The latest test release

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zuzuf
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The latest test release

Post by zuzuf » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:04 pm

10.04.2007
0.3.1 TEST 5

a new one!! yes it's been only 5 days since last TEST release but I changed lots of things:
_the game setup menu is now managed by an AREA object defined by some TDF files in the gui dir.
_fixed a huge bug with time management that made the game freeze/speed up/crash after 30min, so new timer with msec resolution.
_game script is now synchronized with core threads.
_updated documentation (by Balthazar)
_lots of bug fixes (some much that I can't list all)
_also unit's apparent speed has been increased (only acceleration/brake has been multiplied by 10)
_use +/- to change game speed!!
_you can choose a game script before launching a game!! (try defense.c which has been updated to be more funny).

If you didn't read all this, then remember one thing: even without AI or multiplayer you can play TA3D with a game script like the defense.c script.
the defense.c script spawn units randomly on the map after 10min, first 25 units, 50, 100 and then 100 berthas!! All those units target your commander which must survive as long as possible :D .

the old one
05.04.2007
0.3.1 TEST 4

I am sorry for windows users I couldn't get a stable build of the hpiview tool which is used to install TA's files for TA3D, it's just crashy, but it crashes before the main function(yes before the beginning of the code). I tested various build options even the same as the TA3D.exe but it still fails on launch. I am going to see if I can implement the install code directly into the TA3D.exe file so you just call it like "TA3D install" and you get it, this will be transparent since user is told to install those files with the "install.bat" command. There are all the tactical icons I made so you can test them. I also fixed definitely the particle engine crash bug (yes it's an ugly fix but it works and I didn't found anything better so if someone has time to lose he cans try to find a better fix). Some water bugs fixed too, should run smoothly and without too much gfx bugs 8) .

Also I found that my gfx driver (nvidia 9755) is buggy with my gfx board(with an other one I tested it works fine): with water quality 3 , depth buffer can't get used without crashing and/or slowing the game down to 20 fps or even less, and drawing converted sprites (3D sprites) is very slow!!

NB: previous TEST builds removed, no use keeping them indefinitely.
Last edited by zuzuf on Wed Apr 11, 2007 12:08 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Post by zuzuf » Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:51 am

normally selecting a map is done by clicking the minimap on the right, but if it crashes then it must be a problem with the map pre-selection algorithm - try to use only totala1.hpi, totala2.hpi and rev31.gp3 if not already done.

when zooming out for the first time, the engine is allocating lots of data ( that was to speed up loading ), it's fast enough on Linux to be smooth the first time you zoom out, but on windows, memory management isn't as good as on Linux so it's much slower. Maybe I could fix this by making cam height continuous ( setting a max delta between two frames ).

For planes, going up/down faster is easy to do, so will fix that quickly.

Activation/Deactivation of planes is still buggy for now, in fact I don't know how TA deal with that, will have a closer look to this.

playlist: just create a playlist.txt in the music dir, with all the files you want to be played, with a '*' when it has to be played when in battle mode. ie:
music/music1.mp3
music/music2.ogg
*music/battle1.ogg

path is relative to TA3D's dir.

game setup screen isn't definitive, I will recode it using the new functionalities from the GUI module ( AREA and WND objects so it can be skinnable ).
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Post by cghislai » Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:55 pm

My bad... totala1.hpi wasn't on the second one either... I just needed to install the game, the setup process generate it :D

so, feedback:
- The map chooser makes the game hangs when using totala{3,4}.hpi (already said)
- You can't undo construction order by constructing in the same place as the old one. Ordering construction a radar tower on the same square as one should undo the first one.
- Move orders for factory (kbot one here) seems to confuse the factory. It stops construction and the kbot explode while being built!
- kbot being build when the factory is closed(already said too).
- When multiple units are on screen and have events with a sound, each sound is played indepedently. Taking 5 units to move around can produce extremely loud sound! A limit should be used.
- Kbot movement (i only tested them) are strange. Too slow when maneovering, too accelerated when in a straight line.
- Giving 4 units the same destination point make them move around it for some non-negligable time before finding each a reasonable position.
- Doesn't a sound for impossible destination exist in original game( i'm not sure). In any case, one should be used.
- Allied untits shoot at each other if they are in "MIR line", without trying to move around.
- Segfault when exiting (?)

