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MESS 1.2
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@pwitvoet pwitvoet released this 29 Nov 01:21
· 64 commits to master since this release
1.2
4d96e52

This version introduces a template entity library and a set of template behaviors that make MESS more useful for non-technical mappers. It also makes sharing of custom template entities easier and generally just contains a lot of quality-of-life updates and bugfixes.

New features:

  • Added a small template entity library (mtl_trigger_random, mtl_trigger_counter, and more).
  • Added several template behaviors, including a 'target pattern' behavior that automatically generates intermediate entities like trigger_relay or trigger_changetarget for patterns like '+target' and 'target -> newdestination'.
  • Custom template entities and behaviors can be shared via .zip files.
  • Special support for TrenchBroom linked groups: adding {_tb_group} to an entity name or targetname will produce a unique name for each group instance.
  • Templates can now be given multiple names, and macro entities can reference multiple templates, with custom selection weights.
  • Macro entities can now reference templates inside another (template) map.

Other changes:

  • Migrated to .NET 6, which enables Linux support.
  • macro_template and template map properties now act as local variables that are accessible to entities inside that template.
  • macro_insert can now create multiple instances.
  • Geometry scaling along specific axis.
  • Improved error reporting somewhat.
  • Information and errors are now also logged to a file ({inputPath}.mess.log).
  • Attributes with an empty key are now removed.
  • Special attribute lookups are now case-insensitive (angles, scale, etc.).
  • Support for handling entities with inverted pitch rotation.
  • Most settings can now be specified via a .config file, which simplifies command-line usage.
  • macro_brush entities now also copy point entities from the selected template.
  • Entity attributes whose value is a single MScript expression can now pass MScript values along, such as arrays or objects.
  • The templates directory has been split up into a template_entities and template_maps directory.
  • mess.fgd is now auto-generated based on .ted files in the template_entities directory.
  • Rewrite directives can now be applied to specific entity types, or to all entities that match a specific condition.
  • Attributes whose key is an MScript array are now split up into multiple attributes.
  • Maps and templates can now be attached to any entity by using the special _mess_attached_template_map and _mess_attached_template_name attributes.
  • Rewrite rules can now be applied either before or after macro entity processing.
  • The .map file writer now uses lowercase 'e' for numbers with scientific notation (to avoid triggering a bug in TrenchBroom 2023.1).
  • Certain entity attributes can now be 'lifted', which makes them available to expressions in other attributes.
  • REPL mode now uses colors.
  • Brush-based entities can now be merged by using the special _mess_merge_entity_id and _mess_merge_entity_master attributes.
  • All special attributes now have a _mess prefix.
  • Any entity can now conditionally be removed with the special _mess_remove_if attribute.

MScript changes:

  • New language features: anonymous functions, arrays and objects.
  • New functions for functional programming (map, filter, reduce, sort, reverse).
  • New functions for working with global variables. Global variables can be set via the .config file and via the command-line.
  • New type-conversion functions (num, vec, str).
  • New string member functions (trimming, splitting, joining, and more).
  • Support for character escape sequences in string literals.
  • New debug-related functions (trace, assert).
  • New functions for obtaining attributes of the current instance-creating macro entity.
  • Function for obtaining the unique ID of the macro entity that is creating the current instance (parentid).
  • REPL mode now stores the last result in a special variable named _ (underscore).
  • .mscript files can be used to provide utility functions for template entities and behaviors.

Bugfixes:

  • Fixed that .map files could not be read depending on system culture settings.
  • Fixed incorrect handling of the worldspawn entity in .jmf files.
  • Fixed that the .jmf loading code would add 'origin' attributes to all entities.
  • Fixed that the REPL mode couldn't handle Unicode characters.
  • Fixed incorrect calculation of angles attributes.
  • Fixed that entities in a brush template would get different instance IDs.
  • Fixed that .map files with comments (such as generated by TrenchBroom) could not be read.
  • Fixed an fgd setting that prevented TrenchBroom from reading mess.fgd.
  • Fixed an MScript parsing precedence issue with conditional operations.
  • Fixed that duplicate attribute keys would cause an error.
  • Fixed a macro_brush positioning issue when used inside a brush template.
  • Fixed that macro_cover would sometimes position instances incorrectly.
  • Fixed that MScript didn't allow variable names starting with an underscore.
  • Fixed that the MScript == operator would treat certain values of different types as equal.
  • Fixed that the rewrite directive parser could get stuck.
  • Fixed that the classname of macro_template entities was hiding the classname of the macro entity that was creating the current instance.
  • Fixed that the map file extension check was case-sensitive.

NOTE: This version contains a bug that prevents template entities and behaviors from working! Download the latest version instead!

Assets 5