The Weekly Write Up - November, Week 3
This week has proven to be one of the most intense weeks of development
for a long time. I'm sure you will have noticed your changelog monitors
flooding with fixes and tweaks. We've had numerous small fixes,
alongside some major advancements for long term MTA bugs.
IJs has spent some time working on GUI, as well as fixing some custom model bugs. A decent number of crashes related to GUI were fixed, while loading textures for custom models were optimized to be more reliable. He also finished up DM's screenshot code, which was optimized from race.
Following on from this, it was demonstrated that some of MTA's essential resources had the need for the ability to create scrollbars. Therefore, the ability to create scrollbars and scrollbar panes via script was added. This should allow for more flexible GUI without design having to be clunky. As well as this, we've had the addition of scriptable Memo widgets. This basically involved exporting already existing code into scripting functions - an obvious example of the Memo widget can be seen within MTA's console.
eAi and ChrML have been working on a wide range of tasks. Generally we've seen fixes to the resource system, XML file loading system, trains and other vehicle related bugs.
One thing that's been thoroughly fixed is radio. They work properly for all people inside the vehicle, without remote players affecting the status of it. This is something that was patched up for race, but had cropped again during DM. Now the radio works smoothly. Don't expect radio to be synced between players though - because it's not
.
Most notably, however, we've seen major work on MTA's streamer. Just incase you don't know what the streamer is - it basically "streams in" elements when a player gets close to it. This way, you can increase the number of elements that can be created. It is now much more reliable, and has pushed the maximum number of elements. Unfortunately, this does not necessarily mean an object limit increase. Nevertheless, we successfully loaded a resource containing thousands of vehicles placed across San Andreas, with no noticeable problems.
Jax and Kevuwk have also been working on general areas. Recently Kevuwk added the ability to start a resource with restricted access. This means that you can start a resource and disable it scripts, or its XML files etc. This should provide extra security for admins when starting untrustworthy resources. He also enhanced the general structure of scripting by adding more "hidden variables" (this will be clearer when documentation is released). Jax in the meantime added some extra protection against outdated packets, and vehicle entering and exiting packets. He's also fixed a number of crashes, while also ensuring scripted vehicle warping functions properly.
I'd also like to use this opportunity to clarify what's going on with gamepads. We understand that many people use gamepads, and that disabling gamepad input will be a problem for them. The problem, however, is not that we disabled gamepads. The fact that "Mouse + Keyboard" is forced does not mean gamepads are disabled; this merely tells GTA to forcefully turn off the joypad style controls system that is carried forward from the PS2/XBOX versions (if you've ever played PC GTA3 or VC, this is referred to as "Classic Controls") - joypad still works in this mode. The problem lies in the fact that MTA has completely overhauled the GTA controls system by providing its own: this means scripting is much more "tapped in" to the GTA controls, and gives resources much more power over what players can and can't do.
The drawback of this is, that joypad support for MTA's own control system has not been implemented yet - it's something that the team endeavour to resolve. We apologise in advance for the problems this may cause, but at this time we're aiming to get DM out the door, then sort out issues with gamepads. I can reassure all of you that it is a top priority for the team aside from bugs.
Its been a great week, and I hope that explains to you some of the stuff that's going on.
IJs has spent some time working on GUI, as well as fixing some custom model bugs. A decent number of crashes related to GUI were fixed, while loading textures for custom models were optimized to be more reliable. He also finished up DM's screenshot code, which was optimized from race.
Following on from this, it was demonstrated that some of MTA's essential resources had the need for the ability to create scrollbars. Therefore, the ability to create scrollbars and scrollbar panes via script was added. This should allow for more flexible GUI without design having to be clunky. As well as this, we've had the addition of scriptable Memo widgets. This basically involved exporting already existing code into scripting functions - an obvious example of the Memo widget can be seen within MTA's console.
eAi and ChrML have been working on a wide range of tasks. Generally we've seen fixes to the resource system, XML file loading system, trains and other vehicle related bugs.
One thing that's been thoroughly fixed is radio. They work properly for all people inside the vehicle, without remote players affecting the status of it. This is something that was patched up for race, but had cropped again during DM. Now the radio works smoothly. Don't expect radio to be synced between players though - because it's not
.Most notably, however, we've seen major work on MTA's streamer. Just incase you don't know what the streamer is - it basically "streams in" elements when a player gets close to it. This way, you can increase the number of elements that can be created. It is now much more reliable, and has pushed the maximum number of elements. Unfortunately, this does not necessarily mean an object limit increase. Nevertheless, we successfully loaded a resource containing thousands of vehicles placed across San Andreas, with no noticeable problems.
Jax and Kevuwk have also been working on general areas. Recently Kevuwk added the ability to start a resource with restricted access. This means that you can start a resource and disable it scripts, or its XML files etc. This should provide extra security for admins when starting untrustworthy resources. He also enhanced the general structure of scripting by adding more "hidden variables" (this will be clearer when documentation is released). Jax in the meantime added some extra protection against outdated packets, and vehicle entering and exiting packets. He's also fixed a number of crashes, while also ensuring scripted vehicle warping functions properly.
I'd also like to use this opportunity to clarify what's going on with gamepads. We understand that many people use gamepads, and that disabling gamepad input will be a problem for them. The problem, however, is not that we disabled gamepads. The fact that "Mouse + Keyboard" is forced does not mean gamepads are disabled; this merely tells GTA to forcefully turn off the joypad style controls system that is carried forward from the PS2/XBOX versions (if you've ever played PC GTA3 or VC, this is referred to as "Classic Controls") - joypad still works in this mode. The problem lies in the fact that MTA has completely overhauled the GTA controls system by providing its own: this means scripting is much more "tapped in" to the GTA controls, and gives resources much more power over what players can and can't do.
The drawback of this is, that joypad support for MTA's own control system has not been implemented yet - it's something that the team endeavour to resolve. We apologise in advance for the problems this may cause, but at this time we're aiming to get DM out the door, then sort out issues with gamepads. I can reassure all of you that it is a top priority for the team aside from bugs.
Its been a great week, and I hope that explains to you some of the stuff that's going on.
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samson
Reply #60 on : Sat November 17, 2007, 01:51:03
Solidk9
Reply #59 on : Sat November 17, 2007, 01:56:29
Hax
Reply #58 on : Sat November 17, 2007, 02:31:23
Orale
Reply #57 on : Sat November 17, 2007, 03:33:18
alwSmokE
Reply #56 on : Sat November 17, 2007, 03:55:02
[DRuG]NikT
Reply #55 on : Sat November 17, 2007, 04:17:47
Xirtam
Reply #54 on : Sat November 17, 2007, 06:29:56
Saiyaman
Reply #53 on : Sat November 17, 2007, 06:50:13
MD_Reptile
Reply #52 on : Sat November 17, 2007, 07:35:33
Reply #61 on : Sat November 17, 2007, 01:39:14