Will this new engine use a format other than .snd for the sound effects? That would make things a lot easier.
BTW, I'd be glad to make sound effects for it... PM me with ideas. 
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The new engine can process any sound file your graphics card can handle. snd resources are still supported, but the new method involves a folder called EV4 Sounds. There can be a lot of sounds in a scenario though, which is why subfolders are supported. The new Sound Alias resource type sndä takes the partial-path to a sound file in the Sounds folder. You then link to the sndä from wherever it's needed. It's really designed so you can have an ëvnt call a pärs call the situationally appropriate sndä (plus any other actions the pärs may do, which is pretty much anything.)
In fact, at the risk of perhaps giving away too much about the inner workings for this stage of the project, a wëap now works by adding an ëvnt to a shďp, and when triggered it calls a pärs which creates a new flöb (flight object) corresponding to the weapon. Technically the ëvnt is added to the flöb of the shďp, and as such can be added to any flöb including planets, asteroids, debris, weapons, explosions, smoke trails, and stars. Weapons with weapons are now possible, and explosions that fire weapons are the equivalent of submunitions. Furthermore, it doesn't have to be a weapon that's created. The pärs can call any flöb constructor, so you can have triggered events that create planets on the fly (the resources obviously have to exist already, but you can "plop" them into existence Magrathea-style) or it can call any other anything. There's really no limit within the confines of resource types. You can make an event that just plays a sound.
Ooh! Any chance we can add a random-number generator, so I can play random sounds? This'll be useful...um...somewhere, I swear!
Oh, and for the curious, can someone who understands better than I do explain exactly how "resources" are implemented? I know just enough to know they aren't System 7 resources, and I think I heard someone say the data is platform-independent, but what are the details? I'm pretty sure the four-character type names with one umlaut is just for nostalgia, and I think it's possible to design new types of resources using extensible engine module files written in a compiled language, but I didn't catch how.
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@geek, on May 26 2008, 01:48 PM, said in New EV Override port:
BTW, I'd be glad to make sound effects for it... PM me with ideas.
Erm, for what exactly? The sounds for the EVO port obviously already exist and there has been no mention here of any other scenario, nor will there be (the term EV4 refers only to the engine). EV4 isn't some sort of community project where anyone can jump on board. There are professional developers behind this, so thanks but they don't need help. I should note the people who have been posting here (myself included) aren't directly involved with the development of EV4, though some of us do have (or had) access to the source code.
@qaanol, on May 26 2008, 06:55 PM, said in New EV Override port:
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Whoa, whoa, you better edit that out before Pace or someone sees it. I mean I'm sure people will be thoroughly confused more than anything else (especially the bit about the graphics card - where did that come from :huh:) but we're still not supposed to let details like that out (not in this topic, anyway). Plus the bit about the resources having to exist isn't quite true
(it involves some pretty advanced stuff though - not for the faint of heart). For anyone who did read it though, it may sound complicated but the average developer doesn't need to understand it all. Creating a simple weapon is still just as easy (if not easier, thanks to the capabilities of the editor) as it is in Nova.@qaanol, on May 26 2008, 06:55 PM, said in New EV Override port:
Oh, and for the curious, can someone who understands better than I do explain exactly how "resources" are implemented? I know just enough to know they aren't System 7 resources, and I think I heard someone say the data is platform-independent, but what are the details? I'm pretty sure the four-character type names with one umlaut is just for nostalgia, and I think it's possible to design new types of resources using extensible engine module files written in a compiled language, but I didn't catch how.
Yeah, I meant to mention earlier that the resource types are just for nostalgia. A data file is basically just a type of archive - I think it's based on 7z but don't quote me on that (I should try extracting one with a third-party program sometime). I won't go into details about the format of files in the archive though. Oh, and System 7 sounds (' snd' resources) actually aren't supported, even on OS X, though it is trivial to convert them to AIFF.
(edit) Please remember this topic is about the EVO port
This post has been edited by Guy : 26 May 2008 - 03:14 AM
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Oops, yeah, I meant "sound card". And are you saying resources can be "scripted into existence" from scratch? Dynamic content is a little beyond the scope of EV:O though...
Did you ever fix the Disco Bison speed bug? That thing was a bit crazy. I did manage to beat it once, but not by outrunning. I had to let my escorts play meat-shield.
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Since it seems I've been locked out of the private forum, I guess I may as well announce this here: I just signed for a registered letter from an Atlanta law firm. It's sitting here in front of me, unopened.
