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Anatomy of a Bug

The model editor animation bug was the second-worst bug to hit Leadwerks Game Engine in all its history. Reported multiple times, this would cause animated models to discard triangles only in the model editor, only on Linux. http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/topic/10856-model-editor-freaks-out/ http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/topic/12678-model-animation-vs-flashing-bodyparts/ Since our animation commands have worked solidly for years, I was at my wits' end trying to figure th
Josh

Josh

8

Using analytics in your game

As noted previously, Leadwerks 4.2 now support built-in analytics. To enable this in your game you need to create an account at www.gameanalytics.com and create a new product. You can find your keys on the Game Settings page.     At the beginning of the main lua script, some code has been added to initialize analytics. By default this is commented out: if DEBUG==false then Analytics:SetKeys("GAME_KEY_xxxxxxxxx", "SECRET_KEY_xxxxxxxxx") Analytics:Enable() end   Uncomment this
Josh

Josh

14

Leadwerks Game Engine 4.2 RC4

A new build is available on the beta branch: Fixed animation bug found by tumira Multiple animations will now be a bit faster. Fixed probes not rendering bug found by reepblue   If all is good this will go out on the stable branch this Sunday.   The beta testers have done a great job. Thanks for your help!
Josh

Josh

2

Leadwerks Game Engine 4.2 RC3

A new build is available on the beta branch: Fixed character controller physics. Added SSR effect in AI & Events maps. Renamed "Advanced FPS template" to "FPS template". Toned down specular reflection on crawler skin. Updated syntax highlighting for new commands. Fixed quaternion Slerp function creating nan values with GCC release build. Fixed Linux mouse down/hit bugs.
Josh

Josh

3

Game Launcher release plan

Since the community has done their part and we are approaching 100 game, it's almost time to take Game Launcher out of early preview mode make it a full release. When it becomes a full release on Steam the number of people playing your games will go up, a lot.   There are still some odds and ends in the interface to finish up. The thumbnail loading routine needs to be improved. There are some changes that need to be made so it will work better with Big Picture mode. So I am aiming for a re
Josh

Josh

5

Leadwerks Game Engine 4.2 RC2

A new build is available on the beta branch: Reverted to Visual Studio 2015 for final release. Information on downgrading your 2017 projects can be found here. Added soft particle shader. Added smoke and soft smoke particle prefabs. Added SSR post-effect (by Igor, Shadmar, and myself). Added trigger material and updated doors example map.
Josh

Josh

2

Visual Studio 2017: Not Ready

A release candidate for Visual Studio 2017 was released in November. I took a chance that the final release would be out in December, but it isn't here yet. Releasing Leadwerks 4.2 built with VC 2017 could possibly cause the program to not run on some computers, because the Visual Studio 2017 redistributable is not out yet, and there is no option yet to make this part of the installation on Steam.   Because of this, I am going to release Leadwerks 4.2 for use with Visual Studio 2015, and upg
Josh

Josh

3

Offroad Racing Game Template

I'm putting together ideas for a racing game template to add to Leadwerks. We already support vehicles. The challenge is to put together that looks and feels slick and professional, like a real game people want to play. The finished demo will be submitted to Greenlight, GameJolt, IndieDB, itch.io, etc.   Gameplay First, I wanted to think about what style of racing I want this to be. I don't want street racing because it's kind of boring, and the level design is more involved. I don't wan
Josh

Josh

6

Leadwerks 4.2 Release Candidate

A full update is available now on the beta branch.   Leadwerks Game Engine 4.2 features: Visual Studio 2017 support Compatible with the latest C++11 / GCC on Linux Refraction and heat haze effects. Analytics through gameanalytics.com New animation commands Spotlight texture: you can add a material to a spotlight and the first texture will be rendered onto the light (for flashlights). New material blend mode can be used to make objects that only appear in editor.   An
Josh

Josh

16

Steam client update for Workshop Store

A Steam client update has gone out which improves the checkout process in the Leadwerks Workshop Store. When the user clicks the "Buy" button in the editor, the item will now be opened in the Steam client for purchase. You do not have to log into the Steam website with a browser to purchase Workshop items anymore.   You must opt into the beta branch of Leadwerks for this behavior to work. This will be the default when 4.2 is released.   More information here: http://store.steampowered.co
Josh

Josh

4

Dev Stuff

I've been working to upgrade Leadwerks to the latest Newton Dynamics 3.14, and I want to change it so the engine imports Newton as a DLL. This will allow the Newton developer to debug some of my applications when needed.   World Factions has raised an important bug / issue and this the best route to solve it.   I've been tinkering with some improvements to some of the physics stuff with promising results, but it needs more work and I don't want to say anything else about it yet. If I can g
Josh

Josh

4

Beta update available

I've updated the beta branch with a full build to address the following issues: GI / water bug where everything would get brighter (the blend mode wasn't being reset to "solid"). "Cannot blit backbuffer" bug fixed. VC .usr file added back into template, which contains info on the default working directory. This is why games weren't launching in the right directory. SDK version set to 8.1 since the 10 SDK isn't installing on Windows 7 (what I'm on now).   FYI, I tested on an AM
Josh

