T2D updates coming soon

#81 More fixes is goooood :)

#82

while (1)
{
  ForumThread* thread = GG::Forums::getForumByName("General Discussion")->getThreadByName("T2D updates coming soon");
  thread->check();
  deepBreaths(3);
  if (thread->indicatesNewRelease())
  {
  	celebrate();
  	break;
  }
}

#83 When I first read that, I thought "break" was "break()", and that you had a breakdancing function scripted. But you've disappointed me.

#84

Quote:
When I first read that, I thought "break" was "break()", and that you had a breakdancing function scripted. But you've disappointed me.

That feature is on my TODO list. It will probably make it into the next update, which should arrive close to a week from now. ;)

#85 @Melv or Josh: Hi!:) I've been so busily occupied with other important things over the past two weeks
that I've only had a real chance at getting back to T2D stuff the day before(hence my lack of participation in the forums!:( Really glad to be back!:)).

For the upcoming update, can we expect to see some improvements performance-wise with all those bug-fixes Melv made recently( I'm still using that 750 MHz Pentium 3, and the latest demos and show-offs perform rather sluggishly)? Otherwise, at this stage in EA, what minimal sorts of hardware upgrading should I expect to make in order to see some noticable improvements? T2D is about the best there is, especially visually/graphically, so I'd like to stick with this for a more professional touch than Sprite Candy(for Blitz3D) can currently provide. As of now, Sprite Candy and Blitz3D 2D games and demos run noticeably smoother and faster(with far more animated content) on my computer than T2D does and the file sizes are considerably smaller. However, T2D provides a mechanism for more accurate physics and better graphics quality. Maybe I'm asking for too much, but it'd be great if I could eventually have the best of both worlds with regards to T2D by this fall if possible!:)

Although the final release date is as yet undertermined, could you kindly give me a general idea as to when I/we can expect to see the final so I can make a better a more informed decision before commiting myself to any commercial projects this coming September?

Thank you guys, your're the best!:)

Gabor

#86 @Robert: Yeah, I'm using Opengl on an eVGA Geforce4 MX 4000 GPU. I've updated my drivers just last week and I'm still getting poor results. My brother has a laptop containing a Celeron "D", 1.2 GHz chip, 248 MB of RAM and integrated Intel Graphics version 2. All T2D demos and show-offs perform sluggishly and intermittently on there as well (using Opengl. DirectX is even worse on both computers).

Ii could be just me, but by sluggish I mean 30-60 fps and a very noticeable distortion and delay in animated objects. On my machine, I'm witnessing
sprite tearing/distortion consistently and constantly(not so much on the laptop) and hesitant sprite movement again in consistently short intervals.
This hardly, if ever, happens when running the Blitz3D/Srite Candy Demos containing sustantially more active content. Perhaps a newer release of T2D will address this problem in the not too distant future-keeping my fingers crossed!:)

#87 *poke poke*

Sry, just curious about any new estimates :P

#88 ARGH! I saw this thread hit top again, and I was thinking "Official announcement?!" I always get tricked with that :(. Maybe eventually, my skin will thicken, and I'll be able to see this thread hit the top without bubbling over with excitement.

#89 Rofl... David... same exact thing here

#90 Yeah, same here!:) btw, anybody have an idea when Josh will be back?:)

#91 Not sure... though the longer he gets the better, he deserves the break, lol and I'm sure he will need it when he gets back to us, lol we're like rabid dogs... in a good way... sorta kinda :)

#92 Completely agree, Josh needs the reprieve from all that friendly fire, lol :)

#93 Haha, "friendly fire"... Why am I imaging and Americas Army game with a teammate accidentally throwing a nade at a teammate named "Josh"... lol I used to play that game way too much

#94 Hello, I got back from vacation yesterday. Playing catch up now, and will package up the 1.01 (actually might call it 1.02 now) this week. I hope tomorrow, but doing the packaging for all the platforms always takes more time than you expect.

Gabor, for the sprite-tearing... that's not a T2D issue... you just need to turn on vsync. All games suffer from this, if you don't have vsync on, you get tearing when your monitor refreshes per-frame. As for the general performance... do you have problems with the fish demo? And the original space shooter demo had some silly mistakes by Melv and I that hurt performance, the new version (1.0.1) which I just uploaded last week has fixes for these, so it should do a lot better now.

