SI>_NAME, where
//   I - integer, II - indexed integer, S - string, SI - indexed string.

  ENGINE_VALUE_UNDEFINED = 0,              // formality...
  ENGINE_VALUE_SI_VALUENAME,             // get engine value's own name, by its index
  ENGINE_VALUE_S_ENGINE_NAME,          //
  ENGINE_VALUE_S_ENGINE_VERSION,    // N.N.N.N (with an optional custom tag)
  ENGINE_VALUE_S_ENGINE_VERSION_FULL,    // full, with bitness, endianess and any tag list
  ENGINE_VALUE_S_DISPLAY_MODE_STR, // string contains display mode information ( width x height x color depth, etc)
  ENGINE_VALUE_S_GFXRENDERER,
  ENGINE_VALUE_S_GFXFILTER,
  ENGINE_VALUE_I_SPRCACHE_MAXNORMAL,  // user-defined sprite cache size limit
  ENGINE_VALUE_I_SPRCACHE_NORMAL,        // current sprite cache size
  ENGINE_VALUE_I_SPRCACHE_LOCKED,       // size of "locked" sprites (prevented from disposal)
  ENGINE_VALUE_I_SPRCACHE_EXTERNAL,   // size of "external" sprites not automatically disposed (basically - DynamicSprites)
  ENGINE_VALUE_I_TEXCACHE_MAXNORMAL,  // user-defined texture cache size limit
  ENGINE_VALUE_I_TEXCACHE_NORMAL,    // current texture cache size
  ENGINE_VALUE_I_FPS_MAX,     // max allowed FPS (set as GameSpeed, or with --fps command line arg)
  ENGINE_VALUE_I_FPS,    // actual average FPS
  ENGINE_VALUE_LAST                      // in case user wants to iterate them

Example of use:

Code: ags

function repeatedly_execute_always()
{
    int current = System.GetEngineInteger(ENGINE_VALUE_I_SPRCACHE_NORMAL);
    int max = System.GetEngineInteger(ENGINE_VALUE_I_SPRCACHE_MAXNORMAL);
    lblSpriteCacheLoad.Text = String.Format("Sprites: %d / %d KB (%d%%)",
           current, max, current * 100 / max);
}

The extended FontEdit is here:
https://github.com/ivan-mogilko/fontedit
this may create WFN fonts with any unicode letters up to index 65535.

But I forgot to make a proper release.

It may be downloaded here instead:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xth28bfzu78vtqi/FontEditUni.zip?st=faf33qgn&dl=0

I thought the alt+tab + exclusive Fullscreen + Direct3D issue was gone in the 3.6.1, I even closed the issue because I couldn't reproduce it anymore. And the alt+X issue is a new one to me, what is the problem? Is it that the message box appears behind the game instead of on-top?

The game is made in 3.6.0.

Alt+tab was not the problem apparently, the problem is that the message appears behind the game window, so user has to alt+tab to get to it. I don't think this is specific to alt+x, same problem might occur with any error message on quit.

I hear the quitting sound, but the game screen fails to go away. When alt-tabbing, the thumbnail screen  shows the quit message, and I have to close that window to make the game screen go away. Windows 10.

Are you running fullscreen Direct3D mode? Please try with "Fullscreen as borderless window" in the setup.

ALT-X quits the game, but it freezes and I have to alt-tab to get out.

This sounds like an engine bug, because it's one handling alt+x.

Although, quickly trying this now, I do not experience same problem.

The editor deletes outdated versions of the game from the compiled folder automatically, so if you make changes you'll have to compile it again.

I'd like to clarify this, Editor does not delete outdated exe, it deletes game exe in Compiled/Windows whenever you run a test (with F5). This is an old problem and I won't delve into details on why is it doing this here (but we have a TODO for fixing this).

The solution is indeed to do Build -> Build EXE before distributing the game.

I've been checking the implementation, for the reasons why do you have to set position of a blocking speech overlay, with the coordinate conversion hack.

I wonder, would it be more convenient if, instead of changing the blocking speech overlay, you would make it transparent and create a new overlay with the custom graphic and in the wanted place instead? Then no coordinate hacks would be necessary.
The original overlay must only persist to keep character "speaking", but it does not have to be visible.

And what's about PNG files able to be used in DynamicSprite.CreateFromExistingFile ? Will it be available for AGS 3.6.X ? Or only AGS 4 ? Or none of them ?

I cannot tell at this moment. I was not addressing this task yet.

It's been a while since AGS 4 alpha had an update, in the meantime there have been a 3.6.1 release with 2 patches.

