The Art of Software Development

Silverlight 5 - 3D Engine Test :-)

2012-01-16T23:37:00.002+01:00

Just testing 3D scenes in Silverlight 5 - nothing more...
I love to play with 3D stuff :-) !

Engine tests continue... - Lightmapping :-)

2011-07-30T01:00:00.002+02:00

Just playing around with Lightmapping in our new Engine :-)

...and we have 'other' good news. We have re-assembled our staff and the work on our TBA Silverlight-based Game has begun ;-) !! Hope to reveal something great soon...

And be assured: as soon as our Silverlight-Game is out-of-the-door, we'll start working on EXCELSIOR with our new fantastic Engine.

Going to XNA 4.0 / Tucan chooses SunBurn Engine...

2011-07-18T00:17:00.001+02:00

Our NEW SunBurn Engine on Microsoft's XNA 4.0

FINALLY, I 've made my decision after playing around the last 6 years (YES, we take our decisions not easily ;-) !) with several Engines (Irrlicht3D, Ogre3D, NeoAxis Engine, Unity3D, etc.).

After all we have choosen the SunBurn Engine, which runs on XNA 4.0, so we finally have a FULL MANAGED CODE Solution and an 100% C#-based code approach :-) !

Despite these good news, our next upcoming 2D-game will run on Silverlight, but we are planning to re-release it with SunBurn after a while...

D-Day was yesterday! FINALLY - we 've arrived !! :-)

2011-07-01T01:05:00.000+02:00

Okay - I cannot disclose what we 've achieved, but be assured we have successfully achieved something great. All I can say that it has nothing to do with game or software development.

NOW - carry on to further our plans ;-) ..!

T - 14 days...

2011-06-13T03:10:00.000+02:00

We are almost there...

Testing new Engine ;-) ...

2011-04-12T02:21:00.000+02:00

We are still alive ;-) (although it has become quiet around our team)...

Bahiera is about to design the prototype for our upcoming next project (which won't be EXCELSIOR related, nor a CRPG at all ;-) !), so I have time to reconsider our future 3D development efforts, testing several engines and tools - maybe, I have found what I've been looking for...

Testing the Editor!

Running the Engine!

Dragon Age 2 DEMO

2011-03-05T17:29:00.000+01:00

Yeeeh - I'm back in the new Dragon Age 2 DEMO - hehe!

Just training my fighting skills for the release version next week..!

Just another life-sign posting...

2011-01-14T17:35:00.000+01:00

Hello!

Just want to post another life-sign... - I will post more infos during the next days! Still busy working...

Just a life-sign...

2010-12-15T18:38:00.000+01:00

I am still working on the project for one of our clients... - seems that it 'll take a bit longer than estimated :-( !

Just want to give you a 'life-sign' ;-) ...

Still waiting for Bahiera's feedback to announce our new game project, so let's wait together!

Hope to release Chapter 2 of 'EXCELSIOR - The Beginning' at the end of the year. YES, we give TIME a new meaning *lol*...

Busy as always...

2010-11-06T03:14:00.002+01:00

Hi folks!

I know, I have announced that we'll re-design the Tucan Entertainment Website and nothing has happened so far...

...but I am currently doing some contract work for one of our Clients and I am on a busy schedule! ;-)

Bahiera has done some planning for our new game project (TBA) and we all hope to get started soon.

Did I say 'we'? :-) ...this time I will 'only' do some supplemental coding, like Networking (MMO-style), as I am still assigned to our fMail project as Lead to get the long anticipated fMail v1.7 out of the door (in Q1 2011).

I'll keep you updated...

Back in Black to help the Dwarves again...

2010-09-10T17:25:00.001+02:00

Yeeeh - I'm back in the new Dragon Age Episode 'Golems of Amgarrak'... - hehe!

Did I mention that I **love** the 'Deep Roads' and the Thaigs..?

EXCELSIOR Game-Development has been put on ice...

2010-08-13T03:32:00.002+02:00

Now it's official! EXCELSIOR Game-Development has been put on ice (for a long, long time) until further notice (maybe forever!)...

The Black Book Edition of EXCELSIOR will be published on EXCELSIOR **online** from time to time, so if you are still interested in the fantastic epic story of the EXCELSIOR Saga, you should bookmark this Site.

Tucan Entertainment will focus its resources on the further development of fMail, the High-Tech AntiSpam-Solution and on another not-yet-announced Game-Project ;-) for which we 'll assemble a new professional team.

This Site will be closed, completely redesigned and relaunched in the next weeks.

THANK YOU to our fans, who have followed us so truly in the past decade. Maybe, we'll receive the vaporware award for the EXCELSIOR Game ;-) ..?

Announcing upcoming fMail Tools ME (Mobile Edition) + other news...

2010-07-20T00:25:00.000+02:00

Our first coding tests on Smartphones were very successful, so we are planning to develop a new Mobile Edition of our famous fMail Tools... - to be released in late Q4 this year (ETA).

First we have to finish development on fMail Server v1.7 to get it out of the door on 09/30/2010. After that we are on to develop v2 of our fMail Tools and to improve the management area (including fMail Server account management) of registered fMail Customers via fMail's WebSite.

Carry on!

Securing/Controlling a Console Application..?

