12-12-04
Ok, I know it's been a while since I've updated this. I really just
lost track of time. Been busy at work, and been busy working on this
Strat Wars update. Specifically this reworking of the collision system.
Over the past ten days or so I've rewritten it three times. But I've
finally gotten the new system working, it's done as in "there's
still a lot of optimizations that I could do but I am so sick of this
system that I don't want to touch it again for a little while"...
that kind of done. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good improvement.
In my tests, the new system if faster in almost all circumstances, an
many by 3-4 times, and because the cpu usage of the new system grows
at a much smaller rate then the old system, for the largest objects
I've tested the new way gains by more then 8 times. So it's good...
but it could be better. But I probably wont be further optimizing the
collision detection system until I add a convex hull layer to it. That
is not likely to happen for this update. But progress is being made.
Next up I think I'll do something purely graphical, just as change of
pace from all this performance critical spatial code. But I've got to
say this part that's been done was the biggest single risk of the changes
I plan, and the one that was the most experimental. So having completed
that is a major step forward. Well ok I've got one more thing to do
but it's not fully collision detection work. I've got to back apply
some of the improvements I made to the first collision sub-system I
changed (nearest point) but that shouldn't take long.
In other news I'm a bit of a Battlestar Galactica fan. Granted I'm
not as
big a fan as some people, but I have an appreciation of it. In fact
I like a LOT of science fiction, and I've never seen a problem with
that. Why some people feel that if you like Star Wars it means you can't
like Star Trek has always baffled me. I find that the Sci-fi I like
all have very different strengths and weaknesses, and so don't really
come in conflict (Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon
5, Dr Who, Blakes 7, Farscape, Stargate... to name a few). Now lately
I've been watching the new Battlestar Galactica series.... and no I
do NOT mean that "Battlestar Galactica 1980" atrocity! Frankly
I avoided it for a while because I have a problem with remakes that
show disdain for the thing they are remaking. While the original WAS
deeply flawed, it was not without merits. But that being said the new
one has a lot to like. It also has some deep flaws, but still it shares
a number of aspects with things like Babylon 5. It has a societal realism
that is fairly compelling. You can believe that this is a real army,
but also that there are real people who do real other things (a real
problem with Star Trek where you rarely got the idea that there was
much point in doing anything that wasn't associated with Starfleet).
I do wish they hadn't thrown the baby out with the bath water on the
new series is all. Making the Cylons humanoid... and even built by humans
removes the whole xenophobia angle... plus the Cylons always had the
potential to feel like the Borg in that they are an unsympathetic uncaring
force that will just keep coming for you, grinding you down. And I feel
a lot of that is gone. And aside from some non-optimal resource allocation
of making the Cyclon Raiders into droid fighters, I have to say I hate
the new 'realistic' way the Vipers fight. And here's another place where
it feels like the creators have disdain for what they are making. It
is sci-fi, the Viper is a very cool sci-fi fighter plane... and yes
I said plane. Long, thin and arrow shaped it looks like it should move
as a jet does. It's shape is all wrong for the 'realistic' movements
of end over end flips firing back along your path, vertical or lateral
acceleration... if you wanted to depict fighters moving like that then
make them look like they are designed to move that way. Make them pods
with a fairly symmetric arrangement of weapons and thrusters to allow
for 6 degree of freedom movements. X-Wings fight like spitfires, Vipers
fight like spitfires. A conceit of space combat in sci-fi is that we
are actually watching the equivalent of WW2 fighters. And it may seem
odd, but if you are going to violate that conceit then you really need
to violate it all the way. If you are going to make your space fighters
have 6 degrees of freedom because in real outer space you can go in
any direction and don't need to be aerodynamic, then don't depict arrow
shaped planes with wings and all the engines in the back. It just feels
like they threw in realistic flight models to look more sophisticated
then 'regular' sci-fi, it just feels to me that the creators have disdain
for 'ordinary' sci-fi. Now I'm not against dramatic innovation, I don't
feel that things always have to be done how they've always been done.
Basically I feel that if you have a point make it, but if your point
is that you are going to make REAL science fiction because you have
contempt for how everyone else does science fiction... then you really
need to start asking yourself is it really science fiction you're trying
to make? That being said the new Battlestar Galactica is actually worth
watching... it's just not really Battlestar Galactica.
-SDZ
28-11-04
Well it's been awhile, but I've been hard at work. I don't want to
ruin any of the surprise but there is one aspect of the upcoming update
that I want to talk about. If you remember (or if you really can't remember
you can just scroll down) a while back I was talking about some concepts
that became clear to me about search spaces. I used these ideas to dramatically
speed up calculating lighting normals in the Ship Editor from the previous
level of "Crappy" to the new improved standing of "normal".
This was a major win and it got me thinking. The meat of the insight,
if I can call it that, was that for an aggregate search key the dimensionality
of the search space had to be proportional to the sub elements of the
key aggregate. What this means is for a key aggregate with three elements,
you need a three dimensional space. So an example of a three element
aggregate value would, in this context, be a point in space (x,y,z coordinates).
Now the three dimensional form of a binary tree is, as it turns out
an "Octree".
