Although it's not the best, I have a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS card -- I can normally play other games (including Graal v2 and some 3D games with a lot more happening) while listening to music at the same time without having a problem. It actually works on my laptop which has some of the worst built-in audio there is right now. So I don't believe it's really a question of the performance/quality of the card, but the options that the game's using for (DirectX?) sound output etc. that might make it do this on certain cards; Maybe more of a compatibility problem? It just seems like Graal is 'stealing' the audio output from anything else while it's in use -- e.g. the music will 'play', but it appears to be 'muted' at the time.

Graal v3 and v4 use the same sound library like WoW. I am setting the option for continuing the music even if the program doesn't have the focus though, may be that is the problem ?

I don't think that's what I meant. The Graal music plays fine for me, but I normally have it off anyway. What I tried to do is play some external music (MP3s) with some other program like Winamp, while Graal is running. I can do this fine with Graal v2, but not with v4 when I use the Audigy 2 series sound cards (although it may happen with others too)..
It's not really a bug, but it will probably bother some people if they happen to have a sound card that experiences this.

It works fine for me. o_O

Do you have the volume meter down on graal? That usually causes the problem, I had the same problem with midis.

I do not think you read the post correctly.
Is Winamp the only other program you have tried?

The playerlist icons should be more clear, e.g:
*CONNECTED SERVER = 1 Noob head
*ALL SERVERS = Multiple noob heads (Currently the connected server icon)

And the icons should stay the same, not change to PM bubbles when you get a PM so its easy to navigate still, else it gets confusing as to what each tab is for.

If possible a better icon for guilds? I don't know, would be hard to think one up.

With v2 those things don't happen?

The new icons for the player list tabs have been added because the text is too huge if you have 5 tabs ;) I tried to find good gfx, if someone wants to make nicer ones then he/she is welcome to do so. The server icon is displaying part of the earth ball, like on the RC.

Ajira and Stormie tested it, it doesn't :(

The problem with the variables in cheetos_variables.nw is that the clientside script of local npcs is still handled as old script, need to fix that.

Update: fixed it

Suggestion: Make those icons customizable by servers?

I think it would get a bit confusing, especially if every server had different icons, and ones that don't make much sense. It'd be easier for something like the playerlist to have standard icons so players can easily navigate through them without getting confused as to what does what.

I will perhaps find time to draw some up, but i thought i'd toss my idea out:

Have icons for each tab that change to something similar but with different colors when you recieve a message or it wants to be noticed. Ie: Player head for the current server that glows when you get a PM and the tab is not in focus.

And cause more clientside lagg? I can't wait ^^

Either your computer sucks, or your computer sucks.

I have no idea how to test that, on Windows 2000 that key shortcut doesn't exist. It would be good to make a screenshot of that.

Hmmm found some hints:

Error: "EOutOfResources," "Win32 Error," "A Win32 API function failed" or "The parameter is incorrect"
These errors are usually caused by a lack of system resources under Windows 98/Me.

Eventually it would be good to check if there is some strange resource problem when running Graal PMs. Zwr had problems with too many sound handles. You can use the task manager to check that.

How 'backwards compatible' is Graal v4 supposed to be with Graal v2? Because there are a bunch of things on the little bit of Classic that exists which don't work right in v3/4, and I don't know if I should report them as bugs or update the scripts.

About the 'locking' bug: maybe someone else can provide a screenshot, with the newest build the error message stopped showing up for me. But I still have the problem of the directx surface being black and the game freezing; Something similar happens when I use a screensaver, except the surface is left as the window color (default is grayish) instead of black.

And there's still a sound problem with my Audigy 2 ZS card as I described already. I can't hear any, other than what Graal v4 plays, regardless of volume or what other program I use to test it with. To add onto that: If I kill the graal4.exe process, I lose all sound period until Windows is rebooted. I haven't had this problem with any other game yet, including WoW which you said uses the same library etc.

I will work on the sound stuff soon since there are some people that have problems with it.
If you find errors on Classic may be first contact Storm. If the things work with v2 but not with v4 then post them here (also give the level where the bug happens).

Update:
I have fixed a problem with ganis on Maloria, the chat display gani (using #P2) was not loaded at login. I have seen some other weird things (after picking up a bush I was throwing one each time I pressed a key), but I was not sure if that is a bug with v4, someone should check it may be.

Stefan,

This happens with Graal v2 also, but I was wondering if maybe you'd add some code to help prevent PMs from being sent to the wrong person(s). I'm guessing maybe it's because the protocol uses the ID number instead of actual account names to send the messages, so the problem is when someone that you were going to PM logs off / reconnects and someone else gets that ID number, you end up sending the PM to the wrong person. If the protocol would need to be changed to verify (from the server) for sure and you don't want to do that, I think it would help a little bit (unless someone's laggy etc.) if the client checks locally if the ID matches the account name right when the PM is sent to the server -- and if it doesn't, don't send it or find the real ID to send to if the person is online with different ID than originally. But I'm not sure how your code works exactly or what would be best to change, so I'll wait for you to comment on that.

