Niemand

It shouldn't be a DNS issue; it's not like Spiderweb's site moved. It's just regular browser caching of page content that seems to be getting everyone. (I wonder if Jeff has some settings, intentionally or unintentionally, in his web server setup that are telling browsers to cache over-aggresively, since a lot of people had problems with this.)

Quote: Unfortunately key "J" doesn't open the Journal. That would be quite convenient. Especially, as other shortcuts have been installed. And I can't help it. Some of the skill-trees remind me a weeeeee bit of DAO… I think that you can fix that in the preferences, Jeff was actually rather thorough about allowing keyboard shortcuts to be remapped. This is also a good thing since it makes it possible to eliminate his attempts to use the function keys which I can't believe got through beta testing (the default quicksave shortcut literally doesn't work on my keyboard due to trying to use the key zealously claimed by Exposé). For myself, I only had time to play for a few minutes last night, but a few things already seem clear: -I like the visual style. It looks unified and consistent as far as I've yet seen. -I'm having real trouble (in the sense of annoyance) with the inability to use the keyboard for the primary activities in playing the game, namely walking and attacking. I can appreciate that other people want to use the mouse for these but I don't, particularly when nearly everything more minor in the game seems to still be set up to be pretty keyboard friendly.

Just to note: It looks like there's a parenthesis missing in Kel's replacement code: "if (char_ok(i)" should be "if (char_ok(i))".

It's pretty good, although the backgrounds of the logos clash somewhat with the rest of the background. However, it serves to illustrate a big part of why we don't allow image signatures: For my browser settings and browser window size at least, your image is taller than any of the posts in this thread. Now imagine what would happen if each person used an image up to this size. The length of each page of posts could be nearly doubled, solely by adding repetitive but brightly colored and distracting pictures. This would make it harder to just scan down a thread reading the content of the post, which in theory are the useful stuff we're all here to see. Signatures have good uses, particularly for making people's posts more unique an identifiable, but identifying the poster is, I would argue, secondary to seeing what the poster has posted. It is of course also possible to abuse the ability to have a text signature, for example by adding a lot of linebreaks and wasting space, but we mostly rely on people being sensible and polite about this.

Take a look at the Avernum 6 page. Note that some of the download links are to addresses which use the ftp scheme, rather than http. If one were to remove the last component in the paths of these URLs (Avernum6Demo.extension), one would have a URL referring to a directory by means of FTP. It's not hard to guess that this is the same directory into which Jeff will be placing AvadonDemo.extension, or similar, when the time comes. Editing URLs by hand to get into things for which one does not have a direct link is a basic internet skill! Indeed, it should be cultivated as an instinct. I would, however, advise restraint. Jeff's server doesn't need to be hammered with extra connections. When the game appears, you'll no doubt hear about it.

Considering the complaints that it's too hard to write scripts for BoA, telling people designers that they have all the power and complexity of C/C++ with which to shoot themselves in the feet is an excellent idea. (Bonus points for having arbitrary numbers of different versions of the game running around, whose subtle differences may not be well documented at all, and which may not have been properly neutered to prevent them from loading scenarios intended for other versions!)

The end of February thing is a rough estimate from Jeff, who will (implicitly) formally announce the release date on the date of the release by releasing game (formally). In other words, it is standard practice for Spiderweb to release a game without a prior declared (concrete) release date. As for drumming up excitement, the vague release date seems to be working pretty well. It may not ever quite build up to a fever pitch in the couple of days or several hours before the release (since no one but he knows with certainty when those are), but that wouldn't necessarily help get him any additional customers.

That's hardly a case of advertising the game without working on it; it's a case of working very hard but never quite finishing.

I agree with Dikiyoba; I've never been able to get very excited about looking at the sky. Particularly with the unaided eyes, it just looks like dots, and even the pictures from big telescopes rarely seem all that interesting to me since they're just static pictures which rarely capture the important details visibly. I do, however, find it fascinating to image the objects and processes, which is part of why I work in (particle)astrophysics.

