Sentience: VB Game (comments please)

Quote:

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Originally posted by Kennethj
I liked it but:
You need to work with the overall design. I think it was difficult to learn all controls etc. The best sollution should be some icons with some logical graphic to each button for example.

Keep up the good work.

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Thanks for trying it Kenneth. :)

Which parts were difficult to control? Behemoth and I have been bouncing ideas around to improve the UI so it would be interesting to see if what you say matches what we think.

Which bits weren't intuitive? If you can narrow it down, I can tackle that for the next release... :)

Quote:

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Originally posted by TimmyBoyVT
Nice Game you got here.
Needs some debugging and perhaps error handling though.
Maybe its because im running Windows XP........

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Timmy,

Thanks for downloading it. :)

It is a test release so some bugs are expected, but I would like to know what specific ones you've come across. If you could write down:

* The bug
* Where you were
* What you were doing at the time
* It's severity (irritating / crashed game / blew up PC etc)

And if possible take a screen shot please.

Thanks!

PS - Just in case anyone cares, I upgraded the dev machine to XP a few months back and as far as I can tell, it's the mutts nutts!

It seldom crashes and only occaisionally behaves erratically. 98SE was pretty bizarre at times.

XP's also great if you tinker with your system as the system restore tool is just great. My machine was going bonkers a few days ago and refuse to run a piece of software depsite uninstalling and reinstalling the software. I restored the machine from a point two weeks back and it was fine.

Only problem is XP looks like a cartoon operating system when you install it. Daft start menu, garish colours. I simply turned all that off so it looks like 98SE and off I went!

All in all, a big thumbs up for XP.

PPS - If anyone's interested in what cosmetic enhancements Behemoth and I decided on then please check the Sentience thread in the comms forum. :)

atm i've installed a sucundairy monitor, i will try if i can test Sentience on it later today, i really wanna know what windows will do with it ;-)

It took me a while to get used to their new disgin, but I found that it makes it easier to navigate (athough I didn't like the new control panel). The save points are nice, but I have never set them up, but still do a lot of messing around in the registry.

Ok, Sentience related question now.

What would you all like to see in the next version?

Plend, you don't need to answer this... ;)

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Originally posted by Arbiter
Ok, Sentience related question now.

What would you all like to see in the next version?

Plend, you don't need to answer this... ;)

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Ok, here we go :
* an easier to unstand UI
* more realistic drawings
* with this one someone is gonna kill me ( i liked the backgrond of the old loading screen better)
* can't u make the launcher and the game itself into 1 exe, looks better :D
* a way to save the res in wich u wanna play so that u dont have to select them each time

Will add more later...

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Originally posted by Icheb


Ok, here we go :
* an easier to unstand UI
Care to be a little more specific
* more realistic drawings
Oh yeah! A more realistic 8ft sand crab being chased by a 35 ton war mech :rolleyes:
* with this one someone is gonna kill me ( i liked the backgrond of the old loading screen better)
Tough
* can't u make the launcher and the game itself into 1 exe, looks better :D
no
* a way to save the res in wich u wanna play so that u dont have to select them each time
It does.... :confused: The res is stored in the registry - you don't have to select it every time...

Will add more later...

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* an easier to unstand UI
Care to be a little more specific
Maybe make it a bit easier to use for people who don't know the game aswell as u do, example, i've been in the project for about 6 months (or something) and i still do not understand the game !! And no, it's not me (i think), i've done other beta tests, and those games were a bit easier to understand and to work with...

* more realistic drawings
Oh yeah! A more realistic 8ft sand crab being chased by a 35 ton war mech
no, that's not what i meant, i mean can't u make them a bit more realistic so that they resemble more like real pics (photo's or something) instead of drawings

* with this one someone is gonna kill me ( i liked the backgrond of the old loading screen better)
Tough


* can't u make the launcher and the game itself into 1 exe, looks better
no
and why not ?

* a way to save the res in wich u wanna play so that u dont have to select them each time
It does.... The res is stored in the registry - you don't have to select it every time...
but why not make an option so that the game starts immedately when u start the launcher ?
This way the game can load faster, if u would make a link from a config system (in the game) to the launcher it really would look alot better (i think)

Icheb

This is kinda a half bug, half feature list.

