Bi-Weekly Update 6/15/08

[Ramsey]

Before beginning to divulge in this update, please take time to look at the following topics:
http://www.swgemu.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11609
http://www.swgemu.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11484
http://www.swgemu.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11045

1) Update Overview
-Cave Implementations
-Stomach Fillings & Decay rate
-New Administrator Commands
-Image Designer
-Missions
-Test Center Stability Fixes...AND YOU!


2) Body
Cave Implementations:
Kellina (and the Cave Research Forums) have been blazing through cave implentations the past two weeks. I'll give a summary of what caves have been added and the creatures to expect there.

Sennex Cave (Tatooine):
The Sennex Cave scripts to SVN a few days back. The following creatures populate the area: Sennex Hunter, Slave Master, Sennex Lookout, Sennex Slaver, Sennex Guard, Sennex Warder, Cave Beetle, and the Dune Beetle.

Afarathu Cave (Corellia):
Committed on 6/9. Creatures to expect: Afarathu; Ruffian, Assassin, Savage, Zealot, Brute, Bodyguard, and Leader.
Cave Profile

Drall Cave (Corellia):
Committed on 6/9. Creatures to expect: Drall; Patriot Foot Soldier(M/F), Tactical(M/F), Chieftain(M/F), Legionaire(M/F), Conqueror(M/F).
Cave Profile

Lord Nyax Cult (Corellia):
Committed on 6/9. Creatures to expect: Nyax; Fiend, Diciple, Zealot, Minion, Thug, Servant, Visionary, Lord Nyax.
Cave Profile

Rouge Corsec Base:
Committed on 6/9. Creatures to expect: Rouge Corsec; Trooper(M/F), Commander(M/F), Deserter, Traitor, and Mtara Vinram.
Base Profile

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Stomach Fillings:
Small addition by McMahon. Stomach fillings are currently set through the commands @setFoodFilling and @setDrinkFilling .

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New Administrator Commands:
Kellina has added some "fun" and helpful admin commands - which should be of interest to future server operators. If you are going to run a SWGEmu server in the future, and would like to see an administrative feature added to Core3, do NOT hesitate to post about it in the Open Source Discussion forum and talk about it in #opendev. On to the new commands:

@kick <name> - Target the user and type @kick or use the syntax provided. This command is something we've been missing for a long time, and its really one of the staple admin commands.

@killArea <range> - Kill's users within a certain range.

@kickArea <range> - Kick's users within a certain range. Secret server hijack party needs kicking?

@mutePlayer <name> - Mutes the Spatial Chat for the specified player.

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Image Designer:
McMahon has been hard at work with the image designer features. On 6/1, he committed the Image Design screen and performed wiki updates for image design related packets. He is currently doing Customization Variable research pertaining to image design.

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Missions:
With lair's done (and have been for quite some time - see previous Biweeklys), Missions are the next step. Preliminary structure research on Missions packets were completed way back in September of 2006, but after that they were never looked into much detail. The time has come that we are digging through out old notes and bringing them back into the light. I completed research on the mission packets late last night, as well as wrote the implementation & packet classes. All that is left is the MissionManager class (which is going to be the hardest part ). For those of you interested in the progress of missions, just glance at the timeline over the next few weeks. As far as XP goes, I'm pretty sure Ultyma did it like 2 years ago .


(Missions pictured in dummy (test) servers - fully reversed. Note: Mission pictured is not suppose to represent the real mission on live. Core3 implementation in the works, as mentioned above.)

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Test Center Stability Fixes:

Every biweekly, I have always stressed the fact that numbers on the TC really do matter. These last two weeks were no exception. In case you have not noticed, there were a plethora of bug fixes directly related to what we found on the Test Center. Here are just a few; 394, 393, 388, 386, 385, 384.

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3) Developer Perspective: ("Round Table")

Ritter:

I am currently taking the old structures code from rev 162 and updating everything to work with all the changes since then, and also adding in harvesters. Progress is slow right now (I just moved and started a new job so I am still settling in), but expect to see some fun stuff in the coming weeks.

panchjr:

I will be working in Spain for the next couple of weeks and will only have my work laptop with me. I have a copy of the code on it but it is not really up to the job of testing new code.

Once I have despawning of lairs working (currently it crashes the server) I will upload lair code so that people can have a look.

Uli: (Client Developer)

I have been trying to fix some bugs with Kashyyyk hasn't gone too good so far but still working on it, been hanging around TC lately as well you might of seen someone who had been image designed like had the full works on them and even a pink or red twi'lek with horns, yeah that was me :P

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...i/0f2ecbbf.jpg

Yeah, its a nice way to relax after 2 hours of working on one file :P

Other things i been working on and the rest of the client team will be announced later

Valkyra: (Client Developer)

I am currently working on Kashyyyk related content, such as load screens, POIs, and possibly badges. Also being able to make it so you can shuttle there is being a real big PITA I am confident it will be worked out soon.


Screenshot of Kashyyyk's BRAND NEW load screen (one of the strings, I have 2 there, but only 1 pic on the left so far... I can easily add more, though.) Remember Kashyyyk's load screen was always about new wookiee armor? Well I'm changing that!

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...ash_load_2.jpg


Also here's another tease pic of Kashyyyk's night sky on the plains:

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...ght_plains.jpg

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwyN5KsYmNI

4) Closing

Something that didn't make the body but is very important nonetheless, bobius has made Blue Frog enhancements which include a variety of weapons that are diverse in their stats, paired with Scripting changes which now make it possible to create and modify (stats!) weapons via script.

The Profession team is going strong and is still hard at working in closing the gap of research we have in each individual profession. _PLEASE_ help out with their efforts, its something even a casual PreCU SWG player can do. See their forums: http://swgemu.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=26

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This update leaves us at a turning point in what is being presented to the community. There will always be code enhancements, core features being revamped, and interesting bugs to fix - but the past month there has been an increase in content related additions. Content is an area which does not require the knowledge of crazy programming languages to contribute to. If you are standing by and waiting for the project to finish, use that "down time" to HELP us reach a more perfect PreCU.

As always,
Enjoy.

-Team SWGEmu