Life tag testing

[rowett]

Build 646 is now available on the lazyslug server

Fixes in this build:

• make 2-state HROT selection box consistent with Life-like equivalent

[rowett]

Build 647 is now available on the lazyslug server

Fixes in this build:

• fixed an issue with edited state 6 [R]History cells not working after Reset

[rowett]

Build 648 is now available on the lazyslug server

Enhancements in this build:

• Labels support variable substitution with #H for reversible generation (for PCA and Margolus rules)

[rowett]

Build 649 is now available on the lazyslug server

Enhancements in this build:

• Labels support variable substitution with #I for relative generation and #J for relative reversible generation

Fixes in this build:

• fixed an issue with Margolus rules incrementing generation count when Stats display enabled

[rowett]

Build 650 is now available on the lazyslug server

Fixes in this build:

• fixed an issue when all cells died during Identify

[rowett]

Build 651 is now available on the lazyslug server

Fixes in this build:

• don't reset playback direction on soft reset

[dvgrn]

Here's a report of some trouble with #CXRLE tags in bounded grids.

[rowett]

Here's a report of some trouble with #CXRLE tags in bounded grids.

Thanks, I'll take a look.

[rowett]

Build 652 is now available on the lazyslug server

Enhancements in this build:

• extend TRACK range to +/- 8
• create canvas if it doesn't exist

Fixes in this build:

• disable STARTFROM notifications if NOREPORT is enabled

[rowett]

Build 653 is now available on the lazyslug server

Fixes in this build:

• potential fix for reported flickering on ChromeBook

[rowett]

Build 654 is now available on the lazyslug server

Fixes in this build:

• reverted create canvas if missing change

[dvgrn]

This just came up on Discord: the "cycling" OFF states in LifeSuper don't seem to cycle any more --

Code: Select all

x = 10, y = 6, rule = LifeSuper
10T$T8.T$T8.V$T8.V$R8.V$8R2V!

(At least, I was pretty sure one of our test patterns included some of this behavior, though not this exact pattern of course.)

[rowett]

This just came up on Discord: the "cycling" OFF states in LifeSuper don't seem to cycle any more --

Code: Select all

x = 10, y = 6, rule = LifeSuper
10T$T8.T$T8.V$T8.V$R8.V$8R2V!

(At least, I was pretty sure one of our test patterns included some of this behavior, though not this exact pattern of course.)

Fixed. The issue was that with only OFF states in the pattern LifeViewer stopped calculating future generations since there are no live states.

[rowett]

Build 655 is now available on the lazyslug server

Fixes in this build:

• fix LifeSuper patterns with only dead cells stopping generating

[rowett]

Code: Select all

x = 9, y = 5, rule = B3/S23
$bo3b3o$b3o2bo$2bo!
[[ TILT 1 ZOOM 8 AUTOSTART ]]

[dvgrn]

[3D view]

Ha, nice! Was this a response to the New Colorful Game of Life Simulator?

(And are there any new secret keyboard controls yet, for changing the camera angle in the third dimension? I see that the arrow keys and < and > still work for the usual ANGLE and panning changes.)

It seems to work fine with different themes, and even in rainbow mode with multiple layers.

[rowett]

Ha, nice! Was this a response to the New Colorful Game of Life Simulator?

It's been planned for a long time but that was certainly a catalyst. I downloaded the simulator and it is very pretty (especially with the lighting models used). However it's also very slow when you increase the grid size a little bit.

For LifeViewer the only secret key for now is ; which toggles the "3D" projection on and off. More to follow as I get time.

[rowett]

Build 656 is now available on the lazyslug server

Enhancements in this build:

• added experimental mode 7 support
• script command [[ MODE7 ]] enables mode 7 display
• hotkey ; toggles mode7 on/off

[rowett]

Build 657 is now available on the lazyslug server

Enhancements in this build:

• added hotkeys Ctrl-[ and Ctrl-] to change tilt angle for mode7 display

[rowett]

Build 658 is now available on the lazyslug server

Enhancements in this build:

• added experimental support to tilt the camera for square grids
  • script command [[ TILT <0.0..5.0> ]] defines tilt amount (can be used in POIs and Waypoints)
  • hotkeys ' and / to increase and decrease tilt
  • new range control in Settings menu to set tilt amount
• hotkey ? now toggles cell shape (for hexagonal and triangular grids)

[dvgrn]

Okay, here goes for a better spec for recursive pattern descriptions. We can currently do

Code: Select all

x = 1, y = 1, rule = B3/S23
!
[[ RLE eater o$3o$3bo$2b2o!
RLE herschel 2bo$obo$3o$o!
RLE halfgun 39b2o76b2o$39bo24b2o51b2o$40b3o6b2o13bo17b2o$2b2ob2o35bo6b2o11bobo17bo$2bo3bo55b2o19bo$3b3o76b2o$91b2o$3b3o84bobo$2bo3bo84bo$2b2ob2o110b2o$31b2o83bo2bo$31b2o46b2o36b2o$79b2o29b2o$110b2o$3bo$b3o$o$2o32b2o$35bo$
15b2o15b3o13b2o3b2o$15bo16bo16bo3bo69b2o$16b3o27b3o5b3o66b2o$18bo27bo9bo62b2o$119bobo$121bo$121b2o$108b2o$108b2o3$106b2o$106b2o! 
PASTE halfgun
PASTE halfgun 159 -3 FLIP
PASTE herschel 61 11
PASTE eater 87 -25
STEP 5 AUTOSTART ]]

