It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally done enough work on Zafehouse 2’s second combat prototype to post a couple of screenshots.

As I mentioned in a previous update, the original combat implementation was ground into a fine, code-tasting dust and packed away, replaced by an infinitely deeper (and juicier) solution that uses firing arcs.

Entering into combat hasn’t changed – you still click on the event in the event window – and the representation of the room is similar too. The difference is that zombies are no longer shown as one large group, they’re now broken up into individual flesh-eating nasties. Weapons have also evolved, the far/close/melee profiles exchanged for variable firing arcs and shot modes. For example, the shotgun has a wide firing arc and shoots pellets in a spread, but it can only fire once per turn and has a short range. A submachine gun on the other hand has a medium firing arc and range, but you can shoot up to six bullets at one or multiple targets. Keep in mind that each bullet fired in the same turn reduces the accuracy of the shot that follows it.

Hit the jump for an additional screenshot which show projectiles in flight. Yes, I said projectiles.

Continue reading ‘Zafehouse 2’s shiny new combat window (and mechanics)’

Posted in Zafehouse 2

Tags: games, Gaming, pc, survival horror, vb .net, windows, Zafehouse, Zafehouse 2, Zombies

BioWare’s pushed out Mass Effect 2 1.01 for PC users. It comes with a solid collection of fixes, which you’ll find below:

* Fixed video hitching and crashes related to single core machines.

* Single core users may experience short periods of black screen that may last up a few seconds between level loads, cinematic transitions or movies.

* In rare cases, some single core users may notice dialog lines in certain conversations may be delayed up to a few seconds.

* Fixed an issue where it appears ammunition can be picked up, but can’t.

* Fixed an issue where all Codex entries were marked as ‘viewed’, even if the player chose not to view them.

* Fixed an issue where weapon icons are re-organized after downloadable content is used.

* Fixed an issue where pressing F9 after the mission completion screen reset Shepard to Level 1.

* Fixed an issue where remapping the right mouse button blocks camera control in the command HUD.

* Fixed an issue where remapping the ‘use’ command affects the decryption minigame.

* Fixed an issue where users were not prompted to restart when logging in to a different EA Online account.

* Fixed an issue where movies do not play in DLC.

* It is recommended that players reset their keyboard mapping to default values to ensure proper vehicle control.

* Added useful messaging during the ME1 save game import.

* Weapon icon for henchmen never changes from Collector Assault Rifle.

* Czech language – Issues with Czech localization (subtitles) were amended, all text was corrected and improved.

* Fixed an issue where the Mass Effect 2 launcher was being associated with files that have no extension.

* Fixed an issue where uninstalling the game under Windows Vista or Windows 7 might uninstall Mass Effect 1.

I’ve emphasised the fixes that relate to CPUs. While none of them explicitly state that the slow dual-core loading times (that MassAffinity nicely addresses) have been rectified, it’s not entirely insane to think one of the aforementioned singe-core tweaks may have done the trick.

Sadly, I haven’t found any conclusive evidence to suggest this is true. So far, I’ve only found this thread on BioWare’s Social Network, which seems to indicate that the slow load times are still present. It’d be great if any ME2 players out there could confirm whether they’re still encountering the problem, so I can update the original MassAffinity post.

On an unrelated note, I found the following bug hilarious:

Fixed an issue where uninstalling the game under Windows Vista or Windows 7 might uninstall Mass Effect 1

According to ME2 Technical Director Derek French, Windows itself is to blame for this nasty blighter:

That is actually a bug that Microsoft introduced in Vista and 7. We keep our uninstallers in a common location and if you don’t encase the full path to the Uninstaller in double-quotes, Windows will just pick another random executable from that directory and run it, instead of the executable the you explicitly entered. It is pretty crazy when you tell Windows to run ‘Uninstall Mass Effect 2.exe’ and Windows decides to run ‘Uninstall Mass Effect.exe’

Best. Feature. Ever.

Posted in Gaming, Tools and utilities

Tags: app, bioware, bug, core 2 duo, dual core, fix, mass affinity, mass effect, mass effect 2, massaffinity, pc, processors, tool, utility, vb .net, vista, windows, windows 7

Rob and I over at Up Up Down Down have poked Brendon Chung of Blendo Games with our big, wacky and sometimes succulent interview stick. In the process, we played through a number of Chung’s efforts, including Barista, Bootleg Squarog and Gravity Bone.

If you’d like to see me in action (specifically, because I’m all about the spiffy), jump straight over to video #3. However if you find me boring or in some way contagious, Chung’s interview is positioned in video #2.