The PM problem should be fixed in v4

Sometimes when I switch between 2 levels very quickly the players/NPCs in the level I stop in will be missing completely until I switch levels again or reconnect. This happens in Graal v2 too.

Someone else was able reproduce it, and they also ended up in the wrong X/Y position once or twice. Also, the other day on Unholy Nation I was in townsparmedium.graal, walking out to townsparlobby.graal and ended up in a wall across the room.

Possibly just "load lag"? But it can be a problem when it happens accidently. For example, when I was on UN with the previously described problem, they disable "unstick me" in those levels so that most people wouldn't be able to get out without asking for staff assistance.

Can you give the level names?

All signs point to GMAP.

I actually edited my post to remove the levels I originally posted because I thought it was happening to almost any 2 levels. (It's 10 AM right now and I haven't slept, don't ask x_x)

But here are 2 examples:

Classic:
graalcitybank_inside_01.nw <-> graalcity_outside_03.nw
taylorrichards_inside_01.nw <-> graalcity_outside_01.nw

Yes, a part of it could be gmap related, but there have also been problems in non-gmap areas such as the ones I posted about already on UN.

UN uses a GMAP don't they?

[edit] I had this happen to me when I entered the bank, they just didn't load.

This happens of v2 also. You can also do it under the nafet's river bridge, it's quite fun, people got to areas before they were supposed to be able to.

If you maximize Graal4, then quit, then start Graal4 again, the window starts up at basically fullscreen, but it is not maximized.

About mass messages: works fine for me

Never happens to me x-x I tried a lot but the npcs are all correct

Oh, it works if you select multiple people and choose "Message" from the context menu, but not if you select the first person you want to receive the message, then double click on the last one; in that case, it sends to the last person that you double clicked on.

Ah double-clicking should always send to just one person, is it displaying "to selected" or actually the name of the player you have double-clicked? Does this work in v2?

It does work (show "to selected") in v2, but not in v4. I'm used to mass messaging with double clicking this way too, it's easier/faster.

(In v4 it just shows the name of the person you double click on, which is unexpected, as multiple people are selected)

=o
I never knew you could double-click the last selected person. I always did Right-Click > Send Message.

On Classic, in level guildventrue_inside_guildhouse_17.nw there are several NPC characters in the room, all of which are added to my playerlist with blank account names as if they're real players. They seem to stay there even after I reconnect to the server while in a different level, and this was possibly related to another problem: the game client crashing soon afterwards.

Ok Should work like in v2 now

By the way this looks, it seems it should be even lower than 200 milliseconds. Some of the emoticons look odd or are invisible for a period of time (see ctrl + Z on occasion) if they don't restart at the first frame.


These things are related to UN:

-In townsparmedium2.graal, I'm able to use NPCWs (bombs etc.) when I shouldn't be able to.

-Custom emoticons ctrl + . and ctrl + / still don't work at all.

-The animation of custom emoticon ctrl + 0 (zero) is shown 3 times instead of just one as it does on v2.


Another general small thing (not really a bug though):

-The tooltips on the playerlist don't go away a lot of the time when focusing on the game until bringing the playerlist back up and hovering over things again, which can be annoying to ..some people.. :asleep:

Ok the problems with the emoticon animations should be fixed, also the keycode function is working better now so you can do Ctrl + . and such things. The hint window of the playerlist is hidden too if the playerlist is hidden. The showcharacters dont appear on the playerlist either anymore :)

In the townspar levels everything worked fine for me though, was not able to use weapons except the sword when I am in the battle field.

I noticed that the game window stops displaying.. the game.. when I switch to a fullscreen game and Alt-Tab back again, has anyone else also been having that problem?

This is more of a request than anything else.
With the global playerlist and the way that the tab flashes when you receive a PM, being able to double-click the tab (instead of searching down the list if you have more than one server open) to open the PM would be nice.

Displays correctly for me when I Alt-Tab.

When running in fullscreen mode at 1280x800 resolution, everything is stretched slightly.

This I noticed when hopping from Maloria to Maloria Dev. After going on Maloria Dev form Maloria, I noticed that the heart gani and chat from Maloria was showing up on Maloria Dev. Not on the player, just sitting in the level. If I changed levels, the heart/chat gani would follow me. It would stay at the same x/y in the level. Even if I reconnect to the server, it is still there. If I connect to another server (Ol' West for example) it still shows up.

When switching from the 'Global Guild' tab on the Playerlist tot he 'Event Channels' tab, the refresh button is not destroyed.

Small feature request:
If the serverliser is down, allow players to enter the IP and Port of a server to connect to it.