Messages

1

AGI Development Tools / Re: WinAGI v3.0.0 BETA is now officially AVAILABLE!

« on: August 20, 2026, 04:50:45 PM »

That's great to hear. I'm glad you're up and running.

I think I know what was causing the second error (the one complaining about the NullReferenceException)- I made a change to support a new (to me) form of loop mirroring, but missed a check that resulted in attempting to access an object that wasn't set yet. I fixed that in beta.48.

Still a little unsure about the first error though (the one saying 'Something went wrong'). I'm not sure how that could occur. But if it does come back, hopefully the updated error message will be more useful.

2

AGI Development Tools / Re: WinAGI v3.0.0 BETA is now officially AVAILABLE!

« on: August 20, 2026, 02:23:36 PM »

Sorry about that. The error message is not very helpful- I should have included more information as to why it failed.

I can't seem to replicate the issue. Can you describe exactly how what you were doing to get this error? Did you use the Import View menu, or the Import View toolbar button? After selecting the imported view's filename, did you choose the 'Open new resource for editing' option? If so, have you tried NOT using that option? Does it happen after you've done other things to the game (after creating a new game is importing a view the first thing you tried, or did you do anything else?)

Can you use the Details option on the second error message and provide me all the data from that?

Beta.58 is available (see link in first post above). I added additional information to the error message that should help me understand what's going on. Can you try again with version beta.58?

3

AGI Development Tools / Re: AGI-64

« on: August 17, 2026, 12:12:37 PM »

Impressive work. I don't know much about the C64, but I thought I read somewhere that the graphics engine was not able to support the 160x168 16-color screen that AGI needed. Looks like these guys figured it out though.

The title bar in most SQ1 screen shots look like they show the score as "8 of 282". But I think the C64 glyph for zero just looks like an 8. Checking the KQ1 screenshot, which I know has a max score of 158, you can see the glyphs for zero and 8 are very similar, but the zero glyph is slightly different.

Is that how the C64 always shows the zero? That seems like a terrible design choice for font.

4

AGI Community How To's & Tutorials / Re: Official AGI Documentation

« on: August 10, 2026, 01:46:55 AM »

Nice find!

5

AGI Development Tools / Re: WinAGI v3.0.0 BETA is now officially AVAILABLE!

« on: August 02, 2026, 10:25:32 PM »

OK, v3.0.0-beta.39 is now available (see link in first post).

Notably, it adds the updating-on-scroll feature for picture editor requested by vapidlapwing12. And it adds a dithering tool to the picture editor requested by bokkers.

6

AGI Development Tools / Re: WinAGI v3.0.0 BETA is now officially AVAILABLE!

« on: July 28, 2026, 11:45:39 AM »

I'm glad it's working for you. So far no major errors or issues? That's good to hear.

I've done some dithering myself from time to time, and you're right- it can be time-consuming. I will look into adding a dithering tool. I think it can be done relatively simply. It may take me a while to get it up and running though.

7

AGI Development Tools / Re: Getting latest WinAGI studio to work on linux mint

« on: July 26, 2026, 09:44:45 PM »

I asked Microsoft CoPilot about running WinAGI v3.0 on Linux, and here's what it had to say:

If I were betting based solely on the project file:

Component            Chance of working under Wine
Basic WinForms UI    High
Dialogs/Menus        High
FastColoredTextBox   Probably
HTML Agility Pack    High
File I/O             High
NAudio               Depends on features used

Wine Testing Checklist for WinAGI

1. Publish build
Configuration: Release
Deployment Mode: Self-contained
Runtime: win-x86
Single File: Enabled

You already have all of these configured.

2. Linux User Setup
Install Wine:
Ubuntu/Debian
    sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
    sudo apt update
    sudo apt install wine64 wine32

3. Verify installation:
    wine --version

4. Run the Application
Copy the contents of your published publish folder to Linux.
Launch:
    wine WinAGI.exe

If prompted to install Wine Mono or Gecko, allow it.

