bastecklein's Recent Posts
Today I am releasing the v3.2.0 patch to Network Browser for Android. This update corrects most of the hard crashes that have been submitted through the Play Store console. It should also improve scrolling and popup dialog performance on Android TV devices.
In addition, I have added a search icon to the main toolbar for faster access (it can still be found in the dropdown tools menu as well), and now image files will be opened in the in-app image viewer instead of using the external Android system image viewer (you can still download images manually to view them with whichever program you would like).
These changes were made based on user feedback, so keep the feedback coming so that I can continue to make Network Browser the best that it can be!
In addition, I have added a search icon to the main toolbar for faster access (it can still be found in the dropdown tools menu as well), and now image files will be opened in the in-app image viewer instead of using the external Android system image viewer (you can still download images manually to view them with whichever program you would like).
These changes were made based on user feedback, so keep the feedback coming so that I can continue to make Network Browser the best that it can be!
Ricobelo said:Thanks for the great effort for this new version
I am trying to get around this new version
I have not yet found how to delete an existing connection.
Also how to delete a tab . I.e an active connection or failed connection
Creating a tab when the connection is failed does not seem to be the write approach as you end up adding a tab for each connection attempt.
I am looking forward future updates.
Thanks
You should be able to delete an existing connection by long-pressing on it on the "Home" tab and choosing Remove Connection, and tabs should close by pressing the X button on the tab.
You are right though that a failed connection should not be creating a new tab, I will look into that.
You should be good to go now.
Today I have posted the v0.48.0 release of My Colony 2 which should soon be hitting all platforms. Let's take a look at what is new!
Since I have been pretty backed up on my other projects lately, I primarily wanted to get a bug fix patch out to correct an issue where units could not be selected on touch screen devices (which is a pretty big deal). This should now be fixed in this update, but let me know if you are still having issues.
In addition, I have added four new structures that were posted here in the forums: the Potters Den ( @therealchromedino ), Integrated Rum Distillery, Dozen Stairs Meeting Center, and Advanced Jewelry Store ( @RekEm1999 ). To support the new structures, the Pottery resource has also been added to the game.
I have not had a whole lot of time to work on the My Colony series of games lately and that probably will not be changing any time soon, but as long as the games are in pretty good shape, I don't think it's a very big deal, since they both have quite a bit of content as-is. But please let me know what issues you find in the game so that I can get a patch issued!
https://mycolony2.com/
#mycolony2
Since I have been pretty backed up on my other projects lately, I primarily wanted to get a bug fix patch out to correct an issue where units could not be selected on touch screen devices (which is a pretty big deal). This should now be fixed in this update, but let me know if you are still having issues.
In addition, I have added four new structures that were posted here in the forums: the Potters Den ( @therealchromedino ), Integrated Rum Distillery, Dozen Stairs Meeting Center, and Advanced Jewelry Store ( @RekEm1999 ). To support the new structures, the Pottery resource has also been added to the game.
I have not had a whole lot of time to work on the My Colony series of games lately and that probably will not be changing any time soon, but as long as the games are in pretty good shape, I don't think it's a very big deal, since they both have quite a bit of content as-is. But please let me know what issues you find in the game so that I can get a patch issued!
https://mycolony2.com/
#mycolony2
If you open a terminal in the directory where you have my colony saved, you should be able to do:
./‘My Colony’
If you start it from the command line, does it print out an error message of any kind?
Sorry to all for the issues with the recent rewrite of Network Browser.
I have just published v3.1.0 to both Google Play and Amazon and it should be going live soon. This release should improve the responsiveness when scrolling through folders on TV devices by quite a bit, and also makes quite a few other improvements to remote/tv navigation. It also brings back the Search function which I had accidently removed from the last release.
Please keep letting me know what issues you find and I will keep working to get the app right!
I have just published v3.1.0 to both Google Play and Amazon and it should be going live soon. This release should improve the responsiveness when scrolling through folders on TV devices by quite a bit, and also makes quite a few other improvements to remote/tv navigation. It also brings back the Search function which I had accidently removed from the last release.
Please keep letting me know what issues you find and I will keep working to get the app right!
