Messages

I would be open to using anything deemed appropriate from the RON resources.  I did however, want to try to attempt explaining things in the old world such as what is actually inside of Dar's place, the futuristic city, etc, etc.   When we had a team working on it we had a knack of being able to twist just about any idea around so that it would fit in somehow.  So, yeah,  I'm open minded about any kind of ideas.

I haven't looked at any of the new RON resources yet to be honest.   I would hate to just pitch the graphics Holisterman did on the UI and not use them at all.  But what if we were able to reskin the GUI in-game.   Someone could give the player a graphics pack at some point in the game and perhaps upgrading the GUI is one of the puzzles? 

You know we could also use the Mini-Game module to hst the RON GUUI in the hall ofThe idea being play DemoQuest learn something about RON. 

In addition to any brainstorming ideas anyone may have, I could also use some advice/discussion  about the RON specifications and how to modify the DemoQuest assets to be compatible.  I'm thinking about color depth, pallette, character sizes, etc.  I'm willing to do all the grunt work but I can use some advice as to what ought to be done and how it to do it.

We had some discussion about combining DemoQuest resource with RoN  many months ago and identified a number of reasons to not do so.   I have been thinking, which in my case is usually dangerous, about an alternative idea that may avoid the problems  associated with an outright combination and would perhaps find more acceptance.  So let me explain what I have in mind.

As you may or may not know we invented a story line (somewhat twisted) to have some fun and explain some of the elements of DemoQuest that have appeared/evolved over the years.   We had the idea that the main character is writing a paper on "Lucid Dreaming" or some other meta-physical subject for University.  She is working into the wee hours of the morning and falls asleep.  Then a thunder storm rolls in and a huge bolt of lighting strikes just outside her window.   She awakens to find herself on the street in DemoQuest.   Her goal is to find out where she is and how to get back home.

In the end she is able to return to her room but her experience leeds her to question her own reality; Which is the dream world and which is the real world and is there such a thing as the real world.  A student being transported to another world/existence seems to be the sort of thing you would expect to happen in the RoN.

Anyway my humble idea/suggestion is this:  What do you think if student's university was in fact Reality university?  DemoQuest would in fact be starting in RoN and would end up finishing there.  So when someone finished DemoQuest they would have their first exposure to RoN.  There wouldn't be any problems harmonising background artistic styles or any of those sorts of problems.  It would have virtually no effect on the RoN cannon, except perhaps to suggest the existence of parrallel universises, alternate realities, etc.  Perhaps something like that could explain how Davy can be both dead and alive.

I was thinking that this connection would be an opportunity to introduce RoN to new comers and that I would be able to contribute some resources to RoN such as rooms at the University, etc.    Anyway, I would like to do some more work on DemoQuest this winter and  would like to know what you guys think about this little idea I had.  

P.S.  I have the feeling that the clock is ticking on DemoQuest and that it will at some point be replaced with something more modern and brief.   I'd like to do something with the classic DemoQuest, before then, to preserve it's legacy.  Making it into a playable and enjoyable game would be my contribution to that end.

It's netbook so it's probably running a crippled version of XP.  I guess if he tried it on a non-netbook computer he'd know right away if that was the problem or not.   Alternatively he could just assume that it's a programming problem and start eliminating elements of the game as I suggested earlier.

Lufia has identified your problem while I was typing the code below.  It's a skeleton of the entire function.  You just need to fill in the blanks as to what happens in each of the conditions.

Code: ags

Function unhandled_event(int what, int type) {

   //  Unhandled Hotspot
   if (what == 1) {         // Hotspot      
      if (type==1) {         // 1    1   Look at hotspot
      }
      else if (type==2) {  //  1    2   Interact with hotspot
      }
      else if (type==3) {  //  1    3   Use inventory on hotspot
      }
      else if (type==4) {  //  1    4   Talk to hotspot
      }
      else if (type==7) {  //  1    7   Pick up hotspot
      }
      else if (type==8) {  //  1    8   Cursor Mode 8 on hotspot
      }
      else if (type==9) {  //  1    9   Cursor Mode 9 on hotspot
      }
      else  {                     //  Undefined
      }
   }
      
