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  • Turning on collision crashes game

    - by MomentumGaming
    I am getting a null pointer excecption to both my sprite and level. I am working on my mob class, and when I try to move him and the move function is called, the game crashes after checking collision with a null pointer excecption. Taking out the one line that actually checks if the tile located in front of it fixes the problem. Also, if i keep collision ON but don't move the position of the mob (the spider) the game works fine. I will have collision, and the spider appears on the screen, only problem is, getting it to move causes this nasty error that i just can't fix. true Exception in thread "Display" java.lang.NullPointerException at com.apcompsci.game.entity.mob.Mob.collision(Mob.java:67) at com.apcompsci.game.entity.mob.Mob.move(Mob.java:38) at com.apcompsci.game.entity.mob.spider.update(spider.java:58) at com.apcompsci.game.level.Level.update(Level.java:55) at com.apcompsci.game.Game.update(Game.java:128) at com.apcompsci.game.Game.run(Game.java:106) at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source) Here is my renderMob mehtod: public void renderMob(int xp,int yp,Sprite sprite,int flip) { xp -= xOffset; yp-=yOffset; for(int y = 0; y<32; y++) { int ya = y + yp; int ys = y; if(flip == 2||flip == 3)ys = 31-y; for(int x = 0; x<32; x++) { int xa = x + xp; int xs = x; if(flip == 1||flip == 3)xs = 31-x; if(xa < -32 || xa >=width || ya<0||ya>=height) break; if(xa<0) xa =0; int col = sprite.pixels[xs+ys*32]; if(col!= 0x000000) pixels[xa+ya*width] = col; } } } My spider class which determines the sprite and where I control movement, also rendering the spider onto the screen, when I increment ya to move the sprite, I get the crash, but without ya++, it runs flawlessly with a spider sprite on screen: package com.apcompsci.game.entity.mob; import com.apcompsci.game.entity.mob.Mob.Direction; import com.apcompsci.game.graphics.Screen; import com.apcompsci.game.graphics.Sprite; import com.apcompsci.game.level.Level; public class spider extends Mob{ Direction dir; private Sprite sprite; private boolean walking; public spider(int x, int y) { this.x = x <<4; this.y = y <<4; sprite = sprite.spider_forward; } public void update() { int xa = 0, ya = 0; ya++; if(ya<0) { sprite = sprite.spider_forward; dir = Direction.UP; } if(ya>0) { sprite = sprite.spider_back; dir = Direction.DOWN; } if(xa<0) { sprite = sprite.spider_side; dir = Direction.LEFT; } if(xa>0) { sprite = sprite.spider_side; dir = Direction.LEFT; } if(xa!= 0 || ya!= 0) { System.out.println("true"); move(xa,ya); walking = true; } else{ walking = false; } } public void render(Screen screen) { screen.renderMob(x, y, sprite, 0); } } This is th mob class that contains the move() method that is called in the spider class above. This move method calls the collision method. tile and sprite comes up null in the debugger: package com.apcompsci.game.entity.mob; import java.util.ArrayList; import java.util.List; import com.apcompsci.game.entity.Entity; import com.apcompsci.game.entity.projectile.DemiGodProjectile; import com.apcompsci.game.entity.projectile.Projectile; import com.apcompsci.game.graphics.Sprite; public class Mob extends Entity{ protected Sprite sprite; protected boolean moving = false; protected enum Direction { UP,DOWN,LEFT,RIGHT } protected Direction dir; public void move(int xa,int ya) { if(xa != 0 && ya != 0) { move(xa,0); move(0,ya); return; } if(xa>0) dir = Direction.RIGHT; if(xa<0) dir = Direction.LEFT; if(ya>0)dir = Direction.DOWN; if(ya<0)dir = Direction.UP; if(!collision(xa,ya)){ x+= xa; y+=ya; } } public void update() { } public void shoot(int x, int y, double dir) { //dir = Math.toDegrees(dir); Projectile p = new DemiGodProjectile(x, y,dir); level.addProjectile(p); } public boolean collision(int xa,int ya) { boolean solid = false; for(int c = 0; c<4; c++) { int xt = ((x+xa) + c % 2 * 14 - 8 )/16; int yt = ((y+ya) + c / 2 * 12 +3 )/16; if(level.getTile(xt, yt).solid()) solid = true; } return solid; } public void render() { } } Finally, here is the method in which i call the add() method for the spider to add it to the level: protected void loadLevel(String path) { try{ BufferedImage image = ImageIO.read(SpawnLevel.class.getResource(path)); int w = width =image.getWidth(); int h = height = image.getHeight(); tiles = new int[w*h]; image.getRGB(0, 0, w,h, tiles,0, w); } catch(IOException e){ e.printStackTrace(); System.out.println("Exception! Could not load level file!"); } add(new spider(20,45)); } I don't think i need to include the level class but just in case, I have provided a gistHub link for better context. It contains all of the full classes listed above , plus my entity class and maybe another. Thanks for the help if you decide to do so, much appreciated! Also, please tell me if i'm in the wrong section of stackeoverflow, i figured that since this is the gamign section that it belonged but debugging code normally goes into the general section.

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  • Goodbye my beloved Nexus One, hello Windows Phone 7

    - by George Clingerman
    Last night my wife’s Nexus One finally bit the dust. You may not know but I’ve been nursing her Nexus One one along for quite a while after her screen shattered. I was able to replace it on my own (go me!) but little quirks have been popping up and the phone was quickly deteriorating. Lately it’s been the power button. Wifey would often have to press the power button several times to get her phone to turn on and last night it just wouldn’t wake up again. I took it apart and tried my best to see if I could somehow make it live once again but no luck this time. It was finally ready to retire. We looked at first for a replacement phone for her but she wasn’t really seeing anything she liked. So I decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and offer up my much loved Nexus One and I would then get a new Windows Phone 7 device. I love T-Mobile for my service so my choices were immediately limited to basically just a single phone. The HTC HD7. I read reviews and they were all over the board from people loving to people hating the phone but I decided, hey, why not, let’s take this plunge. And I did. I’ve only had the phone for about two days now so below is my list of first reaction pros/cons. These are basically things I’ve missed or things I’ve noticed that I really like about my new Windows Phone. Cons: * No Google Talk – I used this a LOT on my Nexus. I’ve found an application called “Flory” but it’s just an ok substitute, not the same as the full featured GTalk I had on my Nexus. * Seesmic is limited– I loved the way Seesmic worked on my Nexus. It was my mobile twitter client of choice. Everything about it worked really well. On Windows Phone 7 it’s just ok. I don’t get notification of new tweets, it’s several clicks to even see a new tweet. It’s definitely got some more development before it has the same features as it did on my Nexus. * Buttons don’t give great feedback – I’d read this on the reviews about the HTC HD7 and I’m finding it true myself. Pressing the buttons on the side of the phone and the power button on the top is finicky and I have to be looking at my phone to make sure I actually got them to press. * Web browsing is slow – I’m not sure what’s up with this, I’m connected to my wireless network at my house but it’s noticeably slower on my WP7 device than my Nexus. I even switched back to verify and it’s definitely true. Retrieving tweets, hitting up the XNA forums and just general web activities are all much slower on my WP7. I can’t think of any reason this would be true but it almost seems like it’s not using my wireless for everything.   Pros: * It’s pretty – the phone is really gorgeous. I loved the form of my Nexus One by the HTC HD7 is just as pretty, maybe even prettier! It’s got a nice large, bright screen. It feels good in my hand. And it even has a little kickstand to set the phone up for movie watching. Definitely a gorgeous phone. * LIVE integration – I lost a lot of nice integration with Google services but I gained a lot of integration with LIVE services that I also use. Now I can see when I get new GMail messages AND Hotmail messages. And having the Xbox LIVE integration is admittedly cool as well. * Tile notification rock – The Windows Phone 7 commercials are TRYING to get this message out but they’re doing a really poor job of this. Tile notifications really do save you from your phone. I have a whole little mini-informational dashboard at a glance. I unlock my phone and at a glace I can see new IMs, new mail messages, software updates etc. All just letting me know in the tiles I have arranged. That’s pretty cool. * The interface works really well – I feel super hip and cool swiping and sliding things around on my Windows Phone 7. Everything works that way and it’s great and fast and really good looking. I’m all about me feeling cool. * I’m gaming more – I had gotten a few games on my Nexus One but there really weren’t a lot of good developers flocking to the service. Just browsing through the Windows Phone 7 marketplace I’m already seeing a ton of games I want to try and buy. And I sat down and bet Pixel Man 0 just yesterday on my phone. I’m already gaming more than I did on my Nexus One. * Netflix integration is fantastic - It works just like it does on my Xbox 360 and I love having this feature on my phone. * It’s basically a Zune – I’ve been taking my Zune to work and listening to music off of that while I code. I no longer need to take it with me, now I just sync songs onto my phone and it’s my new Zune. I freaking love that. One less device to carry around.   All in all my cons have really little to do with the phone (just the buttons and the web browsing) and more to do with the applications needing to catch up a bit to what I’m used to. And the Pros are things that ARE phone specific so I’m seeing that as a good sign that I’m going to be very happy with my Windows Phone 7. So Wifey is happy having her Nexus One again, I’m happy with my new Windows Phone 7. Life is good. Now I just need to make a game to pay for it….