This should be corrected now, you might have to reload the application a couple of times to get the latest code from the server.
MichaelRoth said:Hi! i am missing the search function right now in the folder options. That was very handy at the older version of the app, i got an folder wit 36k subfolders at work and using an android device for searching .pdf files in the folders. do we get a search function back soon :D
ty for your work nice App would like to buy the add free version if the search funktion comes back.
kind regards
Michael Roth
Thank you for the report, I inadvertently forgot to add the search button back in. It will be back on the next update I promise!
Today I am posting a major update to Network Browser. v3.0.0 represents a total rewrite of the app, and so a lof of things have changed in this release. Let's go over it.
First, why the complete rewrite? Network Browser was originally released back in 2013, and in the past 11 years, a lot of things have changed with Android, especially as it relates to filesystem permissions, which Network Browser deals in heavily. When Network Browser was first released, Android was a pretty open system and it was relatively simple to work with and manage files and folders on an Android device. In the years since though, Android has become far more locked down, and I have had to bend and twist the way Network Browser worked in order to conform to the changes, to the point where the underlying code had become a complete mess.
In addition to changes in the way the filesystem is accessed, there has also been a tendency for Android to make major changes to it's UI framework every few years, depreciating layouts and replacing them with others. For a single developer, it is often a hassle to constantly refactor an app like Network Browser every few years.
So instead of constantly trying to bolt new code onto old, I have just decided to rewrite the entire thing from scratch, a project I have been meaning to do for a while now but kept putting it off due to the scope of it. But now it's finally done and it should make updating and improving Network Browser much faster and simpler going forward.
Of course, long time users will notice many changes, so let's go over what has happened.
First, you will notice once you update that your saved network configurations are lost. This I am sorry for, but it was necessary fallout. I plan during the next update or so to add a function to save/export/share network configuration settings so that you can easily distribute them to multiple devices. Config settings are now also synced to your Ape Apps Account if you are signed in, so they should (in theory) automatically transfer between your devices when you are signed in.
Network Browser now also sports a new tabbed interface, allowing you to browse and work with different connections at once. You can also now quickly navigate up to any location in your current remote path, as there is a new Path Bar with each subdirectory in the tree being selectable.
In the previous release, you could either download or upload a folder from/to the network (I forgot which one it supported) but not both. Network browser now allows you to both Download or Upload an entire folder from/to the remote network. In addition, both downloads and uploads are now handled by Android's modern worker system, and long running network transfer operations should persist even after you shut down the app.
For Network Browser TV users, the user interface has also been overhauled, and there have been significant improvements to the Dark app theme.
Speaking of themes, you can now set Network Browser to use either Light, Dark, or system default theme modes. In addition, you can now customize the overall accent color that the app uses.
I have also abandoned my efforts to develop and maintain the built-in custom video player for Network Browser. The app now just uses the default no-frills Android media player widget and will support whatever codes your device OEM supports. Maintaining my own custom player was just so far out of the scope of the project, especially when there are many far better media player options out there on the market.
If you need better video playback capabilities, there are plenty of good and free third-party media players available that Network Browser can stream your content to. I suggest using MX Player, as it seems to work great on both phone and TV devices. VLC also works fine on phones and tablets, however the TV version has issues with Network Browser, and I would suggest staying away from it on TV.
Being such a large update, I am sure there are issues and bugs that I have missed, so please feel free to let me know in this thread, because I am certain there will need to be a big v3.1.0 bug fix patch after so significant a rewrite. Also let me know of any new features or changes you would like to see added. The app should be much easier to update and maintain now!
Thanks for using Network Browser.
Edit 2024.08.26
I have made additional changes/fixes and released patch v3.1.0. Scroll down a bit in this thread to see those release notes.
#networkbrowser
First, why the complete rewrite? Network Browser was originally released back in 2013, and in the past 11 years, a lot of things have changed with Android, especially as it relates to filesystem permissions, which Network Browser deals in heavily. When Network Browser was first released, Android was a pretty open system and it was relatively simple to work with and manage files and folders on an Android device. In the years since though, Android has become far more locked down, and I have had to bend and twist the way Network Browser worked in order to conform to the changes, to the point where the underlying code had become a complete mess.
