Messages

As you predicted there is no delay whilst the page loads as per AGS Shell, so people should definitely add a Wait command to avoid multiple tabs of a page opening from a single click (or use some other method of avoiding this happening).

Why would this happen in the first place? Button's click event is only sent once per click, same is for object interaction events. So I'd imagine such behavior may occur only if you call the function in repeatedly_execute, where you check for mouse button down state?

I might also note that you are using ChangeView command incorrectly; or maybe your intent was to use SpeechView instead in this case?

Code: ags

cMara.FaceDirection(eDirectionUp);
cMara.Say("That's my alarm clock.");
cMara.ChangeView = 6;

Unlike SpeechView, which is a property, the ChangeView is a function, and should be called with arguments inside bracketed list:

Code: ags

cMara.ChangeView(6);

See: https://adventuregamestudio.github.io/ags-manual/Character.html#characterchangeview

It uses SDL2 behind the scenes, so it can't run in older versions of AGS.

I think it should be possible to load SDL if it was not loaded yet, and thus support both engine with SDL and one without?

here are some complexities involved when doing something like this that makes not easy to support right now.

Very clear. I imagined it wasn't easy, but you never know

Frankly, on contrary, I'm quite surprised that this is complicated, but I do not know alot about how the web port works.
How do these saves work exactly at the moment, is there any docs to read on this? How are these files stored, where and in which form?

Not being able to transfer saves somewhere else seem to be a serious issue, in my opinion.

[Important:]

No, I'm afraid that's currently hardcoded to use the standard Say() function. The only way around it is your workaround. See the release notes for v3.5.0.P3, under 'Added "Custom Say/Narrate function in dialog scripts"':

Important: this does not work with the "Say" checkbox. The workaround is to duplicate option text as a first cue in the dialog script.

Hm, this made me realize that the manual does not have this warning.

Well, the error is in the default code of the Tumbleweed template!

Hmm, really!
https://github.com/dkrey/ags_tumbleweed/blob/411d3e14ef1cd91e434db5f03cbd83e70d3776c5/GlobalScript.asc#L47
I shall report to the author. This looks like a unnecessary line.

You have a syntax mistake in your code here:

Code: ags

if (event==eEventLeaveRoom)
if (event==eEventRestoreGame) {

This reads like the the second "if" is a continuation of a first one, and becomes a sub-condition under the first condition. It will only get checked if the first one succeeds (but this means that the second check will never succeed, because event cannot be both at the same time).

Either remove the eEventLeaveRoom completely, if you are not using it, or close the first conditional "block" by placing a `;` sign or `{}` after it:

Code: ags

if (event==eEventLeaveRoom) { /* do nothing */ }
if (event==eEventRestoreGame) {

I think, if nothing bad happens, we may announce a "stable" release on the 1st March (just to have some round date).

There may still be patches later, as usual, if some fixes are necessary.

This was done in the experimental branch, but now added to 3.6.0 in the latest update.
https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/ags-engine-editor-releases/ags-3-6-0-release-candidate-rc1/msg636653570/#msg636653570

[Editor:]

Updated to RC8 (3.6.0.43).
(use download links in the first post)

Editor:
- In sprite manager's context menu added (restored) command "Replace sprite using previous files". Also made "previous file" remembered consistently whenever a sprite is imported or replaced.
- In sprite manager's "export all" dialog added "reset tile settings" option.
- Fixed program crash occuring on sprite's import if failed to open a source file for any reason.
- Fixed crash occuring when user was trying to set breakpoint on the very last line in script.

Engine:
- Support for switching vertical sync at runtime with Direct3D/OpenGL renderers. Also enable vsync in windowed mode too.
- Restored vsync support in Software renderer (was temporarily disabled in 3.6.0 after porting the engine to SDL2).

Web/Emscripten:
- Support persistent game saves (will remain on disk after game is closed).
- Added a ui control for clearing persistent files.
- Added a ui control for switching to fullscreen. Properly support switch to fullscreen mode.
- Use consistent version of Freetype lib, so that the game fonts are displayed similarly to other ports.
- Show game alerts as message popups in browser.
- Fixed suspending the game when alt+tabbing from the browser.



