...and it has lots of great features to make your life as a mansion designer much easier! Check out the complete list of things below:

- Changed respawn after death so that if Jack climbs down into a room below that has very little space at the top, Jack still respawns after dying in that room, not the room above, if he died after walking on solid ground.
- Hopefully fixed a problem where Jack could climb onto a ladder with no floor below it, if he was standing on bricks directly to the ladder's left side.
- Fixed a game crashing bug that would occur if Jack rode a moving platform all the way up to the very top of the screen, and a room was above that.
- Fixed a problem in Knight Mansion Hard where you could get stuck if you used the keys in the wrong order.
- Fixed a problem in Nightmare Mansion Easy/Normal/Hard, Room 17502, where Jack could get stuck by pulling the wrong levers.
- Changed number of secrets in Knight Mansion Hard from 12 to 13.
- Changed number of secrets in Nightmare Mansion Hard from 10 to 11.
- Improved size of tile and sprite areas in the Mansion Builder, so it's easier to see what's in them.
- Made Command-0 through Command-6 set the current layer in the Mansion Builder.
- Fixed dialog box for lantern in Mansion Builder, so it doesn't have an "Is Falling" checkbox anymore.
- Added a great new feature to the editor: "Copy border from adjacent rooms." Use this feature when designing a new room to copy tiles from the borders of nearby rooms, so you know where to put your bricks and ladders so they connect to the rooms nearby properly.
- Added "Mansion Info" option to editor's Special menu, to tell you teh total number of rooms, secrets, and money in your mansion.
- Removed "New Room" menu item. Now "Open Room..." can also create new rooms. Click on an empty location to create a room, or an existing location to open a room.
- Added support for custom sprite replacement. Now you can replace sprite graphics on a per-mansion basis, just as you can do for tiles.
- Signs can now be edited directly from within the level builder! Mansion builders rejoice!
- New editor design that makes it easier to find tiles and sprites on large monitors.
- Beat-the-Mansion screen now shows the mansion's name as set in Mansion Options...
- Added screen to promote the Midnight Mansion Level Design Contest when you quit.
- Added support for custom mansions to come with custom music and background screens. Just put these files in a folder named "MANSION NAME Data" where MANSION NAME is the name of your mansion. Put the folder in the Custom Mansions folder next to your mansion.

-Vern

Champagne! Celebration!

[smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif] [smiley=bath.gif]

What a nice surprise this morning !!

Thanks, Vern !!    ;D :D

Vern,
I have an important question:

Now that you made it possible that custom sprites too can be placed within the mansion's res. file, should we "redesign" the existing mansions (that use custom graphics) to have their custom graphics resources contained within.... thus erasing the need to switch additional "Midnight Mansion Sprites" files ???

Are the old ones working at all in 1.0.8., when the old method is used ?

On the other hand... when we change them, what about those people who have not yet upgraded to 1.0.8. ?! They will not be able to use them. So we should either encourage EVERY user to upgrade, or leave the old custom graphics where / as they are.... or:  put 2 versions of each mansion up (1 for 1.0.8 and the existing ones for lower versions).

What do you think ??

Vern, a HUGE thank you for the new release. I'm hoping this will inspire me to get back to work on building a mansion.
I can't wait to try it out.

:D ;D 8-) :-* [smiley=vrolijk_26.gif] [smiley=thumbsup.gif] [smiley=dankk2.gif] [smiley=beer.gif] [smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif]

Teds looking brighter already!  8-)

Thanks Vern!

Vern,

This is BEAUTIFUL!!!! I've moved ALL Ghosthunter sprites including a couple of critters into the mansion file and it works, no problems. Nice job!

Joe B

The handling of signs is a great relief!  Now I can resume work on The Pirate Invasion, which I postponed because of the storyline, which is mainly told by signs.

And I can see that all bugs I've reported have been fixed  :)

VERY VERY NICE WORK VERN!!!!