In addition to changes in the way the filesystem is accessed, there has also been a tendency for Android to make major changes to it's UI framework every few years, depreciating layouts and replacing them with others. For a single developer, it is often a hassle to constantly refactor an app like Network Browser every few years.
So instead of constantly trying to bolt new code onto old, I have just decided to rewrite the entire thing from scratch, a project I have been meaning to do for a while now but kept putting it off due to the scope of it. But now it's finally done and it should make updating and improving Network Browser much faster and simpler going forward.
Of course, long time users will notice many changes, so let's go over what has happened.
First, you will notice once you update that your saved network configurations are lost. This I am sorry for, but it was necessary fallout. I plan during the next update or so to add a function to save/export/share network configuration settings so that you can easily distribute them to multiple devices. Config settings are now also synced to your Ape Apps Account if you are signed in, so they should (in theory) automatically transfer between your devices when you are signed in.
Network Browser now also sports a new tabbed interface, allowing you to browse and work with different connections at once. You can also now quickly navigate up to any location in your current remote path, as there is a new Path Bar with each subdirectory in the tree being selectable.
In the previous release, you could either download or upload a folder from/to the network (I forgot which one it supported) but not both. Network browser now allows you to both Download or Upload an entire folder from/to the remote network. In addition, both downloads and uploads are now handled by Android's modern worker system, and long running network transfer operations should persist even after you shut down the app.
For Network Browser TV users, the user interface has also been overhauled, and there have been significant improvements to the Dark app theme.
Speaking of themes, you can now set Network Browser to use either Light, Dark, or system default theme modes. In addition, you can now customize the overall accent color that the app uses.
I have also abandoned my efforts to develop and maintain the built-in custom video player for Network Browser. The app now just uses the default no-frills Android media player widget and will support whatever codes your device OEM supports. Maintaining my own custom player was just so far out of the scope of the project, especially when there are many far better media player options out there on the market.
If you need better video playback capabilities, there are plenty of good and free third-party media players available that Network Browser can stream your content to. I suggest using MX Player, as it seems to work great on both phone and TV devices. VLC also works fine on phones and tablets, however the TV version has issues with Network Browser, and I would suggest staying away from it on TV.
Being such a large update, I am sure there are issues and bugs that I have missed, so please feel free to let me know in this thread, because I am certain there will need to be a big v3.1.0 bug fix patch after so significant a rewrite. Also let me know of any new features or changes you would like to see added. The app should be much easier to update and maintain now!
Thanks for using Network Browser.
Edit 2024.08.26
I have made additional changes/fixes and released patch v3.1.0. Scroll down a bit in this thread to see those release notes.
#networkbrowser
spessasus said:Hi, developer of SpessaSynth here.
I'm glad that spessasynth_lib has proven to be helpful!
One suggestion I have for the music, is using an sf3 soundfont since spessasynth supports these too.
They are essentially compressed sf2 soundfonts which allow higher quality sounds and maintain a small file size.
For example, you could use the free good quality "GeneralUser GS" soundfont which when compressed via Polyphone shrinks down to just 6 megabytes. while having a better sound quality than the current one. (or even go for a high quality soundfont like FluidR3_GM which compresses down to 17 megabytes)
Anyways, thanks for using my library in this cool game! :-)
Thank you so much, I will do that!
Today I have published an update to the original My Colony, bringing it up to v1.34.0, which should be hitting all platforms soon. There are a few changes here, so let's take a look!
First, I have reverted the in-game popup style menus to the big full window height slideout menus. Some players (on mobile in particular) were having issues with the other menu style, so I decided to just go back to the old reliable slideout menus that nobody seemed to have an issue with.