   //  Unhandled Object
   else if (what== 2) {   
      // 
      if (type==0) {         //  2    0   Look at object
         Display("It looks fine.");
      }
      else if (type==1) {  //  2    1   Interact with object
          Display ("You have more important things to worry about at the moment.");
      }
      else if (type==2) {  //  2    2   Talk to object
      }
      else if (type==3) {  //  2    3   Use inventory on object
      }
      else if (type==5) {  //  2    5   Pick up object
      }
      else if (type==6) {  //  2    6   Cursor Mode 8 on object
      }
      else if (type==7) {  //  2    7   Cursor Mode 9 on object
      }
      else  {                     //  Undefined
      }
   }

   //  Unhandled Character
   else if (what==3)  {   
      else if (type==0) {  //  3    0   Look at character
      }
      else if (type==1) {  //  3    1   Interact with character
      }
      else if (type==2) {  //  3    2   Speak to character
      }
      else if (type==3) {  //  3    3   Use inventory on character
      }
      else if (type==5) {  //  3    5   Pick up character
      }
      else if (type==6) {  //  3    6   Cursor Mode 8 on character
      }
      else if (type==7) {  //  3    7   Cursor Mode 9 on character
      }
      else  {                     //  Undefined
      }
   }
      
   // Unhandled Nothing
   else if (what==4) {
      if (type==1) {          //  4    1   Look at nothing (ie. no hotspot)
      }
      else if (type==2) {  //  4    2   Interact with nothing
      }
      else if (type==3) {  //  4    3   Use inventory with nothing
      }
      else if (type==4) {  //  4    4   Talk to nothing
      }
      else  {                     //  Undefined
      }     
   }
      
   // Unhandled Inventory
   else if (what==5) {
      else if (type==0) {  //  5    0   Look at inventory
      }
      else if (type==1) {  //  5    1   Interact with inventory (currently not possible)
      }
      else if (type==2) {  //  5    2   Speak to inventory
      }
      else if (type==3) {  //  5    3   Use an inventory item on another
      }
      else if (type==4) {  //  5    4   Other click on inventory
      }
      else  {                     //  Undefined
      }     
   }

  // Unhandled Undefined
   else {
      // This isn't supposed to happen
   }
}

Just to be clear;  I am not asking that a specific directory usage be codified; just asking that some or all of the editor preferences be specific to a particular version of the editor so that one may have multiple versions of the editor installed and so that they do not affect one another.

Specifically speaking this might be accomplished by changing the registry class (I don't know if class is the correct term) name in future versions of the editor from this:

     HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software->Adventure Game Studio->AGS Editor

to something like this:

     HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software->Adventure Game Studio->AGS Editor Vx.xx

where Vx.xx is the editor version.  I am assuming that this would have the effect of giving  subsequent editor versions their own independent set of preferences.

In the preferences dialog box, is the "New Game Directory" setting version specific?  In other words if there are two different versions  of AGS installed does each version have it's own setting or do they share the same one? 

If not then I would like to make a suggestion that this be made version specific so that each installed AGS version would have it's own setting.  I would also like to suggest that this setting also be used for the "Open Game" dialog. 

The reason for this is that many, if not all, of us keep separate game folders; one  for each version of AGS.  So if I open the AGS 2.72 editor I would like it to be directed to the V2.72 games folder by default so that this would be the default location of newly created games or it would be the default location to look for existing games to be opened. 

One other suggestion would also be to cleanup the open game dialog so that instead of having to specify the game file one could just select the game folder instead. 

[Using the Virtual AGS Workstation]

Using the Virtual AGS Workstation

Under Construction

[AGS and Other Windows Software Installation]

AGS and Other Windows Software Installation

The first thing we need to do is to download and install the current version of
the .NET framework from Microsoft.  Download from the following URL and run the
installation program.

  http://www.microsoft.com/Net/Download.aspx

Install AGS
The current version of Ags can be downloaded from the following URL. There is usually a beta version available in the Technical forum if you like to be on the bleeding edge.

  http://adventuregamestudio.co.uk/acdload.htm

Start the installation program and follow the on screen instructions to install AGS as you normally would.  Then Startup the AGSEditor and open the "Preferences" dialog box by making the following selection from the main menu.

 AGSEditor->Preferences

Now enter the following information in the "New Game Directory" section, where X.XX is the version of the AGS editor that is being run.  I'm not certain if this setting is global for all editor versions or if it is version specific.  If not perhaps this should be a suggestion.

