New Version of Anathema

[Flagg]

Thanks.

 

[UrsKR]

Gentlemen,


the Anathema are upon us once again. Only by your expedient downloads can they be contained, so if you value your monks, had some trouble with printing or would like to enjoy a new and improved control scheme, head over to anathema.sf.net and let 'er roar.


The italian among you will be able to enjoy the tool in their language, and the tinkerers might like this.


That's it for now. Tell me what you think of those new Charm controls and whether I missed any Charms in Oadenol's Codex.


Yours


-Urs

 

[Solfi]

Sweet!


Hurries to d/l and disseminate

 

[UrsKR]

Nice, let me know of your findings.

 

[Solfi]

Hey, do you have a list of changes made somewhere? ... I would search SourceForge for it, but I'm a lazy bum, and the organisation on that site always confuses me.

 

[uteck]

Hey, do you have a list of changes made somewhere? ... I would search SourceForge for it, but I'm a lazy bum, and the organisation on that site always confuses me.

As per http://sourceforge.net/project/shownote ... _id=513093

Changes:
-- Features --


+ [2E] More Dragon-Blooded: Immaculate Monks & Cherak.


+ [2E] Immaculate Martial Arts Styles, kindly provided by Jontu Kontar


+ [2E] On popular demand, the M-Tag now is fully supported. (Thanks to everyone discussing the issue.)


+ [2E] Allowed C-Tag for ranged weapons (Requested by uteck as per Scroll of the Monk.)


+ [2E] Brand-new Charms from Oadenol's Codex


-- Usability --


+ New Language: Italian. The translation was conceived by Giovanni D'Addabbo of exalteditalia.com and


       created by Giovanni and Team ITA. Bits and pieces are still missing, but they will soon be done with.


* Revised Charm controls (Thanks to Demo, Jontu and Chris.)


* Improved accuracy of Charm rendering.


* [2E] Generic Charms are ordered in a character-specific way.


-- Bugs Fixed--


* Printing for 1E characters and 2E mortals is back. (Bug 1705201, found by Hotep.)


* Ox-Body Technique is /once again/ correctly restored for experienced characters (Bug 1704333 by Chris Venus.)


* Martial Arts Charms no longer cost the "upper tier" amount. (Bugs 1689276 and 1704475, observed by Anonymous and confirmed by Etheric1.)

Hoe did you get charms for Oadenol's Codex, it just came out the other day.  Could this be....unoffical support form WW?

 

[Solfi]

thanks Uteck.


As for commenting, so far the only thing I can say is that the Charm controls seem to work beautifully (although I don't know if I'm missing any facet of the new system compared to the old one. I've just tried the usual (click-drag, zooming etc)).


I'll prolly not have time to do so this week, but I'll be checking out the XML stuff for template customization, new/edited Charms later. And on that note; are there any plans to integrate any of that functionality into the GUI in the future (near or distant)? (specifically the Charm part...)


Cheers.

 

[UrsKR]

As dearly as I'd like their support, there is no one at White Wolf who even unofficially cares about Anathema in such ways as that s/he might support us.


No, the truth behind it is quite simple: I botched my intended release date (31/05) and the book arrived a day later thanks to my FDistantGS. Browsing the book I noticed two Charms and none more and thought to myself that I might as well include them to make good for the days you were without the new release. Free gratis customer service, as the people from Deadwood might say.


Thanks, uteck, for the list. Now that the new quick-download system at SF.net is in place - Did you use it? What do you think? -  I could try replacing the standard description with the changelog. Should I?


Regarding the new controls: Click-Dragging is newly added, and the cursors are replaced. The mousewheel control is inverted (compared to teh old version.) Nothing new apart from that, only some refinements in rendering. (Look at the arrows! Just LOOK! And may the rats eat your eyes if you don't notice!)


Integrating charm-editing into the GUI is on my long term to do list. As I mentioned earlier, a basic system is ready but waiting for a final change to be made... but there is one new, major "issue" (complete misuse of the word as it blocks my intent, not my ability) in the way.

 

[UrsKR]

One more thing: I've tested utecks database with the new version and found it to work without fail.

 

[uteck]

I have updated the 3 items that are Ranged and Clinch Enhancers and fixed a typo on artifact articulated plate, I had the bashing and lethal soaks reversed.


I am waiting for my copy of Oadenol's Codex, which I am sure will have more items to enter.  Once I have it, I will add the items and post the new version.  


