mvBarracuda

Post these things at http://www.pastebin.com, put the links into this thread and we can surely help you: 1. Content of your FIFE.bat 2. Content of stdout.txt 3. Content of stderr.txt

And finally the src package is up too ) Enjoy: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/fife/FIFE...7.0_src.tar.bz2

Just wait some time or try another mirror. I've reuploaded the package two times as the first time I forgot to update the bindings.lua script for win32 (it was still using the linux print key). The second time I've found out that I forgot to bundle the OpenAL driver patch with the package. Sourceforge needs some time to spread the package to all available mirrors. I've just selected: North America, Seattle, Washington from the Sourceforge mirror selection interface and it works fine from there. If you're set in the States you should try this mirror: http://superb-west.dl.sourceforge.net/sour...007.0_win32.exe From a programmers perspective you should prolly wait for our src release package so you can dig through the code a bit if you like ) You could use our SVN browser interface too to have a look at the code: https://mirror1.cvsdude.com/trac/fife/engin...core/src/engine You got it right Pop ) FIFE is our evil plan to bring back 2D isometric RPGs to the place they should have in the gaming industry. If nobody wants to make any old school RPGs because modern 3D adventure pseudo RPGs like Oblivion sell so well, we can provide at least a good toolkit for modders so they can create some good games with.

OMFG it's done: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/fife/FIFE_2007.0_win32.exe Install guide: 1. Download 2. Execute the self-extracting 7zip archive and uncompress to a folder of your choice 3. Read the readme.txt that can be found within the folder where you uncompressed FIFE And here are two screenshots of the new version:

Age of Decadence Maybe the only really promising RPG after that piece of **** that Oblivion was ...

You can render the 3D objects with the rendering programme of your choice (e.g.: Blender) and import them as PNG files into FIFE. However as FIFE is no 3D engine, FIFE won't support 3D objects. One of our coders wanted to use very basic 3D models to create a lighting system for the OpenGL renderbackend. However this idea is almost impossible to realize; at least we didn't really found an easy way.

It's next gen even in quote some aspects ) At first it's not meant to be a general next gen engine. I guess every next gen engine needs to be a 3D one nowadays. We simply love the old 2D ISO games and believe you can create great games without using fancy 3d gfx. Oblivion is a good example that good gfx don't make good games; it was especially poor in its RPG elements. The old 2D engines like Fallout don't run cross platform, their scripting systems are often quite poor (Fallout's surely is, though there were no real great solutions back in 1996). You can't change hardcoded aspects as you don't have access to the sourcecode. Another aspect is that commercial game engines force all users to buy the game even if they just want to use the engine as modding basis. The plan for FIFE is to make it independent of Fallout in the long run. So we just use the Fallout files as example implementation to show the features of the engine. One of the most important aspects is the lack of good open source 2D engines. While there are good solutions for 3D (Ogre, Irrlicht) there aren't that many flexible 2D open source engines that could be used to create different games with. There are some 2D gfx engines but you would need to add a lot of specific code to make them a real game engine. FIFE will come with everything to make complete games: scripting API, sound support, renderer, scriptable GUI and the map editor. Our unique selling point is the flexibility of the engine IMHO. The plan is to create an engine that is able to run all kind of different 2D ISO games with it. So not only RPGs should be possible but also RTS games. We're currently in contact with a developer who works on an open source port of the Bullfrog classic "Syndicate". We'll try to integrate his current code into FIFE so you can load Syndicate maps into FIFE. So with a lot of luck you'll be able to run Syndicate and Fallout with the same engine ) To summarize all these things; FIFE is IMHO next gen because: - It works cross platform (Win32, Linux, Mac, BSD) - While being a 2D engine it offers modern features like alphablending for some nice visual effects - It's planned as a full featured game engine and not only a gfx engine - It supports easy scripting with LUA (used in several popular modern games like FarCry & WoW) - There are not many comparable open source 2D engines that offer similar features - It has Fallout support but can be also used for the creation of all kind of different ISO games - It's open source and free of charge; interested developers can easily contribute to the engine and user don't need to buy a game just because they want to play a mod that uses the specific engine