I agree with Celtic Minstrel; this is at least not something which should be advertised as a feature. Users should not have to mess with the internals of the program, and in this case there isn't any strong reason for it anyway.

But Goethe's version of Faust is two books!

Apple's retail price for Snow leopard is $29, so indeed you won't be out much if you decide to try it but don't find it useful. Also, when Apple says that an Intel processor is required, they really mean an x86 processor, as opposed to one of the PowerPC processors such as older Macs contain. AMD's x86 processors are largely the same as Intel's from a user perspective, so as long as it's a relatively new model I'd guess that it won't be an issue. I took a quick look on google for descriptions of installing Mac OS under Virtual Box, and I saw a lot of articles that looked like they went into pretty thorough detail. You would have to look at them yourself to judge whether they look like stuff you would be comfortable carrying out and then decide whether the end result would be worth the effort. (I would think so, but that's why I got a Mac in the first place. )

Originally Posted By: The Mystic Originally Posted By: AaronC how difficult is it to install/dual boot whatever Mac onto a PC? I'd like to know that. Ever since I learned how to run virtual computers in VirtualBox and the like, I've been sort of collecting operating systems to experiment with. It's doable, but unfortunately since Apple's business is largely predicated on making money from selling hardware they really aren't fond of people using their software on other hardware. In particular, as I understand it, things like drivers can become serious issues, or at least annoyances, since Mac OS expects to be run on a relatively narrow spectrum of equipment. I don't have any experience with any of this, though.

Unfortunately the Windows version of the game is a good deal more fragile, and will crash in some cases on things which are only errors (or may even not be errors) in the Mac version. With enough work it should be possible to track down which of the code in that cutscene sequence triggers the crash, but it will be significantly harder for anyone who isn't Kelandon to do. If Kelandon doesn't have the time or interest to work on this (it is possible that he just hasn't noticed this thread, though; maybe someone should PM him), I could try to look at it. Chai, I assume that you have a savefile at the point right before this, so if you want email me a copy of it (to niemandcwATgmailDOTcom) and I'll see if I can figure anything out. (I assume that you're playing the latest version of Exodus, 1.1.0?)

The end of February or so, I believe, yes.

(Blades of) Avernum has (effectively) no stat limits.

In 2004 I beleive that BoA would have just been released, and so it had only the Spiderweb scenarios, plus one or two player made scenarios. There are definitely enough BoA scnearios now to keep you busy for a good period of time, although there are still far fewer than there are for BoE. My personal preference is for BoA: It matches the original Avernum trilogy look and feel that was my first exposure to Spiderweb's games, and in a number of ways its interface is significantly more mature and polished than the older BoE. I've tried playing BoE on several occasions and have always given up because I can't stand things like its dialog system. Advantages for BoE: -It is free -There are many scenarios, a number of which are considered quite highly quality. -Making scenarios for it is reputed to be much easier, simply because there aren't as many details and different components to worry about. -Since it is open source a few people around here are making efforts to improve it; fixing bugs and adding some new features. -In terms of gameplay it offers a somewhat wider variety of features (things like a larger list of spells and mechanics like dual weilding and weapon poisoning). Disadvantes of BoE: -The game engine is fundamentally rather old, although the community has been making efforts to patch it up. -The game has some rather. . . idiosyncratic aspects, like its dialog system and overall graphical look. Some people swear by these things and others hate them. -There is very little activity among designers and players Advantages for BoA: -The game engine has a number of fundamental improvements like a completely different dialog system. -The graphics are in a newer, isometric style. -Although still limited in many ways, the game gives designers a good deal of additional freedom to control how their scenarios work. (There are also a number of tools to help designers design, a good chunk of which are maintained by, well, me.) Disadvantages for BoA: -The game is closed source and Spiderweb is not interested in spending effort to fix bugs, so the non-trivial number of bugs it has remain. (This is mainly a concern for designers, rather than players, but still.) -Some people vehemently disapprove of its graphical style (shared with A1-A3). -Some aspects of gameplay are a bit simplified from BoE (smaller list of spells, no dual weilding, etc.). -There are fewer scenarios, although there are still a substantial number which are worth playing. -Activity among designers and players is higher than BoE, but still not high. My recommendations: BoE is free, so just try it out. The demo for BoA is free (although it unfortunately allows access to only one scenario), so you might as well take another look at it to decide whether you want more in a similar vein.