If you use the book to make an item from the main book, does it work out, or do some items become more expensive this way?


I like the click to drag and the 'standard' cursors with it.  Now how about some sorting on the equipment list.  :wink:


The new download functions of SF is so much nicer now, none of the old clicking through 2 more screens to get the download and having to chose a server.

 

[UrsKR]

I have still to finish "artifact creation (for players)". Don't know the details yet.


And there is a legion of stuff waiting for you.

 

[UrsKR]

Kudos to wordman, the Mac version is up.

 

[Flagg]

What does wordman have to do for the Mac version, exactly?

 

[Persell]

Excellent work to any and all involved! I'm so glad to see the MA charms costs fixed, as well as support for the MA weapons tag. Great program and it just keeps getting better with each update.

 

[UrsKR]

Each and every time, he takes my files and repacks them as a DMG, something only a mac can do. He's also counseled me on improving the user experience on the mac.

 

[Flagg]

So OS X can't handle normal .jar files?

 

[UrsKR]

It can, but using a .dmg is much more convenient. It's akin to having a setup program and executable file combined into a single entity, and it is what people on Mac OS are used to.


Moreover, it's partially proprietary, so you need a Mac to create it.

 

[Flagg]

Boo proprietary software!

 

[UrsKR]

It's only the signing/authorization part that's proprietary - without signing, the file would behave like any other archive, if I understood correctly.


(So Anathema itself is unchanged, it's only gift-wrapped with a ribbon that only Mac OS can tie or untie.)


I guess it's part of the reason why there aren't that many viruses on Mac OS - you have to own a Mac to have it sneak in as a Trojan Horse, and he who has a Mac likes it too much to be malevolent.

 

[Flagg]

I think the actual reason is that viruses are all written by Russian teenagers, whereas everyone who owns a Mac is a hip, Western twenty-something.

 

[wordman]

Boo proprietary software!

The Mac specific stuff isn't so much proprietary to Macs as irrelevant to non-Macs. Basically what I'm doing is just a packaging process.


Applications on Mac OS X look like files, but they are not files; they are directories. These directories have a specific structure. So, most of what I do is just extract the Anathema .zip file and copy the .jars and other files into specific locations within a new application directory structure. Then there are three Mac-specific files needed in the directory: an icon file (standard .icns format), an XML "config" type file, and a binary "stub" file that turns the "double-click this application" action into a "launch the .jar specified in the config file using the Java VM version specified in the config file" action. All of this is just standard file copying, so can be done on any platform. It is, in fact, done in a cross-platform way with an Ant script. Much of this is discussed in my Building Anathema on Mac thread, which mentions this article as a generic description of the process.


The two "proprietary" bits are:

1. Mac OS X has a command line program that sets a bit in a directory that tells the file system to "treat this directory like an Application". Naturally, this is Mac only, as other unix file systems don't have an Application concept that works like this.
   
2. While not completely necessary, distribution in a .dmg disk image is the typical method of application distribution for Mac OS X. The DMG format is much like the ISO format, but a bit more advanced (for example, their data can be compressed and/or encrypted internally). Mac OS X can, out of the box, mount DMG files as if they were external disks. Typically the user just mounts the DMG and drags the application onto their Applications folder (or wherever). Very few Mac applications need installers (which is the whole goal of the "Applications are really directories" idea). The DMG format is not public, but there are Perl scripts that convert DMG to ISO, so it probably isn't that complicated.

 

[Flagg]

Applications on Mac OS X are not files; they are directories.

I need you to clarify this bit for me. It makes no sense.

 

[wordman]

I need you to clarify this bit for me. It makes no sense.

An application in the Mac Finder looks much like a file. You can copy it, move it, double-click it, etc. This, however, is a visual trick. On disk, the data being manipulated when you do stuff to the application icon is really a directory. In Mac parlance, such "directories masquerading as files" are called "bundles".


This might explain it better. Or maybe this.


If you have a Mac nearby, right click on an application and select "Show Package Contents". This will let you browse what is in the directory.


Also, note that a command line terminal is not fooled by this visual trick. To stuff like "cd" and "ls", the "application" is only a directory.

 

[uteck]

The GNUstep window manger does the same thing Flagg.  Infact, some of the GNUstep .app files can be used on the Mac with very little change.

 

[uteck]

I finally got the items form Oadenal's Codex's added to the Equipment database.  Now to update my sig.


Just a reminder, if you have made changes to your equipment file, make a backup of it first before using mine to save your changes.