Ember
From WorldForgeWiki
Ember is a client framework for Worldforge. It's not meant to be a standalone game, instead its purpose is to provide a solid and extensible base from which to build game-specific clients. One of the goals of Ember is to allow for easy customization of the codebase. Currently it supports the game world of Mason. It's available for all modern Linux distributions, FreeBSD and MS Windows.
A blog containing up to date information on the most recent developments can be found here. All current development information (bugs, blueprints, questions etc.) is handled by the Launchpad.
Main features
Some of the features are:
- Full 3d world through the use of the Ogre engine
- Easy to use GUI system through the use of the CEGUI system
- Scriptable gui (currently supporting Lua)
- Extensible model composition through xml-defintion files
- Advanced rules engine for server-to-client appearance mappings
Ingame movies
These are ingame movies from Ember, recorded in XVid format.
- Editing terrain 1 (Google video)
- Editing terrain 2 (Google video)
- Editing terrain 3 (Google video)
- Editing terrain 4 (Google video)
- Using the ModelEditor (Google video)
Older movies
Ember is being developed by Erik Hjortsberg. You can find us at irc.worldforge.org, channel #ember.
Screenshots
A large collection of various screenshots can be found here. There also a collection of screenshots over at the main site.
 A village |
 Some merchants |
Tutorials and guides
There's a collection of tutorials here.
Current release
The current release of Ember is 0.5.5. It was released 2008-12-07. The files are hosted by sourceforge:
- ember-0.5.5.x86.package (for all linux distributions, just execute in a shell)
- ember-0.5.3.exe (an updated win32 binary will be released shortly)
- ember-0.5.5.tar.bz2
- ember-media-0.5.5.tar.bz2
Precompiled binaries for SuSE can be found here.
Information on how to install on FreeBSD can be found here.
Development release
If you want to help out with development, or just want to be bleeding edge, you want to download and compile the development version instead. This is hosted in a GIT repository; information on how to access it can be found here.
News
2008-12-07 - 0.5.5 is released
Version 0.5.5 of Ember is released.
This release introduces a new combined minimap and compass widget, many improvements to the entity creator and an upgrade to the cutting edge Ogre 1.6 3d library.
- a new minimap widget
- improved entity creator
- working OSX support
- more and better entity recipes for the entity creation
- upgrade to Ogre 1.6
- many bug fixes
Here is an video of the new compas in action.
2008-09-09 - 0.5.4 is released
Version 0.5.4 of Ember is released.
This release incorporates the results from the three Google Summer of Code projects. The entity creator is greatly expanded, with scripting functionality, there’s now proper support for terrain modifiers and there’s a working sound system in place.
- improved entity creator with advanced scripting support
- support for terrain modifiers
- a new complete sound system
- updated sky and lightning subsystem (Caelum 0.3)
- improved lua scripting support, with proper handling of return values
2008-07-08 - 0.5.3 is released
Version 0.5.3 of Ember is released.
This release fixes a couple of memory leaks and improves memory handling overall, as well as some problems with Ogre 1.4.8+ and CEGUI 0.6.1+. The admin interface has been expanded and the terrain editor has been enhanced, as well as entity movement functionality.
Note that if you compile from source, you will need to install the content of ember-media-0.5.3.tar.bz2 to PREFIX/share/ember/media
- a lot of memory handling enhancements
- improved terrain editor
- simplified admin interface
- new method for moving entities in the world
- lots and lots of new media, meshes and textures
2008-04-20 - 0.5.2 is released
Version 0.5.2 of Ember is released.
This release adds a totally rewritten foliage system which allows for addition of efficient and natural looking foliage such as bushes and plants. In addition to that a new imposter system has been added, allowing for scenes with large forests. A lot of smaller bugs and glitches have been fixed, and the gui has been tweaked to behave more intuitively. Note that if you compile from source, you will need to install the media too, either by using the “make releasemediarsync” make target or by installing the content of ember-media-0.5.2.tar.bz2 to PREFIX/share/ember/media Also note that this version requires CEGUI 0.6.0 and libwfut 0.2.0.
Note that if you compile from source, you will need to install the content of ember-media-0.5.2.tar.bz2 to PREFIX/share/ember/media
- new foliage system allowing for expansive forests and vegetation
- support for imposters
- ability to save login information
- large number of updated meshes and textures
- lots of bug fixes
2007-12-21 - 0.5.1 is released
Version 0.5.1 of Ember is released.
This release adds many improvements to the GUI system, such as an inventory status widgets. It also contains greatly updated media with normal and speculal maps for most game entities. The ingame chat system has been totally redone with increased performance and functionality. The terrain system now supports shaders with fallbacks on a fixed function pipeline. Note that if you compile from source, you will need to install the content of ember-media-0.5.1.tar.bz2 to PREFIX/share/ember/media Also note that this version works with both Lua 5.0 and 5.1, but if the latter is used make sure that you've patched CEGUI to use the same version.