The Music Rendering engine has been completely replaced and is now using a new library called SpessaSynth that I have been following for a little while now. The developer of this new MIDI sequencing library is very good and is quite active, and has been super responsive when I have had questions or issues with the library. If you wouldn't mind, go to his Github repo and leave it a Star, because he does good work.
https://github.com/spessasus/SpessaSynth
This new library uses more modern JS coding techniques and renders .mid files in a worker thread, and so it does not impact game performance like the old MIDI renderer did. With this change though, you may notice that the music sounds a little different. Since the new library makes use of standard .sf2 sound font files, I am currently using with the game the widely available General MIDI soundfont, which is only a fraction of the size of the music patches that were being used with the old renderer. That said, this sound font objectively does not sound quite as good.
The good news is that the new library supports custom sound fonts, whereas the old one did not. If there is interest from players, I can add an option to the game that lets users select their own *.sf2 sound font file and then they can make the music sound however they want it to. For copyright reasons though, I will probably stick to the free one as the in-game packaged sound font.
Finally, this update includes beta-level support for a new Ape Apps-wide feature I have been working on behind the scenes for a while now, which is Private Cloud support. Currently, users of all of my apps, My Colony included, who opt into Cloud Sync have their save data temporarily stored on one central Ape Cloud server. Since it is expensive (and out of the scope of my business) to run mass cloud storage hosting, files are routinely purged from the server after several months of inactivity, which is why the server is branded as a sync server and not a long-term storage server.
With the new Private Cloud feature I am working on, users may set up their own private cloud server at their own location and use it as their default save location for their data. I have already been testing this on a handful of other apps, and now I am rolling it out to My Colony.
The Private Cloud system is a part of an application called the Ape Web Apps Desktop Bridge, which is available as both a Progressive Web App and as a stand-alone application for Windows or Linux.
To get started, install the Ape Web Apps Desktop Bridge (either desktop or PWA edition, for private cloud I would suggest the full desktop download) and signs in with your Ape Apps Account. Once signed in, click on the Add Resource button and select Private Cloud.
From there, you can select a folder on your computer that will be your new private cloud sync folder. If you are using the PWA version, you will probably need to re-enable folder permissions every time you restart your computer, so keep that in mind. The desktop client does not have that limitation, which is why it is preferred.
If you are going to try using the Private Cloud, I would suggest setting your computer to automatically start the Ape Web Apps Desktop Bridge on startup. The desktop edition can be minimized to your system try, so it is non-obtrusive.
Once Private Cloud is set up, restart My Colony. If you are signed in with your account, you will see a new Cloud Sync Location option on the title screen menu.
If you only have one cloud sync folder enabled on your account, then it will automatically be set as the default, so keep that in mind. If you are given permission to multiple cloud sync locations, you will default to the central Ape Cloud service and you will have to manually select which server you want to use.
If you decide to give the new Private Cloud feature a try, please let me know how it works for you. This feature was originally designed for some business users using EZ Office applications whose business policies did not allow them to use the central Ape Cloud servers, but in my testing so far it is working quite well for My Colony saves. Theoretically you could set a lot better saving/loading performance, especially if you are at your own house while playing.
And yes, you can still sync to your own Private Cloud, even when you are not at home.
Another Private Cloud benefit is that you can easily back up all of your Ape Apps data whenever you feel like it. It would be trivial to compress your entire Private Cloud folder on a regular basis and keep backups in any way which works for you.
How does it work?
The Private Cloud feature uses a private channel on the central Ape Apps Signaling server, tied to your individual Ape Apps Account, to locate any AWA Desktop Bridge instances you have running. When Bridge instances are located, the Signaling server then initiates a peer-to-peer handshake to make a direct WebRTC socket connection between your My Colony instance and your AWA Desktop Bridge instance, similar to the way that My Colony 2 dedicated servers work. The Signaling server then gets out of the way and you are operating with a direct peer to peer link to your own Private Cloud server, wherever it is located.
In theory, this direct peer to peer connection should perform better than the centralized Ape Cloud server, because a) it obviously has a lot less traffic going to it, and b) it is using a persistent direct connection instead of making constant HTTP requests.
So that is the Private cloud system in a nutshell. Like I said, give it a try and let me know how it works for you, or what issues it gives you. I have been using it for a little while on some EZ Office applications and it has been running without issue, but they generally have smaller file sizes than My Colony saves, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.
