MissionComputer 4.0 second alpha now available

It seems to go away when I quit out of MC. But this bug appears very rare though.

I'm getting crashes every time I close a snd while it's still playing.

Hey David, just a bit of hero praise from someone who has only been making plugins for about 6 months... of all the tools available MC is the best i've seen and MC 4 A2 is awesome, keep up the good work and thanks for the help, from myself and the Stargate Nova team.

@nil-kimas, on Jul 14 2007, 06:53 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0 second alpha now available:

I'm getting crashes every time I close a snd while it's still playing.

I can’t reproduce this immediately, but I’ll check over the safeguards against this sort of thing. Does it crash if you click the ‘Stop’ button? Does it make a difference which sound is playing?

@lostpinky, on Jul 14 2007, 08:41 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0 second alpha now available:

Hey David, just a bit of hero praise from someone who has only been making plugins for about 6 months... of all the tools available MC is the best i've seen and MC 4 A2 is awesome, keep up the good work and thanks for the help, from myself and the Stargate Nova team.

Thanks very much! 🙂

@david-arthur, on Jul 15 2007, 11:53 AM, said in MissionComputer 4.0 second alpha now available:

I can’t reproduce this immediately, but I’ll check over the safeguards against this sort of thing. Does it crash if you click the ‘Stop’ button? Does it make a difference which sound is playing?

It doesn't crash if I click Stop, and it only seems to do it in an EV or EVO plug-in, not EVN. I had it happen consistently with the "Warp Up" sound (ID 128) in stock EV and EVO, but I imagine it would also do it with any other sound as well.

I can't say I like the 'Seconds until reinforcements arrive' in the syst editor. This just seems wrong. Frames are used plenty elsewhere in resources so developers ought to be used to dealing with them.

In the ship editor, can you show fields for the bit strings? There's plenty of room in the tab. Speaking of room, if you made the whole ship editor just a little taller the armaments tables wouldn't need scroll bars.

Sorry to gravedig this topic, but on my new intel iMac (2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo; OS 10.4.10), MC crashes instantly as soon as I open it. Here's the crash report:

Date/Time:      2007-08-17 11:56:00.862 -0500
OS Version:     10.4.10 (Build 8R4031)
Report Version: 4

Command: MissionComputer
Path:    /Applications/MissionComputer.app/Contents/MacOS/MissionComputer
Parent:  WindowServer (55)

Version: 4.0.0a2 (1.0.0a2)

PID:    399
Thread: 0

Exception:  EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes:      KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x0000000d

Thread 0 Crashed:
0   rbframework.dylib           	0x00d7c647 RuntimeUnlockObject + 13
1   net.ev-nova.missioncomputer 	0x0010c10c App.MakeCustomOpenSpecialMenu%%o<App> + 2640
2   net.ev-nova.missioncomputer 	0x0011152f App.xPrefsRead%%o<App> + 8628
3   net.ev-nova.missioncomputer 	0x000fa13b App.Event_Open%%o<App> + 3524
4   rbframework.dylib           	0x00d79284 RuntimeExit + 124
5   rbframework.dylib           	0x00d794ea RuntimeRegisterAppObject + 68
6   net.ev-nova.missioncomputer 	0x000213d7 REALbasic._RuntimeRegisterAppObject%%o<Application> + 48
7   net.ev-nova.missioncomputer 	0x00001782 _NewAppInstance + 221
8   net.ev-nova.missioncomputer 	0x00008c70 _Main + 57
9   net.ev-nova.missioncomputer 	0x00001514 % main + 36
10  net.ev-nova.missioncomputer 	0x009b8f91 _start + 116
11  net.ev-nova.missioncomputer 	0x009b8ee7 start + 43

Thread 0 crashed with X86 Thread State (32-bit):
  eax: 0x00000001  ebx: 0x00ee9d00  ecx: 0x000000e9  edx: 0x00000001
  edi: 0x00000001  esi: 0x00d61920  ebp: 0xbffff548  esp: 0xbffff530
   ss: 0x0000001f  efl: 0x00010202  eip: 0x00d7c647   cs: 0x00000017
   ds: 0x0000001f   es: 0x0000001f   fs: 0x00000000   gs: 0x00000037