5. Test Core Features
  Verify that the following work correctly:
   - Application startup
   - Opening and saving AGI game files
   - Syntax editor (FastColoredTextBox)
   - Menus and dialogs
   - Drag-and-drop (if used)
   - Clipboard copy/paste
   - Search/replace
   - Resource editing
   - Import/export functions

  Pay Special Attention To
   Since you're using NAudio, test:
   - Sound playback
   - WAV playback
   - MIDI playback
  Audio is the most likely area to exhibit Wine-specific issues.

6. Collect Useful Diagnostic Information
  If the app fails to start:
    wine WinAGI.exe > winagi.log 2>&1
  Have the user send you winagi.log.

Normally I would never suggest listening to AI for help, but FWIW, it's been very helpful with regard to coding WinAGI.

8

AGI Development Tools / Re: WinAGI v3.0.0 BETA is now officially AVAILABLE!

« on: July 26, 2026, 09:08:01 PM »

I guess no news is good news. I recompiled Tonight the Shrieking Corpses Bleed and played through it fully. Nothing seems to have broken. I should do the Tex McPhilip games next.

Thx for the feedback. Did you find anything else that you can comment on- anything with any of the editors or tools?

9

AGI Development Tools / Re: Getting latest WinAGI studio to work on linux mint

« on: July 26, 2026, 09:03:16 PM »

Found the link to the Linux/Wine discussion- it's here:

https://sciprogramming.com/community/index.php?topic=1832.msg12863#msg12863

User obscurenforeign was able to get it running in Linux using Wine. Don't know if he's still active here, but if so, he could probably offer some advice on getting v2 to work for you.

10

AGI Development Tools / Re: Getting latest WinAGI studio to work on linux mint

« on: July 26, 2026, 08:52:34 PM »

There was a person who got v2.3.7 to work on wine; if you search through the old posts here, you might find the discussion.

I haven't tried running v3 on Linux - I don't have a system to run it on, and never really got into the Linux thing anyway. There are a few API calls using windows dlls, so I'm not sure if everything will work. Honestly, I need someone with Linux experience to do that testing- it's just not something I can do.

11

AGI Development Tools / Re: WinAGI v3.0.0 BETA is now officially AVAILABLE!

« on: July 19, 2026, 11:50:44 PM »

There were two things I spotted with the beta - first, when working on a picture, I found it very useful in the previous version to scroll through the command list and see the picture update as I scroll. In the new version the picture is only updated when I stop scrolling.

I think I see what you mean- when holding down an arrow key, in 2.3.7, the picture updates as each draw command is selected; in v3, it only updates when key is released. Is this what you mean?

I can look into that- I should be able to restore that behavior.

The second thing (and it's really minor) is that the increased font size and extra whitespace in the command list means you can't see as many entries

Not huge problems by any stretch, but I found the earlier version to be a little better in those respects at least.

I see what you mean. In v2.3.7 the font for forms and controls is MS Sans Serif and can't be changed. In v3, I have added the ability to change the font for forms and controls (which is the same font used for previewing logics, which can be changed on the Logics tab on the Settings dialog. The default is Consolas. I also restrict the available fonts to only mono-spaced fonts otherwise the preview text box won't work correctly. In addition to the Picture Editor draw commands list, other controls that use this font include the resource list, word editor, object editor, view editor list and several others.

The controls used in v3 also add some extra padding to the listbox items; not sure I can control that - it's a VS/C#/WinForms thing.

You could try choosing a different font/font size on the Settings dialog. Consolas at 10 pt or even 9 pt are a closer match to v2.3.7.

I could also see about using different fonts for the logic previews and forms/controls; then you could choose non-monospaced fonts for the forms and controls at a smaller size but still leave the preview logics as monospaced and at a different size as needed/desired. Let me know if you feel strongly about it and if so I'll see what I can do.