So that is it for this update. It should be rolling out everywhere soon, so let me know how it goes, and stay tuned for more!
https://mycolony.online/
#mycolony
First, I have reverted the in-game popup style menus to the big full window height slideout menus. Some players (on mobile in particular) were having issues with the other menu style, so I decided to just go back to the old reliable slideout menus that nobody seemed to have an issue with.
The Music Rendering engine has been completely replaced and is now using a new library called SpessaSynth that I have been following for a little while now. The developer of this new MIDI sequencing library is very good and is quite active, and has been super responsive when I have had questions or issues with the library. If you wouldn't mind, go to his Github repo and leave it a Star, because he does good work.
https://github.com/spessasus/SpessaSynth
This new library uses more modern JS coding techniques and renders .mid files in a worker thread, and so it does not impact game performance like the old MIDI renderer did. With this change though, you may notice that the music sounds a little different. Since the new library makes use of standard .sf2 sound font files, I am currently using with the game the widely available General MIDI soundfont, which is only a fraction of the size of the music patches that were being used with the old renderer. That said, this sound font objectively does not sound quite as good.
The good news is that the new library supports custom sound fonts, whereas the old one did not. If there is interest from players, I can add an option to the game that lets users select their own *.sf2 sound font file and then they can make the music sound however they want it to. For copyright reasons though, I will probably stick to the free one as the in-game packaged sound font.
Finally, this update includes beta-level support for a new Ape Apps-wide feature I have been working on behind the scenes for a while now, which is Private Cloud support. Currently, users of all of my apps, My Colony included, who opt into Cloud Sync have their save data temporarily stored on one central Ape Cloud server. Since it is expensive (and out of the scope of my business) to run mass cloud storage hosting, files are routinely purged from the server after several months of inactivity, which is why the server is branded as a sync server and not a long-term storage server.
With the new Private Cloud feature I am working on, users may set up their own private cloud server at their own location and use it as their default save location for their data. I have already been testing this on a handful of other apps, and now I am rolling it out to My Colony.
The Private Cloud system is a part of an application called the Ape Web Apps Desktop Bridge, which is available as both a Progressive Web App and as a stand-alone application for Windows or Linux.
To get started, install the Ape Web Apps Desktop Bridge (either desktop or PWA edition, for private cloud I would suggest the full desktop download) and signs in with your Ape Apps Account. Once signed in, click on the Add Resource button and select Private Cloud.
From there, you can select a folder on your computer that will be your new private cloud sync folder. If you are using the PWA version, you will probably need to re-enable folder permissions every time you restart your computer, so keep that in mind. The desktop client does not have that limitation, which is why it is preferred.
If you are going to try using the Private Cloud, I would suggest setting your computer to automatically start the Ape Web Apps Desktop Bridge on startup. The desktop edition can be minimized to your system try, so it is non-obtrusive.
Once Private Cloud is set up, restart My Colony. If you are signed in with your account, you will see a new Cloud Sync Location option on the title screen menu.
If you only have one cloud sync folder enabled on your account, then it will automatically be set as the default, so keep that in mind. If you are given permission to multiple cloud sync locations, you will default to the central Ape Cloud service and you will have to manually select which server you want to use.
If you decide to give the new Private Cloud feature a try, please let me know how it works for you. This feature was originally designed for some business users using EZ Office applications whose business policies did not allow them to use the central Ape Cloud servers, but in my testing so far it is working quite well for My Colony saves. Theoretically you could set a lot better saving/loading performance, especially if you are at your own house while playing.
And yes, you can still sync to your own Private Cloud, even when you are not at home.
Another Private Cloud benefit is that you can easily back up all of your Ape Apps data whenever you feel like it. It would be trivial to compress your entire Private Cloud folder on a regular basis and keep backups in any way which works for you.
How does it work?
The Private Cloud feature uses a private channel on the central Ape Apps Signaling server, tied to your individual Ape Apps Account, to locate any AWA Desktop Bridge instances you have running. When Bridge instances are located, the Signaling server then initiates a peer-to-peer handshake to make a direct WebRTC socket connection between your My Colony instance and your AWA Desktop Bridge instance, similar to the way that My Colony 2 dedicated servers work. The Signaling server then gets out of the way and you are operating with a direct peer to peer link to your own Private Cloud server, wherever it is located.
