I've uploaded the first test version of RTTR, which is an enhanced open source recreation of Settlers II. It's still a bit unstable, the game tends to crash, if you wiggle the mouse too much while saving the game. Other than that the game seems to be playable, although I such at these kind of games, so I didn't test the gameplay too much. You can grab it from my website, you need a full version of Settlers II Gold to play it.

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It would be nice if you could do some proper archives with proper naming. Current "releases", beta or not are quite a mess and look unprofessional. Just add the required stuff once to the makefile and you can even reuse the stuff for other projects.

Basically add a drawer inside the archive, which does not contain any version information in name. If someone extracts an archive to SYS: it must not dump more files than drawer name and icon.

Name the application properly. No "xyz.ppc", just the application name.

Add proper icons for the drawer and files (if not already done)

Add a proper version string.

I know that all these ports need proper files from the original, so it would be nice to ask for the original disk or the location of these files.

A good example how this could be done is Return to Castle Wolfenstein. HAK has also ported many games and all of them are straight and clean.

Beside the installer these are quite simple to implement by just adding some archive creation rule to the make file.

Just dumping some binary looks simply ugly and unprofessional. Ports simple or not must not looks like crap.

Geit

[ Edited by geit 07.06.2013 - 12:59 ]

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I appreciate constructive criticism, but I don't consider test builds proper releases, just executables to play with, for those who are interested. I'm far from being done, but I thought I'd upload the executable, since the game is now playable more or less.

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Fair enough, I'm guilty of not adding drawers to my archives.

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Statements like this makes me regret that I put STV:EF - HM out there. That was literally a one afternoon port, with the existing build system, with minimal modifications. I felt like it might be a good idea to upload it, maybe someone is interested. Are there any other stuff I released, which has the ".ppc" suffix besides Elite Force Holomatch? :S

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I do this for releases.

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Same here.

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You mean a requester displaying an error, or an installer?

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Good for him, but so far the only unclean thing I noticed is the lack of drawers.

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Good idea, I'll add it to the makefile.

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This is still a test build for the adventorous, and not a release.

Unfortunately:

Not Found

The requested URL /ports/s25client1.lha was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Oops, the files' name didn't match the link. Fixed.

It works, but no soundfx yet?

You are right, sound doesn't seem to work. I mostly test without my headphones on, so I didn't notice it. I'll investigate this.

Great news, Settler II on Amiga system after those years.

Anyway some of the maps not loading, some of splash the loading picture of the map, some stopping after when i'm hit the continue button. If i restart the game maps load corrently. (the log complains some server not found messages)

edit: the same effect when i'm loading the saved game. The last message:
gameclient : : connect:error: connect failed!

Also if i hit the credits button the program freeze. (load some files, but then application is meditating)

[ Edited by Derringer 08.06.2013 - 12:07 ]

Credits-crash verified. Can you name a few maps which wouldn't load?

BSzili,
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Totally random. Sometimes all of them, reboot still the same. Sometimes all of working. I thought it is becuase i change the resolution, but not.

[ Edited by Derringer 08.06.2013 - 15:14 ]

Game is always using 100% CPU.
I think this is original version problem but maybe somehow can be fixed.

The frame rate could be limited for faster machines. Does TinyGL have some way of enabling vsync?

[ Edited by BSzili 09.06.2013 - 21:59 ]

Thanks BZsili! S2 works great, but it would be great to have some possibility to limit the fps to lower the cpu load. The game runs here on my PowerBook 1.67 really smooth :)

Martin.

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I just noticed that the game has its own frame rate limiter, but it doesn't work. There must be some overflow in the limiter, because I changed the internal time type from 64-bit to 32-bit, so the LibNIX time/date functions work correctly.

I uploaded a new test-build. It has working sound and frame-limited. It's disabled by default, you have to enable it in the options.

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Great astuff, thanks for the port - will get hold of a copy of Settlers 2 Gold to test with.

I tried the new version, however it failed to start. (crashed after the sound conversion) Then i realized it is because the icefilesystem. (sg cache cookie eaten error messge)
So i changed the cache settings. Now most of the time it is loading, but freeze after i tried to load a game. Another crashing bunch is freezeing after that i clicked the single player button.
The previous version didn't do these errors.

I have a copy of Settlers II Gold, so I have to try this later. Right now I'm busy finishing the latest issue of Amiga Forum so I will play with it after that. This is one of my all time favourites so when it's playable I'm gonna have so much fun

It's already playable, the single player that is.
edit: The direct IP multiplayer works too now.

[ Edited by BSzili 23.06.2013 - 13:18 ]

I tried the latest build (07.13)

Suddenly realized that it is recommended to install all of the build not the latest. Earlier i missed one of the build, and the program just crashed (application meditating) and the main menu.

Now it is working correctly.

Some bugs:

If i set the resolution to full screen it's running correctly, but when i quit and restart the game it is running in windowed mode. (i checked the congif file and fullscreen flag is 1. If i set it again to fullscreen inside the option menu it is working until quit.
I tried it 1440*960 1024*768 and 800*600. On the lower resolution the window is keep the 1440*960 resolution in window.

If i set manually the fullscreen flag to 0 and give a different resolution, everything is back to normal.


My second problem is still the not loading scenarios. Most of them waiting for localhost 3665. (127.0.0.1)
If i click for the x to quit : sendto no route to host.

If i connect to a lan cable (with or without internet) the problem solved.

I don't know how netstack works, but the game uses BSD sockets for client sever communication, even for local games. If localhost won't work without being connected to a network, there's nothing I can do about it.
I'll add the fullscreen problem to the todo list.

edit: There's no need to download older archives. The archive of the latest build is broken, the main executable is missing from it. When I get home I'll fix it.

[ Edited by BSzili 16.07.2013 - 13:38 ]

BSzili,
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Even a test build for the adventurous should feature all the basics :

- app drawer
- icon
- version string in exe
- readme
- licence

That's not much work with a dedicated rule in your makefile.

I definitly second Geit on that point: it will make your test release way better for the adventurous tester.

Thanks for the feedback, but I definitely won't include those in the test builds. I don't need testers at the moment, since there are still very serious bugs bugs waiting to be fixed. If someone wants to try these test builds, they have to create their own drawer, read the readme on the official site, and click show all files in ambient, etc. In a nutshell: I either upload these archives with bare executables, or I upload nothing.

Not sure why people try to tell BSzili how to release/upload/arrange/ on his own website the stuff he codes ?

Oepabakkes,
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Own website? We're not talking about website.

We're talking about something (an executable file) you'll grant privilege (I really mean that) to run on your very own computer.

Do you like this kind of dish garbageplate or niceplate?

Same thing apply to any binary distribution. A nice package around (icon, drawer, doc, licence, etc...) is always a must have.