For the new year, I worked hard to prepare this new build of the AmiDARK Engine.
When I'll have finished this message, the upload to os4depot should be over and the file may be available in the "Uploads" folder ... Sonly replacing the old release.



I'd like to tell many things about all these.
The first is that new release is the "mark" of "big changes" in the project.
With the new year arrival, I took some decisions concerning the future of the AmiDARK Engine. Some of these decisions are a "pleasure" and some less...

The *good points* :
The AmiDARK Engine was initially started to be in "some sort", a clone of DarkGDK, a C version of DarkBASIC Professional, a TheGameCreators product.
Of course, for all the previous builds, I kept "as much as possible", the compatibility with DarkGDK/DarkBASIC.
But now, I think that, to become a "full project", the AmiDARK Engine must evolve more!
What do I see with "must evolve more!".
In fact, I will continue to keep as "much compatibility as possible" with the DarkGDK/DarkBASIC products but, I will no more limitate my development to these facts.
As you will see with the "updates notes", I have rewritten some parts of the engine improving the 2D/3D rendering system allowing the engine to handle what we can call "external plugins". It's similar to DarkBASIC or AMOS plugins system but it's internally different.
Much more, I plan to add some *special features* that are not available in DarkGDK/DarkBASIC products and that will be "special commands set" for the AmiDARK Engine.
That mean that if a developer uses these commands, the AmiDARK Engine projects cannot be ported to DarkGDK/DarkBASIC without re-creating these extra commands on DarkGDK/DarkBASIC. Things I will not do.
I really think that the AmiDARK Engine must evolve to its own way and become a full independant product, specially developed for our Amiga and, with the objective to use *as much as possible* the specificities of our Amiga NG computers.

Now that the good new is *released*, here is the time for the *less one*.
2013 was a "slow progression" year. Due to health issues and financials difficulties.
I'm happy to tell that my health is *better* than before so that allow me to continue to code on the AmiDARK Engine project (not as fast as 2012 or before, but better than 2013) but, my financial difficulties are not yet fixed.
Due to that fact, I will have to separate me from my actual Amiga configuration (Sam440EP Flex 800Mhz) to find some money. Heh! The arrival of my baby planed for the 7th february 2014 forces me to "change the priorities" and financies are an important point.
It's not a *definitive stop* of the project because our financial situation is "temporar". I've lost my job on august 2013 ending and my wife have no job ... Being preignant, she can't work ... But during may/june, 3 months after the arrival of the baby :) She should restart a new job without difficulties (with a new diploma in hand, this new job should arrive fastly :) ) and then, I will acquire a new Amiga NG computer .... This should happen before summer 2014.

That mean that the release 0.9 mark a new "pause" in the project for approximatively 6 months (excepted if I find another way to get some money without selling the Amga Sam440Flex I own). But it will be only a "pause" and the development will restart theorically near summer 2014.

For now, I share here all the changes for this new build :
LATEST NEWS - 2014.01.09 Release 0.9 :
------------------------
AMIGAOS4
- Fixed .cbp files to work correctly on any configurations where CodeBench is installed.
- Added missing .cbp files so all samples, Darkbasic demo, FX2D and technical projects own one.
- Fixed a bug in the AmigaOS4 makefiles (.aos4 files).
- Updated and optimised all AmigaOS4 makefiles.
- Created a script file for an automatic installation of the AmiDARK Engine.
MORPHOS
- Untested.
GENERAL :
- Engine entirely rebuilded in "modules" forms
- Engine now count 33 modules inside the libAmiDARK.a library file.
BASIC2D
- Fixed a bug in the DECls & DEClsEx commands that caused flickering in fullscreen mode.
- Added a new sample that show how to draw triangles.
- Basic 2D is now integrated in the new render list method.
BASIC3D :
- Transparency, ghosting and filtering fixed extracted from 3D object render method to allow these to be used by other functions.
- Improved textures filtering.
CORE
- Added a new sample that show the use of some of the CORE output functions.
- Rebuilded entirely the rendering system to now handle display lists.
- Plugin system added.
- Improved performance by adding a function to disable the "sprite system backdrop refresh".
IMAGE
- Removed some internal MiniGL GL_INVALID_ENUM.
- Now use Basic3D transparency, ghosting and filtering methods.
LIGHT
- Improved the light system, and parameters to be more accurate.
SOUND
- Fixed a bug that prevented DEPlaySound from outputting audio.
SPRITE
- Modified the default sample to work without backdrop saving. Increase the performances.
TECHNICAL DEMONSTRATIONS
- Fixed the Raster demonstration by fixing the DECls command issue.
FX2D
-Plugin available in this release as a "demonstration plugin".

Known Issues in this release:
BASIC2D
Drawing Basic2D do no more work. It will be fixed by incorporating the Basic2D functions render to the new Render List
CORE
Functions DEGetDate & DEGetTime causes DSI Errors when using. May be fixed in next release.
SOUND
Functions DEPlaySound will not start sound again until it's previous playing is completed.
SPRITE
Backdrop saving/restore is not correct.

Missing in this release:
(That will be added in a future release):
- Plugin development system documentation
- Some more documentations
- Some more demonstration/technical samples.

I will soonly upload this build (and a MorphOS version too) on www.amidark-engine.com

Kindest Regards,
AmiDARK