GearCity v2.0.0.16 and GearCity: 2nd Gear v2.6.0.2

[Eric.B]

Greetings Everyone,

GearCity

I’m happy to announce version 2.0.0.16. This update has a few reported bug fixes and some minor cleanup work. I hope to do more minor code cleanup over the next several updates. Ideally these cleanups will improve performance and decrease bugs. However, it might also cause regressions. Be sure to report any issues you come across. Most of these code cleanups however will have no impact on the program. Games, at least in the old days, are notorious for sloppy code. I’m trying to clean that up in case we go open source some point in the future.

And with that, what’s in the patch:

-Code Clean Up: Fixed potentially null pointer issue launching CEF in Linux, if for some odd reason it fails append a forward slash or the path exceeds 1024 characters.
-Code Clean Up: Failed CEF Initialization now closes the program at boot.
-Code Clean Up: Removed unneeded static lookups in main singleton framework
-Code Clean Up: Added additional song and volume loading error checking, if there is an issue at start, the game shuts down cleanly.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed invalid pointer check which could crash malformed mods.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed last song issues in music playlist
-Code Clean Up: Removed some duplicate code in initialization system.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed potential infinite loop issue if users malformed their font files. Now the game will just crash instead of locking up.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed potential file name corruption when moving the reports folder on non-ascii language Operating Systems.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed potential incorrect save locations for Linux and OSX users if the file path is over 256 characters long.
-Code Clean Up: Minor Performance Tweaks to Engine State Framework.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed unlikely potential division by zero when automatically setting scroll positions.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed unlikely event calling null GUI widgets when scrolling mouse wheel.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed unlikely undefined behavior when casting autoAdjustFontSizes on Windows or Panel Widgets
-Code Clean Up: Fixed unlikely casting of list image items to list text items.
-Code Clean Up: Minor performance improvements to AI Vehicle Design
-Code Clean Up: Fixed minor bugs in AI Car Designer component selections.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed Bug in AI Car Designer Image system.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed Bug in AI Car Designer sliders.
-Code Clean Up: Minor Performance Improvements in AI Marketing
-Code Clean Up: Minor Performance Improvements in AI Factory Construction
-Code Clean Up: Fixed AI Bonds not increasing likelihood AI builds factory on the turn they take out a bond to build a factory.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed bug in AI Engine Design that reduces maximum engines size by 1-4" under the true maximum.
-Code Clean Up: Minor Performance Improvements in AI Racing.
-Bugfix: Fixed “Hey Boss” popup when clicking “Format” when making a trim.
-Bugfix: Fixed top speed overflows due to floating point division rounding to 0 in rare circumstances.
-Engine: Added Arab language Support
-GUI: Changed quarterly offsets.
-Bugfix: Fixed Quarterly report using 4 months data in some cases.
-Bugfix: Fixed paying line of credit with negative cash funds causing negative expenses which adds positive money to your funds.
-GUI: Error message if Save or Save As fails. (Does not work with Auto-save or Save on Exit.)
-Bugfix: Fixed Random Design Value not being set on save game load until the 6th or 12th turn of the year.
-GUI: Fixed confusing wordings in the Starting Bank Loan Option help button.

GearCity: 2nd Gear

I’m also happy to announce GearCity: 2nd Gear version 2.6.0.2. This update addresses many issues you have all submitted to me, plus anything found in the GearCity update that crosses over. I also did some minor clean up work on this code base as well. All this is in preparation for Milestone #7 and the work for v2.7.0.0. I’m looking forward to it!

Here is what you can find in this update:
-Code Clean Up: Fixed potentially null pointer issue launching CEF in Linux, if for some odd reason it fails append a forward slash or the path exceeds 1024 characters.
-Code Clean Up: Failed CEF Initialization now closes the program at boot.
-Code Clean Up: Removed unneeded static lookups in main singleton framework
-Code Clean Up: Added additional song and volume loading error checking, if there is an issue at start, the game shuts down cleanly.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed invalid pointer check which could crash malformed mods.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed last song issues in music playlist
-Code Clean Up: Removed some duplicate code in initialization system.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed potential infinite loop issue if users malformed their font files. Now the game will just crash instead of locking up.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed potential file name corruption when moving the reports folder on non-ascii language Operating Systems.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed potential incorrect save locations for Linux and OSX users if the file path is over 256 characters long.
-Code Clean Up: Minor Performance Tweaks to Engine State Framework.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed unlikely potential division by zero when automatically setting scroll positions.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed unlikely event calling null GUI widgets when scrolling mouse wheel.
-Bugfix: Fixed AI Car Designer potentially using wrong Component Skill Values
-Code Clean Up: Minor performance improvements to AI Vehicle Design
-Bugfix: Fixed AI issue with Hybrid component skills
-Code Clean Up: Fixed minor bugs in AI Car Designer component selections.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed Bug in AI Car Designer Image system.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed Bug in AI Car Designer sliders.
-Code Clean Up: Minor Performance Improvements in AI Marketing
-Code Clean Up: Minor Performance Improvements in AI Factory Construction
-Code Clean Up: Fixed bug in AI Engine Design that reduces maximum engines size by 1-4" under the true maximum.
-Code Clean Up: Fixed AI Bonds not increasing likelihood AI builds factory on the turn they take out a bond to build a factory.
-Code Clean Up: Minor Performance Improvements in AI Racing.
-Engine: Added Arab language Support
-GUI: Changed quarterly offsets.
-Bugfix: Fixed Quarterly report using 4 months data in some cases.
-Bugfix: Fixed top speed overflows due to floating point division rounding to 0 in rare circumstances.
-Bugfix: Fixed paying line of credit with negative cash funds causing negative expenses which adds positive money to your funds.
-Bugfix: Fixed Design Skill effect not applying to front suspension systems because of calculations made on rear suspension.
-Bugfix: Fixed Modify Vehicle not selecting correct vehicle if on second page.
-GUI: Fixed Modify List not scrolling to selection
-GUI: Fixed end production vehicle reseting back to top of list in view window.
-GUI: FFixed End Production Component reseting back to top of list.
-Bugfix: Fixed CarType ID showing in All Time Sales header.
-Bugfix: Fixed Component Research Budget not locking.
-Bugfix: Fixed Chassis, Engine, Gearbox, and Vehicle skills hitting 0 and causing sub-component sliders not to show.
-Bugfix: Fixed sub-components disappearing from research teams when component value drops below skill level
-GUI: Error message if Save or Save As fails. (Does not work with Auto-save or Save on Exit.)
-Bugfix: Fixed Random Design Value not being set on save game load until the 6th or 12th turn of the year.
-GUI: Fixed confusing wordings in the Starting Bank Loan Option help button.
-GUI: Removed Debuging Label background from Auto-sell margin autotool.
-Bugfix: Fixed Potential Factory Construction Costs overflow when lobbying is extremely strong.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue with Base City Map which caused Philippines to take over Rome in 1976.


Miscellaneous

We have all noticed the increase of LLM (generative AI) in game development. And there are many people (myself included) that have some contention with these technologies. In this era, many of our competitors only report what their distributors require and hide behind imprecision and downplaying, especially with respect to code, UI, design, and scripting. I believe full transparency is the best course of action. So, I’ve created a dedicated page detailing exactly how we use LLMs and how much of it is in our games. The page breaks down the amount of generative AI we use in our products by category. We use the percentages of files that generative AI touched for art and audio. In the future, we may also display the percentage of file sizes. For code and scripts, we’re using line counts. If you would like to read more, you can find the page here: https://www.ventdev.com/llm.html

If you have any questions with respect to our LLM usage, feel free to ask, and it may end up in the FAQ.