Profile for Niemand

Error message

Deprecated function: implode(): Passing glue string after array is deprecated. Swap the parameters in drupal_get_feeds() (line 394 of /var/www/pied-piper.ermarian.net/includes/common.inc).

Recent posts

Pages

AuthorRecent posts
Is print_big_str_num ignoring its color parameter? in Blades of Avernum
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #2
Ok, so long as I know it's really broken, I can note it down, and potentially bother Jeff about it.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
Is print_big_str_num ignoring its color parameter? in Blades of Avernum
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #0
I was writing documentation for the calls when I ran accros this problem: print_big_str_num (print_big_str_num(string str1,int number,string str2,int color)) seems to ignore the color parameter. Now I found this on the Tech Support Page:
quote:
print_big_str_color ignored the color field. The text was always black. This is fixed in the versions more recent than 10/8/04.

Note that:
quote:
The call print_big_str_color is actually called print_big_str_num.

(Also from the tech support page.)
However, I'm using Mac version 1.2 (Universal), which shows its creation date as Jan. 24 2007. Is this bug back, was it never really fixed, or am I insane? (I want to verify that there's really a bug before I go complaining at Jeff.)

[ Monday, July 02, 2007 19:58: Message edited by: Niemand ]

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
Town Lighting in Blades of Exile
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #6
Lighting changes work fine in the Mac version. So we get lighting and automap changes. :P

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
get_flag versus get_sdf in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #0
Some while ago we had a discussion of the usage of these two supposedly identical calls. There was some feeling that get_sdf was somehow less trustworthy, although I was not able to identify why. Does anyone know of any actual differences between them, or are they really just the same as they should be?

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
AScript Script Reference in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #14
I have now finished the pages for all datatypes and constants, and I have posted them here. That leaves about 500 pages to go. Please note that all links that go to pages that are not in the above categories will be broken at this time. I'll add more pages as I get them done.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
AScript Script Reference in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #10
Count characters is in the menu in the next version; I just forgot it the first time. Auto-complete doesn't make much sense as a button, and I only made it a menu so that there would be some way to see that it exists. A quick test shows that Option+Escape and the menu item don't work at all, oops, and so I'll be either fixing or removing it.

[ Tuesday, June 12, 2007 14:54: Message edited by: Niemand ]

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
AScript Script Reference in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #8
Hmph. It's a beta. I am writing the documentation, for release with the complete program. So far it's 7 pages long so far (With lots of screenshots, which are often more work that a block of text of the same size.), and may still need to double in length. It wasn't something I could just create with a snap of my fingers. Besides, if you looked in the menus, you'd see the shortcut listed. :P

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
AScript Script Reference in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #6
Yes, it does auto-complete. Type part of a script call or reserved word and the press Option+Space or Option+Esc. At least it works fine under 10.4, I hope that this isn't something that doesn't work under Panther.

As to how I'm planning to rewrite the docs:
I have a list of 494 calls and keywords (The same ones that AScript can auto-complete). My idea is to have a short page for each one, describing it's usage and parameters. There would be ~40 category pages that would link to all the calls/keywords in that category. There would then be a main page which links to all of the categories. In addition, each call's page would have a 'See also' section linking directly to closely related calls, and category and call pages could link to pages containing examples and explanations. So all told as many as 600 pages. However, many would be short and would take about 2 minutes to write; so with several people collaborating, I don't see it as being impossible. So far I have a program which generates the 494 call and keyword pages needing only to have their content filled in, and I've learned some css for doing the formatting of all the pages. Right now, I am working on sorting the calls into categories, mostly following the categories in the Docs Appendices but with some changes.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
AScript Script Reference in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #3
I would be happy to have your help, WKS. As with all other portions of AScript, I had intended the reference material to be freely available for use anywhere. From a quick bit of research and experimentation JTextPane seems to render HTML tolerably in Java if you're interested in literally using the same set of files for convenience.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
AScript Script Reference in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #0
I'm happy to report that I'm making good progress on completing AScript. It now does simple auto-indentation and is less inclined to lose custom snippet data. Most significantly, I think I've come up with a good way to do the online script call reference, as suggested by Kelandon. I have the engine working, so there's only one thing I lack: content to put in it. I could just copy and paste what Jeff wrote in the Editor manual Appendices, but that has several problems: it would be very laborious, the descriptions even in the newest version are sometimes terse or incomplete, and of course I would have to ask Jeff's permission to use the material. So, I think it would be possible to do better, namely by drawing on the knowledge of the community. The system I have would require an html page, preferably short, for each call, although it would be straightforward and useful to link in pages for groups of related calls and for examples. So, I would like to ask if there's anyone who wants to help me generate this content; I would really appreciate it.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
BoAEdit in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #33
The thing with the menus is an unfortunate effect of using Java. It can be fixed, but it would require a Mac OS specific version.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
BoAEdit in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #28
WKS, you can simplify the program a lot if instead of hard coding all of the calls into the menus, you have the program read them in from a file. I put together a quick test like this:
private void populateCallMenus() throws Exception, FileNotFoundException, IOException{
File file = new File("calls.txt");
BufferedReader in;
in=new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));
String line;
int lineOn = 0;
int state = 0; //1=valid menu, 2=submenu, 3=item
JMenu curMenu = null;
JMenu curSubMenu = null;
JMenuItem curItem = null;
try{
while((line=in.readLine())!= null){
lineOn++;
line=line.trim();
if(line.indexOf("//")>0){
line=line.substring(0,line.indexOf("//"));
}
if(line.startsWith("M")){
line=line.substring(2);
if(state<1)
state=1;
curMenu = new JMenu(line);
menuBar.add(curMenu);
}
if(line.startsWith("S")){
if(state<1)
throw new Exception("Error: can't create a submenu without a valid menu to put it in.");
line=line.substring(2);
if(state<2)
state=2;
curSubMenu = new JMenu(line);
curMenu.add(curSubMenu);
}
if(line.startsWith("I")){
if(state<2)
throw new Exception("Error: can't create an item without a valid sub-menu to put it in.");
line=line.substring(2);
if(state<3)
state=3;
curItem = new JMenuItem(line);
curItem.addActionListener(this);
curSubMenu.add(curItem);
}

