documentation of glest forks

[anonymousjim]

hi guys, been a while!

basically, I've been going through that age old choice of which engine fork to base my mod off and I'm looking for somewhere I can find out all the features of both forks and how to utilize these features in a mod (xml samples etc...)

can anyone refer me to anywhere on this forum or elsewhere that I can find this stuff?

oh, also I saw that the HUD is changeable, how is that done???

[Mr War]

Hi,

Not sure re documentation, but MG is on the verge of a pretty substantial enhancement release. Current stable release is 5.3.2 but 5.3.3-alpha1 has a lot of new functionality that, at least in my testing, is stable:
1. HUD - png files saved in faction directory and sit between main camera view and overlays like maps and resource counters. Use transparency to make main viewing area still visible.
2. Animated projectiles.
3. Multiple projectiles - child xmls. Slightly buggy but ok for basic use
4. Multiple splash particles - can make nuke explosion etc
5. Multiple animations per skill, used at random. Eg a Kung Fu monk unit could sometimes kick, sometimes punch when applying same attack skill
6. Non-rotating tile set objects. Useful for buildings

I'm sure there's more

[ElimiNator]

Basically if you want to play your mod with others online or LAN then use MG if you only want single player then you could also have the choice of GAE.

[Omega]

Basically if you want to play your mod with others online or LAN then use MG if you only want single player then you could also have the choice of GAE.

To better phrase that, GAE has more features and is a lot more powerful, MG has stable multiplayer and a master server.

Newer additions in GAE (Within last version and current WIP):
-You can change the GUI entirely via a widgets file, far more powerful than the simple image in game that MG allows. Not to mention GAE's GUI was built ground up and includes movable windows, collapsing windows, resizing the map, tooltips, etc.
-Enhancement style upgrades: GAE already had a more powerful upgrade system with multipliers and static modifiers, but now you can apply them differently to different units, and can give point boosts (one time boosts to current HP/EP) as well as change the resources stored and resource costs (eg, make a unit cheaper).
-Transport units can load and unload units, which you can specify, and units can attack out of transports.
-Cloaking (aka: stealth) is available, and you can decide how it works, either a permanent cloak that comes off when using certain skills (eg, attacking), a temporary cloak you use energy to maintain, or even an emanation cloak. You can also create detector units that can find cloaked units.
-You can display faction logos in game, with both a team color and RGBA image.
-You can have water units, with additional fields for amphibious, any water, and deep water.
-You can have multiple shuffling music tracks
-Models can have normal shaders, which can add depth to them and allows detail without a high frame-rate impact.
-Units can teleport, with the possible restriction of only teleporting within their sights.
-It's possible to multiproduce more than one unit at a time.
-A cast spell command exists to apply effects to friendly units (eg, a buffing spell).
-Generate command can produce resources like energy without having to create a new unit.
-Every string in a techtree can be translated from resources to attack names to unit names to level names.
-Tool tips can be given for any command, and are also translatable.

Full documentation for GAE's upgrades can be found on the Wiki: https://docs.megaglest.org/GAE/Features

MG has most of its documentation in the regular XML pages, but some of the still-unreleased features such as multiple projectiles are not yet documented: https://docs.megaglest.org/XMLs

[Perplesso]

Last but not least, GAE allows games to be saved, MG does not.

[ultifd]

MG does have some features that GAE doesn't, and then again multiplayer is a big thing. Hopefully we'll have a stable release from both sides. Mostly the new features are what Mr. War said (devs/testers have been busy). You can find a bit more here: https://docs.megaglest.org/Engines#Comparison_of_the_Engines
Also AI/pathfinder/general FPS is a bit better than GAE. Will's new fix seems awesome too.
IMO save game isn't that great in Glest anymore, compared to other games anyways.
If possible, the best thing to do is release your mod for MG, and then release it for GAE. More people will probably play it with MG (because of multiplayer/MDC), but if they want the many features that GAE has they can easily grab that.

[will]

Hardly last; what about tileset particles?  Cliffs?

[ultifd]

There's also resource particles too. We just need Ishmaru's mod to come out sometime so MG can shine a bit.
Engine-wise, I think MG has better end game stats too.

[softcoder]

I think its best for any new modder to try out both engines and after actually using them make a decision.

[John.d.h]

I think it's not so easy to "try out" both engines as a modder without actually modding for each of them, and that is no small investment of time and energy.  Either way, it's not a decision that necessarily has to be made early on, since the lion's share of the work would be for stuff that works on both engines and even vanilla.

[Omega]

Engine-wise, I think MG has better end game stats too.

Eh, I'd pass that category over to GAE, since it's much improved GUI features better teamcolor highlighting of text, plus neater left to right tabling, far easier to read than top to bottom. They've changed that area a lot too.

I definitely agree with softcoder, though, you'd have to try both engines (preferably with a mod made for that engine, otherwise you won't be able to experience much of what the engines have to offer) and decide for yourself. I still think the best of all the forks though, is the future Glest 4.0. No kidding.

[Mr War]

I still think the best of all the forks though, is the future Glest 4.0. No kidding.

cool, I didn't realize u were a dev man, when are you releasing glest 4?

I started my modding using GAE but do most in MG now. From a modders perspective, and I've nodded other games too, I much prefer working with MG, it's more stable. No offense to GAE devs, but MG features have never crashed on me, whereas trying to use GAE ones did.

[Omega]

I started my modding using GAE but do most in MG now. From a modders perspective, and I've nodded other games too, I much prefer working with MG, it's more stable. No offense to GAE devs, but MG features have never crashed on me, whereas trying to use GAE ones did.

Having had both engines crash multiple times before in different occasions, I'd hardly consider either to be perfectly stable. For an open source freeware game, it's much better than some, though both have their limitations. Generally, both engines are rather unstable/buggy with new features, and that's to be expected when neither one has a large testing team nor the time to spend testing it. It's the price to pay for using cutting edge features.

Between the two, MegaGlest is usually slightly stabler, though GAE is more optimized for performance. While GAE's multiplayer may not match MegaGlest's (for now), it still has the vast upperhand in features and above all: customizability, something I consider very important in Glest.

Of course, I would love to see both in one engine: GAE's countless improvements combined with stable multiplayer.