I stop my test here cause i gonna work. I will hardly find time this week-end but i gonna continue next week!
I know i gave you some really close-to-useless remarks, but i just tried to write all i noticed that were not what i was excepting.

The positive side: I can't miss the improvements since the last one i tested! You're doing a really great (& fast) job here, I wish i could join you in developpement!

Regards,

Charly


I post my box info here in case needed:
Linux mrBlue 2.6.18-suspend2 #1 PREEMPT Mon Nov 13 13:29:02 CET 2006 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux
AMD 2500+ 256mo RAM
gcc (GCC) 4.1.2 20061215 (prerelease)
GNU gdb 6.6
allegro 4.2.0
allegrogl 0.4.0
libfmodex.so.4.06.09
libz.so.1.2.3

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Post by zuzuf » Fri Feb 16, 2007 4:36 pm

thank you for reporting :D :D , with your report i will be able to fix more bugs!!. I already fixed some of those, but now I can see better what is doing my engine that it shouldn't do ( sometimes bugs are strange and derive from an unexpected behavior of some obscure code :lol: ).

the crash at exit was due to the threading model not being fully implemented, that's what I am working on ( I can now run TA3D with 2 threads that are parts of the engine, it's much faster on dual core, and the crash at exit is now fixed ).

Hum friendly fire is more realistic, isn't it, but I will make that an option since it's sometime disturbing.

I already added some restriction for sounds ( in fact more for units playing sounds than sounds themselves ) but I will also add some restriction there ( you think that it sometimes loud but you didn't hear the noise when building five units at a time in a factory before I add some restriction there :shock: ! ).

I am going to fix bugs now :D !

PS: the totala1.hpi file is in totala3.hpi or totala4.hpi, you can extract it without installing TA. Use the hpiview utility from TA3D: ./hpiview extract the\path\to\the\file\you\want\to\extract or ./hpiview show if you don't know what it contains ( it will look for HPI files in current directory and take data from what it finds ).
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Post by cghislai » Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:13 am

ok, im back from work and not yet tired, time to play ta3d!
Im keeping this thread to post feedback so we can keep the one started by Balthazar as a summary.

- Im playing map 'lava highground', i select color yellow, i try to order a metal extractor on the metal zone near commander and game crashes!
I tried to reproduce this bug in order to use gdb, but another one came: After loading all datas, console shows "Xlib: unexpected async reply (sequence 0x37b8)!" (the hex code vary) and game hangs :(. Ive only 256 mo of RAM, the game seems to use all of them (almost). here's the end of the slacktrace:

Code: Select all

Reading symbols from /usr/lib/allegro/4.2/alleg-jackdigi.so...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/allegro//4.2/alleg-jackdigi.so
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libjack.so.0...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libjack.so.0
Reading symbols from /lib/librt.so.1...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib/librt.so.1
Failed to read a valid object file image from memory.
Core was generated by `./ta3d'.
Program terminated with signal 6, Aborted.
#0  0xb7f5f410 in ?? ()
- Im trying with the default map. Same crash than the first one (when trying to build metal extractor). Same error in the slacktrace:

Code: Select all

Reading symbols from /lib/librt.so.1...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib/librt.so.1
Failed to read a valid object file image from memory.
Core was generated by `./ta3d'.
Program terminated with signal 11, Segmentation fault.
#0  0x080b3f52 in PLAYERS::show_resources (this=0x8580e00) at EngineClass.cpp:908
908		uszprintf(buf,100,"+%f",metal_t[_id]);	*(strstr(buf,".")+2)=0;		gfx->print(gfx->normal_font,65+(gfx->SCREEN_W_HALF-65),16.0f,0.0f,makeacol(0xD5,0xD5,0xD5,0xFF),buf);
These bugs occurs with the test version from the sourceforge page (0.3.1-TEST). Ill check CVS later since im now tired ang going to sleep... -.- zzZZ

EDIT: With CVS, same issues. It seems it is map-related since a metal one works. I'm ready to do all you want to fix this, cause I feel it's a somewhat big one and don't know the cause.
Note that the strange behaviour of kbot moving i mentioned earlier seems to be that they are moving like vehicules.