And octrees are great things, that I already made heavy use of in the
collision detection system. Where this all gets interesting is that
the collision detection system is currently the bottleneck for computational
performance of the screensaver (there's another bottleneck in the rendering
system but thats another story). So I got to wondering if this new approach
could yield the same sort of magic for collision detection that it did
for lighting normal computation. Well to make a long and tedious story
slightly less long while retaining all the tedium, I just finished implementing
this approach for the simplest of the collision detection routines and
the results were impressive. The new system requires only 4% of the
time of the older one, to do the same task. So now that the idea has
been validated, I need to try and implement it on the really complicated
method... that's going to take some time, but I really think it's going
to be worth it.
Now on an unrelated note, I've said some harsh things about Enterprise
in my time. And all of them completely deserved (I mean evil alien Nazis?
come on!) But I have to admit, this season has really impressed me so
far. I legitimately enjoyed the whole three episode augment story, and
the current Vulcan story arc is not only quite compelling, but finally
offers some reason for why the previous seasons depictions of Vulcans
have been so different from what we've seen from the rest of Trek. I've
actually found myself eagerly looking forward to watching Enterprise.
Don't get me wrong the show still has some issues, but at least now
it consistently is starting to feel like Star Trek.
Oh also some great new updates on the ship/scenario front from some
of you out there, so I'm going to add a links section to the goodies
page since I just can't seem to update my own files...<sigh>
-SDZ
16-11-04
So what is with the rock? I'm not saying you should avoid renting The
Scorpion King...though that *IS* sound advice. No, I'm talking about
rock6.shp, thanks to Zoatebix for pointing out to me that Windows users
are having trouble loading any scenario that includes rock6.shp. Now
I've got some ideas about that, but I've not finished investigating
it... also I'm still a little confused why it would affect Windows and
not Mac since they use the same code to load and initialize the files.
Oh well. In other news I wanted to announce that I've started work on
the next full update to the screensaver. I'm calling it v0.7.1 for now
until I figure out how much stuff I'll actually be able to cram into
it... As to the timeline for completing this, well you see first we
need to take into account a number of factors and then carefully examine
the questions and seek an answer that answers our questions in a fair
and fiscally sound fashion. What? that in no way answers the question?
uh huh neat...
Finally I'd just like to say something about the
Episode ||| trailer. As has been discussed, there have been some
issues, and disappointments surrounding the Star Wars prequels. I'm
sure this all comes as a shock to you, and it may also come as a shock
to you that I'm quite a fan of Star Wars. Now try and contain your shock
, and hear me out. As much as I love Star Wars, I do still have to admit
to some levels of frustration with elements of the prequels so far,
though I haven't thought they were as bad as some people did. But here's
the thing. I don't care. They could digitally replace EVERY character
with Hayden
Christensen, they could shovel up 2 and a half hours of 7 instances
of Hayden
talking about midichloreans with Wookies... while playing fizzbin
with JarJar.... and I'll still go see it... a couple of times. I'll
still wait in line on opening day, I'll still buy the DVD. Call me an
addict. Now I welcome discussion on the subject. I enjoy a spirited
discussion, and look forward to hearing your opinions... but the thing
is, they don't actually matter to me. That is NOTHING you can say will
convince me that I don't enjoy sitting down and seeing STAR WARS in
big yellow letters on a movie screen, regardless of what follows. And
if you don't enjoy that, then I suppose there is NOTHING I can say that
would change your mind. You know, once you eliminate the possibility
of ever making any sort of impact on the beliefs of others, then the
act of conversation becomes significantly freer and less stressful.
Oh and check out StumbleUpon...
it's kindof cool.
-SDZ
07-11-04
Well as I said on Friday, I had intended to add a few more features
to beta12 of the Ship Editor. But as it turns out I didn't. You see
I came down with something. Specifically on Saturday I came down with
Homeworld2. I just loved the first Homeworld, and this one is proving
to be every bit as obssesable as the first. The downside of all this
is that while in the past 2 days, while I *have* obliterated 13 missions
worth of my enemies, I have *not* written a single line of code. Oh
well, here's the beta12 from Friday. It's exactly the same as beta11
except MUCH faster with the saving. Now to sleep... and to try not to
dream of Ion Frigates.
-SDZ
ALSO 05-11-04
So You guys so want Beta12 of the Ship Editor. You see I was standing
out in the cold in the parkinglot out front of work.... you know waiting
for a ride. And I got to thinking about the nature of search spaces,
topological search/sort structures an the like, when it occurred to
me (and I'm not saying this is some kind of major revelation, just that
it ... well struck me) that the ordinary binary search tree is nothing
more then a one dimensional special case of a multidimensional aggregate
key search structure where each dimension corresponds to an element
of your aggregate key. Ok I'm tired now so I'm not really saying this
clearly... also I haven't bothered to look up what the proper nomenclature
to describe this is so I'm just describing it as it occurs to me. Anyway
the upshot of all of this is that I implemented this while watching
TV tonight and now the lighting computations are DRAMATICALLY faster.
