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NEWS 2000
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12/30/2000:
Version 1.1 of the Easy Wall Texture Program is now available from the download
page.
12/29/2000:
Added Utility Downloads including Easy Wall Texturer version 1.0,
Configure Program version 1.1, and some temporary resolution support files
to the download page.
12/04/2000:
Tonight's version, 0.5.7.6, adds more capabilities to the Logic
Block event and the ability to edit level dimensions without clearing it.
11/29/2000:
Version 0.5.7.5.1 fixes a bug in the Question Yes/No event and clears
up some confusion on the Logic Block event dialog.
11/26/2000:
Version 0.5.7.5 is ready and waiting to be downloaded. Most notably,
this version adds support for custom cursor art, 8 directional movement on
overland maps, and Move/Death sounds for each monster.
11/05/2000:
This has been a productive week. Version 0.574 is ready. Outdoor maps
and combat are now supported by the editor and engine. Also, multiple wall
slot art layouts can be specified and used simultaneously.
10/29/2000:
Now it's ready! Version 0.573 is ready for download. This release has
concentrated on re-coding and testing of existing event processing. Some
bugs were fixed, a few new things were added. Most notable new feature is
an increase of allowable levels to 255, with max level size now 100x100.
10/15/2000:
Not quite ready yet. All events are completely converted except for the
Combat event. With a few more days to complete the Combat event and then
test everything, next weekend is looking good for a release.
10/05/2000:
Work is progressing well on the event processing code. It has been
converted from an ugly mess into something that can be understood and more
easily maintained. Work on other aspects of Dungeon Craft are on hold
until we complete this important effort. My guess is that we will have the
new event code ready for release by the weekend of Oct 14.
09/22/2000:
Everything is back to normal again. The install is uploaded and ready
to go. I bumped up the version number to 0.5721 and added the missing
Launch.wav file.
09/20/2000:
I thought I had the new release uploaded, but it got corrupted somehow.
I can't get a connection to upload the latest release right now. I upload
a few files and the connection fails. I'll keep trying, but it may be a
day or so before the install is available once more.
09/19/2000:
After several glitches, I think I finally have the install working like
it should. If you downloaded an update over the last couple of days,
please update again. I apologize for the hassle. Version 0.570 was missing
the overland map art, and version 0.571 included the debug build of the
executables. The debug build is not likely to run on most computers since
it has a DLL dependency on the Microsoft Visual Studio debug runtime DLLs.
I hope that with tonight's version, 0.572, I have got it right.
I also had some omissions in the HTML tags after applying the new
website design. IE users probably didn't notice, but Netscape browsers
couldn't view the download.html page. This has been fixed and all pages
and links should work fine now.
09/17/2000:
Many thanks to Dark Zone for his help in changing the design of this
website. Version 0.570 of Dungeon Craft is available. In addition to bug
fixes, support was added for testing a design from your current position
in the editor so you don't need to start from the beginning. Also added a
new feature in the engine that lets you substitute the name of party
member 1-8 into event text by adding ^1 thru ^8 into the text. This is the
first release which provides some support for overland maps, but only in
the editor. The engine still cannot handle them.
09/04/2000:
Tonight's release adds support for PNG image loading and multi-input
event triggers. Also starting to actively transition the project name from
UAForever to Dungeon Craft.
08/22/2000:
I posted another release last night that should fix a few problems. In
combat, characters on Quick mode can be un-Quicked by pressing the space
bar while they are taking action. A debugging aid was accidentally left in
the previous build that allowed monsters to be player controlled. Monsters
are back to their normal aggressive selves now.
08/20/2000:
Version 0.567 is ready to be downloaded. It's mostly bug fixes for
combat. Also fixed some more problems with drawing distant walls and a few
event problems. The one new feature is the ability to delete one
event from an event chain rather than the whole chain (your option).
08/10/2000:
I believe the sound problems have been solved. Version 0.566 is now
available. The highlights for this release include MP3 and JPG file
support, and a new Heal Party event.
08/08/2000:
I was about 5 minutes away from putting the new build on the website,
when on a whim I decided to run the release build to make sure it checks
out ok. It didn't. The new sound library is not working well in the
release build. While testing things I always run the debug build.
The new sound library won't load and play in the engine when you try to
test the design from within the editor, MIDI files play under WinNT but
not Win98, and WAV files won't play in the SOUNDS event. Except for
the first one, all of those things work fine in the debug build. MP3 files
always work great. I managed to get the Heal Party event included, and the
'Look' message included. I was really looking forward to getting this
release out the door, but I need to figure out the sound problems first. I
especially don't like to be wrong about release dates. If I can't solve
the problems by Thursday, I'm going to put the old sound code back in and
release with it. The only difference is the old sound code cannot play MP3
files.
