Niemand

Indeed, this is a very important aspect. I will also make an effort to tidy up the editor website and get the documentation up to date. (So if I don't show progress on this, you guys need to yell at me.) Related to this, at some point in the past I wrote up a carefully researched history of the editor, which I can now no longer find. Since it is now much harder to recreate the research, if anyone could locate that and point me to it I would be very gratefully.

Sorry about the screwup with regard to PPC support, everyone. It should be fixed now. Those of you on Intel machines may or may not get an odd update suggestion to what's apparently the same version; whether you choose to install it or skip it should be irrelevant, since it will work the same either way. For PowerPC users: If you hadn't yet updated, you should now be able to do so from within the application or manually and things will be fine. Unfortunately, if you already updated you'll need to download the fixed version manually, since the version you got stuck with can't be run. (Again, sorry!) This was something that could have been caught by testing, but I was in a bit too much of a hurry yesterday. In my defense, the lack of PPC support appears to have arisen spontaneously from an oddity in XCode's backwards compatibility with its own old project formats, as can be seen (for those curious and technically inclined) from the results of running: Code: svn diff -c 71 http://svn.hallsofchaos.net/3D_BoA_Editor_Mac/trunk/3D%20Editor/3D%20BoA%20Editor.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj A final disclaimer: I haven't actually tested this time either, since I'm at work without access to a PPC Mac. However, the new version shows up as a Universal binary in the Finder now, so hopefully I got it right.

No it doesn't; it would have to be spelled 'themnge' or something for that to be true.

Yes, I'm ahead of you in that I've already collected the screenshots. I just haven't picked out the good ones and put them up yet.

Originally Posted By: Duck Is the update for Intel Macs only? I downloaded it, but it's not running on my computer (PowerPC). It's certainly not supposed to be; later tonight I'll test it out on a PPC machine.

A new version of the 3D Editor for the Macintosh is out! If you have the previous version you can get the update using the 'Check for Updates' item in the application menu, and otherwise you can find it on the standard downloads page. Changes in this update include: A new multi-window interface, which splits off the tools and palettes and allows the main window to be resized The tools have been grouped into categories Signs and waypoints are now selectable Many things now have tooltips (You may not know (I didn't) that by holding command while a tooltip is displayed, you can view a longer form of the information, if available.) Thanks to Tridash for his considerable help in bringing this release about!

Okay then, let's try for tonight at around 8 p.m. Central Time (UTC time Monday, September 12, 2011 at 01:00) in chatroom 'blades'. We can at least start the discussion, which will likely need to be continued later.

Jeff uses Macs primarily, and as a result of his good Mac support about half of the people attracted here are primarily Mac users as well.

Originally Posted By: Slartucker The problem is that nobody has ever made it available in an easy-to-use (i.e., platform-specific executable) and easy-to-get (i.e., one click to download, well advertised) form. That's not really true, I was wondering about this for other reasons yesterday and found the downloads in only a couple of steps: BoE Forum Header -> Google Code Page -> Downloads. I clicked on the download labeled as being for my OS, downloaded it and ran it. It may not be very thoroughly advertised, but I'm not sure how else that should be done. Maybe a direct link to the downloads page from the BoE Forum Header? That would still only cut out one step. There are also a few extra things on the downloads page that aren't what most people will want, but it's not hard to figure out from the labeling.

We've discussed many times before asking Jeff to release the BoA source code, and with Avadon out and Jeff working on his rewrite of the original Avernum Trilogy now looks like a good time to tackle this seriously. I propose that we meet on AIM to organize and discuss our plans. People whose involvement would be particularly valuable (in my estimation): People who have had significant involvement in open-source development based on other code released by Jeff, such as Celtic Minstrel and Tridash. People who have done a lot of designing, like Lazarus, Kelandon, and Ephesos. As many users of the game, particularly designers, as possible. With regards to scheduling: I would very much like to be present, but I realize that my contribution isn't strictly necessary. Unfortunately, I have work until 6 p.m. (Central Time) on week days, and from September 17-24 I will be traveling for work, and will almost certainly be unable to be around online for any substantial period of time. One possibility would be to do this tonight or tomorrow, despite the short notice. This isn't totally crazy, since we may very well need to discuss multiple times, and we can deal with not everyone being able to attend every chat.

Originally Posted By: Enraged Slith Have fun in college, when this sort of thing is the standard and there's zero flexibility. How have you got that figured? Universities allow much more flexibility in my experience, such as not even enforcing prerequesites for classes. The way I've seen it, you can sign up for (approximately) whatever classes you want and then it's your job to pass them. This is, however, distinct from the requirements for a particular program or degree, which do often require taking particular classes which are less than fun. Maybe this is what you meant.

