Zugg Software :: View topic

Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:25 pm

Yep I suspect a number of the long time supporters will be buying full price copies. I'll be buying 2 full price copies.

Magician Joined: 09 Oct 2003 Posts: 459 Location: USA

Wizard Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 1551 Location: Australia

Btw is this going to be a hardware locked version (e-license style) or just the same 7 day code?

If it's the former, how many PC's can we install a copy onto (eg work, home, laptop)?

Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:18 pm

Same licensing system and policy as zMUD 7.21. No eLicense.

Wizard Joined: 03 Mar 2001 Posts: 1127 Location: London

Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 1:21 am

Also, I think it's easier for most people to buy something after they actually have it in their hands and can say "Cool! This is worth the money!". Buying something before you can try it takes a lot more faith. It would be nice if people were *so* impressed by CMUD that they went ahead and paid full price, but I'm not really counting on it. But I'll certainly appreciate it from those people who do! Smile

Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 6:34 am

Another good day today. I fixed several minor loose ends, including handling multiple monitors in a better way so that any windows that are off the edge of the current screen are properly positioned. Also, when CMUD runs the first time, it adjusts itself to your screen resolution (instead of using *my* screen resolution :). Also fixed some problems in the spellchecker. The routines I had in the zApp Memo component weren't quite set up to handle the CMUD spellchecker options (like checking the spelling of commands and functions).

Once those minor issues were fixed, I then worked on the installer and got it working. One of the files that I didn't fix for CMUD yesterday was the ZMUDAPI.DLL file. To avoid conflicting with zMUD, I have created a new, but similar, CMUDAPI.DLL file. This contains the same routines as the zMUD API, but they all have CMUD names instead of zMUD names. So if you have an external program that uses this interface, you will need to change it. But I decided it was more important that CMUD not overwrite any existing zMUD files.

After several hours of messing with the installer, I finally got it all working. It's only 8.5MB (compared to zMUD's 6.5MB) which is pretty good considering all of the extra stuff that CMUD has. Also, instead of installing a MUDLIST.TXT file and then converting it when you run it the first time, CMUD actually distributes the full MUDS.DB database file. So no conversion step is needed at startup. This gives a better first-time impression of CMUD, even though it increased the download size a bit.

I also did some more graphics work today. I needed to put together the installer screens. And then I started adding CMUD to the online store system. The first step was to create the virtual "box" image. I had purchased some software called eCover Creator a few months ago. It's not the greatest, but it gets the job done. I created all of the graphics using Macromedia Fireworks (I love that program!) and then used eCover Creator to render the 3D box. While I was at it, I went ahead and updated all of the box images for all of the other products. Once I had the system worked out it didn't take too long. You can see all of the new box images on the main www.zuggsoft.com home page. The CMUD box will be added on Monday when it is released.

Tomorrow, the last job is to implement the discount system. Even though some people suggested that I don't need it right away, I still want to finish it. While some people are willing to support Zuggsoft by purchasing full-price copies, there are other people who still really want/need the discount that has been promised. And it really shouldn't take more than a day to get the discount system working. The only downside is that it requires working on the live store and I have to be extra careful not to mess anything up.

Monday is *still* looking good!

Wizard Joined: 03 Mar 2001 Posts: 1127 Location: London

Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 2:36 pm

Great work Zugg. I noticed the new box images today and I like them.

Now to see if that 'tweak' for a sneak peek is still possible. Twisted Evil

[edit]I just saw it, and I only have one thing to say.... 'Excellent!'

Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 6:22 pm

Is it just me, or do autocorrected words only apply to the current mud your playing, and if so, could it be aumented to make a correctly spelled word autocorrect to an accented form of it, from the command line?

Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 7:35 pm

No, autocorrection should apply to all MUDs. The words are stored in a single file within your zMUD directory and the spellchecker uses that same global file no matter what MUD you are playing. In fact, making the words different for each MUD would be hard. But this is probably something that should be posted and tracked in a regular forum post and not in this blog.

