Ok, first sorry I didn't reply earlier to the comments. My job has been eating up a LOT of my time the last month, and for the next week or two. That is very unusual for me, typically I'm 40 hours a week and no more. This job will probably not last too long, but enough of that.
I *AM* still chugging away on the site update. At first I was like "Oh, I'll put in a few hours and update the site" and now I'm like "OMG, wtf did I get myself into?!?!?".
Basically, I have an equipment table that has 3400 or so items that can be on units. This table ended up completely different than the original. I had to change the vast majority of it, 131 columns * 3400 rows. Ugh.
On top of that, I've had to rewrite HUGE chunks of code. Whatever idiot wrote this crap should be shot. However, I am making progress. As of now, I know an AS7-D Atlas, WHM-6R warhammer, Manticore, and Behemoth tank work, have the correct weight/cost. I can get a McKenna up, and a Stuka. Hopefully I have gone through the last of my major bugs that require me repopulate my entire database as those updates take a lot of time.
I also have some wonky issue with my PC where when I access a network drive, where my 10TB+ of stuff is, I have to wait a full minute to rename a file, copy a file, etc. Its horribly frustrating. I have copied all the code locally and since resolved it, but there were a lot of lockups that ate through time.
I also ended up having to go back through my megamek assets and clean them up. Now there is a new megamek I probably need to integrate as well. That was a huge pain, but luckily the new mech shading works fine with my existing camo code.
Once I get the majority of mechs, combat vehicles, aerospace fighters, dropships, jumpships, warships, and small craft working I'll do a quick release. After that I'll work on battle armor, infantry, and support vehicles. Lastly will come buildings, mobile structures, and bases. RPG characters is another project for a later time, if ever.
When I finish that first part, I may get distracted with my real time battletech project (where 10 seconds in real time = 10 seconds game time). This is really ambitious but I have figured out ways to map 3000 worlds, with persistent damage, with hundreds of thousands of players (I'm trying for 200 on screen at a time, with a max zoom of 2km per screen that is a LOT of units). We'll see though.
But, thanks for the support for the few of you still hanging around. I do have a facebook group called "Battletech Design Works" if you want to join. Sometimes it gets more updates, sometimes less, than this blog.
I also think I figured out a way past the hardest aspect of a unit designer, the part that slow me down on my last attempt.... not sure what'll come of that.
Have a great spring!
