OpenDeadlock is now Five Years Old

[Tggtt]

Happy anniversary!!

We do have several new developments.
Would you like to see them right away?

Then, consider joining us! We are in dire need of testers and translators, plus many other positions you can volunteer.

[Tggtt]

Happy anniversary!!

The offer stands.

[StingMaster]

I'm up for testing.

[MaugTheInfirm]

I'd be willing to test the Open Deadlock single-player game (or campaign).

[Tggtt]

I'm up for testing.

I'd be willing to test the Open Deadlock single-player game (or campaign).

Thank you, for some reason I missed your messages. I have made a lot of internal modifications, I need to gather everything up first.
Just please be assured that the project is alive and kicking.

[StingMaster]

I need to gather everything up first.

No problem. When you're ready I'd love a windows 7 binary since this is what I intend to test on (would make switching between open deadlock and og deadlock a lot easier).

[MaugTheInfirm]

I would be trying it on a Windows 11 64-bit system.

[uber_nick]

Thank you, for some reason I missed your messages. I have made a lot of internal modifications, I need to gather everything up first.
Just please be assured that the project is alive and kicking.

Tggtt, if any actual code or binaries exist, just post them.

There's no reason to continue making vague promises about a project that likely never started. When you solicit help then dodge those who volunteer, you're only preventing real projects from ever getting off the ground.

I called this out four years ago after offering dev help, but finding nothing except a tool to modify sprites. When asked repeatedly to share anything else, you gave me the same weird excuses then that you're giving now (and have been giving for over a decade). Time to drop the charade, no?

[uranix]

The offer stands.

mine as well... compile on Linux and test

[Tggtt]

Thank you for your replies and sorry for my delays again. I would like to assure you that they were not intended.

Just to clarify:

• Yes, the project exists. It is not a scam.
• We do hide some of the repositories to avoid take downs, but this is getting sorted out. We acknowledge our mistakes and appreciate your feedback.
• There is an almost playable version, but this version might be discontinued in favor of a more robust architecture that will be finally open.

What a tester needs:

• You need to own the full version of Deadlock 1: Planetary Conquest.
  • Recommended: CD for Windows or GOG version.
  • Not recommended: Steam or CD for MacOS might work but are not well tested.
• Deadlock 1 must be updated to 1.30+. GOG and Steam are already updated. You can find the 1.31 patch here: https://galliusiv.com/Gallius_IV/Downloads.html
• Will might also need a file from Deadlock 2 demo. You can find the installer here: https://galliusiv.com/Gallius_IV/Downloads.html

What we need from testers:

• Most of the current testing demands are about the GUI.
• GUI Layout:
  • The GUI design consensus is to give a native look and feel that matches your desktop environment. This is actually a challenge and we would like to ask to verify layout problems. There are often cases of buttons being too small or windows not fitting the screen.
• Buttons that have no action:
  • The internals were moved to a new architecture, leaving some of the GUI without effect. Every button must either:
    • work as intended.
    • show a moved stub message (if it's affected by the architecture change, e.g. end turn and most of other cases).
    • show a not-implemented message (if it's a new button).
  • Remember: Always report the OS and the resolution if you find any bugs.
  Non-exhaustive lists for transparency.
  
  What should work (tester should report if they stop working):
  1. View Map
  2. View Territories
  3. Place Buildings
  4. Demolish Buildings
  5. Territory Tile Mineral Survey
  6. Manage Buildings
  7. Manage colonists
  8. Move units
  9. Manage units
  10. Add unit to be built
  11. The turn calculations
  12. Select Research
  13. Morale effect
  14. End turn report (despite the end turn being temporarily disabled)
  15. Animated sprites (buildings and colonists)
  16. Unit movement points
  17. XML Modding support for sprites, icons and some other options
  18. Save and load game with DL1 SAV
  19. Create new game with DL2 MAP
  20. Create new game with world generation
  21. Audio playback (music and sound effects)
  22. Video playback (intro and talking heads)
  What we know that stopped working:
  1. End turn processing has been disabled, this affects the following that were already working:
     1. Capturing settlement.
     2. Finish construction of Building
     3. Finish construction of Unit
     4. Population Growth/Death
     5. Resource production
     6. Reaching a condition to win the game
  2. Talking heads with subtitles were temporarily disabled because they were affected by architecture change.
  3. Longer Video playback (intros) stop playing after a few seconds while using the new LibAV for decoding. Libsmacker should still work.
  4. World generation is surely going to be affected by some of the architecture changes. In case it doesn't work, tell us and meanwhile you should be still able to use DL1 SAV and DL2 MAP files.
  5. Cheats
  
  What we acknowledge that never worked:
  1. zoomed-out 3D world view never worked correctly.
  2. Resource transport never worked correctly.
  3. Automatic transport of resources, which causes starvation.
  4. Unit movements that take more than one turn was never implemented.
  5. Multiplayer
  6. Black-market
  7. Combats (the last invader would always win the combat)
  I am trying to put forward a issue tracker for the testers, but it needs to be detached from the repository while it's not merged and made 100% public, so it might still remain in sf.net/p/opendeadlock or be moved to a self-hosted solution in here.
  
  Please keep in mind that I am not able to work full time on this project, despite all our efforts.
  
  Thanks for your interest!