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  • A* PathFinding Poor Performance

    - by RedShft
    After debugging for a few hours, the algorithm seems to be working. Right now to check if it works i'm checking the end node position to the currentNode position when the while loop quits. So far the values look correct. The problem is, the farther I get from the NPC, who is current stationary, the worse the performance gets. It gets to a point where the game is unplayable less than 10 fps. My current PathGraph is 2500 nodes, which I believe is pretty small, right? Any ideas on how to improve performance? struct Node { bool walkable; //Whether this node is blocked or open vect2 position; //The tile's position on the map in pixels int xIndex, yIndex; //The index values of the tile in the array Node*[4] connections; //An array of pointers to nodes this current node connects to Node* parent; int gScore; int hScore; int fScore; } class AStar { private: SList!Node openList; SList!Node closedList; //Node*[4] connections; //The connections of the current node; Node currentNode; //The current node being processed Node[] Path; //The path found; const int connectionCost = 10; Node start, end; ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// void AddToList(ref SList!Node list, ref Node node ) { list.insert( node ); } void RemoveFrom(ref SList!Node list, ref Node node ) { foreach( elem; list ) { if( node.xIndex == elem.xIndex && node.yIndex == elem.yIndex ) { auto a = find( list[] , elem ); list.linearRemove( take(a, 1 ) ); } } } bool IsInList( SList!Node list, ref Node node ) { foreach( elem; list ) { if( node.xIndex == elem.xIndex && node.yIndex == elem.yIndex ) return true; } return false; } void ClearList( SList!Node list ) { list.clear; } void SetParentNode( ref Node parent, ref Node child ) { child.parent = &parent; } void SetStartAndEndNode( vect2 vStart, vect2 vEnd, Node[] PathGraph ) { int startXIndex, startYIndex; int endXIndex, endYIndex; startXIndex = cast(int)( vStart.x / 32 ); startYIndex = cast(int)( vStart.y / 32 ); endXIndex = cast(int)( vEnd.x / 32 ); endYIndex = cast(int)( vEnd.y / 32 ); foreach( node; PathGraph ) { if( node.xIndex == startXIndex && node.yIndex == startYIndex ) { start = node; } if( node.xIndex == endXIndex && node.yIndex == endYIndex ) { end = node; } } } void SetStartScores( ref Node start ) { start.gScore = 0; start.hScore = CalculateHScore( start, end ); start.fScore = CalculateFScore( start ); } Node GetLowestFScore() { Node lowest; lowest.fScore = 10000; foreach( elem; openList ) { if( elem.fScore < lowest.fScore ) lowest = elem; } return lowest; } //This function current sets the program into an infinite loop //I still need to debug to figure out why the parent nodes aren't correct void GeneratePath() { while( currentNode.position != start.position ) { Path ~= currentNode; currentNode = *currentNode.parent; } } void ReversePath() { Node[] temp; for(int i = Path.length - 1; i >= 0; i-- ) { temp ~= Path[i]; } Path = temp.dup; } public: //@FIXME It seems to find the path, but now performance is terrible void FindPath( vect2 vStart, vect2 vEnd, Node[] PathGraph ) { openList.clear; closedList.clear; SetStartAndEndNode( vStart, vEnd, PathGraph ); SetStartScores( start ); AddToList( openList, start ); while( currentNode.position != end.position ) { currentNode = GetLowestFScore(); if( currentNode.position == end.position ) break; else { RemoveFrom( openList, currentNode ); AddToList( closedList, currentNode ); for( int i = 0; i < currentNode.connections.length; i++ ) { if( currentNode.connections[i] is null ) continue; else { if( IsInList( closedList, *currentNode.connections[i] ) && currentNode.gScore < currentNode.connections[i].gScore ) { currentNode.connections[i].gScore = currentNode.gScore + connectionCost; currentNode.connections[i].hScore = abs( currentNode.connections[i].xIndex - end.xIndex ) + abs( currentNode.connections[i].yIndex - end.yIndex ); currentNode.connections[i].fScore = currentNode.connections[i].gScore + currentNode.connections[i].hScore; currentNode.connections[i].parent = &currentNode; } else if( IsInList( openList, *currentNode.connections[i] ) && currentNode.gScore < currentNode.connections[i].gScore ) { currentNode.connections[i].gScore = currentNode.gScore + connectionCost; currentNode.connections[i].hScore = abs( currentNode.connections[i].xIndex - end.xIndex ) + abs( currentNode.connections[i].yIndex - end.yIndex ); currentNode.connections[i].fScore = currentNode.connections[i].gScore + currentNode.connections[i].hScore; currentNode.connections[i].parent = &currentNode; } else { currentNode.connections[i].gScore = currentNode.gScore + connectionCost; currentNode.connections[i].hScore = abs( currentNode.connections[i].xIndex - end.xIndex ) + abs( currentNode.connections[i].yIndex - end.yIndex ); currentNode.connections[i].fScore = currentNode.connections[i].gScore + currentNode.connections[i].hScore; currentNode.connections[i].parent = &currentNode; AddToList( openList, *currentNode.connections[i] ); } } } } } writeln( "Current Node Position: ", currentNode.position ); writeln( "End Node Position: ", end.position ); if( currentNode.position == end.position ) { writeln( "Current Node Parent: ", currentNode.parent ); //GeneratePath(); //ReversePath(); } } Node[] GetPath() { return Path; } } This is my first attempt at A* so any help would be greatly appreciated.

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  • How to implement RLE into a tilemap?

    - by Smallbro
    Currently I've been using a 3D array for my tiles in a 2D world but the 3D side comes in when moving down into caves and whatnot. Now this is not memory efficient and I switched over to a 2D array and can now have much larger maps. The only issue I'm having now is that it seems that my tiles cannot occupy the same space as a tile on the same z level. My current structure means that each block has its own z variable. This is what it used to look like: map.blockData[x][y][z] = new Block(); however now it works like this map.blockData[x][y] = new Block(z); I'm not sure why but if I decide to use the same space on say the floor below it wont allow me to. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can add a z-axis to my 2D array? I'm using java but I reckon the concept carries across different languages. Edit: As Will posted, RLE sounds like the best method for achieving a fast 3D array. However I'm struggling to understand how I would even start to implement it? Would I create a 4D array the 4th being something which controls how many to skip? Or would the x-axis simply change altogether and have large gaps in between - for example [5][y][z] would skip 5 tiles? Is there something really obvious here which I am missing? The number of z levels I'm trying to have is around 66, it would be preferably that I can have up to or more than 1000 in x and y.

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  • Flixel - Animated Tilemaps

    - by nospoone
    I am using Flixel 2.55 and I am trying to animate a tilemap. I found this piece of code that apparently enables the use of sprites as tiles. From what I understand, this loops over the tilemap's graphic and replaces the tile's pixels with the sprite's pixels each time they change. I have implemented the class and it's working, but not completely; the tiles get replaced, but do not animate unless the camera moves. Here's the relevant parts from LevelLoader.as, which only instantiates the AnimatedTilemaps (piece of code from forum) and pushes sprites to the array. // AnimatedTile is just an extended FlxSprite private var _waterTop1:AnimatedTile; // Create ground tilemap _groundTilemap = new AnimatedTilemap(); _groundTilemap.loadMap(_rawXML.Ground, Assets.OverworldGround, 8, 8); FlxG.state.add(_groundTilemap); _waterTop1 = new AnimatedTile(8, 8, Assets.WaterTop, 100); // .Animate only adds and plays an animation, with a startAtFrame param. _waterTop1.Animate('run', [0...47], 10, true, 0); Now, it seems as though the sprites are updating. I tried tracing the update()s, and they are running for both the sprites and the tilemap. The sprites are even changing frames. Using only AnimatedTiles and hard placing them (giving a x and y) works and animates. What troubles me is that they only update when the camera moves. I've been on this for a week now and can't seem to put my finger on what's wrong. I am also open to other solutions to have animates tiles in a tilemap. If other details are needed, just ask. PS: Sorry for my english, I am not a native speaker...

