Downloads not showing up?

You may be using a browser that does not support something I use to pull info from my external database. Opera is one of them. Still, it's inexcusable to not support all browsers, so I'll try to find a way around it.

DISE: dise_alpha_52.zip

Trainer: trainer_r6.zip

What's up lately

DISE
I ended up burning myself out again, so I haven't been able to work enough on DISE lately. There are however a few features that are somewhat complete: "Heal up" instead of fine-adjustment of your health, refill your rage mode charge, and resetting your personal statistics and challenge progress. I also started rewriting the map feature for OpenGL. It's harder for me since I hardly had to use OpenGL before, but the result should be better than it is right now. :)

Content management system (CMS)
I've also started looking for a content management system and/or e-commerce (for free downloads) for my projects. I wanted to use Joomla with VirtueMart, but there seems to be some silly issues with it. I just want to keep downloads and information properly organized.

If you have any suggestions, those would be most welcome. :)

Advertisements
As an attempt maybe earn a little bit of money without charging anything for DISE, I am trying to put ads on the blog again. I didn't know the one I am trying now would be in-text ads, but still, I see that some people have clicked on them. Maybe they're alright...

Then again, I see ads telling me that I won an iPhone, which obviously isn't true. If the ads are bad, I'll try something else.

Edit: Hey, look at that! My blog is turning green! The blog may soon turn into one big, green advertisement itself. Hmm. I'll use something else. Don't worry, I don't like it when it's so easy to click the ads accidentally, and they stand out too much anyway. I like to click and select text with the mouse while reading.

Edit 2: Removed. :)

People who scream "virus/malware" makes me sad

On this YouTube video, user kc88kc allegedly got a malware alert when trying to use DISE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yst87nWb3sw

How do you suggest dealing with this?

Please also see "Antivirus companies cause a big headache to small developers". I think it's a good read for anyone.

Here's the conversation on YouTube:

kc88kc
no work fool
malware it goes to your derectory and gives the creator complete control of your shit

OtakuSteffen
Hello. I'm the creator of DISE, and I would like to ask you this: Do you think that DISE looks like a an effort to spread malware? I also didn't see any proof to back up your claim. I mean real proof, not some anti-virus program's lie. :) It's also not nice to call people fools. It *does* work, but it somehow didn't work for *you*. How do we solve this? I suggest heading over to my blog, then getting in touch with me via e-mail. Have a nice day! :)

kc88kc
yeh it is a effort cause i had to restore my computer the next day because of the malware poping up every time i boot my pc

OtakuSteffen
I'm sorry to hear that. However, all I can say is that if you downloaded DISE from the blog, you got malware from somewhere else. If you don't believe me, try to read people's positive comments on my blog. DISE doesn't, and never will contain malware.

kc88kc
haha dude i build computers and make software for a living i downloaded right here i havnt downloaded any thing else had a fresh install of windows 7 and when i got the program it said malware found i let it go any way well clicked on the program and it opens and closes telling me that its a malware program used to get passwords and controll of my pc ps i restore my computer so have fun with that ass hole

OtakuSteffen
That's what a false positive is called when the anti-virus program is wrong. If you build computers, you should understand what I am talking about. If you look real closely at the alert, I bet it says something like "generic" or "suspicious". If it doesn't, your program was plain wrong. However, if you're still rejecting the truth no matter what I say or what other people who have used DISE says, let's leave it at that.

Virus alerts (false positives, of course)

Some people have seen their anti-virus/spyware/malware software complain about my own software (such as DISE). More people will see this. That's just how it works for us small developers who don't have the money or reputation to be completely whitelisted from anti-virus companies.

For this this reason alone, I now provide an MD5 hash of my downloads on the download page. If your downloaded file's MD5 hash matches mine, then you can be assured that it contains no viruses, no spyware, no trojans, and no other type of junk you can dream of... Assuming you don't think that DISE itself is junk. In that case, just tell me how to improve it. :)

Message to certain people (not you, of course):
Please do not spread false information about my work. I always appreciate hearing something nicer than harsh complaints. :)

Release: Trainer r5.1

What's new

• Customizable hotkeys
• Fixed the problem I mentioned earlier about Ctrl+F4 on Windows XP and/or Vista.