Magician Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 482

very nice :) box. hopefully it will all work out with ya.

Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 4:07 am

Come on Monday, hurry up and get here!

Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 5:10 am

Well, it was a *long* day, but I think I've got the discount system working in the store now. Still some more testing needed.

But I think it's about ready. Yeah, I know you'd just like me to release it now. But I want to wait until after my day off on Sunday to give me a chance to think of anything that I might have forgotten. I only get one chance to make a good first impression with a new product release, and I want it to go smoothly. Also, I don't want to release something and then immediately take a day off so that people can't contact me...I like to hang around on release day and see how things go and respond to any big problems.

So Monday is still the release day. But unless I think of something horrible that I've forgotten, you can pretty much count on this now. If all goes well, I'll release it around 11am Monday morning (Mountain time, which means 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern US).

Now, while I expected some of you to be clever enough to find the box image to get a preview of the new graphics (congratz), *PLEASE* do not try to be "clever" and try to find any download before the official release. If you go to the Download area and look in the new CMUD section, you will see the placeholder for CMUD. But it says that the file isn't yet available. Please wait until I post the announcement over in the CMUD BETA forum.

Also, please don't try to be "clever" and hack into the store system to see if you can buy it. Even if you find a link, you might end up getting charged and not get a valid license key. I'll still probably be tweaking the store stuff throughout the weekend.

In other words, PLEASE be patient. I know it's all very exciting, but really, Monday will come soon enough Smile

I *do* appreciate the enthusiasm you have all shown. It's really been a good motivation to keep me going. It's been a tough battle over the past 9 months to get this product ready. But it should be worth it.

Apprentice Joined: 11 Apr 2003 Posts: 119 Location: Sweden

Enchanter Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 698

That would be 58 1/2 hours from the time you posted. 10 1/2 hrs + 48 hrs.

Heh! Zugg needs to put a countdown timer on the home page! Laughing

Magician Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 482

he means this place holder lol

https://www.zuggsoft.com/store/product.php?productid=16139&cat=0&page=1&featured

Looks very nice zugg. Although i am not going to try to buy it and waste my money until its(the shop) in good shape. God forbid i send a payment off into cyberspace lol

lol and the "Clever" leads me to think hes not happy lol.

<COUGH CHECK <V MXP TAGS>

Novice Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 32

Quick last minute question. CMUD works in w2k as well, right? The core is nearly the same, so I hadn't bothered to ask since 99% of the time when someone says WinXP it also applies to Win2000, but I just noticed in the above link that it specifically mentions WinXP SP2.

Can't wait until Monday. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait most of the day it seems since I live in Europe. Oh well, at least I don't have to wait as much for this compared to my other current obsession (Xenosaga III)

Good luck!

Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 11:39 pm

It might work in Windows 2000. I'll let you try it and tell me how it works. But I'm not officially supporting 2k. WinXP and eventually Vista are the only versions I'll be testing. The main requirement is DirectX 9 and that is part of WinXP SP2. For Win 2k you'd have to install DirectX9 yourself, so CMUD wouldn't work on a "clean" Win2k system. You'd have to apply the DirectX updates.

But if you are already running the latest games on your Win2K system, then it's probably fine.

At least Win2k has the fixed resource issue. Win95/98 would almost certainly have resource issues with CMUD.

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

I believe Zugg stated those system requirements because he is not giving any actual support or testing for lower versions of Windows. The are some odd differences in some of the common dll's in different versions of Windows. I can't think of any that are documented to be different between 2K and XP so CMud will likely work fine on a 2K system. One of the largest reasons Zugg stated for changing his support and testing practice is there are many known memory limits with Windows 95, 98, and Me.

Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 5:41 am

Worked on a bunch of little stuff today. Some problems with the store, various bugs in CMUD, etc. Also worked on the web pages for the CMUD release.

