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<lagmast3r> Question from Raven : What features is Update 6 going to bring to DBP
<@Mike> many new features :) much easier vertex and index access for meshes although this may come in a closer upgrade
<@Mike> lots of useful new commands and plenty of bug fixes and some optimisations
<lagmast3r> Question from jrowe : When are you planning on debugging the debugger ;) ?
<@Mike> we're going to improve the interface of the debugger, hoping to do this for upgrade 6
<@Mike> and also fix the problems with it
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : Are the known problems with image transparency going to be fixed any time soon?
<@Mike> we have fixed some problems with image transparency, this should be seen in upgrade 5.3
<lagmast3r> Question from las6 : How's are the financial side of things going in TGC (= how long can you support DBpro and so on...)
<@Mike> I honestly don't know much about the financial side :) that's all left to Rick
<lagmast3r> Question from Yyrd_Friar : what is the time frame we are looking at for this patch?
<@Mike> we're going to get upgrade 5.3 onto DBDN in the next few days
<@Mike> then some time will be spent checking everything and then we can release on the main site
<lagmast3r> Question from David : When a matrix is ghosted it disappears unless it's priority is set to 1. Bug or feature?
<@Mike> it's an unfortunate drawback of the way things work so it's a bad feature at the moment :)
<@Mike> when we make matrix objects into DBO objects like the rest of the 3D objects in DB Pro this will not be a problem
<lagmast3r> Question from Moggie100 : Are the BSP commands being looked at? As some dont work, and others dont seem to do what they say they do?
<@Mike> we're not looking at the BSP commands just yet
<@Mike> if you can send me some information on what doesn't work that will help
<@Mike> and I'll keep things to one side for when we do start on bug fixes
<lagmast3r> Question from jrowe : When wll there be a permenant version of the DBO format?
<@Mike> released with upgrade 6. it's all done now but we're thinking we may change some of the animation sections so thats why we haven't released the format onto the web site just yet
<@Mike> I will talk to Lee about it, possibly we can finalise everything for upgrade 5.3
<lagmast3r> Question from Raven : How is the Shader FX going to be improved in Update 6? Will we be able to use inline functions and the new Shader 3.0 format available in DirectX 9.0c?
<@Mike> We're planning on improving the FX support in upgrade 6 - will make it easier to use with DB Pro, update the help to explain things better
<@Mike> improved parser for the FX format
<@Mike> and we would like to make several examples to show how things work and help everyone out
<@Mike> not sure about the new shader format just yet
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : Is the occulsion tree and lightmapping stuff definatly going to make it into U6?
<@Mike> it's possible that the lightmapping commands may end up in an expansion pack, nothing is definite yet
<@Mike> the occlusion commands are being worked on for FPSC, they're working great so far and are a really good alternative to BSP
<lagmast3r> Question from M00NSHiNE : Hows the nodetree system coming along?
<@Mike> we're getting excellent results with the universe ( nodetree ) system, we can put objects in and work out portals automatically
<@Mike> and from this determine what to draw
<lagmast3r> Question from Yyrd_Friar : any chance of getting some easyer to use object rotation and angle commands as i fuond this is the hardest thing to work with?
<@Mike> Wolfs DLL has some excellent commands for rotation that make things much simpler
<@Mike> there's links to it on the forums so well worth downloading and trying out
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : Will FPSC media be royalty free for DBP projects/products?
<@Mike> not sure how FPSC media is going to be handled, something to talk about with Rick
<lagmast3r> Question from las6 : I heard some memory issues were fixed during FPSC development lately, do you know if these have anything to do with certain memblock memory leak bug?
<@Mike> yeah we found a problem with memory leaks in memblocks and that has been fixed, not sure if it's the same problem you're having
<@Mike> if you can send me some example code I will take a look and see if it's the same problem
<lagmast3r> Question from El_Goorf : <ok, seriusly now, how many more commands can we expect for the terrain, will we be given any in the form of being able to make a click/drag terrain editor?>
<@Mike> with the terrain coming out in upgrade 5.3 theres commands to create the terrain, load, save, set properties and build it
<@Mike> then commands that can be used on other 3D objects like you see in Basic3D command set can be used on the terrain object
<@Mike> no specific commands for editors but I'm sure you could soon put something together as an editor for terrains
<lagmast3r> Question from MooMooTheCat : Will there be public testing for P5.3 ?
