MapTool 1.4

Progress reports and musings from the developers on the current gaming tools.

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wolph42
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by wolph42 »

I know this is old news, but the more I read the plans and start to get some grasp of the rather enormous task you're about to undertake and the shift it has on the users and the rift it will create with 1.3 campaign files.... why on earth do you name this 1.4 and not 2.0(beta?)? To say the least it's a nice neon sign saying
1. incompatible with earlier versions (I 've seen some programs do that before but never in a decimal increase always with a new version)
2. the change will be huge, embrace yourself its gonna be a rocky ride
3. It's a good sign to the outer world saying that MT is maturing and leaving its 1.0 stadium behind (more of a marketing thing then anything else)

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jfrazierjr
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by jfrazierjr »

wolph42 wrote:I know this is old news, but the more I read the plans and start to get some grasp of the rather enormous task you're about to undertake and the shift it has on the users and the rift it will create with 1.3 campaign files.... why on earth do you name this 1.4 and not 2.0(beta?)? To say the least it's a nice neon sign saying
1. incompatible with earlier versions (I 've seen some programs do that before but never in a decimal increase always with a new version)
2. the change will be huge, embrace yourself its gonna be a rocky ride
3. It's a good sign to the outer world saying that MT is maturing and leaving its 1.0 stadium behind (more of a marketing thing then anything else)
Well, from what I understand 1.2 and 1.3 files were totally incompatible also, so it's not unprecedented. With that said, I don't really care what we call the version.
I save all my Campaign Files to DropBox. Not only can I access a campaign file from pretty much any OS that will run Maptool(Win,OSX, linux), but each file is versioned, so if something goes crazy wild, I can always roll back to a previous version of the same file.

Get your Dropbox 2GB via my referral link, and as a bonus, I get an extra 250 MB of space. Even if you don't don't use my link, I still enthusiastically recommend Dropbox..

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jfrazierjr
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by jfrazierjr »

One other limiting factor is that in 1.3 and previous versions a token is a thingy that belongs to a map. when you "move" a token to a new map, it turns into a totally new thingy. You can see this by using using Wiki: currentToken() after "copying" from one map to another. In 1.4, a token will be unique throughout the entire campaign and the per map will just be a "proxy" thingy that does nothing more than hold its location on the map.

With that said, since what you consider a token actually consists of one or more copies inside a campaign, there really is no way to merge those in 1.4 since there will be no way to know which is the master or latest version updated, or whatever. It would suck to have two maps and on the second map your token just got the grand sword of awesomeness +5 and have that wiped out by the other maps copy of the token. :roll:
I save all my Campaign Files to DropBox. Not only can I access a campaign file from pretty much any OS that will run Maptool(Win,OSX, linux), but each file is versioned, so if something goes crazy wild, I can always roll back to a previous version of the same file.

Get your Dropbox 2GB via my referral link, and as a bonus, I get an extra 250 MB of space. Even if you don't don't use my link, I still enthusiastically recommend Dropbox..

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Scubba
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by Scubba »

Craig wrote:
Scubba wrote: And if we are serious about junit tests (YAY!) can we set up a bugbase? Pretty please?
This is being done :)
Suddenly I don't miss Trevor so much! :wink:

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Azhrei
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by Azhrei »

wolph42 wrote:why on earth do you name this 1.4 and not 2.0(beta?)?
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet..."

Besides... We're saving the "2.0" moniker for the 3D version. It'll run on the new 3D firmware for the PS3 and when used with a 3DTV will absolutely knock your socks off!!

:mrgreen:

And it really depends on a lot of variables that we just can't predict at this point. For example, our first builds of 1.4 will be the 1.3 code, just repackaged internally. That clearly doesn't qualify for the "2.0" label. (At least, it's clear to me!)

And because MapTool has always been rather fluid in what it supports from one build to the next, files that aren't readable are not that big a deal.

I will likely continue to use 1.3 for my home game and I'd certainly recommend it for organized play. I don't expect 1.4 will be very useful in toto until after the first dozen builds or so, perhaps more.

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whited
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by whited »

Azhrei wrote:The bug tracker is another thing... The user whited has been working to clean up the existing bug tracker at SF. Removing stuff that doesn't need to be there and trying to keep things that are useful ideas for 1.4 so we don't lose them forever. :| I will start another thread on the bug tracker tonight or tomorrow night because we need some discussion on that topic.
Yeah, I've been working mostly on the maven builds rather than the bugs tracker. Not to hijack this thread, but I'm still relatively new to maptool, so I'm finding it rather arduous to try and filter out bugs that are already fixed, not feasible, or otherwise not appropriate to be moved. I'll definitely be needing help to manage the tracker entries.