In theory, this direct peer to peer connection should perform better than the centralized Ape Cloud server, because a) it obviously has a lot less traffic going to it, and b) it is using a persistent direct connection instead of making constant HTTP requests.
So that is the Private cloud system in a nutshell. Like I said, give it a try and let me know how it works for you, or what issues it gives you. I have been using it for a little while on some EZ Office applications and it has been running without issue, but they generally have smaller file sizes than My Colony saves, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.
So that is it for this update. It should be rolling out everywhere soon, so let me know how it goes, and stay tuned for more!
https://mycolony.online/
#mycolony
It was hosting the Geubega world at the time. I had to stop using it because the save file got so big the iPad couldn't handle it.
So there really isn't a way to easily crack the password protection without reverse engineering your diary file. How important is it to get into the entries? Because you can also create a new diary file if you haven't added much to the old one yet.
I am continuing the push on the new Epic Adventure engine to improve controls, game-play and to get the features to the point to where I can start using the engine to make other games. To that end, I am now releasing the v3.2 update to Epic Adventure with new features and content, so let's take a look!
First off, the engine has a handful of new bug fixes and quality of life improvements. Among them, general controls for mouse, touch and gamepad should all be improved in this release. The mouse wheel can now be used to quickly cycle through belt items. Touch users get a new red destructive hit button, so you can destroy tiles instead of just using them.
There is now in-game chat so you can communicate with other players in your server. To go along with that, there is a Clear Chat option added to the in-game menu. The in-game menu also gets a new sound effects volume control.
The engine now has support for door and sign type objects, and so to go along with the engine support are the new Wood Door and Wood Sign objects.
In addition, the Cow has been added to the game, a peaceful surface biome mob. Killing the cow can drop a Leather Hide and Raw Beef. The Raw Beef can be cooked in the furnace into Cooked Beef, and the Leather Hide can be used to make a Leather Helmet.
The new Leather Helmet comes with engine support for all types of Armor and the ability to equip it, so you can expect to see full suits of armor in the coming updates, along with different kinds of weapons you can use. I think the next update will focus on adding Dungeons into the game, which will also come with all new mobs, weapons, armors, and other types of loot you can find. So stay tuned for that, and let me know what you would like to see added to the game!
https://epicadventure.ape-apps.com/
#epicadventure
First off, the engine has a handful of new bug fixes and quality of life improvements. Among them, general controls for mouse, touch and gamepad should all be improved in this release. The mouse wheel can now be used to quickly cycle through belt items. Touch users get a new red destructive hit button, so you can destroy tiles instead of just using them.
There is now in-game chat so you can communicate with other players in your server. To go along with that, there is a Clear Chat option added to the in-game menu. The in-game menu also gets a new sound effects volume control.
The engine now has support for door and sign type objects, and so to go along with the engine support are the new Wood Door and Wood Sign objects.
In addition, the Cow has been added to the game, a peaceful surface biome mob. Killing the cow can drop a Leather Hide and Raw Beef. The Raw Beef can be cooked in the furnace into Cooked Beef, and the Leather Hide can be used to make a Leather Helmet.
The new Leather Helmet comes with engine support for all types of Armor and the ability to equip it, so you can expect to see full suits of armor in the coming updates, along with different kinds of weapons you can use. I think the next update will focus on adding Dungeons into the game, which will also come with all new mobs, weapons, armors, and other types of loot you can find. So stay tuned for that, and let me know what you would like to see added to the game!
https://epicadventure.ape-apps.com/
#epicadventure
What version of Windows (or other operating system) is the PC in question running? I will look into this.
UnitedEarthGov said:Hopefully you meant those other weird replies I've seen around, and not me. I just really love United Earth, and wanted to share that with others. Cheers Bast!
Glory to United Earth
Yes I meant the other weird replies. Unless you have been posting chat GPT spam with an alternate account. In which case, we need to talk. lol
bastecklein
Developer
Member Since
September 2nd, 2017