<@Mike> I expect so
<lagmast3r> Question from Raven : Are there any plans to extend the language features, such as pointers and UDTs? if so are these planned or in development?
<@Mike> that's Lee's side of things, for now no plans, we want to get the core as stable as possible first and then move onto extra language features
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : There are 3-4 collision 'systems' with various commands which work at varying levels, but none as reliable as the sliding collision in DBC. Any chance of this getting addressed in U6?
<@Mike> yes definitely
<@Mike> we've updated the collision for upgrade 6
<lagmast3r> Question from IanM : When are the byte/word/boolean types going to be fixed in the compiler?
<@Mike> again that's Lee's side of things, will talk to him about it and find out
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : DarkBASIC Pro primitive spheres still seem flawed at both low and high detail levels. High or low priority problem, or not important?
<@Mike> don't think it's too important for us now but we can easily fix it
<lagmast3r> Question from jrowe : when will we got thse new help files and will there be explainations of different blend/ghost modes etc?
<@Mike> Rich is sorting things out for the new help files, they will also be in CHM format so you can see an index and search through them
<@Mike> not sure when they will be ready, not even seen the new ones myself yet :)
<@Mike> they will definitely be improved and offer better explanations and examples
<lagmast3r> Question from las6 : is the upcoming landscape plugin based on the code you wrote before DBpro was even officially launched? (remember the xmas screenie!)
<@Mike> no I ended up doing a rewrite, came up with some new ideas to improve things and of course now it's easier because we've introduced the DBO format
<@Mike> so I made it so the terrain is a DBO object and it slots right into the rest of the 3D system
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : Can individual objects be split up to render only certain polygons with the occulsion tree commands?
<@Mike> the way the occlusion commands work is that they take in an input list of objects
<@Mike> then it will hide or show those objects
<@Mike> it doesn't go right down to individual polygons
<@Mike> it's mainly aimed at people who are creating levels using small objects e.g. walls, doors etc
<@Mike> you have to create your level in a certain way but the end results are worth it
<lagmast3r> Question from El_Goorf : <is DBP going to remain ur flagship product or will there be a "dark basic uberpro" coming in the future with a brand new engine etc or is it patches/expansions all the way?>
<@Mike> DB Pro will be the main product
<@Mike> going to be lots of upgrades and expansions coming this year
<lagmast3r> Question from las6 : is the default specular power and color going to be changed in future patches?
<@Mike> no the default won't be changed but with the new commands coming it will be easier to control the way things look
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : Will Fix Object Pivot be fixed?
<@Mike> didn't realise there was a problem with it :) if you send me an email I'll take a look
<lagmast3r> Question from [0_x] : which graphics cards are better supported, nvidia or ati ?
<@Mike> we're testing on both nvidia and ati and they both work well
<@Mike> none is really better supported
<lagmast3r> Question from the_winch : are there any plans for direct image access rather than having to use memblocks
<@Mike> it's something I've spoken to Lee about and we can get the commands in, hopefully this will be for upgrade 6
<lagmast3r> Question from Moggie100 : With FPS Creator, are there any limitations to the level of detail you can acheive on levels and objects?
<@Mike> you can get really high detailed levels, what you create is really up to you
<@Mike> and you can import your own models to use in the game
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : Is the guy in the FPSC screenshots really Cptn. Constipated?
<@Mike> yes :) although the model has changed now
<lagmast3r> Question from El_Goorf : <any updates for multiplayer commands?>
<@Mike> yes the multiplayer commands have now been updated to DirectX 9 and we're going to get voice commands in
<lagmast3r> Question from Liquidz_Snake : Judging by what FPS creators are out now, what will the cababilitys of your FPSC be as compared to some of the current ones on the market
<@Mike> it's hard to say, being realistic we're not going to match the likes of UT 2004
<@Mike> but we can do well with it
<@Mike> graphically we may not be as good but we'll certainly have all the things in you expect of an FPSC
<lagmast3r> Question from jrowe : If terrains are to be treated as basic 3d objects will there be a "get ground height" style command or will we have to use the slow intersect object command?
