SITE INDEX
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History
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23 December 2007
I had to rewrite (once more!) all the traveling code, that'll teach me to write crappy stuff...
Avoiding all pitfalls, exploits and bugs was really a pain (even MoM has some) but eventually everything came out pretty clean.
Anyway: transporting, plane traveling and road building works like a charm (but please report any bug/exploit you may find!!).
It's even possible to plane shift units from and to transporters.
And btw, yes, we finally have Myrror, the parallel plane!
For debug/test purposes only Eisen Spearmen can Plane Travel and Pathfind, Likroi Spearmen can load up to two units each and travel on water. Eisen are also given a Trireme unit (via Ship Wrights Guild) but the GFX still sucks: it really is the time to update the unit gfx engine to allow non-anthropomorphic units.
Many things are indirectly depending on this, so it's getting top priority.
Other additions and fixes:
- Housing is unavailable and automatically discarded when population growth hits 0.
- Units committed time is displayed in LandMenu MidPanel as a vertical bar.
- Pathing response on errors is now smarter and accounts for unknown terrain or environmental changes.
- A conic halo marks on the map the locaion of selected units.
- Player will start with a larger 'Known' map area.
Also, the IRC channel will change to #everborn, while old xarvh channel one will be discontinued.
The Download section hosts the latest stable version binaries Makeselfed in a single executable suitable for running in live linux distros.
Merry Christmas! =)
3 December 2007
New name, new logo.
If you have a .xarvhrc remember to rename it as .everbornrc!!
Also correct the entries basedir and userdir.
Please report bugs and broken links.
Transport is starting to work, but i still have to devise a sound interface to do it (it will mostly be mom-like) and I have no idea of how to draw the ships, but I will try to make different ships (with different stats) for each race.
Also changes here and there. - Buildings in the prod menu have a complete description (albeit, for now is just text).
- Road building now works as expected.
- Population growth rate fixed.
13 November 2007
Road building mechanics fixed.
The interface still sucks and will stay that for long.
I'm starting to add new important features regardless of the release.
The first one is transporter ships, it's quite delicate because it interferes with almost everything that handles the units, but I should have come out with a solid take, should possibly even allow the use of pontoon bridges.
Implementation is on the way, but since the animation code is still far from renewal, expect the ships to look... abstract?
Next step will be to add Myrror, the parallel plane, and suitable stuff to reach it.
5 November 2007
I've not enough beta testers to tackle all the system-dependent bugs, I fear that the last Xarvh release won't be rock-solid.
So, while I try to come up with a cute new logo for the game, I'm adding a few goodies here and there.
-Passing mouse over units in the overland menu's midpanel will display a mini-status.
-Few visual improvements for the production menu.
-Added some slight aesthetic differences between the units in a stack.
-First attempt to provide an interface for building roads.
-The Forum is available from the Contacts section.
23 October 2007
Some bugfixes, but still some severe, system-dependent bugs reported.
If you want to help, please try the latest tarball andreport any system bugs you find, or even better come to#xarvh at irc.freenode.net (I'm usually there between 10:30 and 16:30 UTC+2).
Work is being done to provide a very stable last Xarvh release and toprepare the transitioning to Everborn.
10 October 2007
-Host bug finally fixed, now the sessions should run smoothly.
-Battle Pause system reviewed, some inconsistencies fixed.
-Also, the Pause status of each player in a battle is displayed.
-Combat movement improvements. The AI is still pretty stupid, but combat isnow mostly playable.
-The pick menu now automatically suggests you a random race.
Yes people! All requirements for the Leonardo Release are fulfilled!
We have a release candidate!
8 October 2007
Wow, lots of stuff, old problems and new graphics.
The new release should be fairly playable.
(but don't forget to download the new data!)
Still fighting after unit battle movements.
The entire battle movement code has been rewritten, and unit movements shouldbe less stiff and no more limited to occupy only the center of each landsquare: the code is heavier (and not yet optimized) and many moving units willslow down older computers; nevertheless, often units will not reach meleedistance when supposed to.
Army entrance works adequately.
Tactical combat in general is still very hard to manoveur, the interface willrequire great improvements.
The HostGame bug has been partially resolved and will hopefully be fixed soon:you will notice that the game window closes and reopens when HostGame is pressed, this is to be able to fork() a server without the graphics components.
