Bliss / Cas-Stunts track editor

[Duplode]

Sounds nice! Hopefully I'll be able to give it a proper try soon.

[zaqrack]

I was unable to download the latest package. Is it still available?

[Duplode]

I was unable to download the latest package. Is it still available?

Cas' site is offline. I had downloaded the latest version back in May, so I will make it available from Southern Cross on the next update (which should happen within the next few days, hopefully).

[dreadnaut]

Cas' site is offline. I had downloaded the latest version back in May, so I will make it available from Southern Cross on the next update (which should happen within the next few days, hopefully).

Do you still have the file around, Duplode? Trackblaster is not for me :|

[Duplode]

Do you still have the file around, Duplode? Trackblaster is not for me :|

Timely reminder. I didn't upload it to Southern Cross back then because I couldn't find the package as Cas distributed it originally. I attached to this post whatever I found within the "cast220b" subdirectory in my Stunts folder, including a DOS extender which wasn't in the original package. The Windows version seems to be working fine; as for the other two, I can't test them at the moment (the 2.20 DOS build doesn't work in DOSBox, and the Linux one is giving some dynlink error in my system).

[dreadnaut]

Thank you!

A bit cpu intensive, but definitely more usable.

[Cas]

Sorry about my disappearance, guys. And yes, the site went down. I've been fixing some bugs in the last version of Cas-Stunts. Here it is:

Cas-Stunts 2.23b
https://mega.nz/#!JZRFCIbK!FQP1pAHV50CLZnjrALxMQytaVqSgxwk1BvJZJm5EpZg

Fixed a problem with file filters, added the ability to edit with the keyboard (which Zak told me he liked from TB) and made a couple of touches that can't be seen, but will help add more features later. I also split the Linux version in two (you have a 32bit and a 64bit executables) and the Windows executable is 32bit, which appears to run fin in Win64 as well.

As Duplode said, this one doesn't work in DOSBox. I realised later that resolutions higher than 800x600 don't work well there. Even in FreeDOS, it works, but it's kind of slow. Next time I want to make something that can run on all three platforms, I'll make sure it can also work in two different resolutions. But if you do prefer to run a version that works well in DOSBox, even if it has fewer features and I'm not maintaining it anymore, this is the last stable version that ran well in DOSBox:

Cas-Stunts 2.10
https://mega.nz/#!RMwlXQQI!_9VXPP-SgEFix8pw98Aa2tFVX83VUnopYoBxoe13Yz0

Question. Is there a chance I could get Cas-Stunts hosted here?  My free hosting sites keep going down because of the lack of visits, ha, ha. Also, it'd be nice to have a cast.stunts.hu    or just to have my editor in the tool list at zak.stunts.hu 

[Duplode]

Welcome back Cas!

Question. Is there a chance I could get Cas-Stunts hosted here?  My free hosting sites keep going down because of the lack of visits, ha, ha.

I have just uploaded the latest version to  the tools collection at Southern Cross  -- as the posts upthread show, something I was supposed to do eleven months ago!

A few random notes:

• In an my latest post here I mentioned "some dynlink error in my system". There is actually nothing to worry about -- it's just that Arch's packaging of libtinfo-5 is currently a bit messy, but I managed to sort it out.
• If you are using the Linux version you can use cpulimit to mitigate the high CPU usage. The only side effect seems to be to make mouse dragging less smooth, so that you have to move the brushes a bit slower so that they don't skip.
• Low-priority feature request of the day: the 30x30 grid lines and a a shortcut (CTRL-G?) to toggle them.

[Cas]

Thanks, Duplode!

I can quickly and easily add the grid lines. I was already thinking about that. I'm also wanting to add select/copy/cut/paste + rotate/flip. That will take a little more work, but I can do it. I also could add something to take care of the CPU usage. My idea is to issue idle sleeps while the mouse cursor is not being moved in the program window. This means the editor would still eat up CPU while you're editing, but would become extremely light when not in focus or when you're just viewing the track. Would that be good?

[Duplode]

I also could add something to take care of the CPU usage. My idea is to issue idle sleeps while the mouse cursor is not being moved in the program window. This means the editor would still eat up CPU while you're editing, but would become extremely light when not in focus or when you're just viewing the track. Would that be good?

Yup, that would help -- a big gain with that plan is that it would be possible to keep the editor open alongside Stunts without interfering with DOSBox performance.