:) :D ;D 8-) [smiley=beer.gif] [smiley=thumbup.gif]

aquaMat wrote on 20.04.2007 at 18:18:50:

Vern, I have an important question: Now that you made it possible that custom sprites too can be placed within the mansion's res. file, should we "redesign" the existing mansions (that use custom graphics) to have their custom graphics resources contained within.... thus erasing the need to switch additional "Midnight Mansion Sprites" files ??? Are the old ones working at all in 1.0.8., when the old method is used ? On the other hand... when we change them, what about those people who have not yet upgraded to 1.0.8. ?! They will not be able to use them. So we should either encourage EVERY user to upgrade, or leave the old custom graphics where / as they are.... or:  put 2 versions of each mansion up (1 for 1.0.8 and the existing ones for lower versions). What do you think ??

Yes, I think it would be wise to convert your mansions to the self-contained format if that's possible. On the other hand, if you changed MORE than just the Sprites file (for instance, sounds too), then I"d say leave it alone, since users have to move files anyway. But if you can make your mansion self-contained, so no file-swapping is needed, then I say that's definitely worth doing.

Note that you can also have custom music and background screens come with your mansion in 1.0.8 by putting them in a folder named the same as your mansion, plus " Data", such as "Foggy Forest Mansion Data" and putting this folder in your Custom Mansions folder, next to your mansion. Just continue the music and background screen indexes where they left off in Game Data, so you'd do "Background Music 5.mp3" etc.

The old method will still work in 1.0.8 though.

You're right, that those who haven't upgraded to 1.0.8 wont' be able to play the revised mansions correctly. But, there is NO reason to not upgrade! I mean, it's free, after all. And it fixes bugs, and adds new features. Unless you're on a very slow modem line, and have to call long distance to get on the 'net, I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to upgrade.

I don't think you should do 2 versions of each mansion. Just delete the old version when you do the new one. You might make a note to Freddy, however, that this mansion requires 1.0.8.

I agree with what AquaMat's saying. It would be really good if the sound files where in the mansion file, along with graphics. It's great that you can now put the music and background files in the Custom Mansion folder. Funny, I was just thinking yesterday if you're not going to release this soon, then you better do that with the custom music and such in the mansion folder!  But I my idea inclued sound & graphics in the mansion. ***Edited by brell*** Ted has many sound effects, like the water, so please do add this feature!  :-/

Thanks for adding the Command + 0-6 hotkeys for layers! Makes me feel special since I suggested it.  ;)

...and there was much rejoicing! ;D ;D ;D ;D

Thanks vern!

Now there's even less need for Decorum, and yes, I think that's a good thing. Still useful for replacing sounds, though. (Heh, nobody uses it but me anyway...:P)

But there is something bad about it. When I made Ted, the buttons on the floor had a mask. Now they don't, because Vern made the background of them cyan. (100% Green, 100% Blue) The buttons where all screwed up, until I changed the blackground of the buttons to cyan, and deleted the mask. You could of given me abit of warning that you where doing that...  :-/ But I fixed it, after 15 minutes wasted.  :(

I got afew questions: When I was going to put my Ted data (mansion name: Adventures of Ted) in my Adventures of Ted data folder in the custom mansions folder, I encountered a problem. What do I name the screens folder?  I named it screens, put my stuff in it, and I did the same with music. Named it music and put my music in it. Started it up, nothing happened. Does music support menu music? Does screens support screens at the menu?  :-? It doesn't start up right and music isn't found.  :-? :-? What's going on??

Vern,
thanks for your comment on my last question.
And a BIG thank you for the upgrade.... I immediately tested it, and especially the bigger tiles and sprites display is a tremendous help !!    :)

But... and I feel really bad saying this... there seems to be some kind of bug in the editor:
When I opened the mansion I'm working on at the moment (The Mansion Family 2), I encountered a strange phenomenon. I first opened a room which was displayed perfectly, then I opened another room (the last one I had designed using Vs 1.0.7), which is pretty empty apart from a floor with a bunch of "rising skeletons" and a few other bits on it.

But when I opened that room it showed a combination of this room and the one opened just prior to that - (superimposed on it) !!