Sorry for the long delay guys :lol:/ I've been pretty busy with university lately. Our coders were hardworking last week and we're proud to bring you yet another experimental FIFE release of the new 2006.2 branch. New features: * Optimized AsyncSM * New camera mode for smooth scrolling * Fixed many memory leaks For a complete changelog: * https://mirror1.cvsdude.com/trac/fife/engine/timeline Grab the win32 binaries here: * http://members.fifengine.de/bin/FIFE_r673_win32.exe Linux users simply check out our SVN repository and compile the TRUNK/core branch from source ) * http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=S...sion_repository

Yep ) I was busy with university, that's why I didn't update the thread (there are tons of FIFE threads over the net and I simply forgot to post the latest updates here). We've got a dev blog now so you can always get the most recent information directly from the source: http://blog.fifengine.de Our lead coder is currently busy writing on his diploma papers but we've sorted out the problems somehow. Now it's going slower but we're making at least small steps forward nevertheless. The most recent code features two important additions: 1. The new map model: http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=Map_model 2. The new asynchronous scripting model: http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=A...Scripting_Model The scripting model is an approach to have all the AI code in a seperate engine thread. Details can be found in the wiki article linked above. You can script NPCs (called "critters" in Fallout) using LUA now and make them walk over the maps. The next steps will be a trigger extension of the scripting model. A first draft of a draft is already in the wiki: http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=Trigger_System We've planned to finally start working on our own animation format too but I guess this will take quite some time. The work on the planned editor tool is still ongoing. We hope to release a first alpha version of it in about 2 months. If you want to test the most recent stuff: I've just compiled a test version of the latest SVN code. Download it here: http://members.fifengine.de/bin/FIFE_r668_win32.exe

However I've got the impression that more and more indie teams develope cross platform games to support the *nix platforms too. Our own engine is a good example. The project will hopefully become a framework for all kinds of 2D games and it works on all important platforms (win32, linux, mac, bsd). More information: http://www.fifengine.de And here are some example shots of the engine using maps from Fallout 1 & 2 (hope that's interesting as the most guys here should be RPG fanatics):

No need to put it on the long-term waiting list ) As far as I've understood your idea, it's already possible now. The tile geometry is set for each single map. So your FIFE mod CAN use the Fallout 1/2 tile geometry for one map, the one from FO: Tactics for another one and the tile geometry from Planescape Torment for a third one. However you can't support multiple different tile geometries on one single map. Adding support for Infinity Engine formats could even be not so hard as there is already an open source IE emulator out there ) http://gemrb.sourceforge.net/ For more information about the FO1/2 tile and object geometry: http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=F...7s_map_geometry

Totally right *g* Seriously: we really like the name. Maybe that's because we pronounce it like the number FIVE and not like FIFI. But IF Interplay ever gets angry and threatens to sue us (because of the "Fallout" in the name), we already got a good alternative name for the project. But as I said: till anybody sues us, the name will stay the same.

Thanks for the info I'll take a read and a closer look! I do have one question, why use singletons at all? Most of the coding practice is sensible (Just read it on the wiki). <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Seriously: I've got no clue. The main reason is that our old lead coder liked singletons and our new one likes them too. So I guess they're useful although I know that singletons aren't the solution for all problems and can become a real problem in certain cases. So if you really intend to discuss this with our developers: the mailing list is the right place for it: http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=Public_mailing_list

