Part 1 of the preview: http://teamcovenant.com/mu0n/2014/11/13/x-wing-vassal-module-5-2-0-preview-part-12/
Part 2 of the preview: http://teamcovenant.com/mu0n/2014/12/02/x-wing-vassal-module-5-2-0-preview-part-22/
Launching soon!
Here are a few pics:
old style on the left, new style on the right for Wave 1:
action clear shortcuts:
Nice work, the ship stats look a lot easier to read now.
Nice job and thanks for all the hard work you've done 
Having looked at the preview, and seeing "live" ships I like the change even better than I thought.
Edited by VanorDMNice work!
As a new player to Vassal, I have faced the map problems time and time again (for instance, I can create a game with Blue Nebula that other players can't see, even if they have the mappack!).
I also noticed some other issues while playing:
* ships disappearing/relocating when toggling fire arcs
* performance degrading by a lot when fire arcs are toggled (even when it's only one) Is this only on my side? Am I right in assuming fire arcs are just an image overlay? (calculated with your C# code?)
Nice work!
As a new player to Vassal, I have faced the map problems time and time again (for instance, I can create a game with Blue Nebula that other players can't see, even if they have the mappack!).
I also noticed some other issues while playing:
* ships disappearing/relocating when toggling fire arcs
* performance degrading by a lot when fire arcs are toggled (even when it's only one) Is this only on my side? Am I right in assuming fire arcs are just an image overlay? (calculated with your C# code?)
*The ship disappearing bug can be dealt in 3 ways:
way 1 (your PoV only): click on the position where the ship is supposed to be, or alternatively, drag select a big box around it. In most cases it'll pop back.
way 2 (everyone's view): if CTRL-F is bugged, let it be bugged, then do CTRL-L, CTRL-F, CTRL-L.
if CTRL-L is bugged, let it be bugged, then do CTRL-F, CTRL-L, CTRL-F
way 3 (everyone's view): turn off the offending arc or lock, then clone the ship. the copy usually works. After it has moved on on the next turn, just delete the old one.
(I'm considering creating a helper card that explains these 3 things so that the word may spread more)
*performance issue: yes, they are overlays. I have no idea how they were done originally, but they weren't geometrically correct from the creators of the module back in 2012. I corrected them by generating them under my C# program, making them using basic graphics libraries. Why is it slow? Probably because we're stuck with a basic java graphics engine since vassal runs on that platform.
Nice work!
As a new player to Vassal, I have faced the map problems time and time again (for instance, I can create a game with Blue Nebula that other players can't see, even if they have the mappack!).
I also noticed some other issues while playing:
* ships disappearing/relocating when toggling fire arcs
* performance degrading by a lot when fire arcs are toggled (even when it's only one) Is this only on my side? Am I right in assuming fire arcs are just an image overlay? (calculated with your C# code?)
*The ship disappearing bug can be dealt in 3 ways:
way 1 (your PoV only): click on the position where the ship is supposed to be, or alternatively, drag select a big box around it. In most cases it'll pop back.
way 2 (everyone's view): if CTRL-F is bugged, let it be bugged, then do CTRL-L, CTRL-F, CTRL-L.
if CTRL-L is bugged, let it be bugged, then do CTRL-F, CTRL-L, CTRL-F
way 3 (everyone's view): turn off the offending arc or lock, then clone the ship. the copy usually works. After it has moved on on the next turn, just delete the old one.
(I'm considering creating a helper card that explains these 3 things so that the word may spread more)
*performance issue: yes, they are overlays. I have no idea how they were done originally, but they weren't geometrically correct from the creators of the module back in 2012. I corrected them by generating them under my C# program, making them using basic graphics libraries. Why is it slow? Probably because we're stuck with a basic java graphics engine since vassal runs on that platform.
Is the code in any public repo?
I haven't had problems with large images, but I guess this depends on the actual size of the image and the graphic library used. What is it in this case?
Is the code in any public repo?
I haven't had problems with large images, but I guess this depends on the actual size of the image and the graphic library used. What is it in this case?
I'm not sure. Head on over at www.vassalengine.org to find more. I know how to code in java but I haven't felt the need to touch vassal's code at all. I'm purely using their module editor to get some work done. Feel free to enter this painful world of what I suspect is a hot mess, if you want ;-)
Is the code in any public repo?
I haven't had problems with large images, but I guess this depends on the actual size of the image and the graphic library used. What is it in this case?
I'm not sure. Head on over at www.vassalengine.org to find more. I know how to code in java but I haven't felt the need to touch vassal's code at all. I'm purely using their module editor to get some work done. Feel free to enter this painful world of what I suspect is a hot mess, if you want ;-)
Let me clarify, is the module code in any public repo? I can't find it atm, and sourceforge is down so I can't download Vassal source code. Is it there? I suppose it's not.
Let me clarify, is the module code in any public repo? I can't find it atm, and sourceforge is down so I can't download Vassal source code. Is it there? I suppose it's not.
There's no "module code". There's only java code for the Vassal engine software (an effort in which I have never even remotely taken part of), which runs user-created modules which require no code to produce, since there's a built-in editor to the vassal client everyone downloads. I don't know if the whole vassal code is available or not for a public download but I'm inclined to think that it is.
