simple machines forum

Patch (SVN Update)

http://svn.swordofmoonlight.net/Sword-of-Moonlight/Library/KING'S-FIELD/DATA/movie/

Here are new King's Field I movies AI upscaled to 960x720 with subtitles. The sample project now defaults to these movies for both Japanese and English.

Patch

I've uploaded a patch for fixing some bugs and it adds a new way to rearrange SOM_MAP's palette area, and rotate icons in the palette area. And a way to change the view angle for tiles in the tile preview area.

The latter is saved in the PRT file and can be edited with the View menu in an updated PrtsEdit, but also if your keyboard has numpad keys, they can be pressed with Ctrl in SOM_MAP as a faster way to do this. The Ctrl Lock button works too.

To rearrange it's necessary to select with Shift or use Ctrl to drag, and the Ctrl Lock button works here too. Ctrl with Right click rotates the tile(s). The arrangement and rotations are stored in a my.plt file in the MAP folders. There is one in the install MAP folder, but if you modify things in SOM_MAP it will save to your own project MAP folder, which replaces the installation my.plt file.

The preview/view angle is not saved in my.plt. Again it's saved in the PRT file.

I had fun working on this with my schizophrenia. It came up with most of the ideas for this. And held my feet to the fire. Sometimes it's a drag though. I think I want to work on subtitles for the King's Field movies next, or scan the materials that come with SOM to make an instruction manual. Or work on my KF2 project more. I can't tell if my schizophrenia is going to be cooperative in this or not. These are some of its ideas. I do have ideas of my own along the way, but lately I'm not sure what to do, and I'm coping with schizophrenia, and so giving it some space to influence my activities. For better or worse.

Repository reset (repost)

FYI I've re-reset the new repo back to Revision 2. I'd accidentally included a bunch of shortcut (LNK) files from the art system, and the Moonlight.zip language pack wasn't updated. I've also updated the EXE files in TOOL.

Repository reset

FYI I've re-reset the new repo back to Revision 2. I'd accidentally included a bunch of shortcut (LNK) files from the art system, and the Moonlight.zip language pack wasn't updated. I've also updated the EXE files in TOOL.

Attachments

 SOM_MAP icons7.png 

Since last seen I’ve put finishing touches on the new tile icon generation system and the old tile system too. The latter is now accessed by pushing the slider bar in the map editor to the very top. The slider can also now be used to fade out the grid lines and to fade in direction arrows.

There’s many more additions mentioned in a wrap-up address inside the Discussion forum. The advanced profile editing tools can now be left open while working, and the Alt key works with clicking to open a 3D model editor. The parts editor tool now has a UUID system shoehorned into the icon field. This works because the old style icons are secondary to computer generated icons. The art system also uses this icon generation system on everything else so its “shortcut” files display a thumbnail graphic. I want to add that a whole lot of work has gone into all of this. The new map icons fill in the space between the grids and include a 2 pixel border for shadow highlights. Getting everything right took weeks.

In other news I’ve reset the Subversion repository. The first revision is now classic Sword of Moonlight for previewing and comparing to the second revision. I’ve removed all traces of “source code” for work from the web. I’m keeping it private going forward. I have private copies on Github that I hope will outlast me. I’m actively trying to make a turn to commercial outlets. I intend to consult with From Software reps before making this move. I’m going to put a non-commercial version on Archive.org as-soon-as-possible. In the meantime, please stay tuned, use SOM, and support my work!

I've already done a complete write-up for this new release (1.2.5.2) here (https://www.swordofmoonlight.net/bbs2/index.php?topic=373.msg3465#msg3465) and it includes a lot of details because this release took a lot of time and I'm really trying to lay down professional polish. It also has a word on my schizophrenia status

Edited: You gotta re-checkout the Sword-of-Moonlight SVN repository, or use the direct page to update without SVN (http://www.swordofmoonlight.net/main/single-file-download/)

Sword-of-Moonlight reset

I've reset the Subversion repository so that all the history is gone... I've saved a private copy as sex_history in case historians want to plumb it one day.

I'm going to be making a new blog post before long since there's a new release available. This change is to wipe the slate clean, but mainly to remove source code from the history, as I already removed the folders.

Attachments

 SOM_MAP icons6.png 

feature patch (x2md.dll)

I've added multi-sampling (antialiasing) to map tiles now. It looks a lot more even. Unrelated, I'm looking at resetting the repo now I think. Or maybe scanning SOM's instruction manual with my phone.