But now we want to be able to define "halfgun", let's say as

Code: Select all

x = 1, y = 1, rule = B3/S23
!
#C halfgun definition
[[ RLE herscheltransmitter 2b2ob2o$2bo3bo$3b3o2$3b3o$2bo3bo$2b2ob2o5$3bo$b3o$o$2o2$15b2o$15bo$16b3o$18bo!
RLE fx153 25b2o$2o24bo$bo13b2o6b3o$bobo11b2o6bo$2b2o6$33b2o$33b2o6$30b2o$30bo$11b2o3b2o13b3o$12bo3bo16bo$9b3o5b3o$9bo9bo!
RLE herschelreceiver 38b2o$38b2o$3b2o$3bo$4bo$3b2o$12b2o$11bobo$12bo$38b2o$37bo2bo$2o36b2o$2o29b2o$31b2o7$44b2o$44b2o$40b2o$40bobo$42bo$42b2o$29b2o$29b2o3$27b2o$27b2o!
PASTE herscheltransmitter
PASTE fx153 65 -3 FLIPX
PASTE herschelreceiver 79 -3 ]]

But then those pieces in turn can be split up into their component parts, e.g.,

Code: Select all

x = 1, y = 1, rule = B3/S23
!
#C herscheltransmitter definition
[[ RLE deadsparkcoil 2ob2o$o3bo$b3o2$b3o$o3bo$2ob2o!
RLE eater o$3o$3bo$2b2o!
PASTE deadsparkcoil
PASTE eater 1 11 FLIPX
PASTE eater 16 19 FLIP ]]

Now there's a duplicate definition of "eater" between these three chunks, and we don't really want to do any but the three PASTE operations in the first chunk. So let's combine all these, something like this:

Code: Select all

x = 1, y = 1, rule = B3/S23
!
[[ RLE fx153 25b2o$2o24bo$bo13b2o6b3o$bobo11b2o6bo$2b2o6$33b2o$33b2o6$30b2o$30bo$11b2o3b2o13b3o$12bo3bo16bo$9b3o5b3o$9bo9bo!
RLE herschelreceiver 38b2o$38b2o$3b2o$3bo$4bo$3b2o$12b2o$11bobo$12bo$38b2o$37bo2bo$2o36b2o$2o29b2o$31b2o7$44b2o$44b2o$40b2o$40bobo$42bo$42b2o$29b2o$29b2o3$27b2o$27b2o!
RLE eater o$3o$3bo$2b2o!
RLE herschel 2bo$obo$3o$o!
DEF herscheltransmitter deadsparkcoil UNION eater 1 1 FLIPX UNION eater 16 19 FLIP DELTA 2 0
DEF halfgun herscheltransmitter UNION fx153 65 -3 FLIPX UNION herschelreceiver 79 -3 DELTA 0 3
DEF p1092gun halfgun UNION halfgun 159 -3 FLIP UNION herschel 61 11 UNION eater 87 -25
PASTE p1092gun
STEP 5 AUTOSTART ]]

I've added new DEF and UNION and DELTA keywords, but these are just placeholders showing where the new functionality is needed. DEF could probably be just the old RLE command. The DELTA command isn't absolutely needed, but it would be nice to have the option to build a combined pattern, then apply a transformation to the whole pattern -- instead of applying individual transformations to each of the component parts.

An equivalent would be

DEF herscheltransmittertemp deadsparkcoil UNION eater 1 1 FLIPX UNION eater 16 19 FLIP
DEF herscheltransmitter herscheltransmittertemp 2 0

-- there just needs to be room for the subpattern after the last UNION to either have following translation/transformation parameters, or to not have any such parameters.

[dvgrn]

That was enough for one post, so here's the other item I mentioned via chat.

Very often you want to make slight changes to a combined pattern -- use an alternate form of some subpattern, weld pieces together, etc. That could be something like this -- see the third line from the end:

Code: Select all

x = 1, y = 1, rule = B3/S23
!
[[ RLE fx153 25b2o$2o24bo$bo13b2o6b3o$bobo11b2o6bo$2b2o6$33b2o$33b2o6$30b2o$30bo$11b2o3b2o13b3o$12bo3bo16bo$9b3o5b3o$9bo9bo!
RLE herschelreceiver 38b2o$38b2o$3b2o$3bo$4bo$3b2o$12b2o$11bobo$12bo$38b2o$37bo2bo$2o36b2o$2o29b2o$31b2o7$44b2o$44b2o$40b2o$40bobo$42bo$42b2o$29b2o$29b2o3$27b2o$27b2o!
RLE eater o$3o$3bo$2b2o!
RLE herschel 2bo$obo$3o$o!
DEF herscheltransmitter deadsparkcoil UNION eater 1 1 FLIPX UNION eater 16 19 FLIP DELTA 2 0
DEF halfgun herscheltransmitter UNION fx153 65 -3 FLIPX UNION herschelreceiver 79 -3 DELTA 0 3
DEF p1092gun halfgun UNION halfgun 159 -3 FLIP UNION eater 87 -25 XOR 3b2o$2bo2bo$o2b2o$obo$2o! 114 8

PASTE p1092gun
STEP 5 AUTOSTART ]]

The "XOR 3b2o$2bo2bo$o2b2o$obo$2o! 114 8" is supposed to overlap the beehive inside "halfgun", which is really the beehive inside "herschelreceiver" -- the beehive cells should turn off while at the same time the glider cells turn on.

As before, there are lots of other syntax options. This method produces the required "XOR patch" functionality by making XOR into an alternate command along the same lines as UNION.

[rowett]

Build 659 is now available on the lazyslug server

Enhancements in this build:

• initial work on annotation positioning with TILT

[rowett]

Build 660 is now available on the lazyslug server

Fixes in this build:

• only allocate TILT buffer on first use

[rowett]

Build 661 is now available on the lazyslug server

Enhancements in this build:

• Select All with an empty pattern now cancels any selection
• Identify now displays generation that pattern died

Fixes in this build:

• stop Identify iterating first generation with an empty pattern