1) No bugs (there is no need to say this is impossible...)
2) For the toturail to save the fact that you don't want it (it comes up every time, wheither or not I tell it not to)
3) Don't know if your planning this, but possibly support for after a major event is completed (such as the defeat of an enemy, or the building of a Special Project) (no, I don't mean having the , but just visiable support for them)
4) I agree with Icheb's autostarter. Where if you open the launcher, you may have it set to auto-start the on a pre-set resolution.
5) Better background on the Launcher.
6) The main-screen being at the selected resolution (along with a few others)
7) Print screen saving the picture to a file, instead of the clipboard.
8) Easier to tell if you are over a button (on a few screens nothing happens).
9) Differnt mouse cousers.
10) Progress bar showing the completion of the monster generation code. It takes a while to run, with no progress bar.
11) A way to exit between turns.
12) Not having bullets frezee if you shoot another shot.
13) Having the technology screen at the selected resolution.



Lol, I understand the perfectly, the only problem is I quick when I find a bug (so that the screen shot can be saved).

Also, do you know how to get a sechulded task of Defrag to work (by work I mean start defraging)? That is in XP.

I get to the first screen, then start the game and it crashes. Thats all

Quote:

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Originally posted by Icheb
I am going to use ScreenHunter 1.1 to make my screenshots from now on, this will work most of the time, sometimes even with a bsod comming up (u cant capture the accual bsod, but the things around it...)

Icheb

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Whats a bsod?

I figure that if arb doesn't want to implement screen shot code, then he will have to deal with only one or two screen shots from each bug list...

Quote:

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Originally posted by Gaming_World


Whats a bsod?

I figure that if arb doesn't want to implement screen shot code, then he will have to deal with only one or two screen shots from each bug list...

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bsod = blue screen of death

Lol.

Is arb ever going to reply to this?

Gaming/Icheb - points adressed below...

Quote:

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Originally posted by Gaming_World
This is kinda a half bug, half feature list.

1) No bugs (there is no need to say this is impossible...)
Asking a bit much there - the best I can say is you can point em out and I can duplicate em, I'll fix em

2) For the toturail to save the fact that you don't want it (it comes up every time, wheither or not I tell it not to)
So it doesn't save the fact? I'll get on it

3) Don't know if your planning this, but possibly support for after a major event is completed (such as the defeat of an enemy, or the building of a Special Project) (no, I don't mean having the , but just visiable support for them)
Don't understand you there pal...

4) I agree with Icheb's autostarter. Where if you open the launcher, you may have it set to auto-start the on a pre-set resolution.
If the launcher automatically puts you straight in the game, how do you change the resolution?

5) Better background on the Launcher.
Yep - it's still work in progress

6) The main-screen being at the selected resolution (along with a few others)
Main screen, pick player screen etc will remain at 800x600. There's no point making them resizable

7) Print screen saving the picture to a file, instead of the clipboard.
Too much effort for too little gain. I don't have a lot of time to work on it anymore so I need to target the important things

8) Easier to tell if you are over a button (on a few screens nothing happens).
Yep - that'll be being fixed soon

9) Differnt mouse cousers.
Nice, but low priority

10) Progress bar showing the completion of the monster generation code. It takes a while to run, with no progress bar.
Coming soon

11) A way to exit between turns.
Eh? What's wrong with the quit button?

12) Not having bullets frezee if you shoot another shot.
Added to bug list

13) Having the technology screen at the selected resolution.
Isn't it? It is for me...


Lol, I understand the perfectly, the only problem is I quick when I find a bug (so that the screen shot can be saved).

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Gaming_World
Just thought I would let you know, I have some code that will allow you to save an image in JPG format. Although, I figure you will refuse to use it, I am going to attach it to this post.

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Thanks Gaming.

You're right - but it's a nice thought... :)

Quote:

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Originally posted by TimmyBoyVT
I get to the first screen, then start the game and it crashes. Thats all

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Timmy,

Thanks for having a go. What error message is displayed when the game crashes?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Gaming_World
Is arb ever going to reply to this?

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Yep, sorry. I've been a bit busy recently - I'm off work ill at the moment and I've been tramping to the hospital for blood tests and all that rubbish.

I've also had to spend a bit of time celebrating St Pats day with lots of Guinness... ;)

haha being of work drunk you wanted to say huh :)

No error, it just doesnt work.....[email protected]

Quote:

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Originally posted by Arbiter


Thanks Gaming.

You're right - but it's a nice thought... :)

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I don't see why we can't use it for debugging purposes- it won't be in the final version, will it? ;)

1) No bugs (there is no need to say this is impossible...)
Asking a bit much there - the best I can say is you can point em out and I can duplicate em, I'll fix em
As I hinted at, this is impossible.

2) For the toturail to save the fact that you don't want it (it comes up every time, wheither or not I tell it not to)
So it doesn't save the fact? I'll get on it
I belive that I mentioned this before...

