jtr7 on 15/4/2009 at 01:24
Start here, and add your information, make sure you're able to connect, etc.:
(
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124200)
I'm not sure how they are initiating a game together, but I think they might just send Private Messages to see who's up for a game and to schedule when.
Tos on 15/4/2009 at 03:09
Quote Posted by Poesta
Nice work Tos. The overlays work, but could you make the automap centered like the books? And I don't understand this:
- The mission will now end correctly if an objective fails while the host is dead.
If an objective fails the mission should fail too right?
Oh, and the installer puts '\Thief2' behind the install path if you select it in the popup screen (not if you enter it manually) so you will run the older version if you don't check this and run thief2.exe.
I deliberately put the automap in the upper left so it would obstruct as little of your view as possible when open. I think that SS2's automap works the same way, though I'd have to check.
In older versions, the mission would not end if any players failed required objectives while the host was dead due to a nasty workaround I had in place to prevent the mission from ending when players die, as it would in singleplayer. I came up with a better solution in build 210 and that should no longer be a problem.
No idea why the installer's doing that. I'll see if I can fix that for the next release, thanks.
potterr on 15/4/2009 at 11:46
Quote Posted by Tos
- The automap and readables are now displayed as overlays in the game world. Viewing these will not pause the game for other players.
How are you doing the overlays? I'm interested as I would like to try and get overlays done for message popups for GarrettLoader.
Quote Posted by Thief-anewnickname
Do we have a way of getting in touch with each other to play these games multiplayer?
The new beta version of GarrettLoader has multi-player support for the original missions. Basically its a declaration process that you say you are available for multiplayer games of T2 (if you have T2 multiplayer installed) and SS2, this gets broadcast to all other GL users that also specify they are available as well. Then you can use GL to launch the game (works best on SS2 as it takes you into the multi-player process).
The only problem I have with it is that if you are playing a full screen game then you won't see the alert popup as I don't know how to do a direct draw overlay myself. If the multiplayer T2 exe was able to detect messages from GL in some way then that would help greatly. Additionally I am working on getting the ability to have limited chat capabilities once someone is available to play.
davidsung on 15/4/2009 at 15:55
The book-overlays works fine for me (ddfix + EP + thief_gotcha textures). Okay, sometimes the text is unreadable (on normal paperback) and out of the overlay-range, but it works. :thumb:
Usesing the chat with an overlay causes problems, could you add the option to close an overlay by clicking on the in-game screen?
What's about objectives-overlays? ;)
PsymH on 15/4/2009 at 16:10
... and books, that are in the inventory do not appear in the overlay mode.
sNeaksieGarrett on 15/4/2009 at 17:19
Quote Posted by Tos
The overlays for books and other readables may appear corrupted if you have installed the Thief Enhancement Pack or other graphical mods. I'm not sure what's causing this exactly or if it's even still an issue (this was discovered during testing several months ago), but if it's a problem you can turn off the overlays by editing ThiefMP.ini and changing the "UseOverlays" setting.
Yep, it's still a problem. As I recall when you and I were testing, we found out it had something to do with thief's font file, didn't it?
Tos on 15/4/2009 at 21:51
Quote Posted by potterr
How are you doing the overlays? I'm interested as I would like to try and get overlays done for message popups for GarrettLoader.
While the code used to manage and display them is my own, the overlays call game functions at the very lowest level to display bitmaps and text. I assume they use DirectDraw in some way, but I'm not dealing with that directly. I don't think there's much you can do with them if you aren't hooked into the game process, but if there's enough interest I could look into exporting the overlay classes for a future release.
The multiplayer support in GarretLoader sounds great. If there's anything you need, just let me know.
Quote Posted by davidsung
The book-overlays works fine for me (ddfix + EP + thief_gotcha textures). Okay, sometimes the text is unreadable (on normal paperback) and out of the overlay-range, but it works. :thumb:
Usesing the chat with an overlay causes problems, could you add the option to close an overlay by clicking on the in-game screen?
What's about objectives-overlays? ;)
Which books have unreadable text for you? I haven't run into any that don't display properly with an unmodified Thief 2 installation, though that doesn't mean they don't exist. I do have a half-finished objectives overlay working, but I didn't think it was far enough along to include it in this release.
Quote Posted by PsymH
... and books, that are in the inventory do not appear in the overlay mode.
Books, scrolls, and any other readables in your inventory should pop up an overlay when you use them in multiplayer. Can you tell me which ones aren't working?
Quote Posted by sNeaksieGarrett
Yep, it's still a problem. As I recall when you and I were testing, we found out it had something to do with thief's font file, didn't it?
It's been a while now, but I think it was related to the font that the books use.
potterr on 15/4/2009 at 23:53
Quote Posted by Tos
While the code used to manage and display them is my own, the overlays call game functions at the very lowest level to display bitmaps and text. I assume they use DirectDraw in some way, but I'm not dealing with that directly. I don't think there's much you can do with them if you aren't hooked into the game process, but if there's enough interest I could look into exporting the overlay classes for a future release.
It would be helpful, although my thoughts are that you may be playing T2 by yourself while waiting for someone to join you, or indeed be in a game and someone else wants to play. GL can handle the message coming in however can't display to the person playing. I was wondering if you had any timers or background processes that (for the sake of simplicity) may be able to search for the existence of a text file in a known place, if it exists then overlay predefined text (or image if its easier). Sending messages to thief2.exe could also be done, whatever is simpler.
Quote Posted by Tos
The multiplayer support in GarretLoader sounds great. If there's anything you need, just let me know.
All I would want at the moment is just a bit of testing with it and some feedback. I have a test standalone exe for declaring availability and initial chat that I am working on that will be incorporated into GL.
The existing code in GLs beta only declares availability at the moment, there is no real way of then contacting people wanting to join. However the test exe seems to be working fine, just a bit of tweaking with the formatting of text and display and I can then incorporate it into GL and do a fuller test.
PsymH on 16/4/2009 at 07:41
Quote Posted by Tos
Books, scrolls, and any other readables in your inventory should pop up an overlay when you use them in multiplayer. Can you tell me which ones aren't working?
Really? Maybe it's a bug in the current mission. I will test it on another FM.
Poesta on 16/4/2009 at 18:46
So you mean that if clients fail an objective while the host is dead, the mission will end in a game-over screen like it's supposed to do?