Binary Images Description:
    0x1000 -   0xa7dfff net.ev-nova.missioncomputer 4.0.0a2 (1.0.0a2)	/Applications/MissionComputer.app/Contents/MacOS/MissionComputer
  0xd05000 -   0xed5fff rbframework.dylib 	/Applications/MissionComputer.app/Contents/MacOS/rbframework.dylib
 0x18d3000 -  0x18d4fff com.apple.textencoding.unicode 2.1	/System/Library/TextEncodings/Unicode Encodings.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Unicode Encodings
 0x1a8b000 -  0x1a94fff RBAppearancePak.rbx_0.128.dylib 	/Applications/MissionComputer.app/Contents/Frameworks/RBAppearancePak.rbx_0.128.dylib
 0x1b51000 -  0x1b58fff RBHTMLViewer.rbx_0.129.dylib 	/Applications/MissionComputer.app/Contents/Frameworks/RBHTMLViewer.rbx_0.129.dylib
 0x1b64000 -  0x1b66fff RBInternetEncodings.rbx_0.130.dylib 	/Applications/MissionComputer.app/Contents/Frameworks/RBInternetEncodings.rbx_0.130.dylib
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 0x1c12000 -  0x1c1cfff RBRegEx.rbx_0.132.dylib 	/Applications/MissionComputer.app/Contents/Frameworks/RBRegEx.rbx_0.132.dylib
 0x1c20000 -  0x1c22fff RBShell.rbx_0.134.dylib 	/Applications/MissionComputer.app/Contents/Frameworks/RBShell.rbx_0.134.dylib
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 0x1e9c000 -  0x1f1bfff RBXML.rbx_0.135.dylib 	/Applications/MissionComputer.app/Contents/Frameworks/RBXML.rbx_0.135.dylib
0x8fe00000 - 0x8fe4afff dyld 46.12	/usr/lib/dyld
0x90000000 - 0x90171fff libSystem.B.dylib 	/usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib
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0x9080b000 - 0x908d3fff com.apple.CoreFoundation 6.4.7 (368.28)	/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation
0x90911000 - 0x90911fff com.apple.CoreServices 10.4 (???)	/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/CoreServices
0x90913000 - 0x90a07fff libicucore.A.dylib 	/usr/lib/libicucore.A.dylib
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0x91458000 - 0x914cefff com.apple.audio.CoreAudio 3.0.4	/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreAudio.framework/Versions/A/CoreAudio
0x9151f000 - 0x9151ffff com.apple.ApplicationServices 10.4 (???)	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/ApplicationServices
0x91521000 - 0x9154dfff com.apple.AE 314 (313)	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/AE.framework/Versions/A/AE
0x91560000 - 0x91634fff com.apple.ColorSync 4.4.9	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ColorSync.framework/Versions/A/ColorSync
0x9166f000 - 0x916e2fff com.apple.print.framework.PrintCore 4.6 (177.13)	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/PrintCore.framework/Versions/A/PrintCore
0x91710000 - 0x917b9fff com.apple.QD 3.10.24 (???)	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/QD.framework/Versions/A/QD
0x917df000 - 0x9182afff com.apple.HIServices 1.5.2 (???)	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIServices.framework/Versions/A/HIServices
0x91849000 - 0x9185ffff com.apple.LangAnalysis 1.6.3	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LangAnalysis.framework/Versions/A/LangAnalysis
0x9186b000 - 0x91886fff com.apple.FindByContent 1.5	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/FindByContent.framework/Versions/A/FindByContent
0x91891000 - 0x918cefff com.apple.LaunchServices 182	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/LaunchServices
0x918e2000 - 0x918eefff com.apple.speech.synthesis.framework 3.5	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/SpeechSynthesis.framework/Versions/A/SpeechSynthesis
0x918f5000 - 0x91935fff com.apple.ImageIO.framework 1.5.5	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ImageIO.framework/Versions/A/ImageIO
0x91948000 - 0x919fafff libcrypto.0.9.7.dylib 	/usr/lib/libcrypto.0.9.7.dylib
0x91a40000 - 0x91a56fff libcups.2.dylib 	/usr/lib/libcups.2.dylib
0x91a5b000 - 0x91a79fff libJPEG.dylib 	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ImageIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/libJPEG.dylib
0x91a7e000 - 0x91addfff libJP2.dylib 	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ImageIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/libJP2.dylib
0x91aef000 - 0x91af3fff libGIF.dylib 	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ImageIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/libGIF.dylib
0x91af5000 - 0x91b7bfff libRaw.dylib 	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ImageIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/libRaw.dylib
0x91b7f000 - 0x91bbcfff libTIFF.dylib 	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ImageIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/libTIFF.dylib
0x91bc2000 - 0x91bdcfff libPng.dylib 	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ImageIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/libPng.dylib
0x91be1000 - 0x91be3fff libRadiance.dylib 	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ImageIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/libRadiance.dylib
0x91be5000 - 0x91cc3fff libxml2.2.dylib 	/usr/lib/libxml2.2.dylib
0x91ce0000 - 0x91ce0fff com.apple.Accelerate 1.3.1 (Accelerate 1.3.1)	/System/Library/Frameworks/Accelerate.framework/Versions/A/Accelerate
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0x91d79000 - 0x91dd2fff libvMisc.dylib 	/System/Library/Frameworks/Accelerate.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/vecLib.framework/Versions/A/libvMisc.dylib
0x91ddb000 - 0x91dfffff libvDSP.dylib 	/System/Library/Frameworks/Accelerate.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/vecLib.framework/Versions/A/libvDSP.dylib
0x91e07000 - 0x92210fff libBLAS.dylib 	/System/Library/Frameworks/Accelerate.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/vecLib.framework/Versions/A/libBLAS.dylib
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0x93d4d000 - 0x93e07fff com.apple.audio.toolbox.AudioToolbox 1.4.5	/System/Library/Frameworks/AudioToolbox.framework/Versions/A/AudioToolbox
0x93e4a000 - 0x93e4afff com.apple.audio.units.AudioUnit 1.4.3	/System/Library/Frameworks/AudioUnit.framework/Versions/A/AudioUnit
0x94843000 - 0x94852fff libCGATS.A.dylib 	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/A/Resources/libCGATS.A.dylib
0x94859000 - 0x94864fff libCSync.A.dylib 	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/A/Resources/libCSync.A.dylib
0x948b0000 - 0x948cafff libRIP.A.dylib 	/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/A/Resources/libRIP.A.dylib
0x948d0000 - 0x94bd9fff com.apple.QuickTime 7.2.0	/System/Library/Frameworks/QuickTime.framework/Versions/A/QuickTime

