Beta release 1.9.3b

[VilleK]

This version is now released as 1.9.3

-------------------

Hi,

I will start releasing beta versions when there are new features that are not 100% finished and tested.
Here is release 1.9.3b (updated Oct 20)

http://www.zgameeditor.org/files/ZGameEditor_beta.zip

NOTE: Linux and Mac runtime builds not included. You cannot use the binaries from the previous version, it won't work.

NOTE: If you use this version you should be aware that the features may not fully work and that they can be changed or even removed in a later release.

Features:

- Local variables in scripts. "float a,b,c;" declares three variables.
- FrameRateStyle property on Application, can have one of the following values:
--- "SyncedWithMonitor" (default): the frame rate will be limited to the monitors refresh rate. Defaults to 60 if the rate can't be determined.
--- "Free": the frame rate will be as high as possible, this will use maximum cpu.
--- "Fixed": the frame rate will attempt to match the value set in the FixedFrameRate-property.
- DefineArray now can define 3d-arrays.
- Functions can be defined in a new ZLibrary-component and called from expressions. See attached test-project for a example on how to use this.
- New BitmapBlur component.
- BitmapZoomRotate has two new properties: ScaleX and ScaleY
- Fixed bug with SteeringDemo not working.
- Fixed bug with "+="-operators on arrays and local variables.
- Texture2 and Texture3 properties on Material allows setting bitmaps for multitextures. This is useful for shaders that need more than one texture for effects.
- BitmapLoad component loads a copy of another bitmap on the producer stack.
- BitmapCombine component adds two bitmap from the stack and push the result on the stack. Note: Bitmaps must be of same size.
- MeshExpression now allows setting vertex colors.
- "Mipmap" new filtersetting on Bitmap.
- UPX is incorrectly identified as a Trojan by AVG, so in this release I've included kkrunchy instead (by kind permission of author).

Please report any problems, thanks!

[diki]

wow, that was fast :) testing now ...

[VilleK]

Feedback from diki and Kjell suggests improvements on the framerate-settings.

So maybe it will look something like this, split into two properties on App:

FrameRateStyle: SyncedWithMonitor (default),Free,Fixed
FixedFrameRate: 50 (manual setting, used when FrameRateStyle is fixed)

[jph_wacheski]

ahha,. nice,. I will try out the third dimentional array! thanks man, as always you roc!

[VilleK]

I've uploaded a new beta today, see first post for details.

[Kjell]

Hej Ville,

Great new component, ZLibrary. Though, I'm curious why you choose to define the function name in the ZLibrary itself instead of going with a Condition Component style approach and actually use the Name field as Function name. Although this way you only need one ZLibrary instead of one for each Function ( probably the reason it's called ZLibrary and not ZFunction ).

By the way, SyncedWithMonitor could not be determined on my system, and fixed framerate doesn't seem to work in the Editor.

K

[VilleK]

Hi Kjell,

The reason for the design of the ZLibrary-component is that it is meant that have several functions in a single library. Also I like to have the functions fully specified in code including name, returntype, and parameters. I think it is faster to work in that way and more similar to normal programming.

I do not currently attempt to sync framerate in designer because it is very indeterminable anyway since it is synced with Windows timer-messages.

What framerate do you get with SyncedWithMonitor and what is your monitor refresh rate? I guess it is dependent on the drivers if it can report this rate or not.

/Ville

[kattle87]

this is just *sweet*.

I think next release might become 1.99 and next 2.0 (for bugfixes and little further ennhancements) Do you agree with me?

[Kjell]

Hej Ville,

I tried 100, 85 and 75 Hz on both NVIDIA GeForce and ATI Radeon chips, all combinations revert back to 60 so far.

K

[jph_wacheski]

ah, I see, then 'library' does make sence,. and looks like a great idea! I am happy to see this new development happening,. and look eagerly forward to more scriptability. And some libraries of usefull functions for commonly needed bits of logic and code,.
ZGE is great system,. I am still very enamored with it! thanks again.

[VilleK]

Small update again, see first post.

[stevenp]

I popped in here many months ago before you had Mac support. To me, that is awesome. I'm finally going to take time to learn ZGameEditor. I've seen some pretty awesome stuff done in it that I've found to be quite inspiring. I'm going to go through the tutorials and then look at some of the examples posted on the forum.

[VilleK]

And another update, see first post.

I haven't had the time and focus needed to concentrate on scripting features in this version so there are only minor updates in other areas. Hope they are useful anyway.

[Kjell]

Mipmaps already? That was fast!

What exactly happens now when a Bitmap uses Mipmap? It seems to be using Linear filtering when scaling up and Nearest when scaling down / using down-sampled textures? That might explain the difference with the checkered mipmap example on Flipcode. Perhaps it would be nice if you could mix & match those individual settings as well ( Mipmap as checkbox, and extra drop-down for down-sampling )?

I've attached a example that let's you toggle between Linear and Mipmap by holding Spacebar .. make sure you don't get a headache ~

Great work again,
K

[kattle87]

I think that the bitmap stack is the prettiest thing However there's an hidden bug that can prevent the editor from displaying the bitmap correctly. I will try to reproduce it and trace it down. In the meantime, this is a really fast example of what can be created with the stack I've used the algorithm I have in mind from translating it from an "operator stacking form" into a sequence of operations

Bye bye

PS: it gives me an error but renders everything fine... Strange :/
Ville, shoot the Bug!