This happened everytime I tried it.... no matter what room I opened before the "skeleton room", it was always included in it.

Strangely though, this happened ONLY with this one room, all others opened perfectly normal.

Do you have any idea what's the reason behind this ???   :-/ :o

I have afew things to say about the editor.

I opened my Ted mansion, and there where two BBBs already in the mansion from 1.0.7. They didn't say anything, but when I typed something on one, the other one said the same thing! I changed it on the other sign, and both changed! I deleted the 2nd one, made a new one, then it was ok. But it was strange!

That's only one of the my problems. The other one:
My screen on my ibook is small. The editor window is too big! You should make a window menu and put in it this:

These are the other menus     Here's the window I want you to add
Current Layer:    Special:       Window:
                                           Screen Size > Big
                                           Help*               Medium
                                                             Small

• Small would be just like the 1.0.7 editor in size
• Medium should be all the windows and stuff should be more strunched in together
• Big is the way it is now.

Big is too big for me!  :-/ Think of the people with the 12" screen! I have a 14"!!!

*You can add help and it will open up the level builder docs, if you want. That would be nifty.

The only problem I had is the tile levers while designing utah... ALL OF THEM HAVE A WHITE OUTLINE!!! I'll have to do it over!!! Otherwise Vern, I think you did a grest job with this update. The bigger screen is way cool. The sign thig is also well appreciated  ;)

Hey Wingy - I'm on a 12" PB, w/1024x768 resolution, and the editor window fits perfectly on my screen. It even accommodates my dock, which is stuck to the right hand side.

I can't imagine a 14" iBook having lower resolution than that, so I don't see what your issue is. Is it that a bottom-aligned dock overlaps the gray on the window somewhat? Well...so what? It's not like there's anything you need to click or see down there.

If it really bothers you, a useful command shortcut is command-option-d. This toggles the dock from visible to hidden. You can quickly hide your dock while working in the editor, and unhide it again when you're done.

[smiley=tekst-toppie.gif]
As said earlier at other places on our boards, the announced MM 1.0.8 was going to be a vast improvement. If one sees the long list of changed and added features one can only admit that it is indeed a toppie! Almost everone will find something that he asked for or had been helping with. Thanks a lot, Vern. And everyone "behind the curtains" who came up with the ideas or helped fixing things!
[smiley=dankk2.gif]


YaBB Administrator wrote on 20.04.2007 at 15:39:19:

...and it has lots of great features to make your life as a mansion designer much easier! Check out the complete list of things below: ... - Hopefully fixed a problem where Jack could climb onto a ladder with no floor below it, if he was standing on bricks directly to the ladder's left side. ... -Vern

I like to put any previous mansionbuilder's attention on this issue. The consequence of this (hopefully) fixed bug is that Jack's jump to the left or the right is 1 pixel smaller ! So, any designer should check all his mansions if they are still playable. E.g. I am thinking of Maniac's legendary conveyor belt jump. I really wonder if that is still possible.


ryos wrote on 21.04.2007 at 04:36:14:

Now there's even less need for Decorum, and yes, I think that's a good thing. Still useful for replacing sounds, though. (Heh, nobody uses it but me anyway...:P)

I wouldn't be so sure of that ! I know at least one other person who uses Decorum.

YaBB Administrator wrote on 20.04.2007 at 15:39:19:

- Added "Mansion Info" option to editor's Special menu, to tell you the total number of rooms, secrets, and money in your mansion.

It doesn't count rugsacks though. Keep this in mind if the total amount of money is very important in your mansion.

ryos wrote on 22.04.2007 at 00:12:44:

Hey Wingy - I'm on a 12" PB, w/1024x768 resolution, and the editor window fits perfectly on my screen. It even accommodates my dock, which is stuck to the right hand side. I can't imagine a 14" iBook having lower resolution than that, so I don't see what your issue is. Is it that a bottom-aligned dock overlaps the gray on the window somewhat? Well...so what? It's not like there's anything you need to click or see down there. If it really bothers you, a useful command shortcut is command-option-d. This toggles the dock from visible to hidden. You can quickly hide your dock while working in the editor, and unhide it again when you're done.

