 |
| |
|
|
MrBaggins
|
|
Windowed mode means that you need to deal with non-exclusive resources (generally speaking DirectSound)
A Fullscreen only mode eliminates these conflicts.
I don't know it'll be simple adding a windowed mode, considering the theoretical issues involved.
Graphically, they use Directdraw, which was set in stone by DirectX3 and has been just repackaged ever since (IIRC from my reading.)
Also, if they are using multistage transparancy, then there is some kind of alpha emulation going on, since DD only supports binary transparency. We don't know how they considered windowed mode with this, and if they used any assumptions which might break.
It seems to me that significant rewriting of the graphics engine including some theoretical windowed mode may be a huge undertaking... and we might not figure out how much work it'd take for a long time.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
WesW
|
 |
Florence, Al., USA
Jan 1970
time: 23:29
|
|
Hi guys, just thought I would add my 2 cents while passing through...
I don't know if any of you have ever seen the source code for a game, but from what I gather it is enormous. Don hacked into the code for either Ctp1 or 2 one time, and tried to print it out- I think he said it came out to over 100K lines of code. It may have been several times that; I have trouble remembering.
Anyway, it's going to take a concerted effort just to *find* things, much less start working on fixing them. Some of the bugs you guys mention are probably just typos that can be fixed rather quickly, but some are going to be things that can't be fixed at all for some reason or another.
You need to set up a system of reporting where things are in the code, so that you can look at it yourselves. Then some of the experienced guys need to post guides, and this can start now, for what types of functions and formulas are used for this language; how to recognize them and how to safely modify them.
I just spent all weekend debugging my latest MTW beta, and it gave me a big reminder that messing with things you are unfamiliar with can give you huge headaches down the line. (In my case the unfamiliarity was with Excel, but a huge code block can also be bad.)
As for what to do first- well, it's probably going to take weeks just to get a handle on the code and get the community organized. Most people tend to concentrate on what they are most interested in, anyway, so setting up lists are only going to do so much.
I would echo the guys like Chris B. who said to go back to the things that irritated us when we first started playing the game, since those will be the biggest detractors from the basic joy of playing.
Myself, I still remember the lines of code for all these neat triggers that were never implemented, like a 50% penalty for attacking city walls, which would tone down mounted units.
In know that some people are going to try and improve SLIC so that they can implement their pet trigger, but the community as a whole would be better served by studying the AI formulas for the things that don't work well, like getting a better balance of guns and butter, or asking for cease-fires when it's getting conquered. We have all had times when we sent emissaries to the AI when it was down to one undefended city and, for fun, asked it for a cease fire, and the AI always tells us to kiss its a$$.
Anyway, I wish you guys luck, and I'll try and stop by some to see what the code looks like, and give Locutus a few programming pointers. 
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Peter Triggs
|
|
Gone Fishin, Canada
Jan 2000
time: 05:29
|
|
Hi, Wes
Don wasn't the only one to hack into CTP1:
quote:
Can you describe the technical innards of the game?
The game is approximately half a million lines of C++ code. It is split into several sections: UI, networking, sound, and AI. Templates and classes are heavily used in the AI, user interface, and networking. There is no documentation other than source comments (and Sam and Matt themselves).
The game makes use of the following libraries:
Simple DirectMedia Layer
SMPEG
Zlib
Pthreads
A subset of the Miles sound API
The game also uses Anet (Activision's networking library). The networking drivers and map generators are dynamically loaded using the C dlopen() interface.
|
But that was CTP1. I should think we can expect at least that much from CTP2.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Maquiladora
|
|
What about the status bar at the bottom telling you what units occupy a tile when you hover over it? I think its too helpful and id prefer not to have it. Not the resource/tile info part just the units info.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
JamesJKirk
|
 |
Dixon, CA USA
Jan 1970
time: 21:29
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Locutus
As for Trade, I would personally (eventually -- this is long-term thinking) like to completely revise the trade system....
I'd like a trade system somewhat similar to Civ3, but more advanced: like Civ3, you need certain goods in your recourse box before you can build certain units. To get these resources, you must have them in your radius, or you must be connected to a network. But contrary to Civ3, IMO this shouldn't be a road network but rather a trade network. If you have a city with iron and a city with gold, you can only take advantage of the iron in city 2 by creating an iron trade route with city 1. The same with the gold: city 1 needs a gold route with city 2 to be able to take advantage of the gold. Both building and mainaining trade goods should come at a cost, which similarly to PW should be subtracted directly from the national income (not sure yet which resource(s) should be used for this). So no more building of Caravans.
Aside from that, I agree with MrBaggins that foreign trade should be much more valuable than national trade and that trade should contribute to science as well.
Of course, this system of mine would be a huge change with major implications on other parts of the game (the AI, for one thing). It would be a huge undertaking to implement and I'm sure not everyone will like it, so it shouldn't be part of a "official baseline version", to use Solver's terminology. |
Howdy all, I've played both CTPs on and off and with some of the various mods, I thought I'd jump in because this is a big deal. IMO, and I think I've seen this said elsewhere, the trade/gold system would qualify as a bug, since it's far too easy to get obscenely rich without trying at all, which shouldn't be possible. A new (and novel) focus on the trade system (and the diffusion of technology  ) would help this and distinguish CTP2 further from the rest in the series. While I have played CTP1/2 many times, I currently play Civ3 and it would take something novel to bring me (and probably many others back). So while I agree it's more important to get rid of all the real bugs first, certain things (like Solver's UN idea) that would set this apart from other Civ games need to be implemented at least in the longer run in order to (re)attract people to CTP2.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Maquiladora
|
|
Get rid of the bonus when a city is build on a Tile Improvement.
Or probably easier, get rid of the tile imp when a city is built there.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
J Bytheway
|
 |
England
Jul 2001
time: 05:29
|
|
Active air defense certainly needs some work - it's too easy to waste it all on a single worthless unit. I don't see an easy solution to this problem, though. Certainly you shouldn't have active air defense units attacking everything which comes into range, because atttackers should be able to saturate their capabilities...
Last edited by J Bytheway on 02-11-2003 at 18:28
|
|
| |
|
|
|
MrBaggins
|
|
You could give active defence a numeric modifier, which is degraded by its activating for an incoming attack, in an amount of the incoming units attack rating. Units within armies are dealt with randomly, perhaps? or on a best attack rating first?
|
|
| |
All times are GMT. The time now is 05:29.
Apolyton Time is 00:29. |
top of page
|
|
|
Forum Rules:
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is ON
vB code is ON
Smilies are ON
[IMG] code is ON
|
|
|
|
|
|
06-08-2003 21:38
.
.
|