VectorStorm Blog

A bunch of little technical updates today.

First, I’ve updated the VectorStorm engine so that it’ll compile successfully against iOS SDK v4.3.  I’ve also got both the standard VectorStorm Testbeds and MMORPG Tycoon 2 compiling under the newly released XCode 4.  My opinion of XCode 4 is complicated;  I can understand the general outcry from many developers, but there’s lots of cool stuff in there too.  Whether the cool stuff outweighs the concerns, I’m not really sure.  But for the next couple of days, I’ll be using XCode 4 as my day-in day-out compiler to see how well I adapt.

Second, I’ve begun implementing some threading primitives into VectorStorm.  These are not yet compiling under Windows (since Microsoft has an entirely different threading model than UNIX-based systems), but I do now have both mutexes and threads working under OS X.  I’ll get the Windows version working tomorrow.  These little tools are going to be critical for MMORPG Tycoon 2, due to the amount of processing that it has to do;  it’s just going to be a lot easier to put some of that work into a separate thread.

Do be aware, though, that none of the rest of VectorStorm is written to be threadsafe.  These multithreading classes should really only be used for simple tasks that don’t involve calling into the various VectorStorm libraries at all.  If you have lots of calculations to be done in the background, then that’s fine.  But probably best not to try to allocate memory or start playing sounds from inside a thread or anything.  :)

For the first time since getting my new job, I’ve finally sat down and written a little code on my home projects.  It’s not too much, but it felt pretty good to write it.

I’ve fixed the VectorStorm engine bug which was causing problems with the middle mouse button and right mouse buttons (often swapping the two, or causing them not to work at all).  It was an embarrassing mistake;  I had just mis-assigned labels for the controls, causing some minor swapping when loading saved control preferences.  I’ve made this bug fix both within MMORPG Tycoon 2 (where it was a major problem), and within the trunk VectorStorm library (where it was less of a problem, since no standard VectorStorm games were using mouse control).  If any of you have been looking at or using the VectorStorm library, you should go get those fixes.  If not, don’t worry about it too much, just be aware that I’m back to the compiler again.  :)

I’ve also begun poking with Tycoon code again.  Not a whole lot;  am just slowly easing myself back into it.

This graphic is posted on a sign beside the lifts of the building where I park every day.  I don’t know why I find it so amusing, but I giggle a little every time I see it.  It’s probably my inner twelve year old, whom I (sadly) don’t really talk to very often any more.