Merry Christmas ... and a Happy New Year!

[Carsten]

Dear folks,

though a bit late, I wish you all a Merry Christmas, nice holidays, and hope that you all have a good time!


I too am relaxing a bit the days between Christmas and the approaching new year, reading some books (e.g. the "Programming in Lua, 2nd edition" book again, something about game AI etc.), updating the website (just updated this phpBB2 forum to the latest version 2.0.22) and other things like that.

I'm also spending some time with the new Ca3DE "FileSys" (file system) that I've started to implement recently. The file system will allow both the engine core as well as the MOD code to open files for example like this:

Code: Select all

using cf::FileSys;

// The FileI class and the FileMan variables are members of the cf::FileSys namespace.
FileI* MyFile=FileMan->Open("Models/Players/Trinity.mdl");

// Work with MyFile.
MyFile->Read(...);

// Close the file again.
FileMan->Close(MyFile);

The purpose of the FileSys is for example to get OS-specific path issues right, and above all to make it transparently possible to "mount" additional file systems. For example, files can come from a path on the local harddisk (the usual case), from a zip archive (optionally encrypted), from a HTTP or FTP online connection (later we might build an auto-update system on this) etc.
In all cases, the code looks like the example above, and the file system automatically gets the file from the right place.

I think that the FileSys will be the last big feature to enter Ca3DE before the next release. Current screenshots look truly wonderful (look at http://images.ca3de-community.de/main.p ... temId=1293 if you haven't seen them yet - make sure your room is dark and your screen is adjusted ) and the map itself, which long delayed the next demo release, will very soon be in a state at which we can switch the lights for the next demo from red to green.

[scott]

Wow!!! Those screens look great! You guys are doing an excellent job. I cant wait to see pics of how the terrain is looking now.

PS Merry Christmas

[Carsten]

Hehe. Thanks for the feedback.
However, the terrain will probably not be updated before the upcoming release - there is just not enough time to work on it within the current schedule, so that it will probably look as in the already known screenshots, e.g.:


However, improved terrain and map/entity scripting certainly are the hot topics for the subsequent release, which will certainly follow a lot faster than the last.

[Carsten]

... and a Happy New Year!


Well, work on the new TechDemo has already been resumed, and I hope to be able to release the first Release Candidate soon.

[Stephen]

Those shots are really awesome! I can't wait to try it out.

-Stephen