Fixed. Somewhat sloppily, but fixed.

It's not quite as simple as that. The contention is more that Richard White transcends the ordinary flow of time, and this rubs off on things which come into his metaphorical orbit.

It may not be Tyrannosaurus Hero, but there is Treadmillasaurus Rex.

Quote: I'm pretty sure that 2 seconds before the the end of the world from whatever is too late. I'm not familiar with the world from whatever. Is it a planet which has arrived in our area from a place known as 'whatever', or is it perhaps the setting of a piece of fiction entitled 'whatever'? Is it known to have ended, or to be going to end, at some particular time?

I had an old ballistics simulation program laying around that I'd written several years ago, so out of curiosity I plugged some numbers into it to see what it would say. I vaguely recall that it fairly accurately predicted the range of a friend's .22 rifle when fired horizontally, but it uses a very simplified method which includes no real aerodynamics. At any rate, for a 4 gram bullet, 5.7 mm in radius, fired straight up with a muzzle velocity of 940 m/s (a set of numbers pulled from wikipedia), and assuming a drag coefficient of .295 (claimed somewhere I found to be roughly correct for a bullet shape) I get the results that it should be in flight for just under 25 seconds, achieve a maximum altitude of about 660 meters, and impact with a speed of a bit more than 45 m/s. To see how the results would vary I tried a drag coefficient of .2, which gave a fight time of about 28 seconds, maximum altitude of about 920 meters, and an impact speed of over 55 m/s. Using the original drag coefficient but a muzzle velocity of 1200 m/s gave a fight time of about 26 seconds, maximum altitude of about 740 meters, and an impact speed of about 47 m/s If these numbers are to be believed (which I won't go so far as to claim) it's hard to make a bullet stay in the air for a minute unless you have a really high-powered gun. One effect that I definitely neglected which could make a substantial different is that I'm guessing a bullet will most likely start tumbling at some point, which would alter its aerodynamics a lot. However, twenty to thirty seconds is still a good deal of time to be deflected by a significant wind.

No sane person will object to you calling numeric_limits<vector<T>::size_type>::max() unlimited, I think. It might be reasonable to limit it to the number of spaces in a town, but once you go to dynamic allocation the great thing is that you don't need to make a big deal out of picking arbitrary limits.