Model: iMac7,1, BootROM IM71.007A.B00, 2 processors, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.4 GHz, 1 GB
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro, ATI,RadeonHD2600, PCIe, 256 MB
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 1 GB, DDR2 SDRAM, 667 MHz
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x88), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (4.150.19.0)
Bluetooth: Version 1.9.1f18, 2 service, 0 devices, 1 incoming serial ports
Network Service: AirPort, AirPort, en1
Serial ATA Device: WDC WD3200AAJS-40RYA0, 298.09 GB
Parallel ATA Device: MATs###ADVD-R   UJ-85J
USB Device: Built-in iSight, Apple Inc., Up to 480 Mb/sec, 500 mA
USB Device: Keyboard Hub, Apple, Inc., Up to 480 Mb/sec, 500 mA
USB Device: Apple Optical USB Mouse, Mitsumi Electric, Up to 1.5 Mb/sec, 100 mA
USB Device: Apple Keyboard, Apple, Inc, Up to 1.5 Mb/sec, 100 mA
USB Device: IR Receiver, Apple Computer, Inc., Up to 1.5 Mb/sec, 500 mA
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller, Apple, Inc., Up to 12 Mb/sec, 500 mA

My slightly older Intel iMac (2.16 Ghz Core 2 Duo; OS 10.4.10), does not crash instantly as soon as I open it. It will crash eventually during useage though. But it isn't crashing enough to affect me if I save the data often.

Speaking of saving data, can all the data be instantly saved as they are edited to an XML file. Only when you are ready to actually "play" the plug is the XML data then converted into a useable EV plugin. Then you could have extending undo/redo support, and crashes would not trash any work. Crashing would then become "less" of an issue.

Nil'Kimas, did you try deleting any preferences in your preference folder before starting MC4? Just a thought. Might try to delete your MC3 preferences.

Thanks Trinix, that fixed it. I never thought about that since it was a new computer and I had never run any other version of MC, but I hadn't thought about the fact that Migration Assistant moved the old MC3 prefs onto it. It still does crash occasionally, but (as far as I can tell) not any more often than it did on my G4.

I learned that when beta testing EVM. Older EVM build preference files would interfere or completely stop the newer builds from running. Probable because of the major iterations we continually went through. I'm glad it worked out for you Nil'kimas.

@trinix, on Aug 17 2007, 08:51 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0 second alpha now available:

Only when you are ready to actually "play" the plug is the XML data then converted into a useable EV plugin. Then you could have extending undo/redo support, and crashes would not trash any work.

Inventing a new XML-based plug-in format wouldn’t make undo/redo support any less complicated to add to MissionComputer, nor would it likely make any difference to what happened in the case of a crash.

Those of you who are having trouble with MissionComputer on Intel, though, please try running it through Rosetta instead; the Intel version is largely untested, and I’m considering dropping it entirely (after all, EV Nova itself doesn’t have one).

@trinix, on Aug 17 2007, 08:51 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0 second alpha now available:

Might try to delete your MC3 preferences.