I've been thinking to release a AGS 4 update right now, but there's one issue after recent changes that has to be fixed before giving this version to public use. Hopefully this may be done on this week.

3.6.1 Patch 2 is released:
https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/ags-engine-editor-releases/ags-3-6-1-patch-2/

[Download AGS 3.6.1 Patch 2 installer]

AGS 3.6.1 - Patch 2

Full release number: 3.6.1.24

Download AGS 3.6.1 Patch 2 installer

Download AGS 3.6.1 Patch 2 as a .zip archive

For Editor

Spoiler

VC 2015 redistributable needed for AGS Editor on Windows

Download Color Themes for the Editor

[close]

For Android

Spoiler

AGS Player, suitable for running any compatible AGS game

NOTE: the Editor now includes Android build component letting you prepare your own games for Android

[close]

For Engine/Editor developers

Spoiler

AGS source code central repository

Debug symbols database (for analysing crash dumps)

[close]

Released: 2th May 2024

Previous stable version: AGS 3.6.0 P11 forum thread


This release is brought to you by:

- Alan v.Drake (fixes, improvements)
- Crimson Wizard
- edmundito (iOS fixes)
- eri0o
- Walter Agazzi (fixes)



Summary

3.6.1 update focuses mainly on improving performance and usability of existing features, in both Editor and Engine.

The noteable addition to the Editor is a "Log Panel", which lets you read game logs right in the editor's window. "Goto definition" now works on game object script names and opens their respective panels. Room editor features better panning and zoom controls. Views allow to select and modify multiple frames at once.

In the engine, there's a significant improvement to script performance, which may make script-heavy games run 30-40% faster compared to AGS 3.6.0 (these were real test results on a certain game with 3D simulation). There's a big improvement to the speed of manipulating Overlays, and general speed improvement of graphics rendering primarily useful for high resolution games.

There are other fixes and improvements to various parts of the program too.
Please be sure to read "Upgrading to AGS 3.6.1" topic in the manual: https://adventuregamestudio.github.io/ags-manual/UpgradeTo361.html



Changes in the Patch 2:

Editor:
 - Fixed few potential program errors for "Generate Keystore" in Android preferences.
 - Fixed external processes (such as test game runs) were started using ShellExecute, which could theoretically lead to unintended results.

Engine:
 - Fixed String.Replace crashing the engine if the resulting string exceeds 3000 bytes.
 - Fixed releasing a mouse button could cause double "on_event" call (with eEventGUIMouseUp).
 - Improved rendering of TTF fonts which have glyph sizes surpassing declared font's height.
   This fixes the look of text on gui controls, and automatic outlining on these fonts.
 - Fixed a dialog shown with InputBox() function drawing typed text beyond text box'es border.
 - Fixed custom dialog options in the "old mode" not triggering redraw when the active option changes.


Changes in the Patch 1:

Editor:
- Fixed View's frame preview sometimes drawn incorrectly, in case of certain panel sizes.
- Fixed folding in the script editor not working correctly if there's a commented closing bracket ("//}") inside this code section.
- Fixed Editor sometimes failing to update game exe's file information and/or icons, if user was importing any sprites during this working session.

Engine:
- Fixed room objects not updating under Direct3D/OpenGL renderer, if they were assigned a dynamic sprite, then that sprite was deleted, and a new one assigned with coincidentally same ID.
- Fixed room objects not updating under Software renderer, if they were assigned a dynamic sprite, and that sprite was modified while object was not visible on screen.
- Fixed inventory cursor's crosshair not displayed (when enabled in game settings).



What is new in 3.6.1

Common features:
- Implemented Deflate compression option for sprites.
- Removed length limits for: Game name, savegame folder, Character's script name and regular name (description), Inventory item's name (description), Mouse cursor's script name, Audioclip's script name.

