Prerelease 1.201C (Nebula Options, Low Energy Mode tweaks, cmd station tweaks)

[Fiskbit]

This is a fixed int math issue? Bizarre. Aren't you just dividing by 10, or is there something more complicated in there?

[x4000]

This is a fixed int math issue? Bizarre. Aren't you just dividing by 10, or is there something more complicated in there?

Well, I'm multiplying by fixed-in 0.1, which is probably the root of the problem come to think of it.

Dividing by 10 will give a better result, duh, don't know why I didn't think of that.

[Echo35]

This is a fixed int math issue? Bizarre. Aren't you just dividing by 10, or is there something more complicated in there?

Well, I'm multiplying by fixed-in 0.1, which is probably the root of the problem come to think of it.

Dividing by 10 will give a better result, duh, don't know why I didn't think of that.

::Golf Clap::

[x4000]

[darke]

This is a fixed int math issue? Bizarre. Aren't you just dividing by 10, or is there something more complicated in there?

Well, I'm multiplying by fixed-in 0.1, which is probably the root of the problem come to think of it.

Dividing by 10 will give a better result, duh, don't know why I didn't think of that.

Because it'll double the time it takes to do the math? I do recall divisions are considerably more expensive in fixed-point then multiplications, just like in floating point.

On the other hand if you just said it cost an 8th or a 16th we wouldn't be having all these problems. Base 10 math is obviously the root of all evil.

[x4000]

This is a fixed int math issue? Bizarre. Aren't you just dividing by 10, or is there something more complicated in there?

Well, I'm multiplying by fixed-in 0.1, which is probably the root of the problem come to think of it.

Dividing by 10 will give a better result, duh, don't know why I didn't think of that.

Because it'll double the time it takes to do the math? I do recall divisions are considerably more expensive in fixed-point then multiplications, just like in floating point.

On the other hand if you just said it cost an 8th or a 16th we wouldn't be having all these problems. Base 10 math is obviously the root of all evil.

Fixed point is just integer math, it shouldn't be that big of a deal.  Also, this is precalculated once at game start, so it's really no biggie if it is 1000x slower, it's still quite fast enough for those purposes.

[AcidWeb]

By the way - can we get a Full Version without installer? In a zip file?

Not just 1.000 to something but

AI war 1.201C as Full Zip - Without an exe installer? (When 1.20 is done of course, not the pre-releases)

Oh, I somehow missed this comment before.  I could put something like that up, the main thing is that it just takes a long time for every upload, which is a challenge for me right now with 368kbps up.  I'm working on upgrading to a business class line that will give me 1.5 Mbps up, after which point stuff like that will be a no-brainer.  I've noted down that you want it, at any rate! (Out of curiosity, what for?  I could see it being useful for the Linux/Mac distros, but I'm curious as to other uses.)

So installer for AI War is not necessary? Just copied files will work if all prerequisites are in place?

[x4000]

So installer for AI War is not necessary? Just copied files will work if all prerequisites are in place?

Yes.  However, the automatic updates will not work if the installer was not used, so that's the most compelling reason to use the installer.

[x4000]

New version is out:  http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,1017.0.html

[Admiral]

::Golf Clap::

What he said. LOL

[x4000]

::Golf Clap::

What he said. LOL

Yeah, yeah.  I'm tempted to whine about extenuating circumstances and sleep deprivation, but... well, I guess I just did.

[AcidWeb]

So installer for AI War is not necessary? Just copied files will work if all prerequisites are in place?

Yes.  However, the automatic updates will not work if the installer was not used, so that's the most compelling reason to use the installer.

Can you specify why? Registry entry or what?

[x4000]

So installer for AI War is not necessary? Just copied files will work if all prerequisites are in place?

Yes.  However, the automatic updates will not work if the installer was not used, so that's the most compelling reason to use the installer.

Can you specify why? Registry entry or what?

I'm not sure exactly what it does, it's all internal to Windows and its MSI system.  Essentially, the installer is MSI-based (it is wrapped in an exe only so that it can do prerequisites checks).  MSI is mostly just an xml script that gets executed by the Windows Installer service.  The patches, as you may note, are MSP files which are the MSI-system form of patches.  Basically it looks at an existing program that was installed via MSI, and then patches it up to an even newer version.

It's a bit brittle in some ways and I'm not entirely thrilled with it.  If anyone knows of some better programs for distributing files in a fairly automated way, then that would be cool.  I could probably program something like that myself (I have before), but the main issue is different OS permissions and such -- this other tool has to exist outside the AI War application (since it has to replace that application), and it has to know how to intelligently handle the varying permissions (especially in Program Files) on the various MS operating systems.

With a system like that in place, people could use the MSI installer if they want, or just use a zip file download, and then the patches would work either way.  Otherwise, until that point the MSI has to be installed or people have to use the zip file patches instead of the MSP ones.

[AcidWeb]

After coping loose AI War files to clean WINE environment i can choose any patch through updater so yes. It is something deeper

I don't know nothing about Program Files permissions but I know that writing complete update system for Linux (when patches are zip etc. based) is quite simple in any scripting language ;p

[x4000]

After coping loose AI War files to clean WINE environment i can choose any patch through updater so yes. It is something deeper [/qu

Sure, you can choose them, but it won't actually apply them once they are downloaded -- it will say that the application in question is not installed, or something similar.

I don't know nothing about Program Files permissions but I know that writing complete update system for Linux (when patches are zip etc. based) is quite simple in any scripting language ;p

Yes, well -- I'm not about to use different distribution methods for different platforms.  I'm trying to minimize the amount of time I have to spend on just distributing each patch!