I'll watch for the bug tracker thread and chime in there.

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aku
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by aku »

Ya know, to be honest, i'm not sure even maintaining the 1.3 tracker into 1.6 is even needed. With the amount of re-writing that is going to be done, similar symptoms could come from different code problems.

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Azhrei
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by Azhrei »

Yep. My primary goal was to not miss UI ideas that people had that were entered as "bugs". Anyone who has looked through the tracker will understand what I'm referring to.

Trevor often used the tracker to keep track of ideas as much as bugs. I'd rather keep it for bugs, but I didn't want to lose any great ideas. Perhaps we should just ignore the 1.3 tracker? Empty it entirely and start over. Since 1.3 is mostly bug fixes (or very simple things that won't affect the rest of the code), this is probably a good time to do so...

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Hawke
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by Hawke »

Good to hear. If 2.0 is the 3D version, is 3.0 the "Put ME into the map" functionality?

I think as a avid supporter, I'd love to get as much info as possible about what people are working on and also give the chance for the community to comment / suggest as needed on specific features. I know a lot of the backend stuff wont be exciting to the majority of folks, but do you guys have any ideas on how devs working on patches might distinguish threads so that we might better figure out

1) which is 1.4 stuff versus the noise of years of feature requests, patch ideas, etc.
2) which 1.4 threads are about feature requests, owned requests, currently in development, or in current build

I know we have some great subforums right now, but it might be a good time to take a look at forum structure as well as other suggestions like topic [1.4tags].

Anyway, thanks for all the good work to everyone who's contributed so far. Looking forward to seeing where we go once the reins are removed with the start of a new build!

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Azhrei
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by Azhrei »

There will be a separate forum created for MT 1.4.

About 95% of the people here will continue to use 1.3 for their games until 1.4 is stable (I know I will!). So the primary forums will remain as they are.

There will be a separate MapTool 1.4 forum that appears around the time of the 1.4.b01 :) and my initial plan is for the permissions to be cannot-start-threads-but-can-reply-to-threads, sort of the way the Announcement forum works now. Think of it as a bulletin board where progress reports can be made and people can comment on them. That might change if the other contributors have better ideas. :)

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kristof65
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by kristof65 »

Quick question - if we have an idea for how to implement something specific in 1.4, where's the best place to post it? Find an existing thread with similar topic? Start a new thread? (and if so, in which forum?) Send a message to one of you guys?

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Azhrei
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by Azhrei »

Well... There isn't any place right now. :(

We are pretty sure what the first half-dozen builds of 1.4 are going to include. Once we get where the core stuff is working, then we'll start taking ideas for the future.

In the mean time just continue posting in the MapTool forum, I guess. We have a Feature Request subforum so you could put it there and just make sure that "1.4" shows up in the subject...

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wolph42
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by wolph42 »

from time to time questions concerning 1.4 will pop-up in my head and I assume the best place to post them is here :?:

so:
I was wondering, currently the MT Script holds all output to textbox until the script is finished, which has quite a few drawbacks (like status updates during long processes and requiring huge stack when a lot of text has to be ported to the chat at once). With the implementation of JS, will this change? as in will it then be possible to get output to a frame or chat during the process.
If you haven't thought about this, then you can consider this as a feat request for 1.4!

thnx.

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Azhrei
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by Azhrei »

wolph42 wrote:from time to time questions concerning 1.4 will pop-up in my head and I assume the best place to post them is here :?:
I thought I just mentioned putting them into the Feature Request subforum and putting "1.4" in the Subject? 8)
as in will it then be possible to get output to a frame or chat during the process.
Yep, that's the plan. MTscript executes on the GUI update thread which simplifies a lot of things but also means that the rest of the UI doesn't get updated while the macros are running (except in specific cases).
If you haven't thought about this, then you can consider this as a feat request for 1.4!
Then you should post it in the Feature Request subforum! ;)

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wolph42
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Re: MapTool 1.4

Post by wolph42 »

Thnx for the reply. I gather that you have thought of it so it isn't a feat request so I shouldn't post it there so the post was in the right place 8) .

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