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  • 2D grid with multiple types of objects

    - by Alexandre P. Levasseur
    This is my first post here in programmers.stackexchange (I'm a regular on SO). I hope this isn't too general. I'm trying a simple project to learn Java from something I've seen done in the past. Basically, it's an AI simulation where there are herbivorous and carnivorous creatures and both must try to survive. The part I am trying to come up with is that of the board itself. Let's assume very simple rules. The board must be of size X by Y and only one element can be in one place at one time. For example, a critter cannot be in the same tile as a food block. There can be obstacles (rocks, trees..), there can be food, there can be critters of any type. Assuming these rules, what would be one good way to represent this situation ? This is what I came up with and want suggestions if possible: Use multiple levels of inheritance to represent all the different possible objects (AbstractObject - (NonMovingObject - (Food, Obstacle) , MovingObject - Critter - (Carnivorous, Herbivorous))) and use polymorphism in a 2D array to store the instances and still have access to lower level methods. Many thanks. Edit: Here is the graphic representation of the structure I have in mind.

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  • Stupid Geek Tricks: Compare Your Browser’s Memory Usage with Google Chrome

    - by The Geek
    Ever tried to figure out exactly how much memory Google Chrome or Internet Explorer is using? Since they each show up a bunch of times in Task Manager, it’s not so easy! Here’s the quick and easy way to compare them. Both Chrome and IE use multiple processes to isolate tabs from each other, to make sure that one tab doesn’t kill the whole browser. Firefox, on the other hand, just uses a single process for everything. Rather than pulling out a calculator and adding them all up, you can just open up Google Chrome, and type in about:memory into the location bar to see a full list of each browser’s memory usage.   On my test system with 6 GB of system RAM, I’m running the Development channel version of Chrome, and I’ve got about 40 different tabs open, which is why the memory usage is so high. Firefox has 8 tabs open, and IE is enjoying being opened for the first time in forever. Want to help cut down on memory usage and keep your Chrome browser running fast? Disable all unnecessary extensions, and then make sure you disable any plug-ins that you don’t need either. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Stupid Geek Tricks: Duplicate a Tab with a Shortcut Key in Chrome or FirefoxStupid Geek Tricks: Shrink the XP Volume ControlStupid Geek Tricks: Tile or Cascade Multiple Windows in Windows 7Fix for Firefox memory leak on WindowsHow to Purge Memory in Google Chrome TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Download Free MP3s from Amazon Awe inspiring, inter-galactic theme (Win 7) Case Study – How to Optimize Popular Wordpress Sites Restore Hidden Updates in Windows 7 & Vista Iceland an Insurance Job? Find Downloads and Add-ins for Outlook

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  • Need some advice regarding collision detection with the sprite changing its width and height

    - by Frank Scott
    So I'm messing around with collision detection in my tile-based game and everything works fine and dandy using this method. However, now I am trying to implement sprite sheets so my character can have a walking and jumping animation. For one, I'd like to to be able to have each frame of variable size, I think. I want collision detection to be accurate and during a jumping animation the sprite's height will be shorter (because of the calves meeting the hamstrings). Again, this also works fine at the moment. I can get the character to animate properly each frame and cycle through animations. The problems arise when the width and height of the character change. Often times its position will be corrected by the collision detection system and the character will be rubber-banded to random parts of the map or even go outside the map bounds. For some reason with the linked collision detection algorithm, when the width or height of the sprite is changed on the fly, the entire algorithm breaks down. The solution I found so far is to have a single width and height of the sprite that remains constant, and only adjust the source rectangle for drawing. However, I'm not sure exactly what to set as the sprite's constant bounding box because it varies so much with the different animations. So now I'm not sure what to do. I'm toying with the idea of pixel-perfect collision detection but I'm not sure if it would really be worth it. Does anyone know how Braid does their collision detection? My game is also a 2D sidescroller and I was quite impressed with how it was handled in that game. Thanks for reading.

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  • Isometric displaying two different images in different positions

    - by Canvas
    I'm creating a simple Isometric game using HTML5 and Javascript, but I can't seem to get the display to work, at the moment i have 9 tiles that have X and Y positions and the player has a X and Y position, the players X and Y properties are set to 100, and the tiles are as shown tiles[0] = new Array(3); tiles[1] = new Array(3); tiles[2] = new Array(3); tiles[0][0] = new point2D( 100, 100); tiles[0][1] = new point2D( 160, 100); tiles[0][2] = new point2D( 220, 100); tiles[1][0] = new point2D( 100, 160); tiles[1][1] = new point2D( 160, 160); tiles[1][2] = new point2D( 220, 160); tiles[2][0] = new point2D( 100, 220); tiles[2][1] = new point2D( 160, 220); tiles[2][2] = new point2D( 220, 220); Now I use this method to work out the isometric position function twoDToIso( point ) { var cords = point2D; cords.x = point.x - point.y; cords.y = (point.x + point.y) / 2; return cords; } point2D is function point2D( x, y) { this.x = x; this.y = y; } Now this i'm sure does work out the correct positioning, but here is the output Isometric view I just need to move my player position a tiny bit, but is that the best way to display my player position in the right position? Canvas P.S. the tile width is 120 and height is 60 and the player is width 30 by height 15

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  • The future for Microsoft

