[WIP] ToEE Front-End X 5.0 Progress Report

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

I'd say default to level 20. While TFE-X is a utility for playing ToEE in general, it is a Co8 product just like the modpack, which is designed for 20 levels, so I don't think it's presumptuous to make the default what the modpack is designed for. Especially when it's so easy to change it.

Also I like the idea of consolidating, as I think the enable/disable option seemed to confuse some players. I think they often thought that by 'enabling' the level cap they were enabling the mod to remove the level cap.

 

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

@ Gaear: Fair enough, sounds good! And also will be consistent with TFE-X 3.0e behavior in a sense.

@ gazra_1971: I'd like, if possible, to avoid presuming too much by trying to infer things from the name of the module. I mean, technically speaking, other modules *are* possible (it's just that no one in the community ever finished one, though I'm hoping that KotB might eventually get completed). Releasing KotB would require another exception, and then yet some other hypothetical module in the far future might break TFE-X simply by its existence, etc., so I'd like to go by rules more than by exceptions - TFE-X should be able to work consistently with all modules both now and in the future, and there should be easily understandable rules for how it works. If we're to code something like you suggested, it's best done via a parameter somewhere in the module that would specify which cap it would need. I'll give it some thought.

- Agetian

 

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

Yeah, certain anti-virus systems are really paranoid and flag many things as false positives. Same goes for toee.exe and sometimes even temple.dll, by the way.

- Agetian

 

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

tfe-x.exe even? That's never been flagged has it?

 

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

UPDATE: Posted a new experimental build in the first post of this thread. This experimental build replaces pop-up windows for the level cap, delayed blast fireball delay, and num of PCs in party with dropdown menus. Also, there are some related updates to the documentation. This version also fixes a bug that allowed several modules to be selected at once in the module selection table.

Please note that the dropdown menu change is actually quite radical, it had somewhat deeper-going repercussions than I originally imagined. As such, the experimental build should be considered unstable and only used for testing purposes. In particular, there are following things to be aware of:

1) For now, I had to leave the "Use Level Cap" option intact (remember, I originally planned to get rid of it). In fact, the little thing is much, much trickier than I originally imagined or remembered it to be. The thing is, this option works via a command line parameter (-maxlevel), and unless the Co8 modpack DLL is prepatched in a way which hard-codes its default level cap to 20, removing the "Use Level Cap" option might cause a nasty side effect of resetting the level cap to 10 every time someone mistakenly/blindly launches the game through toee.exe instead of TFE-X. Does anyone know for sure if the modpack defaults to a level cap of 20 in its pristine state?

2) All three drop-down menus affect the mechanics of TFE-X quite severely as far as updating the initialization file (and reading it back) goes. While I tried to test and ensure that everything works correctly (as before), surprises are possible, so I'd really welcome someone's help in testing the dropdown selections and ensuring that: 1) the number of PC/NPC characters is correct and is exactly as selected in the dropdown menus; 2) the Delayed Blast Fireball delay is correctly updated when it's set via a dropdown menu; 3) the level cap works correctly when Use Level Cap is on and the level cap value is set in the dropdown menu.

Thank you in advance for testing this experimental build! Testing on a clean game installation (with no previously deployed front-end, old or new) is highly encouraged!

As soon as these changes are tested, they will be ported over into the gold branch.

- Agetian

 

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

UPDATE: Also posted the second experimental build. Compared to the first one (see above), this one also does away with the "Use Level Cap" option. This is potentially unsafe and needs testing - see the reasons above. In particular, please follow the pattern below:

1) Test experimental2 on a clean game installation. Activate the Co8 modpack, ensure the level cap is set to 20, and launch the game via the front-end. See if you can level up to 20 (console cheating is ok). If you can, quit the game, launch it via TOEE.EXE and see if you can still level up to 20. If you can, it's great and you can proceed with testing experimental2 according to the guidelines outlined in the post above this one.

2) If you can't level up to 20 in either of the cases (or both of them), getting rid of Use Level Cap is actually more difficult than originally envisioned and will require additional effort (if at all possible). Revert to experimental1 and proceed testing experimental1 as outlined in the post right above this one.

Thank you in advance for testing.

PLEASE NOTE: The experimental builds were compiled on a machine which only had JDK 7 on it. As such, they may fail to work on Java 6 installations (but then again, maybe not). Don't worry, the final (gold) builds will definitely be fully Java 6-compatible.

- Agetian

 

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

@ sirchet: No worries, and actually I'll keep supporting both JDK 6 and JDK 7 in the foreseeable future, there's nothing bad in it and hopefully it'll not be as painful for people still on JDK 6.

- Agetian

 

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

My tests indicate that the latest TFE-X updates appear stable and function correctly. Is anybody else testing the experimental build 2 except for me?

- Agetian

 

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

Anybody who is using the new TFE-X build (and any other willing volunteers), please help out and test this. I can't really assist myself, as I'm busy with HB 3.0 ... unless you all want me to table that. :transform

Let's all jump in for the big win here - installing and testing couldn't be easier.

 

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

Do you mean the gold version or the experimental build? The experimental build is visually different in the menu (it uses dropdown menus for things like the level cap). The incremental gold updates are not any different visually - you know that you're using the new one by putting the archive in the proper place and overwriting the old front-end executable (you'll get a prompt asking if you'd like to overwrite TFE-X.exe). If you're overwriting the old files with the new ones, you'll be using the new TFE-X build.

- Agetian