How much faster you ask? Well one model I have (that reads as having
around 200k vertices) that used to take over 2 hours to calculate the
lighting for, now takes around 5 seconds.
Now to dial back a bit I realize I didn't actually say much about beta
11 this morning. For those of you building ships you want this. If for
no other reason then the new lighting code. To take advantage of this
new code all you need to do is load a ship and then save it again. And
it can be a dramatic improvement. You can see this improvement if you
apply it to the Colonial Viper, the Tie Invader, and the tie fighters
LukeBlueFive
has been showing around. One thing to note about the lighting calculations
, on some models (about half of the ones I've tried) the lighting normals
need to be reversed (select reverse lighting normals from the misc tab
and then save the model). An easy way to tell if the normals need to
be reversed is to select the "show lighting normals" option
from under the Advanced menu (you'll have to have already saved the
ship with beta11). The normals should stick out of the model like a
pin cushion, if they stick inside the model, then they need to be reversed.
Having your nomrals reversed can have the effect of making your sunlit
side shaded and the shadowed side of your ship sunlit.
Anyway I very much recommend all ship builders out there grab beta11
and I'll put up beta 12 tomorrow or sunday (there's one or two more
things Id like to try and squeeze in). But now time to try and squeeze
in some sleep.
-SDZ
05-11-04
Quick note. New Ship Editor, much better, go get. Leter post more, Stop talk like Tarzan!
-SDZ
28-10-04
I would just like to take this opportunity to wish a very happy birthday
to myself. Yes that's right today is my birthday. Naturally all offices
are closed and no work can be done on the National Day of Strati, those
of you of the Greek persuasion may know that I'm only half kidding here.
But I have big plans to get a lot of code written tomorrow and there
should be another Ship Editor update soon... and then some real fun
stuff could start happening... but more on that later.
-SDZ
24-10-04
Well alright then. There's a new update to the Ship Editor so anyone
out there who... you know... edits ships might ...you know want to get
this... it's rapidly approaching "almost usable" status...
see I could have had a career in marketing! Gah! what a swamp of code
that Ship Editor is. I'm honestly not sure if it would be easier to
fix/port, or just throw away and do a clean rewrite. Problem is both
options sound like a lot of work, and like a lot of programmers I have
a real allergy to work.... <sigh> > I think I'm getting a rash...
-SDZ
20-10-04
Well crud. Ok seems the unbearably complicated and fussy download and
install process for the Scenario Editor is giving some of you some issues.
The issue being it doesn't seem to work. hmmnn The entire reason for
all of my ill fated attempts at installers here is the JOGL libraries,
which allow Java to use OpenGL. These are also the things that seem
to keep breaking the installers. So heres a test. This
is the JOGL home page. What I want is a show of hands who thinks
this is reasonable for you all to go and install for yourselves. Cause
just the executable of the Scenario Editor is all ready to go for all
OSes and even has a nifty icon. I could have that as a installer free
download up any time... in
fact here it is... ok this version doesn't have the icon.
-SDZ
19-10-04
Ok, some of you were having problems with the initial Scenario Editor...
not to mention those of you not Using Macs were totally left out. Fear
not! Using the magic of Java and Web Start here's a newer build of the
Scenario Editor that has the added benefit of also running on Windows
and Linux. You'll uh... need to save target to disk, probably, cause
the host thats serving my page doesn't recognize the jnlp extension...
Oh and make sure that the file extension is .jnlp (cause some browsers
rename jnlp files to .xml or .html for some reason) Sorry I'll try and
make this more straightforward in the future, sorry. More work later...
now play games, later sleep...
-SDZ
11-10-04
Yes indeed there is now a working copy of the Scenario Editor for you
to go play with. And yes, currently it is only available for Mac, but
before you start accusing me of playing favorites platform wise, the
more observant among you may notice that it's been written in Java.
this means that the Windows version is also done, it's more just an
issue of convenient packaging... which I've been to busy watching Red
vs Blue to get to. What's Red
vs Blue you ask? What? you don't KNOW?!! oh hang your head in shame...
no more shame... ok too much. Red vs Blue is a very funny comedy series
in 5 minute episodes, and made entirely with the game Halo. Yes, this
weekend, when not stuffing my face with turkey or writing Java code,
I've been watching various pieces of machinima.
There's a lot out there and some of it is pretty good. Oh, and if anyone
out there would like to be a file mirror that'd be awesome...
-SDZ
08-10-04
Well maybe I was a bit hasty with that Friday announcement. I had a
couple of issues brought to my attention. Nothing big but give me another
day. Now to move away from the whole screensaver thing. I'm not a huge
fan of Enterprise, I find the whole 'temporal cold war' thing kind of
a bad excuse to not have to set your prequel in the 'past'. Personally
I would have liked some just straight Star Trek, you know birth of the
Federation stuff with the Andorians, the Tholians, the Romulans... whatever.
But I gotta say whoever came up with the idea of starting this season
off with EVIL ALIEN NAZIS needs to spend some time in an industrial
slapping machine!
