To Charaonte, ZeroBot: Engine portability

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The OpenArcanum reads directly from .dat archives, and it's able to load all Arcanum's file formats already, so yes, the old modules should be compatible with OpenArcanum.

On the other side, I've designed and partially implemented a new module system, which uses .zip archives instead of .dat, XML instead of MES, and Lua intead of .src scripts, and so on..

There is also converter for converting the old modules for the new system, so don't worry, all modules should be compatible.

However, I don't have time for OpenArcanum anymore, I haven't passed the final exams, and I wasted 4 years at the university, so due personal problems, it's future is more than uncertain. Luckily there are other similar projects, like Arcanum: Revolution, so the engine will be recreated after all.

 

As I'm doing a sequel and not a reworking, I've implemented a custom format that basically pulls together all currently active resources (NPCs, map layers etc) and save them to a file similar to a tarball; objects themselves are based on script prototypes, so those actually only need a link in-file with state specific data and not a reference to the entire thing.

Because of that, .dat files aren't compatible at all - however at this stage it looks like you it may be possible to write a converter to translate between the various formats; although some manual work still must be done (i.e, I imagine my map will look somewhat different to the original, so you will need to situate your mod differently) for it to work correctly.

 

Make that stuff open source if you can't work on it anymore, so others can.

 

My aim is to simplify and generalize the process of module creation, which includes using generic file formats. This also removes the requirement of making custom file format editors, so modders can use their favorite editors instead.

Few months ago, I've started to converting all the .mes files to the XML documents. Some of them are done. If you want to help, there are some files unconverted. You can download converted and to-be converted files here: http://arcanum.game-alive.com/forums/vi ... ?f=4&t=112

Btw, do you have any ideas for any improvements?

I still have a second attempt to pass the final exams in August, since I actually haven't tried to pass them at first time (i.e. absent). So I don't have time till August, after that, depending on if I pass or fail, I'll continue working on OpenArcanum. If I won't be able to continue working on that, I'll release it unfinished in hope that someone will take over it.

You haven't seen any videos nor screenshots yet? I though that you are aware of those projects. Well, they all look very promising, not only Arcanum: Revolution, but also Arcanum: RiverRise and Arcanum: SoulLess looks very interesting.

Anyway, links for videos and screnshots can be found here:
http://arcanum.game-alive.com/forums/vi ... p=567#p567

Thank you a lot :thumbup:

 

It would be great! You have plenty of time for that, currently OpenArcanum reads from .mes only, because not all of them are converted, however it would also great if you manage to convert them before end of August, because the first task that I'll start working on is the .mes to xml conversion, and if you help me with that, I could start working on .src to lua conversion instead, and that would move OpenArcanum a step closed to the public beta testing.

Currently, only .wav files are supported and .mp3 support is about to be implemented. However, I think that it will be better to use only wav files, possibly compressed with wavpack. I hate lossy compression algos, especially when used on music, so the pcm wav or wavpack will be used instead of .mp3. Support for ogg file format and vorbis codec is also planned. You would be able to use any variation of sample rate, channel count, bits per sample, etc. No limitations in that.

Videos will be also converted, and video quality "improved", more info and screenshots can be found here:
http://arcanum.game-alive.com/forums/vi ... p?f=4&t=79
http://arcanum.game-alive.com/forums/vi ... p?f=4&t=78

It already supports layers. There is a depth buffer, and you can specify the depth of sprite (i.e. layer). So through scripting, it would be possible to write something like: "hat.layer = npc.layer + 1". However, positioning other objects along with npc's head when running animation will be quite hard to implement, but not impossible to do.

Don't worry, everything you know about the scripting from Arcanum will be very useful when making scripts for the OpenArcanum. Commands and logics stays same, syntax changes of course. More info about the .scr to lua conversion can be found here: http://arcanum.game-alive.com/forums/vi ... ?f=4&t=107

Sure sure, network protocol is already implemented. The plan is to support up to 1 000 players, in worst case at least 100. More info about plans and other stuff: http://arcanum.game-alive.com/forums/vi ... ?f=4&t=120