MissionComputer 4 completely ignores the MissionComputer 3 preferences file — the file’s name, location, and format have all changed.

@david-arthur, on Aug 19 2007, 09:54 AM, said in MissionComputer 4.0 second alpha now available:

the Intel version is largely untested, and I’m considering dropping it entirely (after all, EV Nova itself doesn’t have one).

No 😮
I say leave it in even if you never fix the crashes 🙂

@david-arthur, on Aug 18 2007, 04:54 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0 second alpha now available:

Inventing a new XML-based plug-in format wouldn’t make undo/redo support any less complicated to add to MissionComputer, nor would it likely make any difference to what happened in the case of a crash.

Those of you who are having trouble with MissionComputer on Intel, though, please try running it through Rosetta instead; the Intel version is largely untested, and I’m considering dropping it entirely (after all, EV Nova itself doesn’t have one).
MissionComputer 4 completely ignores the MissionComputer 3 preferences file — the file’s name, location, and format have all changed.

So I guess the advantages only comes easily when using real power like Apple's Xcode instead of RB. I know one programer who makes solid, mac looking RB apps, one. Everything else, you can tell it was RB. <Chuckles arrogantly.> 😛

Also, the XML files are just what would be saved automatically from MC4. You'd have to File > Export to put it into the standard EV/O/N formats for play/testing. RB should be-able to leverage the power of XML in that way, but then again, it isn't Xcode. 😉

@trinix, on Aug 18 2007, 11:50 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0 second alpha now available:

So I guess the advantages only comes easily when using real power like Apple's Xcode instead of RB. I know one programer who makes solid, mac looking RB apps, one. Everything else, you can tell it was RB.

REALbasic was clearly a better choice than Cocoa when I began MissionComputer; for one thing, not many people were using Mac OS X at that point. The problem now is less REALbasic than the degree to which MissionComputer has grown beyond its foundation. It started as a mission editor comparable to Schmelta-V for the original Escape Velocity , supporting a few resource types with just under 4000 lines of code, but people kept wanting it to support more and more; version 3.3.1 is about forty-six thousand lines of code, and 4.0 even more.

I did at one point start working on a fully-Cocoa replacement for MissionComputer, and got as far as creating the loveliest resource browser I’ve ever seen, but it became clear that re-implementing all of the editors would be more work than is justified by the amount of use MissionComputer is now getting. Cocoa is also somewhat problematic for Escape Velocity -related development in that the game depends entirely on traditional Macintosh resources, which are not part of Cocoa’s NeXTSTEP-based heritage, and so the new editor required workarounds similar to those used on Windows.

@trinix, on Aug 18 2007, 11:50 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0 second alpha now available:

<Chuckles arrogantly.> 😛

😛 yourself.

@trinix, on Aug 18 2007, 11:50 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0 second alpha now available:

Also, the XML files are just what would be saved automatically from MC4. You'd have to File > Export to put it into the standard EV/O/N formats for play/testing.

Again, there would be no benefit in doing this; MissionComputer uses its own markup language (which has all the ‘power of XML’ without any of the complexities that are required to make a language applicable to anything from web design to kitchen appliances) wherever it’s useful, but there would be nothing to be gained by converting plug-ins in to XML and back again.

Mission computer is a really good editor. I don't think that I could mod for ev nova, even after looking at the alternatives, without mission computer. I have to say that I'm looking forward to the most recent version of mission computer.

Also, if you don't mind I was wondering-are you going to implement a new ship editor? The current one is kind of akward to use.

Yeah. How easy would it be to make it more like the outfit editor? That would make it so much more intuitive and easy to use. Pleeeeeeez hear our cries for redone ship editors!

Quote

Yeah. How easy would it be to make it more like the outfit editor? That would make it so much more intuitive and easy to use. Pleeeeeeez hear our cries for redone ship editors!

I would agree with that 😉

@shlimazel, on Aug 20 2007, 12:16 PM, said in MissionComputer 4.0 second alpha now available:

Also, if you don't mind I was wondering-are you going to implement a new ship editor? The current one is kind of akward to use.

What specifically do you find difficult about it?

It isn't that it is difficult to use-it's just that having all of the information set along a big honking column makes it that much harder to use. After all, you can't see everything without scrolling up or down. If it were set up like the outfit editor where you have all of your information spread out in front of you then it'd be much easier to use.

Like Shlimazel said, it's much more intuitive to have a big window with little input fields (and maybe tabs to make space) than a BIG mostly unused input field and a small column of attributes. I'm not complaining, but as long as we're on the subject of updates I thought I'd put in my 2 cents worth.