#95 Welcome back!

#96 @Josh: Welcome back Josh and sorry to have to confront you with these performance issues again and so soon!:) You were right afterall; as a matter of fact, after turning on Vsync and changing my performance settings to the highest levels possible,presto, the shooter demo runs very nearly perfectly and smoothly(hesitation is very minimal and much less noticable), and the tearing has stopped 100%, make that 200% lol, in D3D and 16 bit color mode!:) All the demos, including the Fish demo, David Freeman's CloudBurst, all the show-offs now play extremely well with no distortions and for the most part, no or very little animated sprite hesitations(can be expected on weak little outdated computers like mine anyway!:) The issue has been solved and that without any additional fixes to the demos themselves!:) And it proves that T2D EA applications can indeed run very well on obsolete hardware!:) Fascinating to say the least!:) Imagine what the complete release will be like on these machines!:)

This just goes to show how much I really know about computers and high performance gaming-shame on me!:) Also goes to show how little I know about game programming in general(probably already noticable as I have no demos or show-offs to display yet lol) .

@Melv: Everything's working nearly perfectly now, absolutely no complaints anymore whatsoever about performance-wow, and so sorry for the gross lack of common sense and sound judgement on my part; will think, think, think first before making any such rash statements (if ever) again, especially not before exhausting all possible work-arounds and solutions! Wow, this technology is just simply amazing; no question about it, it definitely leaves all other competitors in the dust!:)

Also glad to know that the update is well on its way, but don't burn yourself out getting things packaged up Josh; we have a very patient, mature and completely understanding community ready and willing to back you up all the way as far as T2D is concerned !:)

@Robert: Sorry for the mis-info on performance ratings, we can now say with complete confidence that T2D more than fits the bill, it is the best and only 2D all multi-platform, multi-hardware solution available to us! Let's take full advantage of the plethora of goodies it has now and in the near future to offer us!:) My love affair with Blitz2D(3D) as of now and forever is completely and utterly over-and that without any tears! lol:)

Great stuff and keep up the good work Melv and Josh!:) And to all other skeptics out there -it's proven- T2D is indeed the best around!:)

Cheers!:)

Gabor

#97 Robert : I don't usually comment on your posts, but you're going overboard. You should know better than to say stuff like shoot first, ask questions later...
You're not endearing yourself to the community with that kind of attitude, and don't think for an instant that people not taking you to task every time means it goes unnoticed.
Now, you're inciting people to do stuff like your EULA thread ?

Can you think before posting ?
Can you do research on your own before asking questions ?
Do you realize the most experienced members of this community are starting to avoid the boards like the plague because of the kind of attitude you're exhibiting (you're not the only one, don't worry ;))
'Nuff said.
Sheesh.

#98 Hey guys the worst is behind us now - let's agree to cooperate and make these forums the best there are-afterall its T2D we're dealing with and not some second rate 2D engine out there!:)

#99 @Nicolas

Quote:Can you think before posting ?

No offence bro, but maybe you should take your own advice. A little harsh and uncalled for. As Gabor said

Quote:Hey guys the worst is behind us now - let's agree to cooperate and make these forums the best there are-afterall its T2D we're dealing with and not some second rate 2D engine out there!:)

@Josh
Looking forward to the next released and improvements. This is an amazing engine.

#100

Quote:And the original space shooter demo had some silly mistakes by Melv and I that hurt performance, the new version (1.0.1) which I just uploaded last week has fixes for these, so it should do a lot better now.

This may not be the thread to do it, but could you please go over what these mistakes were that so significantly impacted performance?

Quote:Now, you're inciting people to do stuff like your EULA thread ?

Inciting people? What, he's asking people to rise up against Melv and overthrow T2D? ;)

One of the most important purposes of this discussion forum is to let the developers know what T2D needs, what in T2D is non-functional (re: bugs), and what in T2D is inadquately functional. If something isn't performing as you think it should be (performance problems, missing features, etc), it is far better to say something than to just assume that the developers are aware of the problem. Having been in software development for quite some time, I know that it's better to file a bug and take the chance that the person already knows about it and has a fix scheduled than to say nothing and take the chance of releasing the product with that bug still there.