Edited by Mu0n
Let me clarify, is the module code in any public repo? I can't find it atm, and sourceforge is down so I can't download Vassal source code. Is it there? I suppose it's not.
There's no "module code". There's only java code for the Vassal engine software (an effort in which I have never even remotely taken part of), which runs user-created modules which require no code to produce, since there's a built-in editor to the vassal client everyone downloads. I don't know if the whole vassal code is available or not for a public download but I'm inclined to think that it is.
Ok, I had a completely different mental image, I thought that modules were scripted plugins. I missed the existence of the editor. Then Ctrl+F bug is on the Vassal side for sure.
One last question, are the images vector-based or regular raster? SVG or PNG/JPG?
PNG. We've tried having arcs in jpgs and it didn't do a lick of difference.
SVG should make a difference, as I'm reading the Module Manual it lists the order of preference for graphics formats and SVG is the first, which makes sense since it's vector-based and should take up very little memory space.
As it stands, it won't make it into 5.2.0 since I'm excited to release it pretty soon.
I just tried a complicated (maybe too complicated, but it was only 37.4k) tiger .SVG as an alternate firing arc and I didn't notice much speed up, if at all.
The benefit of checking out the exact XML tags and parameters needed to recalculate:
-small ship arcs
-small ship target locks
-large ship arcs
-large ship target locks
-transport range 1-2-3
-corvette range 1-2-3
-corvette range 1-2-3-4-5
-corvette main gun
-corvette secondary gun 1-2-3-4-5
-satelite mission token from the transport missions
-turbolaser + ion cannon from the corvette? transport missions
(and no hope into recreating the complicated asteroid + debris range 1-2-3 graphics, they are too complicated)
with no guarantee that it'll really speed things up makes it low priority, I'm afraid. I appreciate the thought, it's a good idea as I didn't suspect vassal would support svg graphics. I hope you can see that sometimes, simple suggestions that look fast to implement leads up to an unexpected amount of work with a dubious payoff ratio. The nail in the coffin is really though: just turn off the firing arcs before moving on to whatever other operation you thought was slowed down 
.
Plus, most arc png files are less than 30kb. Even the most complicated ones hover around 39kb. The graphics engine is really that bad.
Edited by Mu0n(and no hope into recreating the complicated asteroid + debris range 1-2-3 graphics, they are too complicated)
Complicated Asteroids are complicated. 
As it stands, it won't make it into 5.2.0 since I'm excited to release it pretty soon.
I just tried a complicated (maybe too complicated, but it was only 37.4k) tiger .SVG as an alternate firing arc and I didn't notice much speed up, if at all.
The benefit of checking out the exact XML tags and parameters needed to recalculate:
-small ship arcs
-small ship target locks
-large ship arcs
-large ship target locks
-transport range 1-2-3
-corvette range 1-2-3
-corvette range 1-2-3-4-5
-corvette main gun
-corvette secondary gun 1-2-3-4-5
-satelite mission token from the transport missions
-turbolaser + ion cannon from the corvette? transport missions
(and no hope into recreating the complicated asteroid + debris range 1-2-3 graphics, they are too complicated)
with no guarantee that it'll really speed things up makes it low priority, I'm afraid. I appreciate the thought, it's a good idea as I didn't suspect vassal would support svg graphics. I hope you can see that sometimes, simple suggestions that look fast to implement leads up to an unexpected amount of work with a dubious payoff ratio. The nail in the coffin is really though: just turn off the firing arcs before moving on to whatever other operation you thought was slowed down
Plus, most arc png files are less than 30kb. Even the most complicated ones hover around 39kb. The graphics engine is really that bad.
No sweat, I was just curious. It really seems a memory hog sometimes, and I don't exactly have a slow PC. I'll do some digging when I have some time.
FWIW, I too find it a memory hog, although inevitably its playable and enjoyable so I appreciate all the effort that has gone into it!
In the launcher window, there's an item that lets you increase the heap memory for it. Try it out and see if it helps things.
Very nice
Might want to include something other than fire arc color to depict what faction the ships are on. With Wave 6 coming up you don't want people to be confused with which Y-wing is S&V and which HWK-290 is rebels, or who's Kath Scarlet is on the table.
I think people will be content with fire arc colors, but in the small chance it isn't enough, there's many mirror match dot options now.
Very nice! Thanks so much Mu0n!
Quick question, if I want to watch old TCO logs, do I have to uninstall the new module and reinstall the old one to make the log work?
Awesome! Thank you so much to everyone on the team for all your hard work.
Very nice! Thanks so much Mu0n!
Quick question, if I want to watch old TCO logs, do I have to uninstall the new module and reinstall the old one to make the log work?
No, have them both installed. One does not prevent the other from being there. Then, launch as many instances of either.
Very nice! Thanks so much Mu0n!
Quick question, if I want to watch old TCO logs, do I have to uninstall the new module and reinstall the old one to make the log work?
No, have them both installed. One does not prevent the other from being there. Then, launch as many instances of either.
Oh great, thanks again Mu0n!