3) Don't know if your planning this, but possibly support for after a major event is completed (such as the defeat of an enemy, or the building of a Special Project) (no, I don't mean having the , but just visiable support for them)
Don't understand you there pal...
You know how in CTP2 (don't know about Alpha Centuri), when you complete a wonder of the world (such as pymaids), a movie plays.

4) I agree with Icheb's autostarter. Where if you open the launcher, you may have it set to auto-start the on a pre-set resolution.
If the launcher automatically puts you straight in the , how do you change the resolution?
You still open the launcher, it then changes the resolution and starts the . If you wish to change the resolution, you go under options.

5) Better background on the Launcher.
Yep - it's still work in progress
Just thought I should meantion it.

6) The main-screen being at the selected resolution (along with a few others)
Main screen, pick player screen etc will remain at 800x600. There's no point making them resizable
It looks strange.

7) Print screen saving the picture to a file, instead of the clipboard.
Too much effort for too little gain. I don't have a lot of time to work on it anymore so I need to target the important things
As behemoth said, you could always implement the JPG saving for debuging propeses, then remove them in the final version

8) Easier to tell if you are over a button (on a few screens nothing happens).
Yep - that'll be being fixed soon
Good, it is annoying how it is now.

9) Differnt mouse cousers.
Nice, but low priority
I know it is low priority, but it still changes the feel of the , kinda like background music.

10) Progress bar showing the completion of the monster generation code. It takes a while to run, with no progress bar.
Coming soon
This is something that I feel should be in the in the next version, as the monster generation takes a while to run.

11) A way to exit between turns.
Eh? What's wrong with the quit button?
I didn't notice one. I saw OK(???) and Save. I will look again.

12) Not having bullets frezee if you shoot another shot.
Added to bug list
I meantioned this before...

13) Having the technology screen at the selected resolution.
Isn't it? It is for me...
When I went there, the resolution was at the resolution that I had my computer set at before starting the (this made it VERY hard to read...).

Quote:

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Originally posted by TimmyBoyVT
No error, it just doesnt work.....[email protected]

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Eh? It must give some error. Are you getting the launcher working for a start?

What happens when you click run? Do you get any sound? A splash screen? Or what?

3) Don't know if your planning this, but possibly support for after a major event is completed (such as the defeat of an enemy, or the building of a Special Project) (no, I don't mean having the , but just visiable support for them)
Don't understand you there pal...
You know how in CTP2 (don't know about Alpha Centuri), when you complete a wonder of the world (such as pymaids), a movie plays.
Ah right! Yes, we will have this, but it's going to take a while to do. At the mo, we're concentrating on the gameplay and technical side before we add the pretty things. :)

4) I agree with Icheb's autostarter. Where if you open the launcher, you may have it set to auto-start the on a pre-set resolution.
If the launcher automatically puts you straight in the , how do you change the resolution?
You still open the launcher, it then changes the resolution and starts the . If you wish to change the resolution, you go under options.
The launcher will be used for other stuff as well, such as quick loading games, getting new versions, eMailing people games (for play-by-eMail), changing other options. It's not too difficult to simply click run.

6) The main-screen being at the selected resolution (along with a few others)
Main screen, pick player screen etc will remain at 800x600. There's no point making them resizable
It looks strange.
They'd look even stranger at 1600x1280. There'd be sooo much wasted space on screen it would look plain daft.

7) Print screen saving the picture to a file, instead of the clipboard.
Too much effort for too little gain. I don't have a lot of time to work on it anymore so I need to target the important things
As behemoth said, you could always implement the JPG saving for debuging propeses, then remove them in the final version
Enough. Due the framework, it's a ballache to implement so people can survive with pressing print screen and alt tabbing to PhotoEditor.

9) Differnt mouse cousers.
Nice, but low priority
I know it is low priority, but it still changes the feel of the , kinda like background music.
Behemoth, make some mouse pointers please... :)

10) Progress bar showing the completion of the monster generation code. It takes a while to run, with no progress bar.
Coming soon
This is something that I feel should be in the in the next version, as the monster generation takes a while to run.
It will be. I'm also trying to work out what's taking it so long...

11) A way to exit between turns.
Eh? What's wrong with the quit button?
I didn't notice one. I saw OK(???) and Save. I will look again.
Oh, riiiiiight - with you now. The save is actually going to be 'save and exit' for play-by-eMail.

12) Not having bullets frezee if you shoot another shot.
Added to bug list
I meantioned this before...
And I added it before. I wasn't going to say 'yes, yes, you've already said that' because that would just upset you.