-SDZ
07-10-04
Well we can all thank Captain Documentation for providing another high
quality set of instructions on how to use the Ship Editor. Wow this
almost makes the thing useable! So if you downloaded the Ship Editor
and couldn't figure it out... or it crashed on you and you didn't know
why, go check this out. Someday I hope to produce an editor that is
as good as the documentation. Also there's a file upload submission
information form, it's also in the documentation section. If you want
to send me a ship or scenario it would be a real help to me to fill
out one of these and submit it with the files.
-SDZ
06-10-04
Hi, well it's been too long since I'v posted so just so you all don't
think I've gone back to my old tricks of disapearing for ages... here
I am... Tada! The truth is I'm sick, and between that and work being...
well best not to go into too much anatomical detail on what work has
been... let's just say I've been busy. I'll get back up to speed soon...
Hell I still think I should have a working scenario editor done by Friday...
which is to say I think it'll be done Thursday, but I'm probably worng.
So before I go here's a random quote to ponder, from George Bernard
Shaw. "Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed
no better than we deserve."
-SDZ
22-09-04
Well I still don't know exactly where I stand on the whole new DVD
thing. Though I do have to admit that Veggie-Luke does have a lovely
singing voice. To provide a fuller framework for the debate... or to
fan the flames of conflict here are two sides of the argument presented
as point
and counterpoint.
As always I encourage you to see the evidence, weigh it for yourself
and come to your own conclusion that I am absolutely right.
-SDZ
21-09-04
I'll keep this down to a dull roar, rather then engage in a long tirade.
Although I know EVERYBODY enjoys those. First off I know you're all
eager to know that I purchased the Star Wars DVD box set today. I know
this is a controversial box set... well in some circles at least, because
of the changes that have been made, what with Cookie Monster now replacing
Yoda, and Luke now portrayed by an eight foot anthropomorphic carrot
who only speaks in lyrics from show tunes. I'll have to let it all sink
in a little more before I'm ready to talk about my opinions and feelings
on this. And I'm sure you're ALL waiting with bated breath for that
moment.
I'd like to draw your attention to the work of Theiss
Design who saved us all from my laziness and produced the first
Strat Wars documentation. So if you want to make your own scenarios
then go on... get going.
-SDZ
14-09-04
Some things that are on my mind… Don't worry, this one won't
be quite as much of a rant as last time, hell I might even mention Strat
Wars in passing! For those of you who read /.
You probably already came across this, but yesterday I was reading about
an independent software author who had started putting traps into his
code to punish pirates. Specifically if you enter a known to be pirated
code (or maybe it was just an invalid code, I don't exactly know) it
would erase your home folder (it was a Mac program… you Windows
people think "format c:"). Now the trap was disabled soon,
and the author gave up supporting the program altogether… which
is not surprising cause after word of this leaked out I can't imagine
he had people flocking to install his ticking time bomb on their computers.
Don't get me wrong, I can understand his frustration but aside from
the moral, ethical, and frankly legal problems with that sort of behavior
its just tactically a bad idea. But on a more philosophical note, and
I know I've talked about this sort of thing before, it brings up some
issues as to what exactly is piracy and what can a software vendor,
particularly an independent, do. That's not exactly what I mean, now
that I reread that last sentence, cause it makes it sound like I'm saying
independents are besieged on all sides by nefarious pirates, out to
take the gold fillings from their teeth if they let their guards down
for a minute. And that is almost the opposite of what I mean. I really
dislike the term piracy, it seems a little overblown to describe individual
users. To describe the guy mass producing 2.3 million knock-off discs
a month, sure ok I can deal with that. And before we get into the stealing
is stealing argument, I'd like to point out that technically it's infringing
not stealing, and that makes a fair bit of difference right there. But
beyond that there's a real danger in falling into using Microsoft/RIAA
math to compute how much in sales you've lost to piracy. The thinking
goes, I believe, something like everybody who walks past my product
is a lost sale. Maybe I'm being needlessly harsh, and ignoring all the
arguments about people getting the benefit of your work with out providing
the proper payment. But I frankly feel if someone was never going to
pay you, yah ok they use your stuff but if they lived in a world where
there was no way to use it without paying they simply would walk away.
That they simply wouldn't use it if they weren't able to get it for
free, and would walk instead of pay. Than that is NOT a lost sale. That
was never going to be a sale. Now don't get me wrong I'm a professional
programmer, and I don't think all software should be free. I think I
deserve to get paid for my work. But I don't strictly begrudge those
who use my software without paying me. I mean I encourage people to
pay me, I like to think I do so by providing a worthwhile product and
not demanding too much for it, and I really appreciate those who have
already paid me or supported me in some other way. Someday I would like
to be able to not need the day job, and to be able to support myself
with my own programs. And if that day ever comes then maybe I'll sell
activation codes rather then let the full program be downloaded feature
complete. But I won't flip out if some of those codes show up on web
sites. The sort of draconian over the top processes some programmers
go through to keep people from copying is just ridiculous in my opinion.