Anyway, there has been quite a number of minor improvements:
-Land pluses have been rerendered at higher resolution, have new drawingroutine and animations. Yay!!!
-New Fog of War animation, hope you like it.
-It is now possible to Raze Cities. Watch out, the citizens will fight back.
-Players are also listed in battles, along with their Pause status.
-Units have healthbars.
-The game now accepts command-line parameters in the form of normal consolecommands, use '=' instead of space.
(example: "xarvh name=CrudeliaDeVille").
-The new 'exec' command can be used to exec the commands listed in a file.
-Mouse wheel now enabled for zooming.
-Various gfx fix and more accurate (no 'box effect') drawing routine.
-Shots updated accordingly.
Enjoy!
26 September 2007
The HostGame bug is fixed, and uppercase letters seem to work fine now;but both are highly system-dependent, so please let me know of any problems.
Unit movement in battle works a bit better, and now units will automaticallyengage the closest enemy.
There is a (H)old command to prevent units from charging mindlessly and isthe new default.
To make them charge mindlessly press S.
I'm considering to default the Hold only for rear and ranged units, whilethe frontline should do the charge.
The army entrance on the battlefield is the next serious issue.
24 September 2007
Eyecandy pack!
You will notice that the datafile fattened to 2.7Mb: that's becauseit now contains high-resolution pics: buildings and specials have beenrerendered and the counters/stats symbols restored.
Enjoy the new broadscreen 'shots! =)
Also, some major bugs (and minor, too) fixed.
Still problems with the whole HostGame stuff; also,there are still some bugs about unit movement in the battlefield,they're priority.
21 september 2007
I moved to Greece for job, and right now I have no steady internet connection,with all the due problems.
After several problems due to GLUT, I decided to push the SDL port, which is now ready,albeit with a Makefile problem and uppercase letters unavailable from the keyboard,both of which will be fixed soon.
Expect a lot of other port-related bugs.
GLUT support is officially dropped.
Last hail to the mighty Freeglut:
All Hail FreeGLUT!
Shall it rest forever in our hearts.
There is still a bad bug with the 'HostGame' function, so if it does not workjust run a separate server ('xarvh dedicated') and Join it.
A lot of pics rerendered, but the new datapack shall wait a bit more, hope you'll seethe old counters soon.
Some more combat fixes, but still some work to do before Galilei and Everborn.
Stay tuned.
12 september 2007
So, the new address gives away the new name for the project: Everborn
(which will be adopted when the Leonardo Release will officially be completed).
Why such choice?
To begin with, it's pronunciable and easier to explain.
Second, it hints to a meaning but is still quite ambigous.
Third, it sounds fantasy.
Fourth, there's not much stuff around with this name.
Fifth, it ties with the game background. But I'm not telling you more.
Two days ago I finally played a real game against my brother.
And I lost shamefully. =)
I've found also a number of bugs that still need to be fixed.
Still, I'm very satisfied.
The minimap now sports a "you are here" cross.
I partially restored Bryce2 on a old windows2000, so I'll start to render anewall the good 'ol graphics, this should improve greatly Xarvh's looks.
7 September 2007
After some major bugfixes, Xarvh is finally playable!
The first official game since the beginning of the project is scheduled for tomorrow: no spells nor victory conditions, but a lot of hack'n slash!
The third race, Likroi, is ready.
Since the animation engine is uncapable of animating mounted troops / warbeasts or such, I had to take a unorthodox way in representing the cavalry and the Stag Beetle.
Also, some minor GFX improvement of Eisen and Mareani.
Xarvh Leonardo Release is very close to completation, but before entering the Galilei phase, I want to complete a few features: the possibility to raze cities, to raze buildings, marking boxes, a given "you are here" on the minimap, some bugs here and there and maybe a interface for building roads (Likroi have engineers!).
I'm preparing a XML database for the spells, it will be published as soon as i figure out how to use it to produce the C++ code for the spells (Xarvh is NOT going to read XML, not now at least).
Last but not least: after Leonardo Release, Xarvh will most likely change name, into something more pronunciable and meaningful.
28 August 2007
I'm continuing to develop the game.
I'm adding only ugly vector graphics without texture because I want to complete the game system before fixing the aesthetics.
