Hi Guys,
It's been a while since the last official update, and although the latest beta improves a few things, one or two issues crept in. We have decided to hire an ace programmer to fix twenty of your most annoying issues, a small present for 2012 and a thank you for your patience as we gave birth to baby AGK.
I invite you to list your top three DBP bugs in this thread (from U77 release candidate) and we can have a good chat about which ones should make it to the top twenty, and in which order. I will maintain the top twenty at the top of this thread and keep updating it until we're 85% in agreement about the list. I can then commission our highly prized super coder to tackle them for you.
He does require that you can provide a zip file with a running code example showing the issue clearly in as few lines of code as possible, and that the issues are confined to the commands, and not the compiler or IDE. Unless they are show stoppers, the compiler and IDE issues can be tackled in a future round of fixes.
I have recruited Green Gandalf to help me assemble the bugs reported, which takes us nicely to nearly 20 reproduced bugs. Before we commit to fixing them, please argue amongst yourself if there are bugs here you don't think are top 20, or if a bug is missing you feel should be included (given the scope of this update).
Your Bugs
---------
1. GAMEFX COMMANDS : U77 kills the Shadow/Color feature when Fog is applied [FIXED]
2. HTTP REQUEST DATA - reportedly works on "some" sites, but have not been able to get it to do so
on all the ones I've tried. Looks like it is using HTTPS protocol
Reported by mr_d
[No zip!!]
3. Music playing - seems pointless and doesn't let you know when the track is finished
Reported by Santman.
[No zip!!]
4. System dmem available() http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=177732&b=15
Reported by =Prof=
[Zip provided.]
Clear bug - DBPro crashes.
5. Duplicate label error not showing up and just running..... this creates some horrible errors
that you may be looking for answers else where untill you realize oops! you accidently have 2 labels
the same
Reported by SMD_3D Interactive.
[Zip provided by Green Gandalf.]
Comment by Green Gandalf: Clear bug.
6. Screen invalid bug
Reported by SMD_3D Interactive
[No zip!!]
(Might be the bug discussed here: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=185459&b=15)
7. Limb new origin problem When you create a 3D model, and move the limbs, and set the new limb
origins, when you load the models into DBPro the limb origins reset back to the centre.
Reported by Pincho Paxton.
[No zip!!]
8. Create light maps crashes DBP : http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=192240&b=1
Reported by TheComet.
[New zip provided by Green Gandalf.]
Comment: this is a clear bug introduced around U7.4/U7.5 and is probably the reason the Help file example
crashes.
9. Instanced objects animations stop updating if the original source object is off screen
Reported by Matty H.
[Zip provided.]
Comment by Green Gandalf: this bug (or feature
) is certainly unhelpful. Interestingly, I tried using
clone object instead - and as far as I can tell the source object keeps animating when off-screen because
it is always in step with the cloned copy (unless you've actively changed one of their frames) when it
returns. This makes the behaviour of instanced objects even odder.
10. Fix object pivot collision problem If you comment the line with the fix object pivot command
the collision box will be also rotated (same problem when you use set object collision to polygons) and
collision will work. If you uncomment the line with the fix object pivot the object will get rotated but
not the collision box.
Reported by 1beginner1.
[Zip file provided by Green Gandalf.]
11. Compiler slowdown
Reported by Santman.
[No zip!!]
12. Set alpha mapping on bug
Reported by Santman.
[No zip!!]
13. Turn camera angle problems
Reported by: Chris Tate.
[Zip provided by Green Gandalf using Chris Tate's code.]
14. Set shadow shading broken when shader flag used
Reported by Mistrel.
[Zip provided by Green Gandalf.]
Comment: the attached zip uses code originally posted by Spooky and used to work perfectly.
However, the shader option no longer works. It seems to be broken somewhere between U7.7 and U7.7RC7.
Mistrel may be referring to additional problems on this thread:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=187876&b=15
15. Deleting cloned objects bug
Reported by Mistrel.
[Zip added by Green Gandalf.]
Comment by Green Gandalf: the symptoms of this bug seem to have changed - see zip file.
16. Create memblock from image bug
Reported by Mage and SMD_3D Interactive.
[Zip provided.]
Comment: the zip file shows the problem plus a messy workaround from me. Surely the workaround
shouldn't be necessary?
17. Texture backdrop problem with fog
Reported by Kezzla.
[Zip provided.]
Comment: looks like a clear inconsistency with fog handling between texture backdrop and color backdrop.
18. AddPCKToEXE compiler problem
Reported by CumQuat, =Prof= and many others.
[Zip provided by Green Gandalf.]
Comment: not really within the present remit but is a VERY annoying/baffling issue for many users.
19. Cube map stages - DBPro behaves erratically or crashes when extra texture stages are used with the set cube mapping on command with shaders.
20. Get/save image bugs - DBPro handles image scaling inconsistently when get image/save image/sprite etc are used (may be more than one bug here). Symptoms seem to vary a bit on different OS - but inconsistencies have emerged in each case.
Reported by Green Gandalf.
[Zip provided by Green Gandalf.]
21. Limb texture problems - set object texture doesn't always affect all limbs
Reported by Green Gandalf.
[Zip provided by Green Gandalf.]
22. load image/image exist problem - DBPro doesn't correctly detect certain image file types when they don't exist.
Reported by Green Gandalf.
[Zip provided by Green Gandalf.]
23. rendercolortarget shader problems - when rendercolortarget is used DBPro doesn't correctly handle shaders which have multiple techniques with varying numbers of passes.
Reported by Green Gandalf.
[Zip provided by Green Gandalf.]
24. set object specular problem - doesn't work with directional lights.
Reported by Green Gandalf.
[Zip provided by Green Gandalf.]
25. sound volume problems - set sound volume behaves strangely on XP computers.
Reported by Green Gandalf.
[Zip provided by Green Gandalf.]
26. DDS file memblock bug - make memblock from image gives nonsense for compressed DDS files.
Reported by Green Gandalf.
[Zip provided by Green Gandalf.]
27. GameFX Help file example broken - the Help file code crashes when the media don't already exist (broken since U75, worked fine with U74).
Reported by Green Gandalf.
[Zip provided by Green Gandalf.]
Comment: this is probably caused by the create light maps bug mentioned above (see item 8).
28. Multiple camera bug - non-consecutive cameras need an additional (possibly unused) camera before they will work.
Reported by Green Gandalf.
[Zip provided by Green Gandalf.]
Of the 28 bugs, we only have zips that reproduce the bugs for 21, so we are only targeting those issues with zips so far. If you feel one of the bugs without a zip requires closer attention, please provide me with the correctly numbered ZIP file to lee@thegamecreators.com. If the issue does not have a zip when fixing begins, there is no guarantee it will be fixed.
I have gone through the thread so far and discounted IDE and Compiler reports as this will be for a future update. I have also discounted reports that are logic errors rather than actual bugs/crashes in the commands.
We do need those zip files demonstrating the bugs, I have marked the list above on those items that still need reproducible zips.
We're not looking for feature requests, we're after those broken cogs and loose wheels in the command set that are making your project limp along in first gear. Thanks for your feedback!
I drink tea, and in my spare time I write software.