    - by Scott Dorman
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/sdorman/archive/2013/10/16/the-future-for-microsoft.aspxMicrosoft is in the process of reinventing itself. While some may argue that it’s “too little, too late” or that their growing consumer-focused strategy is wrong, the truth of the situation is that Microsoft is reinventing itself into a new company. While Microsoft is now calling themselves a “devices and services” company, that’s not entirely accurate. Let’s look at some facts: Microsoft will always (for the long-term foreseeable future) be financially split into the following divisions: Windows/Operating Systems, which for FY13 made up approximately 24% of overall revenue. Server and Tools, which for FY13 made up approximately 26% of overall revenue. Enterprise/Business Products, which for FY13 made up approximately 32% of overall revenue. Entertainment and Devices, which for FY13 made up approximately 13% of overall revenue. Online Services, which for FY13 made up approximately 4% of overall revenue. It is important to realize that hardware products like the Surface fall under the Windows/Operating Systems division while products like the Xbox 360 fall under the Entertainment and Devices division. (Presumably other hardware, such as mice, keyboards, and cameras, also fall under the Entertainment and Devices division.) It’s also unclear where Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Nokia’s handset division will fall, but let’s assume that it will be under Entertainment and Devices as well. Now, for the sake of argument, let’s assume a slightly different structure that I think is more in line with how Microsoft presents itself and how the general public sees it: Consumer Products and Devices, which would probably make up approximately 9% of overall revenue. Developer Tools, which would probably make up approximately 13% of overall revenue. Enterprise Products and Devices, which would probably make up approximately 47% of overall revenue. Entertainment, which would probably make up approximately 13% of overall revenue. Online Services, which would probably make up approximately 17% of overall revenue. (Just so we’re clear, in this structure hardware products like the Surface, a portion of Windows sales, and other hardware fall under the Consumer Products and Devices division. I’m assuming that more of the income for the Windows division is coming from enterprise/volume licenses so 15% of that income went to the Enterprise Products and Devices division. Most of the enterprise services, like Azure, fall under the Online Services division so half of the Server and Tools income went there as well.) No matter how you look at it, the bulk of Microsoft’s income still comes from not just the enterprise but also software sales, and this really shouldn’t surprise anyone. So, now that the stage is set…what’s the future for Microsoft? The future I see for Microsoft (again, this is just my prediction based on my own instinct, gut-feel and publicly available information) is this: Microsoft is becoming a consumer-focused enterprise company. Let’s look at it a different way. Microsoft is an enterprise-focused company trying to create a larger consumer presence.  To a large extent, this is the exact opposite of Apple, who is really a consumer-focused company trying to create a larger enterprise presence. The major reason consumer-focused companies (like Apple) have started making in-roads into the enterprise is the “bring your own device” phenomenon. Yes, Apple has created some “game-changing” products but their enterprise influence is still relatively small. Unfortunately (for this blog post at least), Apple provides revenue in terms of hardware products rather than business divisions, so it’s not possible to do a direct comparison. However, in the interest of transparency, from Apple’s Quarterly Report (filed 24 July 2013), their revenue breakdown is: iPhone, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 51% of revenue. iPad, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 18% of revenue. Mac, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 14% of revenue. iPod, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 2% of revenue. iTunes, Software, and Services, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 11% of revenue. Accessories, which for the 3 months ending 29 July 2013 made up approximately 3% of revenue. From this, it’s pretty clear that Apple is a consumer-and-hardware-focused company. At this point, you may be asking yourself “Where is all of this going?” The answer to that lies in Microsoft’s shift in company focus. They are becoming more consumer focused, but what exactly does that mean? The biggest change (at least that’s been in the news lately) is the pending purchase of Nokia’s handset division. This, in combination with their Surface line of tablets and the Xbox, will put Microsoft squarely in the realm of a hardware-focused company in addition to being a software-focused company. That can (and most likely will) shift the revenue split to looking at revenue based on software sales (both consumer and enterprise) and also hardware sales (mostly on the consumer side). If we look at things strictly from a Windows perspective, Microsoft clearly has a lot of irons in the fire at the moment. Discounting the various product SKUs available and painting the picture with broader strokes, there are currently 5 different Windows-based operating systems: Windows Phone Windows Phone 7.x, which runs on top of the Windows CE kernel Windows Phone 8.x+, which runs on top of the Windows 8 kernel Windows RT The ARM-based version of Windows 8, which runs on top of the Windows 8 kernel Windows (Pro) The Intel-based version of Windows 8, which runs on top of the Windows 8 kernel Xbox The Xbox 360, which runs it’s own proprietary OS. The Xbox One, which runs it’s own proprietary OS, a version of Windows running on top of the Windows 8 kernel and a proprietary “manager” OS which manages the other two. Over time, Windows Phone 7.x devices will fade so that really leaves 4 different versions. Looking at Windows RT and Windows Phone 8.x paints an interesting story. Right now, all mobile phone devices run on some sort of ARM chip and that doesn’t look like it will change any time soon. That means Microsoft has two different Windows based operating systems for the ARM platform. Long term, it doesn’t make sense for Microsoft to continue supporting that arrangement. I have long suspected (since the Surface was first announced) that Microsoft will unify these two variants of Windows and recent speculation from some of the leading Microsoft watchers lends credence to this suspicion. It is rumored that upcoming Windows Phone releases will include support for larger screen sizes, relax the requirement to have a hardware-based back button and will continue to improve API parity between Windows Phone and Windows RT. At the same time, Windows RT will include support for smaller screen sizes. Since both of these operating systems are based on the same core Windows kernel, it makes sense (both from a financial and development resource perspective) for Microsoft to unify them. The user interfaces are already very similar. So similar in fact, that visually it’s difficult to tell them apart. To illustrate this, here are two screen captures: Other than a few variations (the Bing News app, the picture shown in the Pictures tile and the spacing between the tiles) these are identical. The one on the left is from my Windows 8.1 laptop (which looks the same as on my Surface RT) and the one on the right is from my Windows Phone 8 Lumia 925. This pretty clearly shows that from a consumer perspective, there really is no practical difference between how these two operating systems look and how you interact with them. For the consumer, your entertainment device (Xbox One), phone (Windows Phone) and mobile computing device (Surface [or some other vendors tablet], laptop, netbook or ultrabook) and your desktop computing device (desktop) will all look and feel the same. While many people will denounce this consistency of user experience, I think this will be a good thing in the long term, especially for the upcoming generations. For example, my 5-year old son knows how to use my tablet, phone and Xbox because they all feature nearly identical user experiences. When Windows 8 was released, Microsoft allowed a Windows Store app to be purchased once and installed on as many as 5 devices. With Windows 8.1, this limit has been increased to over 50. Why is that important? If you consider that your phone, computing devices, and entertainment device will be running the same operating system (with minor differences related to physical hardware chipset), that means that I could potentially purchase my sons favorite Angry Birds game once and be able to install it on all of the devices I own. (And for those of you wondering, it’s only 7 [at the moment].) From an app developer perspective, the story becomes even more compelling. Right now there are differences between the different operating systems, but those differences are shrinking. The user interface technology for both is XAML but there are different controls available and different user experience concepts. Some of the APIs available are the same while some are not. You can’t develop a Windows Phone app that can also run on Windows (either Windows Pro or RT). With each release of Windows Phone and Windows RT, those difference become smaller and smaller. Add to this mix the Xbox One, which will also feature a Windows-based operating system and the same “modern” (tile-based) user interface and the visible distinctions between the operating systems will become even smaller. Unifying the operating systems means one set of APIs and one code base to maintain for an app that can run on multiple devices. One code base means it’s easier to add features and fix bugs and that those changes become available on all devices at the same time. It also means a single app store, which will increase the discoverability and reach of your app and consolidate revenue and app profile management. Now, the choice of what devices an app is available on becomes a simple checkbox decision rather than a technical limitation. Ultimately, this means more apps available to consumers, which is always good for the app ecosystem. Is all of this just rumor, speculation and conjecture? Of course, but it’s not unfounded. As I mentioned earlier, some of the prominent Microsoft watchers are also reporting similar rumors. However, Microsoft itself has even hinted at this future with their recent organizational changes and by telling developers “if you want to develop for Xbox One, start developing for Windows 8 now.” I think this pretty clearly paints the following picture: Microsoft is committed to the “modern” user interface paradigm. Microsoft is changing their release cadence (for all products, not just operating systems) to be faster and more modular. Microsoft is going to continue to unify their OS platforms both from a consumer perspective and a developer perspective. While this direction will certainly concern some people it will excite many others. Microsoft’s biggest failing has always been following through with a strong and sustained marketing strategy that presents a consistent view point and highlights what this unified and connected experience looks like and how it benefits consumers and enterprises. We’ve started to see some of this over the last few years, but it needs to continue and become more aggressive and consistent. In the long run, I think Microsoft will be able to pull all of these technologies and devices together into one seamless ecosystem. It isn’t going to happen overnight, but my prediction is that we will be there by the end of 2016. As both a consumer and a developer, I, for one, am excited about the future of Microsoft.

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  • Top Down RPG Movement w/ Correction?

    - by Corey Ogburn
    I would hope that we have all played Zelda: A Link to the Past, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I want to emulate that kind of 2D, top-down character movement with a touch of correction. It has been done in other games, but I feel this reference would be the easiest to relate to. More specifically the kind of movement and correction I'm talking about is: Floating movement not restricted to tile based movement like Pokemon and other games where one tap of the movement pad moves you one square in that cardinal direction. This floating movement should be able to achieve diagonal motion. If you're walking West and you come to a wall that is diagonal in a North East/South West fashion, you are corrected into a South West movement even if you continue holding left (West) on the controller. This should work for both diagonals correcting in both directions. If you're a few pixels off from walking squarely into a door or hallway, you are corrected into walking through the hall or down the hallway, i.e. bumping into the corner causes you to be pushed into the hall/door. I've hunted for efficient ways to achieve this and have had no luck. To be clear I'm talking about the human character's movement, not an NPC's movement. Are their resources available on this kind of movement? Equations or algorithms explained on a wiki or something? I'm using the XNA Framework, is there anything in it to help with this?