<@Mike> yes there is a "get terrain ground height" command
<@Mike> works just like the matrix command
<lagmast3r> Question from El_Goorf : <official plug-in list? rich mentioned it in a doubtful way>
<@Mike> would be good to do but hard to keep track of things, not really sure how it would work
<lagmast3r> Question from RichS : Is there any chance of an ability to return what type of object a certain object is
<@Mike> that's a good idea, not something we have in yet but definitely something we should add
<lagmast3r> Question from Raven : Currently animation and bone editing is an ary challenge, making real-time animation difficult, especially with the mesh commands not retaining data from memblocks. Are there any plans for direct access to the bone systems in DirectX and DBO formats?
<@Mike> we've got some new commands to make that much easier, will give you more info when everything is ready
<@Mike> as part of development on FPSC we'll be improving the animation system, we have talked about bone access and we can make it so you can alter the rotations etc, this is some time off though
<lagmast3r> Question from M00NSHiNE : I remember a mention of a physics DLL a while ago. Is this still happening?
<@Mike> yeah the physics DLL is still coming, will be in testing soon
<@Mike> more info to come on that in the next newsletter
<lagmast3r> Question from the_winch : can we have proper error mesages? often on an error the program just exits making debuging hard.
<@Mike> what we're planning on doing is making a debug option for your executables where we will add exception handling, if something goes wrong then we can easily quit out and display an error message
<@Mike> will work much better than the current set up
<@Mike> this may be a few months off yet
<lagmast3r> Question from El_Goorf : <what will DBP be like by the time the last patch for it comes out?>
<@Mike> the last patch could be a long time off
<@Mike> first we need to do upgrade 5.3, then upgrade 6
<@Mike> and plenty more after that :)
<lagmast3r> Question from Kentaree : Are problems with incorrect results to floating point calculations going to be fixed?
<@Mike> not sure what those problems are with floating points, again send me an email and I'll take a look at things
<lagmast3r> Question from Mnemonix : Will there be any kind of "on the fly" csg commands in dbpro?
<@Mike> yes the CSG commands will operate at runtime
<@Mike> they will happen pretty much instantly on fairly simple objects
<@Mike> but as long as things are simple it will be quick
<lagmast3r> Question from las6 : are the landscape mesh parts treated as limbs, separate objects or something else?
<@Mike> the landscape mesh parts are treated as limbs
<@Mike> you can control them using the limb commands
<@Mike> e.g. call "texture limb" on one if you like
<lagmast3r> Question from MooMooTheCat : Any chance of getting GET IMAGE to work faster?
<@Mike> will have to look at that, it's a slow command to begin with because of the way things work but possible we could speed it up
<lagmast3r> Question from ZKAT8IT : Will you add better support over texture alterations, such as giving us support for UVW mapping on objects instead of just UV?
<@Mike> this is sorted out for upgrade 6, you can control the texture mapping using some simple commands
<lagmast3r> Question from Liquidz_Snake : minumum system requirements for Patch 6??
<@Mike> same as always
<@Mike> it's not going to require any different hardware to what you have now, if DB Pro runs now then it will with upgrade 6
<lagmast3r> Question from El_Goorf : <lemme guess: an expansion planned for a visual designer, like on purebasic (oops)>
<@Mike> it's an idea but not sure it will happen :)
<lagmast3r> Question from Codemonkey : how customisable will the fpsc be because from what i have seen it looks very good but it seems to be leaning over to T3DGM side of things
<@Mike> you can customise every aspect of it, put in scenery where you want, move it around, texture it, add an effect if you like, add lights
<@Mike> add in characters, weapons, guns
<@Mike> we want to make it as customisable as possible
<@Mike> it's definitely going to be a whole lot better than T3DGM
<Mnemonix> is there a scripting language with it?
<@Mike> there is a very basic scripting language that is used - this allows you to control the AI of objects and players
<@Mike> allows you to control exactly how things work
<lagmast3r> Question from Reverser : "DBPro will be around for some time" ..."for at least another month"... well, which is it? Developers don't take kindly to products with uncertain futures. Please elaborate.
<@Mike> a joke by Ravey :)
<@Mike> we'll still be doing upgrades in 12 months time I'm sure of that :)
<lagmast3r> Question from Kentaree : Any word on multitexturing?
