Messages

You may want to VirtualBox.  i am also Kubuntu 8.1 and running the latest AGS beta in virtual box an i am quite pleased with the results.  I setup it up for seamless integration and so I can run Linux and windows programs simultaneously on the same desktop, the same as if there were only one OS.

There are only a couple of minor issues outstanding:

1.  AGS allows you to edit game files residing on a networked mapped drive but won't allow you to do any compile type operations.  It seems that .NET returns a "no more files" error and AGS responds by aborting the command that caused it.  It's been determined that this error can be correctly identified and safely ignored and so it's possible a future AGS version  will address this.

2. The AGSEditor  Run command can only be used in "Force to Window" mode.   It kind of makes sense that a virtual machine isn't allowed to change screen resolutions.   Anyway the 2x and 3x filters work so if you have a big resolution screen you can blow-up the test window to usable size.  So I think this is not a peoblem.

2.  Moving the test window sometimes causes a screen problem.  Specifically if you move it past the top of the screen the part that goes off screen turns up at the bottom of the screen along with a lot of blacked out or un-updated rectangular areas.   I suspect this is some kind of virtual box error.  There is newer version available but I don't want to install Vbiox, windows, and everything again.

AGS V3.1 is well worth the trouble of upgrading and insytalling Virtualbox.  Goo luck.

[Political Comedy]

Political Comedy
First of all I think it would be helpful to point out that humor and comedy are not the same thing as satire.   Although satire is often funny, humor is not a necessary ingredient.

Satire - Wikipedia
Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although, in practice, it is also found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improvement.[1] Although satire is usually meant to be funny, the purpose of satire is not primarily humour in itself so much as an attack on something of which the author strongly disapproves, using the weapon of wit.

Humour - Wikipedia
Humour or humor (see spelling differences) is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. Many theories exist about what humour is ...

I believe that nachos original comment was about comedians so let's start with what is funny and what is not.  I think Wiki give a pretty good explanation in it's "Theory of Humor" article.

Theories of Humor. -  Wikipedia
Superiority Theory - The superiority theory of humor traces back to Plato and Aristotle, and Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan. This theory explains that a person laughs about misfortunes of others, because these misfortunes assert the person's superiority on the background of shortcomings of others.  For Aristotle, we laugh at inferior or ugly individuals, because we feel a joy at being superior to them. Socrates was reported by Plato as saying that the ridiculous was characterized by a display of self-ignorance.

Incongruity Theory - The incongruity theory states that humor is perceived at the moment of realization of incongruity between a concept involved in a certain situation and the real objects thought to be in some relation to the concept.  Since the main point of the theory is not the incongruity per se, but its realization and resolution (i.e, putting the objects in question into the real relation), it is often called the incongruity-resolution theory.

I think what Nacho is talking about clearly falls under the Superiority Theory of humor.  We have all employed this technique as children to entertain ourselves.   This is evidenced by comments such as this one  (don't intend to single Ozzie out,  just most recent example). 

And I thought that the Daily Show of last night was not so funny as usual, even if it bashed Dick Cheney!

So just taking a cheap shot at Cheney should be funny, nothing else required right?  Very little talent is required to poke fun at somebody else, especially if they are differnt than you and your friends.  In fact this is one of the points Nacho makes; that it tales little courage (or talent) to make jokes and make fun of Group-B when your entire audience is comprised of GROUP-A.   Ozzie provides  an illustration of this point when he says...

Well, jokes have to be funny and I assume that it is much easier to write jokes about Sarah Palin than about  Obama. That and shows like The Daily Show are geared towards are more left-wing audience, of course. I'm not a comedian and I assume that you aren't either (I'm not sure how I come to that conclusion Wink), but look at the potential for jokes.