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  • Silverlight Cream for December 23, 2010 -- #1014

    - by Dave Campbell
    In this 4-days loss to a sinus infection and all-submittal Issue.... and this only catches me up on submittals through last Sunday: Mark Monster, Sacha Barber, Rénald Nollet, Georgi Atanasov, and András Velvárt. Above the Fold: Silverlight: "Silverlight with Facebook - a practical guide to integration" András Velvárt WP7: "RadDateSelector for Windows Phone 7 – Loaded within a standard in-browser Silverlight application" Georgi Atanasov MVVM: "Cinch - A Rich Full Featured WPF/SL MVVM Framework" Sacha Barber From SilverlightCream.com: Solving 3 problems with the ShellTileSchedule Mark Monster is discussing the Shell Tile Schedule, or rather problems therewith... 3 of them to be exact. He discusses them at lenght and describes solutions to each. Cinch - A Rich Full Featured WPF/SL MVVM Framework After Sacha Barber contacted me, I searched SilverlightCream and only found 1 reference to Cinch... what gives... this looks pretty good. If you're blogging about it let me know, if you're not, check it out! SQL Azure Database Manager – Part 2 : Now you’re in, take a tour Rénald Nollet has part 2 of his SQL AZure Database Manager up for us to look at, and this time out he's explaining the UI. RadDateSelector for Windows Phone 7 – Loaded within a standard in-browser Silverlight application. This is a cool post with a sort-of twist to it... Georgi Atanasov has a post up about using Telerik's WP7 RadDateSelector ... but in a SL4 app... and why not... if it works for SL3.x, it should work in SL4 right? Silverlight with Facebook - a practical guide to integration András Velvárt has a great post up (as usual) discussing 'harnessing the power of social networks' ... remember his great image of the soccer match where people could tag themselves? ... well, get some of the explanation here! (and some code) Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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  • CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, April 03, 2012

    CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, April 03, 2012Popular ReleasesWiX Toolset: WiX v3.6 RC0: WiX v3.6 RC0 (3.6.2803.0) provides support for VS11 and a more stable Burn engine. For more information see Rob's blog post about the release: http://robmensching.com/blog/posts/2012/4/3/WiX-v3.6-Release-Candidate-Zero-availableSageFrame: SageFrame 2.0: Sageframe is an open source ASP.NET web development framework developed using ASP.NET 3.5 with service pack 1 (sp1) technology. It is designed specifically to help developers build dynamic website by providing core functionality common to most web applications.Lightbox Gallery Module for DotNetNuke: 01.11.00: This version of the Lightbox Gallery Module adds the following features/bug fixes: Feature: Read image EXIF information Bug Fix: URL parsing bug for any folder provider Minimum System Requirements Please ensure that your environment meets or exceeds the following system requirements: DotNetNuke® Version 06.00.00 or higher SQL Server 2005 or later .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 or laterClosedXML - The easy way to OpenXML: ClosedXML 0.65.0: Aside from many bug fixes we now have Conditional Formatting The conditional formatting was sponsored by http://www.bewing.nl (big thanks)callisto: callisto 2.0.24: Implemented ares encryption protocol for supported clients. Also changed script loading method to read direct from source files.sb0t: sb0t 4.61: Added packet encryption protocol for supported clients.iTuner - The iTunes Companion: iTuner 1.5.4475: Fix to parse empty playlists in iTunes LibraryExtAspNet: ExtAspNet v3.1.1: ExtAspNet - ?? ExtJS ??? ASP.NET 2.0 ???,????? AJAX ?????????? ExtAspNet ????? ExtJS ??? ASP.NET 2.0 ???,????? AJAX ??????????。 ExtAspNet ??????? JavaScript,?? CSS,?? UpdatePanel,?? ViewState,?? WebServices ???????。 ??????: IE 7.0, Firefox 3.6, Chrome 3.0, Opera 10.5, Safari 3.0+ ????:Apache License 2.0 (Apache) ??:http://extasp.net/ ??:http://bbs.extasp.net/ ??:http://extaspnet.codeplex.com/ ??:http://sanshi.cnblogs.com/ ????: +2012-04-02 v3.1.1 +????????,?????????????,????????????(...Document.Editor: 2012.2: Whats New for Document.Editor 2012.2: New Save Copy support New Page Setup support Minor Bug Fix's, improvements and speed upsVidCoder: 1.3.2: Added option for the minimum title length to scan. Added support to enable or disable LibDVDNav. Added option to prompt to delete source files after clearing successful completed items. Added option to disable remembering recent files and folders. Tweaked number box to only select all on a quick click.MJP's DirectX 11 Samples: Light Indexed Deferred Rendering: Implements light indexed deferred using per-tile light lists calculated in a compute shader, as well as a traditional deferred renderer that uses a compute shader for per-tile light culling and per-pixel shading.Pcap.Net: Pcap.Net 0.9.0 (66492): Pcap.Net - March 2012 Release Pcap.Net is a .NET wrapper for WinPcap written in C++/CLI and C#. It Features almost all WinPcap features and includes a packet interpretation framework. Version 0.9.0 (Change Set 66492)March 31, 2012 release of the Pcap.Net framework. Follow Pcap.Net on Google+Follow Pcap.Net on Google+ Files Pcap.Net.DevelopersPack.0.9.0.66492.zip - Includes all the tutorial example projects source files, the binaries in a 3rdParty directory and the documentation. It include...Extended WPF Toolkit: Extended WPF Toolkit - 1.6.0: Want an easier way to install the Extended WPF Toolkit?The Extended WPF Toolkit is available on Nuget. What's in the 1.6.0 Release?BusyIndicator ButtonSpinner Calculator CalculatorUpDown CheckListBox - Breaking Changes CheckComboBox - New Control ChildWindow CollectionEditor CollectionEditorDialog ColorCanvas ColorPicker DateTimePicker DateTimeUpDown DecimalUpDown DoubleUpDown DropDownButton IntegerUpDown Magnifier MaskedTextBox MessageBox MultiLineTex...Media Companion: MC 3.434b Release: General This release should be the last beta for 3.4xx. If there are no major problems, by the end of the week it will upgraded to 3.500 Stable! The latest mc_com.exe should be included too! TV Bug fix - crash when using XBMC scraper for TV episodes. Bug fix - episode count update when adding new episodes. Bug fix - crash when actors name was missing. Enhanced TV scrape progress text. Enhancements made to missing episodes display. Movies Bug fix - hide "Play Trailer" when multisaev...Better Explorer: Better Explorer 2.0.0.831 Alpha: - A new release with: - many bugfixes - changed icon - added code for more failsafe registry usage on x64 systems - not needed regfix anymore - added ribbon shortcut keys - Other fixes Note: If you have problems opening system libraries, a suggestion was given to copy all of these libraries and then delete the originals. Thanks to Gaugamela for that! (see discussion here: 349015 ) Note2: I was upload again the setup due to missing file!MonoGame - Write Once, Play Everywhere: MonoGame 2.5: The MonoGame team are pleased to announce that MonoGame v2.5 has been released. This release contains important bug fixes, implements optimisations and adds key features. MonoGame now has the capability to use OpenGLES 2.0 on Android and iOS devices, meaning it now supports custom shaders across mobile and desktop platforms. Also included in this release are native orientation animations on iOS devices and better Orientation support for Android. There have also been a lot of bug fixes since t...Circuit Diagram: Circuit Diagram 2.0 Alpha 3: New in this release: Added components: Microcontroller Demultiplexer Flip & rotate components Open XML files from older versions of Circuit Diagram Text formatting for components New CDDX syntax Other fixesUmbraco CMS: Umbraco 5.1 CMS (Beta): Beta build for testing - please report issues at issues.umbraco.org (Latest uploaded: 5.1.0.123) What's new in 5.1? The full list of changes is on our http://progress.umbraco.org task tracking page. It shows items complete for 5.1, and 5.1 includes items for 5.0.1 and 5.0.2 listed there too. Here's two headline acts: Members5.1 adds support for backoffice editing of Members. We support the pairing up of our content type system in Hive with regular ASP.NET Membership providers (we ship a def...51Degrees.mobi - Mobile Device Detection and Redirection: 2.1.2.11: One Click Install from NuGet Changes to Version 2.1.2.11Code Changes 1. The project is now licenced under the Mozilla Public Licence 2. 2. User interface control and associated data access layer classes have been added to aid developers integrating 51Degrees.mobi into wider projects such as content management systems or web hosting management solutions. Use the following in a web form or user control to access these new UI components. <%@ Register Assembly="FiftyOne.Foundation" Namespace="...ScintillaNET: ScintillaNET 2.5: A slew of bug-fixes with a few new features sprinkled in. This release also upgrades the SciLexer and SciLexer64 DLLs to version 3.0.4. The official stuff: Issue # Title 32402 32402 27137 27137 31548 31548 30179 30179 24932 24932 29701 29701 31238 31238 26875 26875 30052 30052 New Projects3DTweet: 3Dtweet is an effort to make tweets appear in a aesthetic manner to the users of windows phone.Its developed using VS2010 expresss.Alay Plugin for Windows Live Writer: a project for creating an alay languageAuthor-it Copy Folder Plug-in: The Copy Folder Plug-in is an Author-it plug-in that allows the user to create a duplicate of a folder and its contents, including subfolders and objects.Author-it Dependencies Plug-in: The Word Count Plug-in is an Author-it plug-in that allows the user to drill down into object relationships to find objects that selected Author-it objects depend on.Author-it Word Count Plug-in: The Word Count Plug-in is an Author-it plug-in that allows the user to get word counts for selected topics.Azure Configuration File Comparer: Compares two Azure configuration files and highlights the differencesBootstrap Footer Sticker: Bootstrap extensions for footer to stick at the bottomBulk Approval Webpart: This webpart can be added to any list, or document library that requires approval. When the button is clicked it will approve all items. It will also kick start any workflows attached to the list / library that are set to start when an item has been changed. CodeTimer: Code Execute TimeCRM 2011 - WinForm based User Settings Console: This is Windows Form based Utility to do bulk management of User Settings in CRM 2011Emergency System: An Imagine Cup projectFalafel Solution Rename Script: The Falafel Software Solution Rename PowerShell Script makes it easy to reuse an existing solution/project by performing a global rename. If you have a solution named ExampleSolution and want to reuse it as WidgetSolution, this script will rename everything for you.Gadgeteer Bluetooth Module: BETA Drivers for the .NET Gadgeteer Bluetooth modulesGreg's Channel 9 Utilities and Helpers: Utilities and helpers for Microsoft's Channel 9 (C9) site. These are utilities I've created to make my C9 work faster and easierHB's First Time: My first project hereHOMMFrame: Studying project about frames.ICNInformaticaCenter: * ICNInformaticaCenter *Insert a Favorite (Bookmark) plugin for Windows Live Writer: This Windows Live Writer plugin allows you to select a Favorite (Bookmark) and insert it into your blog entry.Kinect your Metro Style App: The main idea is to tell Metro Style App communicate with external environment via Kinect Sensor.Memo: Memo Intellegence SystemMGR.CommandLineParser: MGR.CommandLineParser is a multi-command line parser. It uses System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations to declare and validate the commands.MusicStoreMVC3: ?????MVC3??????????,????????(???????)??? 1.EF4.1 2.MVC3 3.MvcPager 4.Linq ?????? NN Crew Calculator: Calculator project to help learn C#Reporte Ciudadano: Aplicación para que los ciudadanos reporten los problemas al ayuntamiento.Sejrssedler: This is a school project made, by four student in Aarhus, Denmark. During the Datamatiker study(2nd year).smartcamera: smart cameraSpecEx: Speculative ExecutionStructure Copier: This small program is supposed to copy tree structure of directory.TFS2010 Service Provider: Web Service (asmx) is a provider of Team Foundation Server 2010 object model. Was developed to enable the implementation of client application for Android and etc. platforms, which receives data from the server via Web services.totalem: totalem - free file manager for WindowsWebSharperWithTypeProviders: WebSharper project with Visual Studio 2011 Beta, .Net 4.5 and F# 3.0 with TypeProviders

