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Author Topic: I Miss Magellan... [Locked]
vn_asriel
Posts: 1
Registered:
I've released the source code to quite a few people now - various programmers who've e-mailed me over the intervening years asking if they could take it over. I generally let only one try in any three month period (so they don't tread on each others toes), but nothing has ever come of it.


Not that I'm really surprised - the code written is a shambling monstrosity. A half hybrid of C and C++ cobbled together from various other programs I wrote to reverse engineer the file formats, the fact that it even compiled was a miracle. However, when it did work, it worked quite well - I'm glad people enjoyed it.


Anyone wanting to recreate the project shouldn't have too much trouble. The biggest problem is the format of the dungeon cell data, which I don't believe has changed - I still have the original decoder, which is a sort of "self documenting" parser, though it's not as complete as some of the work people have finished since. All the intrepid creator needs is this documentation and some easy linear algebra, and they're mostly finished (if I recall, M2 was mostly written in a weekend of spare hours).


For format documentation, people are welcome to contact me for the source though I think kgober has some much better notes, which he might share. Mathematics help, I can also provide, but there's really not much beyond high school stuff in there (and anything else, you can pull straight off the internet). Much better mapping algorithms could be devised.


I don't play AC anymore, but I'm glad other people still do. It remains the game I have the fondest memories of, and I've yet to play anything else like it, or to find another community like that which formed around it.


adamw
Ellen_Ripley  1 star
Posts: 59
Registered:
I was hoping you'd see this thread Adam.

Thank you again for all the information you shared with me last May unfortunately the higher-ups at the 'place that shall not be named' did not seem motivated to do anything.


I truly wish I had the skills to do this myself, but my last "hello world" resulted in a blue screen of death, and I've come the conclusion that my brain is simply full and I cannot learn anything further in this matter. Now math, no problem, I'm one of those freaks who enjoy and excel at math [Geek Girl alert] but there's just something about coding I cannot seem to grasp.


And never say you'll never return to Dereth Everyone comes home.


I'll be here, holding the fort

~Ellen
visionoftruth
Posts: 31
Registered:
I miss the wire frame map very much...
Corroq
Posts: 9
Registered: 2002-7-3 13:12:36
Magellan 2 was one of the most useful plug-ins ever released. Cheers to the author!

 

-----signature-----
Dhirt ibn Bhich on TD, now resting in eternal peace
Thorfinn_Sigurdssen  2 stars
Posts: 368
Registered:
I'm actually planning on either adding something like this into my radar add-on plugin, or perhaps creating a standalone one.

Right now though, I'm in the midst of exams, and I've got two other plugins half-completed, and I really need to get at least one of them done before I start on another, so it won't be in the next month or so at least, probably a bit later.
Scrub_FF
Posts: 4
Registered:
Magellan 2 was one of the most useful plug-ins ever released. Cheers to the author!


I second that.


Easily one of the best plugins ever written for AC and certainly, the one I miss the most.


If I had any programming chops whatsoever I'd attempt to revive it.

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