Friday, August 8, 2014

[log] SoundRTS 1.2 alpha 9 released

Available at:
http://jlpo.free.fr/soundrts

The main changes since 1.2 alpha 8 are:

General:
- games are automatically recorded and can be replayed
- added observer mode after defeat
- added shortcuts for orders (press Alt + A and the shortcut)
- smarter target selection with Tab: It now selects in the following order: resources, then damaged buildings, then free space, then exits (if in the current square). If the current order is to build something, it selects free space first.
- added a console key (backquote, the key below escape) to enter commands like "add_units" or "victory"
- Ctrl+F2 now works in menu mode too (toggle display)
- completely removed recorded speech
- experimental: high ground (squares with a sight bonus and a range bonus), and a map (jl5) which uses high ground
- towers don't prevent defeat anymore
- in map selection menus, the previously chosen map will be selected by default
- added races menu to single player training
- now allies share their upgrades
- audio buffer is 1024 on any platform

Windows:
- restored an installer for Windows
- Windows: the new default text output is the screen reader (through ScreenReaderAPI) instead of SAPI 5
- Windows installer: added shortcuts to some mods including CrazyMod 8.2

Contributions:
- included the Crazy Mod 8.2 (check their web site at http://pragmapragma.free.fr/soundrts-crazymod/ )
- Broadcast to all the players in a game when someone selects a race, so the game admin finds it easier to know when everyone is ready. (thanks to Christopher Toth)
- Add the name of the player to the title of non-npc units (thanks to Christopher Toth)
- Added a simple in-game chat feature modeled off the lobby chat. This can be invoked with f7 from within the game. I also added f7 in the menu for consistency. (thanks to Christopher Toth)
- Improved range of symbols which you can say (thanks to Christopher Toth)
- Allow activating menu items with the enter key on the numpad (thanks to Christopher Toth)
- updated Russian translation (thanks to Kvark)
- Brazilian Portuguese translation: added the new text and fixed some translation errors (thanks to Thiago Seus)
- fixed Czech encoding problem (thanks to Marco Oros)

Bug fixes:
- bug fixed: cut_scene didn't work ("nicely done!" in chapter 1, for example)
- bug fixed: a unit in defensive mode didn't take allies into account before deciding to flee or not
- bug fixed: in a single player training game, choosing a race caused an error
- bug fixed: in cheat mode, map navigation in previously unknown places would never cause collisions
- bug fixed: on the Mac, the game couldn't start: Getting the system language while running from the terminal caused an error: “ValueError: unknown locale: UTF-8". Note: if the error happens, the game will use English by default and advise the user to edit cfg/languages.txt.
- bug fixed: asking a building to use an ability on an unreachable target would cause an error
- bug fixed: trying to convert a target in the fog of war would cause an error if the range of the ability is "anywhere"
- bug fixed: when hosting several SoundRTS servers on the same machine (using several ports with the -p command-line option), each registering server would unregister the other servers with the same IP address even if the port number is different
- bug fixed: navigating from a known square without any exit wouldn't cause a collision noise

Modding:
- modding: added a "provides_survival" variable
- modding: it is now possible to use the word "faction" instead of "race"
- modding: added is_teleportable variable
- modding: made sure that a building can leave a meadow and turn into a unit, and that a unit can turn into a building if a meadow is available (added "flyingtownhall" as an example mod)
- map making: in "intro", "cut_scene" or "sequence", a number in a sequence can now also represent a text message defined in tts.txt
- added parameters/recommended_maps to style.txt
- added a command-line option to override the mods defined in SoundRTS.ini For example: soundrts.py --mods=soundpack,orc

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Congratulations very good your work, I would like to donate you a little contribute. How can you to donate it? Thanks.

SoundMUD said...

At the moment I don't have a way to do this. Thank you for your support.

Unknown said...

Haven't you paypall? I can to send money here. Your project is very important and beauty, thank you.

SoundMUD said...

I will try to create an account.

Unknown said...

ok good when you has been created an account, write here the email of paypall and I send you a little donation for this project. Thanks.

Unknown said...

Hi!. congratulations for this great game!.
I have two questions regarding custom campaigns.
Is there a way to trigger mission failure (defeat) when a specific character is defeated?. if posible, can you give me an example?.

Is there a reference somewhere about all the triggers i can use for missions?. (has, has_entered, no_enemy_left, etc?)
thanks!.

SoundMUD said...

Hi! I think it is not possible to do that at the moment. It would be easy to add though. I'll think about it.

I don't think there is a reference doc for triggers. I'll try to add it. It would be in the map making manual. In the meantime you might try to search worldplayerbase.py with the pattern "def lang_" to know all the names.

https://github.com/soundmud/soundrts/blob/master/soundrts/worldplayerbase.py

Unknown said...

Thanks a lot, indeed it'll be helpful!.

Unknown said...

Hi,
I have been completed Italian translation continuing great job of Gabriele Battaglia. I translated all tts.txt files and audio actor voice. How can I send it to you? I sent an email to address in home page but I am not sure if you receive it and for this write comment. I sent you 1.2 a9 version with this completion but if you want I extracted only Italian files.
Thanks for job.

SoundMUD said...

Hi, I have received your mail. Thank you!

Unknown said...

Hi,
after interface translation, I would translate the manuals but, it is in html format. I have been terminated the "aimaker" guide but is in text format. before continuing I have some question: can I send you in this format or must manually transport in HTML? Thanks a lot.

SoundMUD said...

Do the simplest way for you, I'll do my best to include it. Send me the file if you hesitate. Please note that, at the moment, I don't have a decent computer, and I won't be able to release a new version right now.

Just in case, the source of the manual is at:
https://github.com/soundmud/soundrts/tree/master/doc/src

You can translate the generated HTML if you want though.

Unknown said...

Ok, thanks a lot :). Happy Christmas and happy new year!

Unknown said...

Hi,

I like so much this game, and I am considering to port to pyglet, to enhance better quality of some components, such the 3D sound and the graphics renderer. Is it too hard to do this?

Cheers.

SoundMUD said...

Hi Francisco,

I don't know, the code is still quite messy. I'm refactoring right now the potentially reusable or replaceable modules and it is taking a surprising lot of time! It's like untying the Gordian knot. It might be worthy though, since at least I'm writing automated tests to improve reliability, and the code will be more commented and readable, with some packages to make modules easier to find.

About the 3D sound, for a first contact, examine the class called SoundManager in clientmediasound.py . You can also search for any occurrence of pygame in the code.

I don't remember if it's possible (as a first step) to use the audio from pyglet while keeping the event loop from pygame.

Unknown said...

Hi,

I think that it is possible, but not recommendable.

The problem is as you say, the modules I encountered, all references pygame in some way.

If I can help you, let me what I can do. I have a fork of your repo.