Battles:
Units can kill each other in melee or ranged combat, conquer cities, flee battles from the battlefield edge; armies are laid down according to unit role: frontline, midline, back, cavalry to the sides, armies of 30 units and up are handled.
City walls and city houses/buildings are shown in the battlefield, walls block passage and gates block enemies.
The battle's particle system includes arrows and
Spells:
Spell system and interface are almost completed (there's not yet a spellbook, the "spell" command must be invoked manually).
Currently Dispel Magic and Summoning Circle can be cast, but they have not much effect...
The difference between a spell cast in overland and its temporary version cast in battle is handled.
Fog of war:
Sucks but works.
Popup:
A raw system for popup windows is ready, and provides interface for the "settle" command and for displaying a unit's stats.
Players are displayed at top left, and blink when ready.
Resources are correctly computed and displayed at top right.
The Landmenu rightpanel allows special units command, most of them yet unimplemented.
Eisen and Mareani .raz files now include graphics for heroes and playermage.
The game is somewhat playable: the completation of Leonardo Release is imminent.
Screenshots and Downloads updated.
I also plan to drop the glorious freeglut in favour of SDL.
Btw, I'm getting mad after gluPerspective() and the inverse transformation of the map plane, I'd be grateful if someone could have a look at map_view.cpp and give me some suggestions.
31 December 2006
Just to end the year with finesse!
Xarvh finally has the much-needed pathfinder, and a (non-functional but stilluseful) textured minimap.
See Screenshots as always.
A second race has been added besides Eisen: Mareani.
Next Race will be Likroi.
Heroes can now be specifyed in the .raz files.
Initial conditions for each players will be most likely:
- the Player Mage
- one or two Heroes, with Mountaneer and Forester specials
- 4 Settlers, to create quickly a 4000 pop city wherever the player wants
- 4 Spearmen
Very important, I finally decided that units will be stacked, exactly as inMoM, and they will also move on fixed squares. In the long term, I'd liketo transform this in DawnOfWar-like stack capable of continous movement.
The BlockViewer that I use to view races units is now integrated in Xarvh, andcan be issued with the command line parameter "blo": "xarvh blo" will launchthe viewer instead of the game.
Still tons of bugs here and there.
Anyway, tarballs updated: see Downloads.
29 September 2006
New computer, at last!
I could fix some multiplayer bugs, andadd textures to the new terrain renderer.
Screenshots page updated!
Close priorities now will be overland and battle terrain renderers.
This is required by the mid priorities: a complete battle system, andthe first spells.
20 August 2006
Wow.
Three years
Three years since the last update.
Many of you may think that i studied, or i got a social life.
Well, sort of.
I had not much time to dedicate to this poor game, and even less
to Update the site, but such passions never die and Xarvh evolved andimproved, slowly but steadly.
The core stuff (combat, multiplayer, turn sequence) works, and as soonas i'll get a computer with hardware acceleration i'll start to add backthe eye candy.
Yep, right now Xarvh is being developed on a old Duron 800 palmtop withno batter, broken CD reader that powers of everytime i touch the power cable;to barely reach 1fps in fullscreen i had to strip textures and transparencies.
Anyway, as soon as the game becames somewhat playable, Martin will start with theW32 port, and maybe i'll find someone to write an AI.
Check the Screenshots page a screenshot.
Also, there are some more people working to give you the next MoM,i added them on the Links page.
23 September 2003
Good news.
For me.
I've passed the first exam of Phisycs3, scoring 30/30.
But i've not passed the second exam.
This means i've some time now, and i'll have very few time this year.
Xarvh's crying...
However, i've also good news for Xarvh:
Some testing was done, all processes appear to communicate seamlessly,i've added also some space for features that will be required by the real-timecommunication.
Since the whole thing seems to be working very well, i've updated the source.
This is the first source release since server-client system was removed.
22 September 2003
The new network system is up and working.
Also, i've written a smarter packet handling system, that should simplifyinformation exchange between players.
This should speed things up.
6 September 2003
Site moved to SourceForge.
Since i updated X mouse pointer refresh dropped again.
I've enough of this, so the nice green-blended pointer will be replacedby the boring hardware one.
Making serious plans about GLUT... Allegro and SDL are driving me crazy.
30 August 2003
Still working.
Removing the server seemed a good idea, thing are getting simpler.
Xarvh no more requires multitasking (this means it may be compiled withDjGpp).
