2010-09-19, 06:22 PM
Ex is an extension framework for Som. It does pretty much everything I ever talk about unless it's expressly said otherwise. It's for extending Som. At this point it only extends the actual game part of Som. But will probably eventually be adapted in a limited fashion to help the editors cope with future shock.
It extends Som, so you can't say what it does other than to list off every single extension, which even now is a fairly large number. Basically it works thru an additional .ini file that is added to your game. The only other stuff you should be aware of is the font folder and the localization folder. The font folder you can include the fonts your game needs so the player doesn't have to install them. By default Som needs Japanese fonts which most people don't have on their computer, so that's essential. The ini file is a lot more elaborate than Som's config file. But that's what the author uses to configure Ex for their game. Some very basic stuff Ex does is make your game playable off a CD or over a readonly network, and I'll probably add via a compressed game... without at least one bugfix playing off a USB drive can be very frustrating. It fixes the countless bugs that plague Som. And makes your game just work for everyone and feel like a quality product. Whereas without Ex maybe as few as one out of three people would be able to get your stoneage game to even work.
If your working with Vista or 7 you can use the new D3D9 mode to avoid having your desktop jacked up everytime you launch a game/test. And you can run your game inside a window so you can do other stuff at the same time. Of course there are countless other extensions and before it's done there may be a hundred times that.
PS: That's not an offensive question. It just makes you seem dull. If you're making a game with Som, Ex is pretty much more indispensable than Som itself (and most certainly better software)
It extends Som, so you can't say what it does other than to list off every single extension, which even now is a fairly large number. Basically it works thru an additional .ini file that is added to your game. The only other stuff you should be aware of is the font folder and the localization folder. The font folder you can include the fonts your game needs so the player doesn't have to install them. By default Som needs Japanese fonts which most people don't have on their computer, so that's essential. The ini file is a lot more elaborate than Som's config file. But that's what the author uses to configure Ex for their game. Some very basic stuff Ex does is make your game playable off a CD or over a readonly network, and I'll probably add via a compressed game... without at least one bugfix playing off a USB drive can be very frustrating. It fixes the countless bugs that plague Som. And makes your game just work for everyone and feel like a quality product. Whereas without Ex maybe as few as one out of three people would be able to get your stoneage game to even work.
If your working with Vista or 7 you can use the new D3D9 mode to avoid having your desktop jacked up everytime you launch a game/test. And you can run your game inside a window so you can do other stuff at the same time. Of course there are countless other extensions and before it's done there may be a hundred times that.
PS: That's not an offensive question. It just makes you seem dull. If you're making a game with Som, Ex is pretty much more indispensable than Som itself (and most certainly better software)