 Defaults to: Z:\X.XX

Install Other Windows Software
Now you may install any other windows software you like.  Below are a few recommendations that that you may find interesting or that may come in handy while working with AGS.

  Firefox                 http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ie.html
  7-Zip                    http://www.7-zip.org/
  Graphics Gale      http://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us/index.html
  Cubic Explorer     http://www.cubicreality.com/
  Audacity              http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
  AutoIt                 http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/
  Wink                   http://www.debugmode.com/wink/

[AGS Game File Folders]

AGS Game File Folders

By default Ags will create and save it's game files on the Windows virtual disk. The problem with this is that Linux applications will not be able to access the virtual disk.  However, both Windows and Linux applications can access the Linux file system.  So what we want to do is to create some folders on the Linux file system for this purpose.  Here is a directory structure commonly used by
many AGSers.  You may of course modify it to meet your own needs and work flow habits.

   /home
      |
      +--ags
             |
             +--bin           {shell scripts}
             |
             +--lib            {commonly used resources, fonts, sounds, etc}
             |
             +--archive     {released versions of games, zip files}
             |
             +--2.72         {game files edited with AGS 2.72}
             |
             +--3.10         {game files edited with AGS 3,10}
             |
             +--3.20         {game files edited with AGS 3,20}

Create AGS Folders
Now we can create the above folders.  First open a console window if you have not done so already.

   K->System->Konsole

Now enter the following commands in the console window to create the folders.

   $ sudo mkdir /home/ags
   $ sudo mkdir /home/ags/bin
   $ sudo mkdir /home/ags/lib
   $ sudo mkdir /home/ags/archive
   $ sudo mkdir /home/ags/2.72
   $ sudo mkdir /home/ags/3.12
   $ sudo mkdir /home/ags/3.20

Now change the group assignment of these folders. We will put thes folders in the agsdev group so that any users who are members of this group may have access to them.  Entering the following commands in the console window will accomplish this.

   $ sudo chown root:agsdev /home/ags
   $ sudo chown root:agsdev /home/ags/bin
   $ sudo chown root:agsdev /home/ags/lib
   $ sudo chown root:agsdev /home/ags/archive
   $ sudo chown root:agsdev /home/ags/2.72
   $ sudo chown root:agsdev /home/ags/3.12
   $ sudo chown root:agsdev /home/ags/3.20

Now change the file permissions of these folders so that members of the agsdev group will have read and write access to files that reside in these folders.    Change the file permissions by entering the following commands in the console window.

   $ sudo chmod 774 /home/vbox
   $ sudo chmod 774 /home/vbox/winxp-ags
   $ sudo chmod 774 /home/ags
   $ sudo chmod 774 /home/ags/bin
   $ sudo chmod 774 /home/ags/lib
   $ sudo chmod 774 /home/ags/archive
   $ sudo chmod 774 /home/ags/2.72
   $ sudo chmod 774 /home/ags/3.12
   $ sudo chmod 774 /home/ags/3.20

Setup Shared Folders
To setup the shared folders the virtual machine must be stopped.  If you setup desktop icons to control the VM you can just click on the Stop icon, otherwise just select the following from the Windows Start Menu:

   Start->Turn Off Computer->Turn Off

Now open the VirtulBox control panel from the Linux main menu by selecting the following:

   K->Utilities->VirtualBox OSE

From the control panel open the Settings dialog box by clicking on the "Settings" icon.  Select the "Shared Folders" tab and then use the "Add new folder"  icon to add the following shared folders:

   Shared Folders:
      Add Folder:
         Folder Path: /home/ags
         Folder Name: ags
         Read-only: no
      Add Folder:
         Folder Path: /home
         Folder Name: home
         Read-only: no

Now start the windows VM by clicking on the Start icon in the VirtualBox control panel.  When Windows completes it's boot process open the windows file manager.   

   Start(right click)->Explore

In the directory tree pane of the file manager scroll down to the "MyNetworkPlaces" node and expand it. Now expand the "Entire Network" and "VirtualBox Shared Folder" nodes.  You should see something like this:

  MyNetworkPlaces
      |
      +--Entire Network
               |
               +--Microsoft Windows Network
               |
               +--VirtualBox Shared Folders
                       |
                       +--\\VBOXSVR\ags
                       |
                       +--\\VBOXSVR\home

Now map the shared folders to network drives. Right click on the shared folder and select "Map network drive" from the context menu.  Supply the following information to the dialog that pops up.

