Cliff…
I was getting crashes running as administrator and as limited. Running in limited mode wouldn’t let me save at all though.
Ok just come accross a save game bug that Im working on now. Ill also work on the font, although it sounds like you guys might be seeing something Im not. The planet names have a spacey font but the normal text should be ina different, quite standard font, like the screenshots on my site. Is this the font you guys dont like?
Whoa! I just took a look at your screenshots and the font looks fine! I don’t know what could cause this, but what I get just does NOT look that good on my monitor. I’ll have to email you a screenshot or something. The text appears blurry and difficult to read for me.
Wacky! :D
Seems the site has run out of demo bandwith. Is there a mirror site for the demo? Thanks!
If you are using Direct3D to render the characters on little quad-polys, you may be having texel alignment problems on some 3D adaptors. There is only one right way to set up the texture offsets to get correct rendering on all cards. However, there are several “near misses” that will render properly on some card but not on others.
If you are not using D3D for font rendering, please disregard this post.
I suspected as much, as i think the font looks quite normal. It probably is a texel bug, which is notoriously hard to fix in code, thats why most video cards have a ‘texel alignment’ slider on the properties panel of the display.
you can downlaod from a seconmd link here:
http://www.positech.co.uk/starlines/starlines_free.exe
Texel alignment issues…I’ve had to deal with the same problem before. :)
Let this be your guide if you’re using DirectX:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dx8_c/directx_cpp/Graphics/ProgrammersGuide/UsingDirect3D/Textures/Coordinates/MappingTexelsToPixels.asp
Here’s what it looks like on my machine (XP with DirectX 9):
Yeah, I’ve seen that before.
cliffski - try subtracting 0.5 from your x and y coordinates for each vertex in the character polygon. Like this -
v0.x = (float) (x - 0.5);
v0.y = (float) (rect.y - 0.5);
v0.z = 0.0f;
v1.x = (float) (x + w - 0.5);
v1.y = (float) (rect.y - 0.5);
v1.z = 0.0f;
v2.x = (float) (x + w - 0.5);
v2.y = (float) (rect.y + rect.h - 0.5);
v2.z = 0.0f;
v3.x = (float) (x - 0.5);
v3.y = (float) (rect.y + rect.h - 0.5);
v3.z = 0.0f;
double char_x = font->GlyphLocationX(text[i]);
double char_y = font->GlyphLocationY(text[i]);
double char_w = w;
double char_h = rect.h;
p->flags = Poly::ALPHA2 | Poly::NO_FILTER;
p->flat_color = color;
p->texture = &font->GetBitmap();
p->nverts = 4;
p->tu[0] = (float) (char_x / 256);
p->tv[0] = (float) (char_y / 256);
p->tu[1] = (float) (char_x / 256 + char_w / 256);
p->tv[1] = (float) (char_y / 256);
p->tu[2] = (float) (char_x / 256 + char_w / 256);
p->tv[2] = (float) (char_y / 256 + char_h / 256);
p->tu[3] = (float) (char_x / 256);
p->tv[3] = (float) (char_y / 256 + char_h / 256);
Ok I have just uploaded a new version that should fix save game bugs and also fix the font problems some of you are having, although Im not sure because I cant reproduce them here. Let me know if it helps, its here:
http://www.positech.co.uk/starlines/starlines_free.exe
Didn’t fix it for me. It may have even made it worse:
Win98se, gf4 4400, dx 9
Hmm no change bro.
Old savegames dont work but new version still has same issues.
Fairly easy to replicate. I just save the game twice from within starting scenario. Second time I save it crashes to desktop, from then on that save will not load.
Process-
Play 3 mins
Save game: rodsavegame
Play 5 mins
Enter Savegame name: rodsave2
Hit savegame button
watch save bar on new screen
crash to desktop
<snip full debug text to last bit>
t: 870566251.000000 H:623 - loading ship
t: 870566515.000000 H:623 - Ending LoadLevel()
t: 870566812.000000 H:623 - loading Company
t: 870566812.000000 H:623 - loading Company
t: 870566812.000000 H:623 - loading Company
Also this build has the same version number. Not sure if thats deliberate or not.
Thanks for the attempt! Lets keep at it :)
I’m getting some strange behavior now. I was using the original 103b from a few days ago and that seemed to be working fine for a bit. Then I lost the ability to load.
The same thing is true for the latest version (which as mentioned, seems to still be 103b.) I can save fine! I just can’t load anymore.
But you certainly seem to have a number of willing testers here Cliff! :D
Is there an alternative download location for Planetary Defence ?
I’ve been looking for one. When I get one I’ll post a mirror link (Cliffski, any way of getting this to me?).
In the mean time, those of you wanting to grab the Starlines Inc. demo can grab it at http://www.diygames.com/hosted/starlines_free.exe.
Alrighty, got a copy of the demo. Download it at the following link if you’re having problems with the official one: http://www.diygames.com/hosted/planetarydefense_demo.exe. It’s about three megs.
Latestbuild fixed my save game problems :) Thanks dude. Now back to trading my way across the sector.