Screenshots

Download
trainer_r5_1.zip

Release: Trainer r5

What do you think about the new look? :)

By the way, if you use Windows XP or Vista, does the Ctrl + F4 hotkey work for you? Even if it doesn't, I'll put together a way to customize the hotkeys.

What's new

• User interface.
• Instant/Infinite rage mode.

Screenshot

Download
trainer_r5.zip (please get the latest one)

Release: Trainer r4

Update: Replaced the old version with a new one that supports Windows XP and Vista.

What's new

• Infinite flashlight
• Unbreakable weapons. Will be fully repaired as well when using them.
• Changed numpad hotkeys to the F-keys so that it's easier for people who don't have a numpad.

Download

trainer_r4.zip

Release: Trainer r3

The trainer should now work on ALL current versions of the game. :)

It tries to find the right offsets automatically, so it may even work for future versions of the game.

What's new

• Supports all known versions of the game (1.0.0 to 1.3.0).
• You won't get tired when punching and kicking zombies.

Interested some geeky stuff?

This is how offsets are found:

• Lookup the known address (the one I found manually or a specific version):
• Checks known original (non-patched) data. If found, the patch is known to be deactivated.
• Checks patched data. If found, the patch is known to be to activated.
• If the lookup failed (maybe the program was updated), do a quick search:
• The known address is used as an approximate address.
• Does a quick search around the approx. address, with a fixed min/max tolerance.
• If found, update the known address so that later, we can do a lookup on the known address.
• If the quick search failed, do a deeper search:
• Search through the whole module (e.g. DLL) in the process.
• If found, update the known address so that later, we can either do a lookup on the known address, or do a quick search.

Download

trainer_r3.zip

Release: Trainer r2

Mostly rewritten. Still only for version 1.3.0 of the game.

What's new

• Improved support for version 1.3.0 of the game
• New option: infinite stamina

Download

trainer_r2.zip

Release: Trainer r1

With this basic trainer, always stay healthy when you're supposed to take damage. :)

Screenshot

Download
trainer_r1.zip Please get the latest one instead.

Release: Alpha 50

I just thought that this could be useful for some people. I have not tested this. :)

What's new

• Support non-original Steam AppID. Note that DISE will try to sync regardless of the game being Dead Island or not.

Screenshot

Download
dise_alpha_50.zip

Release: Alpha 49

I've had quite a bit of both big and small problems, so it has taken a while to get this release out. Everything is still not finished or perfect, but I think it's better that you can choose use it anyway, even with a some faults. Especially since syncing works again in this release. (*゜▽゜*)

The maps are not included, but are available as a separate download. Things didn't work out well, so only one size/quality per map for now.

Speaking of maps, you'll probably notice that your already explored areas will be have concealed spots all over it. This left me pretty puzzled. Then I loaded up many unmodified game-saves in DISE, and all of them had the same spots. This means that the game adds them. I can't think of a good reason why the game would do this. Is it a bug in the game? Is it used to hide things on the map (added "randomness")? Something else?

If you have explored a lot and you don't see any of those spots, could you please share your game-save with me? Thanks!

What's new

• Application icon.
• Opening screen:  Added Refresh button.
• Opening screen: Added a button to open Preferences directly, when the game storage location isn't set. You also don't have to restart DISE anymore after setting it up.
• Notification when DISE finishes saving (optional).
• Visual map and editor.
• Reveal/Conceal selected map.
• Removed "Reveal map" from Misc. tab. It revealed every map in the game, and it had a small bug which left a some blocks concealed throughout the maps.
• Friendly text for the map name on the Preview tab.
• Replaced Steam auto-sync confirmation message box, and improved the text.
• Rewrote parts of the Steam syncing process to avoid a crash that could occur when canceling the process.
• Syncing works again (updated OpenSteamworks sources).
• Improved error handling here and there.
• Added support for crash/debug reports, but it may not work in all cases. At least you're less likely to need to explain the steps to reproduce the crash! :D Still, let's hope that it won't crash in the first place...
• Minor changes.