He's at the top of the top posters list, looking for pedestrians to snipe. Where else would he be?

In your heart of hearts, you know that it is Tuesday. 1. In order to jump from the top of the river, you must secure a permit. The clerk is unimpressed by your pleas concerning your hopes, dreams, and aspirations. He explains that it will take six weeks for the forms to be processed, that you do not have enough bribe money, that one of your grandfathers was a polar bear, and that you are a member of the party, and this activity is forbidden to party members without authorization from the central commissioner for peoples' efficiency. How can you win through the red tape to accomplish your goal? a. Explain that 'advisor' is just a fancy word for shoe b. Expound about how you glorious adventure will push the bounds of human knowledge c. Pretend to break down and cry, then knife the clerk and fill out the forms yourself d. Pretend to go insane and threaten to eat the desk unless your request is processed e. Stage a commando raid and steal the necessary forms in the dark of night 2. Barbarian Olaf demands tribute in the form of dollies. Unfortunately, you have none, and all of the toy stores are empty after the St. Swithen's day sales. What can you give the barbarian instead to placate him? a. Wigs, for the vain sort of barbarian b. Carrots, for the nutrition-conscious sort of barbarian c. Gift cards to barber shops, for the shaggy sort of barbarian d. A tractor, for the sort of barbarian who's always wanted to be a farmer e. Digital clocks, for the perpetually late sort of barbarian 3. Your clam has been clam-jacked. The clam-jackers laugh derisively at you as they speed away. What can you do to give vent to your blinding rage? a. Cry a lament and end your suffering with a fatal dose of SPAM™ b. Cackle madly and activate the clam's self-destruct charges c. Shrug and buy a new clam with even more chrome from the dealership d. Devote the rest of your life to hunting down and spitting on the clam-jackers e. Devise a new engineering breakthrough which renders all clams obsolete 4. You have caught George attempting to cross the Rubicon. What should you do with him? a. Charge him with an offense of the 8th magnitude b. Throw him to the clams, so that he dies a slow and boring death c. Hurl skyscrapers at him, if you can manage to lift any d. Pretend you don't see him, and hope that he goes away e. Draw your Atomic Blast Clobbering Decimator™ and do your level best kill him 5. Your clam trap is almost complete. Only one component is missing to make it inescapably deadly. What do you still need? a. All new Super-Glo Ultra Polyphosphate Paste™ b. Electro-spikes c. More gizmos with hyphenated names d. The Lutz diagram e. A dutch made transmission 6. The malodaxian raiders are lost. You have been dispatched to resupply them with rum and bananas, and must find them before it is too late. Where should you begin your search? a. The lofty heights b. The gloominous caves c. The fetid swamps d. The vaults of dusty records e. The briny seas f. The local ice-cream shop g. The mysterious dunes h. The abandoned industrial park i. The suspicious gardens 7. You have come down with the blight and are now unable to differentiate between shrubs and bushes. The lampshade factory lies deep in the dark forest, and no man has seen it for the last two weeks. Unfortunately, the quilting tournament finals are being held there in only five minutes, and you can't afford to lose. How can you get there in time? a. Attempt the ritual of teleportation at the new temple b. Hire a friendly native guide to lead you c. Shape-shift into a tree to pass unnoticed through the forest d. Contact the knights hospitallars for assistance e. Try to burn down the forest so you can see where you're going 8. The battle of Thimbleford is going poorly for you; for the last two hours your army has been being pushed back. However, you've spotted a weakness in the enemy lines (between the bakery and the Klunkenfeldt's Realty building) that may enable you to win. Which of your units do you send into the key position? a. The Insufficiently Loyal 17th Pikemen b. The 9th Dysfunctional Cavalry Brigade c. The 12th Whiny Infantry d. The 6th Elite Pastry Chefs e. The 10th Off-Key Marching Band 9. Your snare drum has acquired a mind of its own (likely on the black market) and is trying to bite you. It has already devoured your drumsticks. You cannot escape from the tiny shack you are in because it is surrounded by snow—and you know what lurks in snow. The only items close to hand are your bedsheets, a broken pencil sharpener, an out-of-date telephone book, twelve gallons of glycerol in several jugs, and your notes for your new novel ("The Small, Wooden Emperor"). How can you calm down the drum so that you can get back to work? 10. You must steal the formula for your rival company's pyrochemical baking fluid. You are outfitted with super advanced equipment, consisting of a vector force rifle that you aren't sure how to use, a laser rangefinder accurate to picometers, three dimensional maps of the moons of Saturn, a state-of-the-art gorilla detector, clothing that blends in invisibly in the tundra, and a backpack with twelve pockets and nineteen zippers. The security guards in the lab have been warned that burglars may be coming, and they have called in robotic samurais for backup. The building computer has been programmed to detect intruders by smell and vaporize them without warning. In addition the recipe is kept in a safe armored and shielded with handwavium, which is impervious to all known methods of break-in. How do you complete your mission? B. Speculate on the correlation between clams and trademark symbols. In your answer, do not refer to animals, words beginning with the letter 'c', vehicles, money making enterprises, or legal systems. I meant to get this posted yesterday but forgot. Therefore, you will have until the sky melts and runs, the birds cry for justice, or I decide that the rate of answers has declined sufficiently to finish.