07/31/2000:
In addition to the ever present bug fixes, we have added support for
JPEG image loading. I'm working on PNG image support, but no promises
there. I added a utility to the downloads section called EasyTex. It
allows the user to load a BMP image, then it maps that image as a texture
to all of the various wall perspectives and saves the result to a BMP file
that is ready to be used by the Dungeon Craft editor. Although the wall
sections will be properly aligned, it's not pixel perfect when aligning
textures between wall sections. It still provides a good beginning that
can be manually tweaked if needed. As always, both source and executables
are available.
07/23/2000:
The latest version is now available, 0.5.6.5. This release has a new
event, keyboard shortcuts, and greatly revised default artwork thanks to
D.Huling. Check out his RPG site called the Ironworks.
07/09/2000:
UAF version 0.5.6.3 is available. It's mostly bug fixes, but it also
adds a new Start menu option that will automatically check the UAF
download area for an updated version. You can also choose to download a
small installer (156KB) that will automatically download only the
components you choose to install. I recommend using the small installer,
since then the auto-update feature will download only changed components.
If you install using the full package installer (3MB), the auto-update
will download another 3MB package.
07/04/2000:
UAF version 0.5.6.2 is available. P.Stevens made a few GUI improvements
to the editor. The mouse can be used to place/erase wall anywhere the map
is clicked, map access can be displayed, and map cell info is dynamically
displayed. For the engine, character stats can be edited after being
rolled, and event text can have highlighting toggled on/off by embedding
'/h' inline. The full list of changes can be seen in the release notes on sourceforge.
I still need to update the screenshots.
06/21/2000:
I made a new release of UAF available, version 0.5.6.1. It includes the
new installer, help files, ability to write new items/spells/monsters file
formats, and bug fixes. I cannot remove the old versions of UAF install
files on sourceforge, so make sure you download the file labeled
UAF_Installer.
06/20/2000:
Welcome to the new site for the UAF homepage. Thanks! go to
RpgMaker.net for hosting UAF. After being invited to move here, I decided
to do so to provide UAF with more exposure to RPG fans. I will
be making a release within the next day or so that will use the new
installer, include the new help files, and as usual fix bugs.
06/10/2000:
By popular demand, I have created an installer for UAF that will make
installing and updating everything a breeze. No more manual edits of path
files, and only one download file rather than 3 or 4. This single install
file contains all UAF programs, art, sound, and source code. The installer
will ask which components to install. The file weighs in at around 2.5 MB.
The installer will be available with the next release of UAF.
A new addition to the next UAF release is a windows help file. The
documentation is still sparse but it will be filled in as time goes by.
I'm not sure when the next release will be available. Several bug fixes
have been made, the format of the items/monsters/spells config files has
been revamped, and I'm still making combat changes. When the major
features for the upcoming release are complete I want to spend a few days
testing the build under Win98 and NT to make sure all is well. It might
end up being two or three weeks before everything is ready.
05/29/2000:
UAF version 0.5.6.0 is available for download. Highlights for this
release include partial import of FRUA designs, easier to edit items/monsters.txt
files, and more combat improvements. Full details can be seen in the
change history file. Due to several changes that have been made to support
files, I recommend downloading and installing the support files along with
the engine and editor.
05/23/2000:
Still working on the next release. There will be some more combat
changes, and I have finally started work on importing existing FRUA
designs. The next release will be able to import the FRUA items, zones,
special items/keys/quests, and wall/obstruction/backdrop data for each
level. The events will take more time since each event type needs special
treatment. Spells and monsters will hopefully follow soon. Not sure about
importing art or sounds yet, since I'm not very knowledgeable about such
things. I'll probably need to ask one the FRUA experts for help. With a
three day weekend coming up, I feel certain UAF will be released again by
Monday night.
05/09/2000:
An update to the UAF Engine is available. Only the engine has been
updated. Additional changes were made to correct problems located by P
Stevens, and also by BoundsChecker. I recommend using this new version of
UAFWin.exe - 0.5.5.2.
I have adjusted the links on the download page so that the files are
downloaded from sourceforge. I did this to avoid going over my 5 MB limit
imposed by my service provider, and also to reduce the duplication of
effort in updating files in two locations.
05/08/2000:
UAF version 0.5.5.1 is available for download. I rushed this release in
order to provide a working version of the engine. The problem turned out
to be a compiler optimization glitch. In addition to fixing that, I have
removed all restrictions on text length in the engine. Whatever text you
add to a text event in the design editor will be displayed by the engine,
one page at a time. Also, the engine will now replace the '^' character
with the active party member's name.
