Mac Port Project Underway

As you may have read on our Facebook page, we're currently exploring the possibility of porting LCARS 47 to Mac OS X and above.

There's no major news on the front, but we thought we'd let you all know what we're up to and why Drydock is a bit behind schedule. We should have a beta of LCARS 47 for Mac available soon.

Until then here's a photo of the LaunchCenter running on Mac OS X—we had to take a photo because Stefan's Mac had no Internet and no USB ports.

LCARS Anticuus Popularity

It seems that LCARS Anticuus is rapidly growing in popularity lately. Those of you that already have the beta that was released as part of 6.2 should be fairly familiar with its layout.

In light of this, we're going to start putting more work into it and really start filling it out. By the end of October, we should be ready to release Anticuus v1 as part of the LCARS 47 version 6.2.1 update. So, if you have any ideas that you think might work well with Anticuus, let me know as soon as possible.

The things already on the list are Drydock functions Champaign functions (if you haven't noticed already with the beta, you can edit the ship name and registry in Anticuus as you would with Prolixus and Vexillum, just find the right config files in the install directory), ship's logs, mission logs, Roster and other such stuff. We'll also be adding some really classic sound files that should make fans of the TOS movies feel rather nostalgic.

In the meantime, if you haven't already downloaded version 6.2, go do it, have fun and Boldly Go.

Windows Thinks You're Too Stupid to Use this Feature and has therefore Disabled it. Access Denied

For those of you having issues with Windows 7's childproofing and can't edit any files. (Eleanor says that Windows 7 inherits its 'attitude problem' from Vista).

• Either manually take control of the LCARS 47 directory after installing as an Administrator under compatibility mode with XP Service Pack 3, or
• Enable the hidden default administrator account typing:
  net user administrator /active:yes into CMD. Of course, you'll need to run CMD as an Administrator, after taking an IQ test, followed by going on a quest to get the secret password after saving Princess Vienna before you are allowed to hit the "Enter" key... But fear not, my noble quest goer, once you enable the admin account, you can rejoice in baby-proof free computing.

Also, do this at your own risk. Eleanor ain't responsible if you mess stuff up (or get killed by a dragon while you're doing the quest).

6.2 Published

LCARS 47 version 6.2 has now been published and is ready for download. Have fun.

The LCARS 47 Dev Team

Quattuor Celebrationes

It's a special time here at LCARS 47. We've been working on Prolixus for a year, and version 6.2 is upon us. To top that, this is our 100th blog post and we've just passed 30,000 page views since opening up the Dev Blog.

Version 6.2 will be released on Friday as promised, so check back then and get ready to experience even more customization options including, cutsom mission files such as your ship's assignment, custom mission logs, an improved Drydock with interactive animated cutaway diagrams, class-unique alert sirens remastered from the series, tons of new database files and loads more.

Prolixus isn't the only one getting a bit of TLC, Vexillum has had a few touch ups and we're releasing 2 new public betas (Anticuus, the older LCARS and HaSta the full-on Klingon computer). There will also be a production alpha version of Project Alvearium. If that's not enough for you, we're hosting a Skype conference call on launch night, details here.

Cardassian Alphabet - Part 2

In my last post, I told you about the basic workings of the Cardassian alphabet, this time around, I'm going to tell you how it all strings together (I promise there will be no big, complex words in this one).

Cardassian is written in both horizontal and vertical lines. The direction of reading is variable, although there are some typical indicators within a line of text and a paragraph that give the reader clues as the reading direction:

Cardassian text incorporates 3 primary punctuation marks and one secondary mark: for want of better names, I will call them small circle, large circle, paragraph circle and large dot.

• The small circle and large circle resemble a small and large circle respectively, outlined. There use is to generally give the reader a general sense of direction in reading a paragraph: text is read away from a small circle and toward a large circle.  
• The paragraph circle does what it's name says, marks paragraphs. usually, although by no means exclusively, it marks the beginning of a text.
• The large dot is used to cap the end of lines.

Cardassian text is usually overlaid over a central line, however it can be written without this central line where necessary. When this is the case in a paragraph, it's usually because the written information is of secondary importance, or is an annotation to the main line of text.

The overall writing direction for Cardassian is preferably from top to bottom, however, bottom to top is not uncommon.  Finally, letters can be written in a reverse direction; flipped horizontally in relation to the letters in a text, this serves a similar function to italics in English.

In the final part (which I promise will be shorter), I'll discuss numbers.

LCARS 47 v6.2 Release Schedule

Short post, but I thought I'd give you guys a copy of the release schedule.

Via Google Docs: http://i.lcars47.com/ReleaseSchedule

No Federation Sick bay should be Without...

As you probably know from yesterday's post, I've been working with 3D, specifically working on an animation that will form part of the Sickbay systems. Today, I've taken a break from the 3D and started to work on some more 'traditional' animations.

You will of course, remember the "Patient Biomedical Scan" monitors from various Sickbay monitors. This proved to be a tricky animation to get just right but I think I got it just the way I wanted it. There's an option to switch the animation for a flat-line where vital signs will slowly fade.

Sadly, there were no medical sounds in Star Trek: Nemesis to use as event sounds for this animation. With that said, I'm gonna get to work remasteing some audio from Star Trek: Voyager so they sound like they'd be from Nemesis so they fit with the theme. You're now cleared to go on away missions, because in the next update, LCARS 47 has you covered...