Adventure Creation Kit

Chris H.'s Ultima / ACS-style game development system!

Moderators: Ice Cream Jonsey, joltcountry

Wannabe Game Maker

Post by Wannabe Game Maker »

Sorry for the repeat post above this one. I tried to refresh the webpage this morning and it apraently resent the post. I don't have an option to edit or delete it, most likely since I'm a guest.

Anyway, thank you for the information. If I use the windows launcher, I can use the ultima kit when I create the game (just as you said) and there doesn;t seem to be any problems so far.

Yes please, if you can find or remake the tutorial doc, that would be great, I don't have any experience with making macro's or anything. So far I've just been trying to open the macro's txt files (which has been a big help). However, when it's comes to understanding how the moongates work, I'm totally lost.

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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

Wannabe Game Maker wrote:Sorry for the repeat post above this one. I tried to refresh the webpage this morning and it apraently resent the post. I don't have an option to edit or delete it, most likely since I'm a guest.
You know what (off-topic), I have seen some forums put up rules against "double posting" which seems unbearably draconian and simple-minded of me. Back in the dial-up days there was nothing *but* "double posts". So I would like to take this opportunity to say that any and all people are more than welcome to double, triple and infinite post all they like around here.

(Also, for the longest time I had registration turned off on here because of all the spammers, but hopefully that is back on. ALTHOUGH I hate having to register at every blasted forum on the internet just to post, so do not feel obligated to register in any way, shape or form. It sucks.)

Also, I am happy to give ACK its own subforum, next to the section called "Robb's Text Games" at the bottom of the BBS. Takes two seconds to do - Chris, let me know if that is something you'd like.
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

Chris H
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Post by Chris H »

Yes -- that would be great, it would allow splitting up into perhaps News, Bug Reports, and Tips forums or something.

I couldn't find any acktutor.doc file, so I'll add something to the walkthroughs section of the manual for 3.02.

I'll also improve the moongate instructions in the "tips and tricks" section of the manual -- it's a complicated set of macros and could do with a bit more explanation (not to mention some pictures).

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ACK 3.02 is up!

Post by Chris H »

Hi folks,

ACK 3.02 is up. Refer to the manual for instructions on how to upgrade.

Here's what's different:

* A missing file in the ULTIMA kit was causing the kit import (non-launcher) to crash. Kit import through the Windows launcher was not affected. Replaced the missing file, and changed the kit import to handle these problems more gracefully.

* Fixed a money exploit with the drop command. It's still a little crude (the map only lets you drop currency in multiples of 10) which means sometimes you can't drop ALL your money, but the exploit is gone.

* Clarified the wording on room creation so you know to select the top-left corner first.

* Fixed some issues with the TAB-key sync (Maps weren't saving from the map editor, creatures weren't loading in the object editor)

* Added a Tutorial walkthrough to the manual.

* Improved the Moongate instructions in the "tips and tricks" section of the manual, and added the macros to the ULTIMA kit.

Enjoy!

jjsonick
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Post by jjsonick »

The Mac version is now updated with 3.02 as well. Huzzah!

http://www.mozomedia.com/ack/download.html

RWS
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Post by RWS »

Hi all, This is wannabe game maker, but I selected my initials since I registered.

Anyway, would like to update to 3.2 but I would like to ask how to transfer maps? I made a 240x240 replica of the ultima 4 mainland from ultimatrix. Well, about 85% exact as I could with-in that grid as the original was on a 256x256 grid. I was gonna try for the U5 mainland, but for me it was imposible trying to use the custom world and not being able to see where I was screwing up. Anyway, it took me an insane amount of time to make the map and I want to make sure I don't lose it.

So, with the mainland created and a considerably lengthly plot already written, development is in progress. Basically, I need to make several maps still, which several of will be replicas of the U5 buildings (Those will fit in the grid :-) to save time and have that certain ultima feel. (Yes, I'm an ultima junkie. The time consuming part will be getting the hang of macros, chat, and the like. Now that I think about it, I still have a long way to go :-)

Wish me luck.

PS. When the game is posted, everybody feel free to use any of the maps or anything that will help you all save time in making a game. If anyone wants to take a crack at the U5 mainland, you'll have my appreciation as well as my amazed respect :-)
RWS

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Post by RWS »

Removed, it was another double post.
RWS

jjsonick
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Post by jjsonick »

Hi, RWS, glad you're having fun with ACK! For updating to the new version without losing the work you've done so far, follow these instructions:

1. Backup your games (just yours, not the default ones) out of the ACK\GAMES folder
2. Replace your Adventure Creation Kit folder with the new version
3. Copy your games back into the new ACK\GAMES folder.