2010-07-08T20:30:00.000+02:00

As I started to work on this project, I have been so sure that it'll be possible...

Okay, here is the to-do list:

1. Disable Minimize, Maximize and Close Buttons in the upper right corner of the Console window.
2. Remove/Delete: Minimize, Maximize and Close from the Console's system-menu.
3. Intercept CTRL+C and CTRL-Break.
4. Handle/Intercept User Logoff and System Shutdown.
5. Disable Close from Taskbar (Window Close).
6. Launch/Terminate the Console Application from another App. (Windows Forms-App.), but the Console App. needs to be closed by TYPING 'quit' and hitting the Return-Key ;-) ...

Is this possible..?

1. successfully achieved!
2. successfully achieved!
3. partially achieved!
4. FAILED!
5. FAILED!
6. successfully achieved!

So I learned it the hard way: Console Applications (Windows) are DIFFERENT from normal Apps. (Windows).

If anyone is interested in my Code (how 1, 2, 3 and 6 were coded in C#), just drop me a Mail and I will make another Blog-Post, showing my nice WinAPI hacks...

MIME API changes within fMail planned after v1.7 Beta1

2010-07-03T01:00:00.000+02:00

As you might know, MIME is specified in six linked RFC memoranda: RFC 2045, RFC 2046, RFC 2047, RFC 4288, RFC 4289 and RFC 2049, which together define the specifications.

Therefore (because of its complexity) we decided to use an 'external' MIME Parser beginning with fMail v1.7 Beta2 as we have only implemented a few MIME APIs for fMail so far (just what we needed). Now, we need a better and more complex MIME parsing, but we don't have enough free team resources to do this on our own (developing such a component according to our high quality standards ;-) would cost us 4 months of dev.-time). And we don't want to maintain it, should the RFCs ever become obsolete by newer ones ;-) !

So we looked for a 'perfect' MIME Parser and discovered MIME4NET. If you'll ever need a MIME Parser, it should be your first choice!

fMail v1.7 - first Beta planned for July 2010

2010-07-01T23:54:00.000+02:00

Very hot summer days - Bacardi- & Coding-Time ;-) !

We have written so much code during the last 3 weeks, so we are very confident to release Beta 1 of fMail v1.7 this month.

Can't wait to see it in action...

fMail's Management APIs use our new DBv2 APIs now...

2010-06-19T00:35:00.001+02:00

Finally fMail's Management APIs have been altered to use our newly released Database v2 APIs.

It's amazing - the code of the Management APIs could be reduced by 2393(!!) lines ;-), runs faster now, uses fewer memory, lowers the workload of the GC and is 100% portable to Unix/Linux and Mac w/o changing a single line of code. In addition MS SQL Server (on Windows), mySQL Server (on Windows AND Unix/Linux) can be used as Database Servers by just setting one registry entry!

fMail v1.7 is coming along ;-) ...

Pushing fMail's Version Number - all hands at TE are pushing fMail ;-)

2010-06-04T23:48:00.001+02:00

We are currently working on fMail v1.7 - what's new?

* will completely use our new Database v2 API
* will introduce FID = fMail Infrastructure for Datacenters, separating the Server into Front-End (SMTP, Spam Protection Technologies 1 & 2), super-secret fMail Middleware-Technology, Back-End (Spam Protection Technology 3, IMAP4/POP3) and Web-Technologies (WebSites, Web-Services for Tools, Outlook AddIn, etc.)
* will have a new error-tracking system on MTI (Mail Transfer Agent for Incoming Mails), will be transferred to MTA in a later version (especially when the new MTA will be implemented)
* will feature new fully-threaded MTO (Mail Transfer Agent for Outgoing Mails)
* will introduce completely re-designed Spam Protection Technology 3 (post-processing for accepted Mails)
* and many more features...

New Mailbox-Server (Back-End) for fMail v1.5

2010-05-24T18:21:00.001+02:00

During the last week we developed a new BackEnd-Server, which will host Mailboxes for fMail and will act as IMAP/POP3-Server.

In addition it will be used for the new post-processing process (Spam-Detection Level 3) for accepted Mails. It will perfectly fit in our upcoming new FID (fMail Infrastructure for Datacenters) technology, in which our fMail AntiSpam SMTP-Engine will run as Front-End.

We also completed/updated our new DBv2 API last week. The new Database API integrates all kind of DB-related stuff regarding fMail (Front-End, Back-End and Web) and deprecates the 'old' v1 from now on. This will help us to develop new fMail APIs at the speed of light ;-) ...
It works on MS SQL (Windows), mySQL (Windows AND Linux), both 32bit and 64bit, without changing a single line of code!

More infos about FID and new fMail features soon...

Shock! The Captain's leaving...

2010-05-07T23:15:00.000+02:00

Sorry for posting this so late, but I didn't know until now that Steve, the fearless OGRE Project Lead, is retiring from the role of project lead as of 27th April 2010: read -> http://www.ogre3d.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=57362

On behalf of our Team here at Tucan Entertainment, we wish you the very best and that you'll get well soon...
Thanks for all the tremendous work! Take care - our prayers are with you..!

fMail Server 2010 64bit version - ready for testing...

2010-05-05T21:44:00.004+02:00

Today, we 've setup one of our Test-Servers with the new 64bit version of fMail Server 2010 !

