Messages

Thanks SSH, I didn't know about that one.   

Hehe, I am about to mention something about cleaning up the unhandled_event() handler so that it uses a consistent numbering/id system, which would likely break compatibility.   

CJ does do an excellect job of maintainng backward compatibility.  Since V2.7 introduced the OO script language and since there were bound to be some compatibility problems, this presented an opportunity do a number of things that were desired but not implemented because of compatibility problems.   

Here is another Sting thing:  The variable system.version returns a string that is incompatible with String.  For example the following produces an error somrthing about not being able to convert string to String.

String  MyString;
MyString = system.version;

I did the following to make this work ...

String  MyString;
MyString = String.Format("system.version");

The workaround isn't that annoying or ugly but I thought this may have sliiped through a crack and that CJ may want to know about it.  If this is a know issue then please disregard.  Chers.

Btw, working with the new String stuff is a breeze.  The code is creatly simplified.  Thanks.

Is there in work also a new version ? To now on what we must expect !!! Roll Eyes

In the 5-6 years I've been here, this is the first time an new version has broken anything that was working in previous (recent) versions  (i.e. V2.71 String handling).        I believe this is pretty much a one time occurance and so I am not worried future versions of AGS not being compatible.   They are normally painless and trival unlike the most  recent version which was the exception, not the rul. 

I note that when I use the interaction menu to show messages  for the characters it sets to room message for the current room.  This is a problem as when I plunk them in new rooms they still look for the same message number.

Message numbers 500 and greater are global.  Message numbers less than 500 are local to the room.

I want to have a couple sidekicks that show up in a lot of rooms the player goes to.  I also want the villian to pop in and taunt occasionally.

Is the best way to work with this to do a run script under each interaction, run Display commands and the like, and just start building a tree of If conditions as they start to not apply?

If you are comfortable with scripting I would defintely recommend ditching the interaction editor.  But since I'm a programmer that is my obvious preference.  It depends on your comfort level I guess. 

When you say taunt do you mean that they just make random remarks or does the player character have to respond with dialog?  If it's the latter case you may want to look in to using the built in dialog system.  It may suit your needs better.

Is there a script module that supports RPG functionality?   If not is there any interst in creating/having one?

Steve,  Thanks for that neat little trick.   

If it were my religion everyone would have to bring me sandwiches before  going apeshit.

I just use the toolbars that come with windows.  My navigation toolbar looks like this:




For anyone who doesn't know how to make their own toolbars to do this here is the procedure.

• Start by left clicking on an empty p[otion of the windows task bar. 
  
• Select "Toolbars" from the menu that pops up.  A menu will popup
  
• Select "New" from the sub-menu to open the standard folder selection dialog
  
• Navigate to the the desired folder and click the "Open" button
  
• Every short-cut in this folder will become a pick/icon on the tool bar
  
• Create file manager shortcuts to all the folders you want to open from the tool bar
  
• Move the shortcuts to the tool bar folder
  
  
  
  Hint:  There are a couple of options you can put on the command line that open the file manager. many times I want to have the tree view with it's root at a specific location.  For example I place the following line in the "Target" field opf the short-cut to my AGS directory.
  
  C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /e,  /root,c:\ags\
  
  I believe that the "/e" option opens file manager with a tree view of the directory structure.  The "/root" option makes the root of the tree be "c:\ags". 
  
  Hope this is helps,

Is this possible?

It depends upon how much youhad to drink. 

RestoreGameSlot() in game_start() would be most excellent, thanks. 

The problem may be in your conversion.   Have you tired editing the MP3 with a sound editor such as Audacity, which is free, or others?

Hey everyone,

I am in the process  of  upgrading DenoQuest to V2.72 compatibility.  The script code in the GUI example rooms needs a lot of work.   The last time around I just extracted the code from the previous DemoQuest version's Global Script to make them into mini-games and didn't do much else.   I would like to make some improvements but before I put a lot of effort into this I thought I ask some questions irst.

• The current collection examples are listed below.   Is this the right collection of GUI's or should some of these be removed or others added?   There is currently one unused dor in the hall of GUIs.  Also there is a menu door that allows  GUI rooms to be chosen from  a list so there is no hard limit, only a practical size limitation.
  
     o DqAgi       - AGI Text Parse
     o DqAgiPnC - AGI Text Parse + Point & Click Functionality
     o DqLec       - Lucas Arts
     o DqSci0      - SCI
     o DqSciPnC  - SCI + Point & Click Functionality
     o DqGVC       - Verb Coin
  
  
• It seems to me that there should be a good game template for each of the GUI examples.   The last time I checked, the examples for which there were templates, the corresponding templates were out of date and not compatiable with the new version of AGS.   Are there newer, better,  or revised templates for any GUI examples that are (or should be) part of DemoQuest? 
  
  
• Are there any would be Template designers who would like to participate in this process?   Please let me know if so.
  
  Any comments, ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
  
  Cheers
  RickJ
  
  P.S.   Everyone is always welcome to contribute to DemoQuest; always in need of artists, muscians, etc.   
  

Couldn't your own bullying experience have been solved if someone (a parent or teacher) had interferred? It may have meant crying, showing weakness, having your perspective judged by someone else, reaching a compromise - the whole mess that is so painful to a kid's honor, but necessary in my opinion if we want a world that isn't ruled by ignorant (perhaps innocent) and brutal kids.

