MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available

Now with 30% higher numbers

Happy new year, everyone!

I just posted a alpha 4 of the MissionComputer 4.0 project. It includes a few improvements in functionality, along with fixes to several recently reported bugs. You should still, of course, be even more careful than usual to keep backups, as this is an alpha version. Changes are as follows:

MissionComputer can now export RLEs as sprite grids, and the ability to export the entire starmap has been restored (thanks, Pace). The system and starmap editors should now fit properly on 1024x768 monitors. Make RLE now automatically reduces all pictures to 16-bit. The NCB strings in the shďp editor's 'Bit-Based Effects' field can now be edited directly as well as through the NCB editor, and several problems with the roďd editor are fixed (thanks, Sp3cies). New welcome screen art is in place, and obsolete references to EV-Nova.net are removed. Help now opens in Safari rather than inside MissionComputer. The Intel-native code has been disabled, so MissionComputer will now run through Rosetta.

Please report any bugs or usability issues you find - including ones from previous alphas that are still present - so that I can fix them for the release version. When reporting bugs, please tell me your system version and whether your Macintosh has a PowerPC or Intel processor.

MissionComputer 4.0a4 is 6.9 MB, and available from <davidarthur.evula.net/beta/crusoe/MissionComputer-400a4.dmg>. It requires Mac OS X 10.3 or greater.

Woohoo, very nice to have a working DeRLE function now
Just a few points about this new feature:
- Would it be possible to have a progress bar or something? It's quite slow (yet movie export is very fast :huh:).
- Widgets in save dialog are slightly glitched. RealBasic's fault?
- Better default name? Maybe like "<resourcename> Sprite.xxx", "<resourcename> Mask.xxx" (notice in the pic it hasn't added the .png extension).

This post has been edited by Guy : 02 January 2008 - 04:13 PM

Incidentally, anyone who has been participating in the alpha programme and wants to be listed in the credits as a tester should post their name as they wish it to be included at some point.

@guy, on Jan 2 2008, 04:11 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

Would it be possible to have a progress bar or something? It's quite slow (yet movie export is very fast :huh:).

I’ll look into it. I’m always cautious about progress bars, because the simple existence of one can actually slow a process down significantly.

There are two reasons why it’s slower than the movie export. First of all, it has to do graphics manipulation to construct the sprite grid, whereas the movie export just saves the frame as they are, one at a time. The second reason goes back to the fact you noticed earlier, that MissionComputer’s masks are the inverse of the game’s: it therefore has to invert the masks pixel by pixel before saving.

@guy, on Jan 2 2008, 04:11 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

- Widgets in save dialog are slightly glitched. RealBasic's fault?
- Better default name? Maybe like "<resourcename> Sprite.xxx", "<resourcename> Mask.xxx" (notice in the pic it hasn't added the .png extension).

These both come from using a standard graphics output function; I could use a perfect dialogue box with a good default name, but you wouldn’t have as many choices of format.

Hooray!

@david-arthur, on Jan 3 2008, 10:47 AM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

here are two reasons why it’s slower than the movie export. First of all, it has to do graphics manipulation to construct the sprite grid, whereas the movie export just saves the frame as they are, one at a time. The second reason goes back to the fact you noticed earlier, that MissionComputer’s masks are the inverse of the game’s: it therefore has to invert the masks pixel by pixel before saving.

Hm, so is the inverted mask created during the decoding process when you open the sprite? Would it be faster to read the data from the original rle resource when exporting, rather than the decoded data used for display?

@david-arthur, on Jan 3 2008, 10:47 AM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

These both come from using a standard graphics output function; I could use a perfect dialogue box with a good default name, but you wouldn’t have as many choices of format.

