Sentience: VB Game (comments please)

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Mar 18th, 2002, 01:55 PM
Arbiter

Quote:

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

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... ;)
Mar 18th, 2002, 03:23 PM
/\/\isanThr0p

haha being of work drunk you wanted to say huh :)
Mar 18th, 2002, 04:12 PM
TimmyBoyVT

No error, it just doesnt work.....[email protected]
Mar 18th, 2002, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Arbiter

Thanks Gaming.

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

I don't see why we can't use it for debugging purposes- it won't be in the final version, will it? ;)
Mar 18th, 2002, 06:36 PM
Gaming_World

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...).
Mar 19th, 2002, 02:49 AM
Arbiter

Quote:

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

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?
Mar 19th, 2002, 03:02 AM
Arbiter

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... :)
Mar 19th, 2002, 03:07 AM
Arbiter

Quote:

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? ;)

Shush. You implement it then potatoe head! :p
Mar 19th, 2002, 04:21 AM
Icheb

Quote:

Originally posted by Arbiter

Shush. You implement it then potatoe head! :p

uhhm, arent u talking to urself now ?!
Mar 19th, 2002, 05:19 AM
Arbiter

Ummm..... no. I'm not Behemoth...
Mar 19th, 2002, 05:27 AM
Icheb

Quote:

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

i thought U programmed the game :D
Mar 19th, 2002, 06:54 AM
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:
Mar 19th, 2002, 08:50 AM
Arbiter

Quote:

Originally posted by Icheb

i thought U programmed the game :D

I do. Behemoth has absolutely no chance of implementing anything. Which is why I told him to do it.... ;)
Mar 19th, 2002, 08:53 AM
Arbiter

Quote:

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:

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?
Mar 19th, 2002, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Arbiter

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

Chris/Gaming:If you can post your code I'll have a look at it and see what I can pull together.
Mar 19th, 2002, 10:34 AM
Gaming_World

1 Attachment(s)
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.
Mar 19th, 2002, 10:57 AM
Gaming_World

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.
Mar 19th, 2002, 12:28 PM
Gaming_World

Dang, I just relized that this thread is over 1 year old, and it is still active, and near the top.
Mar 19th, 2002, 01:11 PM
Arbiter

Quote:

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.

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.
Mar 19th, 2002, 01:15 PM
Arbiter

Quote:

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.

Yep. As far as I'm aware, I don't think it's left the first page in all that time. :)
Mar 19th, 2002, 07:25 PM
Gaming_World

1 Attachment(s)
Quote:
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.
No reply on this post?
Mar 20th, 2002, 08:51 AM
Arbiter

Quote:

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.....

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
Mar 20th, 2002, 08:52 AM
Arbiter

Quote:

Originally posted by Gaming_World

No reply on this post?

See my post to Behemoth about it.
Mar 20th, 2002, 10:19 AM
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.
Mar 20th, 2002, 10:21 AM
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...
Mar 20th, 2002, 12:50 PM
Icheb

Quote:

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...

Just download the shareware version of screenhunter...

very good prog :-)
Mar 20th, 2002, 02:44 PM
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.....
Mar 20th, 2002, 06:42 PM
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).
Mar 20th, 2002, 07:10 PM
TimmyBoyVT

Quote:

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).

Thanks for telling me about the quote button. I did not know.
Mar 20th, 2002, 07:14 PM
Arbiter

Quote:

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.....

Thanks. I shall await your screenshot.
Mar 20th, 2002, 07:17 PM
Arbiter

Quote:

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.

10. I shall, thanks.

12. Ok

13. So the tech screen was massive, but the majority of other screens were unaffected?
Mar 20th, 2002, 07:23 PM
TimmyBoyVT

I got it to work by killing backgound apps.

YAY!!
Mar 21st, 2002, 03:29 AM
plenderj

im so bollixed
Mar 21st, 2002, 05:04 AM
Arbiter

Quote:

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

YAY!!

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... :)
Mar 21st, 2002, 05:06 AM
Arbiter

Quote:

Originally posted by plenderj
im so bollixed

Umm... care to elaborate?
Mar 21st, 2002, 05:07 AM
plenderj

Quote:

Originally posted by Arbiter

Umm... care to elaborate?

I feel like death
Mar 21st, 2002, 06:07 AM
Arbiter

Sorry, is this related to Sentience?

If not - PM me... ;)
Mar 21st, 2002, 10:20 AM
Gaming_World

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.
Mar 21st, 2002, 01:55 PM
Arbiter

Please do - I think you posted one before, but I'd like to see it again...
Mar 21st, 2002, 06:39 PM
Gaming_World

Ok, I'll go get the screen shot.

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