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Thanks, that solved the mystery (answer: I had MIDI files converted to OGG).

audio.vox is simply an archive with no compression of its own. If it's smaller, this means that less data is put into it: less files, or files are smaller.

Fair enough. Is it easy to analyze two audio.vox files (one from 3.3, one from 3.6) to figure out files are in the former but not the latter?

When I build A Tale of Two Kingdoms with AGS 3.6, I get a much smaller Audio.vox file (74 Mb instead of 112 Mb).

It's not a problem since the older audio.vox file still works, but I'd like to know what might be the cause for that?

Do you have an option to disable the VMware mouse integration and just lock the mouse input to the VM window?

Thank you for the tip. Googling it suggests to edit %APPDATA%\VMware\preferences.ini and add the lines

Code: ags

pref.motionGrab = "FALSE"
pref.motionUngrab = "FALSE"

And that works; problem solved!

It's VMware Workstation 7 running under Windows 11.

I've tested this with both Heroine's Quest and Cedric Shooter ( https://brocantygames.itch.io/cedric-shooter ).
The startup logs on stdout tell me this about the mouse:
Mouse control: on, base: 1,000000, speed: 1,000000

Thank you CW!

Trying to run an AGS game from Linux, I find that the mouse cursor freezes (for the entire system). The game still responds to mouse clicks and to keyboard commands, but for the entire Linux system the mouse is frozen in the middle of the screen until I quit AGS.

This is Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS on a virtual machine. It happens with both AGS 3.3 and with 3.6, leading me to think it's probably a driver issue or a faulty install of Allegro or something. Still, does this look familiar to anyone? Suggestions are welcome, thank you for your time!

I'd like to ask for advice on the same topic, i.e. achievements on GOG. If I understand correctly, the most recent build of AGS2Client (GitHub link) does not include the Initialize() function, so I need to download the source code (Bitbucket link) and build it myself, and only then will it support Galaxy achievements?

(edit) Never mind, I figured it out.

How are we getting on, gang?

I didn't have enough time to get something playable, just a POC with a character moving around. Maybe next time...

I should add that under 3.6.0.51 this issue no longer occurs (although Windows Defender does mention it wants to send the executable to MS for checking).

By my understanding, AGS has three levels of messaging the end user.
The first (INFO) appears in the debug terminal that pops up if you press `, e.g. if a GUI is turned visible when it's already visible.
The second (WARN) appears in a textual logfile in the game's executable folder, e.g. if a nonexistent sound effect is played.
The third (ERROR) immediately terminates the game, showing a windows popup dialog.

I suggest that the first one isn't useful (at least, not for exceptions) and should be deprecated. I say this because it shows only the last five lines of text, where a game using repeatedly_execute() can easily generate a dozen lines per second. Placing this output in the logfile is much easier to read back.

And I suggest that the third one be used less than it currently is, because it is impractical for players. For instance, if the script tries to animate a character with a nonexistent loop, IMHO generating a warning (and no animation) is preferable to having the game terminate. I'm sure there are some valid reasons for terminating, but older AGS versions terminate too easily.

In other words, what I'd like to see for AGS4 is a clear definition of "critical error", and that anything short of a critical error is printed to the logfile instead of terminating the game.

Need a little help with graphics? Perhaps The AGS Trove has something you can use.

The first and last post in The Trove point to Opengameart as a resource. Is the free material from Opengameart allowed in MAGS contests?

Box art by Fizzii.

If it's caused by the xor encryption, maybe we can use something else or not encrypt at all.

What makes you think it is caused by XOR encryption?

By my understanding of the error message, the cause is that one program (the AGS executable) executes commands from another file (the game data); this is almost literally what the error message says.

I'll trying attaching to the EXE with a size limit (which is what I did in previous AGS versions, as it puts most of the data in a Game.001 file).

The issue is that NOT attaching to the EXE causes my computer to immediately delete the EXE, both after compiling and after downloading it from Steam; and I can't really distribute the game like that.

Thanks. Turns out this option was already disabled (despite it being an imported project). However, oddly enough, enabling this option seems to fix the problem.

When compiling Heroine's Quest under AGS 3.6.0.47 and Windows 11, I get a popup from Windows Security, which then proceeds to delete the game executable.

Detected: Behavior:Win32/DefenseEvasion.A!ml
Details: This program is dangerous and executes commands from an attacker.
file: C:\Heroine's Quest\Compiled\Windows\RCX976A.tmp

Asking for more info sends me to this microsoft page, which isn't helpful.

Does this look familiar to anyone? This has not happened with earlier versions of AGS. I can of course overrule windows security on this, but I'm worried that other players of the game will get the same error.

@Snarky thank you for the heads-up!

After my last reply this thread went dead, so we already planned this year's vacation.

The same goes for me; I have no unplanned free days left for this year.

Looking good! But I demand a minstrel somewhere! 

There will be much rejoicing!

Oh, I really like the last scene and that little bird! Curious on the music for these scenes!

Thank you! We haven't actually recruited a composer yet, I should get to that this month.

It's nice to hear that this still exists. I'll keep an eye out, but I don't have a lot of free days so can't promise anything.