[WIP] ToEE Front-End X 5.0 Progress Report

Discussion in 'General Modification' started by Agetian, Apr 20, 2013.

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  1. Agetian

    Agetian Attorney General Administrator

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    Re: [WIP] ToEE Front-End X 4.0 Progress Report

    Guys, I wanted to let you know that in 24 hours from now I'll be off on a two-week vacation trip to a local resort area. That basically means that I won't be on as often and I definitely won't be able to code anything during this time. I'll try to check in every once in a while to see how things are coming along though. I'll be back around July 19th - July 20th - this means that, sadly, I won't be around during the v7.9.0 release time, but I'll join you afterwards and fix up anything that may need fixing in TFE-X, as well as try to work on the user interface skinning for the front-end. ;)

    Please consider TFE-X v4.0 Gold 4 (the latest available from the first post of this thread) release-ready. Neither my personal tests nor any user tests thus far (with at least two people definitely testing, and with at least eight more having downloaded it) indicate any showstopper issues. If there are any problems post-release, we'll fix them up and respond to them appropriately between the v7.9.0 and v8.0.0 releases. If anything critical shows up (though I hope not - keeps your fingers crossed), it can be addressed with a patch between releases.

    Good luck to everyone working on ToEE! Keep it up, guys! I'll be back soon!

    - Agetian
     
  2. Agetian

    Agetian Attorney General Administrator

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    Re: [WIP] ToEE Front-End X 4.0 Progress Report

    Once the Circle of Eight Modpack v7.9.0 goes live with the new TFE-X v4.0 and the initial phase of stabilization and bugfixing is over (if any bugfixing proves to be necessary once the "mass testing" in the form of Co8 v7.9.0 playthroughs begins), work will kick off on the new version of ToEE Front-End X (v5.0) which will focus on user interface theming and enhancements (in addition to whatever feature enhancements may become necessary).

    I have a question for all of you reading this board: I'd love to turn TFE-X into a professional-looking launcher that will be themed in the fonts, colors, and tones appropriate for the game. However, while I'm quite an ok coder, I'm not that much of an interface designer. If anyone would like to come up with a mockup of the interface theme, as well as provide graphics for the background, for the buttons, etc. etc., your assistance is highly welcome! Please let me know if you are able and willing to contribute to this project. Active work on TFE-X v5.0 related to the UI theming and improvement is expected to start in about 2 or 3 weeks from now. Any discussion relevant to this topic, as well as specific ideas and their implementations, are highly welcome in the meantime. Thanks in advance for help!

    - Agetian
     
  3. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Re: [WIP] ToEE Front-End X 4.0 Progress Report

    I bet this scramjetbooster fellow who's working on game cursors and other stuff would have a lot to offer.
     
  4. Agetian

    Agetian Attorney General Administrator

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    Re: [WIP] ToEE Front-End X 4.0 Progress Report

    Thanks for the info, Gaear! I'm going to ask if he'd be willing to contribute to the project!

    - Agetian
     
  5. Agetian

    Agetian Attorney General Administrator

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    Ok, time to wipe the slate clean and start working towards the next milestone for TFE-X (currently numbered 5.0). Plans and progress report will be available in the first post of this thread. Please discuss the possible enhancements and post your requests here. The main focus of TFE-X v5.0 is interface improvement. Currently planned are: 1) tooltips for all buttons and menu options; 2) a more beautiful, ToEE-themed interface that looks consistent on all platforms; 3) possibly migrating to a newer Java framework called Java FX for a more robust interface (not sure about this last point, the pros and cons will still be evaluated before the decision is made; the obvious downside is the necessity to bump the Java version requirement to Java 7 (v1.7.0) or newer from the current Java 6 (v1.6.0).

