Well, it won't.

Well, I tried to follow the tutorial, and it didn't work.
The Tutorial says:
"Now, select the "Launch" command under the "Project" menu or click on the big green arrow at the far right of the Coldstone toolbar. The Coldstone Game Editor will automatically compile your game since it can't find any."
So far so good, but when I try that, I receive an error message, saying:
"Execution failed. Event 'StartGame.cet' can't be found. This event is the first thing executed by your game and must either open a splash screen or start a new game right away with an engine call."
I thought maybe I did something wrong with the installation, on the other hand, the installation is done by dragging the Coldstone Folder from the CD to the Applications Folder, not much can be done wrong there.

I noticed that both games that come with the CD do not run anymore. They start up and present me with a white screen. After some time they are said to react no more.

I assume that the engine and games no longer work properly on Tiger. Now I wonder, I use version 1.0, available for download is 1.0.1. Is that working properly on Tiger, or is there a newer version available somewhere else that runs properly and compiles Tiger-compatible games?

The newest version of Coldstone to date is 1.0.1, that is correct. However even that still only runs in OS 9. So you must open coldstone in OS 9 for it to work. Also any of the games that were done with the old coldstone (Including those on your CD) will only work in OS 9 as well. So to get them to run in OS 9, click on the application, go to File: Get Info, and near the bottom will be a box that says "Open in the Classic Environment." Check this box. This will allow you to play the games, however it will not help with compiling. Chances are that you are missing the actual event.

Good Luck!

Uhm... that's not true, Coldstone and its games come as Classic and (X) version.
I used Coldstone before, but that was years ago with System 10.1.2, and it worked back then. Not on classic, mind you. Same for PoG, played it on the same comp with 10.1.2, and that worked, too.
Well, apparently it was never updated to run on systems above 10.1.x. Very sad, because it's a good program. And it's pretty much the only RPG game engine for Mac I know. There are plenty for Windows, but not for Mac.

Ok, I just tried to do it in Classic. The games work here, but when I try to follow the tutorial and select "Launch" right away, it returns the same error, "Event 'StartGame.cet' can't be found."

This post has been edited by Arion : 30 March 2006 - 03:51 PM

I'm sorry I wasn't clear. You were correct the first time. My mistake. They do not run in OS 10.3 and up. So if you have 10.3 or up, you must run in Classic. And as for the missing event problem, that is totally different.

I think we need a few more details. May I ask what tutorial you are using? Did you start your game from scratch or with the Medieval Preset? Because if you started from scratch that event would be missing. 'StartGame.cet' is an event in the game that the game runs to know what to do at the very beginning. It should teleport the user to the startup screen or right to the game. It could play a movie if you wanted. So check to see if you are missing that event from the window on the side.(attachment=1535:attachment)

I don't mean to embarrass you at all, but do you actually have the event named StartGame with the right engine call? It needs to be the exact same spelling with caps. If you do, may I have a picture of it? And perhaps all of your events listed in your event folder? Do you have an event titled main also?

Alright, I booted the comp with MacOS 9.
I used the tutorial that comes with the program.
It tells me to start a new project, select the tutorial preset, change the game's name in menu: Project-Game Options-Misc, and then select "Launch".
Allegedly I'm to see a black screen then. Instead comes the error message.
The tute continues to tell me how to inclide a title screen, then tells me to recompile and launch again.
Yes, the Event is not there. But the tutorial never mentions the creation of the StartGame.cet event, at least not before it tells me to launch.
I would create it, but I dunno how.

Coldstone comes with the medieval game. What I did was to copy begin new game with the Medieval game instead of from scratch. I suggest you do that, and then add in your events into the new event folder and replace all of the other folders. Either that or look at the Medieval game and copy any events over that you don't have. Then look at each event and if it's a teleport, change it to teleport correctly.

Basically, Coldstone and every other game begins:

- load in the game

- go to the startup screen (I believe you can do some preliminary Main Locations here, as Pixor wrote, even with movie. I don't do that, so I don't really know. Anyway, get to your startup screen.)

- choose either start a new game or load existing game from the startup screen which is a Main Location.

- go to the map (from here, you can do a preliminary set of maps before you get to the first map to play if the client chooses start a new game)

Each of these needs an event associated with it. This is so that the engine will know what to do when a client clicks on the game in the first place.

