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[Mnemonic]

Hello wintermuties,

I'm releasing a second beta version of WME 1.7 for your testing pleasure. Suggestions and bug reports are welcome. Enjoy

Warning: This beta version is intended for testing purposes only, not for production. Don't install this update if you're not comfortable with using beta versions.

Use at your own risk and expect bugs! Backup your project first!!!


Download WME 1.7 beta 2
(14MB, updated documentation included)


(Note: Saved games are incompatible with previous releases)



Changes in WME 1.7 beta 2 (January 1, 2007)

• Debugging console. The console allows the developer to inspect running scripts and the values of script variables at runtime. It also allows setting breakpoints to pause game flow at specified script lines. See the "Debugging console" chapter in the documentation for more details.

• String Table Manager. A new tool for extracting game texts and managing the string table for localization purposes. See the "String Table Manager" chapter in the documentation for more details.

• Note: Both Debugging console and String Table Manager require Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 installed. It can be downloaded here.

• Changed the behavior of scene scrolling for 2.5D scenes. WME now assumes the camera overviews the entire scene (previous versions assumed camera only overviewed the top-left part of the scene). The original behavior can be restored by checking the "Scene scrolling pre-1.7" checkbox in SceneEdit.

• New scripting function Debug() which pauses game execution and invokes the debugging console.

• New scripting method Game.ClearResponses() for clearing any responses previously added by Game.AddResponse().

• In windowed mode, WME now remembers and restores the previous window position.

• Low-res shadow model can now be also used for flat shadows, not only for stencil shadows.

• FIX: Memory leak in Actor3D.SetTexture().

• FIX: Game.HideLoadingIcon() was causing script stack corruption.

• FIX: Alpha values lower then 8 are no longer ignored.

• FIX: Alpha blending modes were causing graphical artifacts on 3D actors.

• FIX: Passing 'float' values from plugins didn't work.

Changes in WME 1.7 beta 1 (October 1, 2006)

 
• Stencil shadow support for 3D characters.  
  • Stencil shadows are projected onto hidden scene geometry. For that reason, more detailed geometry is necessary. It is now possible to include meshes only for the shadow casting purposes in the geometry 3DS file. See the "3D Characters -> Principles and requirements" chapter in the docs for updated hidden geometry discussion.
   
  • 3D actors can now reference a separate low-poly model for stencil shadow generation purposes (see the "3D actor definition file" in the docs).
   
  • It's possible to set shadow detail level on scene-per-scene base directly in SceneEdit (you can only enable stencil shadows in some scenes if you need to).
   
  • New attributes and methods: Game.MaxShadowType, Game.IsShadowTypeSupported(), Scene.MaxShadowType, Actor3D.ShadowType.
   
  • There is a new chapter called "Shadows" in the docs which describes all the supported shadow types, and their pros and cons.
   
   
 
• X models now support the "AnimTicksPerSecond" attribute exported by some 3D packages.
 
• Added right-to-left reading order support for the game settings dialog (see the "Localization support" chapter in the docs).
 
• Upgraded to the latest version of Theora decoder, which now uses MMX instructions to improve performance.
 
• New scripting methods and attributes:
  • Game.TalkSkipButton - specifies which mouse button can be used to skip talk lines (left, right, both, none).
   
  • Actor3D.AnimTransitionTime - default time for smooth animation transitions.
   
  • Actor3D.GoToTolerance - to prevent actors from moving by just one pixel.
   
  • Emitter.MaxBatches - maximum number of particle batches generated by the particle emitter.
   
  • Button.TextAlign - omitted in previous versions.
   
  • Actor3D.MergeAnims() - to load 3D character animations from X file at runtime.
   
  • Actor3D.UnloadAnim() - to release animations from memory.
   
 
• Spacebar in SceneEdit toggles visibility of a selected node (useful for fine-tuning overlay placement with keyboard).
 
• ProjectMan doesn't show hidden files by default (can be re-enabled in ProjectMan settings).
 
• FIX: Bounding box for 3D characters was only growing and it was never restored to its original size.
 
• FIX: Animation events for 3D characters are no longer skipped on low framerates.
 
• FIX: Camera roll value is now properly read from 3DS files generated by 3D Studio Max.

[Banky]

WOW!! The stencil shadows works great!!!

Amazing update.

Thanks, Mnemonic and keep up the good work!

-Banky

[Lyubovnick]

Greetings!   
At last!   
I already long wait for updating.
Especially for 3D a variant.
Simply it is already biassed to do 2D games.
======================================
If translation from English on Russian, I at your service is necessary.

[leucome]

Good work !

I tried it and shadow look great ...

But while i am going in back of an object i got the shadow in front.
Do somebody know a way to avoid it?

[Orange Brat]

I'm assuming they behave the same as realtime 3D stencils. If so, then know that they are not clipped by the collision hull; thus you'll have to design the lighting/level to prevent this.

[Amo]

Hi there. I worked a bit around with the 1.7 and had no stability problems till yet.
Good work Jan 

One question. The shadow model is as written in the reference, only useable for stencil shadows.
How about flat shadows? They render the actor model twice too, right? My character model has about 3400 tris, but it is possible to create the same one, without any details with only 600 tris. It would be very usefull, to make it possible, to use the shadow model for both "highend" shadow types.

[Mnemonic]

One question. The shadow model is as written in the reference, only useable for stencil shadows.
How about flat shadows?

Yup, yup, I'm definitely going to add this.

[Amo]

You are my personaly GOD.

It is good to know, that this is coming, so I do not need to reduce the polys of my character(s).

Nice weekend.

[Mnemonic]

WME 1.7 beta 2 is ready for your testing pleasure. See the first post for more details.

[TheDerman]

Does the beta version install separately to the stable version? I'd like to play with it, but I'm developing a game at the same time with the stable version, so can't lose that.

Also, I downloaded Nihil's competition game which says it's version 1.6.91.0, and it won't open in my installed version, which is version 1.6.2.1 - how do I get the latest update?

Thanks.

[Mnemonic]

No, unfortunately it's not possible to use two different versions of WME DevKit concurrently.
As for version 1.6.91, it's actually 1.7 beta 1. I'm using this 'ninenty-something' versions to denote betas. nihil used 1.7b1 to develop the competition game.

[metamorphium]

but you can open it in old WME without any problems. It doesn't use any extended features.

[Mnemonic]

So, have anyone tried beta 2 yet? Does it install? Does it run? Does it work?

[metamorphium]

yup. Just finished playing with it and console works really great. The only thing I didn't get are those ... buttons in some objects (Game, Scene, Keyboard) since they don't do anything if clicked. It would be nice to see into those objects as well.

But this is a great update. Keep up the good work (my game still runs even with 1.7.b2)  

[metamorphium]

Got first crash upon game start (no apparent reason, but debugger console was running prior to the game execution):

System.InvalidOperationException: SplitterDistance must be between Panel1MinSize and Width - Panel2MinSize.
   at System.Windows.Forms.SplitContainer.set_SplitterDistance(Int32 value)
   at DeadCode.WME.Global.FormBase.LoadControls(Control ParentControl, SettingsNode RootNode)
   at DeadCode.WME.Global.FormBase.LoadLayout(SettingsNode RootNode)
   at DeadCode.WME.Debugger.DebugWindow.OnLoad(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl()
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl()
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)