New Release! (BTW V4.87)

[FlowerChild]

Version 4.87 of Better Than Wolves is ready for download!

Download Link

This release contains the following changes:

-Added additional effects to the Gloom.

-Changed status effects text to not display when you are dead.

-Changed the way Hardcore Of Darkness works to hopefully resolve problems with it rendering properly with texture packs that use custom colors.

-Changed the way Hardcore Of Darkness works slightly to smooth out the edges between where ambient light meets the Gloom. It should more closely resemble the borders with torch light now.

-Fixed problem with the Refined Axe (NOT the Battle Axe...that's still 5 ingots) using 3 Soulforged Steel ingots instead of the 2 of other axes.

-Fixed problem with axes returning the wrong number of ingots when melted down in a Crucible.

-Ported Mojang's "fix" (it doesn't appear to always work..but it does help) from 1.6.2 for animals escaping fences or suffocating in blocks during chunk load so that BTW players can benefit from it ahead of time. Note that I've spotted the occasional animal (mostly babies) still escaping fences in both 1.6.2 and with this version of BTW. This doesn't appear to happen on chunk load, but rather as a result of collisions with other animals. Please refer any problems that you may encounter with this to Mojang, as all I've done is duplicate their bug fix here, and it appears the issue is not fully resolved. I'm hoping at the very least it takes care of the random animal suffocation, but I wouldn't put any money on it.

Enjoy! :)

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If you'd like to say thanks for this release and help contribute to the further development of Better Than Wolves, please consider making a donation:

[PatriotBob]

Really turning these out aren't you. :)

Thanks for another update! Did you ever start up an official beer fund or something of the like?

[DaveYanakov]

It was my understanding that was what the big PayPal 'Donate!' button was for.

I've already managed to kill myself once by travelling through what I thought was one of those simple caves that tunnels through a hill. Turns out there was a pit running through the middle of the inky darkness. I fear I shall never again see the sunlight. Thank you for your efforts to ensure that my chickens will survive in the meantime.

[PsiGuardian]

Have you had a look at the post by Daniel King on the Mojang Jira instance in regards to the escaping animals issue?

Not sure if you'd want to custom implement a fix from his code, but he thinks that he has it sorted out (at least in 1.5.2). There have been a few people asking for the issue to be re-opened.

Direct link to his comment

[FlowerChild]

I think I'm going to have to draw the line on this one. I read over the above post, and some of the stuff the guy is pointing out is similar to what I've noticed myself, like the rounding errors I've gone on about in the past.

Looking over what Jeb did to fix this thing though, plus the other stuff the guy is talking about, I'm not too keen on digging further into that code. What it sounds like is that the collision system is in need of a serious revamp, and at that point, I'd much rather be investing the time it would take into the collision system of my own game rather than on fixing Mojang's.

Let's put it this way: Jeb's "fix" was quite a hacky mess, and I wouldn't be surprised if it results in more bugs being created than it resolved. When integrating it, a few popped up with the mod entities (Wind Mills and such, as well as the Canvas), which I promptly fixed knowing I'd have to do so if/when I port to 1.6 anyways, but from what I can tell, it will likely have a lot of unanticipated side-effects for vanilla entities, which do not appear to have been taken into account.

I'll happily integrate any further fixes Mojang puts forth into BTW (once they are proven to actually work...that's the last time I'm taking it on "faith" when they say they've fixed something), but yeah, I think I have to take a step back here with regards to fixing up their code as it has the potential to be a huge time sink for me. I literally wasted hours today on just that one thing alone, and trying to verify whether it was working right or not, and whether it not working was a result of a mistake I had made or Jeb's. I suspect I probably devoted more time than Jeb himself spent to it, and I'm honestly rather tired of that kind of thing happening.

Let me know if any strange issues pop up with entities over the next little while. I haven't ruled out the possibility that I might need to revert that change to prevent it fucking other stuff up.

[RandomObj3ct]

so i take it this bugs going to either be reverted in a later release
or more likely
where going to be stuck with it until they jeb decides he is ready to stop pleasing twitter fans for a while to fix it.

take your time moving to 1.6, it seems to only going to be getting worse.

[FlowerChild]

so i take it this bugs going to either be reverted in a later release

We'll see. Let's see how what I just ported over works out, if it helps with suffocation (which is the main problem IMO), and if it has any other negative effects.

It's easy enough for me to rip it out if necessary, and I'll await further information before making a call on it.