<@Mike> yes that is improved for upgrade 6, you can set the layers easily and control how they're set up
<lagmast3r> Question from Mnemonix : Sorry if it has been asked, is there any chance of classes being included into dbp, not at a full OO level, just so we can obtain some kind of enscapulation
<@Mike> can't see classes being added into the language
<@Mike> would make things work very differently and probably involve a big change in the compiler
<lagmast3r> Question from El_Goorf : <relating to jrowes question about the get terrain height, i have a bug, will you look at it later (i dont have it on me now)>
<@Mike> yes
<lagmast3r> Question from las6 : will there be a way to offset model center point (basically shift all the vertices) without resorting to memblocks or have I missed something really basic...? :P
<@Mike> the new commands in upgrade 6 will allow this to happen, it's possible that some of these commands may even be brought forward for upgrade 5.3 but nothing is definite at the moment
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : Any chance of fast reflection shading in U6?
<@Mike> the reflection shading won't be improved for upgrade 6, best bet is to use FX files
<@Mike> I hope FARK_BIBLY doesn't live in NZ :)
<lagmast3r> Question from MooMooTheCat : Any chance of fixed-pointed maths commands in?
@Mike> normally weetabix :)
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : Text is weirdly slow over 3d. Planned fix?
<@Mike> yeah the text is a problem
<@Mike> needs to be sorted, something for us to look at for upgrade 6
<lagmast3r> Question from Raven : will the problems with mesh data loss be fixxed?
<@Mike> not sure what those problems are :) let me know by email and I will take a look
<lagmast3r> Question from El_Goorf : <can we do this more often?>
<@Mike> yes if you want
<lagmast3r> Question from MooMooTheCat : Any chance of fixed-pointed maths commands in?
<@Mike> what type of fixed pointed maths commands are you interested in?
<lagmast3r> Question from Raven : will there be some true multitextureing and/or texture blending commands in the future?
<@Mike> yes
<@Mike> they are in a test version I have now
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : Any chance of getting a proper error message when a DBP program runs with an earlier version of DX than required instead of an ugly crash?
<@Mike> yeah we can look at that and make sure it quits safely
<lagmast3r> Question from Liquidz_Snake : what sound enhancments (IE: new File Types supported.. ect..cause me loves me sounds)
<@Mike> with the system expansion pack Ogg Vorbis is supported and there's a command to convert wave files into Ogg Vorbis format
<@Mike> and the system expansion pack also brings EAX support
<@Mike> other than that no new improvements to the current sound commands
<lagmast3r> Question from MooMooTheCat : Any chance of getting better joystick support in (many joysticks of the same type are a problem)
<@Mike> will talk to Lee about it and will see what can be done about improving it\
<@Mike> I'm not sure about that at the moment, lose track of some things because there's so many commands :) might be worth taking a look at EZRotate
<lagmast3r> Question from mx7 : The TGC website states that DBP produces "100% compiled machine code". While it certainly produces a valid PE, a deeper look shows what appears to be a kind of virtual machine, that executes bytecode from the .dat file. Is this correct?
<@Mike> the compiler is 100% compiled machine code, it gets translated into ASM and then down into an executable
<lagmast3r> Question from [jimmy] : Have you ever loved somebody so much, you can't sleep at night?
<@Mike> haha
<lagmast3r> Question from MooMooTheCat : String commands seem to have a problem - will they be looked at for 5.3?
<@Mike> let me know by email what problems you're having with strings
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : YES WE WANT :)
<@Mike> :)
<lagmast3r> Question from MooMooTheCat : Standard FP Maths : Add, Subtract, Divide, Multipy - it would help those who dont know about floating-point errors
<@Mike> good idea for those commands, something for the future
<lagmast3r> Question from Hamish : Will load object be fixed in U5.3 to import vertex alpha and colours from .x files?
<@Mike> we have made some changes to improve the loading of X objects, I'm fairly certain alpha and colours are now sorted
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : Any chance of native EAX?
<@Mike> it will be coming in the system expansion pack only
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : How about that make sound from memblock problem?
<@Mike> not sure what that make sound problem is :) 
<lagmast3r> Question from MooMooTheCat : Any chance of the sound system handling YM files (Rich would like that, I bet!)
<@Mike> not talked about it
<@Mike> maybe something for a future expansion pack
<lagmast3r> Question from Hamish : Will the compiler speed with large projects every be improved?
