• This version fixes a bug with MacOS 9 whereby ACE would use the wrong module, and would behave unpredictably, or display error messages stating that the module was damaged or had resources missing.
1.7.1 (14/11/99)
• New modules: Curse of the Azure Bonds, Cythera, Odyssey - Legend of Nemesis, Prime Target.
• Previously, some modules would display files in the Open… dialog that could not actually be usefully opened (e.g. the Unlimited Adventures Password module would display any Unlimited Adventures document, instead of just the "GAME001.DAT" file). This problem has been fixed.
• Updated my postal address and added a link to a mirror of the ACE web page (see the "Read Me").
1.7 (6/9/99)
• New modules: Fallout, Pool of Radiance, System Shock.
• URL items in the 'Module Info' and 'About ACE…' dialogs are now drawn in the colour and style specified in the Internet control pannel (is that a useful feature or what?)
• In the window menu, the item corresponding to the front window is ticked.
• Locked files, and files that are on read-only volumes are now handled correctly - you can open these files, but you can't save them (as a consequence of the way ACE works, even the Save A Copy As option will be disabled). You have to copy files to a writeable drive before you can save any changes you make.
• Bugs fixed: ACE would quit even when the user had canceled quitting (whoops). Reverting a window would make it's name appear twice in the window menu. Sometimes, holding down the option key while closing a window would do nothing at all (all three bugs were introduced in version 1.6).
1.6.2 (26/7/99)
• Fixed a bug that could cause the wrong module to be used.
1.6.1 (18/7/99)
• Fixed a bug that prevented ACE! from running on some systems (MacDialogLib not found on launch).
• Fixed a bug that would reset the current module if the Module Info dialog or the About ACE… dialog was displayed.
1.6 (15/7/99)
• ACE now has an official web page at http://www.crosswinds.net/~drysdall/ace.html
• New modules: Dragon Blade, Master of Orion, ZPC.
• Scripting now works on 68k Macs.
• ACE! is now a recordable application.
• You can select a window from the window menu (see preferences).
• The contents of lists can be printed.
• Printing now works correctly for more than one page.
• Fixed bugs in the Realmz 6 module (minstrel spells, new items).
1.5.1 (18/4/99)
• New modules: Realmz 6, Quest of Yipe! II.
• You can store frequently used list items in a list of favorites with the "Add to Favorites" command, and then use the "Add Favorite Item" script to add a favorite item to a list.
• Modules that display a list of spells now show only the spells appropriate to the character's class (Realmz, M&M II and III).
• By default, ACE now displays simpler (and less fatal) error messages to the user. To activate debugging mode with more specific error messages, hold down the option key immediately after opening ACE.
• Fixed some bugs with 'Special Actions' in the Realmz modules.
1.5 (21/3/99)
• Lists are now scriptable, and some scripts to manipulate lists have been added to the script menu (and also appear in some modules).
• New modules: Heroes of Might & Magic II (Heroes, Players and Towns) and Death Blade.
• You can double-click on the lists in the item editing dialog as an alternative to clicking on the OK button.
• Added a 'splash screen' (which you can hide using ACE's preferences).
• A "Next window" script has been added.
• You can choose Select All from the Edit menu (or press Command-A) to select all files in the Open dialog (MacOS 8.5 or Navigation Library only).
• When editing a compound file, changes to a window could sometimes be saved even when the user clicked on Don't Save. This bug is now fixed.
• Fixed a bug with the M&M III module (awards would get scrambled when using tabbed windows).
• The Class menu in the Unlimited Adventures module now shows all classes.
• Fixed a cosmetic bug with lists on non-appearance manager systems (switching between panes could make lists in other windows go blank).
1.4.1 (16/1/99)
• Fixed a bug that caused ACE to crash on startup with some old 7.5 systems (specifically, those with Apple Event Manager 1.0.0 installed)
• Fixed a bug that prevented embedded scripts from appearing in the Script menu if the save game was opened via drag-and-drop.
• New module: Jewel of Arabia - Dreamers.
1.4 (13/12/98)
• Some modules now have lists (equipment, spells etc) that can be edited.
• New modules: Escape Velocity: Override, Damage Incorporated, Abuse, Curse of Dragor.
• Open and Save dialogs use Navigation services (under MacOS 8.5 or with the Navigation library installed).
• It is no longer necessary to name a 'scpt' resource in a script using ResEdit to make it appear in ACE's Script menu.
• Fix a bug with big-endian variables (did not affect any existing modules).
• Fixed a bug from version 1.3 which could cause printing to fail (error id 11).
1.3 (30/4/98)
• Some modules now have tabbed windows and more features.
• New modules: Mantra II, Might & Magic III party, Realmz 5.
• You can now press the option key when selecting menu commands via the keyboard (e.g. command-option-W to close all windows).
• You can assign command keys to scripts in the script menu (see the "Development (Scripting)" document for more information).
• Renamed the Save As... command to Save A Copy As.
• Updated and improved balloon help for menus.
• Added a new "Close All But This Window" script.
• You can use the optional parameter 'to' with the 'Save' script command.
• The maximum number of open windows is now 40 (previously 16).