Network load should also decrease.
2 August 2003
(the Evil Villain): "Server is an anomaly, and will be removed!"
(ovation from the Crowd).
(the Evil Villain): "This is the dawn of a new era, an era where each playerwill trust the other under the egemony of one Choosen client.
Network code will shine for simplicity and the Programmer will not get mad tocode everything.
Death, death to the evil Server!
(the Crowd): "DEATH TO THE SERVER!"
(the Evil Villain): "MUAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
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(Too much coding?)
I got routines for PNG loadup and i'm developing a nice OpenGL 2d terrainrender... should Xarvh adopt OpenGL and GLUT terrain may change radically.
24 July 2003
Movement restored; it will no more happen in-between turns:units will move as the command is given.
I'm learning some OpenGL and PNG i/o, maybe i could use them right in theGalilei....
I'm also considering top-down view for combats, at least untill Xarvh willhave good unit animations.
16, 17 or 18 July 2003
(Yes, it appears i'm on vacantion...)
My university progression is tragical, 4 exams at September...Well, you get the idea....
However, good Xarvh news.
Is possible to give simple commands to city-produced units, next step will beto restore unit movement.
Map file format is changed, from binary to text, so that will be easier to editit.
Here is simple.xm, the default map shipped with Xarvh Leo Data, and the oneyou can see in the screenshots:
= = = = = = = = = = = # # = = =
= = = = = = = = = = # # = = = =
= = = = = # # #G# = # = = = = =
= = = = m # h # # o # = = = = =
= = = #N# # h h # o o o = = = =
= = #M# #W# # m mAo # # = = = =
= = # = # # # # m f #Q# = = = =
= = #C# #X# # # f f s s = = = =
= = # # f f d # f sNs h = = = =
= = = # f f d # # f f h = = = =
= = = = #S# # d = hMh h = = = =
= = = = = # #G#I# h h = = = = =
= = = = = = = = = = #A= = = = =
= = = = = = = = = = # #W= = = =
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11 July 2003
Seems like i'm the last one keeping up with MoM...
The Resource Center is dead (Derek! don't do this!!!!) and Murlock's MoM32site seems closed.
For now i'm removing the links.
However:
Source update.
Land menu is slowly returning to functionality.
No more limit to the number of units in a cell;stacking hordes of units toghether will cause them to grow tired andeventually their morale may drop.
Also, for any unit after the 8th stacked in a city, the city unrest willgrow by 1.
Within a week i'll finish the exams (or the exams will finish me... it's anoption...) and i'll be able to dive in the hard programming.
10 June 2003
Binary version removed from download section.
Too much troubles with it, Xarvh is not complete enough.
ToDo section added, after suggestion by Daniel Ramos.
11 May 2003
As multilanguage system if officially dropped, Xarvh does not need a languagefile anymore; multilanguage will come back in the Fermi release.
Minor site Update:
Tyler Witter is working on Tritons, i added a sample of his work in theScreenshots section.
Also, i've placed Ittay's tune in theDownload section, hosting MIDI, OGG and MP3versions.
In Docs section i've rewrittenMECHANICS.TXT since lots of things have changed.
22 April 2003
All Xarvh fans will be happy: i'm coding like crazy.
A guy named Ittay sent a tune i may use for Xarvh.
Of course, comments are welcome(i'll also forward them to Ittay).
02 April 2003
Sorry for the long silence, but i'm completely diving into study, i've no moretime to do anything else...
Xarvh Battler is almost complete but i've always the same problem: animatingall unit takes lots of time, wich i have not.
So, no good graphics for now.
I've been also messing around with OpenGL and GLUT, maybe i can use them tospeed up drawing, and make a real isometric view of landscape andbattlefield... I must really learn some 3d modeller...
I'm also thinking about some changes on the gameplay: reduce maximum land speedmovement to 3 and simplify movement rules, different overland army display andselection menu, a frametable to animate units with fewer frames, and maybeallowing in-turn unit movement (useful for exploring the lands).
Let's see what can i do...
05 January 2003
I must learn lots about real time networking and syncro, so i'll stop Xarvh fora while and begin an indipendent program, Xarvh Battler.
The hope is that once learned something useful, i'll be able to reuse somecode.
07 December 2002
Site update.
Hope you'll like it.
