Greetings and welcome to the June 2010 update to the Empower Magick Spellcasting HUD!
This update delivers a lot of significant changes, including a reduction in script time used by the HUD, having the HUD still work in no-script zones, improved teleport times when wearing the HUD, improvements to teleporters, HUD messages and Combat spells (particularly the Shield), along with new spells (Exile, AstralTravel, Halo, Flare, Spectral) and new features including the ability to cast spells where you couldn’t previously and cast spells by key.
There really is more than I can list in this summary, so I urge you to read the full details which are provided after the Update Instructions, as always.
As a result of the number of improvements, you may need to allow around 10 minutes for this update to apply.
Enjoy!
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UPDATE INSTRUCTIONS:
The updater will appear in your Objects folder. Please locate it, rez it on the ground, make sure you are wearing your Empower HUD and then left click the Updater to activate it.
If you are applying multiple updaters to bring your HUD up to a current version, please wait for each update to fully complete before commencing the next update.
Your HUD will become transparent during the update. It is important that you do not detach it until you receive the message:
“Empowerment complete. Empower v4.0 HUD is now active.”
If you have multiple copies of your HUD, you will need to apply the update to each. We recommend keeping only one copy of your HUD (and a backup) to simplify updates
Once the update is complete, please wait 10 seconds (long enough for all the messages produced during the update to disappear from your screen), detach your HUD, wait 30 seconds more, then reattach it, to ensure SL “saves” the changes.
During the update, DO NOT walk away from the updater, DO NOT teleport, DO NOT log off and DO NOT cross sim boundaries until the update is complete or YOU MAY DESTROY YOUR HUD.
Ensure you are on land where your objects will not get returned to you. If the updater returns during the update YOU MAY DESTROY YOUR HUD
Ensure you are on land where you can run scripts. If on group land, activate the correct group BEFORE wearing the HUD and rezzing the updater, or the updater won’t run
Should your update fail for any reason, including the above, simply detach and reattach your HUD. The HUD will recover from the failed update, but you should, as quickly as possible, remedy the problem which caused the update to fail, then re-apply the update, as the HUD may do strange things with half an update applied.
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What’s in this update?
1. Updater changes
– The updater now gives far less messages during updates
2. HUD Changes
– Reduced scripts and increased efficiency results in faster teleport times and should resolve issues where you could not teleport with the HUD on. The HUD now uses approx 0.1ms of script time when idle and less than 3M of memory. This is around one quarter of what it used previously
– Improved speed of Empower scanners – full sim scan within a few seconds now (not needed if using Emerald)
– HUD will now continue to operate when you teleport into an area where scripts are disabled. Useful for casting spells from within safezones in combat sims.
– Cast spells in places where you previously couldn’t. If build is disabled where you are, the HUD will search for a location within 10m where it can rez the spell. If your target is on land where object entry is enabled, the spell may still reach them. This is also useful for casting spells from within safezones in combat sims.
– Cast spells by object/avatar key using the command line (e.g. /5 glow 039c9aff-5f71-71f8-bb29-b5c7a79414e2)
– Movelock is now stronger and will not throw you back to a previous location when standing from a vehicle
– Particle effects are now specified in notecards instead of requiring one script per effect. The manual at http://www.empowermagick.com will soon be updated to describe the format, should you wish to add your own particle effects
– Spellcasting messages now suppressed entirely if Options->CastingFX->Messages is unticked (unless Stealth is ticked as well, in which case only you will see the messages)
– Favourites now correctly handles dual function buttons (like the AV/Obj button under “Scanners” on the top panel)
– Dispelling by avatar no longer dispells “non targetted” spells (i.e. those for which you didn’t have to select an avatar to cast on, like JumpCam, Dodge, WthrStorm etc)
– When you dispell by avatar with no-one around, you will now get a menu listing your name, to confirm, rather than the HUD defaulting to dispelling all of your spells
– Changed dispell messages to no longer list “from all targets” when dispelling by spell
– Casting a spell via local chat which matches multiple spells no longer produces a dialog menu. It now just lists the matches in local chat
– Fixed a typo in the default spellcasting target message, introduced in the last update
– The hudsize variable now provides for greater granularity. If the provided “Big, Bigger, Biggest, Normal, Small, Smaller, Smallest” presets don’t quite get the size right for you, you can adjust it manually with the command “/5 var hudsize xxx” where xxx is a percentage of the default HUD size (100 = default, 150 = 1.5 times the default, 80 = 80% of the default etc.)