He then goes on to list potential joke topics for the two presidential candidates apparently to show how little potential there is to poke fun at Obama.  He lists a number of potential Obama jabs under McCain and dismisses Rev Wright as having little on no potential.    Come on can't you see the potential for humor in a situation where a black man with a Muslim middle name who for 20 years was a member of a church with a crazy racist and hateful minister and who is a long time friend and collaborator with an unrepentant 60's hippie who bombed the pentagon and other government buildings, etc, etc.  The there is the Joe the plumber episode
where no good comes of a black politician looking for votes in an all white  neighborhood,  definitely no potential there for humor.    How about when he was a younger guy where he admits to using and selling drugs; could you imagine a comedy skit with a exaggeratedly tall skinny black kid selling/doing drugs and  trying to look inconspicuous.   

I'm only saying there is ample joke potential to go around and that one only need look for it.  I think one of Nacho's other points is that often times people in positions of influence (i.e those in the media or entertainment business) choose not to look and not to criticize those who belong to the same political philosophy.    If there is no balance the whole thing degenerates into a disgusting bullying mob. 

I too find such spectacle's distasteful and I can understand why  Nacho has said that he finds all political humor distasteful.   Although I agree with him in large part about Superiority humor,
political or not, I part company with him when it comes to Incongruent humor used in a political context.   

I know this is a long post so I'll give you guys a break.  Take a look at this video this video which is truly funny and afterwards I tell you my thoughts about it.

Ok hope you enjoyed that.   I think this is an example of Incongruent humor.   The impersonator has done a decent job with the facial makeup, hair, glasses and clothes; good enough that we recognize who he is impersonating.  It's funny because we cannot reconcile our recognition  of the Palin image with the reality that it is in the form of a 2 foot tall man.   The impersonator is not making fun of her but is rather making fun of himself if anything.   He accurately states her positions and the obvious fact that if McCain dies she'll get to be president.  The part about the internet and parodies is an obvious reference to himself and the video.   I think that Gov Palin would probably also be amused rather than insulted by this video.

Yeah! Bottom Line:

Nacho has some good points about political humor that relies on audience feeling superior to the subject or the humor.   If the majority of media, comedians, or others of influence engage this kind of humor against the same subject it's the same as a group of kids bullying someone and can get very personal.   It's always in bad taste to pick on someone less powerful. 

One could argue that politicians have a lot of power but that is after they have been elected to office.   It should also be remembered that, at least in free countries, politicians and governments have very little if any power over the freedom of expression.

I part ways with Nacho when he disdains all political humor.  Humor is a useful way of pointing out folly and  criticizing governments and the decisions they make.   It's an important form of expression and it empowers people to make their voices heard.

Satire is related to the above two forms of humor but is not the same thing.   It is a form of criticism of "human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods,...".  Satire is by definition limited to actual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings and not manufactured of fictional ones.  I believe some of the network shows mentioned in this thread are guilty of satirizing invented facts about their targets. 

Anyway, it's what comes with freedom so I don't mind.... 

[make a backup copy of your entire game folder before you do anything else!!!]

I don't know why you are getting those errors but for gods sake make a backup copy of your entire game folder before you do anything else!!!  I know it's pointless to ask but when was the last time you made a backup of your game?  Ok, assuming that you don't have a recent backup then there are a couple of other things you can try.

o Copy the file backup_acsprset.spr to acsprset.spr
o Copy the file Game.agf.bak to Game.agf
o Try staring editor now ..

Someone else may have more insight into what's causing your problem.

I think you are referring to the interaction editor which has been discontinued for a number of reasons including some of the following:

o It was difficult to maintain and keep up to date
o Often time people would start a game using the interaction editor only to realize too late in the process that it was inadequate for their needs.
o It delayed the inevitable decision to take the plunge into the scripting language

There are a couple of options open to you.   First of all AGS V2.72 was the last version to include the interaction editor.  It was mature and stable so you could easily use this for your class.   The second option is to involve them in the script language right off the bat.  You could ease the learning curve for them by creating new room templates containing instructions and examples they could modify.  You haven't said what age group you are working with but if they are old enough to read and follow instructions then some flavor of this could be made to work for them.   This would have the added advantage of introducing them to a programming language. 

You may find some of the DemoQuest documentation and other materials helpful.   Let us know how it turns out.