As we started to design fMail back in 2007, we have planned to support a wide variety of Platforms:
* Windows Server (and Workstations) should be able to run fMail as 32bit and 64bit version - done! Including one version specially made available for Intel's Itanium Architecture (IA64), but we need an Itanium first for testing ;-) - if you have one and don't need it, plz PM me for donation :-D !!
* Gentoo Linux / openSuSE should be able to run fMail (at least as 32bit) - partially done! Some APIs need fixes, especially the new DatabaseCore (v2) is needed with some modifications.
* SQL Server should be the primary Database-Backend on Windows - done!
* Additional mySQL support on Windows - needs DB-Core v2!
* mySQL support on Linux - look above!
* fMail should run on Solaris x86 - hmm, don't know if we'll do this (but at least we have Screenshots of an early fMail 2008 Server running on Solaris) - no joke!
* Oracle support on Windows/Linux/Solaris - abandoned! ...but you should never say never ;-) !

So we are more than proud that fMail Server 2010 is now available as 32bit AND 64bit on the Windows Platform - Yeah!

fMail 2010 released as 32bit version - new features planned...

2010-04-25T02:43:00.000+02:00

Howdy!

We have made fMail 2010 available to our customers two days ago. It's the 32bit version, which uses C# 4.0 and runs on .NET Framework 4.0. Now we are about to build the new 64bit version.

Our Team has set up a roadmap for this year and I will post some new (planned) highlights soon. Our forefront spam-blocking system is -as always- very good, but we will soon introduce some new middleware processing system, which will eleminate the very few spam-mails still passing through from time to time.

In addition, we'll also introduce a new user- and domain-based Quarantine-System and we will give the Users more control over the Spam-Processing process (for the advanced users, default settings will always suffice), so they can decide on each level, whether blocked Mails should be bound to Quarantine or not.

Don't get me wrong: fMail is best known for having an EXTREMELY SMALL Quarantine folder, saving our customers a lot of time every day, but our Team thought that you should have MORE OPTIONS on how Spam is 'controlled' by fMail.

More features to be revealed soon - stay tuned!

Fit for 64bit and C# 4.0? Announcing upcoming fMail Server 2010...

2010-04-17T19:46:00.000+02:00

Today we have tested fMail 2008 (32bit) on a 64bit Windows 2008 R2 Server using a 64bit SQL Server 2008 for Database operations. Works like a charm!

We are currently in the process of targeting fMail towards C# 4.0. In addition we'll make it ready for 64bit, checking all P/Invoke-calls for using the correct parameters (System.IntPtr) and NOT Integers! Maybe, we'll have to correct some Native Structures, too.

Internally, we are using fMail 1.3 (unstable) since September 2009 on our Development servers, the (current) stable version 1.2 has been released in July 2009. I think we'll move forward to 1.5 (fMail Server 2010, C# 4.0, 64bit) for testing, skipping v1.4, so fMail Server 2010 will be v1.6 on release (May 2010).

Two busy months have passed...

2010-04-08T21:09:00.000+02:00

Hi there!

Just noticed that I haven't blogged something during the last weeks, but I had a very busy time.

Now, I am back with a new Dev.-Station (just sold my old Notebook on which I coded fMail ;-) !) and hopefully with much more time to work on projects, which really matter :-D !

Threading Part 2 (special): CoRoutines, Microthreading and beyond...

2010-02-02T20:37:00.000+01:00

Hi there, fellow Readers!

Today we'll continue our Threading series with a **special** blog-post. It's more about threading techniques apart from standard .NET Framework 'real' Threads.

I also don't want to handle code-examples, I want to talk about several techniques I am currently evaluating here at Tucan Entertainment, which may be implemented into our EXCELSIOR GameEngine in the future.

If you know the Unity3D Engine, you may know their (C# based) scripting technique 'Coroutines & Yield'. A very interesting concept. As I discovered these features for the very first time, I wondered WHY the statement is called 'yield' and how this magically works 'under the hood'. Of course, this kind of technique is very interesting for the ambitious Game-Developer ;-), so it would be great to get my fingers on such a piece of code...

Yesterday, I found the answer, looking on a IMHO very promising technique, called Iterator-based Microthreading. This technique, which is intended to run on a single(!!) Thread, embedded in our current multi-threaded environment (multiple task-oriented work-queues with schedulers, communicating across Threads via an intelligent Messaging-System) would be the icing on the cake :-D ! I am sure, we 'll implement it in the future, cause there are so many possibilities of usage, which will improve our Engine.

In addition, we are also currently evaluating Microsoft's new Parallel Extensions for the new upcoming .NET 4.0 Framework, which may also used by our Engine in the future, replacing / optimizing / supplementing some of our current techniques. I love the process of abandoning code in favor of new techniques coming available. Indeed, I hate it, really! It reminds me on our old EXCELSIOR Toolset, which we had rewritten from scratch five times :-( !

Another interesting approach are Mono's Continuations, which are so closely tied to the Runtime, that they are only available on Mono (Continuations won't run on MS .NET Framework).

I will refer to this Blog-Post later this year, when we have made decisions on our Final Engine-Design. As for now, I will leave it up to you, making the right conclusions, which technique(s) to use or to combine. Please mail me your thoughts if you'd like.