• Lots of bug fixes.
1.2.1 (26/1/98)
• Fixed a bug with the Save As... command.
1.2 (12/1/98)
• ACE! now supports scripting - look at the scripts menu for some examples.
• New modules: Omega (version 0.75 and 0.80), Escape Velocity, Harry the Handsome Executive and Unlimited Adventures design password.
• Function keys 1 to 4 now Cut, Copy, Paste and Clear respectively. The Clear button on the numeric keypad also clears text.
• Lots of minor bug fixes.
1.1.1 (27/10/97)
• Added a better version checking process which won't become apparent until later versions of ACE!
• Fixed a bug that prevented ACE! from running on non-MacOS 8 PPC systems (AppearanceLib not found error on launch)
1.1.0 (23/10/97)
• Uses the Appearance manager. On MacOS 8 systems, all dialogs and windows are "theme-savy".
• Changed the wording of the "Invalid Value" dialog and added a "Use Maximum/Minimum button".
• Fixed a bug with hi/lo nibbles (which only affected the 'M&M II' module).
• Fixed a bug with reading in long data types on 68k Macs.
1.0.0 (29/9/97)
• First public release.
Planed Features
In no particular order of importance, some of the features planned for future versions are:
Carbon (MacOS X Client) compatability
Recompiling ACE to run under the carbon libraries would probably be fairly trivial. However, this will have to wait until I have suitable hardware and software, and would also raise the requirements to MacOS 8.1 or later, PPC only.
Debug mode
The debugging mode will be expanded to allow a person debugging a module to query controls and run a 'sanity check' on a module.
Linked controls
A primative form of linking is currently supported that allows the selection of a pop-up menu to affect the contents of a list. The linking system will be expanded to allow controls to affect each other in a more general way. Two possibilities include:
1. A control could enable or disable other controls. For example, a checkbox might be disabled until another checkbox is checked.
2. A control could change the value of other controls. For example, increasing a character's 'strength' might increase their 'bonus to hit'.
Compatibility Issues
This section lists any known bugs, conflicts or cosmetic glitches in ACE! and the recommended helper utilities. Unless otherwise noted, all information is relevant to the current versions at time of writing.
ACE!
1. On systems with Appearance Manager 1.0.x, when pasting or clearing in an edit text field, a grey background will be drawn in the edit text field. This is a cosmetic bug with the Appearance Manager. It is fixed in Appearance Manager 1.1 and later (MacOS 8.5).
2. When more than one window is opened at once on appearance manager systems, windows in the background may not have their controls 'greyed-out' correctly. Moving the affected windows to the foreground and the putting them behind another window fixes this.
3. On appearance manager systems, some lists do not draw their scroll-bars properly when a list contains only a few items. On MacOS 8.0 or 8.1, the scroll bars are drawn as if they could be scrolled. On MacOS 8.5, the scroll bars are not drawn at all. This appears to be a MacOS bug (it occurs when the maximum number of rows specified in the 'ldes' resource is greater than the number of rows that can be displayed without scrolling, but the resulting list contains less than this number).
ResEdit (version 2.1.x):
1. ResEdit may save changes to a resource fork even when the user clicks on the Don't Save button. This occurs when editing some resource types, and not with others. If you accidentally delete a resource or make changes you want to undo, use the Revert command (and see note 6 below).
2. ResEdit will freeze when you try to open or create a 'DITL' when the clipboard contains some styled text. The easiest way to avoid this is to select the 'DITL' resource (before opening it) and copy it (i.e. hit Command-C before opening the 'DITL').
3. On some Power Macintosh's, ResEdit will freeze if you copy or cut item(s) from a 'DITL' more than once.
4. ResEdit has (crash) problems displaying control items in the 'DITL' editor. If you are working in a 'DITL' and you see a pop-up menu contains characters that should not be present, or are greyed out, then you should immediately save the module and quit ResEdit. This seems to occur when you add, move or resize any custom control. Do not attempt to look at the affected control item, or make any other changes to other dialog items. Quitting and reopening ResEdit seems to reduce it's 'sensitivity' to this problem.
5. When attempting to open a 'DITL' resource, you may sometimes alerted that "the item count is too high", or that "the DITL resource is x byte(s) too large". You may see the size of the 'DITL' resource change after you dismiss this alert. Simply quit ResEdit and then re-open ResEdit and the module, and you should be able to open the 'DITL' normally.
6. The Revert command doesn't always work - sometimes changes you have made to a resource file will be saved even if you haven't used the save command. If you do use the revert command, quit and re-open ResEdit immediately to avoid problems.
7. Don't save while a 'DLOG' editor is open - apparantly this can cause corruption of the resource file. Close the 'DLOG' editor before saving.
On Mac OS 8.5 or later:
8. When editing a 'MENU' resource, don't click in an empty part of the menu list (ResEdit will quit with an error type 1).
9. An (appearance manager) list control in a dialog will not draw correctly (it will be drawn outside the window). You can stop this from occurring by setting the "visible" field of the corresponding 'CNTL' resource to false before opening the 'DITL' (remember to reset it later). This bug appears to be cosmetic only, and does not affect the list in ACE.