Of course, if you just want to start at the beginning and absorb all the raw neatness of Brendon (and us), you can watch Part #1. Laughter is assured whichever course of action you take.

Posted in Gaming, Media

Tags: Barista, Barista 2, blendo games, Bootleg Squarog, Brendon Chung, Bugstompers, clip, games, gravity bone, grotto king, humour, independent, indie, interview, Pilot Light, The Puppy Years, up up down down, video

All those French and Italian dungeon masters who were missing out on the awesomeness of the 4e Power Toolkit – never fear! You too can create your own class and powers with the latest version of the program.

Sorry to all the English-only speakers out there… v0.7.0b doesn’t contain a great deal for you. Here’s the changelog anyway – something might take your fancy:

* Added first implementation of localisation support – different languages can be chosen by selecting one of the relevant flag icons at the bottom of the main program window. It is highly experimental and it is not recommended to upgrade to version 0.7.0 unless you plan to beta test localised text. Localised text is stored in the Locale subdirectory (English.txt, French.txt, Italian.txt, etc). Text may not be perfect and some text may still be in English even when a different language is selected. Please contact logan@playwrite-blog.net regarding corrections

* Powers and classes created in one localisation are not compatible with other localisations

* Language data is now stored in power and class XML

* Powers and classes with custom data (power sources, effect types, etc) will now load correctly

* Updated PDFsharp to v1.31

Probably the big takeaway is that classes and powers are not compatible between different versions of the toolkit. I should also mention the Italian translation was made with Babelfish, so it’s no doubt a bit rubbish.

If there’s anyone out there who’d like to translate the program into their mother tongue, just dip into the Locale subfolder of the 4e Power Toolkit folder. You’ll find an English.txt file with the program’s English text. Use this as a starting point to create your own localisation file. Once you’re done, just email me at logan (at) playwrite-blog (dot) net with the file and the language it’s for, and I’ll include it in the next build.

Thanks to Xavier Hunault-Pérusse for the French translation.

Download the 4e Power Toolkit 0.7.0b

Posted in 4e, 4e D&D, Advice/Tools, Dungeons and Dragons, Role playing

Tags: 4e, 4e class creator, 4e power toolkit, 4ept, 4th edition, classes, d&d, english, french, powers, tools, utilities, vb .net

Apparently so, according to the image on the right. As you can see, the VIAGRA branding on the chip is quite clear. While I’m sure it’s not news to some, it was entirely fresh to me when I spotted it on FAIL Blog.

Basking in the unrelenting funny of the image wasn’t enough, I had to find out exactly when this chip existed and what its purpose was. So, after ten minutes of hunting around the Interwebs, I found forum talk that suggested the VIAGRA was a rebranded VIA MVP4 – a northbridge designed for AMD’s K6-2 and K6-III CPUs. VIA’s own website confirmed the fact; both chips share the same model number – 8501. A shot of the MVP4 can be found here.

Finally, tech site AnandTech helped me date the unfortunately-named piece of hardware, via a review published in February of 1999.

So, all my questions answered? Not exactly. Ignoring the name’s automatic association with a certain type of “upper”, what would possess VIA to brand a chip in such a fashion? My guess is because the MVP4 includes integrated graphics – a Trident Blade3D to be exact – VIA felt it could get away with adding the “GRA” (short for graphics) suffix. The Blade3D existed around the same time as the Voodoo3 and, while it didn’t stand well against 3dfx’s hardware, it slapped Intel’s integrated solution around like a misbehaving puppy.

Posted in Hardware

Tags: chip, chipset, cpu, Hardware, motherboard, pc chips, via, via gra, viagra

Well, MassAffinity has done an extreme amount of pleasuring in the last 24 hours, which hopefully means a lot of happy Mass Effect 2 gamers.

Several requests for improvements prompted me to update the app to v0.2. Here’s a list of what’s new:

• Allows you to use an executable name other than the default (for those who have renamed MassEffect2.exe to enable anti-aliasing);
• Automatically detects your ME2 path via the registry;
• Shuts down immediately if ME2 is closed before MassAffinity can apply the fix (previously it would wait ten seconds);
• Added some graphics. Okay… one graphic;
• Added a “Help” button.

That’s it! The functionality remains unchanged, so no need to update if it’s working peachy already. No harm though if you do download it.

Download MassAffinity v0.2

Posted in Tools and utilities

Tags: app, bioware, bug, core 2 duo, dual core, fix, mass affinity, mass effect, mass effect 2, massaffinity, pc, processors, tool, utility, vb .net, vista, windows

UPDATE: Version 0.2 is now available!