EDITED: This is a new image with multi-sampling. You'll have to open them to compare them.

feature patch (x2md.dll)

I've added icons for all model files when creating shortcuts to the art folder. And the images use the source image as an icon.

The color for these icons is pretty bold because I'd like to have SOM_MAP display them one day. Probably in primary colors.

EDITED: There's also a fix for the Convert feature. And special note, x2mdl.exe isn't going to be in the TOOL folder or update packs anymore. It's being held back as a trade secret as I try to be more commercial, on recommendation, since other apps can use it, and it represents a lot of work, including for the new map tiles.

Attachments

 SOM_MAP icons6.png 

Release (SVN Update or Checkout)

Heads up! I got a new release up. I'm trying to figure out how to promote it. In the meantime, what you need to know is I've put the language pack files in the Subversion repository, so they don't have to be downloaded. This may be a mistake. It will have to be kept up-to-date. It's a simple/obvious solution for now. I've also removed the .svn (Subversion) folder from the direct download link on the new Download page (http://www.swordofmoonlight.net/main/single-file-download/) This makes the download much smaller, but what I'm thinking about is removing all traces of source code, because I'm using Github to store my source code now, privately. For this reason I may at anytime swap out the existing Subversion repository for a reset repository, back to Revision 1. This will wipe source code out of the downloads here.

I ask that you don't share source code if you have it from past downloads.

THE NEW RELEASE focuses on the icons you can see in the previous posts. I don't know if that is in the previous release or not.

The slider that sits beside the palette area is now used to fade out the grid, and fade in arrows, and when set to the very top, it restores the original icon system. The original system is better for setting up ramps, and may be better for work in general.

There's also a new system for assigning the original icons to new tiles, because it's only meant to provide contrast when working now. This new system also (finally) provides a UUID for every map piece that's stored in the icon field. It provides 3 settings, a prefix, a 4 digit number, and a hue setting.

The remaining 22 characters store a UUID generated by Windows, in base64 format. The editor for this is PrtsEdit. The hue is selected automatically, and is a little bit enhanced from the original values. There are 8 settings, ROYGBIV for the color of the rainbow, and 1 setting that doesn't augment hue, which the exterior sets utilize.

I don't know if I've said so, but the tools like PrtsEdit now can remain open while you work, and Alt+Click works to open 3D models into MM3D or their file association. Alt+Click also works to open the icons into your systems image processor for BMP files.

The icons are now 21x21 plus a 2px border for shadows. They expand in the palette to show all of them, and this exactly happens to fill out the palette region perfectly (so everything looks neat and tidy) based on a 17px scrollbar.

I think 17px is standard now unless your system adjusts the size, which is might if you use DPI. If there isn't room the icons aren't expanded. The original icons fill out 21px by adding a little dark shadow underneath and to their right, that makes them pop out in a cool way.

All of the PRT files are edited for icons and UUIDs and I've touched up the diagonal icons so they're pixel perfect. All the SND files have been replaced by WAV files, and SOM_SYS has new buttons for playing individual sounds on its final tab.

The "Illumination" field in SOM_MAP is now functional. When the overlay is displayed the slider remembers the old settings but is used to fade the overlay between blending the BMP image when high, and shading the colors when low. The shading model shows you what colors to expect in the game when using the overlay for lighting.

There are 2 new buttons in SOM_MAP for showing checkpoints and arrows. Arrows show you how tiles are rotated.

My schizophrenia wants me to tell you that we worked really hard on generating icons. I can't begin to explain how much time and consideration went into it. It doesn't want me to publish source code for these icons. They need to be mirror symmetric, and that took a lot of experimentation. It wouldn't really make sense to render the map with the 3D models themselves, from top-down. It's tempting to try that, but it won't be symmetrical with rotation, so icons are necessary.

In the end I had to settle on a kind of shading that can show the 0.5 ramps in the exterior set, which aren't visible in the image in post/Reply #1. This requires flattening the shading almost as much as possible. The end effect is very smooth but doesn't have a lot of definition unfortunately. It also tends to look pixelated, but I think that's just how the lighting normals are when not smoothed, which isn't possible with icons.

