simple machines forum

Release

I've uploaded my work for having a big editor and tiles like in the link above. I'm going to package it into a blog post ASAP.

---

Language packs for big editor can be found here:

https://www.swordofmoonlight.net/text/

They go in the text folder, or use the SOM.exe (Dragon Sword) tool to redownload your tool language pack.

Use SVN Update (recommended) and follow the component update prompts, or the following direct download links:

http://csv.swordofmoonlight.net/SomEx.dll/1.2.4.6.zip
http://csv.swordofmoonlight.net/x2mdl.dll/1.0.0.2.zip

Attachments

 SOM_MAP icons3.png 

This preview has some effects to help to tell tiles apart when they technically look the same from above.

Attachments

 SOM_MAP icons.png   SOM_MAP icons2.png 

Here are some pictures of new things I'm working on. They show off generating (very basic at-the-moment) ICO files for SOM_MAP to use. They're embedded in the shortcuts, so you can see them in the MAP/MODEL folders.

Also on display is an alternative layout for SOM_MAP, with a larger display area. I'm trying to make it possible to switch with the min/max buttons.

For the icons I have to play around with some lighting and fog-like effects, and add some sharpening.

Update

This is now in the latest release as do_alphasort. It's pretty good but can impact performance.

This topic has been moved to Demos.

http:///bbs2/index.php?topic=154.0

patch

http://csv.swordofmoonlight.net/SomEx.dll/1.2.4.4.zip

This patch adds glitch fixes for the new transparency system, including showing transparent objects in menus in VR.

patch

http://csv.swordofmoonlight.net/SomEx.dll/1.2.4.4.zip

I found a "stack overflow" when unpacking tools from the language pack that could be a source of why I get reports of translated tools (EXEs) not working. I'm really hoping (fingers crossed) this solves the problem that I often suspect to be an antivirus thing when setting up SOM this way.

Note, I've tried to update the new ZIP download version of SOM too, but I think using Subversion should download it faster than unzipping the zip.

But there also seems to be a new problem with running Start.bat where it fails to run SOM_MAIN as a "child process" of SOM_EX.exe on first run because of "access denied" from the ("batch file") CMD console. I guess I have to try to fix it but no luck so far...

Update: It seems that apps from the Windows cmd console can no longer use CreateProcess. It seems crazy, but that's what I'm seeing. Update: I was able to add this back with the Visual Basic Script that installs the Start menu shortcuts. (The ASCII art version of the Moonlight Sword is no longer shown.)

minor update (SVN Update)

This update (1.2.4.4) adds a pretty good do_alphasort Option to Ex.ini and preloads the BGM when using the new seamless map transfer feature to help ensure no hiccups occur. (You have to use a supported WAV file to be sure this works fast.)

http://csv.swordofmoonlight.net/SomEx.dll/1.2.4.4.zip

The default Ex.ini file (http://www.swordofmoonlight.net/text/English/Default.zip for the English translation) now has do_alphasort added to its [Option] section.

What this does is turn all the transparent polygons into a soup and draw them back-to-front. I've been working on this for a while, but it's proved the most challenging little project I've ever taken on, and it took some tricks to enhance the performance since it wants to tank performance pretty hard. It can still use more optimization.

To anybody visiting or returning to here, I’ve not dropped the ball on Sword of Moonlight and everything else, but I’ve been going through a lot in the past months that’s been spurred on by a “supernatural” string of daily events pushing and pulling me in different directions. I want to say it’s all in my head and I need some kind of medical attention, but the truth is there’s not really a medical solution and it’s not medical seeming at all. I’ve had a day job for less than 2.5 months, that I had to quit because the work environment was surprisingly bad, even though the job itself was a really good fit for me. I’m also trying to fit work on projects into my life. But I’m being regularly encouraged to find friends, and even make a family. But something about the “path” I’m walking is showing me how difficult or impossible that can be in our world today under my circumstances. I think I’m not alone in this. So, I just want everyone to know, that I really need to make friends somehow okay. I know that not everyone has a platform like a website, like this, and a game dev project/system to be able to reach out like I’m doing now. And right now this site has problems, including that email notifications aren’t working, so people (you) can’t even register with it until I can figure out what’s stopped working in the past few months.

You can leave a comment on this post if you want to get in touch so we can register you or help you out with Sword of Moonlight or even hang out.

https://discord.gg/x782kpHQ7E is a permanent Discord invite, where you can contact me on Discord as “m.” in there. #7761 is my full ID if you want to make direct contact, if that’s simpler for you. I’ve tried to find places to meet people in my city and just about every dating app, and it’s not working out for me. I’ve tried using Discord in meetup groups, to some extent, where young people are teenagers. It seems like right now it’s very hard to make contact with anyone if you’re alone, which I think a lot of us probably are now. My city isn’t a big city, I’m thinking of going to swimming pools soon, I mean, cities seem like bigger ghost towns right now than King’s Field’s towns. I wouldn’t have thought it until I really tried to. I was most surprised by dating apps. I mean they don’t work at all, they’re gold digging scams, and it’s almost impossible to meet people through them. So, where I stand is, please, if you believe in this project, let’s talk and be in a loop together. I’m trying to get my act together, but this may be my final front page post for a while.

I’m still working bugs out of the new order-independent transparency feature that’s become my focus of late. I’m aware of some performance problems. A generic transparency system (sorting triangles by screen depth) is a tall order. It’s something that I hope will make Sword of Moonlight standout since it’s something modern games have given up on making work.

Meanwhile my life is pretty weird, and I’m trying to clean up my house and family land.

FYI I'm planning to be adding new release information to this topic/thread going forward. Right now I'm debugging some things. I have every indication I should be sticking with Sword of Moonlight and King's Field, but my life it tumultuous now, and eventually I'm going to have to start looking for a new job to have some spending money. I'm continuing to get less sleep to try to make up the difference. I wish everyone well.

I apologize, it's taken me a long time to crank this out. I ran into a couple bugs that were hard to hunt down with my diminished schedule.

You should use SVN Update to get SomEx.csv to apply this kind of update.

Direct download: http://csv.swordofmoonlight.net/SomEx.dll/1.2.4.2.zip (advanced)