12

AGI Development Tools / Re: WinAGI v3.0.0 BETA is now officially AVAILABLE!

« on: July 16, 2026, 11:14:28 PM »

Beta.25 is now available:

https://github.com/AGKorson/WinAGI-GDS/releases/tag/v3.0.0-beta.25

This build includes support for the newly discovered (at least new for me) version 2.230. It can load views with the alternate mirroring format. I made the decision to not support editing that format though. It would add another layer of complexity that I don't feel is worth the trouble; if a view with the alternate mirroring format is edited, the loops are instead converted to regular loops (the mirroring is removed). This does mean views will be slightly larger after editing, but since this version appears to be extremely rare and , I don't see a need to provide support for this view format.

I have not gotten any feedback at all since releasing the first beta version. A bit disappointing to be sure, but I guess I should have expected it. I am going to let this version percolate for a week or two, then call it good and drop the beta designation.

13

AGI Development Tools / Re: AGI reverse engineering with AI

« on: July 16, 2026, 10:44:15 PM »

That's some amazing work. I've spent years disassembling the AGI files the old fashioned way. A labor of love you might say. With AI, what took years now can be done in days.  Makes me feel a bit obsolete...

14

AGI Development Tools / Re: AGI v2.230

« on: July 14, 2026, 10:27:50 PM »

The lower nibble of that byte is the cell count for the loop. That was the known bit, but interpreters like AGILE assume the whole byte is the cell count.

The original AGI interpreter source that we have from the SQ2 disk has this:

Code: [Select]

/* loop structure
*/
typedef struct loopstrc {
UBYTE numcels; /* number of cels in the loop */
WORD celofs[10]; /* offsets to the cels */
} LOOP;

which also implies the whole thing later became only for the cell count.

But for this earlier 2.230 version, only the bottom 4 bits were the cell count and the top 4-bits were other things, the top 2 being related to mirroring.

In v2.089, the entire byte was also the cel count, same as all versions other than 2.230. So I don't think there was an evolution from just the lower nibble to the entire byte as the cel count. It started as the entire byte, changed in v2.230 to just the lower nibble as an experiment in mirroring, then changed back to the entire byte when they went a different route for mirroring.

15

AGI Development Tools / Re: AGI v2.230

« on: July 14, 2026, 10:14:22 PM »

COFIRMED: Version 2.230 uses the cel count byte of a loop to handle mirroring.

When a loop is set (when loading a view or using the set.loop command), cel count is set to the lower nibble of the cel count byte. Then bit 7 is tested:

• if bit 7 is set, then bits 5 and 4 are read as a two-bit number (i.e. 0,1,2 or 3). This number is compared to the desired loop being set. If they match, the loop is OK and no flipping is done. If they don't match, the cel count byte is updated to indicate the new loop (i.e. bits 5 and 4 are changed to match the desired loop value). THEN bit 6 is checked; if set, all cels in the loop are flipped, if bit 6 is not set, the cels are not flipped.
• if bit 7 is NOT set, then no further checks are made, and none of the cels are flipped.

What this means is that both bits 7 and 6 must be set for mirroring to work. My suspicion is that bit 6 was going to be used to do something else at one point, but they switched to the newer mirroring format before it was finished.

It also means mirroring would be limited to loops 0 through 3, and the max number of cels that could be in a loop was 16. In the mirroring format added in v2.272, loops 0 through 7 could be mirrored, and up to 255 cels could be in a loop.

Note that in this version, when a loop changes ALL cels are flipped immediately; in v2.272 and beyond, each cel is flipped individually when it is being drawn to the screen.

My educated guess is that they decided to change the format for mirroring so more loops could be involved in mirroring (8 instead of 4), more than 16 cels could be included in a loop and also it minimized clock cycles (by only flipping when a cel is needed, instead of doing all of them every time a loop is changed).

This version also includes a number of changes that show up in v2.272 but not all of them, which confirms that it fits between v2.089 and v2.272.