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  • Ambiguation between multitouch geistures tap and free drag in Windows Phone 8 Emulator (Monogame)

    - by Moses Aprico
    I am making a 2d tile based tactic game. I want the map to be slided around (because it's bigger than the screen) with FreeDrag (It's perfectly done, the map can moved around, that's not the problem). And then, I want to display the character's actions, everytime it's tapped. The problem then appeared. Everytime I want to FreeDrag the map, the Tap trigger always fired first before the FreeDrag one. Is there any way to differ the map sliding than the character tapping? Below is my code. while (TouchPanel.IsGestureAvailable) { GestureSample gesture = TouchPanel.ReadGesture(); switch (gesture.GestureType) { case GestureType.FreeDrag: { //a } break; case GestureType.Tap: { //b } break; } } Every time I first want to free drag (at the first touch), it always goes to "b" first (see commented line above), and then to "a" rather than immediately goes to "a". I've tried flick, but it seems the movement produced by flick is too fast, so freedrag fits the most. Is there any way or workaround to perform FreeDrag (or similar) without firing the Tap trigger? Thanks in advance.

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  • 2D Side Scrolling game and "walk over ground" collision detection

    - by Fire-Dragon-DoL
    The question is not hard, I'm writing a game engine for 2D side scrolling games, however I'm thinking to my 2D side scrolling game and I always come up with the problem of "how should I do collision with the ground". I think I couldn't handle the collision with ground (ground for me is "where the player walk", so something heavily used) in a per-pixel way, and I can't even do it with simple shape comparison (because the ground can be tilted), so what's the correct way? I'know what tiles are and i've read about it, but how much should be big each tile to not appear like a stairs?Are there any other approach? I watched this game and is very nice how he walks on ground: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmSAQwbbig8&feature=player_embedded If there are "platforms" in mid air, how should I handle them?I can walk over them but I can't pass "inside". Imagine a platform in mid air, it allows you to walk over it but limit you because you can't jump in the area she fits Sorry for my english, it's not my native language and this topic has a lot of keywords I don't know so I have to use workarounds Thanks for any answer Additional informations and suggestions: I'm doing a game course in this period and I asked them how to do this, they suggested me this approach (a QuadTree): -All map is divided into "big nodes" -Each bigger node has sub nodes, to find where the player is -You can find player's node with a ray on player position -When you find the node where the player is, you can do collision check through all pixels (which can be 100-200px nothing more) Here is an example, however i didn't show very well the bigger nodes because i'm not very good with photoshop :P How is this approach?

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  • Quickly open Windows Mobility Center in Windows 8 "tablet" mode

    - by piyo
    I am using a Surface Pro (2013). I would like to know if there is a quick way to open the Windows Mobility Center desktop program. I like to use this program because it is easy to manipulate during the "tablet" (non-keyboard, no-mouse) mode. This program has multiple ways to be started, according to From How to Open and Use Mobility Center in Windows 7 and Windows 8: (Windows 8) Press Windows key + X and select Mobility Center Open the Control Panel and select "Windows Mobility Center" Open the Run dialog and type "mblctr.exe" and press Enter key. None of these are quick and easy when in "tablet" mode. I would ideally like to swipe from right screen edge into to open the Settings pop up and select one icon that opens the Mobility Center. Alternatively, another way I would like to have implemented would be to touch the Windows icon on the tablet screen outside of the viewing area and touch an "app" to launch the Mobility Center. Alternatively, it would be nice to have a Live Tile App that duplicates this functionality.

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  • Improving SpriteBatch performance for tiles

    - by Richard Rast
    I realize this is a variation on what has got to be a common question, but after reading several (good answers) I'm no closer to a solution here. So here's my situation: I'm making a 2D game which has (among some other things) a tiled world, and so, drawing this world implies drawing a jillion tiles each frame (depending on resolution: it's roughly a 64x32 tile with some transparency). Now I want the user to be able to maximize the game (or fullscreen mode, actually, as its a bit more efficient) and instead of scaling textures (bleagh) this will just allow lots and lots of tiles to be shown at once. Which is great! But it turns out this makes upward of 2000 tiles on the screen each time, and this is framerate-limiting (I've commented out enough other parts of the game to make sure this is the bottleneck). It gets worse if I use multiple source rectangles on the same texture (I use a tilesheet; I believe changing textures entirely makes things worse), or if you tint the tiles, or whatever. So, the general question is this: What are some general methods for improving the drawing of thousands of repetitive sprites? Answers pertaining to XNA's SpriteBatch would be helpful but I'm equally happy with general theory. Also, any tricks pertaining to this situation in particular (drawing a tiled world efficiently) are also welcome. I really do want to draw all of them, though, and I need the SpriteMode.BackToFront to be active, because

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  • How do I revert back to windows 8 from 8.1?

    - by chipperyman573
    I hate the new windows 8.1 search. I mean a truly loathe it. It's easily the absolute worst thing Microsoft has ever made (including bing and IE). I asked how to get the old search back and the answer was that you can't. Honestly, I haven't noticed any changes from 8 - 8.1 besides a single tile has changed color (dunno why, the color doesn't even match the icon), and I really hate this new search thing. So how do I get 8 back?

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  • Mac Book Pro and Photosohp working canvas lost off screen somewhere

    - by chris
    I seem to have a unique issue. I have a mac book pro which I often have connected to one or 2 additional monitors, and I think this is in part my issue. Cause when Im at home working with only the built in monitor and I go to open something new or existing in photoshop my canvas if you will call it that is no where to be found. I checked my display settings, its treating it as a one monitor solution. I've tried to in photoshop to bring all my windows to front, Ive tried to cascade and tile my windows, ive tried to reset my work area, and to no avail I can't for the life of me get the canvas to come to my screen so I can work with what ever I intend to work on. Anyone else have this problem or run into similar? How did you fix it?

