New release: Kyodai Mahjongg 2006 1.42

[Nao]

At last, a new update! A lot has happened in the Kyodai community these last few months. Now if I can find some time to post an actual summary of everything that's going on... Keep coming back to the website
For starters, here's a quick list of the main new features in v2006 1.42. For a full list of improvements, install this new version and check out the help files!

• [New] Faster and improved startup sequence.
• [New] The "No more moves" event now triggers a (much requested!) sound effect.
• [New] Now, all winnable Solitaire games have a game seed attributed to them, allowing you to replay them if you enter the hall of fame (see "Replay" button).
• [New] Improved texturing for tile faces and borders. Cleaned up the menu options.
• [New] Added support for more skybox environments. Skyboxes also work on a larger array of video cards now.
• [Fix] Fixed lots of minor bugs.

(French)

Enfin, une mise à jour ! Il s'est passé beaucoup de choses dans le monde de Kyodai Mahjongg ces derniers mois. Il ne me reste plus qu'à trouver un peu de temps pour vous en parler... Merci de repasser de temps en temps

Pour commencer, voici une liste rapide des nouveautés de la version 2006 1.42. Pour la liste complète des nouveautés (en anglais), c'est dans les fichiers d'aide du jeu !

• Lancement du jeu plus rapide et plus esthétique.
• La mention "Plus de coups disponibles" est désormais accompagné d'un effet sonore réclamé à corps et à cris depuis des années
• Désormais, tous les jeux de Solitaire potentiellement "gagnants" sont accompagnés d'un numéro de jeu, qui vous permettra d'y rejouer si vous faites un des meilleurs scores, de manière à l'améliorer encore.
• Pas mal d'améliorations sur le système des textures pour les tiles (devant et côtés). J'ai également dépoussiéré quelque peu la section du menu concernant tout cela.
• Ajout du support pour d'autres skyboxes. Ces derniers devraient de plus être utilisables sur la plupart des cartes vidéo maintenant.
• Enfin, comme à mon habitude, j'ai corrigé une pléthore de bugs mineurs. Vous savez, le genre de truc qu'on ne remarque que des années après leur arrivée. Mais qui ne sont pas les bienvenus pour autant !

[kryton]

It looks great, Nao

[fachelich]

I't works well with all the tilesets I have tried.

[Nao]

Well, the new "fit to texture size" option is disabled by default, so tile texture behavior shouldn't be any different from previous versions Enable the feature and try it with large tilesets at least 1200 pixels wide. Should look good

[tafugate]

how do you determine the tilesets that are 1200 pixels wide?

[Nao]

Well, it's a recommendation, they don't have to be exactly 1200+ pixels wide
Just think of it this way: default tiles in KMJ are 128x128 in size. If you have any tileset that has a tile size higher than 128x128, then it will have to be shrinked to 128x128, reducing picture quality. The higher your original tile definition is, the better the result when disabling "fit to texture size".
There are also some tilesets that are quite small and still can benefit from disabling the option--I think Kyodai.bmp looks better that way. Of course, it's only a matter of taste...

You may have noticed the whole "fit to texture size" discussion spanned several days and was very heated. I originally wanted to remove "fit to texture size" altogether (because I'm more likely to remove stuff and clean up the menus than the opposite, right now), but most users wanted me to keep it in the code, so I gave up and included both possibilities in the game. In exchange, I moved all tileset texturing options to a submenu. Which, by the way, I forgot to enable in the multilingual system, so it's still called "Tile Textures" whatever the selected language. Oops

Sorry for the messy rants
To answer your question, you have to open your JPG tileset files and see how large they are

[tafugate]

aha!  thanks, nao.  i had perused the built-in tilesets and the community constructed tilesets, but other than overall size, i saw no indication of what constituted a high quality tileset.  so i will assume the larger the filesize, the higher the quality.

at any rate, i've only on a couple of occasions over the years, tried a tileset other than ancient.  i can appreciate the effort that has gone into the custom sets, but it's just not something i'm into.

i had initally disabled 'fit to texture size' because i was more interested in performance, and hadn't really noticed a tremendous difference in quality.  but since this discussion, i went back and tried it again, and there's a noticeable improvement with 'fit to texture size' turned on, even with the higher rez kyodai tileset.  i guess running an nvidia mx4000 isn't going to allow me to appreciate higher rez models, so the function stays on for the time being (doesn't make a big difference with the ancient tileset, but having 'fit to texture size' turned on doesn't affect performance noticeably either).

[Nao]

i had initally disabled 'fit to texture size' because i was more interested in performance,

Yes, it's noticeable in loading speed. Loading a tileset with this enabled will take about half a second (sometimes up to a second). With it disabled, it will virtually be instantaneous.

and hadn't really noticed a tremendous difference in quality.  but since this discussion, i went back and tried it again, and there's a noticeable improvement with 'fit to texture size' turned on, even with the higher rez kyodai tileset.

You mustn't have tested with very-high-res tilesets, I suppose

i guess running an nvidia mx4000 isn't going to allow me to appreciate higher rez models,

It is not a matter of videocard brand.

so the function stays on for the time being (doesn't make a big difference with the ancient tileset, but having 'fit to texture size' turned on doesn't affect performance noticeably either).

It isn't supposed to affect performance at all. Just the loading times.

[RaXeT]

Looks fantastic. I've been away. I have Kyodai 1.42 working in Windows Vista 64 bit RC1! 

RaXeT

[Nao]

Yes, of course it does It's not like it's a badly programmed game that wouldn't follow the Windows guidelines, eheh. (Remember how many games wouldn't work on XP when the OS was released? Well of course KMJ had no such problems...)

Vista 64-bit itself, though, is a bit scam IMHO... It has no performance benefit compared to the 32-bit version, and it takes more disk space....

[johnmaar]

Nao,

I just now noticed that you're the "grumpy" creator. What happened? Did you lose one of the first 6 days? Or did you get no rest on the 7th day?

[Nao]

Oh well, I just though I was probably as grumpy, if not more, as Ron Gilbert, one of my cult game developers from grumpygamer.com (He's the one I met at a fan meeting earlier this year. I think I mentioned it already here.)

[johnmaar]

Ahhh. Well, that should have been obvious to the most casual observer. Making me...?????

[Eagle Wings Empowered]

Nao as always I clap my hands. From the beginning. Thank you so much. I remember that day when I was sitting on my Mother couch and you were on the phone with me and I could not believe it was really you. Cyber who knows not us knows who we are and so blesses and appreciates your MJ. 

[Nao]

Will you hate me for having trouble remembering that phone call?

Oh, and how is it, living in Hawaii?