Josh

1

4.2 Beta

An early build of Leadwerks Game Engine 4.2 beta is available on the beta branch on Steam. This release will update the engine with the latest C++ tools and add new graphics and other features. Visual Studio 2017 support Compatible with the latest C++11 / GCC on Linux Refraction: apply "Materials\Effects\glass.mat" onto any object to see this in action. Heat haze: drag the heat haze emitter prefab into the scene to view ("Prefabs\Effects\heathaze.pfb"). Spotlight texture: you can
Josh

Josh

16

Analytics

I'm hoping to add analytics to both the editor and the engine API. I need to know how many people are actively using the engine on a week to week basis, and how many of those users are opening the Workshop browser in the editor. There will be an option to opt out of stats collection (a real one, not like Windows 10), and even if you do allow stats to be collected no data will be traceable back to your SteamID or IP address.   I've chosen the GameAnalytics.com API for this.   This will also
Josh

Josh

5

New Animation Commands

I've built a modified version of ReepBlue's C++ animation manager class (based off my Lua script) into the engine. This adds a new command and eliminates the need for the animation manager script.   void Entity::PlayAnimation(const std::string& sequence, const float speed=1.0f, const int blendtime=500, const int mode=0, const std::string endhook="") void Entity::PlayAnimation(const int index, const float speed = 1.0f, const int blendtime = 500, const int mode = 0, const std::string end
Josh

Josh

9

Three New Features in C++11

C++11 modernizes the C++ programming language with many new features and techniques. Below are just a few of the new ways you can use C++ with Leadwerks.   auto You can automatically declare a new variable type by the data that is assigned to it: auto i = 42; // i is an int auto l = 42LL; // l is an long long auto p = new foo(); // p is a foo*   Here's a more practical use that saves a lot of typing. The code below: std::map<std::string, std::vector<int>> map; for
Josh

Josh

2

C++11 for Linux

The beta branch now contains an update that adds C++11 support for GCC on Linux. To use this you must enable C++11 support in the compiler settings in Code::Blocks. Select the Settings > Compiler and Debugger... menu item and then check the box indicated below.     All new projects created from the Leadwerks templates will work correctly out-of-the-box.   Your existing projects need a couple of new libraries added to them. The easiest way to do this is to open the CBP project file i
Josh

Josh

0

Visual Studio 2017 Support

The beta branch of the professional version is upgraded to use Visual Studio 2017. You can download the release candidate for free here: https://www.visualstudio.com/vs/visual-studio-2017-rc/   Your existing projects should work with VS 2017 with no changes, but you might want to hold off while we test if you are in the middle of a project. New projects you create should open with VS 2017 by default.  
Josh

Josh

8

Beta update available

An update is available which fixes compatibility with newer versions of GCC with the fix discussed here. Thanks to aiaf for finding the solution.
Josh

Josh

0

Game Launcher now runs on SteamOS

Leadwerks Game Launcher can now be used on SteamOS. I fixed a bunch of little issues that were preventing this from running. The interface is not optimal right now for controllers, and there is much left to do, but your games do run. It's pretty fun to play your games on a console, when most of them were developed on Windows and never even run on Linux before.   If you have a Steam Machine give it a try!  
Josh

Josh

1

Workshop Store checkout process improved

Valve has delivered on their plan to add a new Steam browser protocol for paid Workshop items. The Leadwerks Game Engine beta branch on Steam has been updated so that Workshop Store purchases go through the Steam client instead of requiring you to log into a web browser. You must also opt into the Steam client beta for this functionality to work. At the moment, this feature is only available on Windows.     This removes the biggest source of friction in the checkout process and makes the
Josh

Josh

4

Thoughts on the last game tournament

Most of the prizes are now shipped, and I am just cleaning up a few pieces of missing information for shipping. In order to ship posters, I need a full name, which I have requested from onaid, MDGunn, Evayr, and Graham. I also am missing a shirt size for Garlic Waffle and MDGunn. I have not received any shipping info from MartyJ, or else I missed it.   I found some mailing tubes from ULine to send posters in, at about $0.75 each. If you are receiving a sticker it will be included in the tu
Josh

Josh

0

Clearing up Baggage

In this non-technical blog I will give you more of Josh's useful tips on how to live. In this blog I am talking about baggage, in the form of data physical possessions.   Archive and Delete The first thing you need to do is organize. If you have all your files in dozens of different folders all over your computer, it will be very difficult to track them all down. This is why Leadwerks and most other programs store files in your Documents folder on your computer. Leadwerks projects, along
Josh

Josh

8

Running Your Computers in 2016

I was optimizing and downsizing my computer systems yesterday, and I thought I would write a blog about how I keep my Windows, Mac, and Linux systems running, along with email on my iPhone.   Install Windows and Linux on Two Separate Hard Drives The best way to run Windows and Linux side by side is on two separate drives. Try anything else and you will run into trouble. You should unplug the other drive when installing the OS to make sure they don't interfere with each other. Use the boot
Josh

Josh

7

Workshop Download Issue Solved

I figured out why some Workshop items weren't installing correctly. There's a series of steps I need to go through to make a paid item ready for sale, and I omitted one button press in the Steamworks interface.   If you experienced downloading problems with the nature model pack, zombies, or any of the scifi material packs, they should work now.   Let me know if you still have any problems.
Josh

Josh

2
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