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  • CodePlex Daily Summary for Thursday, October 10, 2013

    CodePlex Daily Summary for Thursday, October 10, 2013Popular ReleasesDynamics AX 2012 R2 Kitting: First Beta release of Kitting: First Beta release of Kitting Install by using XPO or Models.C# Intellisense for Notepad++: Release v1.0.8.0: - fixed document formatting artifacts To avoid the DLLs getting locked by OS use MSI file for the installation.CS-Script for Notepad++ (C# intellisense and code execution): Release v1.0.8.0: - fixed document formatting artifacts To avoid the DLLs getting locked by OS use MSI file for the installation.Generic Unit of Work and Repositories Framework: v2.0: Async methods for Repostiories - Ivan (@ifarkas) OData Async - Ivan (@ifarkas) Glimpse MVC4 workig with MVC5 Glimpse EF6 Northwind.Repostiory Project (layer) best practices for extending the Repositories Northwind.Services Project (layer), best practices for implementing business facade Live Demo: http://longle.azurewebsites.net/Spa/Product#/list Documentation: http://blog.longle.net/2013/10/09/upgrading-to-async-with-entity-framework-mvc-odata-asyncentitysetcontroller-kendo-ui-gli...Media Companion: Media Companion MC3.581b: Fix in place for TVDB xml issue. New* Movie - General Preferences, allow saving of ignored 'The' or 'A' to end of movie title, stored in sorttitle field. * Movie - New Way for Cropping Posters. Fixed* Movie - Rename of folders/filename. caught error message. * Movie - Fixed Bug in Save Cropped image, only saving in Pre-Frodo format if Both model selected. * Movie - Fixed Cropped image didn't take zoomed ratio into effect. * Movie - Separated Folder Renaming and File Renaming fuctions durin...Ghostscript.NET: Ghostscript.NET v.1.1.1.: v.1.1.1. fixed problem in GhostscriptRasterizer and GhostscriptViewer when MediaBox contains negative llx or lly values. (problem reported by "Prasenjit Das"). added GhostscriptPngDevice, a friendly output device class with all png devices related switches. (GhostscriptPngDevice supports: png16m, pngalpha, pnggray, png256, png16, pngmono, pngmonod). added GhostscriptJpegDevice, a friendly output device class with all jpeg devices related switches. (GhostscriptJpegDevice supports: jpeg, jp...xFunc: xFunc 2.7.3: Fixed memory leak. Small fixes.SmartStore.NET - Free ASP.NET MVC Ecommerce Shopping Cart Solution: SmartStore.NET 1.2.0: HighlightsMulti-store support "Trusted Shops" plugins Highly improved SmartStore.biz Importer plugin Add custom HTML content to pages Performance optimization New FeaturesMulti-store-support: now multiple stores can be managed within a single application instance (e.g. for building different catalogs, brands, landing pages etc.) Added 3 new Trusted Shops plugins: Seal, Buyer Protection, Store Reviews Added Display as HTML Widget to CMS Topics (store owner now can add arbitrary HT...AD ACL Scanner: 1.3: New features:Effective rights, select a security principal and match it agains the permissions in AD. Color coded permissions based on criticality when using effective rights scan. Search levels : Base, One Level, Subtree. List you domains and select one from the list. Get the size of the security descriptor (bytes). Rerporting on disabled inheritance . Better search functianlity; you can use wildcards on Trustee. Get all inherited permissions in report.MoreTerra (Terraria World Viewer): MoreTerra 1.11.2: Release 1.11.2 Full 1.2 Support =========== =Bug Fixes= =========== We have all markers solsund made sure the tile and background colors are correct. (map looks correct with no missing pink) Added better error tracking for those having trouble.Fast YouTube Downloader: Youtube Downloader 2.1: Youtube Downloader 2.1NuGet: NuGet 2.7.1: Released October 07, 2013. Release notes: http://docs.nuget.org/docs/release-notes/nuget-2.7.1 Important note: After downloading the signed build of NuGet.exe, if you perform an update using the "nuget.exe update -self" command, it will revert back to the unsigned build.Mugen MVVM Toolkit: Mugen MVVM Toolkit 2.0: IntroductionMugen MVVM Toolkit makes it easier to develop Silverlight, WPF, WinRT and WP applications using the Model-View-ViewModel design pattern. The purpose of the toolkit is to provide a simple framework and set of tools for getting up to speed quickly with applications based on the MVVM design pattern. The core of Toolkit contains a navigation system, windows management system, models, validation, etc. Mugen MVVM Toolkit contains all the MVVM classes such as ViewModelBase, RelayCommand,...Office Ribbon Project (under active development): Ribbon (07. Oct. 2013): Fixed Scrollbar Bug if DropDown Button is bigger than screen Added Office 2013 Theme Fixed closing the Ribbon caused a null reference exception in the RibbonButton.Dispose if the DropDown was not created yet Fixed Memory leak fix (unhooked events after Dispose) Fixed ToolStrip Selected Text 2013 and 2007 for Blue and Standard themesGhostscript Studio: Ghostscript.Studio v.1.0.2: Ghostscript Studio is easy to use Ghostscript IDE, a tool that facilitates the use of the Ghostscript interpreter by providing you with a graphical interface for postscript editing and file conversions. Ghostscript Studio allows you to preview postscript files, edit the code and execute them in order to convert PDF documents and other formats. The program allows you to convert between PDF, Postscript, EPS, TIFF, JPG and PNG by using the Ghostscript.NET Processor. v.1.0.2. added custom -c s...cmdradio: v0.1.1 binary: Default download in win32. For other OS see here. This is alpha version. Please report all bugs.Squiggle - A free open source LAN Messenger: Squiggle 3.3 Alpha: Allow using environment variables in configuration file (history db connection string, download folder location, display name, group and message) Fix for history viewer to show the correct history entries History saved with UTC timestamp This is alpha release and not recommended for use in productionVidCoder: 1.5.7 Beta: Updated HandBrake core to SVN 4819. About dialog now pulls down HandBrake version from the DLL. Added a confirmation dialog to Stop if the encode has been going on for more than 5 minutes. Fixed handling of unicode characters for input and output filenames. We now encode to UTF-8 before passing to HandBrake. Fixed a crash in the queue multiple titles dialog. Added code to rescue tool windows which get placed outside of the visible screen area.Wsus Package Publisher: Release v1.3.1310.05: Enhance the "Reboot Remote Computers", by adding a timer before the reboot occure. So that remote users can save their documents and close applications. You can also add a message to be display. In 'Tools'->'Settings'-> Misc Tab, you can set a default message. Enhance the "Compare Computers against AD", by choosing OUs to include in the comparison.VG-Ripper & PG-Ripper: PG-Ripper 1.4.19: NEW: Added Option to login as Guest NEW: Added Menu Option to delete an Forum Account NEW: Added Support for "ImageTeam.org links FIXED: Fixed Ripping of http://forum.babeunion.com ForumsNew ProjectsAphid: Aphid is an embeddable, cross-platform, multi-paradigm, and highly interoperable .NET scripting language.CCSP: De online plek voor de V-ICT-OR CCSP communityCLOSED: CLOSEDCorporation Wars: Corporation WarsEntityFramework.BulkInsert: Bulk insert extension for EntityFramework 5. Can be used with Code First approach only.HelpersLib: Simple set of helper libs to aid you with DVLUP challenges or general WP improvementsID3 Algorithm: ID3 algorithm from Machine Learning field. ID3 was implemented in .NET 4.0 using WinForms and C#.Impacta - C# - módulo II: Roteiro de aula para o módulo II de C# da Impacta.InstaSharp: InstaSharp is a C# library that wraps the Instagram API and makes it easy to write applications with Instagram data.iRateMyApp: Project Title iRateMyApp Project Description This is a project for Assignment 2 of Web Scripting and Content Creation (University of Hertfordshire) The projeiRateMyApps: This is a project for Assignment 2 of Web Scripting and Content Creation (University of Hertfordshire)MapLite: Android Tile Map, fork from osmdroidMileage Demo: This is a quick tool to help keep track of your mileage and translate the results to multiple output formats.multiples3and5: Small projectNido Framework with .Net 4.0 and Entity Framework help you standardize your BLL.: Nido is a reusable generic code library developed using .NET/ C# (4.0, EF) providing a common platform (Web, Windows Form, Web Service, Services and Libraries).pgist: gist, GitHubpsi56: ??ERPSharePoint QB Rating App: QB Rating App is a SharePoint 2013 App that calculates a QB's NFL and NCAA passing efficiency ratings.TFS PS Integration Editor: TFS PS Integration Editor is a tool that manage the main functionally of "TfsAdmin ProjectServer" command line tool.Tfs Test: A test TFS project.Windows Service Manager: The Service Manager is management of “Services”, wither these services are local (instance) or remote. Features 1. Start, Stop and Restart service. Work Smart: Work Smart helps prevent computer related health issues.XcbWeiXin: haha