I can't tell you the number of share ware programs I've stopped using
cause the procedure to register them was such a pain. I would literally
rather quit using the program then provide the DNA samples necessary
to complete the registration. Now it helps if you're not writing a program
that competes directly with both a major corporation AND a major open
source project. Let's just say, no matter how inspired I was I doubt
I'd try to write my own office suit. Now this is all still fairly academic
at the moment. I've only bothered to release one even half worthwhile
program (though look out for "Revenge Of The Clocks", cutting
edge pointlessness for Mac and Windows soon!) but I enjoy taking the
time to talk about these more philosophical matters with you. Hmmnn
this has turned into more of a rant then I had planned... and worse
yet its somewhat repetitive. Well maybe I'll be creative and <gasp>
on topic for the next news post. Oh and so I can say this is a remotely
appropriate news post, the screen saver is, uh, still good, working
out some boneheaded bugs in the ship editor… uh and other stuff.
Damn I hate working on editors it's so boring, but <sigh> back
to the code mines.
-SDZ
07-09-04
Today's post is going to be more of a rant then oh say anything to
do with a screensaver. I used to dismiss those who said that shareware
was doomed, that independent software development would soon be over.
Then tried to update my piece of shareware. Now if you're reading this
it means you got here somehow, and that's great cause my advertising
budget just about covers shouting the words "Strat Wars" out
of my car window as I drive to my day job. And that's the problem, I
went to upload to some of the larger shareware repositories, like CNET
download.com (Look I'm so ticked off I'm not even going to link to them....
that'll show them!) which also owns shareware.com, which was a source
of a lot of traffic to me, and got previous versions of my little screensaver
in front of a lot more people then I can normally reach. It used to
be great, upload to some of the big repositories and if your program
is good people can find it. And I personally rely on a LOT of people
finding it since I don't force people to pay the shareware fee, making
it effectively free to those who don't feel like donating (a model I'm
philosophically comfortable with). Now I go there and they won't even
add software to the collection without a $79 US fee per item being listed
(I have a Mac and a Windows version so that's two). Don't get me wrong
there were always fees. If you bought the gold or platinum or plutonium
membership you got faster processing, you got your software 'spotlighted',
buy the uranium membership and they'd display your software on a bed
of kittens. I don't really have a problem with that. Let the people
with actual budgets get their software placed at the top of every list
and in the special 'hot' category (what you thought those spots went
to just anybody?). But now you can't even list your software without
paying them? I mean as if it wasn't bad enough for independents to have
to deal with being buried under the thousands of other pieces of software
that come out every week, to have the thing you did alone in your spare
time compared against things that took teams of programmers working
full time with actual budgets. Now unless you want to shell out you
don't even get let into the playground. I could just shut up and pay
it, I mean $80 a year is still hardly the most expensive hobby out there,
but it galls me. So I'm here to say if you want to help out with this
project you can by telling people about it (assuming you like Strat
Wars, if you don't like it you can help out by NOT telling people about
it). You can also help out by posting it, or links to it, anywhere appropriate
you think people who are interested might see it (your own blogs, or
websites, or forums, don't spam or anything). And if you have talent
with a 3D program you can help out with letting me use (you'll get full
credit) some cool ship models. You can help out by paying the shareware
fee, if you're so inclined though I refuse to force you to do so. And
finally you can help by just using this screensaver and shareware in
general. There I feel better.
NOTE: this post best read if you put on some piece of stirring music
that gradually gets louder as you reach the end of the post.
-SDZ
03-09-04
There! I've finally done it. I've uploaded the screensaver to major
sites... which you probably know if you've just come from one of them.
Hi. I always get nervous after an update like that, cause I'm sure that
the second *after* I hit the upload button I'll remember that I'd selected
the wrong, broken version of the code. Now I've got to get in gear with
finishing those editors so that I can increase the number of good scenarios
out here in the wild. Not to mention the dark and mysterious Project
Firemonkey! What? No, no I'll never divulge the terrifying secret of
the Firemonkey. Anyhow I think, with this release now firmly under way,
that I'll give myself a break from coding, maybe see a matinee tomorrow,
and maybe start on the final push to editorship on sunday. Monday of
course will be the sacred ceremony of 'haha I am SO not at work'
-SDZ
24-08-04
Well we're here, somebody say something. The new web site is up and
now begins the task of updating all of the various links that point
here... what fun. Oh well if I'm lucky it will make the tedious editor
updating I need to do seem like more fun.
-SDZ
06-08-04
Yes well, one of the downsides of being just one guy trying to do this
is a real lack of Q/A. So while 0.7.0.2 was perfectly fine in terms
of stability, after trying to use it I realized that the startup collision
avoidance was overacting. So I made a small change to limit it to individual
groups, so it's up to whoever makes the scenario to keep different groups
from colliding. Anyway much talk little info here's 0.7.0.3. This should
make it easier on scenario makers, cause god knows I'm not making things
easy on them... I just really need to get going with these editors but
oh well, maybe this weekend. In other news I went to see the Village
last night. Now I personally really love M.
Night Shyamalan's movies, and this one was no exception. I'll keep
myself from saying too much about it. Though I will say something that
is generally true of his films that knowing the twists of the movies
doesn't seem to really detract from the enjoyment of watching them.
Seeing Signs or The 6th Sense a second time wasn't hurt by knowing the
ending. Just my opinion mind you but I find there are few "twist-ending"
type movies that are really worth a second viewing. Ok enough of this
going to play some more Halo.
