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So... over three years since the last update, eh? I can explain this with three things:
Anyway, my plan is to use the time remaining between now and the Halo 3 launch (September 25) to do some serious programming. I am going to redevelop the sadly neglected lx5suite system and launch lx6suite... this will support the latest versions of Freepascal, be Win32-only (dropping old Go32v2 compatibility which no one used anyway) and support newer, better technologies like the latest version of DirectX. This is part of a longer term plan to create some new, fun games. The Five Hundred game will be redeveloped to run properly on Vista and support LAN/Internet play. I also have in the pipeline a plan to remake my favourite DOS game of all time, Sword Of Aragon. Watch this space! And finally, for those of you who were part of the Halo 3 beta, or more importantly anyone who missed out, it was AWESOME. I captured a couple of games before
the beta ended and stuck them into a quick montage format so that you can see what you were missing... |
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Wow - a few months since my last site update. But I have been working quietly on lx5suite, and I
have a new version for everyone. 0.76.0 - lots of improvements and bugfixes, and now works with
the FPC 1.9.4 compiler! It's available on the lx5suite page. What else have I been up to?? Work has been flying me around as part of a new Quality system - I went to Auckland a few weeks ago, and I'm off to Wellington next week. More excitingly, I still have my XBOX (well, actually I have two now... long story) and there's some good stuff on the horizon. Firstly: the NZ World Cyber Games is being held in Auckland in September, and 3 friends & I are going up to compete in HALO (what else?) and hopefully win. Further along the horizon, New Zealand is going to be the first place on Earth to get Halo 2 when it is released on November 9! I have my copy paid for already, the next few days scheduled off work, and my friends are gonna set up camp in my living room. Anything else I need to say?? my friend Louise from work asked if it was possible for more of my site to be "in English" (apparently words like lx5suite are confusing to non-FPC programming types). So that's why I have been waffling on about my life. Oh, I also finally got around to updating the "About Me" section with some updated description and a new photo - because sadly, I'm not 19 anymore..... |
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| Hello again. There's a new version of lx5suite today! (wasn't that faster than usual?!) 0.75.1 is a small update to 0.75; it fixes a couple of bugs (in lx5audio and lx5mem/tlxfiles) and adds a couple of cool new features: lx5graph now has a "Triple Buffer" video mode in Win32, and it has gained the ability to display the CPU Usage % in the FPS Display Bar. Triple buffering is a great new feature - because the third buffer isn't in "display" space, if the user task-switches out of your application and comes back, the display isn't corrupted! lx5audio also has some new features: sounds have individual volume controls, and you can explicitly "stop" playing sounds before they finish. Because this new version is just as stable as 0.750, I have replaced the download entirely. Watch this space because I am presently doing some more work on lx5audio; I have ported the "BASS" audio library to FPC (I have it working perfectly) and I am hooking it up to lx5audio at the moment - this is good news because BASS can play WAV, MOD, OGG and MP3 music files! |
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| Happy new year! Some exciting (to me, at least) news today - I have released lx5suite 0.75 - and it is a stable release, the first since 2001! I've lost track of all the new features I have added since the last update; hmm.. file compression, advanced bitmap fonts, new image commands, a nice GUI framework, better JPEG support, truck loads of bug fixes, better documentation... everything! It's all on the What's New section of lx5suite. In the meantime, my advice is to just head straight to the lx5suite page and download the new version! (and, on the plus side, now this is complete I can work on getting the next major upgrade of the 500 game working...) |
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| Hello again. This is a very quick update just to let everybody know that the CPUID Guide Page (which, according to my web host, is by far the most popular part of my site) has been updated. In fact, I have spent the last few hours working on this page, documenting every new CPU that has been released since the last update (which was back in 2001!) and adding corrections for things which have changed since then. lx5suite is almost ready for the next release (now up to 0.74.5 internally) - I haven't had much feedback about it recently though =(... if you want me to get it done, email me!! |
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I promise this will be one of the shortest update ever. For everyone that has emailed me, if you want to download my 500 game
you can click on the "Projects" page button at the bottom, then click the "Windows" incon underneath "Download" on the right of the page. In other news, lx5suite is at 0.74.3. Latest addition = it can calculate CRC32s for you on files or memory. More news soon! |
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Hi again everyone., Just a quick update to let you know I am still alive, and still working. My news today is that I received an email from Completely Free Software advising me that my Five Hundred Game (X500) has been reviewed and has received their "Five Doves" award (the best one!). So I thought everyone should know about it! |
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I'm also still working on lx5suite, internally I am on version 0.73.9, I think the next public release will be 0.75, and (gasp) it will be a stable version to replace the long-suffering 0.72. Looking back it was released almost a year ago now, so it's time for an official replacement. Something already working (in testing) is file compression - you can now load/save tmemory data straight to compressed (LZRW) files as easily as you would save them normally (i.e. one method call). There is also support for packaged "lx5" files, so if your application uses lots of images, sounds, data or whatever in multiple files lx5suite can package these into one file, and can also encrypt and/or compress it for you on the fly. Well, I'll get back to work now so I'll be letting you guys know when this stuff is available, or for a sneak preview, you can email me! | |