I've heard that the "not being able to run thing" has something to do with the mechanism that partially paralyzes us will we are sleeping.  Such a mechanism is required else we would go about wreaking havoc in our sleep.

[F3]

F3
Please read the original post carefully.

Currently if you open the find window to enter the search string it will stay open until the cancel button is clicked.   If the window is open the F3 key is ignored and does nothing.   The suggestion was to allow the F3 key to close the window and then executes it's normal Find-next function.   After the search text is entered, the window no longer serves any useful purpose; it only obscures the script file.   

Separate Find and Replace Menu Picks
It's already implemented in the latest beta and is greatly appreciated by at least one person. .

Search History
It's already implemented in the latest beta and is greatly appreciated by at least one person. .

Global search
I agree with what  Steve said.

I would like to add that there needs to be a way of searching the entire game not just scripts.   It doesn't happen very often but once in a while you can get an orphaned reference in a no-script part of the game.  When it happened to me last the error got past the compiler and all I got was a "unresolved importof xxxx" message at run-time.     

It could be part of a global search or as I have suggested earlier perhaps the compiler could generate a listing of some kind.


SUGGESTION: Quick Search
Steve inspired this thought when he mentioned the Google like functionality.  This hasn't to do with internet type queries, just a little different UI to the existing search function. 

Create another drop list at the top of the script file just like the existing function search.  So the function search and the quick search drop lists would be on the same line and each would occupy half the width of the script page.   The quick search drop list would contain the search history; click on an item and the text is copied to the search buffer and a find-next operation is performed.   Type in a new string in the drop field and that text is copied to the search buffer and a find-next operation is performed.

You just have to turn the objects Visible property on or off.

Code: ags

*** Room Script ***

String Answer;
String Correct;

function SomeFunction() {

   if (Answer==Correct) {
      oMyObject.Visible = true;
   }
}

4) There have been various comments in other threads about implementing a global search compatibilit ...

I think the discussions to which Old Guy refers also included non-script portions as well.   This would be is useful in tracking down hard to find bugs. In a recent Beginners Forum thread someone was trying to create a global variable named "money" and kept getting unresolved import errors.  I had the guy change all of his "money" references to "xmoney" but the compiler still complained about "money".  There didn't seem to be any references to "money" in any script but something it was still being used somewhere.   I wasn't able to help other than to tell the guy that he had a  reference to "money" lurking about and to look in all the property panel of all the game entities.  A global search thingy would have been a great help here. 

A global search would also be useful in locating and removing unused entities.   In one such discussion I suggested that having a BuildAll option to generate a cross reference listing file of some sort would perhaps be a better alternative, especially for cleanup type tasks.  Also I don't think a global replace function is necessary or even desirable.

Anyway CJ, if you are thinking about doing something in this area p[lease consider including non-script entities in the search results. 

RickJ - thanks for that information.  I had researched the institution before (not like I did a book report on it or anything just some Google and Wikipedia) but it's nice to get some new information about it.  I always admire your posts as they come with good information!

Darth - Although you know what you are talking about, I think there are "some people" from other countries listening to this conversation that may not.  I posted the explanation for the benefit of those less informed so that they could better appreciate what is being said on both sides.

I believe you are also correct about the fear of the general population going ape-shit and selling out their hard won freedoms over a chrismatic dictator type person.  And yes it can happen even in modern times; just look at what's going on in Venezuela and Bolivia.   

Having a block-vote system makes sense when you're electing a local representative for the Senate or whatever, where each state has to choose somebody to represent it in government (and this person comes from whichever party gets the most votes in the state) -- but when a national President is being elected, why add all the complications?

There is noting in the constitution or in federal law requiring that states vote in a block.  This is decided by each state individually, and there are a number of states that do in fact proportionally select their electors according to the popular vote.  So in these states if Obamma wins 52% of the popular vote and McCain gets 48% then 52% of the electors are selected from the democrat (obama0 party and 48% from the republican party (mccain).

The reason some states vote as a block is that they believe that doing so will give them a stronger voice, not only in the election, but also in political process before and after elections.

