Version 2412 is here!

This release brings you a huge load of new features and improvements!

Top Feature: Async File Access and Async Unit Tests

• raptor now will perform all file operations async.
• All existing file_* function are unchanged and still backwards-compatible.
• A new wiki page tells you all you need to know about file access with raptor.
• LG multi-file support. The function LG_add_file_async allows you to split your locales into multiple files and load them piece by piece during game start or dynamically any time. You can create small files for your dialogs, or one file per room, or keep it all in one huge file, it’s up to you!
• The Skins & Themes had a big overhaul and now really work CSS-like, with inheritance and all.
• The skin/themes changes also required many changes in the UI System. Good news is, the interface has not changed, it’s all backwards compatible.

Affected subsystems

• Savegame System
• LG
• Race
• Skins & Themes
• UI

Bug Fixes

• The LayerManager used a GameMaker internal function in a wrong way and sometimes could not deactivate objects when a layer was hidden. This is now fixed.
• array_pick_random had a wrong duplicate-detection
• The ControlTree sometimes tried to update a no-longer-existing control hierarchy (mostly on RoomEnd). This is now fixed.
• MessageBox did not resolve local variables correctly when a LG string was supplied
• Many minor bug fixes

New Features

• async_loops can now be performed through the GAMESTARTER instance, optionally showing a loading screen while they are active
• unit testing has received a big feature addition: Tests now run in a dedicated test room and show you the results with a GUI. You no longer need to analyze the log (but you still may, if you want! Log output has not changed)
• LG_hotswap now uses the new async_loop feature in raptor to reload all file parts when switching languages
• vsget and vsgetx now can also handle the entire struct being undefined and will return the _default_if_missing
• new functions string_format_number_left and string_format_number_right allows left/right aligned string formatting with leading zeros or blanks
• the implement method now allows you to supply constructor arguments when implementing other structs

Library Updates

• Canvas updated to 2.2.0
• SNAP has been updated to version 7.0.1
• scribble (deluxe) has been updated to version 9.3.5
• Due to the new features in scribble 9.3.5, all UI-Controls now offer three new variables: outline_color, shadow_color and shadow_alpha to support this cool new feature of scribble to allow us to change the outline and shadow at runtime and we no longer need to bake an exclusive font for each variance.