[Bug-gnubg] Board design workaround

[Tom Martin]

Not everyone has discovered the enjoyment of GNUBG's board design features, starting with a strong 2D facility and enhanced with a full-featured 3D implementation.  Most people stick with one or the other, but I've found that using both comes in handy when you use multiple windows.  For example, a 2D design can be used for basic review, with analysis/rollouts done at lower priority with 3D.  This lets you know at a glance how you're using each window.  Even if you never open more than one window, you may prefer a simple 2D design for analysis, reserving dramatic 3D boards for play.

 

Those of us who develop both 2D and 3D board designs may have noticed strange changes to their 3D designs.  The reason is that changing a 2D design typically causes unpredictable lighting changes to its 3D equivalent since the lighting attributes of a different design are substituted for the original 3D settings (probably a bad data pointer).

 

Unfortunately this can't be fixed by simply changing the lighting back to its original values - no changes to general 3D lighting are saved, so you must modify the individual components (or copy the board to a new design, which preserves the lighting change).  This may also be a pointer problem.

 

The workaround is to first create the 3D design then finalize the 2D design before exiting Settings.   If you later decide to change the 2D design, you can either copy the 3D design to a new board or (better) make an inconsequential change to the 3D board before making the 2D changes.  This apparently corrects the value of the pointer.

 

If anyone out there actually cares about this, you may want to correspond with me about board design.  Or if you'd just like to see what others have been developing, email me at thomas.martin at safeway.com and I'll send you my boards.xml file.

 

For those who've never tried board design, give it a try.  I find using the artistic side of my brain a welcome relief for my analytical mind.  Despite the above, the code seems solid.

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