Rocks'n'Diamonds with GDash game engine

[artsoft]

It happens because "scanned game elements" (BD game engine run-time elements) are named differently as expected and are not read correctly from the BDCFF file of this cave set. (This naming scheme was apparently not supported in the older version of the GDash code I used for engine integration into R'n'D.)

Thanks to your precise bug reporting, I was immediately able to reproduce this problem with the given cave set and cave.

I have just fixed it, and the problem will be solved with the next pre-release version of R'n'D with GDash game engine.

Thanks again for helping me making the game engine more compatible.

[igormakovsky]

Thank you for your reply!

Then, please, check cave 03, the same Future Dash by Arno Webber caveset:

when continually moving down with the falling rocks and moving from bottom row to the top, I encounter a frame skip exactly when rockford gets from the 2nd to the 3rd row. You can try for yourself and see if it will happen on your machine too.

I have saved a short video to illustrate this here: https://igormakovsky.com/asmysl/bd-futu ... meskip.mp4

Here is the where skip occurs:

[igormakovsky]

Also this.

Rock that is placed on the bottom row will immediately kill rockford if the player will move one frame down without possible way to avoid death by moving left or right.



Is it like it was in original gdash or is it a bug?

[artsoft]

Then, please, check cave 03, the same Future Dash by Arno Webber caveset:

when continually moving down with the falling rocks and moving from bottom row to the top, I encounter a frame skip exactly when rockford gets from the 2nd to the 3rd row. You can try for yourself and see if it will happen on your machine too.

I have saved a short video to illustrate this here: https://igormakovsky.com/asmysl/bd-futu ... meskip.mp4

Thanks again for the detailed bug report! This was a bug in my "smooth game element movement animation" code, which I have just fixed! So elements now also move smoothly after a cave wrap-around!

Thanks again! I think I wouldn't even have noticed it without your bug report, but once seen I couldn't unsee it again.

[artsoft]

Also this.

Rock that is placed on the bottom row will immediately kill rockford if the player will move one frame down without possible way to avoid death by moving left or right.

Is it like it was in original gdash or is it a bug?

This is a special case (having to do with cave scan order) not handled yet in the older GDash code I used (but which is fixed in newer versions of GDash).

However, I am aware of this problem and will fix it for the final "R'n'D with GDash engine" release (but not yet for the next pre-release/test version, I think).

There are a few other known problems related to cave scanning in some existing cave sets that are not handled yet, but please don't hesitate to report any other bugs you should find, and I will try hard to fix them.

[artsoft]

Rock that is placed on the bottom row will immediately kill rockford if the player will move one frame down without possible way to avoid death by moving left or right.

This is a special case (having to do with cave scan order) not handled yet in the older GDash code I used (but which is fixed in newer versions of GDash).

However, I am aware of this problem and will fix it for the final "R'n'D with GDash engine" release (but not yet for the next pre-release/test version, I think).

It's fixed now and will be released with the third pre-release version (hopefully coming very soon).

[artsoft]

I have just released the 3rd test version of Rocks'n'Diamonds (version 4.4.0.0-test-3) with the new GDash engine, which contains the following additions and fixes:

• added support for smooth movement on conveyor belts in BD engine
• added BD default graphics for chasing rock and cracking nut
• added reading (more) scanned BD elements from BDCFF files
• added BD file format specific hacks (for things like diagonal movement)
• added support for zero delay for gravitation switch in BD engine
• changed some names and descriptions for some BD style game elements
• fixed speed of conveyor belt default animation for BD engine
• fixed various edge cases for smooth movement animation for BD engine
• fixed bug causing BD engine hanging in wrap-around scrolling edge case
• fixed bug with smooth movement speed in BD engine after wrapping around
• fixed BD elements at wrap-around cave position killing player instantly
• fixed broken scrollbar in hall of fame after playing with small graphics

I have updated the download links in the first post of this thread accordingly.

I have also added a new version of the GDash level collection (version 0.9.3) to be played with the above version, which contains some game element name changes and should be used to prevent broken graphics.

[CWS]

Nice new version!

Two things I immediately noticed: vsync aka 60 Hz does not fully work on MacOS. It's smoother but jerking periodically.

And the game speed can still not be set differently for the different engines.

[igormakovsky]

I agree, new version is absolutely great, thank you for fixing those little details.