Okay, that's fine. Though I wouldn't mind if it simply saved to png with no options

Yo. I downloaded it earlier today, and have had fun playing around with it. My only previous one was 3.3, which I used with much pleasure. Two things to report:

1. I opened an outf resource, fiddled around, closed it. I then opened it again and without doing anything, closed it. Mission Computer proceeded to crash. I'm running a PowerBook G4 (comments about my crappy computer are to be forwarded to yourself endlessly) 1 Ghz, with 1 gig ram and Mac 10.4.6.

2. I prefered the previous icon.

^ Not that important.

Thanks for releasing this great program.

@templar98921, on Jan 2 2008, 08:37 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

I prefered the previous icon.

I like the new icon, but I'm still going to rag on everything else. This time though, I'm going to show you what I'd like it to look like, tell me what you guys think.

Attached File(s)

• MissionComputer.jpg (96.19K)
  Number of downloads: 57

By the way, here's the current welcome window for comparison:

Attached File(s)

• fdg.jpg (93.6K)
  Number of downloads: 46

@guy, on Jan 2 2008, 10:34 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

Hm, so is the inverted mask created during the decoding process when you open the sprite? Would it be faster to read the data from the original rle resource when exporting, rather than the decoded data used for display?

Probably not. RLEs don’t actually contain a mask as such; rather, they contain pixels and transparent space. MissionComputer generates a mask from these transparent pixels when decoding the RLE — I assume EV Nova does something similar — but it isn’t really inverting the data present in the RLE, just interpreting it through a different convention. Since, when opening an RLE, you’re more likely to want to see it than export it as PICTs, MissionComputer interprets the RLE data in terms of the white-is-transparent convention that its renderer uses, rather than the black-is-transparent convention used by the game engine when interpreting PICTs.

"Templar98921" said:

I opened an outf resource, fiddled around, closed it. I then opened it again and without doing anything, closed it. Mission Computer proceeded to crash.

Is this crash reproducible?

"EV Wolf" said:

This time though, I'm going to show you what I'd like it to look like, tell me what you guys think.

Sorry, that doesn’t fit the Crusoe branding strategy. The Lydian tint-logo introduced in MissionComputer 1.4 is going the same way as the ‘green mďsn’ logo that preceded it.

By the way, I’ll give ten bonus points to anyone who can identify the inspiration for the new logo, and there’s still an offer of another ten to anyone who can identify the tune MissionComputer 4 plays after completing a long task.

@david-arthur, on Jan 4 2008, 04:28 AM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

Probably not. RLEs don’t actually contain a mask as such; rather, they contain pixels and transparent space. MissionComputer generates a mask from these transparent pixels when decoding the RLE — I assume EV Nova does something similar — but it isn’t really inverting the data present in the RLE, just interpreting it through a different convention. Since, when opening an RLE, you’re more likely to want to see it than export it as PICTs, MissionComputer interprets the RLE data in terms of the white-is-transparent convention that its renderer uses, rather than the black-is-transparent convention used by the game engine when interpreting PICTs.

Right, I understand this, I was just wondering if it would be faster to decode the RLE a second time when exporting, rather than inverting the mask you already have one pixel at a time.

@guy, on Jan 3 2008, 05:13 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

Right, I understand this, I was just wondering if it would be faster to decode the RLE a second time when exporting, rather than inverting the mask you already have one pixel at a time.

I can’t really say offhand. I’ll give it some thought; it should be possible to retrofit the RLE decoder so that it can create black-is-transparent masks if so asked.

Or maybe something like this?

Untitled_1.jpg (81.73K)
Number of downloads: 39

I really liked the old window, but with the new one I fear we are treading dangerously close to a complete lack of visual interest.

@cosmic_nusiance, on Jan 3 2008, 06:04 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

Or maybe something like this?

Sorry, I’m afraid I don’t do art direction by committee.

Or we could hold an art contest and the winner gets their design put on the final product hehe.

@coraxus, on Jan 3 2008, 07:46 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

Or we could hold an art contest and the winner gets their design put on the final product hehe.