Editor:
- Discontinued Source control integration functionality, removed "Put sound and sprite files in source control" option from General Settings.
- In General Settings moved few properties to different groups for better consistency.
- Added "Scale Character sprite offsets" property to General Settings. This property refers to scaling of Character.z and sprite offsets added by LockViewOffset script command.
- Added TextureCacheSize and SoundCacheSize properties to Default Setup. These let configure the sizes of runtime texture and sound cache sizes respectively.
- Added "Leave room after fade-out" event to Rooms (called "Unload" by default).
- Added Translated property to all GUI Controls (was available only in ListBox). Translated property tells whether this control's text has to be translated, and applied text direction (in right-to-left text mode).
- Support '\n' linebreak character in the Label's Text and potentially other text properties.
- Improved Room Editor controls:
  Added free panning mode done by holding the middle mouse button, or alternatively - by holding Space + LMB.
  Mouse Wheel without key modifiers scrolls the room vertically; Shift + Mouse Wheel scrolls the room horizontally.
  Zoom is done by Ctrl + Mouse Wheel and room now zooms towards or outwards the cursor position.
- In Room Editor the context menu is now displayed by RMB or Shift + RMB while editing masks.
  The individual room mode menu is merged with the "copy coordinates" command when shown.
- In Room Editor the hint with coordinates is now also displayed when moving Objects or Characters with keyboard.
- In Dialog Script editor support most Edit menu and context menu commands from the regular Script editor, with a few exceptions.
- In Sprite Manager added command "View" -> "Show filenames" which toggles display of a sprite's source filename under the sprites.
- Adjust sprites' import settings after "Crop sprite edges" command; this would ensure that these sprites are restored from source file keeping their cropped sizes.
- During sprite export Editor will display a proper progress dialog.
- Zoom controls in Character and View panes now allow downscaling too. View editor displays the preview sprite stretched to fill the parent panel.
- View editor now allows to select multiple frames at once, across multiple loops too, using standard Shift + LMB and Ctrl + LMB combinations. Properties panel lets modify properties for all the selected frames at once.
- Added "Replace with all sprites from folder" command to the View editor's context menu.
- For Audio Clips in the project tree added "Force Reimport", "Force reimport all file(s)" and "Replace Source File" context menu commands.
- For Output Panel added "Copy selection" context menu command.
- Implemented Log Panel that lets you see the engine and game logs right in the Editor.
- Improved LipSync panel looks in case user's system has display scaling option enabled.
- "Goto Definition" command in script will now work for most of the game entities too, such as Characters, GUIs, and so forth. In that case it will find a game's entity and open a respective editor panel for it. This still does not work for some types, such as Room objects, and Views.
- Added main menu commands for opening a Project folder and Compiled folder.
- Added "Export Global Messages to script" menu command. This command is meant for upgraded pre-3.2 game projects, and will generate a script with a String array, moving global messages texts there.
- For script's tabs added a context menu command for opening this script's location.
- When run with "/compile" argument Editor will print all messages to the console (stdout), instead of displaying modal message windows.
- For Android build target Editor now supports a directory to place plugins in.
- When building a game for Android and Linux the Editor will now be more tolerant to missing plugins and only issue a warning instead of stopping with error.
- Config will now be saved in UTF-8, letting to support setup program's title text in unicode.
- For non-Windows build targets Editor will fix config containing Direct3D graphics driver option and set OpenGL instead.
- For Color Themes: implemented character literal, braces match and braces error settings.
- Made Editor be somewhat more tolerate to missing XML nodes in Game.agf, in many cases it will still let open a game.
- When upgrading older game projects, Editor will insert a call to SetRestartPoint() in the end of the 'game_start' function in GlobalScript.asc. This is done to complement removal of an automatic restart point in the engine. This inserted command is safe to remove.
- When upgrading pre-3.2 rooms with disabled SaveLoadEnabled property the Editor will reset this property and insert a comment with a warning into the corresponding room's script. This is done because this property is deprecated as is no longer accessible.
- Fixed Editor refusing to open a game if one of the translation files is missing.
- Fixed General Settings and Default Setup not working correctly right after importing a pre-3.* game project.
- Fixed importing GIFs or 8-bit PNGs may lose transparent pixels if source images used other palette index than 0 for transparency.
- Fixed Project Explorer's folders collapsing after certain user actions, such as dragging items or renaming things.
- Fixed deleting collapsed "region" in script would sometimes lead to portion of the script undeleted but staying invisible.
- (Possibly) Fixed a "Index out of range" exception in Script editor, related to the "script location" drop-down list, which could occur at random circumstances while
  working with the script, and any Color Theme is enabled.
- Fixed Editor could miss some of the files when cleaning up old compiled files after the Game's Filename property is changed.

Scripting:
- Support "#else" preprocessor directive.

Script API:
- Implemented Room's "After fade-out" event.
- Added eEventLeaveRoomAfterFadeout event for the global "on_event".
- Added eEventGameSaved event which runs after game was saved.
- Expanded interaction functions for Character, Object, InventoryItem, Hotspot and Region types: now they all receive respective object's pointer as a parameter, similar to GUI event functions, as well as a cursor mode this interaction was run with, if applicable.
- Added Game.ResetDoOnceOnly(), which completely resets all DoOnceOnly instances.
- Added Game.PrecacheSprite() and Game.PrecacheView(), which preload certain sprites and linked frame sounds into the engine's sprite cache memory.
- Added ScriptName property to AudioClip, Character, Dialog, GUI, GUIObject, Hotspot, InventoryItem, Object.
- Added static GetByName() function to AudioClip, Character, Dialog, GUI, GUIObject, Hotspot, InventoryItem, Object.
- Added Object.AnimationVolume property, which works similar to Character.AnimationVolume.
- Added static File.ResolvePath() and File.Path attribute.
- Added support for a text formatting to a number of functions: DisplayAtY(), Character.SayAt(), Character.SayBackground(), DrawingSurface.DrawStringWrapped().