<@Mike> yes the compiler speed will be improved, Lee is working on it
<lagmast3r> Question from zircher : Will 5.3 fix the .X parser problems in 5.2?
<@Mike> it's been improved, problems in 5.2 should now be sorted
<lagmast3r> Question from CattleRustler : Any chance of lee building an object numbering system soz people don't need to keep track of object numbers manually, but behind the scenes by dx type?
<@Mike> doubt that will happen, probably best left to the programmer to handle things like that
<lagmast3r> Question from the_winch : can it play a bit nicer with the system when joining/creating multiplayer games? currently for 10-15 seconds the exe doesn't respond and for none dbp users it can look like the program has crashed
<@Mike> I'll look at that, may be something we can't avoid for now with us using DirectPlay
<lagmast3r> Question from Moggie100 : Can you elaborate on the additions to the multiplayer command set?
<@Mike> no additions yet but the code has been upgrade to DirectX 9 interfaces
<lagmast3r> Question from Hamish : When do you plan to sort out the various problems regarding object alpha and transparency (faces not drawn, faces drawn which aren't there, etc.)
<@Mike> Lee is looking into that
<@Mike> not sure when things will be sorted with it
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : I suppose there's no chance of a true realtime dynamic lighting system plugin (I assume we'd pay for it) sometime in the future?
<@Mike> with FPSC we have per pixel lighting in using FX shaders, it's possible everyone could use these shaders in their own DB Pro programs
<@Mike> and get the same results
<lagmast3r> Question from [jimmy] : Any planned updates to the IDE? I've had programs compile in Rob's but not in yours, strange, but true. AND Have you ever needed someone so bad it made you cry?
<@Mike> we had a talk about this the other day so watch this space :)
<lagmast3r> Question from Kentaree : is there going to be an improvement on the pointer system, for example, pointers to UDTs and Arrays?
<@Mike> no improvements on that front yet
<@Mike> something for us to look at in the future
<lagmast3r> Question from Hamish : Are there any plans to add inbuilt windows style interface commands to DBPro?
<@Mike> we have worked on some WinGUI commands
<@Mike> but these could be some time off
<lagmast3r> Question from newbi2basic : I have noticed when using multiplayer commands people on WAN get messages and computers on LAN dont seem to recieve is this a bug? or am i programming it wrong :)
<@Mike> if they have all connected to your multiplayer game then they should all get the messages
<@Mike> might be a problem with the way you're handling things
<@Mike> hard to say without seeing things
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : File access crawls, especially when sorting through bytes of large (10+ megabyte) files. Any chance of speeding it up to a more reasonable rate?
<@Mike> I made some changes to this the other day and the speed has improved
<@Mike> will spend some more time on it to get things more optimal
<lagmast3r> Question from Mnemonix : A few months back we encountered a bug with #constant, constants in multiple source files were not working
<@Mike> if you send info about that to Lee he will look into it
<lagmast3r> Question from Moggie100 : The 'Perform Checklist For Net Sessions' command seems not to output anything into the checklist, yet you can still join a game if you know its session number. Is this a recognised bug? and if so, is it going to be looked at in an upcoming patch?
<@Mike> not seen that happen before, will have to check it
<lagmast3r> Question from adr : I know this is possibly Lee's bag, but how about compiling DBP applications in units? compiling the same huuuge projet over and over can be time consuming. Kinda like recompiling the .o's, but then linking them together.
<@Mike> Lee's looking into something like that as he's created a massive project with FPSC
<@Mike> will let you know when there's more info on that
<@Mike> will certainly be useful to those with very large projects
<lagmast3r> Question from Kentaree : You mentioned a new multiplayer system, will it still be totally directplay, or will it be possible to access individual ports aswell?
<@Mike> for now completely directplay
<@Mike> port commands may come in an expansion pack
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : (I am on a ROLL here) A lot of 'shader' effects applied to objects prevent them from being ghosted or having other standard effects applied to them (the inbuilt commands not the manual application of shaders). Is this a natural limitation of the technology; if not, any chance of this being fixed?