Dragon Age: Origins - DLC Return to Ostagar

2010-02-02T15:11:00.007+01:00

Here we are - back at Ostagar...

It's nice to have this DLC-AddOn to shorten the time till DA:O Awakenings is available (around 03/22/10).

Just bought it for Euro 3,49 (thx to the weak Dollar!)... - will play it through next weekend!

Threading Part 1: CheckForIllegalCrossThreadCalls = false;

2010-01-21T02:45:00.001+01:00

It's always funny on the Web. If it comes to Multi-Threading, there are sooo many wrong articles on the Net. Myths, rumors and wild guess can be found everywhere. I will write some blog-posts over the year, which will look behind the scenes and reveal some valuable information regarding Multi-Threading...

Don't get me wrong: I won't teach you how to write proper Multi-Threaded Applications! I'll only talk about 'borderline cases' and try to destroy some myths ;-) !

Today, we'll talk about using CheckForIllegalCrossThreadCalls = false;

Developing a Multi-Threaded Game-Engine and a Toolset for developing Games under .NET / C# is pure fun - believe me! Especially, if you want to use a C++ based Render-Engine, which should run (render) on its own Thread, but render (its output) to a managed Windows Form (or managed Control), which runs on the UI-Thread.

Just search on the Net for Multi-Threading + UI-Thread and you'll get some interesting articles as a result. Nearly every article speaks about: 'Never use a Control from a thread other than the UI-Thread (startup-thread).' - of course, it's not clever trying to use Controls from outside the UI-Thread as they ARE NOT THREAD-SAFE! Absolutely true!

(Managed) Windows Forms / Controls are single-threaded by Design, so you 'should' never access them from a Thread other they were created on (UI-Thread). 'Should' - I 've used 'should'!

I recommend to read Daniel Appleman's Book: Moving to VB .NET: Strategies, Concepts, and Code. Okay, it's 'old' and about VB.NET (not C# ;-) !), but it features an interesting chapter about .NET and Threading. These were the days (back in 2001) when the .NET Framework had been in its Beta-Test. And these were also the days of the Visual Basic coders, mainly developing Business Applications, which were easier and faster to develop using Visual Basic than C++. The VB coders could do nearly everything: accessing the WinAPI, using the MTS (huh! what's that? Microsoft Transaction Server ;-) ! ...or should I say COM+ Server? ...or better Application Server, for the younger ones among us?), etc.
But one big thing had been missing - the use of Multi-Threading! So, most of the former VB Coders eagerly awaited the release of the .NET Framework, to be able to write multi-threaded applications with VB.NET.
Mr. Appleman advises in his book to be very careful with threads and to not consider Multi-Threading as an all-purpose 'weapon' doing concurrent things (tasks) easily. You should really read it! IMHO, his 'warnings' were addressed to the 'normal' average VB Coder and were made to prevent them from using threads without the necessary understanding of what's really going on (under the hood).

Back to topic! Using the WinAPI (i.e. with C++) there are NO restrictions accessing Forms / Controls from different threads! And: using the 'old' .NET Framework 1.x, there is no such thing called 'CheckForIllegalCrossThreadCalls'! WTH has this been introduced in .NET 2.0?

I assume for the same reasons as Mr. Appleman has written his chapter. To prevent the 'normal' Coder from doing dangerous things w/o having the necessary knowledge!

But I don't want you to leave w/o providing you with the 'right' knowledge of how to write Responsive UIs with Multiple Threads by Ian Griffiths. A very helpful article and you should learn from it! As for me, I would design my UIs a 'little bit different' than shown in the article ;-) ... - but, it's really okay for Business Applications!

On to CheckForIllegalCrossThreadCalls = false;

You can and SHOULD use it! REALLY! But ONLY if you KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING and ONLY in scenarios WHERE IT SEES FIT! Forget the warnings about it and that MS has only put this in for debugging purposes.

In my personal example (rendering on a Control from a different thread) it's SAFE to use, cause I know (can make sure) that the Control is not accessed from the UI-Thread, ONLY from my Rendering-Thread!

I use it in the Constructor of my Control (not Form! - ...as I only want this control to be excluded from the checks!), like:

public Render3D_Panel()
{
CheckForIllegalCrossThreadCalls = false;
}

It's a static property.

If you think I am wrong or had gone mad ;-), just write me a mail...

How to draw your Controls - smooth and flicker free...

2010-01-20T23:45:00.001+01:00

Hello friends!

This year I will post more nice how-to's - today I want to talk about drawing on Controls. I often see really bad made custom controls which flickers and don't show a smooth behavior.