[Cas]

Great!  Here's an update:
https://mega.nz/#!5YRXyIxL!pQciGDMII_UkfnlkMuYNk_jrcoBYpZrN9PCWBtlwjTk

Added:
- By default, the grid will be visible. You can turn it off and back on with CTRL+G at run-time or modify cast.cfg so that it always starts with the grid on or off.
- Select, copy, cut and paste have been implemented and work well, although there's something I'm not getting used to. Try it and tell me what you think.
- Anti-hogging system implemented. You have to be at the editor. After a second of not having the pointer on the window and not hitting any key, it'll quit hogging. It will take half a second for it to respond again when you return to it. If you're anywhere else, such as at the presentation screen or opening a track, the anti-hogging system will not activate.

Something to check:
- I've noticed that the Windows build opens up a Wine console window alongside the main program window in my system, which I don't remember having seen before. I have no idea why this happens and I wonder if the same thing occurs when running the program on a real Windows machine.

[Duplode]

Great!  Here's an update:

Now available from Southern Cross

Added:
- Select, copy, cut and paste have been implemented and work well, although there's something I'm not getting used to. Try it and tell me what you think.

The one thing about the current system that has drawn my attention is that before pasting you have to select a rectangle of the correct size. Perhaps it would be more intuitive if, on clicking the paste button, a highlighted rectangle corresponding to the area to be pasted (and possibly with its track elements drawn on it) began to follow the cursor, allowing you to preview the results before a second click confirms the pasting. (An additional suggestion in the nice-to-have category would be an indicator of some sort on the left panel that there is something in the transfer area waiting to be pasted.)

Something to check:
- I've noticed that the Windows build opens up a Wine console window alongside the main program window in my system, which I don't remember having seen before. I have no idea why this happens and I wonder if the same thing occurs when running the program on a real Windows machine.

I can reproduce it, both when launching with Wine (but not when doing so from a terminal) and with a Windows XP virtual machine.

[Cas]

Perhaps it would be more intuitive if, on clicking the paste button, a highlighted rectangle corresponding to the area to be pasted (and possibly with its track elements drawn on it) began to follow the cursor, allowing you to preview the results before a second click confirms the pasting.

Yes. That was exactly what I was thinking of. I thought it'd be complicated to accomplish, but after a few changes, I was able to implement it. There are a few other things I would like to change before posting the new version, though.

And I haven't figured out why the console window appears in Windows. I suspect it's triggered by the program icon, I mean, I think it wasn't there when the program did not have a custom icon. I'll make some tests with that.

Another thing I'm thinking of, for the future, is to make the editor able to add meta-data to the track as an overlay, including a track title, author name, creation time and date, editing time and some championship-oriented information, such as a recommended car, which race and which championship it was designed for, etc. I remember that I once posted a track with an overlay and ZakStunts system was not taking it, so if I do this, I want to make sure the website will be compatible with it. The information I would add would also be useful to the site so, instead of just skipping it, it'd be good to agree on a format that's easy to handle for the site so the info can be shown. Any ideas about this?

I'll post a new version soon

[Duplode]

Another thing I'm thinking of, for the future, is to make the editor able to add meta-data to the track as an overlay [...] Any ideas about this?

For now, just a preliminary warning: IIRC (it was many years ago, and so I might be misremembering it) I once managed to corrupt/write garbage to memory by doing similar things with game files, so any such feature probably should be tested quite carefully.

[Cas]

Update!

Cas-Stunts 2.3.1 beta
https://mega.nz/#!4JIHmLDJ!jukTQzipiDc09SKaEb45i7TjAVB29Nw4nFhAY3Y2nUA

Fixed:
- Console window opening beside the main program window in Windows (ugh... so many "windows"!)
- Select, Copy, Cut and Paste are no longer uncomfortable (especially Paste)

New features:
- Keys to select, copy, cut and paste. Hold CTRL to select and use standard CTRL+C, CTRL+X, CTRL+V to copy, cut and paste
- Flip and rotate on the fly. Also use F, SHIFT+F, R and SHIFT+R
- Enable/disable terrain pasting with T, also on the fly

Changed:
- T no longer switches terrain editing mode
- Debug mode is now enabled/disabled with CTRL+Q, since CTRL+X is now used for Cut

I expect this will be a much more user-friendly version of the editor. There have been many changes so I expect a bug or two might be hiding underneath some key or mouse button. Let me know if that is the case. Also... were you able to verify the anti-hogging system works well?