Known issues with the features of this release

• The map has ugly stripes when scaling/zooming. I haven't found a way to fix that with the class/library I use (geek alert: wxGraphicsContext/wxWidgets, which uses GDI+ on Windows).
• Zooming/Scaling doesn't recalculate the new viewing area properly.
• Scrollbars and scale/zoom list (next to the bottom scroll bar) are not implemented.
• Crash/Debug reporting may not work in all cases.
• Performance issues with the map on lower end hardware.
• Other smaller things with the map and such.

Screenshots
Application icon

Opening screen (when game storage location isn't set)

Map (note that the game adds those spots on its own, for some reason)

Sync confirmation

Notification on successful save (development build, so it looks a bit different from the release)

Download

dise_alpha_49.zip

Temp workaround for syncing

I could release the new version after having some rest. Some things just don't work as I thought it would. In the mean-time, please check out " Corrupted/Disappearing saves" on this page. Don't worry. :)

Legendary weapons

I've uploaded 4 game-saves that I got from 360haven.com. They are for Xbox 360, but it's an easy task to move items over to your own game-save if you use DISE! :)

To get the game-saves, just head over to the game-save repository and look in /Saves/Xbox 360/Legendary weapons/. :)

Here's the (edited) description:

• Level 60 character
• Max cash
• Max of every craft item
• Every weapon blueprint
• Every collectible
• Every skill unlocked
• All legendary weapons + extras
• Max ammo
• M60 and tank gun
• Chainsaw
• Every grenade

Weapons are not modded.

Syncing is broken but will be available again in the next release!

Steam has changed its internals, making all current versions of DISE unable to sync with the latest version(s) of Steam. It may crash, nothing may seem to happen, or something else could happen. I went on the OpenSteamworks IRC channel for help, and they showed me their awesome bot which looks for those changes! :D

Viewing maps in Windows Explorer. Useless but fun?

Well, at least the first time, for a few seconds...

While working on the map feature, I just felt like sharing this. I extracted this map from the game (256 tiles), and changed the window layout a bit (hid the panes) and icon appearance (large icons, hid text) while viewing them in Windows. I could view the whole map as well as scroll up and down this way. :D

Thinking about rewriting the way DISE currently draws maps, to make use of these tiles. They are 256x256 pixels so the quality is pretty good! ... And it would use lots of computer memory if you zoom out completely. Either that, or have the tiles in multiple sizes, or merge them all into one image and keep one big image in multiple sizes. Oh, sorry. It's my job to think about that and figure out which way is better. :)

Since I haven't made this kind of map before, it's taking some time. :)

By the way, try to count the black/gray dots/squares. :D

Game-save repository

This is a free service for downloading saved games and other things for Dead Island, which have been uploaded either by myself or other people.

Rules

• Try not to cause trouble by making a mess and such.
• Upload only files that are useful and related to Dead Island or DISE somehow, and of course, nothing illegal.
• Please don't meaninglessly share links with the whole world, because some people break things just by looking at them. :)

How to download and upload files

You'll have read-access to all of the files, and write-access to the "Review" folder.

You can drag and drop files and folders to upload them. After uploading files, I'll review them and eventually accept or reject them. If I reject them, the files will sooner or later be deleted.

Some information along with your upload would be helpful so that I know exactly what it is and can categorize it. If you upload a folder, a simple text file with information would be fine. You can also upload compressed archives (zip, rar), and either package the text file with information inside of it or outside.

When you're ready, please browse or upload files.

Preview: Notification after saving

There are few more things left to take care of for the next release: making this optional + finishing the map feature. The latter has some bad performance issues, so I would feel embarrassed to show it to you (painting just one block takes about half a second on my laptop). If I can't find any tricks, I may have to rewrite the code for OpenGL or something (harder for me and takes more time).

Oh yes, let's not forget what this post is really about! At time of writing, the poll I put out shows that nobody doesn't want this feature (notifications).
I don't even need to run the poll any longer, so here you go!

Works well enough for me as a start, so I would call this beta quality. :)