}
}catch(Exception e){
throw new Exception("There was an error while processing line " + lineOn + " of " + file.getName() + ": " + e.getMessage());
}
in.close();
}
Which reads a file formatted like this:

M:Calls 1
S:Basic Script and I/O Calls
I:print_big_str(string str,short num_to_print,string str2);
I:print_big_str_color(string str,short num,string str2,short color);
S:Campaign and Scenario Calls
I:clear_quest(short which_quest);
I:end_scenario(short party_won);
M:Calls 2
S:Basic Dialog Box Calls
I:reset_dialog();
I:add_dialog_choice(short which_option,char choice_text);
S:Terrain Script and Creature Script Calls
I:can_see_loc(short loc_x, short loc_y)
I:damage_nearby(short damage_amount,short radius,short damage_type,short good_evil_or_all);
(M lines specify a new menu, S lines specify a new submenu, and I lines specify menu items.)

Then, to create the menus, you can replace all the existing code with:
try{
populateCallMenus();
}catch (Exception e){
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, e.getMessage(), "Error while populating menus", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
}
right between when you add the Edit and Analyse menus to the menubar.

Because I have little experience with jar files, I've just written it so that the calls.txt file has to be in the directory with the jar file, no doubt there's an elegant way to put it inside. Anyway, I just thought you might find this useful.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
Utility Programs in General
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #12
Although I don't know about other people, I put down 'Other' for an office suite because I still use AppleWorks, ancient though it is. Also, while I use AIM occaissionally, I really prefer to use email whenever possible, so that was what I put down.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
2 VERY Minor questions about the Geneforge trilogy packaging in General
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #5
This is my favorite typo:
IMAGE(http://hallsofchaos.forinti.com/misc/A3%20typo.png)

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
Scenario start_state problems in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #8
I tested it, and it really does seem to execute state 13 over and over again without ever going back to the START_STATE. However, I was able to fix it by putting set_state(START_STATE);at the end of state 13. Also, Thralni, you should really use day4 = day5 % 12; instead of that huge set of if statements.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
College, majors, etc. in General
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #6
I'm majoring in Physics with a minor in German. I chose physics because I just enjoy finding out why stuff works. The german minor is mostly a convenient way to fulfill my distribution requirements.

I spent most of the day today learning about applying to grad school. Now I feel like just giving up and hiding somewhere. Viewed from my current position it seems like an awfully daunting process.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
Blades of Exile Source Code Released in Blades of Exile
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #1
Awesome! Thanks Jeff!

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
Avernumscript Editor in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #39
Alint's ability to handle spaces in a filename is no issue for AScript, as it feeds Alint the text on the standard input stream.

I'm working on ideas for an online call reference, but it won't make it into v1.0.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
BoAEdit in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #3
Yay! Someone making a windows program for this purpose! I'll be happy to share my ideas, WKS, if there's anything you're curious about that I've done.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
Avernumscript Editor in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #35
It would really be pointless to make a checking program try to check that a loop variable is used in the loop. What if I write a loop like:
while(character x is alive){
hurt character x;
}
Then the loop can be entirely correct, run and finish without actaully using any counter variables at all.
It basically comes down to the fact that it's impossible to write a program that can verify that another arbitrary program will ever finish executing.

I'll definitely look into the fl_shimmers, SANCTIFICATION_STATE, etc. things though.

[ Wednesday, May 09, 2007 07:52: Message edited by: Niemand ]

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
Resource editors? in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #11
I intend to attempt to make a new version of Graphic Adjuster this summer, and I'm hoping to add some kind of support for sounds. however, I'm not sure how well that would work, as the current structure of the program is not well suited to handling more than one type of resource, and I know nothing about sound data and formats. I will be giving it a try, though.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
Resource editors? in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #9
Rezilla is ok but not great; I use it for the things I can't do with Graphic Adjuster.

Thralni, what version of ResEdit are you using? Every version I have seen or used was totally free and unencumbered.

Milu, can you tell me more about the problems you're having with Graphic Adjuster? I'd like to fix it up to work better on the newer versions of the OS.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
My New Scenario! in Blades of Avernum
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #10
Oh, yeah, the windows editor won't let you change the size of a town. I guess I really need to get to work on my windows port. . . in my plentiful spare time.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
Avernumscript Editor in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #32
I thought I had fixed the problems with renaming snippets, but obviously not, so I'll look into it.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00
move_to_new_town in Blades of Avernum Editor
Infiltrator
Member # 5576
Profile Homepage #2
In a town script, you want to use set_state_continue. In creature scripts you use set_state because the game remembers which state it is running in that script and goes back to that state the next time it runs the script. The game always just calls the START_STATE, so to get another state to run from, say, the INIT_STATE, you have to tell the game to do it immediately.

--------------------
Überraschung des Dosenöffners!
"On guard, you musty sofa!"
Posts: 627 | Registered: Monday, March 7 2005 08:00

Pages