   \\VBOXSVR\ags (right click)->Map Network Drive
      Drive: Z
      Folder: \\VBOXSVR\ags (grayed out)
      Reconnect at logon: Yes

   \\VBOXSVR\home (right click)->Map Network Drive
      Drive: Y
      Folder: \\VBOXSVR\ags (grayed out)
      Reconnect at logon: Yes

Alternatively you can execute the following commands from the Windows command line:

   net use Y: \\vboxsvr\home
   net use Z: \\vboxsvr\ags

[Windows Installation]

Windows Installation

Windows XP (SP3) is recommended but you can of course install any version of windows you wish.  Just be aware that earlier versions may lack the .Net framework, drivers, or other essentials and later versions are said to be resource hungry.

In the VirtualBox control panel select the newly created VM.  Put the windows installation disk in the CD/DVD drive and click on the settings icon  to open a "Settings" dialog.  Select CD/DVD ROM and enter the following information:

  Mount CD/DVD Drive: Yes
  Host CD/DVD Drive: Yes
  Selected Drive: {drivecontaining windows disk}
  Enable Pass Thru: yes

In the VirtualBox control panel click on the "Start" icon to begin the windows installation process.  Follow the usual windows installation process. 

Install Guest Additions
Guest Additions is a VirtualBox helper software that is installed on the windows guest operating system.  It allows the mouse cursor to move freely between host operating system windows and guest operating system windows, negating the need to use the Right-Control key to make this transition.  It also allows the guest operating system to run in "seamless" mode.  To install
Guest Additions use the main menu at the top of the virtual machine's window and select the following:

  Device->Install Guest Additions

Follow the on screen instructions to complete the installation.  When the installation is complete WinXP will need to be rebooted.  Click the "Reboot Now" button.  After WinXP reboots you will be informed that the cursor will no longwer be captured. This means that the mouse cursor will be able to freelymove to/from windows' applications  to/from linux applications without pressing
the right-control key.

Enable Seamless Integration
Windows XP should now be running in a Linux window.  You may now turn on seamless integration by making the selection below from the virtual machine's main menu:

  Machine->Seamless Mode

The virtual machine window should disappear leaving you with only a windows task bar at the bottom of the screen.  According to the documentation you should be able to switch out of seamless mode by pressing the 'L' and Right Control keys at the same time.

[Virtual Box Installation]

Virtual Box Installation

Virtualbox is a virtualization software that allows the user to create a virtual machine upon which a guest operating system, such as WinXP, may be installed.  To install VirtualBox open the  Add/Remove software module on the control panel from the main menu as follows

 K->Settings->System Settings->Add/Remove Software

Enter "virtualbox" in the search window.  You will see either one package or a list of packages.  If there is a list then select the following packages and then click on the "Apply" button to install the packges.

 virtualbox-ose
 virtualbox-ose-qt
 virtualbox-ose-source
 virtualbox-guest-additions

Create the Virtual Machine
Open the Virtualbox control panel from the main menu as follows:

 K->Utilities->VirtualBox OSE

Now click on the "New" icon to open a wizard that creates a virtual machine.  Enter the following information on the various screens that appear.  

 VM Name and OS Type
 ==================================
 Name: WinXp
 Operating System: Microsoft Windows
 Version: Windows XP

 Memory
 ==================================
 Memory: 640 MB

 Virtual Hard Disk
 ==================================
 Boot Hard Disk: Yes
 Create New hard Disk: Yes

 Hard Disk Storage Type
 ==================================
 Dynamically Expanding Storage: Yes

 Virtual Disk Location and Size
 ==================================
 Location: /home/username/vbox/WinXP
 Size: 25GB

Click on the "Finish" button to create the virtual machine.  

Create Desktop Icons
The next thing I would recommend is to create a couple of desktop Icons to start and stop the VM.  In this way it won;t be necessary to use the VirtualBox controls panel found on the main menu at:

 Utilities->VirtualBox

The first thing to note is that there is a command line interface called VBoxManage that allows VMs to be controlled from a  command line.  The following two commands are used to start and stop our VM.