At least in theory. The problem is that Interplay still holds the IP rights so this could become troublesome. As we don't want to run into problems, the FIFE team WON'T recreate Fallout 1 / 2 on FIFE. If any modder wants to do it: fine; but he needs to take the risk in this case. There is a first FIFE-based Fallout mod in development and the guys mailed Interplay about using some ideas from the Fallout games (e.g. pipboy, vault-boy, stimpack, etc.). Here is their mail: Interplay answered: So with Interplay don't really being able to reply, we simply don't really know if you would be allowed to recreate the Fallout campaigns on FIFE. Here is a first screenshot from this Fallout Zero mod: (and yes: we know that the tiles are still repetive; we just did not have the time and skill to create something better back when we published these first pics) Normally we would just send you to SVN repository, but here we go: http://members.fifengine.de/mvbarracuda/FIFE_2006_06_07.rar You should check out trunk/core; this is the current work in progress code. Unfortunately the new map model that is featured there is still not completely finished yet. So check out tags/core/2006.1 too; this is our last stable released version. It features the old map model; you should compile the 2006.1 version instead of trunk/core if you want to see the engine in action. If you want to see how the engine will look in the future: trunk/core is the way to go. If you really like the code, you should read our dev introduction to learn about the most important basics: http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=Getting_started After that you should grab the compile SDK (if you're on win32) and simply compile the sources like described in this tutorial: http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=W...s_compile_guide We would really like to welcome new devs so I hope you give us a chance )

It's hard to imagine for me how different tile sizes on one map should work. But we're thinking about supporting large painted background like the Infinity Engine games offered. We haven't really decided about the height level support yet. ATM we're trying to work out a map model with just one elevation. But as one of our lead coders is a huge Diablo 2 fan, we'll think about a way to support height differences later. ATM it's just important that we design the map class flexible so we can add support for height levels later. But these kind of advanced features often depend on the number of devs which got time to work on them. ATM we're lacking the resources to bring this into FIFE but let's see what happens in the next months )

A lot :-/ I haven't counted the endless hours our coders put into the project but I can say that I'm (as project manager) working about 10-15 hours a week on it. And we're far from being finished. We're around for 9 months now and I thought that we start to get into a state where FIFE can be shown to a bigger audience. We hope to have the editor beta version ready in about 3 months; that would be around the first project birthday ) We're currently working on the map model code to be able to integrate scripting as next step. We've already added some map geometry code to allow modders setting up their own maps that are different to the ones from Fallout. So you can support diamond-shaped tiles like in FO: Tactics or the normal FO tiles. You could even support totally different tiles; that's why it is called Flexible Isometric Fallout-like Engine. We're still in the need of new developers to push FIFE forward. So if any of the Obsidian devs reads this and suddenly fell in love with the idea, feel free to contribute to this project ) The sourcecode can be found in our SVN public SVN repository, you can even browse it online: https://mirror1.cvsdude.com/trac/fife/engin...core/src/engine

We actually found "FIFE" really cool. An easy to remember name and quite unique ) The main problem was that the FO2 editor just supported 640*480 px. You can't really get a good map overview with such a low res. You'll be able to run FIFEdit with 1920*1440 and even higher (if your gfx card and your display does support it). We'll try to make the editor as easily usable as possible. You should consider participating in the FIFEdit beta test to help improve the editor once we've released a first version: http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=FIFEdit_beta_test Scripting will be done with LUA. If you're familiar with basic programming principles, learning the needed parts of LUA will be a cake IMHO. You won't be able to create FIFE mods without learning at least some LUA basics; there are other newbie-friendly solutions that offer the creation of RPGs without scripts but we feel that this approach takes away a lot of flexibility just to make it easier for the lazy guys. FIFE scripting will be totally different to Fallout scripting and all in all the whole engine will be totally different. You CAN use FIFE for Fallout-like mods but our aim is to create an engine that is suitable for for all kind of 2D ISO RPGs. And no: we're not from Poland, at least not all of us. The team is pretty international though quite a bunch of developers are from Germany (including me); but to make you happy: we've got a Polish gfx coder on the team ) It's possible in theory but this is giving us some headaches. The problem is that we're using the GPL license. That means if you create a game based on FIFE and modify the C++ sourcecode, you would need to offer your sourcecode for download. But your media files (scripts, videos, audio files, maps, etc.) will still be copyrighted. That means you could create a FIFE based game and sell it without any problems. But we don't know if this is really likely. I've never heard about an open source game engine that has been picked up by a big publisher. So let's see how it evolves.

