Devlog update (2012-03-04) Daily devlog test

[Shoozza]

Hi!

This time I tried something different.
I wrote mini devlogs every day This is how it would look like if you get updated from me every day

Monday:
Updated Lazarus project files for Soldatserver.
Had to reinstall Lazarus because it didn't work with indy10 and had problems finding libraries
Reinstalling didn't fix the issues so I had to modify the code and the project files for Lazarus to work correctly.
(installed Lazarus 3 or more times x86, x86_64 and different versions nightly build and stable)
After that I Installed a x86_64 crosscompiler for windows and compiled Soldatserver for 64bit windows.

Tuesday:
Tried to compile Soldatserver for Linux but zlib issues made me stop.
Modified the deploy scripts which are needed for Soldatserver.
Also thought about how the new translation system should look like (gettext or ini files). Took a look at the up and down sides of both solutions.
Implemented a very simple gettext like solution for testing purposes which because Delphi's hashstringlist is sadly not Unicode ready so this wasn't very effective.
My solution showed me that it would be 2 to 4 times slower than non translated string assignments.
Also played around with m4 preprocessor but It's not really worth it.
Would be nice to have some compile time functions in Delphi.
Found out that we use old libs for loading translations (and they throw a lot of warnings too :S) maybe we should update to the latest version. Well I guess only if time allows it.
Finished rewriting the Soldatserver patch deployment batch script (took weeks if not months to get back to it :S) and also fixed issues in the full deployment script for soldatserver. Releasing should be easy now.

Wednesday:
Did some code cleanup. Renamed labels and other controls with default names in soldats gui for better reading. Decided that Betatesting can start on 2012-03-03.

Thursday:
Fixed Spas reloads itself bug #149. Added autoreload support for server and bots (not sure if bots use it though ). Updated the bugtracker.

Friday:
Added information about started votekicks to soldat. Wasn't that difficult. http://forums.soldat.pl/index.php?topic=41707.0
FLAB moved stuff to a different domain (our version control) so there was a certificate validating error message but MM told me that it's ok.

Saturday:
Skoskav fixed the #74 default volumes too loud bug. Fixed bugs in build scripts and wrote the commandline compile script for Soldatserver for windows. We had a discussion about changelogs. Maybe mantis will be used in the future for keeping track of the changes (instead of our svnlog).

Sunday:
Falcon started helping a lot. He fixed the issues with loading bots with wrong values. He added a ForceWeaponX function to the scriptcore which allows forcing secondaries. ForceWeapon will be replaced by this function in the future.
He also added other stuff like AppOnIdleTimer which can be used when safemode is off to change the speed of AppOnIdle.
Then he also unlocked bows in Forceweapon and BotChat for normal Players.
He also removed the [*] from WriteConsole messages and disabled the "not allowed weapon" spam in OnPlayerDamage.
OnVoteMap and OnVoteKick were added to the script core which are called when a player votes for a map or to kick a player.
OnVoteMapStart and OnVoteKickStart are called when someone starts a map/kick vote.
For some reason the vote kick and vote map function were disabled
I did some refactoring work and tested a few Delphi extensions. I found a few Delphi extensions and tried them.
We finally have a profiler for Delphi and there are other tools like a memory leak detector and a code analysis tool.

I actually wanted to release the first beta version of Soldat 1.6.3 for the Beta team but there are still things missing for one click deployment so it didn't happen.

I'll work on the build scripts so that they work with the changed repository path (repository moved today) and then I'll finish the commanline compile scripts which should support debug and release and testing builds.


Ok, you made it.
Till next week (or until the beta comes out ).

[Falcon`]

I've also removed arrayhigh() as it was bugged (... actualy now shoozza found out why but it's gone already) and changed dummy bots behavior. For now to make bot stand still you don't have to name it Dummy, but you should add Dummy=1 in bot file. So don't get confused when they start running around on your servers

[Bonecrusher]

I'm glad you focus mainly on bugfixing on a daily basis, it's what soldat needs most. Also happy about all those scriptcore enhancements falcon is going to introduce us to, hopefully Keep up the good work guys

[Sipar]

fucking great, kudos to devs.

[themangokid2]

Again so nice to see more updates, good work. ^^

[Xadhoom]

Keep up with the great work!
So happy Falcon joined dev-team. 

[DutchFlame]

Lol, didn't understand any of these fixes, but im sure it will make soldat better so good job and keep going!

So the new release will be within 2 weeks from now?

[As de Espada]

too detailed I think, but if it's not that much extra work to you some peopple may like
you have to think to who are you making that dev (or is it whom?)
because if it's for players they won't understand shit

I'll translate:

Monday: worked on Lazarus, after some problems I was finally able to compile Soldatserver for Windows.

The other days are ok I think.

[McWise]

Wow I really like this daily dev log better than they one before,
but do you want to really post it daily or make a weekly update?

