Messages

[Edit by strazer: v1.2 released]

Edit by strazer: v1.2 released

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When I was checking someone's script I got crashs using the command SetFlashlightBrightness. When I looked into the source code of the plugin I realized that some functions were incomplete. But noone ever reported such a crash to me.

I recommend you replace your older flashlight-dll with this new version:
http://a-v-o.selfhost.de/ags/flashlight/

New feature (still experimental):
- darkness masks
if a character walks around with a flashlight then you can use the mask to create light-behinds (similar to walk-behinds).
warning: for each mask you need a hicolor-sprite with room size, so games can grow big and maybe slow down.

Oh, CJ, so I should read the changelog?  :o Hmmm... I'll give it a try.  

Version (..._255b.zip):

- added room / screen functions.

- Changed error handling during initialization:
I realized that an error message was shown, but the game started though. Now AbortGame is called so that the game won't start, if an error occured (e.g. missing script functions).

I suggest, everybody who uses the tutorial as base of his/her dlls, copy and paste all below the unit line from AGS_delphi_tutorial.dpr into his/her own AGS*.dpr. Or do a file diff and replace the different lines.

It seems, that you're right. In the help file there is the keyword IsVoxAvailable in the index and it shows IsSpeechVoxAvailable.
OK, I redirect this. Thanks.

thanks for offering the c-code. I got the current list by copy and paste the declarations from the help file and then reformat them. Took me about 2 hours.

To do this work once is ok, but I fear the updates. It would be good to have a complete list of declarations, so that I could compare the old and new versions to see which functions are added (or removed).

Please try again. My server was just down this morning.

In this new version there is a new unit (U_AGS_script_functions.pas). This unit wraps the access to many AGS script functions, so that they can be used in the plugin like normal delphi functions:

procedure CenterPlayerCharacter;
begin
       MoveCharacter (GetPlayerCharacter, 160, 100);
end;

Not all script functions are wrapped yet. And I only tested PlaySound, so you have the chance to become an alpha tester   .

One function isn't available :o : IsSpeechVoxAvailable
Maybe CJ can check why GetScriptFunctionAddress doesn't give a pointer for this function.

More script functions will be available soon or on request.

Now where is that a-v-o guy... He's supposed to update the delphi plugin tutorial...

One word (uhmmm... email) and here I am. The plugin tutorial is now upated to
zip-version 109
doc-version 13
editor 1
engine 11

CJ: Maybe you can implement the windows-API in the script, so that they can program such cool stuff (frameless, transparent, screen-savers,...) themselves.  

Theres a plugin that allows chat in AGS, thats as far as its been developed atm

The TCP/IP-plugin (which you probably mean) has developped much more. For more information please read the corresponding web-page.
http://a-v-o.selfhost.de/ags/tcpip/
The functions are explained in the readme.txt which is in the zip-file.

But this isn't suitable for what deepgames wants to realize.

[SetGlobalString]

• Scorp's string array solution

CJ has already implemented 50 GlobalStrings. See help file SetGlobalString and GetGlobalString

what's scroll mul and scroll div?

In the previous script when the scrolling finished then the character was in the middle of the screen. After walking over less than half of the screen scrolling started again. With mul/div you can adjust the position. With mul/div = 1/2 the character will be in the middle of the screen. With mul/div = 3/4 it will end so that if the character continues its way then it can walk over about 3/4 of the screen before scrolling starts again. Just try out 1/2 and 3/4 to see the difference.
(btw: 2/4 = 1/2 = 3/6 = ...)

I also had a problem (the room after a blocking walk scrolled back to where the char was ) I don't know if that's fixed in the new version. Is it?

As repeatedly_execute isn't called during the execution of a blocking function, the SmartScrolling won't work. Better use a non-blocking function and netmonkey's script.

As someone had problems with the older version, I looked into the script and into the help file and realized that CJ added a roomwidth variable. So I changed the script.

Also changed: It can be defined how far the room should scroll. In the script I used 3/4 of the screen width.

Download for those who are interested:
ftp://a-v-o.selfhost.de/ags/SmartScrolling.txt

I can't reproduce this here. After quit the program disappears from the bar at the bottom of the screen, isn't in the task manager anymore and also dr. Watson doesn't find the task.

Edit:

If you start the game and quit it without connecting, does the program then disappear?

If it doesn't disappear and you start it again, do you get error messages (which?) on startup?

It seems to be a problem with windowed mode.

This is no problem with WinXP.

In your script you used TcpSetConnectionInt with a ConnectionIndex (-1) < 0.

A ConnectionIndex < 0 can be used with some functions (TcpSetInt, TcpSetString, TcpSend) as broadcast identifier. This information got lost in the readme.txt, I updated it.

If you intented that the script should send the integer to the other game, then use TcpSetInt. TcpSetInt supports broadcast.

TcpSetConnectionInt just stores the integer locally (similar as GlobalInts) and can be used to store informations which belong to this connection, so that you needn't use GlobalInts for that. TcpSetConnectionInt doesn't support "broadcasting". If you want to set a value for all connections, then you need a loop in your script.

Aja, I wanted the sprites to fade in and out without scrolling while the credits scroll cos I thought thwy would look cool that way, and Dorcan managed it. Only it works in lo color.

Maybe you can use a combination of AJA's plugin for the scrolling credits and my flashlight plugin for the fade in/out.

If credits and background don't overlap then there should be no problem. If they do overlap then it depends on which plugin will be executed first. If the credits are painted before the fading then they will also fade.

I think, I gonna check it and edit this post later to tell what I found out.

Here's the result:
I used AJA's demo game and converted it into hicolor. Then I used the flashlight plugin and implemented the fade-in/out script lines. And really, the background fades in and out while the credits are still in the same color. So both plugins can be used together to get the effect

The flashlight plugin is called before the GUIs and text/speech is drawn; the credits plugin is called after all is drawn (that's why the credits scroll over e.g. GUIs).

Version 0.0.2 now up.

Changes:

* Now captures the 10060 timeout error which can occur during connection if the other side doesn't respond within a period of time
* The error code is put at the beginning of the message: 10060 Cannot connect....

[Download here]

Download here

You will find a functions reference in the readme.txt in the zip of the dll.
You can also download the source of the "game" that I used to test the plugin.
It demonstrates the following:

a) establish connections (interact with object on which Roger is standing at the beginning)
b) transmit player character coordinates (NPC SHADOW is put to the received coordinates)
c) transmit a string (the locationname at the current mouse position is sent)
d) transmit an integer (the object shape at Roger's position is sent, so that the picture is updated)

For local testing use 127.0.0.1 as ip. Then the NPC will act like Roger's shadow and follow him whereever he goes. The status line will tell the object name under your current mouse pointer position. The first 2 pictures will show the same shape like that on which Roger is standing or walking over.

b) and c) aren't designed for use with multiple connections. For a single connection to another test game the NPC will show the other player's position, the upper left picture will show the shape at this position. The status line will tell the locationname at which the other player is pointing with the mouse.

For more questions, please feel free to ask everybody except me .

Remember: It's not like "one click and your game is a network game". There's a lot of scripting to be done. And there are still questions how to handle possible synchronization problems.

Download other AGS scripts and plugins: http://ags.freie-ressourcen.de/