Yeah, so like maybe you should appologize to the bully to make him stop, eh?

I have a similar need, to have a couple of state variables survie a restore game operation.  It's discussed in the following thread:

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=25193.0

The easiest workaround at the moment is to just dump data into a file and then read it back using the on_event() inteaction in the global script or in a module.   The resulting file has sort of a binary format and so isn't easily edited by the casual user.   You would need to use a hex editor of some kind to hack it, especially if the data was other than strings.   IMHO, I wouldn't worry about it.   

How much data would people generally want to be able to persist across save game loads? If one variable would be enough, I can add that easily enough, on the other hand if you'd want to store reams of data then a more elegant solution would be required.

One variable or a small array would work just fine, IMHO.   The gs_globals array  had originally inspired this suggestion because they are now obsolete and they would have been more than enough for this purpose.   Presumably they are inappropiate but anything remotely similar would be just perfect.   Thanks.

[edit]
This would also provide an adequate solution to the Save/Restore issues I brought up in this earlier thread. 

The one issue remaining is that when the RestoreGameSlot() operation is executed it forces a screen transition, even if it is in the same room.  I have modified the MiniGame module so that the player is restored to the room and position he occupied before the MiniGame call.   At this point the transition from the minigame to the main game works like it should.  However when the restore game operation runs another room transition to the same room occurs.   One work around is to inform would be module users that they must put a dummy black room in their game and explain why.  This is a bit hacky and may not work equally well with all transition styles.  It would be nice if another solution were easily attainable. 

Would it be possible/practical to add some kind of method of eliminating one of these room transitions perhaps by perhaps by allowing RestoreGameSlot() to be run from the game_start() interaction or by inhibiting one of the room transitions, via an optional parameter in the RestoreGameSlot() or ChangeRoom() functions,  or anyother means of accomplishing the same thing.

For example:

Code: ags

Character.ChangeRoom(int room_number, optional int x, optional int y, optional int transition_style)

RestoreGameSlot (int slot, optional int transition_style)

game.transition_style

Where possible values for transition style would be:
eTransitionStyleNone - do not change screen
eTransitionStyleDefault - use game setting
eTransitionStyleInstant - instant
eTransitionStyleDisolve - disolve
eTransitionStyleFadeOutIn - fade out/in
eTransitionStyleBlackBoxOut - black box out
eTransitionStyleCrossFade - cross fade

Thanks fo listening
Cheers RickJ

Game.FileName -- a property to get the exe file name, I can see how it would be useful for use with RunAGSGame, so I'll look into it.

Thanks for having a think.  Please keep in mind what Gilbot said;  if the game was started by passing the AGS file to the engine then we would want the name of the ags file and not the engine runtime.  Pretty sure you already thought of thid but just in case... 

But since AGS automatically saves all the script data anyway, I don't see what benefit this would bring. Any data you saved into the propertybag would also be saved automatically by AGS, thus you'd just be duplicating data, surely?

This came in response to my request or wonderings about being able to have a limited data set that would be unaffected by save/restore operations.   The way it currently is, it is nearly impossible to know what was going on just before the restore operation is executed.   I was just looking for an easy way to preserve a couple of flag/state variables to keep track of things and thought the now obsoleted gs_global array could possibly be used for this purpose.   

[edit]
Btw, I just noticed this thread in the Beginners Forum asking the very same question.

Manual Correction:

The game.previous_game_data  property is not  listed in the "Variables" section of the manual. 

You're confusing the USA and "the west".

I was thinking about the Magna Carta, the valiant Scotts that resisted Roman and British oppression/domination, the French reveloutiobn, the first and second World War's,  etc.  Perhaps you are right about the Britian/EU having made less progress with respect to freedom than the US.  The documents I cited are from the US and were used to rid ourselves of a King; many EU countries still think having a king is a good idea.

If the muslims have a right to "[no law] prohibiting the free exercise [of religion]" then how can you say what they should or shouldn't get angry about?

It's my opinion and I have a right to voice it.  I didn't say that Islam should be outlawed did I?  I think it's long settled jurisprudence that one's rights end wehre another's begins.  So the free exercise of one person's religion doesn't take precedence over another person's right of free speech.   Similarly murder and mayhem,. in the free exercise of one's religion, are not justifed.   

... But if a believer demands that I, as a nonbeliever, observe his taboos in the public domain, he is not asking for my respect, but for my submission.

And that's exactly what they are after isn't it, our submission?

So in that case game.name would return "ac2game".   What I want is the name of the game file that can be passed to RunAGSGame().  I can search for the different file types that RunAGSGame() accepts.  If game.name could return the name of the game file (exe or ags) then users of the MiniGame module wouldn't need to explicitly specify the name of the game that is calling a mini game.   

I suppoise it's not really that big a deal since it's necessary to hardcode the name of the mini game being called; it just seems to me to be a cleaner interface to only have to name the game you want to call and to have the return info done automatically.

Traveler:
Yeah I'm doing something just like that with a data file that I write and read back which works just fine for the most part but weird situations can still occur. It would just be nice to have a simple way of retaining some state info between these kinds of operations.    A better solution is also welcome of course.   

Gilbot:
Currently the exe in the compiled folder gets the game name from the game folder.  So if the game folder is "MyGame" the exe created in the "Compiled" folder is "MyGame.exe" so I would like game.name to return "MyGame".