Is not perfect, but now i should be able to improve it more easily.
I've added a doc explaining how to create races graphic.
I'm sorry I could not spend time on Xarvh, but I've moved, and my new homeis still a mess; however Xarvh developement still goes, I'm rewritingthe city menu.
12 October 2002
Minor source update.
I'm rewriting the core (sigh!), with a completely different handle of the server daemon(needed when you Host a game).
This new one should be more portable, with particular regard to SDL_net.
I'm planning a site restyle, but don't rely too much on it...
23 September 2002
-Console can be spawned anytime by pressing ESC.
-The useful commands: "name" and "color" to change... guess what?!
-Overland menu now correctly displays cities, but the only way to exit is still F12(terminate the program).
-Under SDL F10 can be used to switch between fullscreen/windowed mode.
Minor bugfixes.
Lates sources and data put into the download section.
(However compiled binaries are not available).
I know that's not much, but i'm very busy...
11 September 2002
I've been able to run Xarvh under W32.
This is not really like saying "Xarvh Ported to W32" because there are still some things totweak (network is crappy), but the worst part seems done.
Hope i can put a w32 executable on the site soon.
(See what i'm doing instead of studying statistics?)
31 August 2002
I've worked a lot this summer. Even if I have no time to make a serious update to the site(some exams still pending...) i'm proud to announce:
- Xarvh core completed.
I'll add some feature here and there, but the core can now support a -real- game.
Also, the new core is very fast and efficent.
- Xarvh network functional.
Networking routines are now buried into a port module, so that network is completely transparentto Xarvh.
Also, they can now support a full-featured game, but they are still slow and needheavy optimization.
- Xarvh ported to SDL.
I've been able to port Xarvh to SDL without touching the Xarvh code.
SDL works quite well (except for some mouse slowdown in fullscreen mode) and seemslighter than ALLEGRO.
- Other ports:
Ports have been splitted into EXT (SDL and ALLEGRO) and NET (at the time only thestandard BSD calls), asap also SDL_net, which should allow the port to w32, which stillgives me problems (due to my dislike for windows, as it seems...)
I'm also working on a low-level Linux port based on framebuffer, that promisesoutstanding performances.
- Menues and console are functional.
Xarvh now has a console (i must arrange it, however) and some messed-up menu.
Is possible to select race and picks.
I still have to restore the main game menues (land menu, city menu, prod menu) andcreate the other (diplomacy, magic, options) but the Leo ralse may be near.
Here are the newsources anddata.
As soon as possible i'll put better sources, binaries and some new screenshot...
For now, enjoy 6 of the 60 Realm Books!! (They are not definitive and i may change them).
de Summo Caelo
Greater Life Book | 
Testamentum Martium
Lesser Life Book | 
Domins ex Daemoni
Greater Death Book | 
Codex Damnati
Lesser Death Book | 
de Armonia Caoticii
Greater Chaos Book | 
Laus Eversionis
Lesser Chaos Book |
16 May 2002
- CVS repository updated.
- Paolo Bonfini credited for the concept art. We're waiting for comments!!!
11 May 2002
- Added Beastmen Swordsman and Eisen Zweihander concept study.Beastmen GFX, complete with animation, is under developement.
- I'm studying player colorization effect (see new Images section).Colorization routines are ready, but more effects will be added later.
(I'm thinking about extending max players from 16 to 32...)
- Still working on the core: the colorization routines now work with different pixel formats.
- Added a brief (and ugly) language selection menu.If a xarvhrc file is found, selected language is added there as default.
30 Apr 2002
- Fixed link to sources in download section. (Ooops!)
28 Apr 2002
- Xarvh can now read command-list files (the same system Quake uses).
These files are used for initialization (the game will search for a xarvhrc file), but willbe used also for Wizard and Queues preset.
command-list files can be used much like scripts, and should be useful when running the dedicated server.
Is now possible to choose where Xarvh must find its files, and soon will be possible to set somedefault options.
However Xarvh won't be able to edit or create any command-list file before the Galilei Release.
Maybe i'll also add some docs on command-list files soon.
New sources are available. See Downloads section.
- Since some people seems interested in a w32 port of Xarvh and i want to test the command-listroutines on a different system, i may work on it.
21 Apr 2002
- Added documentation about the Runic Spell System. See Documentation section.
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