    - Agetian
     
  6. XVicious

    XVicious Established Member

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    THere are alot of replies,

    I dont know if this was requested yet,

    How about wheen TFE - x switchies between modules,

    it creates a back of the data- files currenetly inside the active module

    like an optional box for backing up TOEE

    Say I have data files and modules files inside my original game

    that I modified- or my saved games

    I switch to activate say the KoB demo,

    I want TFE -x to back up my module first so I can switch back to it

    If i want to later.

    I would prefer not to have to manually do this when I use TFE and activate
    something different.
     
  7. Agetian

    Agetian Attorney General Administrator

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    @ XVicious: TFE-X already backs up whatever data needs to be persistent (in particular, player characters and saved games) and restores them automatically in case the module is switched back... or did you mean something else bigger than that?

    - Agetian
     
  8. XVicious

    XVicious Established Member

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    yea, I meant the [data\*] folder contents + the [toee\*] folder, thus
    creating/backing-up original data/module content for restore latter.
    (prefered over manual back up ; request)

    this would also be like creating an entire module via back-up and restore.
    because in readme file I noticed it saying you needed to backup any
    mods or data you have customized.

    hope that explains more about the request.
     
  9. Agetian

    Agetian Attorney General Administrator

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    @ XVicious: Oh, I see what you mean. I'll consider it, at least as a separate "backup everything" option. Thanks for the idea! :)

    - Agetian
     
  10. XVicious

    XVicious Established Member

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    yea exactly ; an optional (advanced) check box , or button, or advance dialog tab for
    back up and restore all data/module.

    thinking that this would be good idea for the app, for creating new modules or backing up current data for later restore.

    prefered option over manual back-up/restore.

    Im guessing you would have to add an algorithm to copy the file [folder] tree +
    the data and collect it into the front end file format.

    *I noticed also that when restoring toee in prev or current version of Front end TOEE you had the app using the defualt file stucture (tree) , losing any customized
    data or module data that would have previously been there.
     
    Last edited: Sep 24, 2013
  11. Agetian

    Agetian Attorney General Administrator

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    @ XVicious: Yes, the default functionality of TFE-X is intentionally like that - even though the downside is that all the custom changes are lost across reinitializations, the upside is that TFE-X makes no assumptions about the nature of the changes and tries to remove any unintentional modifications that may make the game crash. So yep, the option you suggest is good as an advanced option for those who need it, but I'd say the default behavior should stay as it is.

    - Agetian
     
  12. Salk

    Salk Established Member

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    Agetian,

    I chose the option max 5 PCs and 3 NPCs (which is the vanilla setting) but when I make my party I notice that the game allows you to add an infinite amount of PCs! After adding the fifth, it's then impossible to remove them again, not even the first five ones.

    Now, my question is this: is it impossible to stop adding PCs after the max number is reached? At the moment I am unable to check the non modded version of the game but if I remember correctly, it doesn't have this bug.

    Thanks for your attention.
     
  13. Agetian

    Agetian Attorney General Administrator

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    This is a strange bug, I don't think I've ever seen this happen before. I'll need to do some testing, I'll reinstall the game and get the latest mod and TFE-X up and running soon (too bad I didn't see this earlier, I could have done this on the weekend, but oh well). If it's something wrong with TFE-X I'll release a patch, if not I'll try to understand why it started to happen anyway. ;) I'll keep you posted.

    - Agetian
     
  14. Salk

    Salk Established Member

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    Hi Agetian!

    Thanks for investigating this issue. I have tried to replicate it but I only succeeded partially. I can still add as many players as I want (see attachment, it shows 7 but there are more down in the list), no matter what PC/NPC ratio I set in the Frontend but I can actually remove the first five choices regularly by clicking on their portrait and choose "Remove".

    There is another issue that you might be aware of. I speak about it here: http://www.co8.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10923 and even if it "makes sense" in a way, I still think it's not really ideal. I guess it's not possible to make the join up conditions check on the actual size of the party?

    One last question: why is "Humble NPCs" now greyed out?

    Thanks!
     

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  15. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Humble NPCs is no longer optional is Co8 modpacks as of several versions ago.
     
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