Originally Posted By: Triumph If exploding turnips are worth three kilotons, how much mousse would moose and squirrel sequester when he who is one is none? Since exploding turnips are worth 3e6 kg, and since the moose is much closer to one ton in mass than the squirrel, the moose is none and the squirrel has a net worth of 3.33e-8 exploding turnips (for a squirrel mass of .1 kg). Assuming a mousse density of 2e3 kg/m^3 (2 tons per cubic meter), the cost of mousse is 6.67e-4 exploding turnips per cubic meter, and so the squirrel can simplistically afford 5e-5 m^3 of mousse, or 50 mL. If, however, the moose and squirrel have all year to prepare for winter, they can greatly increase their stockpile by growing and harvesting turnips during the summer. Assuming that the turnips are Congolese (rather than Mongolian), they should grow to maturity in about 10^-8 seconds and produce exactly 8 seeds. The period of the cycle is therefore dominated by the time required for planting and harvesting. If we assume that the moose and squirrel live in an area with a growing season of (pi/2)*10^6 s=1.57e6 s, can plant a turnip seed in 10 seconds, and can harvest a turnip in 100 seconds, a cycle with n turnips is completed in 110*n seconds and increases the number of turnips by a factor of 8. The initial condition is then 3.33e-8 turnips. I compute that 14 harvests could be completed, yielding a final crop of 18325.2 turnips. This, in turn, is sufficient to buy 2.75e7 m^3 of mousse. (Note that I have not taken into account here that some number of turnips would have to be spent to build the storage facilities for the mousse.) EDIT: This reminds me of something I'll have to do tomorrow. I'll give you 6 and a half guesses what. (If you try to take any more guesses I will have to develop a suitable punishment. I'm thinking a curse on your ancestors for seven generations into the past.)

Originally Posted By: AethirWeb Blades of Avernum II Jeff has sworn never to make it. Originally Posted By: AethirWeb so ikinda think the current engine is kinda crappy as it uses the first trilogy's engine Some of us like the older engine! It does, however, have it's (noticeable) failings. Originally Posted By: AethirWeb it was really difficult for me to use cause it seem to be all drag mouse, did you know I actually lost track of time trying to open a door and found o wasted an hour of my life? I have no idea what you mean by something 'being drag mouse', but that engine does have a much more keyboard-oriented user interface (which is one of the things I like best about it). As for doors being a problem, now that you point it out I do see that there's nothing inherently obvious about it, and when I first played A2 it took me a similar length of time to figure out how to hit enemies in combat (when I finally read the manual the information turned out to be clearly stated). Doors, oddly, I figured out without noticing I'd done so. EDIT: Originally Posted By: Student of Trinity Blades of Avernum was already something of a nightmare. It took Jeff a lot of time to make, I understand it's frustratingly buggy, and even apart from the bugs it's much harder for a user to just get into it and get going making their own games. There's a lot of boring stuff you have to fuss with. Presumably because of this, BoA sold quite poorly. Jeff swore, Never again. I would argue that it's not actually very buggy. The main source of frustration is the the game engine hints tantalizingly at how, with just a small amount of extension, it could do so much more. Jeff simply couldn't sink anymore time into it than he already had, I suspect, so it ended up with some possible features being left just out of reach.

Originally Posted By: Goldenking The fact that they can manage automation at all is a triumph. I agree; setting up machines to accomplish repetitive tasks is something very few animals achieve.

Originally Posted By: Trenton But the south west us borders the pacific! how can they not have much water? Also, ocean water isn't directly very useful to humans or their crops, due to its salinity. One can desalinate seawater, but it takes a substantial amount of energy.

Originally Posted By: Trenton I heard that the gravity cuts all the stuff up and strings it into the black hole. It sounds like you're thinking of spaghettification, which is the stretching of objects close to a black hole due to the differing gravitational force on the near and far side of the object. (This actually happens near any gravity well, but the effects are much more noticeable for black holes since other objects can be brought closer to them.)