Engine:
- Updated to SDL 2.28.5 and SDL_Sound 2.0.3+.
- Significant performance improvement to scripts. Script running speed restored to a level close to AGS 3.2.1. Testing few "script-heavy" games showed fps raise by up to 30-40% compared with 3.6.0 engine.
- Improved performance of String objects in script.
  For instance, appending a character to a String is now roughly x2 times faster, *sequential* iteration of String.Chars[] in Unicode mode is about x12 (!) times faster (Strings in ASCII mode have relatively less improvement, because they have been faster than Unicode mode already).
- Improved performance when creating, deleting and manipulating Overlays; allows the game to have thousands of those with much less slowing down.
- Improved performance when updating and deleting dynamic sprites, and notifying any objects that have to redraw themselves. Engine no longer resets Graphic properties of objects referencing deleted dynamic sprite to 0.
- Implemented "texture cache", in addition to the existing "sprite cache". The texture cache keeps textures generated from raw sprites and lets reusing them, improving performance and reducing CPU workload. The actual impact is proportional to the game's resolution and amount of simultaneously animated objects on screen.
- WFN font renderer now too supports unicode mode and renders texts in utf-8, so long as the font contains glyphs of corresponding indexes.
- Buttons, ListBoxes and TextBoxes now support Right-to-left text direction.
- DrawingSurface.DrawString now supports Right-to-left text direction.
- All the script File functions now treat paths in case-insensitive way (including subdirs), which makes them platform-independent.
- Removed an automatic SetRestartPoint() call at startup. This is done in case user does not want to use default "restart" save slot, or has a custom save system.
- Support handling multiple mouse clicks per game frame, similar to how multiple key presses were supported since 3.6.0.
- When starting up, engine will now precache only first 4 or 8 loops of the starting player character's View. This is done to avoid filling sprite cache with too much sprites at once in case when the player's View contains lots of additional animations.
- Characters will now have their graphic offsets, set by Character.z property and LockViewOffset() function, scaled along with the character's own scaling. This is done so long as the respective game option is enabled in the General Settings.
- Ensure that character and object scaling is updated even when the game is not drawn. This fixes rare issues when their scale property did not update in time whilst the game was completely fadeout, and similar cases.
- Allow to change Character's move speed while its moving.
- When Character is ordered a new move command while already moving, the engine will try to make a smooth transition between old and new moving without a delay.
- Ensure that when Overlays have identical ZOrder they will be sorted in the order of their creation. Besides convenience, this is also meant to restore historical behavior from before Overlay.ZOrder property was introduced.
- Allow game to call DynamicSprite.CreateFromDrawingSurface() and CreateFromBackground() with zero or negative size, clamping it to 1x1, in consistency with Create().
- Engine will now log a warning for the most incorrect parameters to Animate function instead of quitting the game.
- Engine will now skip blocking Character.Say commands instantly while skipping a cutscene.
- Object.SetView now lets invalid loop and frame values, and fallbacks to using loop 0, frame 0, printing a warning. This is also consistent with backwards-compatble SetObjectFrame() behavior.
- Changed Object.SetView() to not play a frame's sound, which could lead to a duplicated sound play if Object.Animate is run right after.
- Text Overlays internal images are now registered as dynamic sprites, and their IDs may be read from Overlay.Graphic. This lets find out their sizes using Game.SpriteWidth/SpriteHeight and optionally draw them somewhere using DrawingSurface.DrawImage.
- Ensure all the script API is now correctly available for the plugins.
- Engine will now safeguard plugin's reading and writing of game saves, so that any mistakes done by plugins won't affect other parts of a save.
- Engine will disable vsync in a "infinite fps" mode, because vsync prevents getting more fps.
- Engine will force any in-game debug messages to be displayed in message boxes, disregarding game's "Display all messages as speech" option.
- Display critical alerts as system modal messages on all platforms that support that (unless engine is run with "--no-message-box" parameter).
- Print some info about memory usage when reporting a "Out of memory" error.
- Deprecated in-game "console", as practically useless.
- Added new config settings in "graphics" section: "sprite_cache_size" (which replaces deprecated "cachemax" in "misc") and "texture_cache_size".
- Fixed Characters may be seemingly "walking in place" for some time when arriving at destination.
- Fixed Display and Say commands treating the second met "&" sign as a voice-over token too (they must only check the first one in string).
- Fixed PlayMP3File() function limiting filename argument by an arbitrary number of characters.
- Fixed speechlines were adjusting their Y position while trying to not overlap GUIs even when these GUIs are completely offscreen.
- Fixed first Sierra-style speechline in a sequence was adjusting its Y position without need when GUIs are set to be hidden during game pause (this includes blocking speech). Normally, the speechlines are adjusting their Y position in order to not overlap GUIs, but when GUIs are hiding during speech there should not be any need to do so.
- Fixed script behavior in case a local variable was assigned a value without being initialized with a zero memory by compiler's intruction beforehand. This is not a problem with the standard compiler, but technically could be an issue with any custom implementation.
- Fixed old-style letterbox viewport getting broken after loading an old pre-3.5.0 save.