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  • HTML5 game engine for a 2D or 2.5D RPG style "map walk"

    - by stargazer
    please help me to choose a HTML5 game engine or Javascript libraries I want to do the following in the game: when the game starts a part the huge map (full size of the map: about 7 screens) is shown. The map itself is completely designed in the editor mapeditor.org (or in some comparable editor - if you know a good alternative to mapeditor.org - let me know) and loaded at runtime or at design time. The game engine should support loading of isometric maps (well, in worst case only orthogonal maps will be sufficient) both "tile layer" and "object layer" from mapeditor.org should be supported. Scrolling/performance of this map should be fast enough. The map and the game should be either in 2D (orthogonal map) or in 2.5D (isometric map) The game engine should support movement of sprites with animation. Let say I have a sprite for "human" with animation sequences showing "walking" in 8 directions - it should be imported into game engine and should "walk" on the map without writing a lot of Javascript code. Automatic scrolling of the map the "human" nears the screen border. Collision detection, "solid" objects. The mapeditor.org supports properies on tiles. Let say I assign a "solid" property to some tiles in editor. It should be easy to check this "solid" property in the game engine and implement kind of "solid" behavior, so the animanted sprites do not walk through the walls. Collision detection - it should be easy to implement some custom functionality like "when sprite A is close to sprite B - call this function" Showing "dialogs" or popup windows on top of the map - should be easy to implement. Cross-browser audio support - (it is implemented quite well in construct 2 from scirra, so I'm looking for the comparable audio quality) The game itself is a king of RPG but without fighting scenes and without huge "inventory". The main character just walking on the map, discovers some things, there are dialogs and sounds. The functionality of this example from sprite.js http://batiste.dosimple.ch/sprite.js/tests/mapeditor/map_reader.html is very close to what I'm developing. But I'm not a Javascript guru (and a very lazy guy) and would like to write even less Javascript code as in the example...

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  • Input handling between game loops

    - by user48023
    This may be obvious and trivial for you but as I am a newbie in programming I come with a specific question. I have three loops in my game engine which are input-loop, update-loop and render-loop. Update-loop is set to 10 ticks per second with a fixed timestep, render-loop is capped at around 60 fps and the input-loop runs as fast as possible. I am using one of the Javascript frameworks which provide such things but it doesn't really matter. Let's say I am rendering a tile map and the view of which elements are rendered depends on camera-like movement variables which are modified during key pressing. This is only about camera/viewport and rendering, no game physics involved here. And now, how can I handle input events among these loops to keep consistent engine reaction? Am I supposed to read the current variable modified with input and do some needed calculations in a update-loop and share the result so it could be interpolated in a render-loop? Or read the input effect directly inside the render-loop and put needed calculations inside? I thought interpreting user input inside an update-loop with a low tick rate would be inaccurate and kind of unresponsive while rendering with interpolation in the final view. How it is done properly in games overall?

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  • How can I better implement A star algorithm with a very large set of nodes?

    - by Stephen
    I'm making a game with nodejs in which many enemies must converge on the player as the player moves around a relatively open space (right now it is an open field with few obstacles, but eventually there may be some small buildings in the field with 1 or 2 rooms). It's a multiplayer game using websockets, so the server needs to keep track of enemies and players. I found this javascript A* library which I've modified to be used on the server as a nodejs module. The library utilizes a Binary Heap to track the nodes for the algorithm, so it should be pretty fast (and indeed, with a small grid, say 100x100 it is lightning fast). The problem is that my game is not really tile-based. As the player moves around the map, he is moving on a more or less 1-to-1 per-pixel coordinate system (the player can move in 8 directions, 1 or 2 pixels at a time). In preliminary tests, on an 800x600 field, the path-finding can take anywhere from 400 to 1000 ms. Multiply that by 10 enemies and the game starts to get pretty choppy. I have already set it up so that each enemy will only do a path-finding call once per second or even as slow as once every 2 seconds (they have to keep updating their path because the players can move freely). But even with this long interval, there are noticeable lag spikes or chops every couple of seconds as the enemies update their paths. I'm willing to approach the problem of path-finding differently, if there's another option. I'm assuming that the real problem is the enormous grid (800x600). It also occurs to me that maybe the large arrays are to blame, as I've read that V8 has trouble with large arrays.

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  • Azure eBook Update #1 &ndash; 16 authors so far!

    - by Eric Nelson
    I just wanted to share with folks where we are up to with the Windows Azure eBook (Check out the original post for full details) I have had lots of great submissions from folks with some awesome stuff to share on Azure. Currently we have 16 authors and 25 proposed articles. There is still a couple of days left to submit your proposal if you would like to get involved (see the original post ) and some topic suggestions below for which we don’t currently have authors. It is official – I’m excited! :-) Article Area Accepted Wikipedia Explorer: A case study how we did it and why. CaseSetudy Optional Patterns for the Windows Azure Platform (picking up 1 or 2 patterns that seem to be evolving) Architecture Optional Azure and cost-oriented architecture. Architecture Yes Code walkthrough of a comprehensive application submitted to newCloudApp contest CaseSetudy Yes Principles of highly scalable apps on Azure Compute Optional Auto-Scaling Azure Compute Yes Implementing a distributed cache using memcached with worker roles Interop Yes Building a content-based router service to direct requests to internal HTTP endpoints Compute Optional How to debug an Azure app by with a custom TraceListener & the AppFabric Service Bus AppFabric Yes How to host Java apps in Azure Interop Yes Bing Maps Tile Servers using Azure Blog Storage Interop Yes Tricks for storing time and date fields in Table Storage Storage Yes Service Runtime in Windows Azure Compute Yes Azure Drive Storage Optional Queries in Azure Table Storage Optional Getting RubyOnRails running on Azure Interop Yes Consuming Azure services within Windows Phone Interop Yes De-risking Your First Azure Project Architecture Yes Designing for failure Architecture Optional Connecting to SQL Azure In x Minutes SQLAzure Yes Using Azure Table Service as a NoSQL store via the REST API Storage Yes Azure Table Service REST API Storage Optional Threading, Scalability and Reliability in the Cloud Compute Yes Azure Diagnostics Compute Yes 5 steps to getting started with Windows Azure Introduction Yes The best tools for working with Windows Azure Tools Author Needed Understanding how SQL Azure works SQLAzure Author Needed Getting started with AppFabric Control Services AppFabric Author Needed Using the Microsoft Sync Framework with SQL Azure SQLAzure Author Needed Dallas - just a TV show or something more? Dallas Author Needed Comparing Azure to other cloud offerings Interop Author Needed Hybrid solutions using Azure and on-premise Interop Author Needed

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  • Octree implementation for fustrum culling

    - by Manvis
    I'm learning modern (=3.1) OpenGL by coding a 3D turn based strategy game, using C++. The maps are composed of 100x90 3D hexagon tiles that range from 50 to 600 tris (20 different types) + any player units on those tiles. My current rendering technique involves sorting meshes by shaders they use (minimizing state changes) and then calling glDrawElementsInstanced() for drawing. Still get solid 16.6 ms/frame on my GTX 560Ti machine but the game struggles (45.45 ms/frame) on an old 8600GT card. I'm certain that using an octree and fustrum culling will help me here, but I have a few questions before I start implementing it: Is it OK for an octree node to have multiple meshes in it (e.g. can a soldier and the hex tile he's standing on end up in the same octree node)? How is one supposed to treat changes in object postion (e.g. several units are moving 3 hexes down)? I can't seem to find good a explanation on how to do it. As I've noticed, soting meshes by shaders is a really good way to save GPU. If I put node contents into, let's say, std::list and sort it before rendering, do you think I would gain any performance, or would it just create overhead on CPU's end? I know that this sounds like early optimization and implementing + testing would be the best way to find out, but perhaps someone knows from experience?

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