 $ VBoxManage startvm  WinXP
 $ VBoxManage controlvm WinXP poweroff

The Kubuntu destop environment, KDE 4.3, uses a different desktop paradigm in that the desktop contains widgets, (mini-applications) rather than traditional icons.   Fortunately there is a widget called Folder View that provides the same (and more) functionality as traditional desktops.  In fact folder view can be used to emulate the traditional desktop environment.  Just right click on the desktop and select "Desktop Settings" from the context menu.  In the dialog box that pops up, change Tyoe from Descktop to  Folder View.

If you don't have a Folder View of your Desktop folder then create one by right clicking on the desktop and selecting "AddWidget" the following from the context menu.  A dialog will appear with a list of widgets.  Scroll down the list, select Folder View and press the Add Widget button.  

A folder view widget should appear on the desktop. Right click inside the Folder View widget, select Folder View Settings and check the "Show Desktop" radio button. You should now have a Folder View of your Desktop folder.

Now we can create our Start/Stop icons.  Right click in folder view and create a new application link from the context menu as shown below.

 RightClick->Create New->Link to Application
 
Right click on the newly created icon and click on the application tab. Fill in the information as follows:

 Name: Start WinXP
 Description: Start WinXP Virtual Machine
 Comment:
 Command: VBoxManage startvm WinXP
 Work path: /home/ags

Click the OK button and then right click the icon once more.  This time click on the General tab and enter the name text from above, WinXP-Ags Start VM, into the text entry field.  Now click on the icon to change it'sgraphic.   Select the "Other Icons" radio button and scroll to find the virtualbox  graphic. Select it and press the OK button.

Repeat the process to create the Stop WinXP-Ags icon using the following information:

 Name: Stop WinXP
 Description: Stop WinXP Virtual Machine
 Comment:
 Command: VBoxManage controlvm WinXP poweroff
 Work path: /home/ags

Assign User Groups
The installation process has created a "vboxusers" group.  We are going to create another group called "agsdev".  We are then going to make our user account a member of both groups.  Open the control panel from them main menu and navigate to the User Management control panel.

 K->Settings->System Settings
 System Settings->Advanced->User Management

Now, add the following two groups to your system and make your username a member of those groups.  The group "vboxusers" should already be present, if not then create it.

 vboxusers
 agsdev

[Post Installation]

Post Installation

After the initial installation is complete additional software is typically installed.  There is a nice guide online at the url below that explains how to customise Kubuntu and install just about everything that is avaiable.  Much of the information in this document is derived from this guide.

  http://kubuntuguide.org/

Switch to Classic Menu
The instructions in this document  refer to the classic menu so it is recommended that it be used to perform the operations described below.  Don't worry it only takes two clicks to change from the modern menu and the  classic menu and back again. 

  - Right click on the Kde "K" icon at the left end of the task bar
  - Select "Switch to Classic Menu Style
  - Click the Remove button on the dialog box that pops up

Open Console Window
Open a console window so that you have easy access to the command line. If you are instructed to enter a command in the console you can just copy the text from this document and paste it into the console's command line. 

  K->System->Konsole

Enable Proprietary Drivers (video)
Click on the Kde "K" icon to open the main menu and select:

  K->System->Hardware Drivers
 
From the popup dialog box activate the recommended drivers for the hardware on your system.  On the test system the recommended NVIDIA driver was selected and then the activate button clicked.  This takes a few seconds to complete.  The new drivers will typically be loaded the next time the system boots up.

Install Firefox
The default web browser in Kubuntu is Konqueror.  Konqueror is a great file manager (used to be better in KDE 3.5) and is an ok web browser but most people prefer to use Firefox .  Kubuntu 9.10 has a convenient Firefox installer that makes Firefox installation very easy.  Just select the installer from the menu and follow the on screen instructions.

  K->Internet->Install Firefox

Update Installation
Open the KDE control panel from the main menu.  From the control panel window select the Add/Remove Software icon.  A new window will open.  Select the "Software Updates" icon.  Wait for update scan to complete then  click "Select All" button and the "Apply" button.

  K->Settings->System Settings
  Kde Control Panel->Add/Remove Software
  Add/Remove Software->Software Updates
  Add/Remove Software->Select All
  Add/Remove Software->Apply

Alternatively you can enter the following commands on the command line in the console window.  For those who are comfortable using the console this can be the easiest and fastest way of doing things.