I can't get really specific until tomorrow. My computer at home with my game has been in repair since January. Nuts. I have Coldstone at work, but not my game. (I backed up my game, so that's not a worry.) Anyway, I can't look at Coldstone at home. I'm assuming you've printed out not only the tutorial, but the manual.

Problems like this are, of course, no reflection on you. I find it isn't Coldstone so much but the learning curve that's challenging.

Great, now I'm totally confuzzled...
Why can't they write a working tutorial then? That is... I remember I did it a few years before, and it worked back then... strange.

Besides, I didn't print out anything. Manuals never help me, that's too much info to process and remember. That's why I prefer step-by-step tutorials.

Okay. I wish you the best.

I may be not understanding correctly. Which tutorial is it? My Coldstone only came with the Manual.

And as for your previous question. The simplest way to solve your error would be to add in the event. (although had you been using the Medieval preset when you started it would be there.)

So. First you have to create the event. To do that first click the Exclamation Point button on the top toolbar. (3rd button from the left.) Then a new event will appear (Untitled Event). You said that your tutorial showed you how to create a title screen. So in this new event that opened up, you must link it to that page.

Next to your new event that opened will be a toolbar titled 'action lib'. Scroll down until you find the Teleport action which is 3rd from the bottom. Click and drag the Teleport action to the square on your event that says 'Main Sequence Actions'. Then click OK and when the next menu pops up select the startup screen location you created. Hit File->Save and name it exactly: 'StartGame' (the extension is added automatically.)

Now you have created a working StartGame.cet event. If you want, you can also add other actions to this event such as SetMusicVolume, which is self explanatory, or User Control, which determines if the player moves with the keyboard or mouse. But make sure that the Teleport action is last. An explanation of all of the event actions and what they do is in the manual. (Page 38-46).

I hope this helps clear things up a little. Good luck. (Coldstone is REALLY great once you get past the learning curve!)

My Coldstone came with the Manual, the Tutorial and a Plugin Tutorial - I got the CD.
Sighs
So how do I link it to the page - what page, btw?

Coldstone may be good, and on some webpages it is still said to be the best and most complete RPG engine for Mac.
Disappointing, considering that none of the games it creates work on current OS, and especially disappointing if someone tries to find an equally good engine that does.

The page was the Title Screen you said that the tutorial helped you create. Did it?

Okay, there are a couple of different issues here.

1.) The Tutorial. This was never very good. My brain is searching into ancient history, but I seem to remember that the tutorial would have you try to build the game too early. Not all the required elements are in the game yet. Do a search into early posts using the word "tutorial" and I think you'll find the answers you need.

2.) The OS. Much has been said about this. The latest official word any of us have is that Coldstone is, indeed, being worked on for an update long overdue. We just have to sit on our thumbs on this one until something happens. When it does, the joyful shouting will be loud and long I'm sure.

In the meantime, the best approach is, as Debra said, start with the medieval game as a template and make changes to suit your needs.

Alright, thank you. I'll just try to figure out using the manual and maybe what I can extract from the tute.

Gah! This is the THIRD website I'm a member off that has been hacked within one month!

Not so much hacked, Arion. More to do with the date. ^_^

-Andiyar

And here's a link you should find helpful concerning the tutorial:

http://coldroom.150m...f/CGE_Tips.html

Ah, so the tutorial made me fire up the game prematurely. If everything else works, I'll give it another go tomorrow, when I get the time.
Thanks for your help, everyone.

Ah, it works now. Still have to fight a number of glitches, like Coldstone X crashing on every ocassion (especially when I try to compile) or the Classic version not noticing that it is actually registered when it runs under OSX (comp doesn't boot under 9, it's too new) but it works.

yeah i had that problem, i don't remember how I fixed it... I think I uninstalled and reinstalled and this time registered the OS 9 version instead.... :huh:

Well, I think the problem is that both, the Classic and the OSX version use the same registration app, which is a carbon app. I see that when I click Register in the Classic version, it opens the registration app under OSX. The reg app says it has been registered, but the Classic version doesn't realize.
Sadly this computer is unable to boot under MacOS 9, because the registration would work properly then.