I think we all know what this means.
Since I expect I will no longer be able to post anything substantive in this thread after opening this envelope, I just want to say what an honor it has been to work with all of the testers and scenario developer/porters on this project. Be cautious, though, guys: for XxXxx, this is business. None of you seem to have crossed the invisible line yet (as far as I know -- heck, several other letters could already be in the mail), but what I posted on the 20th was up for less than two minutes before I edited it out, and now I'm gone.
Hopefully I'll still be able to continue to participate in my hobby projects and post on unrelated topics. We'll see.
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Wow. What Qaanol (perhaps naďvely) described sounds like a plug-in developer's hypothetical wet dream. :laugh:
Out of curiousity, would it be possible for such objects to have mulitple natures (i.e. a weapon being both a Missile and a Decoy Flare)? Given the amount of quasi-secrecy you guys are enforcing, I don't exactly expect an answer, but I thought that I'd ask anyway.
Dr.Trowel's apparent leaving is a bit of a downer, but real life is more important in the grander scheme of things (regrettably).
Oh, and, for the record: I'm not an idiot. I think I've put together enough pieces of the puzzle to figure out what exactly you lot are up to. But not to worry; being that clever comes with the knowledge that its best to keep my trap shut.
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@qaanol, on May 27 2008, 05:46 AM, said in New EV Override port:
And are you saying resources can be "scripted into existence" from scratch? Dynamic content is a little beyond the scope of EV:O though...
Actually, I haven't learned how to do it yet but yes I do know it's possible.
@qaanol, on May 27 2008, 05:46 AM, said in New EV Override port:
Did you ever fix the Disco Bison speed bug? That thing was a bit crazy. I did manage to beat it once, but not by outrunning. I had to let my escorts play meat-shield.
You beat it?? As in disabled/killed it? Flip, how long did it take? I bow down to you in honour :). But yes, it is fixed. Just a silly data error.
@dr--trowel, on May 27 2008, 06:07 AM, said in New EV Override port:
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Wow, I'm sorry to hear that, Dr. Trowel. I'm also scared. I was hoping to regain access to the source code sometime but now I doubt that'll ever happen.
@-visitor-, on May 27 2008, 07:26 AM, said in New EV Override port:
Given the amount of quasi-secrecy you guys are enforcing, I don't exactly expect an answer, but I thought that I'd ask anyway.
Correct
(edit) I guess that was pretty pointless. If you didn't see, never mind.
This post has been edited by Guy : 27 May 2008 - 02:35 AM
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It was with my normal post-string setup of an Enhanced Arada with 6 Dreadnought escorts. My escorts couldn't hit the Disco Bison since it was so fast, so I had them hold position. I sat on top of one of them so it would protect me from fire, and I used Miranu Defense Pods to hit the Disco Bison on its fly-by. It took a while, and I lost 4 escorts in the process, but I disabled it so guess what I'm flying now? (Thank you, escort-crew-bonus-to-capture-odds!)
Speaking of which, you might want to write a script that removes përs shield modifiers after capture. I'm just saying is all.
By the way you did a great job of scripting the fly-by AI to emulate EVO!
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Regarding the EVO port... under the new engine several of the goods on Earth have an insane price - something on the order of 99,999 credits apiece. This, of course, has allowed me to make a killing by buying goods from other systems, but unless Earth is under an occupation that EVO isn't telling me about (unlikely) it has to be a bug. Just letting you know, Guy, even though I do like making a killing.
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@qaanol, on May 27 2008, 09:36 AM, said in New EV Override port:
Speaking of which, you might want to write a script that removes përs shield modifiers after capture. I'm just saying is all.
By the way you did a great job of scripting the fly-by AI to emulate EVO!
Hm, you sure you wouldn't rather the shield modifiers be kept? Well anyway, there may another way of doing it without using scripts. I'll get back to you on that.
And thanks, I was quite pleased with those scripts myself@Mack, that's weird :huh:. I can see that myself too but can't see what would be causing it.
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I can assure you, this isn't some rehash of the existing engine with a few extra features (like Nova was). All those things are taken for granted with a new game built from scratch
(edit) Oh I see, I never answered your question earlier. I was running Nova at the same time (doing some comparisons) which of course meant the whole screen was 16-bit.@GodzFire, have you actually read the topic? This has nothing to do with EV Override for Nova, if that's what you're thinking of.
This post has been edited by Guy : 02 June 2008 - 03:06 AM