Reported issues remaining:
* Direct3D is said to still be not fully stable when alt+tabbing in exclusive fullscreen mode: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/ags-engine-editor-releases/ags-3-6-0-release-candidate-rc1/msg636650995/#msg636650995

Opened two consecutive pull requests (second depends on the first):

RTTI: https://github.com/adventuregamestudio/ags/pull/1922
Support managed pointers inside managed structs: https://github.com/adventuregamestudio/ags/pull/1923

Downloadable temp build:
https://cirrus-ci.com/task/4863501278117888

With this test build you should be able to have pointers inside managed structs, therefore any kind of struct relations. Deleting these structs should not cause memory leaks (the program's memory use should go down if you delete them).
There are still some things not complete, like, managed structs get broken after restoring a save, but that because I did not fix that yet.
Well, see the ticket for the full description of the situation.

EDIT: Oh, another thing, this build also supports "--print-rtti" command line arg, which tells the engine to dump type information into the log.
For instance, you may run your game from command line as:
"gamename.exe --log-file=all --print-rtti" and the type table will be printed in the engine log (e.g. "%USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Adventure Game Studio" on Windows).

Could you add a direct link to the photos in the repo?

I double checked, and the mittens photo is only coded to be shown if you hold Shift and press OK button in the About dialog:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/adventuregamestudio/ags/master/Editor/AGS.Editor/Resources/splash-mittens.bmp

The comment sais "The cast and crew of Mittens 2007 Canada"

I think the people on the photos were CJ himself and AGA.

There are also 2 photos of Mittens event, with about 10 people on them (personally I recognize maybe 1-2).

I was not certain where to post this; as this is not a technical issue, so will post here...

AGS Editor has 4 hidden splash screens, which is coded to display on particular days: Christmas, Valentine's day, and so on. These splashes are photographs of "old" members of AGS community, made somewhere in 2000-ies. (I don't know full story of these, and don't know most of the people on these photos.)

I wonder if it is okay to remove these from the Editor, let's say, starting from 3.6.0 release; or if there any reason to not remove them.

The reasons I have for this suggestion are:

1) These photographs are made in the times when AGS community was perhaps a more "close" group of people, who knew each other well enough. Today many new members won't even know who these people are, and these photos won't have any sentimental or other value for the majority of users. For the same reason, these won't likely to achieve their original "easter egg" purpose.

2) I cannot speak for the people on these photos of course, but hypothetically some of them may see their remaining presence on the program splashscreens as unwanted. I'm unaware whether they gave any permission to Chris Jones, but now a different team is developing the program, and neither of us have their permission.

3) These screens may actually startle users who do not know their backstory. In the past I've seen at least couple of reports in which users wondered if this is a doing of a virus, or a hacker.

If you're interested to try out, there's a temp build with this, and few other fixes, available for download here:
https://cirrus-ci.com/task/5039184096788480

(if you scroll down to "Artifacts", there will be download links of installer and zip archive).

I thought I had to create a file for each language.

Yes, you need to create a separate translation, and there will be separate file for each language.

You change languages either in setup program before starting the game, or in script using Game.ChangeTranslation command

You may:
1) Create a dummy game from the same template, and import a corresponding font from there.
2) Download fonts from template repository here:
https://github.com/adventuregamestudio/ags-template-source

I'm relatively sure that .Moving an/or .Animating might not immediately become true, they might only be true in the next frame.

No, they immediately tell the current state, otherwise you won't be able to write a code like:

Code: ags

player.Animate(... ,eNoBlock);
while (player.Animating)
    Wait(1);

There's a manual entry dedicated to translations:
https://adventuregamestudio.github.io/ags-manual/Translations.html

Please tell, which version of AGS are you using exactly? This may be found either in the Editor Help->About menu, or during the game by pressing Ctrl+Alt+V.

I did a quick test in the latest 3.5.1 and 3.6.0 versions, and do not observe same problem, but maybe there are other unknown factors that cause this issue.

If I read what System.Volume is set at it reads 13, yet the music and sound effects are playing as if it was set to 100.

Judging by what you say, System.Volume's value is restored properly, but music & sound do not get it applied.
Does this effect occur only to the clips that were playing when saving the game and continue after it is restored, or to any newly played sounds too?