Delay before 034 compatible release

[Vehem]

Question about this, Does this currently only allow one to allow/deny access to a civ to the ai, not leaders?.

If so, do you plan on extending this to allow/deny access to specific leaders for both the player and the ai. (For example(not even sure this is true), but if the AI tends to do much better as Hannah rather than Falmar you can set it so the ai will always get Hannah, but only if the lanun are randomly chosen, but you can get either. Of course the same could be used for player control, if you find that Keelyn is broken with the balphs(at least if you abuse the puppet/summoner combo), then if you get them, you are forced to have Perpentach).

It was originally planned to block specific civs from random selection (so that we can effectively allow players to "turn off" the FF civs as they wish - we try to make as much of the content optional as we can) but the leaders option should be possible too (might even be the better way to do it).

 

[Vehem]

This one is mostly my fault - I had to step back a little (as was planned anyway, but I stepped further than I'd originally intended) to sort out work/family, combined with being briefly ill and having some hard drive issues (not on a drive with FF however, and there are plenty of backups around even if it was).

In the meantime however, Xienwolf has been working hard and I arrived tonight to find a number of messages waiting for me - and it seems like he's already done a great deal of the more tedious work (XML/Python merges) as well as implementing some of the niftier features we've been planning for a while (such as the Civ select screen).

In anycase - it's now the half-term holiday (I'm a teacher) so I get a week to myself in which to finally sort out an 043 release. Regarding the ETA - I'll probably say around Nov 1st - simply to allow for some test games before the release.

Might be pushing it at this - hadn't realised at the time but both Xienwolf and myself are away for much of the weekend. Will see what we can do, but it's being awkward at the moment...

 

[Kael]

If you are running into any technical issues Im glad to help get them straightened out. Dont hesitate to ask.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

D'oh! no worries, we'll just wait. have a nice weekend

 

[Dogfax]

cant wait for this... the cherry on top of the perfect cake.

 

[xienwolf]

If you are running into any technical issues Im glad to help get them straightened out. Dont hesitate to ask.

Mostly it is a raw Time factor really, even with the extra week you gave us . Lots of overlapping items added which we have to decide how to compromise or which one to stick with (like half of your Civilization Traits are completely useless since we already didn't need the buildings). The merge into patch G itself wasn't too bad after re-sorting the XML, though I am getting crashes here and there (most likely due to me trying to leave some things unchanged for Vehem to decide on later)

 

[Vehem]

If you are running into any technical issues Im glad to help get them straightened out. Dont hesitate to ask.

Mostly it is a raw Time factor really, even with the extra week you gave us . Lots of overlapping items added which we have to decide how to compromise or which one to stick with (like half of your Civilization Traits are completely useless since we already didn't need the buildings). The merge into patch G itself wasn't too bad after re-sorting the XML, though I am getting crashes here and there (most likely due to me trying to leave some things unchanged for Vehem to decide on later)

Aye - it's pretty much as Xienwolf said - lack of time. We had a long summer with plenty of progress made, but both of our time tables are pretty much linked to the academic year (I'm a high school teacher and Xienwolf is both studying and teaching) and the first term of the year is always the most difficult (for me at least) until things settle into a routine.

Any technical issues that we've been coming up against are self inflicted anyway (changing the oil on a moving car and all that ) but on the whole I think it'll be fine given a little time...

 

[Tarquelne]

I'm a high school teacher and Xienwolf is both studying and teaching)...

Perhaps your students could benefit from a little XML/python/C sweatshop workshop? It'd be fun, plus teach logic and real computer skills!

 

[arcticnightwolf]

Perhaps your students could benefit from a little XML/python/C sweatshop workshop? It'd be fun, plus teach logic and real computer skills!

Good idea! Seconded that! + They can have ideas how to improve FF.

 

[Caradoc]

MaxAstro has some interesting mods for the Amurites that he seems to waiting on the new FF release to post. Maybe you could coordinate with him on this.

 

[MaxAstro]

MaxAstro has some interesting mods for the Amurites that he seems to waiting on the new FF release to post. Maybe you could coordinate with him on this.

I've actually decided to release for the current version of FF; I'm just trying to get Channel working first, which is mainly an issue of getting it to target the proper unit. Once I get that working, I'll just have a few minor tweaks to make to things before I post.

Besides, once the new version of FF is out, it'll probably take me nearly a month just to update all my changes to the new version.

 

[xienwolf]

And by then FfH 0.40 will be out and it'll start again!

 

[MaxAstro]

TELL me about it. XD Sometimes it feels like 75% of the work I do is just updating the work I've already done for new patches...

EDIT: Channel is (mostly) working. Still one bug I can't crush (can't find a way to effectively prevent the unit from targeting itself, which makes Channeling for any spellcasters weaker than the caster impossible), but I might have to live with that for the release version. The only real issue with that is it makes it impossible for Wizards to Channel for (non-High) Priests and Spellswords. But I can live with that.

So, if all goes well, I'll probably be posting my mod Saturday (gonna be busy tomorrow, obviously ).

EDIT2: Although to think of it, Sunday might be more likely, as I may be busy Saturday, too.

 

[Kael]

If it makes you feel any better 95% of the work on 0.40 is in the scenarios so it won't have nearly the merge requires of other versions. The scenario specific code is run out of a new file that doesn't run unless your playing one of the ice scenarios so mod modders can ignore it.

There are some AI changes being made (I like doing AI and scenario work at the same time since its a lot easier to understand the specifics of a situation in a scenario than on a random map) and 1 new feature added so far. But outside of that it should be a relatively easy merge.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

so 0.40 is the one coming right after 0.34 , or will there be some other versions inbetween?

 

[xienwolf]

If it makes you feel any better 95% of the work on 0.40 is in the scenarios so it won't have nearly the merge requires of other versions. The scenario specific code is run out of a new file that doesn't run unless your playing one of the ice scenarios so mod modders can ignore it.

There are some AI changes being made (I like doing AI and scenario work at the same time since its a lot easier to understand the specifics of a situation in a scenario than on a random map) and 1 new feature added so far. But outside of that it should be a relatively easy merge.

We kind of figured that was the case. Quite a few big plans for new features ourselves, but unfortunately probably won't be getting them out (or even cleaning up Scions that much) with this next release. But in the future we can make our major version changes be because we are including new features of our own, especially if we wind up with a full team working on things

 

[Kael]

so 0.40 is the one coming right after 0.34 , or will there be some other versions inbetween?

0.40 is the next version. "Shadow" is done.

We kind of figured that was the case. Quite a few big plans for new features ourselves, but unfortunately probably won't be getting them out (or even cleaning up Scions that much) with this next release. But in the future we can make our major version changes be because we are including new features of our own, especially if we wind up with a full team working on things

Very cool, Im excited to see what you guys come up with.