Normally when a Control is rendered, 2(!!) Events are fired in order: OnPaintBackground, OnPaint

First we should disable OnPaintBackground completely:

protected override void OnPaintBackground (System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs pevent)
{
   //do nothing
}

Now we need to set the correct Window Styles (should be done in the Constructor of the Control):

this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.DoubleBuffer |
             ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint |
             ControlStyles.UserPaint |
             ControlStyles.Opaque, true);

If you set no Styles, your Control does the following 'under the hood':

this.OnPaintBackground();
this.OnPaint();

If you are going to use Double Buffering on, it looks like this:

this.OnPaintBackground();
this.BeginUpdate();
this.OnPaint();
this.EndUpdate();

But if you turn on the AllPaintingInWmPaint style, we 'll get our desired result:

this.BeginUpdate();
this.OnPaint();
this.EndUpdate();

Keep in mind: If you are going to use AllPaintingInWmPaint, you will get a System.ArgumentException from System.Drawing.dll from time to time, which tells you that you 've used an Invalid Parameter. Obviously a Bug! You can avoid it by NOT disposing your Graphics objects; use private class members instead, like:

private System.Drawing.Font drawFont = new System.Drawing.Font("Tahoma", 9, FontStyle.Bold);
private System.Drawing.SolidBrush drawBrush = new System.Drawing.SolidBrush(System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(162, 173, 201));
private System.Drawing.StringFormat drawFormat = new System.Drawing.StringFormat();

[...]

private void Render3D_Panel_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
    e.Graphics.DrawString("Test-Text", this.drawFont, this.drawBrush, 30.0F, 30.0F, this.drawFormat);
}

If you have any questions, just mail me ;-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010 - The Year We Make Contact ;-)

2009-12-31T18:49:00.000+01:00

Finally, we have reached the end of the year - I 'd never thought getting HERE...

It has been a very busy, but also successful year. We have accomplished a lot, but not all things we've planned. This year we'll abandon our old tradition, writing a detailed report about what we've done. I am not in the mood ;-) to sum up all these stuff - to be honest, I am (again) on a very busy schedule and it's IMHO more productive to report about important things, so I'll keep this posting short...

On behalf of our Team here at Tucan Entertainment, I wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR and watch out for Monoliths and Space Babies! If you do not know what I mean, click here.

Merry Christmas - EXCELSIOR The Beginning: Chapter 1 released

2009-12-23T21:51:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas to all of you...

JA - wir haben es noch rechtzeitig vor Heiligabend geschafft: EXCELSIOR - The Beginning, Kapitel 1 ist ENDLICH freigegeben...

Sollte sich noch ein Tippfehler, oder anderer Bug im Text befinden, bitten wir Euch um eine kurze Nachricht.

FRÖHLICHE WEIHNACHTEN, EXCELSIOR-FANS...

...und habt Spass am Lesen: DOWNLOAD

EXCELSIOR Book 1 - Chapter 1 slightly delayed...

2009-12-19T14:30:00.002+01:00

I am so sorry to announce that we have to (slightly) delay the publishing of our 1st Chapter (EXCELSIOR 1 - The Beginning). The Manuscripts need to be formatted and we have to make some grammar corrections here and there, so it's just MY FAULT not having enough time to get it done in time (right before Christmas).

Please forgive me! I'll try hard to get it released between 12/24/09 and 12/31/09 - promised!

I must admit that the MAIN REASON for having not enough time lies in (the NEW) Development Start of our EXCELSIOR Game-Engine ;-)

I 've written in one of my previous posts that our infrastructure to our underlying Render-/Sound-/Physics Engines has been completed, so the next step would be the re-design of our Game Engine and I 've already started this big huge task - still waiting for our members to join me again ;-) !!! These 'circumstances' should help you to forgive me, not publishing Chapter 1 tomorrow?! Keep this Blog watching to get Chapter 1 asap!

Prologue of EXCELSIOR 1 - The Beginning (Black Book Edition)

2009-12-07T00:31:00.001+01:00

Ugh! Sorry - I am late as always! But here we go. We 'll keep our promise and start to publish the Prologue of our 1st EXCELSIOR Book (The Beginning) to the public.

NOTE: if you 'll ever plan to play EXCELSIOR, it is surely a MAJOR Spoiler to read the Books. But our Development will still last for years, so you'll hopefully have forgotten the complete plot, when the Game gets published ;-) !

Just kidding - start to read the Book, you have deserved it for waiting sooo long... - ...and keep in mind, it's ONLY the short Prologue and in GERMAN language only!

The 1st Chapter called 'The Assignment' (dt. 'Der Auftrag') will be published on 12/20/2009 right before Christmas and the 2nd Chapter called 'The Fountain' (dt. 'Der Brunnen') will be published on the last day of the year, 12/31/2009, so just START READING!

Duncan, your truly 'Santa Claus' (late as always).

EXCELSIOR - The Beginning / Prologue -> DOWNLOAD

The EXCELSIOR Projects continue...

2009-12-04T17:03:00.001+01:00

Hi there, fellow Adventurers and EXCELSIOR fans!

The Development process CONTINUES after being put to 'sleep' on 7th October 2007 - we had been very sorry since then about being 'forced' -mainly by low funds- to take this step back in 2007...

Many fans -and I can truly understand that- never thought that we'll come 'back' - but HERE we are!

We also made the promise to port back some of our Base-Technologies (originally developed for the EXCELSIOR projects), which had been incorporated in our fMail project and evolved over the past 2 years... - voila: already done since of yesterday!

And for all of you, who followed us since Oct. 2004 and will follow us for the next years ;-) we'll have a gift for you. As I already announced in my previous blog-post, we will release the first (uncut) EXCELSIOR Book for FREE! It's the so-called Black-Book Edition (detailed German description below). We will release it in German language ONLY, so I'll switch to German right now...