– Improved Scatter so that you do not appear in your actual location on each cycle
3. Commenced conversion of spells over to a new internal system with the following features:
– Faster and more responsive, tracking the target more closely
– Reduced number of scripts per spell
– Spells are limited to the sim in which they are cast and will not follow the target to adjacent sims (to prevent anti-followers from working)
– Spells will auto-dispell when the target or Spellcaster (you) cannot be detected in the sim in which they were cast
– Immune to anti-follower logic in NPVs which can result in spells being sent off-world or lost in adjacent sims
Spells which have been converted so far are:
Visual tab: Flame + the three new spells: Flare, Halo, Spectral
Attack tab (combat enabled): Blast, Burn, Fireball, Hornet, Shield, Spider, Tornado, Waterball, Wraith, Zap
Attack tab (non-combat enabled): Darkness, Egg, PumpkinHead
Push tab (combat enabled): Ward, Protect
Push tab (non-combat enabled): Block, Cage, Chain, Jail, Launch, PumpkinPile, Tree
Travel tab: Follow, SkyWalk
Assist tab: Heal, Platform
– I will be releasing the Empower API at a future date, for those of you who wish to create your own spells. Contact me if interested.
4. Changes on the Visual tab
– New spells:
Flare – Surround the target with beams of white light
Halo – Place a halo over target’s head
Spectral – Surround the target with beams of spectral (multicoloured) lights
5. Changes to the Shield spell (NPV)
– Shield can now be cast from within a safezone in a combat sim and safely mounted (right click->Sit), even when under attack
– Changed shield default to being invisible once you sit on it
– Added Walk and Stride animations to the shield – the old animation has been renamed to “Dash” and the AnimOn/AnimOff option has been replaced by a button which cycles through animation options
– Added off-world feature, which allows you to travel up to 50m outside the sim, below ground and above the 4096 limit
– Updated Follow mode to use off-world feature, allowing you to follow people outside the sim
– Added in safe sim crossing logic
– Improved the Shield’s Cleanse option to allow it to remove more followers.
– Enhanced the Offset mode for avoiding followers, which will now appear 20m behind you (movement is disabled in this mode)
– Rearranged the buttons on the Shield menu and merged the Hide and Stealth options (Hide now behaves like Stealth)
– Added a “Quit” option. Useful when you cast the shield on other avatars to protect them, then leave the sim. They can choose to dispell it.
– Improved shield’s “GroundHug” feature, which keeps you from flying when walking on uneven land
– Shield spell now uses far less scripts (for those who are interested, it uses llSetLinkPrimitiveParamsFast and a fast posJump)
– Messages are sent as IMs instead of using llOwnerSay when the shield is cast on someone other than yourself
– Clicking the “Dispell By: Both” button and selecting the “Shield Me” button on the HUD will now dispell your shield without prompting you
– Fixed problem with Phase mode which left you unable to see your avatar without moving the camera in certain circumstances
– Fixed problem with avatars sinking into the ground or floating above it
– Dispelling the Shield will no longer dispell the Cloud, if you have both running
– Shield now recognises that it is visible when you stand from it then sit back on it (menu correctly shows “NoShow” option)
6. Changes to Combat spells (Attack/Push tabs)
– New “Shock” checkbox on the Push tab – attempts to shove avatars or objects which collide with you (or which you walk in to) even in areas where pushing is disabled
– New spell:
Exile – Cast the target out of the current sim and prevent them returning. Instant kill on Damage enabled land. Attempts to kill target even in safezone.
– Enhanced effectiveness of Combat spells under Spell Fire and Linden damage and improved combat system autodetect on Damage enabled land
– Combat spells now inflict a variable amount of damage, controlled by the setting in Options->Combat->Damage
– Removed 10 second exit on Zap spell – it will now run until dispelled or the target leaves the sim
– Improved Launch effectiveness
– Cannonball is more powerful – will sometimes push avatars even in areas where pushing is disabled
– Ammo rezzes faster (LSL instead of Mono), explodes harmlessly on collision with land instead of bouncing and Blast ammo pushes much harder
– Added Ward spell back to the Push tab – it was inadvertently omitted in the 2010032001 update
7. Improved spells on the Assist tab
– Improved FallProtect speed
– Watch tracks the target more smoothly
– Heal updated to be more effective and to undeform when the target touches it as well as sits on it. Now does not exit after target sits on it
– StopAnim is now more effective (doesn’t require the target avatar to move to clear remaining animations)
– Hugging whilst flying will now lift you up to the other avatar’s height (useful if you have a short avatar)
– Hug and Movelock no longer fight when hugging over a long distance
8. Changes on the Travel tab
– New spell:
AstralTravel – Visually separates your astral body from your avatar, allowing your camera to travel away from you using your movement keys
– JumpCam is now faster and more powerful at moving through objects
– Improved SkyWalk speed and distance which it is lowered when you press Page Down
– Tail is now more responsive
– Improved speed of the Follow spell
– Reduced script count in teleporters and improved them to work when teleporting in/out of safe zones (no-script/no-rez areas)
– Moved Dash button to a new position on the Travel tab to visually separate the Teleport spells from the other Travel spells
