Tuesday 29 January 2013

5.0.29 out now

ADRIFT 5 release 29 is now available for download from the ADRIFT website. Rather than simply list the changes, I thought I might try and give some explanation of the enhancements this time.

Access Events in OO functions (ID 18718)

If you type the name of an event key in any text box followed by the dot character, it will now bring up a menu where you can select either Length or Position.  These two new functions will return an Integer value of the length of the event (in turns), or the current position of the event from the start.

These can be useful, as you can create restrictions that an event must be before or after a certain position.

Repeat Countdown option on Events (ID 18715)

I have added a new checkbox on Events, so that if you have a delay at the start of the event (i.e. the event should start off waiting for X turns) and also you have the event set to repeat on completion, you can now select this new checkbox to wait again before the event starts, effectively allowing you to insert a pause between each run of the event.

OneOf expression function (ID 18714)

Similar to the existing Either function, there is now a OneOf function.  This function can take any number of parameters, and will return one of the parameters randomly.  For example, you could embed the function into a piece of text like so:

The top card is the Queen of <# OneOf("club", "spade", "diamond", "heart") #>s. 

Add new sound interface (ID 18709)

Several users have had problems with the DirectX sound interface.  As a result, I have added a new interface, using WinMM.  This is now the default interface for sound, as it doesn't require additional DLLs (so Runner no longer requires the Microsoft.DirectX files).  You can enable or disable individual interfaces in Runner Options > Advanced in case any particular interface causes a problem on your machine.


In addition to this, the debugger will now specify which interface is being used when a sound file is being played.

New function: Replace (ID 18707)

Expressions can now use the function Replace.  This takes three parameters - the first is the piece of text to be altered, the second is the text to find, and the third is the text to replace the found text with.  So for example,

Replace("one two three", "two", "TWO") would return "one TWO three".

Map Shortcut (ID 18699)

Ctrl+M now closes the map in Developer, as well as opening it.

Global Text override view/edit (ID 9737)

In the previous release I added an option to Import Text Overrides from file.  I have now added the corresponding Export option:


This will create an *.alr file, in the same format as that used in version 4.


The remaining changes are bug fixes, and are as follows:

Bug Fixes
  • Unhandled Exceptions - Boolean conversions (ID 18728)
  • Tab order on Properties form (ID 18725)
  • Character movement not displayed when Player on an object (ID 18722)
  • Scroll Bars (ID 18721)
  • Editing a text property causes value copying (ID 18719)
  • Dragging Variable - Value incorrect (ID 18717)
  • Double-spacing when appending blank text (ID 18716)
  • Carriage Returns break expressions (ID 18713)
  • Timing problem on character walks (ID 18712)
  • Appended StateList values aren't saving (ID 18711)
  • Mono - crash when clicking in output area (ID 18708)
  • Text boxes not scrolling to end on open (ID 18705)
  • Developer hangs when selecting certain text (ID 18704)
  • Abort map walk if task kicks in (ID 18698)
  • Object group properties not recognised by runner (ID 18634)
  • Audio doesn't work on some systems (ID 18473)
  • Missing Object Properties in Actions (ID 691)
  • Changing property types (ID 68)

Friday 11 January 2013

5.0.28 out now

ADRIFT 5 release 28 is now available for download from the ADRIFT website. This is somewhat earlier than expected, but I felt it necessary in order to fix some irritating bugs for new users playing packaged games. There are two enhancements in this release; being able to import v4 style ALR files, and the ability to print out the map.

A full list of changes is as follows:

Enhancements

Bug Fixes
  • Error stopping audio (ID 18697)
  • Error loading blorb/exe, Layout path not found (ID 18696)
  • Cant set value-list property with an action (ID 18694)
  • Cant test value-list property in a restriction (ID 18693)
  • Error Loading Adventure. Invalid character (ID 18690)
  • Corrupt text window (ID 18687)
  • %text% not passing as a parameter (ID 18686)
  • Object orientated functions aren't recursive (ID 18685)
  • Integer Properties Cannot Be Dependent on Value (ID 18459)
  • Assigning values to properties in actions (ID 18391)