[sacrife]

-Added additional effects to the Gloom.

Is it intended that gloom happens while underwater in an open sea? I couldnt hit/kill squids for ink because of the gloom effect. Even if it was a full day.

-Changed the way Hardcore Of Darkness works to hopefully resolve problems with it rendering properly with texture packs that use custom colors.

Thanks. This was really dominant on my TP. Will test when I get home.

-Changed the way Hardcore Of Darkness works slightly to smooth out the edges between where ambient light meets the Gloom. It should more closely resemble the borders with torch light now.

Someone could mayby create an addon to BTW here making a held torch light up around you for that cool adventure effect.

-Ported Mojang's "fix"

Creating a new world with 4.87, will definitely report any bugs if I find some. Thanks for the early addition. Was waiting on this one before I let my "new world syndrome" get to me again.

Can't really see a reason to even update to 1.6 now. That was the only fix worthwhile.

[Panda]

Mhh I don't know that the issue is exactly you are talking about with texture packs and hc darkness but one issue I had was that the lightmap.png file would overwrite darkness settings when I was messing with the gamma, I solved it by killing lightmap in my tp. If that helps cool! If not ehh, great release btw!

[TallTyrionLannister]

New poster here. I created an account just to add my voice to those lauding FC for the series of impressive changes that have been made to improve the Minecraft experience. The earliest build I played was 4.84, so I've essentially been playing a more or less complete version of your mod since my initiation and I have to say that's been a truly memorable experience. I've logged dozens of hours and I'm really just starting to crack into mechanical power. Needless to say, with vMC I would've been bored several times over by now.

I know I'm not adding much to the community with my comment here, but I just felt compelled to thank you for your hard work. Your fastidiousness is legendary. I look forward eagerly to more changes (I check this forum every day now) and will happily shell out my cash for anything you decide to monetize in the future.

By the way, your LP series with IcyNewYear is fascinating stuff. It helped turn me on to the mod and has really provided great insight into the process behind your design. A big fan here!

Thanks again!

[0player]

Sorry for asking, but do these changes mean that mushrooms would no longer eerily glow in the darkness? I haven't got around to install the new version yet.

[FlowerChild]

K, looks like the changes I made to attempt to resolve the custom colors thing didn't pan out. I just PMed Kahr though over on MCF to see if he could point me in the right direction to work around it.

Mhh I don't know that the issue is exactly you are talking about with texture packs and hc darkness but one issue I had was that the lightmap.png file would overwrite darkness settings when I was messing with the gamma, I solved it by killing lightmap in my tp. If that helps cool! If not ehh, great release btw!

Not really the same thing Panda. I'm modifying the colors through code, so it's a matter of finding out where MCPatcher is changing the color table, and making sure my own code to modify it gets called afterwards.

[Sarudak]

Nice of you to go through all that effort...

[FlowerChild]

Nice of you to go through all that effort...

MCPatcher compatibility is one thing that I do try to maintain. Kahr has bent over backwards in the past to work with BTW, and I know that custom texture packs are a huge deal to people.

Unfortunately though, given the way MCPatcher works in terms of applying patches rather than modifying the .jar, decompiling it to figure out the code order isn't really an option for me. I would have preferred not to bother him with this if possible, which is why I attempted to guesstimate what might fix it in the last release before contacting him.

[Sarudak]

I know I'm just saying you're a nice guy. :P

[FlowerChild]

I know I'm just saying you're a nice guy. :P

I feel like I should issue you a warning for that :)

[FlowerChild]

Actually...nm, I do believe I can decompile MCPatcher, as he makes mention of it on the MCF thread. He also invites people to do so, which would have been my other issue (me looking at another mod author's decompiled source is rather unprecedented, and something I generally avoid).

Unfortunately, his download service seems to be down at the moment, but I'll take a look at that later.

[FlowerChild]

K, talked to Kahr. He's once again going to be Mr. awesome and patch it up on his end, as there appears to be no good way to do it on mine.

Be sure to extend your thanks to him for this if it helps you out. The guy is a champ.

[sacrife]

I'll be sure to test it when he releases the new version.

[FlowerChild]

Just got a PM from Kahr indicating that MCPatcher 3.0.4_02 includes a fix for the problems between custom colors and Hardcore of Darkness.

If you guys can try it out and let me know if it works for you, I'd be much obliged.

[Ethinolicbob]

Works! Awfully great of Kahr to do that.