You have to remember in the US sovereignty lies with the people first.  They delegate some of their power to the state in which they reside to govern.   The individual states in turn delegate some of their power to the federal government.   I think in most other countries it's the other way around, where the King/Queen are the sovereigns and delegate some of their [power to a Parliament who in turn delegate some powers to the people.

In the end both systems can (but not necessarily) produce similar results but the journey can be quite different.

In some countries that have multi-party systems, they seem to have to have elections every 6 months after the coalition partners break up with each other and nobody has enough power to get anything done -- which can't be a good thing for the country or the economy.

Hehe, I on this point.   Just to clarify though.  There are no laws codifying or requiring a two party system in the US.  It has just worked out that way.   There are in fact other political parties in the US who routinely run presidential candidates, such as the  Libertarian party, The Green party and the one created by Ross Perot in 92.  This is not to say that the two parties in power don't do everything they can to maintain the status quo.   

I may be wrong but I believe that one of the original reasons for creating the electoral college was so that individual states could maintain their power by voting as a block.   

For those not familiar with the US system:

The number of representatives in congress for each state is determined by that state's population.   Each state gets two senators regardless of the population.   This was done so that small and/or sparsely populated states would have some say so in the political process.   

They used the same formula to determine the number of electoral votes delegated to each state.   From Wikipedia ... 

"Each state has a number of electors equal to the number of its Senators and Representatives in the United States Congress. ...

Most states allow voters to choose between statewide slates of electors pledged to vote for the presidential and vice presidential tickets of various parties; the ticket that receives the most votes statewide 'wins' all of the votes cast by electors from that state. ..."

For me it seems to be a sane system.  It doesn't bother me that occasionally there is a difference between the popular vote and the electoral vote.   It's only happened a couple of times in 250 years and in each instance they were very close elections.   I think it's good that small states are guaranteed a voice.

1. Create a gui and give it a name such as gMygui

2. Create a hotspot and give it a script name such as  hHotspot1.

3. Create an interaction function using the lighting bolt icon.

4. Use the following code to activate the gui

Code: ags

function hHotspot1_Interact() {
     gMygui.Visible = true;
}

It's the white-boy-in-the-country who talks up voting for Obama to avoid being called racist, but when he's in the privacy behind the curtain his vote goes to McCain.  But again, this is a problem to me because they're (most likely) not voting for McCain because they want him as president but because they don't want Obama in office.

I disagree with this analysis a bit.  What they are calling the "Bradley Effect", where people tell pollsters they are going to vote for the black candidate and then do otherwise on election day, in the past has happened exclusively in large cities and not in rural areas.   I think liberal leaning type folks are much more susceptible to being pressured into being politically correct than others.  The typical  "white-boy-in-the-country" doesn't give a shit about being politically correct and is more likely to straight-up say what he thinks.   

If it was just the "white-boy-in-the-country" responsible for this effect no body would be talking about it because by and large those folks don't vote for liberal democrats.   The reason it's being brought by the new media and the Obama folks is, IMHO, that they fear defection from their base.  Hillary supporters are, from what I understand, not very happy with the results of the nominating process and feel like they have been screwed.  It's possible some (or many) of them may be saying that they are voting Obama but won't do so.

My wife and I volunteer as civil rights testers for a non-profit fair housing organization.  The first thing they tell you in orientation is that you won't know if someone if discriminating against you or not.  They will be very polite and smile all the while screwing you royally.   My wife busted a number of companies as she later found out to her surprise as they were very nice and polite with her.   

It's much easier to deal with someone who will tell you straight up "I don't like you because you are _____." than it is to deal with people who will simle and be polite and then stab you in the back.   That's the kind of thing that sucks out your soul!  My wife will tell you from her experience that people who identify as liberals and/or democrats are by far the worst offenders.

Consider the possibility that political correctness was invented by people who are in their heart of hearts racists.  In their own lives they are careful to not say anything that would offend anyone lest their true nature be revealed.  That, however, dose not prevent them from acting out their feelings where no one will find out what they have done  or their motivation.  These people are careful to shield themselves behind plausible denyability or behind incompetent bureaucracies where they are not held accountable.   It would be an easy and natural step,  for people of this ilk to extend their personal rules of conduct to people around them.  Just a thought...

