GDash new port

New game releases, new tools, website updates, ...

Moderator: Admin

User avatar
CWS
Member
Posts: 429
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:32 pm
Location: Austria - Europe

GDash new port

Post by CWS »

There is a new GDash port available at:

https://github.com/revvv/gdash-export-CrLi

The best on this port is, that it's now better integrated into MacOS.
And it supports gamepads.

Would be nice to have more testers. Maybe even feature request or regular bug reports.
User avatar
CWS
Member
Posts: 429
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:32 pm
Location: Austria - Europe

Re: GDash new port

Post by CWS »

We need some more testers and reports, als issues reports in GitHub.

Found several small things, moreover higher scaling factors have been included.

Mainly bug fixing and user experience improvements in focus right now.

The programmer is highly motivated right now! :)
User avatar
Dustin
Member
Posts: 590
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:15 am
Location: Erlangen, Germany

Re: GDash new port

Post by Dustin »

Wow, sounds like great news! :D I intend to check it out soon, possibly already this weekend :thumbsup:
Boulder Dash X Rock, Paper, Scissors:
ROCKFORD collects DIAMOND, digs DIRT
DIAMOND outvalues DIRT & BOULDER
DIRT carries BOULDER, blocks FIREFLY
BOULDER kills FIREFLY & ROCKFORD
FIREFLY kills ROCKFORD, guards DIAMOND
User avatar
Dustin
Member
Posts: 590
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:15 am
Location: Erlangen, Germany

Re: GDash new port

Post by Dustin »

Unfortunately, I can't use the link ("github.com refused the connection.") :(
Boulder Dash X Rock, Paper, Scissors:
ROCKFORD collects DIAMOND, digs DIRT
DIAMOND outvalues DIRT & BOULDER
DIRT carries BOULDER, blocks FIREFLY
BOULDER kills FIREFLY & ROCKFORD
FIREFLY kills ROCKFORD, guards DIAMOND
zsom
Member
Posts: 84
Joined: Sat Apr 10, 2010 5:46 am

Re: GDash new port

Post by zsom »

Hi
Dustin, thank you very much for your email :)

Open this link to Gdash in a new tab, links are blocked here.

I am very happy that there is a good chance for Gdash to develop further.
I already wrote here on the forum that I discovered this port on January 1, 2022, but it went unnoticed.

Regards
User avatar
Dustin
Member
Posts: 590
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:15 am
Location: Erlangen, Germany

Re: GDash new port

Post by Dustin »

Hi zsom,
glad you received the mail :D
Thanks for the hint; opening the link in a new tab works! I'll check it out this week :)
I haven't checked this forum always regularly, I spend so much BD-time at Krissz's site :D But it sounds really cool that the port a) exists and b) someone is motivated to work on it :thumbsup:
Boulder Dash X Rock, Paper, Scissors:
ROCKFORD collects DIAMOND, digs DIRT
DIAMOND outvalues DIRT & BOULDER
DIRT carries BOULDER, blocks FIREFLY
BOULDER kills FIREFLY & ROCKFORD
FIREFLY kills ROCKFORD, guards DIAMOND
User avatar
Dustin
Member
Posts: 590
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:15 am
Location: Erlangen, Germany

Re: GDash new port

Post by Dustin »

@CWS: You gou a new PM with a small report on my first impressions of the port. They're quite positive, definitely! :D
Boulder Dash X Rock, Paper, Scissors:
ROCKFORD collects DIAMOND, digs DIRT
DIAMOND outvalues DIRT & BOULDER
DIRT carries BOULDER, blocks FIREFLY
BOULDER kills FIREFLY & ROCKFORD
FIREFLY kills ROCKFORD, guards DIAMOND
User avatar
Dustin
Member
Posts: 590
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:15 am
Location: Erlangen, Germany

Re: GDash new port

Post by Dustin »

During last week, I found a few bugs/issues with GDash, but now I'm not sure how best to report them. Should I write a comment on the github page and do I have to sign in to do so? Or better write mails or post the issues right here in this thread? Sorry for these questions, but once I know how best to share my experiences with the GDash port, I can optimally help to improve this fantastic BD clone :D

@CWS I wrote you an email to the address you PMed me a few days ago, but I haven't received an answer yet, so I'm not sure if you received the mail? :D
Boulder Dash X Rock, Paper, Scissors:
ROCKFORD collects DIAMOND, digs DIRT
DIAMOND outvalues DIRT & BOULDER
DIRT carries BOULDER, blocks FIREFLY
BOULDER kills FIREFLY & ROCKFORD
FIREFLY kills ROCKFORD, guards DIAMOND
zsom
Member
Posts: 84
Joined: Sat Apr 10, 2010 5:46 am

Re: GDash new port

Post by zsom »

Let me tell you that these new Rockford animations in Gdash 1.6 are excellent.
thank you for your work.
User avatar
CWS
Member
Posts: 429
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:32 pm
Location: Austria - Europe

Re: GDash new port

Post by CWS »

The initial idea came from Retrofan a user over at forum64.de. I took the basic idea and ported it to a C64 graphics fitting implementation.

If anybody has additional ideas to improve GDash, please let us know!
User avatar
Dustin
Member
Posts: 590
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:15 am
Location: Erlangen, Germany

Re: GDash new port

Post by Dustin »

OK, I'll just post my little report here, this can't be too wrong :D

One bug I found (it was also there in the unported version):
In some caves the magic wall timer is set to zero when in fact it shouldn't be (and makes the cave unsolvable). One example is Gerd van den Heuvel's "Hill Dash", cave 4. Surely more examples exist, and probably the amoeba timer is affected the same way as well in some caves. I believe this is s misinterpretation by GDash of the original settings - if the cave creator forgets to set the magic wall time, then it runs forever in the default settings of most BD engines, and this might have been mistranslated to "timer 0" by GDash, leading to the exact opposite - the magic wall only runs for one single frame!
If I'm right, then the question would be how to fix it best. Is it necessary to fix every single cave where the bug occurs, or could it be possible to fix the misinterpretation itself so that all those caves work properly in one go?