Kurz etwas 'Geschichtliches':

=======================

Die EXCELSIOR Saga entstand in den Jahren 1986 - 1989 aus der Feder von Robert R. Richter.

Anfang 2002 wurde die Roman-Serie vom Autor und dem EXCELSIOR Developers Team noch einmal überarbeitet. Man entschied sich die Storyline komplett zu ändern. Hierfür wurde der grosse 'Mittelteil' aus der Saga heraus genommen, um als Vorlage für ein mehrteiliges Mittelalter-Rollenspiel auf dem Computer zu dienen. Geplant wurde zuerst eine 10-teilige Serie, parallel dazu sollte noch ein 2-teiliges Prelude hinzukommen, welches dann wiederum auf einen Teil zusammengeschnitten werden sollte. Bis heute wurde der 4. Teil mit dem Titel 'The Arrival of the Three Kings' zu 33% auf Basis eines Modules für Bioware's Neverwinter Nights 1 umgesetzt (zumindest die Areas, aber nur einige Dialoge und Plots). Auch mit der Entwicklung des 1. Preludes unter dem Titel 'Mysteries on the Isle of Justice' wurde auf Basis der gleichen Technologie begonnen.

Im Oktober 2004 stoppte man den Entwicklungsprozess und formierte das Team unter dem Namen 'Tucan Entertainment Developers Team' neu. Ein Unternehmen gleichen Namens wurde gegründet. Um die EXCELSIOR Saga, besonders die Rollenspiel-Elemente, besser umsetzen zu können, entschied man sich für die Entwicklung einer eigenen Game-Engine und eines eigenen Regelwerkes. Dieser aufwendige Prozess dauert bis heute an und wird voraussichtlich noch einige (vielleicht sogar viele) Jahre dauern.

Im Januar 2009 entschied sich der Autor, die Romane nach und nach in der ungekürzten Originalfassung zu veröffentlichen. Nach einigen Diskussionen innerhalb des Teams kam man jedoch zu dem Entschluss, die Originalfassung mit den Neuerungen aus den Jahren 2002-2004 zu verbessern und eine noch neuere, erweiterte, umfangreichere Version zu erstellen. Diese sogenannte 'finale' Version wurde als EXCELSIOR 'Black Book Edition' gekennzeichnet und wird Ende 2009 mit dem ersten Band EXCELSIOR - The Beginning der Öffentlichkeit zum ersten Mal präsentiert.

Die komplette EXCELSIOR Serie besteht nun aus 13 Bänden mit den folgenden (englischen, liest sich besser so ;-) !) Titeln:

1. EXCELSIOR - The Beginning

2. EXCELSIOR - Mysteries on the Isle of Justice

3. EXCELSIOR - Encounter at Castle Rock

4. EXCELSIOR - The Arrival of the Three Kings

5. EXCELSIOR - A Call in the Wilderness

6. EXCELSIOR - Princess of the Dawn

7. EXCELSIOR - The Sword of Justice

8. EXCELSIOR - Resindar's Mountain

9. EXCELSIOR - The Return of the Kings

10. EXCELSIOR - Lord Richter's Revenge

11. EXCELSIOR - Under Siege

12. EXCELSIOR - Avatarhood

13. EXCELSIOR - A Final Journey

Die EXCELSIOR Romane sind komplett in deutsch und die einzelnen Kapitel werden in gewissen Zeitabständen als PDFs zum Download angeboten. (manche kostenlos, manche nicht ;-) !)

Frameworks ready ;-) / EXCELSIOR - The Beginning (eBook)

2009-12-02T20:58:00.002+01:00

Okay, our Frameworks for Rendering 3D Scenes, playing Sounds/Music and Support for Physics are ready ;-), so our To-Do Lists got smaller this year...

We are now about re-designing our plans for our Game-Engine, not sure about our Networking plans at the moment, but this is currently not a top priority.

BUT - we'll have something for YOU for the Holiday season... - we 'll give away the first chapters of our Black-Book Edition of 'EXCELSIOR - The Beginning' for FREE - but, in GERMAN language ONLY - sorry ;-) !

If we 'll receive nice comments :-) maybe we 'll publish the COMPLETE Book for FREE..!

So come back often - we 'll start with the Prelude-Chapter on 12/06/09 - right HERE!

The Man with the Hat is back...

2009-11-08T02:07:00.000+01:00

...but this time, I have no hat at the moment *lol* - need to find one first!

I am the man on the right - name is Duncan (as you might already know)...

Dragon Age: Origins is definitely and truly the long-awaited successor to Neverwinter Nights 1 - no doubt!

I must admit, I was very sceptic at first, but now I 've the 'feeling' of true RPG playing back.

GREAT STORY - GREAT RPG - BUY IT !