Anyway sorry for getting side tracked 

I stopped running the latest and greatest windows version a long time ago and so I have a WinME system that used to be my AGS machine.  I am now developing on Linux with virtual box running Win2000.  Currently I am using the WinME machine as an archival system because I am lazy and haven'tcopied all of my AGS stuff over to the linux box. yet.  When I get that done I'll proably wipe it clean and put some flavor of linux on it and continue to use it as a file server/archival system.   I am painting this picture because over the last several years it seems like I have been pretty much the only one affected by Win98 issues.  So I wouldn't be bothered much by this as my last Win98/WinMe machine is at end-of-lifecycle and is about to be recycled within a few months.

I would be surprised if anyone is still developing on a Win98/ME machine.   But I am not sure if anyone is still interested in targeting Win98 machines for the games they release as there be younger kids with old hand-me-down systems.

I think my view on this is, basically everything can be in the wiki, but before making a page, think about it first, judge whether it's something that, say, requires continual  maintenance and in such case, make sure there are people who are capable to update it frequently.

I couldn't agree more wilt Gilbot about maintenance.   It is amazing how quickly information becomes outdated, especially redundant information.   Before writing an article please think deeply about this issue.  Write your article so that it will endure for all time and if that's not possible then try to segregate those items likely to be quickly dated into one section or at least identify them.   I often use the phrase "At the time of this writing..." to let some future reader know that
what I am describing may have  changed over time.   I haven't played around with the wiki enough to suggest any specifics but perhaps date sensitive material could be rendered in a different color, highlighted, or emphasized in some other manner.  If so we should have a  standard and consistent way of doing this.   Perhaps it would alos be good practice for each article to include date of first publication,  date of most recent change, and AGS version.

If we're going to make use of the Wiki (which I think is a good idea) perhaps we should make a list of Wiki articles that need writing?

This is not a bad idea actually.  The list could be in a sticky thread perhaps in the Technical Archive.  The first post could include a check list of best practices and other suggestions.

It also wouldn't be a bad idea if would be authors posted a thread with an abstract of the article they intend on publishing.  Others would be able to make suggestions or other inputs at the beginning and would be able to critique the article when it was finished.   I don't know - perhaps people will just ignore such threads? 

Yes and Yes.

dialog_request (int parameter)
Called when a dialog script line "run-script" is processed. PARAMETER is the value of the number following the "run-script" on that line of the dialog script.

So you would probably put something like this in somewhere the dialog script ..

Code: ags

run-script 1

and in the global scri[pt something like this ...

Code: ags

function dialog_request(int data) {

     if (data==1) {
          cEgo.AddInventory(iDrink);
     }
}

Whats up with this?  From what you've said so far it seems like you did the export/import thing correctly and that you still have some unknown reference to "money".  So have you found that reference or not?  If you haven't there isn't much sense in trying something else; unless of course you intend to start over.   

If you need anymore help just ask.

Scotch,

Can your plug-in be used to run something from a command line like a batch file or
console program such as 7zip command line version?

For example can your plugin execute this  and if so how?

"7z -t7z c:\\Ags\\3.20\\Archive\\MyGame-V0000-003.7z  c:\\Ags\\3.20\\MyGame\\";

i have just checked through everything and found only one other word that was money.

Where was that word at?

Like I said I had one of these errors a while ago and if I remember right I think I had created an event  (lightning bolt icon) and then deleted or renamed the corresponding handler function in the room script.  Check all your objects, inventory, etc.

Hint:  Its always good to use an experimental game in which to do experiments and try out
techniques.   In this way you keep your actual project clean an free of any crap that may have been generated  in the process of devising tis or that technique or method. 

Thanks Khris, I look everywhere for that and could't find the @$#% %$#!@ thing. 

By all means use player.ActiveInventory instead of player.HasInventory().