Because I think a daily update would be a bit too much

Keep it up!

[Tehbugerz0r]

Why does safe mode have to be disabled for AppOnIdleTimer? We can't all host servers for ourselves. Bloody annoying.

[jrgp]

Why does safe mode have to be disabled for AppOnIdleTimer? We can't all host servers for ourselves. Bloody annoying.

Maybe because that function's functionality can be used to abuse a soldatserver to the point of crashing it or causing high system load on the host itself.

[Mighty]

Good work. Keep it up

[Tehbugerz0r]

Why does safe mode have to be disabled for AppOnIdleTimer? We can't all host servers for ourselves. Bloody annoying.

Maybe because that function's functionality can be used to abuse a soldatserver to the point of crashing it or causing high system load on the host itself.

So that's not gonna change, and may as well not exist? It didn't need safe mode on the modded server binaries which I can't seem to find the topic anywhere, so why the heck should we do that to the official version? It's all the scripter's responsibility, the skilled ones shouldn't suffer for those who don't know what they're doing. This is enesce's bull all over again.
Yes, I'm enraged. Happens after huge disappointment.

[SyavX]

Then he also unlocked BotChat for normal Players

Well, not the best idea... but if it's done, then why not to replace the OnPlayerSpeak event with:

Code: [Select]

function OnPlayerSpeak(ID: Byte; Text: string): stringto be able to alter a Text param?

He also removed the [*] from WriteConsole messages

So there is no more way to determine there was either scriptcore or soldatserver message displayed?

[Falcon`]

So that's not gonna change, and may as well not exist? It didn't need safe mode on the modded server binaries which I can't seem to find the topic anywhere, so why the heck should we do that to the official version? It's all the scripter's responsibility, the skilled ones shouldn't suffer for those who don't know what they're doing. This is enesce's bull all over again.
Yes, I'm enraged. Happens after huge disappointment.

Soldat server hosters often give you some tools to upload the scripts to the servers (it's often a simple FTP access or derivative) thus they have no control on what's the "quality" of the uploaded script. That's why i decided to give them control on whenever the timer parameter should be on or not. What comes to modified binary (it's still available here btw) it worked in pretty similar way: it was up to host to decide whenever he wants to use it or not. And as I mentioned, I'd rather still give them that choice.

Then he also unlocked BotChat for normal Players

Well, not the best idea...

*This one is a bit controversial due to obvious possibility of abuse. You may even ask "What are possible advantages of this?". We use it on Last Stand servers to make reloading similar to one in L4D2, so that when player reloads, script spams "Reloading!" trough him. It's also used in player controlled bosses to indicate incomming spell ("Come on, Hellrain!"). If you see some server admin abusing it - just avoid that server and best, report it somewhere

but if it's done, then why not to replace the OnPlayerSpeak event with:

Code: [Select]

function OnPlayerSpeak(ID: Byte; Text: string): stringto be able to alter a Text param?
He also removed the [*] from WriteConsole messages

As I shouldn't add more features now because beta tests has started, I'll add in in next version

So there is no more way to determine there was either scriptcore or soldatserver message displayed?

BotChat() doesn't trigger OnPlayerSpeak();

[SyavX]

So there is no more way to determine there was either scriptcore or soldatserver message displayed?

BotChat() doesn't trigger OnPlayerSpeak();

I meant messages like this:

[machina]

Good job and keep with it until new release comes...

[Adam]

  Ok...I've been following your updates and I just wanted to ask are you just going to keep fixing bugs or are you going to add different  components to the game like different gui,customization,BALANCEDguns, and more creativity to the game?. I'm not trying to say your work is bad but all I see is bug fix after fix...much of the bugs aren't even recognized...you don't have to do all this but maybe in an log update or something you can add a small post like updated gui Stage:1 and again i'm not trying to say anything bad with your work but
if you can do a little tweak to the game it would be fine.

[Dusty]

this guy is obviously new to the game

[13th_account]

  Ok...I've been following your updates and I just wanted to ask are you just going to keep fixing bugs or are you going to add different  components to the game like different gui,customization,BALANCEDguns, and more creativity to the game?. I'm not trying to say your work is bad but all I see is bug fix after fix...much of the bugs aren't even recognized...you don't have to do all this but maybe in an log update or something you can add a small post like updated gui Stage:1 and again i'm not trying to say anything bad with your work but
if you can do a little tweak to the game it would be fine.

I don't want to spoil any planned features or make promises we can't keep, but I've been looking into how to go about cleaning up and improving the GUI, and how to add new weapons if that becomes a possibility. The biggest problem with that though is that the new weapons really has to be unique and a worthy addition to Soldat, not just be another auto with slightly different stats. If anyone has any really good ideas for weapons I'd love to read them in the Suggestion forum.

Though right now I think the focus is on getting a release out as soon as possible that solves some nasty bugs.