Here, playing Dustin's Boulder Dash 19 Darkst00r, cave 01, I've noticed that total jewel counter is equal 00, so technically player doesn't need to collect any jewels to finish. Other than that, the actual number of jewels equals 22 (all of them).

Is that a bug or, say, a feature I haven't been awared of?



Once again, thank you for making my BD game dream come true.

[igormakovsky]

Also, while playing on a mac, I sometimes encounter lack of any sound in a game. It is hard to investigate when exactly, but it never happens during the run. Sometimes it happens after choosing new cave (i've skipped a level and got into the intermission that had no sounds). Earlier this day it happened when I closed the macbook lid while pausing the game and opened it lately, continue playing. Then, around 10 seconds lately, out of nowhere, the sound eventually turned on. That doesn't depend on OS volume or anything else.

[igormakovsky]

While playing with the cave editor, I've placed a few player starts in a single cave and was pleasantly surprised that it gives you option to control several rockfords at a time. I never thought it was possible, and if I'm not mistaken, that wasn't available in BDKit that I had on ZX Spectrum machine. All rockfords except one, could be killed during the run. If any of them reaches exit then player wins. I've neved seen that implemented in any other cave and immediately got an idea to make a whole caveset based on this feature. It would be great to control the rules of it for any particular cave. If all the rockfords should remain alive and get to the exits, or only a few shall be saved.

It might be interesting to switch between several rockfords, controlling one at a time, so that the puzzles could be solved within help of several rockfords. When playing scaled up graphics, where the whole playfield is not visible, viewport is focused only on the last placed rockford, while others can move out of the sight.

And what about the bd multiplayer that was presented in original RnD?

If you know of any cavesets where this gameplay can be seen, please tell me.

Is that a bug or a feature of RnD GDash?

[igormakovsky]

When entering cave editor, I don't get how to switch to the bd traditional graphical set in my levelsets.

It works with Supaplex or RnD games, because those graphic sets are included in the game. Rather than that, when switching to BD game engine, I still got that RnD graphic set and can't get rid of it.

Will that be fixed in the final release or do I miss something?

[artsoft]

Two things I immediately noticed: vsync aka 60 Hz does not fully work on MacOS. It's smoother but jerking periodically.

Are you using an (older) Intel Mac or a (newer) "Apple Silicon" Mac?

The pre-build Mac binaries are (still) all build natively for Intel Macs, and "only" run in emulation on newer M1/M2 Macs (which works remarkably well, I think).

So any unusual or unexpected behavior (when running on current Macs) might be caused by this.

Regarding 60 Hz with VSync, this works perfectly only on my old Intel based Macbook (not only in fullscreen mode, but also in windowed mode), but apparently does not work on my new M3 Pro Macbook.

I plan to build a fully native binary (or universal binary) for the final version 4.4.0.0 (which will then also use the most recent SDL libraries), but so far I get a lot of "black flickering" when running the game built on the new Mac, so I have only released binaries build on my older Intel Macbook so far.

And the game speed can still not be set differently for the different engines.

That's true. I'm still unsure what would be the best and most convenient way to do this. I can see both advantages and disadvantages in both approaches (having a game speed setting for all engines vs. individual engine speed settings).

Any other opinions on this?

[artsoft]

Here, playing Dustin's Boulder Dash 19 Darkst00r, cave 01, I've noticed that total jewel counter is equal 00, so technically player doesn't need to collect any jewels to finish. Other than that, the actual number of jewels equals 22 (all of them).

Is that a bug or, say, a feature I haven't been awared of?

This looks like a bug, as this doesn't happen in GDash (showing 22 diamonds to be collected).

I will check and fix this bug.

Once again, thank you for making my BD game dream come true.

I'm happy that you like it!

[artsoft]

Also, while playing on a mac, I sometimes encounter lack of any sound in a game. It is hard to investigate when exactly, but it never happens during the run. Sometimes it happens after choosing new cave (i've skipped a level and got into the intermission that had no sounds). Earlier this day it happened when I closed the macbook lid while pausing the game and opened it lately, continue playing. Then, around 10 seconds lately, out of nowhere, the sound eventually turned on. That doesn't depend on OS volume or anything else.

Do you use a newer (Apple Silicon / M1/M2/M3) Mac? I have the suspicion that this is caused by the Rosetta emulation of the Intel binary. (Also see my other answer on this topic above.)

I haven't encountered this problem so far on my newer Mac; maybe this problem goes away when I build the game with more recent SDL library versions...