Not sure if this is a bug or an oversight...

When "Always Running" is activated, the run button does nothing. I have a suggestion to make the run button cause you to walk instead, while in this mode.

But then it won't be "always running" anymore.

I think having the option to slow down would still be beneficial. If semantics are the only issue, then call it something else like "Auto-run" instead?

Huh. It feels really weird to me in a minute or two of testing, but it's such an easy change that we can ship it and see what people think.

New release!
As ever, click here to download.

[IMG]http://www.jazz2online.com/jj2plus/img/newplus12small.png[/IMG]

The full list of changes can be found over here. This update fixes a lot of bugs, including (yes!) the crash upon finishing an episode and the issue with boss music continuing after death. There's some other stuff too. Go check it out.

Thanks for the new update. Especially for fixing the crash bug. Much appreciated.

We've received a report offsite* that 5.2 may not run in Windows XP. And while Windows XP hasn't been supported by Microsoft in over two years, I still tried to remedy the problem. Try this .dll instead and let us know if it works instead.


*Doing this helps no one, btw. It's easier to lose bug reports if they're not in a centralized location, and if you don't make your report where other users can see it, they won't know that something's already been reported.

I can confirm that the "XP dll" doesn't work.

I tested it with a virtual machine running Windows XP, and Agnes tested it on her XP system.

Thanks for the new release.

I also have a problem when installing Jazz Rabbit 2. He won't install Diam2.j2l. He installs all other levels but somehow that one is missing.

There is no Diam2.j2l and never has been. It skips from Diam1 to Diam3.

Very cool update and now we have a lot ot things to discover - but I can't stop thinking about this image from August 2014:


Also I've read discussions about JJ1 implementation into JJ2 but still asking the same question:
Will we see a mod for JJ1 or this was just a dream? :Z

Ouch, I missed it. Thanks!

I wish though it could be part of JJ2+. I mean, it would be faster if it would be implemented natively instead of in AngelScript (which, while powerful, is a bit slow).

Also, have you thought about adding some kind of C++ SDK that would allow writing plugins for JJ2+? This way, if done well enough, you'd only have to update plugins, leaving core .exe the same. Just look at work David "Cherry" Trapp did for RPG Maker 2003 with DynRPG system (different software, but it demonstrates well enough what I'm talking about).

We do have a plugin system... it's called angelscript. We could put in a whole lot of work and implement something more C++y and then zero people would use it.

Not zero people, people who need better performance than what AS can provide.

Also I think you're missing the bigger picture there.

The thing about plugin system is that the only change necessary to the jj2's .exe, to make making further JJ2 versions more efficiently, would be make plugin loader and make hooks to all important parts of JJ2's engine, such as cheats and so on.

Then actual JJ2+ would be built as "plugin" that would take over JJ2. Meaning you would be able to write game's code in convenient C++ instead of using disassembler.

And you could also make it modular. Graphics enhancer? Plugin that takes over rendering. Additional, custom enemy AI routines? Plugin. AngelScript interpreter? Another plugin.

So... zero people?

Look, we don't write JJ2+ in assembly for the most part. Bits and pieces for convenience, yes, but most of it is C++. There haven't been any new changes to the JJ2 exe in years (actually blur never gave us the code for doing that), everything gets implemented in the dll. If a system were made for improving the graphics, I don't see any reason we'd want it to be optional. Alternate enemy routines is what Angelscript is for.

Would letting people write C++ instead of AngelScript for certain isolated parts of the game be, in principle, an improvement in speed and/or functionality? Sure, a little. But it would be substantially more work than gain, and the problems you seem to be trying to address feel like they're either already solved or never existed to begin with.

Plugins don't go well with online games.

And as Violet says, this feature simply wouldn't be used. Almost everybody in this community who is skilled enough to write a plugin is already a member of the JJ2+ team and simply wouldn't need to. In fact, I dare estimate that the majority of people who can write scripts are JJ2+ team members.

To add to that, the big advantage of AngelScript is that there's a low barrier to entry. Anyone can write a simple script, even if it's just to change a palette gradient or adjust layer speeds. There's no boilerplate, nothing needs to be compiled, testing is a matter of saving and running. That's obviously less the case for C++ plugins. I'm sure there is a use case somewhere out there, but JJ2 is a small game. It seems more worthwhile to work on the plugin system that everyone can use, even if there are some small trade offs.

On that topic, is there anything specific you're thinking of here? Anything you've wanted to make that AngelScript is too slow or limited for? People have written MOD players and (as seen above) JJ1 emulators in it that ran at acceptable speeds, so the speed hit isn't that great. Maybe what you're trying to do - whatever it is - can be done with some optimisation?

That's from JJ1 interpreter thread. So it's running slower than if it'd be done with C++. Otherwise such warning wouldn't be necessary.

"Less graphics effects means faster game" is a universal truth, not one exclusive to AngelScript.

Not the best choice of an example, given that in case of palette updating the only thing AngelScript does is call a C++ function that causes all the slowdowns.

Are you referring to plusifier.exe? The plusifier code was in the original JJ2+ source code thread, but no one added it to the repository, and I won't be able to do it myself anytime soon.

blur: Oh, my bad. I think we all forgot about that link, sorry.

Unable to run @ windows XP
 

Hello,
I am unable to run this new version on windows XP, I am running there my BRUT.me online server... no problem to run it at home notebook with win 8
only the first purple screen and then nothing

Oh, right, I never did figure out what I'm doing wrong with XP. Sorry. :( Hopefully that can be addressed this weekend?

Thanx, glad I could be helpful, I will leave for now my server at the 5.1 version, seems that there is no problems with clients having newer version than the server...

Doesn't work :x

Unfortunately, no. :c

Violet, how about you just set up XP VM and try to test it yourself?

Hello, any news related to the XP bug?

No remaining ideas for what's causing it.

:/ and noone is able to help u? so future updates will most likely not work with xp too?

What's the windows XP bug? Does JJ2+ crash when opening the exe file?

No, plus.dll just doesn't load, so you end up with vanilla jj2.

when I run it from my premade batfile as server, it does not even load

Getting CTO while changng from Fullscreen to window mode still happens even in Windows 10- no matter what compability mode I set. Is there any workaround for this or we just have to live with it? [I know I can always play in Window mode but it looks ugly, choppy and whatnot].

Well I had this problem on Linux (Ubuntu) too, I just updated the wine emulator to v1.8 and then it worked, but I saw that on Wine1.6 I had compatibiliy mode Windows XP. But on Wine1.8 I still have compatibility mode Windows XP and jj2+ works. I didn't test Wine1.6 with compatibility mode Windows 7 or above. So Wine1.8 works for me, maybe the wine update did something to how dlls load.