Engine Plugin API:
- Added IAGSStream interface, IAGSEngine.OpenFileStream() and GetFileStreamByHandle().
- Added IAGSEngine.ResolveFilePath() method, which resolves a script path (with location tokens) into a proper system filepath.
- Fixed IAGSEngine.GetFontType() incorrectly reporting TTF font type for WFN fonts with more than 128 characters.

Compatibility:
- In Editor, restored all the Character's variables available in "backward-compatible" mode. This is primarily to make it easier to import very old games.
- Allow to run an animation over a loop with zero frames, by using the placeholder frame. This lets particular old games to continue running instead of crashing with error.
- Fixed slower character walking speeds in pre-3.1 upscaled and high-resolution games.
- Fixed Object.SetView() and SetObjectFrame() not treating -1 for loop and frame as "keep previous values" in older games.
- Fixed inventory window not updated after game.top_inv_item is assigned a new value.
- Fixed a "New Room" command in old-style dialog scripts was preventing "First time Enter room" event to be called.

Windows:
- 32-bit Windows engine is now built as "large address aware" program, which will allow it to use up to 3 GB of RAM on 32-bit systems and 4 GB of RAM on 64-bit systems (was 2 GB previously).

iOS:
- Updated port for 3.6.*.

Web / Emscripten:
- Fixed Safari cannot switch the game into fullscreen mode.

WinSetup:
- Added options for setting texture cache and sound cache size.
- Added options to disable particular graphic drivers and graphic driver selection, and fullscreen mode selection.




Thanks to everyone who contributed to and tested this version!

Oh, for some reason I thought it only worked for non-dynamic arrays!

It is opposite: it does not work for non-dynamic arrays.

But there's a catch. We don't have Length in Dynamically allocated arrays. So how does an API for this would work?

We do have array.Length in AGS 4, with the new compiler. I suppose it should be relied upon at this point.

Here's the list of new compiler's capabilities:
https://github.com/adventuregamestudio/ags/wiki/New-compiler%27s-end-user-cheat-sheet

Error: RunScriptFunction:error - 18()trying to run 'room_Firstload" (room 1)

This means that you have a "room_FirstLoad" name added to room events, but no such function in script.

Where to look:
https://adventuregamestudio.github.io/ags-manual/images/acintro3_05.png

Normally you do not have to do "chansound.Volume = Slider1.Value;" at all. That is a redundant part in the above code.

Channel's volume does not persist after playback end, it is overwritten with the every new Play command, but if you call Game.SetAudioTypeVolume with eVolExistingAndFuture, then this volume will be saved, and applied to both currently playing and any future sound of the given type.

As for why it is not working... Possible reasons that come to mind:
1. These clips do not belong to appropriate types.
2. Something else resets volume in your script.
3. Slider1_OnChange and similar functions are not connected to slider events.
4. Bug in the engine...

Can you tell which version of AGS are you using?

EDIT: don't know if this is the cause of the problem, but I think that you also need to call Game.SetAudioTypeVolume with slider values in game_start, just in case.

Is it possible to rotate this diagram entirely? Like so:

Hmm, no, it does not "rotate", only "scales" towards height or width.
At the theoretical maximums the 4 lines would merge into 2 lines, either left-right or up-down.

I keep forgetting how diagonal loop selection is calculated.

If it's not possible to do the wanted effect with the above factor, then perhaps this feature may be amended.
I am just not sure how. If someone can suggest a good way to configure this (from design perspective), we would try implementing that.