Bike or Die v1.4 is coming!

Levelpacks on card. Levelpack selector can be used to move levelpacks between internal memory and card. When installing manually, place them in /Palm/Programs/BikeOrDie/Levelpacks

Recordings on card. Just switch to "Card" in "Recording Options" and all your recordings will be moved to external memory freeing a lot of space in your device. (The full exaplanation of this feature and its benefits would not fit here, i will describe it later)

Bugs/Compatibility issues resolved:

No more annoying pause when dying (experienced on NVFS devices like Lifedrive, Tungsten 5, Treo 650)

Better power management (does not run on full power when not needed, eg. in pause, map)

Pause automatically when the device is turned off

135 comments on 7 pages: <<<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >>>>

Update:
This new beta version fixes all reported bugs, except for the problem with moving recordings to the card (which can now be diagnosed better thanks to the improved error messages).
Download the new beta here: BikeOrDie-1.4beta2.zip

Additional improvements:

updraft looks better (or at least it does not look like rain anymore, the new look is sufficiently abstract to pass as a wind, magnet force, dragon breath, etc

)

ghost bike is visible on dark background

more specific error messsages when moving recordings to the card

new easter egg: "ighost"

thanks to all who tested "1.4 beta 1"!

The last(?) update:
BikeOrDie-1.4beta3.zip

This one fixes the "invalid filename" bug (which only affects Kristopher's devices

) and allows you to select your preferred updraft style (new, old, or both!)

PMD

I too prefer the old updraft--a lot. Can't say exactly why, I just do. Perhaps a config to allow the old school method.

mike flips

ya, the old one has us actually in the updraft and the new one is like we are in blurry lines

PLEASE DONT RELEASE BEFORE THE WEEKEND

Ibanez

I initially thought the old updraft was better, but I do now think the new graphic is more suited to it, though difficult to see in levels like Draco. Maybe the colour could be specified in the new level designer.

Type 'reset' to turn off 'ighost' - works no problem.

ghost bike is definitely better.

What's with wanting to delay going live, a week warning!?!?, we've already waited a week - go live NOW!

Shane

The new updraft looks good, but on 1st beta it was possible to see the shape of each updraft effect more precisley, so was a bit easier to play.
Anyway I'm with Ibanez - go live now, the suspense is too much

MacGuru

I've tested the crap out of the recent DL beta and have yet to cause ANY of the problems I had in B1.

I just want the level editor

Cirenco

Stay the times when doing the changes with the version beta1 towards beta2 as happened before? . If it is thus they will serve the times kept in beta1 for the hall the fame. It worries the commentaries to me about beta2. Please somebody that has understood to me responds to me.

MacGuru

How about the option to chose the "rain" look for the updraft if you want. I know that on some of the older color devices ran fine with the beta 1 updraft look but bog down on the new look.

mike flips

Cirenco, if you meant can the times from beta1 be submitted to hall of fame even though beta2 is out, the answer is yes

Kristopher

There's still a problem, but it isn't really a bug:
I press the Zodiac's analog controller up, and the map appears. If I release the controller instantly, the map usually disappears instantly.

But if I hold the analog controller up for a full second, then it is fine and the map stays open.

Another bug- I'm not sure if it was in the first beta or not. If you turn the Zodiac (or probably any Palm) off while the crashing sequence is going, when you turn the PDA back on, the sequence does not continue; the bike is frozen and you have to touch the screen to start over or open the menu. When the biker freezes in the crashing sequence, you cannot look at the map like you normally can after you die. This is sort of like the bug in the last beta that occurred after the crashing sequence.

Updraft graphics... I'd suggest just picking one for now, and then possibly changing the graphics later.
The first graphics didn't really look like rain that much, because the "rain drops" were all lined up, and there was no wind or accelaration to make them look like rain.
The newer updraft graphics, actually, reminded me of our Tv without cable, like something is wrong with the vertical hold.

If anything, the new graphics are moving too fast vertically.
In shape, both of these graphics are lines. They look so unnatural. I think the rain would look better if the drops were randomly placed. Or if they were curved or something.

P.S. I just found the hidden game in the Zodiac - wack-a-smiley.

well, the beta 1 updraft was not supposed to look like rain, this was unfortunate coincidence

and this "rain" looks more like something that could block you, while the new graphics depicts something powerful (thus fast moving) that can lift you up

(that's why i like the new version).
well, maybe the mix of both styles would create the Best Updraft Graphics Ever

i.e. fast moving "waves of energy" with random small objects (bubbles or rain drops) slowly transported upwards...
anyway, it seems there will be another beta with selectable updraft style

if only because of the performance (as pointed by MacGuru).

have you tried moving your recordings to card? you said it failed in beta 1.
(at the time of writing this, i have just inserted my BoD card into Zodiac to verify the analog controller problem, made a high score on Dome (19,60) and placed the card back into treo. now i have my new high score on treo - isn't this wonderful?