  $ sudo apt-get update
  $ sudo apt-get upgrade
  $ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
 
Add Restricted Extras
For historical, ideological and legal reasons most Linux distributions are loathe to include any kind of proprietary software in their default install.   The do however make easy (some distribution make it easier than others) to install additional proprietary software such as hardware drivers, flash players, and the like.  The Kubuntu Restricted Extras package contains software such as Sun's JRE, multimedia codecs, MS core fonts, flash plugin for Firefox and other browsers and more.   Enter the following commands on the console's command line to install:

  $ sudo apt-get install kubuntu-restricted-extras

Install Other Desired Software
Take some time and explore the extensive software catalogue that is available for Kubuntu.  Select K->Settings->System Settings from the main menu to open the control panel.  Select Add/Remove programs from the panel to open the package manager.  Install any additional packages that may be of interest to you. 

Note: As of this writing there has been a change to the "Add/Remove Software" control panel.  It used to show main applications only along with a brief description of the application.  It now shows a list of all packages including libraries and other supporting packages and no description.  IMHO this makes it very confusing for anyone wishing to try new and different applications.  Hopefully this is only a temporary situation that will be corrected in the near future.

[Linux Installation (Kubuntu 9.10)]

Linux Installation (Kubuntu 9.10)

The Linux version of the AGS runtime is built using Ubuntu linux so using one of the flavors of Ubuntu is a good idea. Ubuntu uses the Gnome desktop environment and is comfortable for people who are accostomed to using Windows XP.  Kubuntu uses the KDE desktop which has many advanced features and so is preferred by many power users.  Since I prefer Kubuntu this document will describe how to setup an AGS workstation on Kubuntu.

Create Install CD
To install Kubuntu Linux download the install disk iso image and burn it to a CD. The Kubuntu and Ubuntu install disks can be found at the following ebsites:

 http://www.kubuntu.org/
 http://www.ubuntu.com/   

Put the install CD in the drive and reboot the machine.  After selecting a language will be given a choice to run Kubuntu right off the CD or to install it.  Check it out first if you like and then proceed  with the installation when you're ready.

Start Installation
The Kubuntu installation will ask you to supply basic configuration information as shown below.  Just follow the straight forward instructions and fill in the requested information appropriately.  

 - Language
 - Time Zone
 - Keyboard
 - Disk Setup
 - User Info

Partition Hard Drive
The disk setup screen asks the user to select a disk drive on which to install kubuntu and then gives options to use the entire disk, to use the just the empty space, or to manually partition the disk.  If windows is installed on another disk or another partition then Kubuntu will install along side  windows and a boot menu will provide the ability to select either OS.  If a dual boot system is desired it is easier (and safer to the existing windows installation) to install linux to a new or second hard disk that can be wiped clean without consequence.

It is recommended that the disk partitions be setup manually so that there are two partitions and a swap area rather than the default of one partition and swap area. Having two paritions allows the executable programs to be seperated from user data.  In this way a the linux installation can be completely replaced without losing or otherwise affecting the users' data.

On the test system the 500GB drive was partitioned  as shown in the table below.  The default swap space seems to be about 6Gb which was increased to 10Gb.  It is not known what affect, if any,  this will have on system performance.

Mount	Type	Size MB	Description
/	ext4	154998	programs and operating system
/home	ext4	330096	user data
swap	swap	10001	virtual memory

Finish the Installation
The home partition is bigger than the root partition because this is where a 20-50Gb virtual disk drive will eventually reside.  Once the partitions are setup to your satisfaction proceed with the installation which will take about a half hour.

[Introduction]

Introduction

This tutorial explains how to setup an AGS Development Workstation on a computer running the Linux operating system.  This will be accomplished by creating a virtual machine in which Windows XP and AGS will be installed.  Here is a screen shot of the test system showing the AGS editor and a test game running on a Linux desktop under KDE 4.3.

This tutorial is divided into several sections so that it's easier to read and so that the tutorial may be completed in multiple sessions over a period of time rather than all at once.