13) Having the technology screen at the selected resolution.
Isn't it? It is for me...
When I went there, the resolution was at the resolution that I had my computer set at before starting the (this made it VERY hard to read...).
I cannot duplicate this error at all. Are you running Sentience in less, or more than your standard res? Does it change res as it enters the screen?

Thanks again for your comments Gaming... :)

Quote:

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Originally posted by Behemoth
I don't see why we can't use it for debugging purposes- it won't be in the final version, will it? ;)

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Shush. You implement it then potatoe head! :p

Quote:

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Originally posted by Arbiter


Shush. You implement it then potatoe head! :p

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uhhm, arent u talking to urself now ?!

Ummm..... no. I'm not Behemoth...

Quote:

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Originally posted by Arbiter
Ummm..... no. I'm not Behemoth...

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i thought U programmed the game :D

I can open the program and i get some schreen that lets me pick charachters, then the program takes up 99% of processing time, and i left it for 1hr and it as still there. No errormessage.:confused: :confused:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Icheb


i thought U programmed the game :D

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I do. Behemoth has absolutely no chance of implementing anything. Which is why I told him to do it.... ;)

Quote:

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Originally posted by TimmyBoyVT
I can open the program and i get some schreen that lets me pick charachters, then the program takes up 99% of processing time, and i left it for 1hr and it as still there. No errormessage.:confused: :confused:

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This is a new bug...

Ok, no problem.

Talk me through it. You get to the pick player screen and then what? Does it just lock, or can you click something first?

What do you have running in the background? Sentience is best run with nothing else open.

What are your system specs and what version of DirectX do you have?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Arbiter


I do. Behemoth has absolutely no chance of implementing anything. Which is why I told him to do it.... ;)

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Chris/Gaming:If you can post your code I'll have a look at it and see what I can pull together.

I don't see why it would be too hard, just go into the launcher, find a good location for a simple loop, then add the two modules in, make an infinent loop, put a few lines of code in the loop: doevents, and SaveScreenShot("SS" & X,10) are the main two.

Then you have it.

VB Code:

Public Declare Function GetKeyState Lib "user32" Alias "GetKeyState" (ByVal nVirtKey As Long) As Integer
 
Do
 If GetKeyState(key) then
  X=X+1
  SaveScreenShot "name" & X,10
 End If
 DoEvents
Loop

Key is the keycode for the screenshot key, name is what you wish to name the screen shot.

This little loop wouldn't take too much prosesser power, although you may wish to modify it for a little delay, to prevent it from saving 10 copies of the same screenshot.

10) Why not just add a little bit of debug code that gets the time of the running of the parts of the procuder, then prints the time to the intermedite window. I did this for Planet Wars, so that I could find where it took forever to draw at. You can also use the #If...#ElseIf...#EndIf statments so that you can leave the code in, but not have it compile.

12) But not saying it code cause a lot more talk...

13) I was running Sentince in 800x600, and I normally use 1280x1024.

Don't be too surpised if that code doesn't work properly, I wrote it in around 5 or 10 minutes before school.

I also forgot to mention in my last post that I had posted the code before, but I posted it again anyways.

Also, although I didn't write the code, I got it as freeware.

Dang, I just relized that this thread is over 1 year old, and it is still active, and near the top.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Behemoth
Chris/Gaming:If you can post your code I'll have a look at it and see what I can pull together.

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Right, and I'll draw an image that's recognisable...

...chuckle...

On a more serious note, you've more important things to do with your time than mess around trying to write screen capture code.

The print screen key does the trick admirably already and there's no reason to slow Sentience down with redundant code.

That's three compelling reasons not to bother.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Gaming_World
Dang, I just relized that this thread is over 1 year old, and it is still active, and near the top.

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Yep. As far as I'm aware, I don't think it's left the first page in all that time. :)

Quote:

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Originally posted by Gaming_World
I don't see why it would be too hard, just go into the launcher, find a good location for a simple loop, then add the two modules in, make an infinent loop, put a few lines of code in the loop: doevents, and SaveScreenShot("SS" & X,10) are the main two.

Then you have it.

VB Code:

Public Declare Function GetKeyState Lib "user32" Alias "GetKeyState" (ByVal nVirtKey As Long) As Integer
 
Do
 If GetKeyState(key) then
  X=X+1
  SaveScreenShot "name" & X,10
 End If
 DoEvents
Loop

Key is the keycode for the screenshot key, name is what you wish to name the screen shot.

This little loop wouldn't take too much prosesser power, although you may wish to modify it for a little delay, to prevent it from saving 10 copies of the same screenshot.

10) Why not just add a little bit of debug code that gets the time of the running of the parts of the procuder, then prints the time to the intermedite window. I did this for Planet Wars, so that I could find where it took forever to draw at. You can also use the #If...#ElseIf...#EndIf statments so that you can leave the code in, but not have it compile.

