Phaser 2D release

[GaryB]

Hopefully more people will have access to the program without Common Controls mucking it up. I didn't get as much done as I'd like to have however.

http://gary.rockngames.com/phaser_index.htm

Phaser page now has a forum as well if you wanna post stuff there as well.

Comments and suggestions always welcome =) Especially more input would be great!

NEW FEATURES
--------------------------
* Campaign Merging - Now you can take other campaign characters and merge them into another one of your campaigns.

* Dice Roll Saving - Dice Rolls by default are saved to a roll database. You can turn this on and off and go back to rolls as you need.

* Conceptotron Expands - Generates more info, but is still not yet complete.

FIXES AND CHANGES
------------------------------
* Program no longer relies on the iffy MS Common Controls 6.0 which conflicted with anyone who had Common Controls 5.0.
* Changed the way dice rolling works to fit saving them
* Changed Skill Rolls to merge with the other rolls instead of having it's own space.
* Removed MCI.ocx, sound now runs off of DirectX

KNOWN BUGS
------------------------------
* Can't Merge anyone elses databases other than your own. Will work on this for E. See workaround below.
* Can't save rolls to notes. Will fix for E.
* Can't save concepts from Conceptotron. Will be in place for E.
* Switching campaigns is buggy. Dont do it while you are in the program. Just exit and restart for now to switch campaigns. WARNING: Using 'Switch Campaigns' can result in the loss of campaign data.

WORKAROUND FOR MERGING OTHER PEOPLE'S DATABASES
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Load Phaser and create a campaign with the same CODE FILE name (Campaign Name Doesn't matter).
2) After Loading this new campaign, close Phaser
3) Copy data files into \data directory.
4) Load Phaser and select the campaign. The data will show up.

MISSED FEATURES FROM D THAT WILL GO IN E
---------------------------------------------------------
* Remaining Hero Designer conversion. Completely forgot about it even though it was on my checklist.
* Conceptotron with more features and better layout. Taking suggestions!!

NEEDED
-----------------
* People to work on name and object files for the Conceptotron generators. This will help me greatly in completing the conceptotron and make it a decent tool for GMS

Need complete and seperate text files for the following types:

objects
colors
materials
place/location types
other misc adjectives
modern female first names
modern male first names
modern last names
modern titles
modern professions
fantasy female first names
fantasy male first names
fantasy last names
fantasy titles
fantasy professions
alien names
list of various disadvantages
skills lists (KS, AK, CuK, etc) for modern, fantasy and scifi (put each in a separate text file)

* Suggestions for various things one can do with concepts would be great. I can tool together something that I can easily use, but I'd rather have more public input.

In either case, you can help me out, make the program better for all and get your name in the credits for all to see.

[CdwJava]

Hmm ... I get the following error message when I unzip and try to run the program:

"Run time error '429'
ActiveX component can't create object"

Any suggestions?

- Carl

[GaryB]

I think the .dll I added for directsound may not be registered with windows and it would need to be.

Copy the DS8Wrapper.dll to your windows/system32 directory

Enter a command prompt and then make your way to the system32 directory(folder).

then type

regsvr32 DS8Wrapper.dll

OR

Just go to where you installed Phaser in a command prompt and type:

regsvr32 DS8Wrapper.dll

Basically I think the .dll is not registered with windows, so its unable to do anything with it. I will make a batch file for this tonight or tomorrow.

[tancred]

Gary, here's a trio of files for you: Modern Last Names, Male First Names, and Female First Names.
These are exports from the Access database for my own name generator, a little .NET program I tinkered up for fun.

Most of these modern names are those of real people, from news articles and such. Hope this will give you a start.

[GaryB]

First of all, thank you to tancred and starwolf! The contributions will be put to good use and you will be memorialized in the program. =)

Second, I think I am going to remove the DX8 wrapper in the next version and become un-lazy and write my own DX code ;P It will be one less thing to worry about.

And finally, been working a lot lately and haven't had much of a chance to play around with things. But I did get myself a new Dell Inspiron 2200 laptop today. Pretty much loving it, will be a good tool for my tabletop sessions.

Hope to hear more soon, despite the problems with .dll's and .ocx's =P

[tancred]

Ah, DLL Heck. One of the joys of Windows programming. :)

For my second act, here is a zip file of Archaic names; Last Names, and Male and Female First Names. Have fun!

[GaryB]

realized the correct way.

copy DS8Wrapper.dll to windows\system32

Run command from the run prompt

type

regsvr32 ds8wrapper.dll

All should be well.

Problem is, I dont use an installer, so crap like this will keep happening if I dont stop using DLL's and OCX's (without an installer anyway).

[CdwJava]

realized the correct way.

copy DS8Wrapper.dll to windows\system32

Run command from the run prompt

type

regsvr32 ds8wrapper.dll

All should be well.

I fumbled through and figured that one out from the original reply. Now it works like a charm! :bounce:

- Carl

[tancred]

snip
Problem is, I dont use an installer, so crap like this will keep happening if I dont stop using DLL's and OCX's (without an installer anyway).
Sadly, writing installers doesn't get any easier in .NET.
I tried to build one for my Name Generator program and failed miserably. I still haven't been able to figure out how to get the install program to install the .NET Framework, or the updated MDAC that my app needed to talk to Access 2000. Sigh.

Keep hacking! Hero Designer is wonderful, but we can use more good utilities to go with it.

[Starwolf]

Here's a list of colors :)

[devlin1]

Got it installed, fiddled with it, then got this right before it suddenly crashed:

"Runtime error: type mismatch"

[GaryB]

Explain 'fiddling' in detail if you can. ;)

[GaryB]

Phaser Alpha E coming soon. I have to undergo some major dental surgery today, but I may be able to squeeze in time for some development.

As always. Comments and suggestions welcome. =)

[Goldstar]

Gary,

Any chance you can add some Critical Exception Handling? As I move around an exlpore the functionality... I keep getting simple errors. Type Mismatch, Path Not Found etc. And then the program closes itself.

Maybe you can set it up to create a log. and then keep going.

Thanks.

Goldstar

[GaryB]

Log yes - Continue...hard to say. Problem is, if something fails depending on the function, it may cascase into other functions and never end. I'll work on it though. Time is limited.

Working slowly on E. =/

Possibly next week.

Thanks to people who sent me text files so far.


Still looking for more suggestions on what to add, change etc and comments are welcome. =)

[GaryB]

Sorry for the lack of updates:

2E /is/ in the works. Revamp of the old interface. Each section is now it's own window that you can open or close when needed.

Added things in such as:
Damage Calculator
Range Finder/Calculator
Combat Damage Record
Charts (easy to add in your own)

along with all the old features

Along with bug fixes and the dropping of Direct Sound, lots of other buggy systems were/are going to be fixed.

Die rolling is much more diverse. Allows for really crappy and really good rolls every so often. The old dice system usually averaged out a lot which was pointless. So the roller decides randomly to give high or low rolls now, along with the old average rolls. This of course is the limitation of RNG on computers, so you have to fake it sometimes to produce more realistic results.

And...of course, the completed conceptotron.

Coming out soon!