Note that if you compile from source, you will need to install the content of ember-media-0.5.1.tar.bz2 to PREFIX/share/ember/media
- totally refactored ingame chat system with better performance and functionality
- support for both Lua 5.0 and 5.1
- a new icon system
- a new inventory system with drag and drop equipment
- status widgets for both the avatar and current targets
- update of all materials, with support for normal and shader maps for most entities
- refactored terrain system with support for both shader and fixed pipeline functionality
2007-07-24 - 0.5.0 is released
Version 0.5.0 of Ember is released.
This release uses Ogre version 1.4.3 and CEGUI version 0.5.0. It also includes a new in-game authoring framework, as well as a lot of new feature
Note that if you compile from source, you will need to install the content of ember-media-0.5.0.tar.bz2 to PREFIX/share/ember/media
- uses Ogre 1.4.3 and CEGUI 0.5.0, as well as newer versions of OgreOpcode and PLSM2
- a completely new entity editor for in-game entity authoring
- interface improvements such as terrain aware camera and click-to-move
- major internal refactoring and cleanup
2007-03-27 - 0.4.3 is released
Version 0.4.3 of Ember is released.
This release includes the new libwfut library for media updates, removing the need for an external java updater. It also adds a lot of bug fixes.
Note that if you compile from source, you will need to install the content of ember-media-0.4.3.tar.bz2 to PREFIX/share/ember/media
- use the new libwfut library for media updates, removing the need for the java based WFUT
- fixed a problem with picking in the terrain
- added function for dumping entity attributes to a file
- a crash when the world was accidentally moved
2007-03-02 - 0.4.2 is released
Version 0.4.2 of Ember is released.
This release updates the authoring tools, adds a dynamic sky and includes a new framework for matching and updating models against server entities.
Note that if you compile from source, you will need to install the content of ember-media-0.4.2.tar.bz2 to PREFIX/share/ember/media
- added a dynamic sky through the use of the Caelum plugin
- support for the outfit property, allowing for more diverse npcs
- added more authoring support, amongst them ability to move entities
- revamped terrain code for better stability and correctness
- added a new extensive framework for matching server entities and models
2006-09-06 - 0.4.1 is released
Version 0.4.1 of Ember is released.
This release is the first to use Ogre 1.2. It also adds better authoring tools, such as improvements to the Model editor as well as an experimental Terrain editor. Core components such as the console and command handling have also been improved.
- uses Ogre 1.2
- revamped the control system to allow for user defined control schemes
- various extensions to the console system
- experimental terrain editing support
- implemented Tasks
- extended the Model format
- improved the ModelEditor
2006-03-22 - 0.4.0 is released
Version 0.4.0 of Ember is released.
This release adds a lot of new features and refactored code. One of the main changes is the addition of scripting language support. Many of the existing gui components and widgets have been converted to Lua code. Together with a build in code editor and a new more robust widget look this makes for a solid foundation for further gui development.
- Support for scripting languages, with Lua already built in
- New widget look based on WindowsLook
- The Falagard widget system is now used in place of the now obsolete TaharezLook system
- New widgets for authoring models in game, and for script editing
- More solid entity movements
- A lot of bug fixes and polish
2005-10-29 - 0.3.4 is released
Version 0.3.4 of Ember is released.
This release is built with the latest version of the Eris (1.3.9) library, which brings much improved stability. Various other libraries used internally have also been updated.
Noteworthy changes
- uses Eris 1.3.9, with much improved stability
- allow pasting of text from the clipboard
- upgraded the Opcode Ogre lib to a more recent version (0.0.4)
- various refinements to the GUI
2005-10-11 - 0.3.3 is released
Version 0.3.3 of Ember is released.
This release adds support for the latest Atlas, Eris and Ogre libraries, which brings much increased stability and performance. The GUI and input system has also been further refined, as well as the options available to the user in the ember.conf file.
Noteworthy changes
- upgraded to use the latest Eris and Atlas libraries, with increased stability and speed
- addition of more console commands and config file options, among them the ability to reverse the mouse in the vertical axis
- improvements to the MeshPreview widget
- various win32 fixes to make it work better on that platform
- refinements to the input system and the gui
2005-09-28 - 0.3.2 is released
Version 0.3.2 of Ember is released.
This release is the first release where a win32 version is also supplied. Additionally, Ember now uses WFUT for syncronizing media with a central server. This however adds a dependency on Java. We've also switched to a more powerful terrain engine. Note that if you've installed Ember before, it's a very good idea to move ~/.ember out of the way first.
Noteworthy changes
- fully functional Windows port
- much improved mouse picking
- usa WFUT for media downloading
- various refinements to the GUI
For developers
Information for developers:
