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Aliens vs. Predator Gold

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Reply 40 of 122, by Perth2008

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Errr, OK ... just thinking about your initial comments (again): is it possible that a new executable coupling your earlier ~2009 code fix (myavp.exe ???) with superior(?) rendering with the soundtrack fix would be a better position to be working forward from?

Just thinking out aloud, not really understanding how one writes code. I assume (which may be misguided) that you can borrow bits from your earlier work before changing rendering system and re-code the code?

Most likely a simple question to ask ... but not so simple in practical terms.

Anyway I'm off to sleep. Cheers,

Last edited by Perth2008 on 2013-01-14, 15:21. Edited 1 time in total.

Perth2008
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Reply 41 of 122, by sirlemonhead

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The old code is better in certain aspects, but i'm happier where things are now I guess. I'm tempted to change the current code to maybe do things half and half - render most of the level geometry the "new" way and maybe some of the screen based HUD effects the old way, as those are the ones that seemed to break badly after the changes.

I also had aimed to get the multiplayer working correctly. I had an old build years ago that did LAN play pretty well, but again, it got broken down the line as I was trying to get internet based play working correctly but didn't get around to finishing the code.

Reply 42 of 122, by Perth2008

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Well as we say ... "sounds like a plan".

We (meaning us old AVP Gold fans) look forward to the next iteration ... perhaps a good workman-like fix, based on the best bits of myavp and avpx as you suggest, before you take down your shingle for a well-earned break, and continuing work on the improved avpx when you're ready to have another go at it?

Best of Irish luck to yer ... and thanks very much for your work so far on this ... it is appreciated! 😀

PS: With regards to the website, on the 3rd improvements bullet point: "Ogg Vorbis music playback as an alternative to inserting the game's music CD" perhaps add "(see "how to" below)"

PPS: I keep forgetting this. You may also wish to mention on your webpage that when using AvPx the player profiles and save files on XP will be located here:
C:\Documents and Settings\[Name]\My Documents\My Games\Aliens versus Predator
(if I recall correctly myAvP put them in the AVP program folder, either option works for me and it's more a case of letting people know ... it's probably "safer" in My Documents if there is a bit of uninstalling/installing avpx iterations going on).

Cheers for a while ... but "I'll be back" 😎

Last edited by Perth2008 on 2013-01-14, 15:23. Edited 1 time in total.

Perth2008
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Reply 43 of 122, by sirlemonhead

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Yeah it was moved to My Documents due to some of the security changes that came in with Vista, namely not allowing programs to have write access to your Program Files folder. My Documents is the recommended place for this sorta stuff.

I'll update the website tomorrow. Thanks for all the suggestions 😀 I've been working on things today and I've pretty much decided to revert a few of the rendering changes I made long ago. I've fixed the predator arm transparency for cloaking mode so far..

I also noticed some of the "fire columns" in the first Alien level don't render correctly. I'll hopefully fix that tomorrow, and my further changes should fix the alien teeth/face appearing for head bites.

Reply 44 of 122, by Perth2008

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Interesting, you are right about the fire columns. I remember playing that alien level before Xmas (using the 4 July apvx version) and I don't recall the "sides" of the fire wall column effect disappearing before, but perhaps I wasn't too observant as I was likely more focused reacquainting myself with the alien wall crawling mechanics. 😖

Just did an alien scuttle around and it seems to be a problem with the main "vertical" fire column on its different levels. The two parallel horizontal fire columns that need to be blocked off by the alien seem OK from a variety of viewpoints ... but I guess it is pretty much a function of your/camera location. Not sure if that tells you anything useful from a coding point?

Thanks for the update on the proposed changes. 😀

Perth2008
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Reply 45 of 122, by sirlemonhead

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Got a lot of stuff fixed now. Just got to fix those alien arms and tail.. sky and stars on some levels dont work properly either. Getting there!

Reply 46 of 122, by Perth2008

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Excellent news ... I've been away the last week.

Looking forward to taking the new EXE for a run when you're ready to "road test" it. 😀

Perth2008
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Reply 47 of 122, by sirlemonhead

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K, here's the latest. I just included the .exe rather than the usual full installer so just copy that .exe into your usual AvP game folder.

http://homepage.eircom.net/~duncandsl/avp/AvPx_16012013.zip

I should have fixed everything you mentioned plus a few other bits and pieces (sky/star field rendering, predator lock on triangle)

Reply 48 of 122, by Perth2008

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OK, I'll just replace the EXE file as suggested on top of the last 22 Dec 2012 installation (which includes/creates the ogg, etc files) and take it for a run over the coming weekend.

Thanks - feedback, all going well, in a few days. 😀

Perth2008
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Reply 49 of 122, by Perth2008

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Hi sirlemonhead,
Here's feedback after a several hours revisiting random main campaign missions and testing random skirmish mode maps:
1) All alien related "HUD" like jaws, arms and tail all fixed. 😀
2) Predator "HUD" cloak mode and shoulder canon targeting (marine in thermal & alien in electric vision modes) looks fine. 😀
3) Textures in various random campaign missions (for all characters) look fine to me. 😀
4) Textures in the "base" skirmish missions that come in the "vanilla" game fine to me. 😀
5) Millenium Expansion map pack (found in/installed via Patches/Maps folder on the installation CD1, aka "custom" on loading menu) skirmish maps textures are missing. Maps like azure, bleak, biosphere, fleshbox, ethereal, pianesi, etc are missing walls, stairs, floors or ceilings what I do see is either a black (or transparent) wall, ceiling, etc or a star field ... this is for both marine and predator characters and for all vision modes (albeit black may show up as white). 🙁
6) Music/soundtrack still working fine with ogg files generated previously. 😀
So overall a vast improvement from my perspective in playing the campaigns but a couple of issues with the avpgpak[1-7] files. 😀
7) Remaining are the misalignment of text issues when using ESC to revisit screen settings (including "gamma" setting which is only accessible that way rather than main menu) or character control key-assignment menus. 😖

That's all for now. Hopefully some other vogons denizens can also provide some feedback!
Great work sirlemonhead ... much appreciated!

Perth2008
http://au.gamespot.com/users/Perth2008

Reply 50 of 122, by sirlemonhead

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Thanks for all that 😀 I'll check those maps - i'm not sure I even have them installed so that's why I might not have noticed them not working.

I fixed a few things since the last release. The predator lock on triangle probably wasn't rendering correctly, the moving sky wasn't working on the first Predator level, the starfield sky wasn't appearing (as you mention) Also the water and rain effects on the first two marine levels are fixed too.

I'll get to the menus eventually.. I know what's involved to fix them and it's not too pleasant so I just need to pull together the will to do it :p

I also want to get some HUD item scaling in as the HUD items are quite larger on screen on higher resolutions.

Reply 51 of 122, by Perth2008

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Great to see you are still "chipping away". 😀

I guess it's a bit hard at times for me to say what may be missing texture-wise unless it's blatantly obvious (like wall, floors, ceilings, etc) as I've only ever tried AVP Gold on my XP and never saw what it should look like on Win95/98. Other times when revisiting previously played missions, like I just did after your "missing rain" comment in second marine mission, I just miss stuff! But yup, I can hear the rain every now and then but see none ... whereas when one uses the previous EXE one can see the random rain drops in that mission. 😢

Consequently, anything you "change" seems like an improvement/enhancement to me ... even if you are graphically restoring the game to what it should look like! 😖

Perth2008
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Reply 52 of 122, by sirlemonhead

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Just looking at the custom levels now after finally locating my AvP Gold disc and installing the extra maps. Seems it's not a texturing issue rather the level geometry isn't rendering for some reason. Very strange! There are actual holes in the levels i'm rendering..

Reply 54 of 122, by Perth2008

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Great. Well, I'll just keep working my way through my incomplete/unplayed missions in AVP Gold. If any more issues arise with the last executable you posted I'll drop a note.

sirlemonhead, anything you want me to go back and have a look at just drop a note. 😎

Perth2008
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Reply 55 of 122, by sirlemonhead

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I uploaded that new version that fixes the custom levels. I've fixed a couple of other issues too.

http://homepage.eircom.net/~duncandsl/avp/

I'm thinking I might rewrite the ingame menus to have them appear as they do in the main menus..with the large fonts and scrolling smoke effects. Basically unify them both.

Reply 56 of 122, by Perth2008

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URGENT FEEDBACK!
I used new installer over last installation (let me know if I need a clean install but I'm assuming only avpx.exe changed?).
OK this last fix seems to have raised a number of issues:
1) The in-game (mission or skirmish) use of ESC to access menus results in a "black" screen with no menus visible (but soundtrack continuing) hitting Enter takes you back to the game but you cannot access menus. Ctrl-Alt-Del is effectively only way to exit mission/skirmish game. 😒
2) Custom (skirmish) levels now render beautifully BUT no aliens are spawning. 🙁 A quick sample seems to indicate vanilla skirmish missions still spawn aliens. 😀
3) Fonts used in skirmish menu are way too big, almost overlapping with line below (at 1280 x 1024). 😒
4) Marine HUD (lower right had side) text/numbers now have white outline lines surrounding text (this was issue when I played at lower res on my default max 1280 x 1024, but fine at 1280 x 1024). So perhaps need to revert to smaller or original font size? What size screen are you "optimising" for?
5) Until the ESC issue to access menus is fixed hard to test as need to drop in and out of game repeatedly.
Hope this helps? 😖

Perth2008
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Reply 57 of 122, by Perth2008

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FEEDBACK (Part 2)

To validate comments above, reverted to the 16 January 2013 executable (avpx.exe) and things look "better" HUD and menu-wise in terms of font size in that version for me anyway ... no doubt it's a function of your default/preferred resolution.

The font size generated by the earlier executables (including 16 January 2013) while "small" when using the ESC menu access were still very legible to my old eyes (even at 1280 x 1024). The fonts in the menus branching off from the main menu at start up, including the skirmish menus were fine at the size rendered in the 16 January 2013 executable ... now with latest install/executable they are way too big.

Alas I cannot comment on the menus accessed by pressing ESC for reasons above (ie I cannot see them at all) but again while obviously misaligned the ESC accessed menus had a font size that were fine for me.

On the plus side the rain effects in the Marine Colony mission and water effects in the Alien Invasion mission and presumably elsewhere are fixed in the new version. 😀

Again hope that helps?

Perth2008
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Reply 58 of 122, by sirlemonhead

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Woops I broke things. Sorry I didn't test that properly. Let me try get it fixed in a few hours.. The font sizes weren't supposed to change at all.

Reply 59 of 122, by sirlemonhead

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Ok, that menu problem is fixed now. New installer up on the site. It wasn't my intention to use that big font for EVERYTHING on the menu. It's back to the old way and I'll make sure I do the actual tinkering on my test branch, not the main one in future :p

I'm running a skirmish map of Piranesi custom here and I can see aliens running around? that's weird you don't.

I'll look into the weird white lines on the marine HUD font issue for you soon.