Super Secret Sneak Preview of Lighting and Vision - Shhhh, don't tell Carl and John

[SilentRuin]

Egad, why _wouldn't_ you want releases (particularly ones with major subsystem changes) to go through the test channel first? This gives an opportunity for extension developers and module developers to verify their work before it all shows up in front of the entire user population.

Because they release EVERY? release to the TEST channel. And only once was I warned - "Ye be dead if'n ye don't get in thar!" - I don't plan on checking every test to see if my stuff still works. I plan on being surprised unless "Ye be warned" is sent my way.

[I dropped my changes 10 minutes after the one that broke all the extensions - because I was warned it was going to break stuff. No such warning has occurred for this - and I updated all the deprecated stuff that was supposed to be in prep for the new stuff coming later back then. ]

[Imagix]

If I'd paid for an extension, I would expect that the developer is keeping on top of the releases so that I don't have to encounter breakages (or at least be notified of the breakages). And since there is no published interface (that I'm aware of), every release of FG could potentially break extensions. Now, the probability of breakage is likely fairly small, but it is non-zero. And for the last big update, the Smiteworks folk probably saw a bunch of common extensions break during the dev cycle, and so they raised a warning that this set of changes carried a much higher risk of breakage. But _every_ update carries some small risk. Thus, publish to the test channel so that vendors have a chance to catch these issues before their customers do.

[SilentRuin]

If I'd paid for an extension, I would expect that the developer is keeping on top of the releases so that I don't have to encounter breakages (or at least be notified of the breakages). And since there is no published interface (that I'm aware of), every release of FG could potentially break extensions. Now, the probability of breakage is likely fairly small, but it is non-zero. And for the last big update, the Smiteworks folk probably saw a bunch of common extensions break during the dev cycle, and so they raised a warning that this set of changes carried a much higher risk of breakage. But _every_ update carries some small risk. Thus, publish to the test channel so that vendors have a chance to catch these issues before their customers do.

Extensions = RISK. FGU can break them. Other extensions can break them. My advice? Steer clear of them, and you've nothing to worry about. Free or paid.

Now, if they do know there are extension breaking changes in the lighting stuff one hopes we will get a warning about it. Until then?

"Ye take yer risks with the rest of the scallywag's who use extensions"

[Kelrugem]

Usually bigger updates are announced in the Laboratory with some list about while script files and templates etc. are affected to help extension developers But not the smaller updates like the one yesterday; I usually check which script files and so on got edited since the last update and whether it is a file I used/change/etc. in my extensions in order to check if I need to update my extensions Not always an update will cause to "break" an extension; sometimes an extension just overwrites part of a new update and won't cause error messages. Then it be a very hidden "break" until it is noticed, so, keeping an eye on the laboratory and the date of change of the files can help, too

[LordEntrails]

IMO, the problem with releasing to Test or Dev before Live, for this case only, is that once the general user population learns they can get lighting by changing a setting, they will do so. Ignorant or uncaring that they should expect it not to work fully. That's going to cause lots of threads, support requests, and complaints on social media.

[Jiminimonka]

IMO, the problem with releasing to Test or Dev before Live, for this case only, is that once the general user population learns they can get lighting by changing a setting, they will do so. Ignorant or uncaring that they should expect it not to work fully. That's going to cause lots of threads, support requests, and complaints on social media.

Yeah!

[Imagix]

Yeah, users are worst!

[Trenloe]

Usually bigger updates are announced in the Laboratory with some list about while script files and templates etc. are affected to help extension developers But not the smaller updates like the one yesterday; I usually check which script files and so on got edited since the last update and whether it is a file I used/change/etc. in my extensions in order to check if I need to update my extensions Not always an update will cause to "break" an extension; sometimes an extension just overwrites part of a new update and won't cause error messages. Then it be a very hidden "break" until it is noticed, so, keeping an eye on the laboratory and the date of change of the files can help, too

This. An extension running without errors is not necessarily an extension that is running the correct code and could still have hidden issues.

[Moon Wizard]

Any lighting release WILL go into the Test channel first; with lots of bright red warnings. We already know that the network/data format is changing for the upcoming release; and it's a one-way trip for campaigns. Also, it is expected we'll have a couple things to iron out; and some extension authors may need to adjust their code to not stomp on CoreRPG behaviors to support basic vision/lighting.

Regards,
JPG

[mattekure]

Any lighting release WILL go into the Test channel first; with lots of bright red warnings. We already know that the network/data format is changing for the upcoming release; and it's a one-way trip for campaigns. Also, it is expected we'll have a couple things to iron out; and some extension authors may need to adjust their code to not stomp on CoreRPG behaviors to support basic vision/lighting.

Regards,
JPG

The heads up is appreciated. Will keep an eye out for notification that its available to begin testing against.