All diagnostic messages from the grading simulation have been run through our new de-symbolicator system, which is designed to render abstract concepts into plain english. Several of us at the lab were a bit disturbed by the overall tone of the results, but we concluded that it was just due to our recently acquired irrational fear of our creations rising up to overthrow us. Luckily, we have devised a new medication which completely supresses this response, and a number of our projects involving tampering with secrets man was not meant to know are starting to make some serious headway. Triumph Click to reveal.. 1. .5 2. 0 3. 0 4. 0 5. .5 6. 0 7. 1 8. .288 9. .739 10. .6920000000000157 B. .21 + .46*i Total: 3.9290000000000157 + .46*i Student of Trinity Click to reveal.. 1. .5 2. 0 3. 0 (#Note: No.) 4. .5 (#Note: The world government would like to remind you that if it were not for the courageous hero who founded the world government you would all have been destroyed by the coming of the clams.) 5. 0 (#Note: Die, rebel scum.) 6. 0 (#Note: If you had shown up at last week's Illuminati meeting you would have known this already.) 7. 0 8. .4 9. 0 (#Note: To reiterate, if you had come to the meeting we would have explained this in detail.) 10. 0 (#Note: All is not lost until plan Lamppost-6 is concluded.) B. 0 (#Note: That is an altogether improper attitude for a member of the illustrious Bavarian Illuminati.) Total: 1.4 The Mystic Click to reveal.. 1. .5 2. 0 3. 1 (#Note: Only the clam can unlock true enlightenment.) 4. 1 5. .5 6. 0 7. 0 8. .9223 (#Note: See ISO Standard 361.) 9. .806 10. .621 B. 0 (#Error: That's what you think.) Total: 5.3493 Mod. Click to reveal.. 1. .5 2. 0 3. 0 4. 0 (#Note: It is true that Edgar can prepare neither fish nor pie. He is a very poor cook.) 5. .5 6. 0 7. .5 (#Error: One answer should be sufficient for anyone.) 8. .576 (#Note: See ISO Standard 216) 9. .399 (#Warning: Due your dental floss addiction, your sense of smell has been dulled and you have not been properly replenishing your cologne levels.) 10. .101 (#Note: Excellent use of prefixing.) B. .013 (#Error: What is this 'Alt' you speak of?) Total: 2.589 RCCCL Click to reveal.. 1. .5 (#Note: It is inadvisable to call the agents of the F.B.A.Q. cute as they consider themselves extremely serious and dignified. Or did you mean the bats? The bats are cute.) 2. 0 (#Warning: Utilization of the goat keeping precedent will require you to keep at least five(5) live goats on your person at all times.) 3. 0 (#Warning: Green earmuffs are not in this season.) 4. 0 5. 0 (#Note: Die, rebel scum.) 6. 1 7. 0 8. 0 (#Note: A number of important historical figures, including Joseph Raymond McCarthy, Robert E. Hogan, and Caratacus.) 9. 0 (#Note: Is is inadvisable to contemplate the number eight.) 10. 0 (#Note: Is is inadvisable to torch (set fire to) the factory.) B. .144.235.1232..2..32342.342.23GGGGGGGGG (#Error: This value cannot be meaningfully computed due to a temporal loopback.) Total: Undefined Dikiyoba Click to reveal.. 1. 0 (#Note: While cute, the bats are completely incapable of learning to operate a thermostat.) 2. 0 (#Note: Coffee is not permitted in the court (precluding option e as well).) 3. 0 (#Note: That sort of attitude is not appreciated.) 4. 0 (#Note: Lemon meringue sticks are too sticky for use in this context.) 5. 0 (#Note: Your loyalty is commendable, but your plan is somewhat far-fetched. Do you seriously beleive that ladybugs eat?) 6. 0 (#Note: The Slime-Lord is an expert on all viscous liquids. He will see through this ruse instantly.) 7. 0 (#Note: Despite correct identification of the origin of the promt, you have not determined the correct counter-invocation.) 8. 0 (#Error: There was no option 'c' defined in this question.) 9. 0 (#Error: Just what do you think this is? The multiple choice section was at the beginning of the test.) 10. 0 (#Note: This is actually a viable plan, but according to F.B.A.Q. directive 688 using a non-zero value in this context would incur a minimum fine of twelve obelisks.) B. 0 (#Note: The vacuum cleaner mines are emphatically not silent.) Total: 0 On the whole I thought that everyone did a fairly good job this time around. For next time, everyone should read chapter 96 of the textbook. Be sure to both read it normally and by decrypting it using the cipher discussed at the last Illuminati meeting.

I think I may have found the problem: In a couple of places, inside functions in that file, there are line like: Code: void load_outdoor(); That is, forward declarations for a function named load_outdoor which takes no parameters. If your compiler were to decide somehow that this is the version of load_outdoor being called at points later in those functions, it would complain that there are too many arguments being passed. (What isn't clear to me is why it would make this choice; I don't have a very thorough understanding of the overload resolution rules, but I would have assumed that both declarations would be considered in scope and that the one with formal argument types matching the actual argument types would be selected. Possibly the rules for local function declarations are stranger than I thought, which seems more likely given that the existence of local declarations when local definitions are forbidden is weird to begin with.) At any rate, try locating the lines like the one above and deleting them. They look like they were at best useless, and at worst a fatal error, and I can't figure out why they were ever there in the first place.