Will win9X compatibility be fixed in version 1.8

[Molean]

The 1.4 server says that it will be shut down when 1.8 comes out. Does that mean the compatibility issues with win9X will be fixed by then so that I can use it too? Or, why is the 1.4 server being shutdown when 1.8 comes out?

[ivanovic]

The 1.4 server says that it will be shut down when 1.8 comes out. Does that mean the compatibility issues with win9X will be fixed by then so that I can use it too? Or, why is the 1.4 server being shutdown when 1.8 comes out?

Sorry to tell you, but we are not keeping the 1.4 server because it is the one still supporting Win9x. We are still running it because it is the "previous stable" version. Since we don't have unlimited resources we can only run a limited amount of server. Our rule is that we let the previous stable server run until the a new stable series is ready.

[Molean]

Isn't 1.6.5 the latest stable version though?

[AI]

Yes, which makes 1.4 the previous stable. When 1.8 is released, 1.6 will become the previous stable.

[Molean]

Well would some work please be put to making wesnoth compatible with win9x again? If it were alot of work, then I would understand why you wouldn't. But the only issue is the font issue. Where dialogue for campaigns is unreadable and the menu boxes required to even reach the server are unreadable. But otherwise it works fine.(but that's a major issue for playing)

Hell, perhaps even someone could help me directly fix it without getting into the code, but my last posts on that subject was largely ignored.

[Zarel]

Well would some work please be put to making wesnoth compatible with win9x again? If it were alot of work, then I would understand why you wouldn't. But the only issue is the font issue. Where dialogue for campaigns is unreadable and the menu boxes required to even reach the server are unreadable. But otherwise it works fine.(but that's a major issue for playing)

Hell, perhaps even someone could help me directly fix it without getting into the code, but my last posts on that subject was largely ignored.

See, the thing is, no one has Windows 9x anymore. It's quite hard to fix a bug on a platform you don't have. The bug isn't even necessarily in Wesnoth itself, but in one of its libraries, many of which may have dropped support for Windows 9x by now.

Is it so hard to upgrade to some variant of Linux? Or at least Windows 2000?

[SkeletonCrew]

Well would some work please be put to making wesnoth compatible with win9x again? If it were alot of work, then I would understand why you wouldn't. But the only issue is the font issue.

It _is_ a lot of work to fix, the problem is that we're switching to another "font" library which has
several improvements for several (non-latin) languages. That library no longer supports Win 9x
since it misses some functions in the system libraries.

[Molean]

But couldn't that newer library file system simply be replaced with the older version?(not built into the game though) Like to make it downloadable with instructions for installing said older library file system into the game?

[SkeletonCrew]

But couldn't that newer library file system simply be replaced with the older version?(not built into the game though) Like to make it downloadable with instructions for installing said older library file system into the game?

I didn't say a newer library, I said another library.
The way Wesnoth "communicates" with a library is different for those libraries so the
Wesnoth code is adapted to a library. Switching them isn't something trivial to do.
That's also the reason that in 1.6 a few places only have squares under Win 9x
and 1.8 will have them at more places. A later version of Wesnoth will show all
squares under Win 9x.

[Molean]

I see, thank you for your explanation. Oh well.

I need to get a burner or something before I can get into linux or something. Any particular version of linux you would each recommend?

[Thanatos]

You could try Ubuntu for starters.
It's quite easy to use and has a great community.

[PaulInBHC]

@Molean I am new to Ubuntu and had 9.04 for a few weeks, then switched to the latest 9.10
A co worker recommended Ubuntu while I was having problems with WinXP. Installing as dual boot went well for me in both versions. If you are used to earlier versions you could stay with 9.04 but I like the windows style of 9.10
You can request a CD to be mailed to you at the Ubuntu website.

[zaimoni]

It _is_ a lot of work to fix, the problem is that we're switching to another "font" library which has
several improvements for several (non-latin) languages. That library no longer supports Win 9x
since it misses some functions in the system libraries.

Fixing any library to support UNICODE maximally properly on Win95/Win98 pretty much requires either access to the unicows.dll (whose binary future compatibility isn't being maintained as far as I can tell, would love to be wrong) or reimplementing the entire W2K support.

I really can't blame any library-writer for not wanting to touch this. At this point, if you're not a retrocomputing specialist who kept a Win95 installer CD and a complete patch collection around from ~2000 the only way to get a Win95 system to test against is to do a volume license, then downgrade one of the machines to Win95.

[Rimbecano]

Why can't you upgrade from Win9x? If your machine is old enough that it won't run anything more recent than that, it's quite likely that it's already horribly slow with Wesnoth 1.4, and will only get slower in later versions. You should be able to get a machine that will run XP dirt cheap nowadays.