WinAGI Final Beta - Looking for a little more feedback

[AGKorson]

I'm ready to call it. With this version I've added all the features that I wanted and have cleaned up the code to the best of my ability.

https://github.com/AGKorson/WinAGI-GDS/releases#release-v3.0.0-beta.96

If anybody out there is willing, I would love to get one more round of outside testing/feedback just in case I've missed anything big. Otherwise I'll just establish this version as the first production version as of 1 NOV 2026.

[Collector]

Don't know if I'll have much of a chance to do much with it anytime soon, but great to see it near completion. Nice to see a near release build moving beyond the old legacy VB and ActiveX stuff.

[EricOakford]

Okay, so I've gotten it working. I've fully recompiled the Magick Poultry games and found no changes to the VOL and DIR files. So it looks like nothing's been broken. I think I'd like to get others to playtest these games and see if they come across any bugs (which should be unlikely, as I've been meticulous). Let me know if you're interested.

[Collector]

Hey Eric, have gotten any further with the 2.1emplate?

[doomlazer]

This is probably unlikely to happen to many people, but it was a bit frustrating trying to install the v3 beta96. It wouldn't install because a "newer version was already installed". That "newer" version was 3.0.1-alpha8.0.

In the past with WinAGI, I've needed to uninstall the old version before installing the new, which is fine. But the beta96 installer didn't seem to include an option to uninstall, so I had to eventually do it through windows' remove programs.

The beta96 version also required me to update my .NET version, which it would be nice if the installer could have dealt with that requirement; maybe by bundling the required version?

I'm probably just grumpy after work, but it's no fun struggling to install or update a program, so I'm mentioning it here. ty!

[doomlazer]

And a question related to what I was trying to test: Almost all version of Manhunter NY that I have access to have 2 or more errors stating "Sound XXX has an invalid resourceheader at location XXXXXX in MHVOL.x". I believe these might be defects in the original sierra distribution. It's unlikely I'd need to edit the sound files, but is there anything to be done about them except to hide the error?

[AGKorson]

This is probably unlikely to happen to many people, but it was a bit frustrating trying to install the v3 beta96. It wouldn't install because a "newer version was already installed". That "newer" version was 3.0.1-alpha8.0.

In the past with WinAGI, I've needed to uninstall the old version before installing the new, which is fine. But the beta96 installer didn't seem to include an option to uninstall, so I had to eventually do it through windows' remove programs.

The beta96 version also required me to update my .NET version, which it would be nice if the installer could have dealt with that requirement; maybe by bundling the required version?

I'm probably just grumpy after work, but it's no fun struggling to install or update a program, so I'm mentioning it here. ty!

I think the version problem is because that Alpha version used the number 3.0.1, but beginning with Beta I've gone to 3.0.0Beta.XX. That's my bad- sorry for that. Beginning with the first Beta version, I've been more careful about versioning so it shouldn't be a problem anymore.

I am surprised it didn't automatically update .NET for you. I'm not exactly sure what I can do with the installer to have it do that, but I'll look into it.

[AGKorson]

And a question related to what I was trying to test: Almost all version of Manhunter NY that I have access to have 2 or more errors stating "Sound XXX has an invalid resourceheader at location XXXXXX in MHVOL.x". I believe these might be defects in the original sierra distribution. It's unlikely I'd need to edit the sound files, but is there anything to be done about them except to hide the error?

Yes, Sierra's releases were notorious for containing errors like this- Invalid DIR entries don't cause a problem at runtime as long as no logics attempt to load the affected resource. But the error should be fixed.

If you right-click the error line and go to the Help link, it gives a detailed explanation of the error:

When WinAGI attempts to load a resource, if the first two bytes are not 0x12 and 0x34, it is not a valid AGI resource. This is most likely due to invalid pointer in the DIR file, usually indicating an abandoned resource where the DIR file was never updated. There are several instances of this error in Sierra games. Removing the resource from your game is the only way to fix this anomaly.

Hiding the error won't remove the bad DIR entry- you must delete the resource (technically there is no resource, you are just removing the bad DIR entry).

Let me know if you think the Help file can be more 'helpful'- I can adjust the language to provide additional information if you think it might help.

[doomlazer]

Ah, that's right. I remember seeing that before. Sorry, it's been too long since I've had a chance to do any AGI work. I miss it.

Honestly, I love WinAGI's help file. It's very informative and I was able to answer so many of my own questions using it. Had I remembered how good it was I probably could have avoided asking about the sound error.

Hopefully, I get a chance to really dig into WinAGI v3 here next year. I wouldn't worry too much about the installer or .NET, but I am curious if there should have been an uninstall option that I was missing.