It's a good idea to make periodic backups of your game folders anyway.

I've added these instructions, and instructions for backing up your games on the Mac version, to the download page.

JJ

Chris H
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Post by Chris H »

All the files for your adventure are kept in a folder in the ACK\GAMES folder. For example, if I was working on ULTIMA9, I'd make a backup of the ACK\GAMES\ULTIMA9 and that would have all my stuff.

(Lots of files in there; one of the appendicies in the manual lists what all those files mean.)

When I'm working on a game I'll often back up its folder manually from time to time, just in case I want to go back to yesterday's version of a map, etc.

In the future when I do updates I'm going to aim to just make a "hotfix" that replaces just the ACKxx.EXE files, but this time the fixes were largely to the kits.

Now on to your adventure:

That's great that you're making a Britannia map! If you're willing when it's all done, I'd love to include a Britannia map w/ working moongates with the kit. So how did you go about scaling it down to 240x240?

If you later want to go for a larger size, let me know, I'd be happy to help if you can think of how the custom map editor could be improved to make it more workable.

And generally speaking, feel free to contact me with questions like "I'm trying to do X, what's the easiest way" and such.

Chris H
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Possible sound engine change for 3.1?

Post by Chris H »

Hi all,

I'm considering a change to ACK's sound engine that I wanted to give you all a heads-up about.

ACK is written in Turbo Pascal, so there's some limits to what kind of sound support I can give it; previously I was using some TP code libraries that provide basic Sound Blaster support and play Sound Blaster VOC (digital audio) and CMF (FM synth music) files. Unfortunately it imposes some harsh limitations; both are low quality and VOC sounds are limited to 12 seconds or so.

I found a new code library that may allow -- I'm testing this now -- playing much longer sounds with better quality. The bad news is that it wouldn't be able to play VOC and CMF files anymore. VOC files can be converted to the new format, but CMF files can't.

The more I think about it, the more I don't think this is a problem; CMF files are likely all taken from MIDI files anyway, and I can probably find a way to convert those; though of course when you can convert things like MP3s instead, I'm not sure who'd want to. :)

I haven't 100% decided on whether to tackle this -- adding high-tech sound to a deliberately low-tech game might be anachronistic -- nor am I certain that I can get it to work in ACK anyway. But if it does happen, for those of you making adventures:

1) If I do this, I'll be updating the kits accordingly, so if you're using sound from a kit, rest assured that there will be instructions on how to modify your adventure-in-progress.

2) If you're making your own VOC/CMF sound effects, save the source files you used to make them, so you can make them again in the new RAW format if needed.

I'll keep you posted...

RWS
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Post by RWS »

Thank you both for the info and tip about backing up.

Chris H wrote:That's great that you're making a Britannia map! If you're willing when it's all done, I'd love to include a Britannia map w/ working moongates with the kit. So how did you go about scaling it down to 240x240?
Thanks, the map is done except for the locations of special tiles like towns and things, since they are actually portals, I'm waiting to add those until I have maps for them. Right now I just have a water or different land tile representing thier locations. Oh, and I didn't add the fire isles yet, because I haven't decided if I want them or the landmass for Blackthorns castle in the adventure I'm making.

As for scaling. I reshaped the east end of the mainland removing a few rows of non-essential tiles. I reshaped the tip of dagger isle to make it look like it naturally broke off from the new land mass (like the original appeared to have) and had to move Dagger and Codex isles about 8 spaces westward. I had to move Serpent hold isle a few spaces northward also. I tried to change as little as possible, and hopefully people wont be able to tell any difference.

Chris H wrote: If you later want to go for a larger size, let me know, I'd be happy to help if you can think of how the custom map editor could be improved to make it more workable.

And generally speaking, feel free to contact me with questions like "I'm trying to do X, what's the easiest way" and such.
Thanks, if I understand the custom map maker, you cannot see the tiles only the numbers. I believe this was a necessity in order to get the doubled spacing out of it. Unfortunetly, I'm not good at visualizing the numbers to see if things are aligned right, or when I start making original maps, to see if it simply looks good. If there is a way to see visuals of the tiles on the custom map maker, let me know. However, please don't worry about reworking it or anything, because the U4 map will be more than enough for what I need land wise, and when I do orignal maps, I wont need anything bigger than 240x240 anyway.

Also, thanks for the offer of contacting you. Prepare for a bombardment of questions once I start on macros :-)
RWS

RWS
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Bug??

