Metamorphman's site

Broken Library

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:33:54 +0000

regarding hub://metamorphman.radar

Download that and set the radius to 11. Ever since version 490, something about the pixel movement additions seems to have broken screen objects with pixel offsets. I'm not entirely sure this is a bug though, perhaps just something I'm overlooking. Any ideas?

Putting dmb2installer back up again

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:56:48 +0000

After some more thinking I decided to put dmb2installer back up for use again, maybe if only for a while. The point is it's stupid to cut off all exposure to it because of a few potentially bad eggs.

Also, got two new little demos: Super Saving and BB Code

Still hoping dmb2installer will be obsolete relatively soon ;)

Let me know what you reckon
- Meta

Which is better/faster/more efficient

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 07:08:25 +0000

Hey there, got a quick question. Say I have a directory of around 2000 items, with each item containing a list of properties. Would I be better off saving and then loading the item like this:

proc
    saveitem(name, data[])
        fdel( "database/[name]" )
        text2file( list2params(data), "database/[name]")

    readitem(name)
        if( fexists("database/[name]") )
            return params2list( file2text("database/[name]") )

or like this:

proc
    saveitem( name, data )
        var/savefile/f = new( "database/[name]" )
        f << data

    readitem( name )
        if( fexists("database/[name]") )
            . = new/savefile("database/[name]")
            . >> .

The reason I'm asking is because I'm writing a function to search through all the items and of course the less resource use/more speed the better!

Freezing off

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:55:02 +0000

BYOND Build Number: 493.1117
Operating System: WinXP SP3
Video/Graphics Card: nVidia 9800 GT
Internet Connection Type: ADSL2+ 5Mbit
Firewalls/Routers: ESET Smart Security, router: Billion BiPac 7300 G

Problem Description:
After a certain amount of inactivity whilst being connected to non-locally hosted games, the data flow between the client and the server seems to freeze. There is no immediate connection failed message, and commands seem to go through for a while but nothing seems to happen. This even occurs when connected through telnet, but on telnet the connection doesn't seem to break off unless I close it manually.

Steps to Reproduce Problem:
1. Join a BYOND game
2. Stay AFK for a while. Sometimes it takes 15 minutes, sometimes 40. It's fairly random but usually above 10 minutes.

P.S. It has recently often occured to me when I'm idle in hub:metamorphman.hangout (This is not a plug for my chat thing! :P) Other users seem to be fine.

flist arrangement

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:06:51 +0000

Is there a way to alter the way flist() arranges files or would I have to sort it myself? It's an issue because
1: The project I'm working on needs the items to be sorted numerically (flist seems to sort by text2ascii)
and 2: the length of the list can get quite large. (which is why i'm not looking forward to sorting it myself, nor saving a directory list )

If not, what else do you recommend?

Thanks, Meta

Feeling Fresh!

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:08:28 +0000

Hey everyone, it's great to be a member again, I'm really looking forward to these new updates! :) also, I can really sympathize when it comes to Top Ramen

After being inactive for the past year I've got some new stuff to show you:

Hangout - A pretty solid chat utility, it's got a good host of features. and it's great for snow days, because it's a well established fact that snow days are for sitting inside and ~~coding~~chatting instead of, you know, having fun in the snow
Savefile Editor - Good for (you guessed it!) redecorating your room and cooking your breakfast.
~~dmb2installer~~ - some of you may remember dear old dmb2exe. This is its little brother from the future, and now that I have a bit more experience under my belt I've done my best to make it as user-friendly as possible (any more friendly and it might connect to your synapses and take over the world!). Here's hoping it will become obsolete soon as the flash client gets better and better.

As for bigger, meatier projects, there is an action-adventure game I have been working on for a long time now, somewhere around a year and a half (Meen Labyrinth is its name, some of you may remember me babbling about it! Hopefully BYOND will still be around when I finish it x_x). Alongside that I'm making a small interactive story game after really enjoying To The Moon (amazing soundtrack, amiright?!), and some little experiments here and there. In short, I'm pretty excited to be back. :P

All the best,
Meta

Zipfiles

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:50:01 +0000

Code:

proc/Log(l,a=1)
    if( !log ) log = file( LOG_NAME )
    if( length(log) >= 50 )
        var/zipfile/z = new("log.zip")
        z.Import("[LOG_NAME]","//log_[z.contents.len].txt")
        z.Close()
        fdel( LOG_NAME )
        log = file( LOG_NAME )

    l = "\[[time2text(world.realtime)]] [l]"
    log << l

    if( DREAMDAEMON )
        if( _host.len )
            for( var/c in _host )
                if(a) c << "[l]"

    if(a) world.log << "[l]"

Problem description:
The piece of code is meant to automatically archive log files that grow over a certain size and put them in a zip file (using dantom.zipfile). I've been testing it and so far it seems to silently fail upon importing any files other than the first log into the zipfile. Any ideas?

Seperate windows and tabs for DM Editor

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:28:41 +0000

Having a tab-based DM Editor is something I'm sure has come up in the past, but it was brushed aside back then because frankly the focus on other things was much higher.

I think, now, is a good time to bring it up again. I think all BYOND developers would benefit from a tab-based DM Editor wherein once you opened a file a tab for it would open up in a little tab bar up top( et al Notepad++ ) for that file. In addition, once you drag this tab away from the tab bar a window instead is formed wherein you can edit the file alongside whatever other tasks you might be doing.

This would be a great addition for multitaskers and people who want to get things done at a higher speed.

Free 54x54 icon sets

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 10:01:17 +0000

This is a set of exactly 3155 icons, each 54x54 in size and completely free to use.

They are the majority of graphics from http://pousse.rapiere.free.fr put into .dmi format for you for easy use.

Containing:
- Weapons
- Armor
- Terrain
- People
- Enemies
- Items

Enjoy!

hub://metamorphman.freeiconpack

Global library inclusions

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:13:06 +0000

It would be great to have a setting in dream maker in which one would provide a number of downloaded library names( or pick them out from a list ) and afterward have DM automatically include those libraries in all projects. This would allow developers to include essential libraries such as deadron.texthandling in every project or in a way make them (pseudo)'built-in' to DM.