 - Install linux
 - Post Installation
 - VirtualBox Installation
 - Windows Installation
 - Setup AGS Game File Storage Area
 - Install AGS and other Software on Windows
 - Using the AGS Workstation

System Requirements
The two most important resource considerations in setting up a virtual windows machine is CPU speed and Memory size.  The relevant specifications of the computer used to test this tutorial are as follows:

Linux Version:	Kubuntu 9.10
CPU:	2.5 GHz AMD 64-bit Dual Core
Memory:	2 GB
Hard Drive:	Seagate 500 GB SATA II

With the above system there were no observed performance problems.  One would speculate that the minimum requirements would be something like those listed below and that such a minimal system may exhibit some undesirable performance characteristics.

Linux Version:	Kubuntu or  Ubuntu
CPU:	1.5 GHz single core
Memory:	1 GB
Hard Drive:	150 GB

Sumary:
Using a virtual machine to run the AGS Editor and other windows applications,  commonly used in the game making process, is trouble free, mostly eloquent and easy.  The only down side is that a  system with enough Cpu and memory is required.  Fortunately most current PC offerings exceed the requirements and will suffer no performance problems.  The same cannot be said for computers that are 5-10 years out of date.

Todo
  2009-00-00  write "Using AGS Workstation" section

Tutorial Revisions
   2009-10-23  remove alternate user management method, no longer necessary
   2009-10-19  add desktop screen shot
  2009-10-17  publish original version

I don't think it matters how many rooms or dialogs you have since you are only running one at a time.   In the case of the dialogs they aren't typically running when the player character is walking around.   Your FPS seems to be perfectly adequate as well.  Since you mention walkable areas I do know that the path finding algorithm can be resource intensive so I wonder if that in combination with a netbook may have something to do with your problem.

The only other thing I can suggest is that you start experimenting with a copy of the game.  Start eliminating different elements so as to determine which element(s) is causing the performance problem.  The other thing I would suggest is to try an unmodified copy on a normal PC to see if the problems persist.

Good Luck!

You need to delete the semicolon from this line:

     "if(cEgo.ActiveInventory = iblend;){"

and you also need to add another curly brace like this:

Code: ags

function camera_UseInv() {
   if(cEgo.ActiveInventory==iblend) {
      Display("Yes, it blends!");
   }
}

You should also learn how to indent your code to keep from having mismatched curly braces "{}".  Whenever you put an opening curly brace  "{" you are saying to the compiler here begins a block of code that goes with the preceding if (also else, while, and function) statement.   The compiler will know that whatever is in that block of code needs to be executed when the if statement is true.   You need to put a closing curly brace "}" to tell the compiler that the code block is ended.   

The compiler can count the braces and keep track of them much better than we feeble minded humans.  So by convention we humans indent any code that is supposed to go between the curly braces by a tab character or 2-3 space characters.  That way we don't get confused.  It's also a good idea to write the closing curly brace "}" whenever we first write the opening curly brace "{".  Please note that the opening brace can be placed on the next line after the if statement and at the same indent level or it can be placed at the end of the if statement.  Bioth ways are equally valid;  just pick whichever you like and be consistent

Hope this helps

Yea , that's it alright.    Wouldn't you know it I was searching for"Icon" instead of  "Logo"      

Hehe, I can use a bit of help.  Someone make a couple cool blue cup icons recently and posted them, i believe in the Chat forum but I'll be dammed if I can find them now.   I searched for icon, ags icon, cup, etc  but came up negative.   Perhaps some one with a better memory can help me locate them.  Thanks..   

Sorry if I might've come across a bit stand-offish. Reading back through it, it seems like I may have...

I didn't take it that way at all.   I appreciate the effort because as I said I had a similar error that drove me crazy and it went away without  me coming to understand what was really going on.  I also appreciate your taking the time to debug the code in my post.  Hopefully I'll get my workstation up this week.

But if there is an import given but no function definition, there will only be a run-time error, and then only if the function is actually called.

Thanks for the research and the explanation.  When this happened to me I couldn't figure out what was happening and it has always bugged me.   I vaguely remember  changing something in a struct definition in  a Module Header that ended up resolving the error.  But I never really knew exactly what I did or understood why the error was occurring or not occurring.       

I couold have sworn that I had checked all the names using the editor search function.  I wonder if in my case there could have been something wrong with something declared just before my function that made it not defined or not defined correctly?  At this point I suppose I'll never know but thanks to your post I'll definitely know what to look for next time.  Thanks.

So monkey is it the case here, that the function call and the import statement match each other but not the function definition?