FT3+?
rdyornot
Newcomer
I just noticed FT3+ is listed on the Humble Bundle, but not on the ProFantasy site. Does anyone know what the status of FT3+ is? Or if it will have an upgrade price? Where can I find more details about the new version?
Thanks!
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It's been a bit of a silent beta release so far (we'll post more about it soon). If you own FT3, you'll find FT3+ (beta) listed on your registration page now.
I have 3.0.21, which is all I see on my registration page. No mention of a FT3 beta that I can see.
Try again now @JimP, Ralf updated the thing just now.
Okay. Thanks.
edit. Downloading now.
Oooh... I like the new maps !
What are the improvements? I can't download it yet but would like a preview of it to keep my salivary glands working. (lemon shortage here. 😁 )
Double clicking on a row in the dialog
Advanced Altitude Contour Settingscrashes the beta version immediately...😮Thanks, there does indeed seem to be a bug there, when you try to edit the advanced contours.
Fantastic! I see it, thanks. I've been looking forward to a FT update for a long time, it's a fantastic piece of software.
Like the update. Noticed that Find Rivers generates rivers + straight lines all over the place. Straight lines may be vertical, horizontal, slanted, or crosshatched. This is with me pushing the edge on map resolution with a custom editing size of 32000.
There are a number of bugs in the initial release that will be fixed shortly.
Hello!
Is it ok, to report bug findings here or would there be a better place?
Well, anyway, you've this one probably already on your list.
While testing FT3+, I noticed that the color key toolbar does not refresh directly when changing from height to climate or vise versa, for example. I then always have to resize (or minimize / maximize) the window once so that the color key gets re-drawn. Or, in case, it's not docked, to move the color bar window once.
This is a good place for bug reports. Thank you for taking the time to use the software and to report on unexpected behaviors.
Couple of other potential bugs:
1. Program often crashes when selecting the zoom to limits button
2. One file started crashing everytime I tried to load a selection. Tried restarting the program, computer etc., no effect.
I don't know that these are specific to ver3.5, but never observed them with 3.021. Map detail was set at 8190 i.e., max for 3.021 on my computer.
The selection crash is likely due to having an odd size for the image being loaded. This problem should be fixed in the next update.
I haven't been able to get zoom extents to crash, using large selections, no selections, large editing, and default editing. Does it happen right away or only with certain files?
Seems to happen with every file I have opened. I may try reinstalling.
It may also be a difference in the versions that we are running. I'm not sure if reinstalling will make a difference for this kind of problem.
Question... I downloaded the FT3+ software on November 3. It says version 3.5.1.0 and is 377 MB. I then downloaded the FT3+ file again from my download page on November 16. It says that it is also version 3.5.1.0 but is 720 MB. Almost twice the size of the first file I downloaded. So is this bigger file a newer version? Do I need to install it over the other version 3.5.1.0 I already installed?
Thanks.
Yes, the newer(larger) one is a new version. It fixes several bugs that were found with the original one, so you should install it.
Thank you. Another question -- does FT3+ automatically access the Terraformer material for FT, or does that need to be installed again in FT3+ files?
FT3+ uses a new data directory, similar to CC3+, instead of keeping files in the installation directory, so you'll need to copy it to there if you want easy access. Strictly speaking, the terraformer material doesn't really integrate with FT, it just provides a bunch of files FT can use, so it can live mostly anywhere, but inside the new data directory (c:\program data\ProFantasy\FT3) is the best place to keep them for easy access.
I noticed when I open FT3+, the Globe picture undocked doesn't show the Quit button, nor the Help button. FT3 does. Hopefully at least the Quit button will be put back, or whatever happened to it.
Why do you need a quit button in the globe panel? IMHO it was one of the more misplaced buttons ever. If you need to close the program, just hit the close button in the top right of the window.
I kinda like it. I felt lost and nostalgic for it. But if it is gone, it is gone.
It is gone, traded for the ability to resize the window.
As Remy points out, the close button in the upper-right corner of the main window works to close the program. File>>Exit also works, as does Alt+F4.
For the historical perspective, here's the very first image from the original FT specification circa 1997. As you can see, it was originally intended as a dialog in CC3 rather than a standalone application. I never was particularly good at following specifications.
Okay.
Another potential bug (ver 3.5.1). When opening FT3+ RAM usage shoots up to 18-30Gbytes and will stay there for a while (30min?). At first I thought it was because FT3+ was set to open the last file and settings. But when I unchecked the check boxes it still does it, even though the random terrain file should be ~224Mbytes.
Also, when running Find Rivers for a 7Gbyte file, the RAM usage will go up, then crash to 0.1Gbytes prior to the program re-starting.
I have 8 gigabytes of ram in my computer. I started ft3+, and my rainmeter stayed at 43% for ram usage, before, during, and after using it. I didn't see a jump in ram usage. But Rainmeter may not react quickly for that.
I ran ft3+ again. Ram usage went from 39% to 92%. That is with generating a new world. I close ft3+, and ram usage drops back to 39% in about a minute.
I have 16Gbytes of RAM. I opened FT3+ last night before I went to bed--detail was set to medium so should have been a 224Mbyte file. This morning RAM usage was at 10 Gbytes. Before going to work I opened a 3Gbyte file, coming home RAM usage is 3.7Gbytes. So RAM usage seems to be pretty variable. Basically I'm trying to get an idea of what the limits are on map detail and river detail. River detail for the above 7Gbyte file was 10000. In FT3 3.021 I generally used 8000.
For your safety and convenience, I recommend keeping the editing (and river finding) as low as you can tolerate. FT3+ will let you pick some sizes that are well beyond the capability of most consumer machines and those sizes will cause all manner of performance and stability issues. I never have been very good at setting suitable limits, sorry