-SDZ
04-08-04
Well here's v0.7.0.2 This build is only a little different from before.
Two minor bug fixes, one for large drifting objects (read as big asteroids)
and a fix for the issue where the impact splash for cutting beams isn't
drawn in the right location. Other then that I've put in some new code
to reduce the probability of large ships starting off the scene in collision
with each other. This can still happen but it is much less common. There
this should be usable again. Now I can concentrate on the editors and
possibly get this project finished before the ... uh ... end of time.
Yes, they say the key to project planning is realistic milestones.
-SDZ
28-07-04
So you may have noticed the sites undergone a bit of a change. This
new site should look a little cleaner, a little more polished... and
best of all I still had NOTHING to do with the design. Thank you Joe.
-SDZ
26-07-04
After some useful back and forth on the forum I discovered a minor bug in the file loader section of the code. This bug was minor in that it's only effect was to cause ships to slightly misrepresent their size (and so other ships could mistake how far away they were and fail to avoid a collision). Never the less I have fixed this bug and posted new versions of the screen saver. It was also brought to my attention that, on the Mac version, the 'Best' rendering option was still using 16 bit colour. So that has been fixed too... in all I recommend any body using version 0.7 should go ahead and download this slight update (for those keeping score at home I'm calling this version 0.7.0.1). I feel like I should say something amusing after this dry talk of version numbers.... but amusing is escaping me at the moment. I think I'll quit while I'm ahead.... I promise to be amusing in some future post.
-SDZ
25-07-04
I added some new screenshots that were kindly emailed to me. I don't normally like doing such a bait and switch (seeing as how the planet texture is not included in the current download). It is, however fairly easily findable online (I believe this one came from a NASA website), and there are some rudimentary instructions for using them on the forum. At some point I'll get some planet textures up here for download. I'll have to check if there are any redistribution issues with some of those NASA images since some of them were great. I've also got to get going with finishing off my editors and getting modeler permissions and all sorts of other things. But I figure that I've got till I get the new site hosting up and ready before I have to go extra public and start advertising and stuff.... I've got till then to get my act together.
-SDZ
23-07-04
Just a quick FYI, this site will be going away in about 2 to 3 weeks. I'm changing hosting so there may be some slight chaos. I'll post the new address, uhhh, when I know it.
Otherwise things are going good. I'm getting some great feedback and ideas about the editor... which is great but really slowing progress on getting it stable and ported to Windows. But it should be practically usable when it is so that should be amazing!
Oh and anyone out there with a cool screen shot of Strat Wars that they'd like to share, please email it to me I'm collecting new shots to put up on this page.
-SDZ
21-07-04
Oh hello, fancy meeting you here. Not much to
say but I figure hey I don't ramble on nearly enough. On the technical
side don't expect much excitement, I'm working on the editors this weekend.
The next revision of the editors won't seem very major, though it will
be, just not in any way you can see. But it should still be a great
especially for those of you still trying to use the really crappy excuse
for an editor I've got out now. I never really intended that version
for public consumption but there you go. I imagine a lot of bad software
gets out that way... oh who am I kidding I don't need to imagine I've
seen it... hell I've participated (unwillingly I swear) in the processes.
It's easy to fall into cause you think 'oh this will just be a stop
gap and I'll have the *real* version out to replace it in no time"...
fast forward a year and it becomes "oh gee I uh... should probably
think about starting that real version huh..."
But enough of the woes of software development...
oh ok one more. There's a great article
(that I found linked off of Penny
Arcade) that really says some interesting things about the computer
game industry, though I think what's said could be generalized to the
whole software industry. Personally I find most software copy protection
schemes range from the annoying to the insulting, and neither of these
options preclude them being largely ineffectual. I watch the scare tactic
adds on TV touting the security of some software product by depicting
a frustrated international hacker collective. I mean don't get me wrong
I'm a professional programmer, I like getting paid for my hard work.
But I see the key to that is doing a good job and producing a product
worth paying for NOT wrapping whatever garbage you call a product in
some copy protection scheme, and then blaming piracy for your poor results.
Plus I have to say I have seen very few schemes that aren't easily and
quickly circumvented. So what's the point, why treat your users like
they're ALL criminals because a couple of them MIGHT be. (and we're
not even going to get into the ethics of piracy, the place of intellectual
property or any other gray areas). There I feel better. Now I can get
back to writing code... Oh but first I better lock my door and pull
the blinds so that there are now PIRATES sneaking around looking in
my windows and copying down my code so that they can go home type it
in and have a free copy of my software AAAAAHHHHHHH!
-SDZ
19-07-04
HERE WE GO! And to continue without the excessive use of capitals, let me just say to the right is the final version of v0.7. Yes indeed for Mac and for Windows, and as this is the final version feel free to distribute it (in its original download zip/dmg) anywhere you like. Now a note, this download package comes with updated versions of the lame and pitiful extra ship and scenarios that originally came with version 0.6, so if you've done anything interesting scenario wise you might want to hang on to your old ships folder.
