Version 0.5.2
From VbGORE Visual Basic Online RPG Engine
Contents |
[edit] Downloads
All downloads contain the same files, just using different compression methods.
*.EXE - Self-installing file (12.2 MB)
*.ZIP - Compressed with WinZip (12.8 MB)
*.RAR - Compressed with WinRAR (10.4 MB)
*.7z - Compressed with 7Zip (11.0 MB)
Library Files (Not required for EXE users) (1.04 MB)
[edit] Release Notes
Released on April 28, 2007
This version contains a few small fixes and a small progression on the player-to-player trading system, but still it remains unfinished. I had quite a lot of fun spending a few days studying and playing with compression algorithms, though, and added in support for calling command-line compression algorithms and waiting for the process to finish along with not displaying the DOS window. Some new and great compression algorithms were added. Along with that, made the File Processor tool which is going to be priceless for preparing your game for releases by mass-compressing/encrypting certain files. Also added two 3rd party tools that are wrappers for UPX (exe compression) and OptiPNG (PNG compression). The product of the compression is still in a readable format, just formatted differently. It is what to compressing BMP to PNG is, rather than to compressing BMP to ZIP.
[edit] Change Log
Add - UPX 3rd party tool: Added UPX to the 3rd party tools, which is a free, open-source EXE compression tool. The GUI is the exact same as the OptiPNG one, but for EXEs. The GUI forces the --brute parameter, which does the absolute best compression.
Add - Deflate64 compression: Added Deflate64 compression, which is an advanced version of Deflate. It functions like RLE compression by breaking down lines of repetition.
Change - Replace LZW encryption with LZMA: Replaced the LZW encryption because it was running too slow for my liking for what it did, even though it is still better than RLE and RLE_Looped. It was also crashing with certain file formats, which was quite unacceptable. LZMA will run faster and do around the same depth of compression, if not more. It uses the 7zip command-line compression to compress.
Add - PAQ8l compression: After playing with compressions for a few days, I grew quite attached to PAQ8l and decided to add it. It is a very slow, very powerful command-line compression. Because of its high RAM and CPU usage over a long period of time, it could never be used for anything in-game, but would work great for certain files passed to the updater. It can compress the 4 map files with vbGORE to almost 1/5th the size the built-in LZW compresses it to.
Fix - UpdateServer compression: Fixed the update server to properly compress the file list by passing the correct sized array to it. This fixes the constant crashing that can happen from it when trying to load it.
Add - OptiPNG 3rd party tool: Created a wrapper for the OptiPNG PNG Compressor command-line based compressor. What it does is a lossy compression on certain file extensions. The lossy compression, though, is a visual lossless. That is, data that is lost is unused data and does not at all affect the visual aspects of the files. By default, the compressor is run at the highest level of optimization. On the default vbGORE images, there was about a 37% file size reduction.
Change - NPCs on warps: Changed NPC's movement routine to not allow them to step on tiles with a warp map > 0. This helps prevent them from standing in places users normally can't stand in, such as doorways, and prevents them from blocking warps.
Fix - Mailing system: Fixed the mailing system to take away items properly when sending messages to another player who is currently online and on the same server.
Fix - Last clicked window having click priority: Fixed the mouse click algorithm to properly check for the last clicked window being clicked first.
Add - File processor tool: Added a file processing tool which allows you to define a location to look for files, then algorithms to perform on certain file extensions. It supports all of the encryption and compression vbGORE has. This makes it easy for you to compress or encrypt your files between releases such as if you want to compress all your PNG files in the \grh\ folder.
Fix - Mouse input capturing: Mouse input events will only happen on the game screen if the window is the active window. This is like how the keyboard input works currently.
Fix - Map editor set tile preview: Fixed the map editor's tile set preview to show in the correct place for non-32x32 Grhs by removing the centering. Thanks, Zapato!