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| This is just a very quick update to let you know lx5suite 0.73.1 is now available for download; check out the new features on the lx5suite What's New page. I'm busy coding a brand new A.I. for my 500 game at the moment, so I'll keep you posted on that - otherwise I don't have a lot to say! Also - welcome to James, a colleague who ensures me he'll visit my website any day now (I'll believe it when I see it). |
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| Hello again - sorry about the long delay with no update, but I have been hard at work on the latest release of lx5suite - 0.72.6. There are some quite substantial changes to this beta, for one thing I have put a lot of extra time into the documentation. Some of the units (graph, image, web, errors, some others) now contain FAQ sections to explain some of their features - these are present in both the HTML documentation (in the docs/ folder) as well as in the source units themselves (at the very end of the file). There are some other changes as well; I'm getting more into Internet programming (mid-term goal is to create an Internet version of my 500 game) so I have created the "lx5web" unit, at the moment you can use it to download files from websites. There is a new demo program as well using this, which connects to this website and tells you if you have got the latest version of lx5suite! Check this out and download the new version from the lx5suite page. The "What's New" section and the "Units" sections have also been updated, so you can browse the new documentation online if you prefer. |
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| Happy new year everybody! Not too much news from me at this stage, I am working on some lx5suite stuff still (converting some of the remaining DOS only units like lx5drive to Windows, and of course adding more features) but the reason for this update is a new release of the x500 game. It now supports some variations, has all known bugs fixed, and comes with some documentation. It's available from the projects page. After that I'm going to work on another new game, and this one I will release the source code for as well, as a demonstration of how to use lx5suite to full effect. That's all! |
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| I have uploaded the latest BETA version of lx5suite today, v0.72.3. The main changes over the stable version (v0.72.0) are using Windowed' graphics mode in DirectX, and better awareness of the operating environment. An example of this is using DOS-mode, VESA LFB graphics under Win2000 or XP - you can't (NT blocks this access), but the new version reports this as the error, rather than exiting with "Access Violation". It can also now tell you your exact OS details (including whether it is being executed in a DOS box). You can test out the Windowed' mode features by pressing "F1" in the demo programs to switch between Fullscreen and Windowed mode. For future versions, still the same themes as last time - however a new focus will be on better error-control options (e.g. when opening vid modes/loading images/etc fails) for the programmer, improved internal debugging, and support for VESA Banked graphics modes (see above re: Win2k/XP not supporting Linear modes). I will also try to put together some more comprehensive example programs (e.g. sound, input, debugging example programs!). |
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| Just a small update today. The lx5suite pre-compiled demo programs have been updated to the latest version (v0.72.2), and a new page had been added to the lx5suite section with screenshot-animations of the demos in action. It is available under the Lx5suite Page, in the "Demos" folder, and click "About Demos", or just click here,. |
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| As a test of the newest BETA of lx5suite (adding the ability to use DirectX in a Window), I am currently in the process of creating a Windows version of the classic card game Five Hundred. There is an early release version of this available for both Windows and DOS on the Projects page (together with a screenshot). More coming soon! |
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| I have released a new "stable" version of lx5suite, v0.72.0, to the lx5suite page. Those of you who have been following the betas will be aware of the development since the last stable release (v0.70.5) - the main areas are Alpha Mapping, DirectX, bug-fixes, minor/useful functions, and more stability. I have also released this stable version now to free me to branch out into some new areas - expect to see some support for Windowed-mode applications (under Windows/DirectX), enhanced internal debugging, further alpha-mapping and image processing effects, a new file-system (incl. compression & encryption), more audio support (MODs, Mp3s, CD-Audio), better DirectInput (mouse, keyboard, maybe joystick) and more. Some of these require some major code changes, which is why 0.72.0 will be a stable reference point for everyone. As usual, BETA versions will be added frequently too though. Check out the What's New page on lx5suite for specific changes. |
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| If you've been watching the lx5suite What's New page you'll notice there is a LOT of minor changes and new stuff going into it at the moment - I've been placing new BETAs release on there frequently but thought I should let everyone know about the latest one - 0.71.7. The main new features are: mouse-zones, more improvements to the task-switching, and launching another application from your one, and there's also a new "intro" added to the demo section, which demonstrates some of the mouse/image and font functions and allows you to launch into the other demos with single-clicks. Another new download is a "snapshot", which does not include the demos & documentation but just the latest beta-source codes. |
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| Hi guys! After a couple of months spent relaxing (and playing Xbox) I'm back and ready to do some more, serious, lx5suite development. I'm working on some minor bits and pieces of it at the moment (more consistent interfaces, extra stuff, etc) and including some contributions from other users. As always, if there's anything specific you would like to see, comment on, or report about, email me below! |
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| Hi guys! First of all, I have modified the Freetype library available for download on the lx5suite page - just some compiler definitions and small changes to stop the masses of notes, hints & warnings that come up whenever you re-build the library. Tested with FPC v1.0.6 snapshot. Second of all, lx5suite hasn't seen too much work over the last couple of days, because I have an XBox! There's no word on release date in NZ, so I had to order one specially from Australia, but it's awesome! I am still working on lx5suite though, so keep stuff coming! |
12 August 2007
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An Update!? WTF!