Rock Star, Build 11
Posted January 17th, 2004 @ 01:51am by Erik J. Barzeski
Yes, we just released build 10, but here is Rock Star build 11. Grab it from the same location as before. This time the file is 1.4 MB, not 11.3.
What's New In Build 11
- now graciously asks user to locate iTunes folder if it isn't at its expected location (~/Music/iTunes/) and stores the selected path as a user default so it will know the next time where to look
- checks before displaying playlists if the user even has any playlists at all that have at least 25 eligible songs; if not, simply displays a message screen explaining the problem
- we now display a dialog on first launch asking the user if they want to use full screen or windowed modes; we save whatever mode user was in upon quitting and then start up in that respective mode on next launch
- fixed a bug whereby the first score is always the score shown at the end, regardless of what the player did during that game
- we now kick anything that is not MP3, AAC (protected or unprotected), AIFF, and WAV
- we now kick tracks classified as "Spoken Word" and "Books & Spoken" in their genre
- added key equivalents to all the game screens so you can use it without a mouse if you'd like
- you can now double-click a playlist to start the game
- answer choices are now clickable
- added the icon
- we now only reload the XML file if it was modified after the last time we loaded it
- fixed the infinite loop bug reported by Simon Jacquier
What's Slated For Build 12
- high scores (yes, it should make it in there this time)
- performance enhancements by revising the playlist gathering algorithms
- volume control with command-1, 2, 3, etc.
- truncate choices that are longer than the width of the field by appending an ellipses character
- catch QuickTime errors and indicate to user in some way that there was a problem playing the file (possibly also catch unauthorized protected AAC errors); then the user can deal with removing problem tracks from the playlists himself
What People Need To Test
I'd like everyone who runs the game to please e-mail back the console results to me. I'm particularly interested in people who have XML files larger than 10 MB and what their results are.
Donate Life
Posted 17 Jan 2004 at 11:54am #
I'd love it if it would kick off songs from "Various Artists" in 'artist' mode. That band's just too darn eclectic!
Posted 17 Jan 2004 at 12:21pm #
Kevin, just create a smart playlist that includes everything but "Various Artists."
Posted 17 Jan 2004 at 12:59pm #
Games
Halo didn’t initially work on my iBook G4; it would always quit just after showing the splash screen. After some weeks, Greg Grimes at MacSoft figured out that I should copy the “shaders” folder on the CD into the “Halo” ...
Posted 17 Jan 2004 at 1:12pm #
Unfortunately, all my music is stored on a (headless) server, and is shared with iTunes Music Sharing to the other machines in the house.
Any chance the playlist could be retrieved through alternate means (meaning other than the XML)?
Posted 17 Jan 2004 at 8:31pm #
Very cool. I have a large (22.8 MB) XML file and it worked fine, though the load time (49.2 seconds according to the console message) was a bit long for my tastes.
I'd love to see the "wrong" choices be a little more tricky. For example, they could be by the same artist or or in the same genre as the correct answer.
Posted 17 Jan 2004 at 11:15pm #
New bug: the score is wrapped at 4 characters. My score was 11842, but all I saw in the lower left was "1184" and the top few pixels of the 2.
Posted 18 Jan 2004 at 3:43pm #
I don't think there is any other way to gather playlist and library information other than parsing the XML file. iTunes gathers remote library and playlist in another way, but I don't think it's accessible for common developers.
Posted 18 Jan 2004 at 5:28pm #
Well, somebody wrote an app to download files from the remote iTunes db, so it *is* possible to do.
Additionally, you could specify the remote iTunes db via AppleShare (that's already possible).
Posted 19 Jan 2004 at 1:13am #
Great little app. Thanks!
This might be really fun if I display the game on my tv with the s-video out on my powerbook, run the audio through my stereo and use my bluetooth keyboard.
If I get bored, maybe I'll put together a script for Salling clicker so I can just use my phone to make my choices.
Posted 19 Jan 2004 at 10:14pm #
Actually, daap is semi-open, at least:
http://www.opendaap.org
Alternatively, you can drive iTunes itself with AppleScript, and the playlists (etc) are certainly available there -- whether local or remote.
Posted 24 Jan 2004 at 6:59pm #
It's been a few days since we posted Rock StarBuild 11, but here now is build 12. Download it from the usual location (1.3 MB)....
Posted 24 Jan 2004 at 8:12pm #
Rock Star had trouble finding my iTunes Music Library.xml file because it is hidden off in /Users/Shared/Music/iTunes/ and linked to it's default location in my home folder symbolically. When I open the game (build 1.2 now) RS prompts me to locate the library myself because RS can't find it, but then both the files in the /Users/Shared/Music/iTunes/ directory are grayed out in the open dialouge, and I can't open them.
I tried to fudge the location of the library in RS' .plist file but it still wouldn't work.
Posted 28 Jan 2004 at 12:35pm #
this game rules! i hope it's going to be freeware... i love it, the only thing i'm waiting on is the high scores list.
Posted 28 Jan 2004 at 12:35pm #
oh, and rendezvous support...
Posted 28 Jan 2004 at 12:41pm #
Sorry Daniel: no and no.
Posted 28 Jan 2004 at 11:56pm #
In the same category as kicking "various artists," I'm pretty bad at organizing some of my music, so kicking any song with "track" in the title would be helpful for me. Although it does add an extra challenge to remember if a song was track 4 or track 12...