My ibook is a low resolution that only supports 800x600, you must have 1152x720. Whould you really expect a 13-year old guy to get a realllly good computer? Plus, it's used. And it's falling apart! It keeps freezing! I think its the ram, or the motherboard.

Freddy wrote on 22.04.2007 at 01:08:19:

I like to put any previous mansionbuilder's attention on this issue. The consequence of this (hopefully) fixed bug is that Jack's jump to the left or the right is 1 pixel smaller ! So, any designer should check all his mansions if they are still playable. E.g. I am thinking of Maniac's legendary conveyor belt jump. I really wonder if that is still possible.

Whaaat ?

That comes as qite a shock, Freddy......  I didn't know this would affect all jumps.
If this is really true, I can imagine quite a chaotic situation in store for us....  as it is probably pretty troublesome to check all rooms in all existing mansions for that issue.

I'm sure somebody will forget something or not have enough time (me included) and we could end up with several non-playable mansions (in the worst case).

What was the problem / bug  removed that lead to this situation now??  Was it so severe ?

In Germany we have the old adage of "throwing out the kid together with bathtub water" (hard to explain), but I hope that's not what has happened here....   :D :)

aquaMat wrote on 22.04.2007 at 21:06:03:

Freddy wrote on 22.04.2007 at 01:08:19: I like to put any previous mansionbuilder's attention on this issue. The consequence of this (hopefully) fixed bug is that Jack's jump to the left or the right is 1 pixel smaller ! So, any designer should check all his mansions if they are still playable. E.g. I am thinking of Maniac's legendary conveyor belt jump. I really wonder if that is still possible. Whaaat ? That comes as qite a shock, Freddy......  I didn't know this would affect all jumps. If this is really true, I can imagine quite a chaotic situation in store for us....  as it is probably pretty troublesome to check all rooms in all existing mansions for that issue. I'm sure somebody will forget something or not have enough time (me included) and we could end up with several non-playable mansions (in the worst case). What was the problem / bug  removed that lead to this situation now??  Was it so severe ?

I am not going to check my mansions to see whether I have to make changes because of this.  If however, a player reports an impossible jump, I will of course correct that.  As far as I have tested this one pixel does not affect any jumps in my mansions.

The problem was severe.  Jack could sometimes walk from a ledge and climb onto a ladder even when there was no brick under the ladder, just adjacent to it.

brell wrote on 22.04.2007 at 21:32:37:

I am not going to check my mansions to see whether I have to make changes because of this.  If however, a player reports an impossible jump, I will of course correct that.  As far as I have tested this one pixel does not affect any jumps in my mansions. The problem was severe.  Jack could sometimes walk from a ledge and climb onto a ladder even when there was no brick under the ladder, just adjacent to it.

Oh...I remember...that was it.... well of course that needed to be taken care of....

So maybe I'll just do a couple of representative checks in my mansions, and apart from that, wait until someone reports something, too.

aquaMat wrote on 23.04.2007 at 21:57:03:

... So maybe I'll just do a couple of representative checks in my mansions, and apart from that, wait until someone reports something, too.

*Sigh of relief*
Sounds much better than my own suggestion.

BTW: Vern, at www.apple.com/games/demos/, Midnight Mansion's company says Vern Jensen. Shouldn't it be ActionSoft?  :-?

Anthony wrote on 03.05.2007 at 07:18:34:

BTW: Vern, at www.apple.com/games/demos/, Midnight Mansion's company says Vern Jensen. Shouldn't it be ActionSoft?  :-?

Yeah, I noticed that too. I've had people make far worse mistakes. I try to correct them whenever I see them, but often times the people doing those things are just unresponsive, and don't correct it.

One of the best websites in that regard, though, is MacUpdate.com. They're very good at doing things quickly, and responding to corrections, etc. One of the worst is probably MacGameFiles.com.