A sort of public-art project, you mean? It’s an intriguing thought, but I have a feeling such things belong more in the London Underground than they do in MissionComputer. Besides, my long-term plans call for the eventual elimination of the Welcome screen anyway.

@david-arthur, on Jan 3 2008, 07:28 AM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

Sorry, that doesn’t fit the Crusoe branding strategy. The Lydian tint-logo introduced in MissionComputer 1.4 is going the same way as the ‘green mďsn’ logo that preceded it.

Since I haven't been here since the beginning, I have no idea what the "Crusoe branding strategy" or "green mďsn logo" is, can you fill me in? And I've also never seen the 1.4 version welcome screen, can you post a picture of it?

@coraxus, on Jan 3 2008, 04:46 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

Or we could hold an art contest and the winner gets their design put on the final product hehe.

Okay, I vote mine! :laugh: (hmm... maybe I should start a poll)

@david-arthur, on Jan 3 2008, 05:42 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

Besides, my long-term plans call for the eventual elimination of the Welcome screen anyway.

Aww... how's that going to work? I love the welcome screen, I'd be lost without it.

@cosmic_nusiance, on Jan 3 2008, 03:04 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

I really liked the old window, but with the new one I fear we are treading dangerously close to a complete lack of visual interest.

Yeah, I literally was shocked when I first saw it, It looks like it was made decades ago. I almost liked the plain 3rd alpha's screen better

Also what does "Now with 30% higher numbers" have to do with the new version?

This post has been edited by EV Wolf : 04 January 2008 - 01:34 AM

I'm fine with David not changing it, after all it's his program. Besides, if you don't like the image, you can change it manually.

Thanks for the update David, loving your program.

@ev-wolf, on Jan 4 2008, 01:28 AM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

And I've also never seen the 1.4 version welcome screen, can you post a picture of it?

I’ll post a run-up of MissionComputer’s various logos, icons, and Welcome screens shortly.

@ev-wolf, on Jan 4 2008, 01:28 AM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

(1) Aww... how's that going to work? I love the welcome screen, I'd be lost without it.
(2) Yeah, I literally was shocked when I first saw it, It looks like it was made decades ago.
(3) Also what does "Now with 30% higher numbers" have to do with the new version?

(1) The Welcome screen is really a bit of a hack that I’ve disguised by putting a pretty picture in it; ideally, MissionComputer should be able to open an empty document the way most programmes do, and close it again without saving if you want to edit a different file.

(2) I’m a bit at a loss to what this means; the new graphic is a very different style (I’m not in the mood for the ‘used-universe’ aesthetic at the moment, and it doesn’t fit how I want Crusoe to feel), but it’s very definitely modern. Perhaps sometime I’ll make a mock-up of what an aesthetically ‘old-fashioned’ MissionComputer would look like.
If you want to see ‘decades ago’, though, type load "mc",8,1 while the Welcome screen is showing.

(3) Alpha 3 to alpha 4 — that’s actually a 33.3 % increase, but 30% sounds better.

I’ve posted a retrospective of MissionComputer’s various logos; it’s rather large, but not as big as downloading every version ever released (plus it contains some unreleased images).

Please keep in mind that I am posting this for your information and entertainment only; while I realise that it’s a good sign that the art is the most controversial thing about this alpha, I won’t be entering into any further debate about it.

Wow -- The unreleased 3.4 welcome screen was beautiful. I would have loved to see that upon opening the app. Did it die because of technical issues with the buttons? Or because you didn't want to use unmodified ATMOS artwork?

(Note use of past tense. I know you've moved on!)

EDIT:

@david-arthur, on Jan 4 2008, 09:40 AM, said in MissionComputer 4.0a4 now available:

If you want to see `decades ago', though, type load "mc",8,1 while the Welcome screen is showing.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! :laugh:

EDIT AGAIN:
:laugh:](http://davidarthur.evula.net/beta/ "External link")

This post has been edited by Dr. Trowel : 04 January 2008 - 01:21 PM