05/07/2000:
At the moment I am embarrassed to admit that the UAFWin.exe 0.5.5
release has a serious flaw that causes it to exit just after character
creation. I will investigate and release a fixed version as quickly as I
can. I usually run tests with a debug build of UAF, then create and ship a
release build when all is well. In this case however, the debug build
works and the release build doesn't. I definitely will not let this happen
again in the future. I apologize to all those who downloaded the latest
version only to find out it won't work. The previous version of UAFWin,
0.5.4, does work and can still be downloaded from sourceforge.
05/05/2000:
A fellow UAF contributor, P Stevens, has cooked up a scriptable
conversation system that allows the text event to actually provide two-way
communication between the player and the event. This system can use
keywords in a manner similar to Ultima type conversations. It also
provides a way to manipulate designer-defined variables based on
conversation results. The current release (0.5.5) already has the hooks in
place to make calls out to the script engine. An external tool is required
to turn your scripted text into a file that the script engine understands,
but once the file is created you just need to include it in the design and
inform a text event to use the script engine.
There are two files: GPDL.zip has the source code to the compiler,
GPDLComp.zip has the executable ready to be used. These files are also
available on the UAF FTP area on sourceforge
05/01/2000:
The next UAF release is available for download. Version 0.5.5 fixes
many combat problems, and adds mouse support for menu items, inventory
items, and party members. Still need to add mouse support for selecting
combat terrain or combatants.
04/27/2000:
I think I have a satisfactory Guard implementation in place, and I'm
testing it now. I have also added some mouse support in the engine. You
can now select menu items using the mouse, but I still need to allow
selection of party members (where appropriate), and also allow movement to
be performed by clicking either on the view window or perhaps on a compass
graphic. I want to wrap up the Guard code and hopefully release the next
version of UAF this weekend.
04/16/2000:
I think I finally have satisfactory path finding in combat. The
monsters have been finding and following a path towards a target through
some fairly tough mazes. Now I can concentrate on the Guard code. I will
release another version of UAF next weekend with bug fixes and the path
finding stuff even if I don't complete the Guard code. I suppose Guarding
probably seems simplistic to implement, and you might be wondering why it
is taking so long. Putting a unit on Guard is easy, letting the guarding
units attack something that moves into range is a bit of trouble. It
involves giving control temporarily to one or more guarding units so they
can make an opportunistic attack and then returning control to the
original unit which was moving. The combat code is geared towards one unit
acting until completion before switching to the next unit. All of this
means that some redesign is called for.
04/09/2000:
UAF version 0.5.4 is available for download. I have not completed the
combat code yet, but many other changes were made. I added a link to the
release notes on the download page that lists all recent changes.
04/03/2000:
I did not get much time to work on UAF this week, thanks to working
some overtime and helping a friend with car repairs this weekend. If I
cannot get the Guard code finished by the end of this week, I will go
ahead and post the other changes made over the last two weeks. Many thanks
go to a few FRUA list members who not only downloaded UAF, but took some
time to use it and report bugs.
03/26/2000:
I am working on the combat 'Guard' and path finding code. I don't think
I will be able to finish everything and release a new version this
weekend. Some fixes I did finish include the menu option separation,
encumbrance calculations, editor window position save/restore, and
ensuring that combatants face towards each other during an attack.
Hopefully, I'll finish up the rest and post the next release sometime this
week.
03/19/2000:
Beta release version 0.5.3 is available for download. It includes many
bug fixes and a few new items.
03/13/2000:
Fixed the Sound Event. Also put UAF on the sourceforge site. The latest
source and executables will be available here.
Sourceforge provides convenient access to discussion forums, bug
reporting, and shared access to the source code using CVS.
03/12/2000:
I uploaded the source code and executables for both the editor and
engine. The editor is still in beta and the engine is pre-pre-beta
with limited capabilities. It will load a design and process events as the
party walks around the map. I am working on the combat code now and
haven't tested it with more than one combatant on each side.
03/07/2000:
I uploaded the latest version of the editor, and I am still testing the
engine. After downloading the latest version of CDX, most 8-bit PCX and
24-bit TGA files seem to load properly. In view of the many times I have
griped about CDX integration with UAF, let me say that I chose to use the
beta version and expected problems to occur. Not all bugs were CDX errors,
some were due to my misunderstanding of the usage of CDX. I don't want to
appear to be harsh about using CDX, because I believe it to be a great
wrapper for DirectX.