See you!

Charly

PS: about friendly fire: OK, unit firing on another one should make damage, but don't you try to move away from your allies to not fire on them?

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Post by Balthazar » Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:01 pm

Demand new test Release!

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Post by Balthazar » Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:12 am

Let`s test the new one!

And Zuzuf, there was one more bug in previous test release (2). Running under Windows - on some of PC`s after game starts there was all the map covered with for of war and commanders are set, but fog of war still around them and nothing happens. On some maps you can even select commander and chose commands under fog of war, but it don`t move and can`t build.

Sometime fog of war dissapears in the top left corner of the map, but it doesn`t change anything. Don`t know why can it be. All the difference in PC - videocards, and .NET framework versions.

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Post by zuzuf » Thu Mar 22, 2007 8:56 am

could you please tell me on which video cards this strange bug happens and if it still does with new test build ?
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Post by Balthazar » Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:46 am

Zuzuf, your new test build is fuc*king awesome!

No, now it runs much better. No such problem anymore. I haven`t time to test it really, but it runs nice. Except nex few things:

1. While loading, there are console sliding from above.
2. Some maps can`t load - error appears, I`ll tell which maps exactly later.
3. You should set the default timefactor to 2x, that makes unit movenet much more realistic and increase unit acceleration rate, so they gain full speed at least 2 times faster.
4. Can you zoom planes size when they are fly? I mean they should be smaller, than on the ground (or at least the same size). They are freaking huge, when flying :) And I suggest to make they fly a little lower - hard to select.
5. And the last thing I wanted to aks - since pathfinding script works better, you can modify the defence.c script, so each 5 mins AI units summoned on the map sides and attack player commander. You can force spawning of only ground units or ground+air, and they can be filtered my their cost to increase the strike force.

After that`s done we can release a full 0.3.1.version.

Added later:
6. Most of vechicles are exxxxtremely slow. They should move 10 times faster.
7. Ships are still trembling while building$
8. Ships can`t leave shipyard after building is complete (can`t even rotate).
9. Solar panels, radars and so on are build with "off" flag. Should be built with "on" flag.
10. It would be nice if building in build progress can be selected (just for TA similarity).
11. Shoot bug doesn`t appear anynore.

I`ll continue testing.
Last edited by Balthazar on Thu Mar 22, 2007 5:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Balthazar » Thu Mar 22, 2007 5:26 pm

I`ve update bugs/suggestions thread (but without my post above).

Also, there some kind of problems with sounds - mostly all units sounds are absent. Just several like fire and something else.

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Post by zuzuf » Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:22 pm

the sound bug is strange, sometimes I don't have unit's sounds, sometimes I have them... don't know why.

could you please answer my previous question?

do you still have stability issues ? On my computer TA3D isn't stable due to "particle engine code" - it's where it crashes, but it seems that there is a huge problem with the glDrawElements function responsible for drawing the particles since I tested a standard glBegin()...glEnd() code which is working very slowly but without crashing ( but it's too slow to be a solution ). If someone has an idea here that would be great. The particle engine must be able to run with more than 30000 particles at a time ( it's what I can get with 1000 vs 1000 units ).
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Post by Balthazar » Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:03 pm

hehe, since I need new RAW material for documentation stuff

Demand new test Release!

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Post by zuzuf » Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:03 pm

ok I am building one 8)
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Post by Balthazar » Fri Apr 06, 2007 7:14 am

New test release Test 4 is done. See the first message.

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Post by Balthazar » Thu Oct 18, 2007 6:08 pm

Removed from sticky because of old.

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