Originally Posted By: The Ratt I can't seem to find a picture editor that inverts on mac. At least paintbrush, iPhoto, and HP photo edit, don't do it. I use Acorn, which costs money but has a generous demo. There's also Seashore, which is free. (I just glanced at Seashore's website, and it looks like it may have evolved a lot since the last time I looked, which was probably three or four years ago.) Originally Posted By: Goldenking What do you mean, program? Everyone has been doing it by hand. I like to do this when I'm not in a hurry. Imagining what the colors will look like based on the hex values, working out the PNG encoding by hand. . . it's really just a relaxing way to spend time.

Originally Posted By: Necris Omega Buuuuuuut... Matter in and of itself, specifically subatomic particles, has a predicted limited lifespan, even if the numbers involved are so huge their scientific notation needs scientific notation. So, theoretically, all black holes will at some point cease to be along with everything else that exists... Not really; electrons (and positrons) and neutrinos are stable because there's literally nothing lighter that they can decay to (as far as we know). Protons are may well be completely stable as well, so you should expect there to be some matter around all the time, even if it gets arbitrarily sparse. Originally Posted By: Necris Omega HOWEVER, as Black Holes are defined as a gravitational singularity, a point in which the laws of math no longer apply, absolutely all bets are off as even 2+2="Squished into Oblivion" when Black Holes are involved. So... no one knows and no one can know. I'll admit to knowing virtually nothing about GR, but the people who do know something about it say that they can make useful predictions. I think that the trick of it may be that you don't need to calculate anything at the singularity, but rather at at the event horizon, where physics is perfectly consistent, if strange.

Originally Posted By: Trenton I thought all black holes were microscopic as quoted many times before in all the space books I read, "after the huge star blows, the remaining gravity shrinks to the size OF THE HEAD OF A PIN and becomes a black hole" It depends on what you mean by microscopic, and I was a bit vague. I was referring to the mass of the black hole, and comparing it to the masses of things which are microscopic, as opposed to the masses of things which are not microscopic, like stars. The size (in the sense of radius or volume) of the singularity at the center of the black hole is, of course, always zero (unless we're talking about the radius of a ring singularity, which still has zero volume). The event horizon of the black hole (being the boundary within which even light is trapped) is larger for black holes with larger masses. For a super-massive black hole, like those in the centers of many galaxies it can be as large or larger than the radius of the Earth's orbit around the sun. Originally Posted By: AethirWeb Has anyone wondered if the universe comes with the big bang, then all of it is consumed by a black hole but the black hole can't handle that mass so it big bangs Not sure quite what you mean here, or if this was meant as a joke, but the point of a black hole is that it is what happens when space can't handle all the mass that's packed into it.

Originally Posted By: Master1 How does a black hole become dormant? Last I knew the gravitational effects of a black hole were pretty much constant. Originally Posted By: Trenton [information about black hole evaporation] Originally Posted By: Sylae Not being an astrophysicist, I may be full of pookey, but a black hole is just a very incredibly dense chunk of matter that is so dense its gravitational pull sucks in electromagnetic waves (light). Therefore, since they are made of matter they behave as matter. Which means it doesn't magically disappear. And since there's no nuclear stuff going on (right?) then that matter is not being converted. It looks like people have conflated two things here: becoming dormant and ceasing to exist. Black Holes can do both, for a reasonable interpretation of dormancy. Specifically, black holes are very noticeable and make a big mess when matter is falling into them (because some of the matter and energy miss and escape), but if you don't feed a black hole it just sits very quietly, since it doesn't radiate (in any normal way). As Trenton found via Google, Black Holes do radiate very slightly, emitting what is called Hawking Radiation. Since this mechanism takes energy away, it will eventually cause the black hole to evaporate. As noted, this is a very slow process for black holes with macroscopic masses. (Since the rate of radiation is inversely proptional to the black hole's mass, microscopic black holes can atually dissolve quite rapidly.)

Originally Posted By: Tyranicus How odd. I had an early 2006 model MacBook Pro, which had the same basic structural design as yours, and never had a problem with overheating. I have two friends with early 2008 models, the last of the old design, and they haven't had issues either. I would certainly imagine that I would have heard more about this if it were a widespread issue. To the best of my knowledge the only known defect on that model was a problem with the GPU. I also have an early 2008 MBP, and while I've had one of the internal fans wear out twice, I've never had problems with overheating, even when I was down to only one fan temporarily. One of my officemates claims that this model is doomed to melt itself if third party software isn't used to run the fans faster than normal, and I've ignored him.

Slarty appears to have done something fancy, since I can't reproduce the colors in his avatar with a simple hue rotation from the original. EDIT: Ha, now I have something (slightly) fancy, too.

Originally Posted By: Death Knight Can anyone give me the numbers that you get from assassination skill. I don't believe anyone has studied this yet. I'm also not sure what you mean by your second-to last sentence.