Messages

@Morgan, are you saying this is expected behaviour? We are still in v3.3.

Without the precise (1:1) mask for the walkable area the ability to move precisely won't be guaranteed, your results may vary depending on whether the result is an old or even number. Whether this is the problem or not I'm not sure because you also specify eAnywhere, but you also mention regions and these have their precision affected in the same way.

Outside of using AGS 3.5 I think you have to code/draw around these issues.

Afaik AGS always puts the character exactly on the target position at the end of a walk, if possible.

I think this is only true if the mask resolution is set to 1:1, which is only selectable (and the default) on AGS 3.5.
https://adventuregamestudio.github.io/ags-manual/UpgradeTo35.html#room-sizes-and-mask-resolution

I don't think it makes sense to have the checks in this order:

Code: ags

player == cEgo2 && Game.DoOnceOnly("Gave Hat") && player.HasInventory(iHatGlow) == true

...because the DoOnceOnly will run regardless of whether you have the hat or not.

To fix it you can move the DoOnceOnly later in the expression, so that it isn't run if you don't have the hat:

Code: ags

player == cEgo2 && player.HasInventory(iHatGlow) == true && Game.DoOnceOnly("Gave Hat")

But logically this also seem redundant unless Ego2 will later acquire an additional hat which shouldn't be given away, and you can simplify the inventory check instead of comparing it to true, so probably just:

Code: ags

player == cEgo2 && player.HasInventory(iHatGlow)

In a similar way as before, would it be possible to get an export of the stats?
(given that the tracking is now turned off this is likely to be the final request for it)

Another thing that comes to mind is that windows explorer sometimes blocks files somehow which prevents AGS editor from accessing them.

If it is this you normally just have to close the File Explorer to make it work.
i.e. don't be browsing the folders where new files will be written during compilation

Be excellent to each other

It didn't have this use case in-mind, it was added for protection against write errors that the OS can handle (like the disk being full). It probably doesn't account for the OS having acknowledged the write but the changes not actually having made it to the disk yet, which is probably the default behaviour for writing to hard disks (because waiting for the sync in all cases would be considered too inefficient and slow).

Maybe it is a long shot, but I changed the write of the main XML file to go via a temporary file first. This was to stop it getting damaged during an interrupted write of the actual file, but if the computer turned off then you wouldn't have seen the message boxes to indicate that it was a two stage write (possibly the messages need to be clearer too). But... it makes a temp file using the built-in .NET function:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.io.path.gettempfilename

So try looking in %TEMP% and see if there is a timestamp on a file around the time that you pressed save. It might have a strange name, but it might be your main project file.

What the AGS installer provides was based on the minimum version that AGS itself required to run. There is a specific check for that version or later that skips installation, so potentially there is a gap in the middle where AGS is happy but something related to a plug-in would not be , depending on what the plug-ins requirements are.

https://github.com/adventuregamestudio/ags/blob/faf6ab299d1767391a2aa0cde05d848dc5294c3f/Windows/Installer/ags.iss#L186-L189

Code: pascal

  // Visual C++ runtime
  // https://download.microsoft.com/download/6/A/A/6AA4EDFF-645B-48C5-81CC-ED5963AEAD48/vc_redist.x86.exe
  VCPP_REDIST_MAJOR_VERSION = 14.0;
  VCPP_REDIST_BUILD_VERSION = 24215;

If that is the issue then potentially the installer could provide newer runtime files to be more compatible with plug-in requirements. It is probably easier that way than saying that all plug-ins supply their own VC++ runtime as that means users without admin rights can't use install plug-ins (and I think there is a scheme afoot to try and get something resembling an AGS plug-in repository working). Possibly statically linking a plug-in with the runtime version might work too, I don't know enough about that to say for sure.

I don't think there would be anything that technically prevented you from having an AGS game on the the Windows Store right now. Win32 apps are meant to be support through the special packaging and it is likely fully documented here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/msix/desktop/source-code-overview

What is likely to be an issue is that you need a real (not self-signed) code-signing certificate if you want sign a store app and have it trusted by anyone who downloads it. The last time I looked these are expensive, although I've never investigated further to look for cheaper options. Potentially someone could make a helper utility that automates the process for you, and that could be part of AGS or just hooked to run after AGS compiles your game, but it cannot remove the signing requirements.

I'll also make the bold prediction that AGS as a desktop application will outlive Windows being a desktop OS.

I don't think there is any built-in function that allows you to read a timer value, but you can effectively create your own timer by making an integer variable to count down the frames as they elapse and use the value from GetGameSpeed to convert the counter value into another format.

i.e. if your game speed is 40 this means that repeatedly executing commands will be run 40 times per second, so a 2 second delay could mean decrementing the value from 80 to 0.

I think that 'following' characters can (will?) get out-of-sync with the scrolling.

An (untested) example of what I mean:

Code: ags

function SetAnxiety(int anxiety_level)
{
    if (cEgo.SetProperty("anxiety_level", anxiety_level))
    {
        if (anxiety_level == 1)
        {
            checkMeter.Animate(6, 2, 3, eRepeat);
        }
        else
        {
            checkMeter.Animate(6, 0, 0, eRepeat);
        }
    }
}

You could just check the loop and not change it if it is the correct one:
https://adventuregamestudio.github.io/ags-manual/Button.html#buttonloop

...but it is probably better to write a function that sets your custom property and then also checks/changes the loop. There isn't much point in checking it continuously when you know the value won't be changing.

102 is the old keyboard movement script, but perhaps that is still inside the Tumbleweed template.

Key Tapping mode means that pressing same key second time will make character stop moving. Because gamepad may send axis signals repeatedly, this may be received as multiple key presses in a row, and character will begin walking and stop walking immediately.

One of the changes in the replacement version was to fix the stuttering caused by this, although I only tested against the keyboard repeat rate.

I have some time off work next week, so perhaps I can take a look then and try to work out what is going on.
Thanks for uploading the scripts and images.

I've never made translation, so I found it a little difficult to follow. Are you adding Swedish to the template or fixing Swedish that was already there?

Some of your thoughts are very similar to mine, the things I want to make are probably a hybrid of a visual novel and an adventure game, I get frustrated at the extremes and expectations of each.

Sorry to be very venomous here, it is just I started this thread to vent about how it feels like the visual novel development community seems very clique-ish, picking those allowed into this very special inner circle, and how I felt kind of defeated by the treatment. I mean to just get into one forum one has to know this secret password on must get from an administrator from another platform, if they deem you worthy of joining, it was nuts.

I can probably guess which community you are speaking of here, I dabble there as well as here, potentially we've already spoken if you've asked for the password. What I have noticed is that a lot of people you encounter there may have very specific ideas of what the final product of a game will be, how it should operate, and in some cases how it should look. I guess this is down to what they like themselves, but I think there is a also a pressure that to fit in you have to demonstrate the same fashionable ideas. In extreme cases I've seen technical knowledge withheld when a question was asked, when the person answering the question has effectively decided that what is being made should shouldn't be using feature X, because most players wouldn't like games that use feature X. Unfortunately the first interaction you have with people may not have been great, depending on who happened to be around at the time. Outside of the technical support channel everything seems much more balanced. The password thing doesn't help the overall impression, but from what I was told there was a massive amount of spam accounts being created on the forum everyday to the point that it was becoming a maintenance issue, it wasn't meant to be a barrier for actual users.

I've fixed the Swedish Verbs and they are just waiting to be added to the template.

Which files need to be modified to fix it?