Also of note, there is a new version of the ship editor. Still Mac only (though I'm working on that) and still kindof lame. But this new version fixes an issue with loosing the colour of polygons in importer models, and with an error occurring trying to save models with certain kinds of .BMP textures. I actually wrote some code to handle modules with multiple textures but then found my .3DS reader wasn't keeping the associations between the various textures and the appropriate parts of the models, so I'll have to go in and redo that.... or more likely find somebody else's .3DS reader code and use it. I really hate writing file importers. Once I get the ship editor in a better state I'll put up somemore interesting ships and scenarios.... and anyone out there who has some ships they want to share with the world, let me know.
-SDZ
12-07-04
A quick note. I've been putting this off till I had more to post, and while I'm quite close... I got bored. So here's a post. One momentous event occurred. I finished the screen saver... well version 0.7 at least. Over the weekend I did a burst of optimization, and got things where I like them. So I've frozen the code. The Windows version is complete.... the Mac version is complete... it's done folks. Just working on getting some stuff like a readme together and some starter ships. But that's it the program is done for this version. Let me use that word a few more times cause I so rarely get too. Done done done done and done. Of course I still have more to do, I need to track down some good starter models since so many of the new features of the screen saver won't show up with the default scenario. And to that end I need to finish the improved Ship editor (3/4 done), the Scenario editor (2/3 done) and the ship editor for Windows (uhhh let me get back to you on that one). but still so very close. I should have a basic download here in a day or two with the new screen saver and the standard lam scenario pack... and a wide release once I get some good models together. Ahh it feels good, though it occurs I'm still implying things will show up here soon... old habits die hard.
On an unrelated note, went to see Spidder-Man2. An excellent film, while I have some "that's not in keeping with the comic" issues, I actually have very few of them compared to some movies. And it was a lot of fun. Not to mention it was totally screen saver free distraction from work and my relentless hobby.
-SDZ
01-05-04
What could have happened to me? I'm really worried. Not only have I posted news twice in a week... but I'm ALMOST releasing something. I'd better lie down and let it pass. Those of you who are able to move your eyes slightly to the left will notice that I've posted a 'release candidate' version. This is the essentially complete screen saver engine, but none of the fancy new models I've been working with. I still need to get permissions to use those. Those of you who are not only able to move your eyes to the left but also slightly down will notice that I've also posted a ship editor. This is a really really cruddy app. I'm in the process of rewriting it, but for the time being it'll read a lot of .3ds files and will produce .shp files up to that can take full use of the new 0.7 features. I really, really hate this editor but I felt I needed to post it now. Those of you who download the RC may notice that one of the included scenarios has a slightly odd combination of ships. The model in question (and you'll know it when you see it) doesn't really belong, but its texture mapped and all that junk PLUS I believe it can be freely distributed since I'm not charging anything for this package. But as I said, it really doesn't belong, so I felt I should arm you with what tools there are for making your own ships. Be warned it crashes on loads sometimes, save often. Also the per-vertex shading computations can be VERY slow on high poly models (that DS 9 model I showed off below has more then 68000 polygons and took several hours to compute the one time I forgot to disable the per-vertex shading information) so if you have a high poly model, do yourself a favor go to the misc tab and disable that. Most really high poly models look better without it anyway IMHO.
Now those of you of the Windows persuasion may notice that both of these items are Mac only. Don't read too much into this. I have this exact code base running stably on Windows right now. I should have that pref panel thing done shortly. There should be no long waits and the final release will be for both Windows and Mac versions at the same time. As to editing tools... I'm writing two completely new apps in Java, which is remarkably well suited to the task. I hope to be done the scenario editor by end of the weekend, and the new ship editor... sometime after that. Java also helps me out cause I don't need to maintain two separate codebases to support multiple platforms. Plus you can do all sorts of other cool stuff with it. Anyway shouldn't you be downloading something right now?
-SDZ
29-04-04
Well, I see you've come back to visit the excuse
fountain. I'll try not to disappoint. Ugh. And further to that buh.
The mundanities of life, those being work, family, taxes, have been
conspiring again. It might not be that they're working together so conspiring
might be the wrong word. Working together they'd probably seek to carve
up 100% of my time, as it stands, each one seems to want 100% of my
time.... or money as the case is with taxes. Not that I strictly object
to paying my taxes. I mean nobody likes taxes but I've always thought,
if you can look at the place you live and in an honest assessment of
all of the problems you face threats you deal with, and offenses you
are forced to suffer, and the worst problem you deal with is taxes...
well then you must live in a pretty decent place. Me I live in Canada,
so my problems amount to taxes, roving gangs of mad cows, and the length
of the line to get a coffee at Tim
Horton's. And anyone who knows anything about Canada knows the cows
are mostly in Alberta.
So bottom line with the screen saver, and I believe
I gave a breakdown of the work remaining a post or two ago, I have to
finish up the editors, get the prefs panel working for the Windows version,
and I have to get the permission to distribute ships based on these
cool models I've found. Basically, for those keeping score, exactly
where I was last post. Not quite exactly, I mean I've done some work
on the editors and stuff... they're just not done yet. It's dull dry
kind of work that's left to do, and I keep putting it off. I should
stop. Anyhow, here's some more in progress shots to tease you with.
