Some old patches for GH1

[Michael]

Hi, I used to be active on the Gearhead development list, but was too busy to follow it when it moved to the forums.   I'm less busy now.

Anyhow, I have three minor patches, which I actually made and announced before the move, but seem not to have made it into the mainstream GH1 releases while I was gone.  I've freshly diffed them against the current code.

They are available for FTP on ftp.ocis.net in "/pub/users/ldeutsch/ghpatches".  They include:

gh-1010-fastpgsp.diff -- this rewrites the ProcessGlobalStoryPattern function to be a bit more reliable in matching stories to places (although still not perfect), and be much faster in the worst case.  Profiling determined this function to be responsible for occasional long delays when starting a campaign on a slow computer.

gh-1010-wufix.diff -- this fixes what appears to be a typo in the ADV file.  Wujung University has an "URB_STORY" flag set in it's Special SAtt, but that flag has no meaning to the rest of the code.  "URB_STORY" does however have meaning in the Type SAtt, which appears to have been intended.  My patch simply moves the flag over.

gh-1010-pretty204.diff -- Minor adjustment to the Linux-boxdrawing patch to apply cleanly against the Freepascal 2.0.4 sources.  While the old version (intended for FPC 2.0.0) still works with minor grumbling from patch, I like to keep things tidy.

Also, there's a file "ghpatch.zip" that contains GH1 files with these three patches pre-applied.  Only files that change are included.  This allows one to use the patches without the "patch" utility.

[Joseph Hewitt]

Michael! Welcome back. I believe you uploaded those patches the first time back when my patch program was misbehaving... I'll apply these patches to the current version as soon as I can.

How do you like the new digs?

[macksting]

Neat.

[SharkD]

Would you be willing to write some minor patches for the SDL version of GH1? There's a few graphical things I'd like to do but Joseph seems to be a bit busy.

Some things I'd like to do:
1) replace walls with thin variants
2) use a different sprite for explosions and projectiles
3) use several 8-frame, directional sprites for the different types of projectiles
4) use different sprite for arena and fortress walls
5) use an 16-frame, directional sprite for roads on the world map

It would be really cool if you'd have the time on your hands. I have most of the sprites already rendered. Just need the code fixed. I don't think the changes should be too hard for someone who knows their way around the source code.

[Michael]

The forum's OK as forums go.  However, I've always preferred NNTP (Usenet) or mailing lists because it makes it effortless to stay current.

As to SharkD's requests, I don't use SDL myself, so it's unlikely that I'd be making patches in those areas.

[SharkD]

That's too bad

[Joseph Hewitt]

The patches have been applied.

[SharkD]

Michael, would you be willing to create some new patches? I created a bunch of new graphics for GH1 but the game can't support them.  I don't think Joseph wants to mess with this stuff.

Things include street textures and explosion effects. See here:



I would also like to see some new terrain props added, such as boulders that provide cover and concealment and act as an impediment against rolling vehicles. Other stuff too maybe.

[Michael]

Michael, would you be willing to create some new patches? I created a bunch of new graphics for GH1 but the game can't support them.  I don't think Joseph wants to mess with this stuff.

That's yet more SDL stuff -- not my department.