12) But not saying it code cause a lot more talk...

13) I was running Sentince in 800x600, and I normally use 1280x1024.

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No reply on this post?

Quote:

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Originally posted by TimmyVT:

The error happens after I select all players, when I am starting the GAME.

1 GHz AMD ATLHON
512 MB RAM
32 MB NVIDIA TNT2 GRAPHICS CARD
WINDOWS XP
DIRECT3D 8.0a
60 GB HD

As you can see....this is my baby.....

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Did you mean to put the above in this thread?

So, you select all the players and click continue? What does it do then? Do you get to the mapmaker screen?

For each player did you click the tick next to their name and then select a faction for them?

Please attach a screen print of the game just before it errors, and one of the error as well if at all possible...

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally posted by Gaming_World


No reply on this post?

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See my post to Behemoth about it.

What I meant by no reply to that post is this part:


10) Why not just add a little bit of debug code that gets the time of the running of the parts of the procuder, then prints the time to the intermedite window. I did this for Planet Wars, so that I could find where it took forever to draw at. You can also use the #If...#ElseIf...#EndIf statments so that you can leave the code in, but not have it compile.

12) But not saying it caused a lot more talk...

13) I was running Sentince in 800x600, and I normally use 1280x1024.

And fine, if I have to write a custom program to make the screen shots I will, but then I may start posting the test shots up here...

Quote:

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Originally posted by Gaming_World
And fine, if I have to write a custom program to make the screen shots I will, but then I may start posting the test shots up here...

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Just download the shareware version of screenhunter...

very good prog :-)

Did you mean to put the above in this thread?

So, you select all the players and click continue? What does it do then? Do you get to the mapmaker screen?

For each player did you click the tick next to their name and then select a faction for them?

Please attach a screen print of the game just before it errors, and one of the error as well if at all possible...

Thanks

I continue, and then nothing changes. Then, i have to CTRL-ALT-DEL and kill the program and find that it is using 95% processing time.
Yes, i can select player's faction.....I think.......
I will attach the screen....maybe tommorow morning.....

The 95% processing power is normal for a . 99.9% of use atleast 95% of the processing power.

Also, why not just use the quote button below the post. It will quote all new text in that post (by new, I mean all non-quoted text).

Quote:

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Originally posted by Gaming_World
The 95% processing power is normal for a . 99.9% of use atleast 95% of the processing power.

Also, why not just use the quote button below the post. It will quote all new text in that post (by new, I mean all non-quoted text).

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Thanks for telling me about the quote button. I did not know.

Quote:

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Originally posted by TimmyBoyVT
Did you mean to put the above in this thread?

So, you select all the players and click continue? What does it do then? Do you get to the mapmaker screen?

For each player did you click the tick next to their name and then select a faction for them?

Please attach a screen print of the game just before it errors, and one of the error as well if at all possible...

Thanks

I continue, and then nothing changes. Then, i have to CTRL-ALT-DEL and kill the program and find that it is using 95% processing time.
Yes, i can select player's faction.....I think.......
I will attach the screen....maybe tommorow morning.....

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Thanks. I shall await your screenshot.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Gaming_World
What I meant by no reply to that post is this part:


10) Why not just add a little bit of debug code that gets the time of the running of the parts of the procuder, then prints the time to the intermedite window. I did this for Planet Wars, so that I could find where it took forever to draw at. You can also use the #If...#ElseIf...#EndIf statments so that you can leave the code in, but not have it compile.

12) But not saying it caused a lot more talk...

13) I was running Sentince in 800x600, and I normally use 1280x1024.

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10. I shall, thanks.

12. Ok

13. So the tech screen was massive, but the majority of other screens were unaffected?

I got it to work by killing backgound apps.

YAY!!

im so bollixed

Quote:

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Originally posted by TimmyBoyVT
I got it to work by killing backgound apps.

YAY!!

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Excellent! :)

A lot of problems are caused by other applications running in the background as Sentience is best run on its own.

I'll look forward to hearing your comments soon... :)

Quote:

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Originally posted by plenderj
im so bollixed

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Umm... care to elaborate?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Arbiter


Umm... care to elaborate?

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I feel like death

Sorry, is this related to Sentience?

If not - PM me... ;)

The tech screen was at 1280x1024 (at the bottom half the techs were missing, as I only had 2 rows). Most of the other screens were at 800x600. If you wish, I can post a screen shot.

Please do - I think you posted one before, but I'd like to see it again...

Ok, I'll go get the screen shot.