<@Mike> it's just the way things currently work
<@Mike> you really need to control everything in the shader
<@Mike> so if you want to ghost an object then set that up in the shader and not using DB Pro commands
<@Mike> otherwise there will be conflicts
<lagmast3r> Question from Hamish : Any chances of adding a command to save a whole UDT to a file, or do we have to stick with adding each part at a time.
<@Mike> not thought about that, something to talk to Lee about
<lagmast3r> Question from jrowe : what's this secret project Ravey's working on?
<Mnemonix> i think ravey works at area 51
<Mnemonix> hence the SECRET!
<lagmast3r> Question from adr : Any plans for native geometry/image streaming? So we can dynamically build up large worlds without waiting for "load object" to return control...
<@Mike> no plans but I like the idea of it
<@Mike> not sure how it would work but something to think about
<lagmast3r> Question from El_Goorf : <anything on the multiplayer lobby front?>
<Kentaree> been answered
<lagmast3r> Question from Reverser : Can you definitively say that a DBP exectuable contains NO virtual machine of any kind, and that the _virtual.dat file does NOT contain VM bytecodes? To be clear, I'm not talking about the DBP "compiler", but the executables it produces.
<@Mike> the executable it produces is pure machine code
<@Mike> I can't say for definite what the file _virtual.dat does as Lee handles the compiler
<@Mike> but I know for sure that it's compiled from DB Pro into ASM and then into a pure executable
<lagmast3r> Question from Kentaree : Any chance on simple database support, which would be useful for RPGs and high data games?
<@Mike> no plans for it but something we can think about for an expansion pack
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : Last I checked the frame rate command still reported a number 1/10th higher than its actual value-- easy to work around but an annoying problem nevertheless. Any chance of a fix?
<@Mike> as long as you call the "screen fps ( )" command once a frame there should be no problems with it
<@Mike> if you can send me an example showing the problem you're having that will help
<lagmast3r> Question from MooMooTheCat : Any chance of getting more DX Handles (to say DirectMusic/Play/Input etc)
<@Mike> yeah we're planning on opening things up a lot more for upgrade 6
<@Mike> and allowing you to get things like a pointer to an object when writing DLLs
<lagmast3r> Question from Hamish : Is there any chance of understandable DBO documents with U6, for us stupid people :P?
<@Mike> yeah I'm going to improve it and try and make it as clear as I can
<@Mike> what everyone has now is only a very quick draft
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : Will the DBO format include shader references, or shaders built into it?
<@Mike> it will include shader references - so links to files you apply to it
<lagmast3r> Question from Hamish : Is there any way that object deletion could be sped up, especially with planes.
<@Mike> I ran a test some time back that improved the speed of deleting objects, it can be done and we will need to add in a flag to "delete object"
<@Mike> so you can specify whether you want to use another method
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : So we got per pixel lighting, physics, and shaders-- sweet-- what about soft shadows?
<@Mike> Lee is currently working on shadows for FPSC
<@Mike> not sure exactly what will be in
<lagmast3r> Question from zircher : How about access to window handles for the screen saver creators out there?
<@Mike> that will be done as well - things will be opened up much more
<lagmast3r> Question from El_Goorf : <whats actually going to be IN this physics plugin? physics is a wide area, surely you havent covered everything?>
<@Mike> for now cloth and particle simulations
<@Mike> soon after more :)
<@Mike> more info will come on that in the newsletter
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : DBP dosen't work with FRAPS for me, never has. Any ideas why?
<[jimmy]> Works for me
<lagmast3r> Question from DarkMouse : Hey, how about breast physics for that there physics plugin ;)?
<Liquidz_Snake> hahah
<@Mike> breast physics? :)
<Mnemonix> lmao
<lagmast3r> Question from Kentaree : Any news on an !option explicit for the compiler or debugger?
<@Mike> no nothing on that for now
<lagmast3r> Question from Hamish : I'm interested to know if you are you planning to improve the particle engine, because right now it's very easy to create a much better particle system using objects pretty quickly.
<@Mike> there's new particles available with the physics expansion packs, they're much better than the current particles
<lagmast3r> Question from jrowe : When's the next compo gonna be?
<@Mike> we've been talking about it this week, will be announced soon :)
<lagmast3r> Question from MooMooTheCat : Can the mouse button detection detect more than 4 buttons (I've got a 5 button mouse now)
<@Mike> not right now it can't
<END OF CHAT>