03/05/2000:
Well, I guess the moment has arrived. After many delays I finally have
a beta version of the editor available for download. I have changed an
enormous amount of the editor code over the last few weeks, and some
things I assume still work, might not. I believe the current testers have
uncovered the majority of the obvious bugs (that is, I *hope* they've been
uncovered). I certainly welcome and encourage feedback. After a couple of
weeks of bug fixing to clean out any remaining major glitches, I
will make the source code available here and on sourceforge. The engine is
still under test, and I am working as fast as I can to get it ready for
download also. The engine is much more incomplete than the editor though.
Before I began integrating UAF with CDX, I was working on the combat and
obstruction code. Unfortunately, just because the editor allows
such-n-such to be configured, doesn't necessarily mean the engine will do
anything with it (yet!).
03/02/2000:
A beta version of the editor is ready for public consumption, and I
will make it available for download as soon as I replace the art I
screen-capped from Gold Box games with something I have permission to
distribute with UAF. The engine is still suffering from CDX conversion
bugs, but I should have those fixed soon.
02/26/2000:
I finally changed the editor over to using SDI instead of MDI
(Single/Multiple Document Interface). Now the area map is scrollable and
is attached to the same window as the 3d view. The editor started out like
this several years ago, but in a moment of silliness I thought it would be
a good idea to have the 3d view float separately over an expandable area
map(s). I never liked the result and vowed to switch it back to SDI
someday. I haven't put up a new screenshot yet.
02/19/2000:
Solved all of the problems following CDX integration and the UAF editor
now runs under 8/16/24/32 bit color depths. After a little more testing on
the editor, I'll move on to testing the engine's use of CDX. I have a
volunteer friend (thanks John) who is compiling and running the editor to
make sure this code runs on a machine besides mine. So if he doesn't
encounter anything drastically screwy, I should have no trouble meeting
the end of February deadline for uploading UAF to sourceforge.
02/15/2000:
I have converted UAF over to using CDX,
and I am working out some of the conversion glitches in the editor. Much
like my own DirectX wrappers, CDX is a thin wrapper and was easy to
integrate into UAF. On the plus side, UAF can now load BMP, PCX, and TGA
files. On the minus side, the graphics will not draw properly when I run
the editor in 24 and 32 bit color depths. All of my BMPs are 16-bit. Now
that I also have support for text configuration files, I have been moving
some of the hard-coded constants into a Config.txt file. I expect the
editor to take the most time to fix since it uses DirectX in windowed
mode, always a hassle. I still hope to finish CDX integration with the
editor and engine and get everything put on sourceforge before the end of
February.
02/08/2000:
Finished removing compression, and the data previously read from the
Win32 registry is now read from a text file. Now I am beginning the
process of converting UAF to use CDX. CDX will give me a GPL compliant way
to handle DirectX tasks, including graphics and sound. UAF will be more
flexible after the conversion, supporting more file formats and more
monitor resolutions/bit-depths.
01/25/2000:
I am still ripping out the compression code. Progress has been slowed
by some computer problems, but I think I have a stable system now. I have
stopped adding features until I can get the source GPL compliant and
uploaded to sourceforge. There isn't much there yet, but the link to UAF
on sourceforge is here.
01/21/2000:
I've been busy putting Gnu Public License headers in each of the source
files, and getting UAF ready for upload to the Source Forge site. As I
began to look at licensing for some third party source I am using in UAF,
I realized I can't include some of it under the GPL. So I am removing
UAF's dependence on this sort of code. This includes the compression and
registry routines, and the MIDI code. I think that I can solve the
licensing problem and also some unrelated issues if I convert UAF over to
using the CDX SDK rather than use my own DirectX wrappers. About the
compression - The editor was putting all art and sound data into
compressed files and the engine was uncompressing them as needed. When I
take out compression, the editor will just copy the selected art/sound
files into the design directory and the engine will load them directly. So
for now I will be converting over to CDX and converting registry usage to
config files. On a side note, I just changed over to a service provider
that gives me cable modem access (Yeah!) so I will be transferring the UAF
home page to a new location soon.
01/11/2000:
Getting a little tired of working on the combat code, so I switched
back to the main code for a while. I am adding code which determines if
the party has detected a secret door while searching/looking. This leads
into the pick and bash options. I copied the blockage options from UA and
this includes a Wizard locked door. Since spells are editable in UAF I
cannot hard code for a particular spell that the party would need to
unlock the door. So I am working out a way to allow the user to specify
which spell will do the deed. After looking at what www.sourceforge.com
offers for open source projects, I am impressed. I am leaning towards
putting UAF source on the site, which might entice others to contribute.
The main thing holding me back is my total embarrassment for my messy
spaghetti code. I started UAF planning to learn about DirectX and GUI
programming, and I think I have accomplished that goal, or at least as
much of it as I can with UAF. At this point I continue coding it because
it's fun to work on.
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