)

P.S. hidden game? i know the smiley appearing after the reset but it is not "interactive"?

Ibanez

I just moved 241 recordings to card no problem (Treo 650)

I have seen the problem where in the middle of a game pressing the 'show map' button only flashes the map up then goes back to the game. It doesn't happen all the time though.

Another just seen is when the show map has worked, pressing again to go back to the game comes out of BOD completely.

Is there any reason not to go live for hall of fame now?

These fine detail fixes should have no effect on this if the levels are staying the same.

Go Live NOW is my vote! I want to see how everyone has managed to thrash my times...

Ibanez

After moving all the games to the card I went to play the NewDeal level pack and it was like I was starting from scratch - no times! After a brief panic I set the location of games to the card and this has found them, however it no longer recognises that I have a time for level 1, which I started playing before I realised all the times had gone. If I go to recorded games it is still there, but the best time doesn't have a medal next to it.
The recording option was set to keep the current level pack internal, but I hadn't yet played a game when I did the move.

All in all, no big deal as I found everything, but I think something is not quite right.

Kristopher

Use [Ctrl]+[F] to search this page for "Easter Eggs"

http://www.freewebs.c om/zodiacfreak/ultimatezodiacguide.htm

I tried moving the recordings again (I am testing this on Zire 72 because it doesn't have so many recordings), and got error "2A0E" quite soon, while it was trying to move the built-in levels.

I deleted the Bike or Die! folder from the card, which was still there from beta v1, and retried moving the recodings... I am still getting this error. I think the error come before any recordings are moved.

So now I am trying to move the recordings through the Zodiac. Only 2300 recordings? I thought I had more.

It moved about 100 recordings before getting this same error "2A0E," even though this is a different Palm and SD card.

(I am going to recording in the menu, selecting card as location, then manually moving to the card.)

ok, so there is some progress, "2A0E" means "invalid filename", maybe there was a filename displayed in the error message?

ibanez: yes it will go live very soon, i just wanted to make sure that nobody would be excluded from the competition because of v1.4 bugs.

now it seems that almost everything is fixed so maybe tomorrow...

(of course the "Bike or Die messages" subscribers will get the usual email notification)

Cirenco

Gracias MF. I was accustomed to beta1 although it is necessary to recognize that est�ticamante it is not seen so well for my is pleasant to play.

Kristopher

The Zire 72 says "/PALM/Programs/BikeOrDie/Recordings/Built-in levels"
I looked at the card with my card reader, and the Recordings folder is empty. Either I did something wrong, or it is not always creating the folders when it should (each levelpack should have a folder). Maybe it is having trouble creating the folders?

I looked at the card from my Zodiac- I notice it has a folder named "Standard"- is it using both "Standard" and "Built-in levels" when these should be the same thing?

Here is what did get copied to the Zodiac's SD card:
http://www.geocities. com/tzmne/temp/files.tmp

Kristopher

Maybe the error is from the question mark in the levelpack, "So you think you can dance?"
I am unsure on the order of operations. Does it make all of the folders before it copies the levels, or does it make the folders as necessary while it moves the recordings?
I don't think all of the folders were made on the Zodiac's card- only some of them were. But the Zire 72 gives errors instantly, like it cannot copy any files to the card.

yes, recordings from built-in levels go into "Standard" folder, but the ones made with: http://www.freewebs.c om/kristopherwindsor/built-in_levels.pdb
will go into "Built-in levels"

but this still does not explain why your palm thinks this filename is invalid

(i tried this levelpack and it works, recordings are moved to "Built-in levels" folder without problems)

could you try creating such folder by hand?

question mark is ok, BoD replaces this with underscore (just tested on "So you think you can dance?"

)

folders are created as necessary, so it won't try to create more folders after failing on the first file.

Kristopher

I have tried again a few times, but still get errors on the Zire 72. I noticed that, even though the errors come instantly, and nothing is put into the Recordings folder, that it still thinks it has moved 20 of the 600 some recordings (I have less recordings now because some got lost trying to move to the card.

). It will say "Moving 20/655" or something like that.
How does the game know if it has moved any recordings to the SD card, when the game is restarted? Does it search the card everytime, or does it keep a list of the card files somewhere else? Maybe something got corrupted between the two betas.

I'm just noticing in the file I mentioned in my last post:
-> Total Files Listed:
-> 104 File(s) 57,404 bytes
-> 98 Dir(s) 19,939,328 bytes free

I don't have 98 folders- I have much more recordings than folders on the Zodiac's SD card. It seems that it thinks there are folders on the card that aren't there?