This is my first post here so I hope this is the right part of the forums for this kind of discussion. Fact sheet: License: Open source GPL 2.0 Platforms: Win32, Linux, Mac Libs: SDL, OpenGL, boost (and some more) Suited for: all kind of isometric 2D games Costs: Free About FIFE: FIFE stands for Flexible Isometric Fallout-like Engine. Just like the name of our project suggests we work on a new open source engine for all kinds of isometric games. The people working on it got a RPG background but it should be possible to customize the engine so it even works for other ISO games like RTS. The engine started as a Fallout-only project but we recognized very fast that it offers the potential to be used as a general 2d ISO engine for the development of cross platform RPGs. Why FIFE? Half-life 1 revolutionized PC gaming back in 1998. The most important part of Half-life wasn't the great game with the story but the engine behind it IMHO. HL1 was the first game that offered good modding support combined with a company that provided useful tools to support the new growing modding community. Today there are a bunch of good open source 3D engines out there like Ogre or Irrlicht. However there are several problems: 1. These are mostly GFX engines. That means they focus on gfx code while they provide just few code that is needed to make a fully working game with them. 2. More important: they've been made for the creation of 3D applications. But unfortunately there is no flexible 2D ISO engine (that I know) that is comparable to what Ogre and Irrlicht are for 3D games. So our aim is to "revolutionize" 2D ISO games as HL1 did it with 3D games quite some years ago. We want to create a platform for the creation of isometric games that all indie developers can use for their games so they don't need to create something from scratch. We focus on good modding abilities so we'll bundle the engine with an easy to use and full featured editor tool called FIFEdit. The advantage over other engines is that FIFE is meant to become a full game engine. So we don't only provide 2d gfx code for the rendering but also feature code that allows the modders to easily script game logic. FIFE supports SDL & OpenGL rendering modes and is uses different open source cross platform libraries. This way the engine and the editor (that uses Qt4) will run on Win32, Linux and Macintosh. So we can ensure that game developers can easily provide their games as FIFE mods that run all kind of platforms without needing to care about writing cross platform code themselves. Our editor will support a plugin system so you can easily add new features that are needed for specific kind of games; e.g. RPGs or RTS games. The current status of the project: The FIFE project is about 9 months in development now and we have released three public pre-alpha versions of the engine on sourceforge / freshmeat in January and May 2006. The gfx part of the engine is the most "mature" one at the moment. The rendering code is encapsulated well with a "renderbackend" approach; so you can easily work on the OpenGL part of the renderer without being afraid of breaking something on the SDL side. Our coders are currently working on the map model to be able to integrate some first game logic code later. You can already script a GUI using lua code; lua will be used as scripting language for all game logic too. The second part of the team is working on the new FIFE editor FIFEdit. The design phase has been just completed and the work on the code started. You can view the design document with all planned features for FIFEdit here: FIFEdit design document You can also already access Fallout 1 / 2 .dat archives and display maps, view animations and listen to the original .acm sound files. But I guess this information is just important for the Fallout fans here. The Fallout maps just serve as example implementation to show what's already possible. Intention of this post: We would like to know what you think about our idea of a flexible isometric engine that focuses on modding abilities. Do you think this concept will work out or isn't it worth the hassle? Are there other projects that want to achieve something similar? Do you think that our engine is worth being used later or is it easier to create an engine from scratch for indie teams that plan to create ISO games? Are there ISO fans out here that really like the idea and want to support us working on the engine? What kind of features would be really needed to make this engine attractive? Which parts of our design documents are well worked out and what's missing? Feedback is really appreciated ) FIFE design documents More information: FIFE help wanted thread @ Gamedev FIFE homepage FIFE development wiki FIFE screenshot section Screenshots: These screenshots were taken using FIFE with the original maps from Fallout 1 / 2. You'll need a valid copy of the Fallout games to load and display these maps; FIFE doesn't come bundled with copyrighted material!