Post by RWS »

I'm having a problem on the 240x240 world map and it may be just something I did wrong. I made LB's castle and popped in the portals, set the game to start me right by the castle and started it. Everything started great. The castle and all the portals are great. Once I was finshed checking out the Castle, I decided to take my first stroll throughout the land since I had the game running. I went west and then headed south )toward where paws will eventualy be and then had the problem.

Starting at a certain line, the tiles are either completely black or jumbled up with tile/objects I haven't even used on that map. Like a moster type (I haven't placed any yet) or a chair, kegs and other tiles just scrambled around. It seems to be the same place everytime.

I exited, and went into the map editor expecting to have lost everything, but the whole map appears fine in the editor.

Like I said, I may have just done something wrong, but I cannot figure it out. I'm running it on eWindows ME, Vista is just a stubborn beast that refuses to run anything that isn't specifically built for it :-)
RWS

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Post by Chris H »

Sounds like something during play might be corrupting the map data -- and since it's happening during play, it's not happening to the map original.

If you can possibly reproduce that error, save the game at that point, then go into the map editor and from the main menu, change "Currently editing" to "In-play maps" and check that part of the map in the editor. If you see the map corruption there too, any chance you can zip up your adventure's folder (ACK\GAMES\YOURGAME) and send it to me?

Thanks!

RWS
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Post by RWS »

Is there a limit to the amount of objects that can be created? I know there's 240(239) limit for tiles, but I didn't see anything in the Ack manuel about it.
RWS

Chris H
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Post by Chris H »

Yes -- 254 objects. It shouldn't let you make a 255th (if it does, that's a bug)

To some degree you can use custom spaces and obstacles to conserve objects; they let you set the parameter later (like for a sign, you can set each one to do a different message) so that helps somewhat.

I probably packed the ULTIMA kit with more objects than was wise, but you can delete some if you need to.

RWS
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Post by RWS »

Honestly, I'm glad you made all the objects you did, it has saved a ton of time. I just needed to know about the limit because there are graphic tiles for the individual shops like weapons shop and healer. If there wasn't a limit (or a super huge limit), I was going make each sign an object and hang them outside the shop, like they have in U5. Not a big deal though, I'll just use the obsticle* sign for that.
RWS

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Post by Chris H »

I imported the graphics in case people wanted them more than things like paths or crenelations, in which case they could delete those.

I wonder if it's practical to make it so a custom space/obstacle can have the graphic tile be the part that varies, that would be interesting...

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ACK 3.03 is up

Post by Chris H »

Hi everyone,

ACK v3.03 is up. The only change is to fix the bug that RWS discovered, so only two files were changed. If you're already running 3.02, you can just download this "hotfix":

http://home.san.rr.com/divingpictures/ack302hotfix.zip

Replace the existing ACK02.EXE and ACK02.OVR files with these.

Or, you can use the regular ACK download link, to download the full 3.03 package.

This is an interim release, I'm hoping to have a 3.1 out soon with a new sound engine. I've been very happy with it in testing; unlike the old one (with its 10 second limit) I've been able to play files over 8 minutes without any problems, and ACK doesn't have to pause to play it. I've also been able to convert MP3, MIDI, and WAV files all to the new format, which means no more messing with CMF files for music.

However, I've only been testing (with jj's help) on a limited number of computers; the real question will be its stability (or not) on a larger variety of systems. If anyone's interested in test-driving it, contact me privately and I'll send you the test files. Thanks!

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Post by Garth's Equipment Shop »

Hi Chris,

I played the tutorial game and all the sample games. I had one question about the tut. When I got to the 2400AD like walled city with the conveyor-belt streets and robots and such I tried left no stone unturned, talked to every NPC, went back to Max on the TV several times, talked to every NPC repeatedly until they began repeating themselves, tried looking at every object, tried shooting and blowing up all the robots, then all the people, but finally gave up looking for some way to continue or to gain entry to the few locked doors I could not get past.

Was that where the tut was supposed to end or did I just miss something glaringly obvious that I was meant to find in order to continue?

BTW I really enjoyed the many 80's touches, esp the music. Great Tutorial! After playing that I searched for 2400AD online and found it on an abandonware site and dl'd it. I'll be playing that soon. Looks cool. I'm suprised I never played it or even heard of it before considering the fact that I was and still am a huge WL fan and collector of anything post-apocalyptic.
Which of you is interested in my fine wares?

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Post by Chris H »

Nope, you reached the end, there's nothing after that point. And 2400AD was a really good game -- and an interesting spin on the graphics, where they use gray backgrounds instead of black ones to pretty good effect. (It also inspired me to add the "move player" action, so I could implement slidewalks)

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