I caught wind of the fact Mass Effect 2 was causing PC users with dual-cores some grief, in the form of extremely long load times going between decks of the Normandy. Which is odd, as venturing into an entirely new planet loaded just dandy.

More than a few smart people figured out it had to do with the game’s processor affinity. Simply setting it to one core and then back to two cores fixed the problem. But having to do this every time you play ME2 sounds like a chore we could easily do without.

Hence, I coded up MassAffinity, a tiny app that takes the hard work out of it. Just place the app on your desktop (or somewhere else convenient), run it, select your ME2 directory, and hit “Run game”. After that, every time you double-click the MassAffinity app, it’ll automatically start ME2 and fix the issue.

No doubt this bug will get patched eventually, but for now, this should do the job. It should be noted this problem doesn’t affect everyone – it seems to be isolated to people running a certain combination of CPU and operating system. So, if you’re not experiencing long load times between decks, then this program is not for you.

If you ever need to change the directory, you can run the app with the “/config” switch, or run the “SetupMassAffinity.cmd” file that comes with the program.

Any questions or feedback, just leave a comment. Otherwise, enjoy! Thanks goes out to my brother, Chris, for testing the application.

Download MassAffinity v0.1

PS. If you like zombie games, be sure to check out Zafehouse and Zafehouse 2, my little side projects.

Posted in Tools and utilities

Tags: bioware, bugs, fix, mass effect, mass effect 2, massaffinity, processor affinity, processors, rpg, vb .net

I’ve returned, thoroughly, from my overseas journey and am back on Zafehouse 2. Combat is the focus right now, the first prototype gone and the second one bubbling along nicely. My first task is to implement firing arcs for weapons and nailing the interface. Then I’ll be working on furniture placement and zombie attack AI.

I’m personally a little giddy about how it’ll all play out, and I reckon you’ll be pleasantly surprised yourself with the revamped combat. It has a flavour all its own, one I’m quite proud of. The instant it’s all working, expect a shiny video.

I will be working very, very hard to release the game this year, and extra super hard to squeeze it out a demo before the end of June.

Z2 has benefited enormously from the input of (what I hope are) fans, and it is a better game for those lovingly suggested modifications. In particular, kulik242 seems to have a direct connection to my brain; many of his suggestions adding the final pieces to my own, half-formed ideas. I think it’s wise to listen to those on the outside, the external observers, because distance is a magical thing in the creative realms.

In the meantime, if the survival horror simulation itch just won’t go away, check out Zafehouse: Infection, a user-made mod of the original Zafehouse. It’s got me thinking Z1 could do with a refresh sometime in the future…

Once Z2 is done, of course. :)

Posted in Zafehouse 2

Tags: games, simulation, strategy, survival horror, undead, vb .net, Zafehouse, Zafehouse 2, Zombies

The 4e Custom Classes website is host to another interesting user-designed creation – the Umbramancer. While it’s influenced heavily by the Warlock, with a little Assassin flavour, author Maeglin has made it his own. He describes the shadowy death-dealer thusly:

Shadows and darkness – both are your tools, the incantations you have learned grant you all the powers of the Umbral Realm, all shadows are at your beck and call. Through years of study the realm of the dark has opened your eyes to the eternal bleak eternities and the reflection of all. Each time you cast a spell, you know that shadows are encouraging your words and that they wish to do your will. Your soul is forever held by the Arch Shades, whether the good or the malign.

And here’s an example of one of the powers:

Posted in 4e D&D, Advice/Tools, Dungeons and Dragons, Role playing

Tags: 4e, 4e class creator, 4e power toolkit, classes, d&d, Dungeons and Dragons, Role playing, rpgs, umbramancer

I’m heading off on a three-week trip to Egypt, Jordan, Dubai and Singapore tomorrow. As a result, you won’t see much action on this site, or on Zafehouse 2.

I know, sad faces incoming.

I’m going to take this opportunity to relax and recharge so I can come back and redouble my efforts on the game and the 4e Power Toolkit. Speaking of the 4ePT, I’ve started work on a localisation manager that should make it a cinch for people to translate the app into other languages. I’ve done about 40% of the groundwork, and hope to have a new version out in January.

As for Zafehouse 2, I’m in the process of adding perks and rewriting the combat engine. The first one was always going to be a prototype, and now that I have a better idea of the direction the game is heading, I can solidify this aspect of the design. The new combat engine and screen will be more interactive, dynamic and pretty, and will introduce a new concept – firing arcs.

But details can wait until 2010. ;) Until then, happy holidays and enjoy the break!

Posted in General

Tags: 4e power toolkit, christmas, holidays, Zafehouse, Zafehouse 2