In this episode we see a lone space station, which will remain nameless,
battling valiantly against a formidable and highly unlikely enemy fleet.
Click on the picture to see the whole set.
(note: none of these models are mine. They are
all property of the various people who made them.... I forget who's
are who's but I have it all written down somewhere. And since I still
haven't gotten around to asking the authors permission to distribute
the models as ship files, lets all just consider these images static
renderings shall we.)
-SDZ
03-04-04
Hazah! Another posting... I'm getting the hang
of this 'web'thing. It's somewhat frustrating, I'm almost done. Though
I should probably be forbidden from using the word 'almost' but there
you are. From a technology perspective I am almost done though. In fact
I am done in that I've frozen the code... it is running acceptably on
Mac and Windows, and I don't know of any major outstanding bugs. I really
just need to get the pref panel on the Windows version working again
(or rather my new Windows co-programmer has to get on that) and finish
the support apps and it will be done done! One issue though is that
I keep feature creeping myself, while I'm working on the scenario editor
I suddenly think of something cool I could do and start on that. It's
a bad habit, so I've taken to writing it down rather then coding it.
The other issue is of course work. And while I really enjoy money, working
a full time job that has been really really tiring lately and THEN coming
home to work another contract and THEN work on Strat Wars has been kind
of tiring.Ah the joys of contract work. People always told me it was
feast or famine... what they neglected to mention was that the feast
parts could take up all of your waking hours. <sigh> still its
all sloowly... painfully slowly creeping towards completion. Though
I did get thrown for a loop on the Mac side with the OS X 10.3.3 update,
since the new Radeon drivers changed the way alpha blending was being
done. At the risk of getting too technical I 'freaked out' about this
because suddenly SW was rendering differently (in a much less attractive
fashion) on 10.3.3 with a Radeon then on pre-10.3.3 or on Windows...
or I presume 10.3.3 with a GeForce card (though I actually don't have
on of those to test on in a Mac). But I have a temporary solution to
that which means I'll never have to worry about it again... uhh...
So status is
Mac version: done.
Windows version: pref panel.... man the MS UI
editor can be annoying sometimes to work with...
Scenario editor: I'm writing this in Java using
JOGL for the 3d. Its a very neat set of technologies and I now plan
to do all of my support apps in Java. Yes that means the ShipEditor
needs to be rewritten, but then it's needed that for a long time. Status
is good. All major issues have been dealt with and it works well. Just
need some time to finish a few UI jobs on it
Ship Editor: Need a Windows version, need to fix
major bugs/issues in Mac version. Diagnosis? Fire and lots of it. Need
to rewrite.
Some of you may question the wisdom of holding
off release of a finished project until editing tools are ready. To
them I say "go write your own screen savers... go on! go!.... I
don't hear any coding"
On another exciting front I've formally started
work on turning Strat Wars technology into a game. Some exciting technologies
and game play elements and surprises. Estimated completion date: sometime
before we see REAL starships waging interstellar war on CNN. <sigh>
I'm fast on my way to becoming the patron saint of vaporware.
-SDZ
21-02-04
Wow! over a year! that's a new record of neglect
even for me. Huh, well what a year its been. Busy with work and uhh
stuff, I've kindof let the screen saver go to seed a bit. That's actually
part of the reason I've been quiet, the longer it goes the more features
I feel I need to implement to justify the delay... that my friends is
how you get a full year with no updates. Oh well, that is now nearly
over! That's right, exciting times ahead indeed, I've made a few decisions!
- Take the existing crap I've got and "re
brand" it as an exciting new release!
- Start making regular updates to the ol website!
- Start using more exclamation points in new,exciting,
and totally inappropriate ways!
- Bullet points=progress
Actually I've had some time on my hands lately
and have made some progress with the code, lots of bugs fixed, a few
new features AND a working and nearly releasable windows version fully
up to date. So I've frozen the basic code base, and am working on some
windows interface issues and cleaning up the last few remaining bugs.
I so totally recommend that anyone out there writing code port it to
another platform. Doing so, I've caught so many little subtle bugs that
I doubt I'd have found for months. So yes the waiting is nearly over!
Man I totally lack credibility.. so here's some in progress screen shots
(note: none of these models are mine. They are
all property of the various people who made them.... I forget who's
are who's but I have it all written down somewhere.)
-SDZ
26-02-04
Well I don't have a lot to say but since I started
up again with this whole "regular updates thing" I figured
I might as well post something. Currently working on the scenario editor...
and trying to get organized enough to start emailing people to ask permission
to use their models... though not just random people, only people who
have made 3d models of space ships... and even not all of them. You
see how complicated my life is?!
After finding and fixing a major memory over usage
performance in both Mac and Windows versions of the new code base is
up and I haven't come across any bugs recently (fingers crossed). So
the only work on the actual screensaver being done right now is getting
the Windows version's user interface up to spec. Otherwise I'm finishing
up the scenario editor and then have to figure something to do with
the ship editor. I *should* rewrite it, but I don't want too. hmmnn.
-SDZ