Windows 7 - upgraded from Windows Vista

2009-10-31T12:43:00.001+01:00

Two days ago I decided to upgrade from Windows Vista Business to Windows 7 Professional. I downloaded the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and checked my machine for compatibility issues. Needed 4 1/2 hours to 'adjust' my dev.-station (removed some drivers and programs) and to make a backup of all essential files. The Upgrade Process took another 4 hours! After booting Windows 7, I noticed some strange behavior when trying to logoff/shutdown/reboot my system. It told me that one program is still running and that I have to decide whether to shutdown the program by force or to let it finish first (which it never did!). I found out that some copy protection crap called Tages caused these issues. My favorite Game 'The Witcher' has installed this crap on my disk. After removing/re-installing Tages using the Tool on their Homepage, these issues are gone! Lucky me: just thought about doing a clean install! Microsoft had done a PERFECT job - thanx to MS for such a GREAT UPGRADE system - I am really impressed how everything is still 'alive' after such a big 'operation'! Just my 2 cents on the upgrade process - will post more on Windows 7 after some days...

The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings

2009-10-10T14:53:00.003+02:00

Okay - what should I say..?

IT'S AMAZING - these guys at CD Projekt ROCK ;-) !!

Just enjoy the video...

Gentoo Linux under VMware Server - Timing issues Part 2

2009-10-08T12:41:00.003+02:00

Okay - it has been a long time since I 've written about Part 1 (06/06/08), but what I had proposed last year, had only worked with a Linux Kernel <= 2.6.24 so far (and not perfectly, but acceptable). As we have moved on to newer Kernels (i.e. 2.6.30), some of my proposed kernel boot params caused some strange issues, incl. a kernel boot failure on AMD Dual Core systems (Intel still works fine). Also the correct timing can only be maintained for approx. 5.2 days till it goes wild (don't ask me, WHY this happens, but it does!). So we will iron-out all issues in Part 2 for the worst-case hardware-/software-scenario one can encouter, if it comes to VMware Linux Guest OSs under Windows (especially Windows Server 2003 and above) using AMD Dual Core processors.

1. We 'll need a new Processor driver from AMD for our Windows 2003 server, directly from AMD (URL shortened with bit.ly, will re-direct to AMD): http://bit.ly/wU2xo

2. Now, we use the DualCore Optimizer from AMD: http://bit.ly/14TLWw - just install it, no other action is necessary.

3. Compile your Linux Kernel with an interrupt rate of 100Hz, set pre-empting to CONFIG_PREEMPT_NONE. And don't forget to disable all Multi-Processor stuff (SMP/HT) before compiling!

4. Add two parameters to the Kernel's Boot-Params (in your Boot-Loader): clocksource=acpi_pm elevator=noop

5. Use only 1 Processor (added to VMware config)!

6. Add the following 5 lines (via Notepad) to your VMware config file (and adjust the cpukHz according to your CPU, i.e. if you are using a AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3600+ with a CPU speed of 2 GHz, just set it to 2000000):

host.cpukHz = "2000000"
hostinfo.noTSC = "TRUE"
tools.syncTime = "TRUE"
host.TSC.noForceSync = "TRUE"
prefvmx.useRecommendedLockedMemSize = "TRUE"

7. Install the Open VM Tools on your Linux Guest OS - Source available at: http://bit.ly/RR1cV

8. Have fun - you 'll be always 'on time' ;-)

SSL/TLS on all fMail Products

2009-10-03T18:31:00.002+02:00

Thanks to StartCom Ltd. - You guys are great!

They are offering the cheapest certificates around and Class 1 Certs. for free!!

We are currently in the process of applying for Class 2 validation to get our highly desired code-signing certificate. We have replaced all certificates on all servers (Web, SMTP, POP3, IMAP4) with Certs. from StartCom - currently as Class 1 Certs., but as soon as we'll have passed our Class 2 validation, we'll upgrade them to Class 2, too...

Microsoft has put their Root CA to the Windows Cert. Store last month - Windows XP Users should look under optional updates for the Root CA update. Vista and above will update the certs. automatically on the first request/usage.

As it comes to our downloadable/shipping products (like fMail Tools or fMail Outlook 2007 AddIn), we have stopped releasing new versions until our new Code-Signing Cert. from StartCom arrives ;-) ! Stay tuned...

TE DBv2 API - new features...

2009-09-04T02:09:00.003+02:00

We have added MySQL support to our new TE DBv2 API for the Windows and the Linux platform and we will soon provide support for Oracle databases on both platforms, too.

As we started fMail back in 2007 we designed our APIs to build and run on the Windows and Linux platform. But as the project advanced some APIs were broken on Linux, especially some DB APIs and the support for SSL/TLS streams. With our new DBv2 system we have corrected the Linux issues, but it will take a long time till all fMail APIs will use our new DBv2.

I am sure we will be able to correct the SSL/TLS issues on Linux, too. I am eagerly awaiting the day when fMail will be back on Linux :-) !

TE DBv2 API goes BETA...

2009-08-29T19:57:00.002+02:00

We have finished our first implementation of our new Database v2 API, which will replace our old DBv1 API soon. We are also evaluating the possibility to update our existing projects with the new API. Any new/upcoming TE project will use the new Database stuff to save development time when working with Databases. More infos soon...

F# in 20 mins. - why should I use it at all..?

2009-08-05T14:16:00.005+02:00

Just read Chris Smith's completely unique view about F#.

Quote: "If you’ve ever written a .NET application and found yourself fighting against the language to get your idea expressed, then perhaps F# is what you’ve been looking for."

