Because most of last week involved fixing bugs, the overall progress percentage has not increased. We are thinking of ways to fix this, but for now here is the progress page:
www.ifthensoftware.net/loradon_online/progress/
From the Programmer
Written by Invisible
I completely rewrote the lag simulator I mentioned in the last newsletter. The old system would only apply lag to incoming packets, not outgoing packets. To fix this, I made the lag simulator part of the networking core so that it could directly block incoming packets.
The lag simulator consists of 2 queues. One queue of incoming packets, and another of outgoing packets. Each packet has a dwLag variable that is set to a random value between 200 and 300. The first packet in each queue is delayed for dwLag milliseconds, then sent/received.
Enabling and disabling the lag simulator is as easy as commenting out "#define LAG_SIMULATOR". The lag simulator is enclosed in #ifdef/#else/#endif blocks to ensure that if it is not enabled, it won't affect the normal server. In light of the problem I explain in the last newsletter, the server now displays a red warning message if the lag simulator is enabled.
Community Spotlight
Written by pifreak
There haven't been many big events happening lately, but there is still activity in the community.
Here are some small things which may or may not have been mentioned in Twitter:
In IRC
-The embedded mibbit client does not auto log you in, so you can choose a nickname first.
-When entering, people are put into #lobby instead of #loradon
In SAO
-InvisibleMan installed Ruby into his Linux computer, so he is now hosting the HAL program.
-There are a few new clans and some new members being welcomed in.
-Still waiting the PVP tournament.
In Loradon 3.0 Development
-The melee system has been started and is still getting tested
-A lot of bugs have been found and fixed quickly
-Awesome Dev Demo Reports (see below)
Dev Demo Report
Written by Roarman
This weeks release had many bug fixes. Most of them were minor oversights that needed to be corrected. That is how I can tell the end is almost in sight. It seems that everything is being touched up before the rest of the melee system will be worked on. A few enhancements were suggested to make some features easier to use, like the chat box able to use mouse scrolling. Also a spawn point on a particular map moved so multiple users wouldn't get stuck. Everything is coming along nicely and we thank the community for their support.
