Aspect & Release

[Sententia]

Hi everyone. I've been using exult since before it's first official release, when it was just snapshots, but I've never had any reason to post before. I have two questions though, so I figured now was as good a time to ask them as any.

I read the forum rules, but you never know with these things, so if I'm inadvertently doing something wrong, just let me know and I'll stop.

First, is there any word on when the next stable official release will be? There hasn't been one in ages, and the snapshots look like they have some exciting things, but when they say they're unstable, they're not kidding!

Second, and more importantly, when are we going to get a solution to the aspect ratio problem? The original resolution of U7 was 320x200, which is a 16:10 resolution, but on the old hardware that would run U7, that resolution would be vertically stretched into a 4:3 aspect ratio. Since modern computers and monitors only run software in its native resolution (or stretch it horizontally), though, this results in everything looking too wide no matter what resolution you set exult to run in. Other programs that are intended to enable the playing of older games on modern systems (like DosBox or ScummVM) usually have a "correct aspect ratio" option or somesuch that fixes this, so one would think it wouldn't be that hard to implement. Are you guys working on this?

I hope I don't seem like I'm cracking the whip; I know you guys have more to do then rewrite engines for 15 year old games. Thanks for what you've already accomplished.

[Dominus]

As I'm always writing when a new release is asked for, there need to be a couple of things to be done first:
- We need a feature adding stop, or to put it in another way, our current main coder (Marzo) would need to decide what he wants to add before a new release
- Then we'd need someone to play through both games with the snapshots to weed out all the bugs that are hiding. Best would be more than one person to play through the games and if anyone would play through the games with Marzo's game fixes I'd be delighted...

Currently there will be some source code restructuring and maybe then we go these extra steps for a release...

[eris]

Well if you ever need a playtester, I'd be happy to volunteer.

I recently read some messages on your mail list talking about reformatting the code, changing the directory structure, and revamping the build system. I guess that's what you are talking about when you mention code restructuring. It sounds like it could take a while. I'd love to help out (I used to be a programmer) but have never said anything because A) I don't know the code base, B) the system is pretty mature as it is, and C) it seems like you have a good team in place already. Still if there is any way I could help, let me know.

Otherwise I'll just keep playing. I grabbed the 08-14 snapshot a few days ago and just tonight started a new Keyring mod game. (I might even have found a bug, though I doubt it. I think the problem is actually my mouse going haywire and sending extraneous data every now and then. We'll see.)

Eris

[Dominus]

Well if you ever need a playtester, I'd be happy to volunteer.

you just did
Seriously if you are playing through just keep an eye open on bugs and report them on the bug tracker (but mention that you are playing with the keyring mod). THAT helps a lot. Thanks!

[Sententia]

Ok, it sounds like you guys have a plan for a release.

How about the aspect ratio thing?