Willing To Help

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jackbunny
Krill Swarm
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:35 pm

Willing To Help

#1 Post by jackbunny »

I've been lurking around the forums for a few days now and finally decided offer up my services to help out with the project. I was a huge fan of MOO 2 back in the day. Never played the origional MOO much. Was rather dissapointed with MOO 3. Exciting to see that other people are still interested in turn based strategy. I've never worked on any game development before, but it's more or less what I've wanted to do for as long as I can remember. It's just been hard finding like minded individuals locally.

Anyway, if you want to know about my programming background ask. Otherwise I won't bore you. Long story short my C++ is limited compared to my C#, but I do know some of the cins and couts (twas a joke).

Not sure how much time I'll have to dedicate, but I'm excited about giving it a go and will make as much time as I can. I've started digging through the code and finally got it to compile (apparently scons doesn't like visual studio 2008 installed, so I had to change the local copies of my SConstruct files). I intend to look at the bugs and features list, but if anyone knows of a good starting place I would welcome the advice.

I had a couple of questions. I see that there are visual studio projects, but does anyone have any preferred IDE? I have both an XP machine and an Ubuntu (Hardy) machine at my house.

My other question: How many active developers are working on the project? I was directed here from sourceforge, and there are only 7 members listed. Are there more members than that? Or are they just the most steady ones?

Thanks very much. Look forward to hearing from you.

tzlaine
Programming Lead Emeritus
Posts: 1092
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2003 1:33 pm

Re: Willing To Help

#2 Post by tzlaine »

jackbunny wrote:Not sure how much time I'll have to dedicate, but I'm excited about giving it a go and will make as much time as I can. I've started digging through the code and finally got it to compile (apparently scons doesn't like visual studio 2008 installed, so I had to change the local copies of my SConstruct files). I intend to look at the bugs and features list, but if anyone knows of a good starting place I would welcome the advice.
That's odd. I use SCons and XEmacs exclusively, even when doing Windows development, and have had no problems. I have VS 2008. What happened exactly?

As for projects to work on, the feature request and bug trackers on SourceForge are really useful, and there's a Programming Work page on the Wiki:
http://freeorion.org/index.php/Programming_Work
Just let someone know what you're working on before you start, so that there are no overlaps. If you're looking for an "Assignment", I could try to come up with one, but after a while you'll be essentially on your own. The idea is that we each work on what interests us, and hopefully that brings us closer to the next release. This is a hobby, after all. Have a look at the 0.4 Design Pad on the Wiki for an idea of what we are trying to accomplish for the next release.
I had a couple of questions. I see that there are visual studio projects, but does anyone have any preferred IDE? I have both an XP machine and an Ubuntu (Hardy) machine at my house.
I use XEmacs as I mentioned before, and do almost all my development on a Linux box. Geoff uses Windows exclusively. There's no reason to prefer one IDE over another afaik. However, when you're starting out, Windows development is a lot easier because of the FreeOrion Windows SDK.
My other question: How many active developers are working on the project? I was directed here from sourceforge, and there are only 7 members listed. Are there more members than that? Or are they just the most steady ones?
There's basically just me and Geoff writing code on a regular basis. Kroddn also does these handy static builds of FO that let Linux users just download a single binary. There are a few artists with commit access, but really only 2 programmers.
Thanks very much. Look forward to hearing from you.
Welcome to the project!

jackbunny
Krill Swarm
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:35 pm

Re: Willing To Help

#3 Post by jackbunny »

What happened exactly?
The error I got was I believe while building intui.h in the GiGi library. When I looked at the logs it was unable to find windows.h. I might have an older code version because I was at work and the firewall wouldn't let me connect to SVN, so I was just using the code included in the SDK. After some digging I found out that SCons was attempting to use the most recent version of the Platform SDK found in the registry. And in VS 2008 the Platform SDK is somehow structured differently. It's documented here:http://scons.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1508
The interim solution I found was adding these lines in the SConstruct files for both GiGi and FreeOrion:

Code: Select all

env("MSVS_VERSION") = "8.1"
Tools("msvs")(env)
I'll probably switch back and forth between my desktop (windows) and laptop (Ubuntu). As far as getting started. I thought just a couple of bug fixes might help me get into the code before I go and try adding any features. Maybe this bug about the fleet lines not being drawn correctly:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=544942

Let me know how that sounds! Thanks.

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Geoff the Medio
Programming, Design, Admin
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Re: Willing To Help

#4 Post by Geoff the Medio »

jackbunny wrote:Maybe this bug about the fleet lines not being drawn correctly:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=544942

Let me know how that sounds! Thanks.
That should be a relatively easy fix... likely just a few lines of code need to be added. If you'd like some suggestions on how to proceed, I can give some. However, you might benefit from metaphorically being asked to fetch a tub of elbow grease from the other end of the ship, without any assistance unless stuck.

jackbunny
Krill Swarm
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:35 pm

Re: Willing To Help

#5 Post by jackbunny »

I agree. Would love to dig in on my own. I'm sure I'll be pestering with a few questions here and there. WIll let you know if I get too stuck.

tzlaine
Programming Lead Emeritus
Posts: 1092
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2003 1:33 pm

Re: Willing To Help

#6 Post by tzlaine »

Geoff just pointed out to me that I've claimed to have VS2008 in this thread. That is a brainfart on my part. I actually have VS2005. So I can't verify that your problem is solved in my setup. Sorry about that.

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