Hmm - I would say: "If you’ve ever written a .NET application and found yourself fighting against C# to get your idea expressed, then perhaps you should consider quit programming. To help us all make the world more bug-free! Thank you!" ;-)

BTW: you should read Chris' article - if you have any interesting thoughts about F#, I would like to hear from you...

Security Issues - continued...

2009-08-01T12:14:00.002+02:00

http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=279508

BIND - the DNS-Server - had a very nasty Bug...

Security Issues...

2009-07-29T11:48:00.005+02:00

It's really amazing how buggy software is these days...

It all started with http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972890, continued with http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973472, made me angry with http://blog.mozilla.com/security/2009/07/14/critical-javascript-vulnerability-in-firefox-35/, made me cry reading this: http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2009-2479, escalated with http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa09-03.html, and finally makes me sad reading this: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-jul-ans.mspx.

WTH is there no better QA ?

fMail Polo-Shirts available now

2009-07-05T17:49:00.003+02:00

Hi Folks!

We have made a few Polo-Shirts for our fMail Fans out there...

They will be available for ordering on our new fMail WebSite soon.

If anyone of you can't wait, plz mail to info@tucan-entertainment.com with the Subject-Line: "fMail Shirt" and I will send you payment information where to send your Euro 25,- to (plus Euro 5,90 for S&H in Germany, worldwide S&H fees on request).

And don't forget to include your Size, we have shirts in S, M, L, XL, XXL, XXXL, XXXXL and XXXXXL available.

f-mail.eu now on Twitter

2009-07-04T14:00:00.003+02:00

...just wanna let you know that we have created an fMail Twitter Account: http://twitter.com/fMail_eu

fMail related News will be posted there in the future AND, of course, on fMail's new Home at http://www.f-mail.eu/ when f-Mail.eu is completed.

New Team Member invitation granted by Duncan

2009-07-03T21:33:00.004+02:00

Okay - we have not accepted another Team Member since 2004, so this may come as a little surprise to the world...

I have granted permission to S.K. Nine to apply as a new Tucan Team Member.

We have assigned a complete fMail Sub-Project to him, which we 'll keep secret till its completion. S.K. Nine will be accepted as a Regular Team Member with the permission to apply for Core Team Membership dependent on the success of the assigned project.

On behalf of the Tucan Entertainment Developers Team, I would like to...

WELCOME S.K. Nine !

...about Workloads and about the last weeks

2009-07-01T15:53:00.002+02:00

Hi there, Folks!

I'm sorry that I have been absent for so long, so I don't know where to start...

The last weeks have been extremely busy. I didn't find some time to keep you updated, but if you had followed me on Twitter, you should have catched up with some news at least...

Our fMail Publisher has formed a strategic alliance with ISN (note: you should know ISN, if you have read this blog the last years) to improve hosting and support for fMail services.

fMail is out to the public for almost 15(!!) months now! We have published 8 major updates/upgrades for fMail since then and are currently about to release another one soon...

We'll start a new 'home' on the Net for fMail products and services in the next weeks, so plz watch my Blog for the 'big' announcement.

The last 3 weekends were cruel. I had no time for myself, so I am eager to see the next weekend coming along...

I know, I have promised to blog more frequently in the past, so it doesn't make sense, to state this another time... - just let's hope that I'll make this come true in the future... - so long!

Working on fMail 2008 June Release 2009

2009-05-24T17:07:00.002+02:00

We have now added support for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to fMail. In addition, we have added support for Virus scanning on these systems and on Vista. We have improved the creation of Virus Notifications and have found a Bug in Outlook 2007 :).

We are currently about to improve the NDRs for local-to-local delivery (external NDRs are not necessary as we only accept the right Mails ;) ). The Out-Of-Office Replies will feature a time-based expiration soon.

PLUS many other improvements - will be named on release.

Testing VS 2010 Beta 1

2009-05-24T17:04:00.002+02:00

...testing the new Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1!

MoW - just some impressions

2009-05-04T22:30:00.001+02:00

...dangerous sea-travel

...nice ship-to-ship battle

...back in Westgate

MoW - a really nice Adventure!

2009-05-04T12:24:00.004+02:00

...just arrived in Westgate!

I have play-tested MoW (only a few quests done so far) and was very impressed.

You should buy this little gem. MotB and SoZ are not needed to play MoW, so what are you waiting for? Go and buy it! Okay, it's only a SinglePlayer Module, but it's the first Adventure since 'The Witcher', which were able to make me smile ;) ...

Inviting all Team Members to setup a new Blog

2009-05-02T03:27:00.003+02:00

To all staff-members: please move your Blogs to blogspot.com and send me your new Blog-URLs via E-Mail, so I can integrate your Blog-Postings on our HP's NEWS Section - TIA, Duncan.

Just purchased Mysteries of Westgate

2009-05-02T03:23:00.003+02:00

Just purchased the new NWN2 Adventure Pack 1: Mysteries of Westgate developed by Ossian Studios. Hope I will find some time to play-test it this weekend.

First Blog Entry on my new Home

2009-05-02T02:24:00.000+02:00

Unfortunately, I had to move from Windows Live Spaces to this new home. M$ had changed to the ATOM format for feeds and I didn't have the time to make adjustments to our C# based RSS reader component to fetch the ATOM format...

I don't regret this move as I always felt uncomfortable to use Live Spaces...