I think it might be possible to do a hybrid rendering using 3D models for shading and lighting in the future. It wouldn't be worth it for shading, but seeing the map lit (including vertex shadows perhaps) might be worth it. It is possible to see the map lit with the Illumination setting. The "RGB" and other buttons are still disabled and unusable, so the illumination maps can only be edited outside of SOM_MAP. I don't recommend Microsoft Paint, but that's about how. (I use Paint.net.)

The new grid is translucent. Note, I've got the selection window working on all views, but it currently can still only copy/paste on the main view. I'm trying to put time aside to work on something like Pumpkin Paster in the near term (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaey9RC1uSY)

I have schizophrenia now, and I have all year. I might seem weird to talk about it too much, but it's helped me a lot on this release. In the past releases I've struggled against more than it's helped, but it was trying to help me then too. Schizophrenia is characterized by voices in our head that's sometimes called hallucinations. I don't consider them that though, because schizophrenia also comes with real hallucinations, and these come very seldomly in my case, that I know of. My hallucinations are "adaptive" and real-seeming, they seem to want to help me out. I wouldn't mind having hallucinations more frequently, but for months now I've settled into schizophrenia mainly dominated by voices/people (people like voices) and dreams, and less so visions, even though my life was thick with visions for months too. They don't happen now. And it isn't all fun/help either, it is a real disability, since my mind is always divided, and it messes with my ability to take interest in things, I'm no longer Mr. even keel like I was before. My life before was characterized by a certain "state of grace" but now it's constantly interpenetrated by somewhat cacophonous "voices", which I might say seem like people, with souls, and conscious awareness. I'm applying for SSI disability and hoping I can make an income with SOM to retire early with SSDI. These are US Social Security programs. I'm hoping if I can get these I'll be more socially upward mobile in the near term. In the time that follows I want to continue to ask everyone to join my Patreon and SubscribeStar efforts, and I'm trying to use either Steam or GoG with SOM, or both. I'm also going to be uploading the current version to Archive.org. I may call it SEX, short for SwordofMoonlight+Ex. (Edited: "My schizophrenia" advises me this is disrespectful to SOM's original developer(s).) I want to deemphasize SOM because I'd prefer to call it just SOM, but I get a lot of blow back from doing that. My schizophrenia is also making all of my business decisions, because I'm not a business oriented soul. It thinks everyone prefers commercial software to free/opensource software, so I'm trying to be commercial. We just have decided (together) that I've tried free/opensource for long enough without any following forming. People may have a preference for something they can just buy into. But I'm going to need support on the donation based systems, ideally on my own site, in the future, because I think SOM is for game developers, and will never sell large numbers, unless we make it into a media player, and prefer to not distribute games as standalone programs. I think in the future this will be a more trustworthy model, since anyone who makes a SOM game can put malware into their game. It will be better to trust the player only, and not the media. (Edited: I think this will depend on if games are published on Steam or independently published, so players of smaller, independent games might prefer to use the media player model over the standalone game model, at least for the foreseeable future.)

Sorry for the long post. I haven't been active here for a very long time. My schizophrenia is running me around town like a bunch of Japanese tourists, but I need to get out of my hometown, there's just nothing (and no one) for me here, so I'm still largely stranded at home base.

EDITED: My schizophrenia is also encouraging me to approach From Software as I move to commercial ways of presenting SOM. It thinks this is a matter of taking responsibility, since From Software should have a first say in what we end up doing. It's not completely outside the realm of possibilities it might join forces with us. But I'm hesitant to make SOM fully commercial under From Software alone with my work involved, because I think it needs to be for the people to some degree, and its fans can be quite toxic, and I think it would be healthy for them to have the Sword of Moonlight somewhat at a distance from From Software itself. They have a lot on their plate I think.

3d model editor (Alt+click)

http://csv.swordofmoonlight.net/SomEx.dll/1.2.4.12.zip (SVN Update)

I've uploaded changes to better integrate MM3D into SOM by pressing Alt+Click in SOM_MAP and SOM_PRM and preferring the EXE in the new MM3D folder so it will "just work" without setting up Windows Explorer "Open With" files associations.

The following extension will use the "Open With" file association.

[Editor]

do_not_open_with_mm3d

Note, I recommend associating your SOM extension files with TOOL/SOM_EX.exe.

Hopefully this will help orient everyone who's interested in custom art. I hope this is helpful. The alt+click works wherever the profiles can be opened up.

I'm currently working toward shields. The version of mm3d-portable.exe in this release is stuck and it has a new Reorder window that helps for ordering the left and right arms in a 2 handed arm model.