As strangely as it sounds, it would also make sense to ADD two bugs from the BD1 engine because they were exploited by some early fancaves:
1. The magic wall bug that the cavescan restarts every time the magic wall converts a boulder. This has several consequences for the gameplay:
a) The magic wall can stop the amoeba. This is already implemented, and the implementation works perfectly 1:1 like in the BD1 engine. Nothing to improve here!
b) Choppy movements - while the magic wall runs. This is more or less only annoying, so not necessary to implement in GDash IMO. But:
c) (!!) Some of the boulders can get lost if a lot of boulders are converted at the same time. At least Don Pedro exploited this in two of his caves: BD5-I and P. For example, in cave P, there are 40 boulders above the wall, and if Rocky just converts them as quickly as possible, then he'll get only ~35 diamonds in the end! The intended solution is therefore to convert the rocks more slowly, so that none get lost. In GDash, these caves are significantly easier. On the other hand, however, I'm almost certain that no solvable caves are made unsolvable in GDash because the bug isn't there.
So I think it's not something essential to fix, but if it's easy to program, then it would be nice of course :)
2. The second BD1 engine bug has to do with the cave border. If anything other than titanium wall is placed there, this elements tends to behave strangely. For example, in some BD3 caves, the inbox is inside the titanium border, and if Rockford or a fly returns to /moves into this gap, then it cannot move anymore. As for the BD3 caves, this is just a funny bug, but actually some fancaves used this for their caves. Examples:
a) Don Pedro BD10-L: Also here the start is inside the titanium border, and Rocky must prevent a firefly (ghost) from moving there because it would be glued, and Rockford needs all fireflies to crush walls. So the absence of the bug in GDash makes the cave significantly easier.
b) Frusti Dash, cave A: The amoeba is inside the titanium border and if I'm not mistaken, the amoeba is unable to grow in the original because of the bug. If a butterfly gets crushed by the amoeba, then some of the diamonds are created inside the border, and those diamonds always remain in their birth state so they cannot fall and cannot be collected. Without the bug, this cave is just a standard butterfly-amoeba cave without anything special.

Also I noted some missing fangames. I'll make a list as soon as I have checked them all :)

And I have a problem with the "cave settings" window in the editor (where required diamonds, time etc. can be set). The window is too big for my monitor ao that the "OK" button in the lower-right corner is outside my screen. So currently I can't really work with the editor because I cannot save any settings! (In the old GDash version, the windwow was smaller, just small enough so that my whole screen is filled from top to bottom.)
Last edited by Dustin on Tue Jul 04, 2023 12:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
Boulder Dash X Rock, Paper, Scissors:
ROCKFORD collects DIAMOND, digs DIRT
DIAMOND outvalues DIRT & BOULDER
DIRT carries BOULDER, blocks FIREFLY
BOULDER kills FIREFLY & ROCKFORD
FIREFLY kills ROCKFORD, guards DIAMOND
zsom
Member
Posts: 84
Joined: Sat Apr 10, 2010 5:46 am

Re: GDash new port

Post by zsom »

Hi Dustin.
And I thought that this stone in Don Pentro 10 cave L is not needed for anything, because I played Gdash versions all the time.
And here's a surprise.
thank you for that information. That's true. i have now run Dop pedro 10 on winvive and i can see the difference.
The same goes for Frusti Dash. This bug of the BD1 engine is cool. And I thought it was a modification of the boulder dash.

Regards
User avatar
CWS
Member
Posts: 429
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:32 pm
Location: Austria - Europe

Re: GDash new port

Post by CWS »

I opened new issues in GitHub.

But meonwax mentioned that we should not overestimate his abilities to work on complex code as he is mostly bringing the program up to date for modern systems. But on the other side cirix is also reading messages there from time to time and maybe, just maybe he will help.

Dustin: Sent you messages that if you have the time please update the caves directory of GDash with all corrections, missing games and everything other you found. Then zip the caves directory and send it or post it at GitHub.
Last edited by CWS on Tue Jul 04, 2023 4:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
CWS
Member
Posts: 429
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:32 pm
Location: Austria - Europe

Re: GDash new port

Post by CWS »

zsom wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 10:17 pm Hi Dustin.
And I thought that this stone in Don Pentro 10 cave L is not needed for anything, because I played Gdash versions all the time.
And here's a surprise.
thank you for that information. That's true. i have now run Dop pedro 10 on winvive and i can see the difference.
The same goes for Frusti Dash. This bug of the BD1 engine is cool. And I thought it was a modification of the boulder dash.

Regards
I faintly remember that cirix wrote something about this in the TODO file?
User avatar
CWS
Member
Posts: 429
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:32 pm
Location: Austria - Europe

Re: GDash new port

Post by CWS »

A big question remains: if the magic milling time 0 is treated as the GDash default value 999 - does any game need 0 as no time intentionally? If yes, an option in the prefs to treat 0 as 999 would be the better way.

Just tried CLCK 3.0. With that Construction Kit milling time 000 really mean 0 and not infinite. I think it only behaves invinite with 0 in BD1, maybe in BD2, and PLCK?
Post Reply