A lot of time was spent getting the new help desk system up and running and ready for the CMUD release. I had to rebuild the PHP and Apache on the server to support the PHP IMAP module that is needed by HelpSpot. I'm always really nervous when working with linux. Stuff like rebuilding PHP and Apache isn't for the faint-hearted, especially on a live server that is our only livelihood.

At one point I had stuff messed up because I had forgotton to do a new ./config.status on Apache, so it was trying to build PHP into Apache using an old Makefile. But once I got that figured out it went pretty well. I only had to restart Apache and kill existing httpd connections twice during the day.

It seems to be working well. We'll be directing the support@zuggsoft.com emails into the new help desk soon. The automatic crash dumps and feedback from CMUD already get sent to the new system, along with optional screenshots, and it works pretty well. It's going to be a lot easier for me to track and fix bugs in CMUD than it ever was before.

I've got some ideas on how to "publish" certain issues from the help system to create a public bug list. But I need to make sure the raw crash dump and screenshots remain private. I've also got some ideas on how to "submit" a forum topic into the help desk system. But a lot of that will need to wait until after my vacation!

It's going to be really hard to walk away from this for 2 weeks to take time off and regenerate. I know it's going to be a bit frustrating for some people to get the brand new client and then run into bugs that will take several weeks to fix. But I don't see any way around it. I might spend some time Monday answering email and monitoring the forums for any major issues, but the chance of releasing a quick fix is pretty low. If I don't take a couple of weeks off, I'm going to really hurt myself, and that would be bad.

Monday at 11:00am Mountain time is still the official release date/time!

Magician Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 482

Yeah however thats what is great about autoupdates anyways. Its the first feature i put in place in any software i write. Specifically for that reason. It will allow you to solve the things that pop up that are bad right away. The rest of the stuff gets tracked and stored and can be worked on in due time. Definatly not bad.

Besides i will be able to have two full weeks or however long your vacation is to run all my scripts against it. To get lost attempting to resyntax some things like #MATH ITEMS @ITEMS + %1 since thats different now. That way i have a nice list of bugs and problems after i get deep into my status window scripts etc. Plus with the new docking i will have to rewrite a few things.

One note.. Are you going to make it possible for some of us to post up examples on how to use some of the commands (Or add examples to them).

Like the #MXP command. There are always so many questions on a few commands that we know how to use and newer users always seem to get lost trying to follow the help with the limited number of examples

Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 10:22 pm

Couldnt you just do that in the knowledge base, or add a comment to the online help files?

Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 10:52 pm

I will be using the Knowledge Base for online help files and tutorials, just like I did with zApp. For zMUD, I sort of "forced" all of the old help files into the KB. That was a bit messy. With zApp I wrote all of the KB articles from scratch and that worked better. I plan to do that with CMUD as well, and CMUD will use a help system similar to the zApp DocViewer demo so that the online help and offline help all come from the same source.

As Shalimar mentioned, the other advantage of the KB is that is has the commenting system for the Gurus and other users to add their own examples. My model for this is the online PHP help system. Sometimes the stuff in the comments is more useful than the main help text! So yes, you'll be able to post your own examples. Of course, I have to put together the initial pages first :)

CMUD already has an updater module. It's mostly the same code that I used in zMUD. It checks the server for a new version and notifies you. You can then download the update and run it.

The term "update" is a bit tricky though. All "updates" are really completely new downloads of the full package. With the copy protection systems, there isn't any way to just download a small "patch" for updates.

----
Anyway, I should mention that I actually didn't take today off. Even though it's Sunday, there were some bugs and issues I still wanted to get fixed in CMUD before Monday's release. So I've been programming most of the day. Looking forward to taking a vacation soon!

Novice Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 32

I figured you might not take today off since you were planning on releasing it tomorrow. I know I'd find it hard to keep my mind away with the "deadline" so close.

Well, I hope you enjoy your vacation in two days. You've really earned it!