Moviestorm Early Access Release

Today we present to you the next milestone in Moviestorm's development as it moves out of Beta. We're calling it the "Early Access" version (otherwise known as Moviestorm 1.0.0) as we acknowledge there are still bugs and incomplete features. But thanks to your feedback and the brilliant movies that we're seeing made in Moviestorm, we feel that Moviestorm is ready for a wider audience.

You can download it here!
(Please note we will not be patching Beta2 versions to EA nor will we be releasing any further patches to Beta2.)

Those of you who have been on the beta program for a while will know that we regularly update Moviestorm with bug fixes and new features. We'll be continuing with this as it's fundamental to our Agile development philosophy - often characterised as "Release Early, Release Often" - but more importantly, we try to respond to the bugs and feature requests that are holding you back from creating your cinematic masterpieces!

Here is a list of features since Beta 2.1.1:

New Mouse Bindings
We've made a significant change to the mouse bindings which we believe are much more useable. We advise you to check the help section for details but in short:
* The middle mouse button is no longer used (although the scroll wheel still works as before).
* Left mouse button now strafes around the set; right mouse still orbits
* Left mouse button now also selects the ring menu on characters and props; right mouse button selects a character as subject or switches to the camera view
* Shift+left mouse button is now needed to drag marks and props around the set. Ctrl+left mouse button still rotates them. You can also use the modal tools in the Set Workshop to do the same, but you won't be able to move around the set while you do so.

Interactive Tutorial
This release includes the first Interactive Tutorial: this introduces the novice to the main areas of Moviestorm and what all of the main buttons do - and, of course, where the Help is.

New AddOn Format
We are now distributing our content packs as .addon files which can be installed by simply double-clicking on them (or just "opening" them after download from your browser). If you have any problems installing that way you can also install them by starting up Moviestorm, going to the Settings page and hitting the Install button where you will be invited to select the file from where you downloaded it on disk. Please be patient as unpacking may take a little while...

If you've already got these packs, you can (if you want) go into Program Files and copy them all over from the Beta2 installation to the new installation - but please do not copy the old Base AddOn as that will confuse things.

Other features
* Many improvements to undo/redo
* Experimental two handed PointAt for John Woo action - needs more work to work well!
* Doors can now be tinted as well
* Fixed issue where tinting different walls changed all walls with the same wallpaper

New Base content
There is also a new Base pack which replaces the old base pack. The new base pack is much more coherent than the old one and our artists have polished up much of what was there before. There are also some really nice stock sets to get you started.

Since most of you will already have movies that rely on the old base pack, we're providing the old version for you to download as BaseBeta2. We strongly recommend that you place it after Base01 in your AddOn list so that new movies will use the new Base pack which is much nicer! Also please note that we will not be providing any updates to BaseBeta2.

You can get BaseBeta2 here!
(You won't need this ff you don't have any existing movies you want to keep.)

You should also note that the content packs that are currently available for free will not be so for much longer. In the next few weeks we will start charging for them as well. So please take advantage of the free offer while it lasts - this is our thank you for all of the wonderful feedback you have given us during our beta test period.

Overall we think you'll find this release a great improvement and I'm really looking forward to the next movies you make.

More news on where Moviestorm is heading soon!

Great, great news! But I appear to have lost my Moviestorm Points. I had 409 points.

Ooops thanks for flagging that - we had a little hiccup in the database update. Don't worry we have a backup. Your points will be back sometime tomorrow.

Woohoo!!

Is the Pioneer Pack still worth installing?
I didn't like having the Pioneer Pack and Moviestorm Beta together because it gave us duplicate items.

This Early Access Release is awesome.

I haven't been this excited since (bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep) and believe me the sheep really looked surprised, any way enough of my ramblings, I am really looking forward to using this new version and the big bonus is it has the modders workshop in it Yaahooo!, Thank you Shortfuze you guys are doing a tremendous job.

Regards
Davidwww

P.S. Just so you know my points have gone AWOL as well.
P.P.S I can't seem to find the modders workshop, did I in my excitement read this wrong, taken from the homepage news.

In addition to all that, there is the inclusion of the long awaited Modder's Workshop, that allows you to customize Moviestorm assets to better suit your individual movie-making requirements. In time,you will be able to create your own characters, sets and props, and import them into Moviestorm or share them with other Moviestorm Directors. More advanced modders will be able to write complete modifications, adding in new features, new film styles, and whatever else they can think of!

I'm so excited! and i just can't hide it! babeep badoop and i think i like it!

Among a lot of stuff, I was pleased to see the curved backdrop!

My first quick impression about thing that drives me crazy in earlier version: camera.
It works as it should.
No matter what I do to confuse camera, it works exactly how I want. Smooth, remembering position, rock solid. I am impressed.
To camera coders: If we ever met, beer is on me.

Congratulations! Really looking forward to digging in to this new version. Thank you very much.

Quick question: should I uninstall my old beta 2.1.1 first? Then install the new 1.0 and the addons?

Uninstalling the old version is optional; it installed by default to C:/Program Files/Moviestorm Beta 2.
The new version will install by default to C:/Program Files/Moviestorm

It does, however, update your shortcuts to point to the new version, so if you want to continue using the old version you would have to manully make a shortcut to the old beta version.

If you've already got these packs, you can (if you want) go into Program Files and copy them all over from the Beta2 installation to the new installation - but please do not copy the old Base AddOn as that will confuse things.

Note that this will cause some problems with respect to, in particular:
the Coffee Mug animations in Domestic Drama 01 (they just wont work)
the trees in Urban Foliage 01 (no apple tree any more)
the dirty street lamp textures in Urban Exteriors 01 (missing)

For these ones to work, please download the new .addon installer files.

The old pioneer stuff may work a lot less well with the new base pack.

There is (or will be) a new version of the old base pack called Base Beta 2, to which our Beta 2 users should get licences automatically.
Once that is installed, you can go to the addon menu in Settings, and select it; it isnt a good idea to have it selected in combination with the new Base01 and Core packs, however.
Otherwise, Core containes the stuff moviestorm needs to run properly; most addons will work with just Core and that addon enabled. This is useful when you are interested in just seeing what is in a new addon pack you have just installed.
Base01 contains the other assets for the new base pack, which let you make a basic set of movies. Look for the new talking gestures (mostly in the Left hand and mirrored in the Right hand gesture menues).

The Modder's Workshop announcement was slightly premature. It is there and (mostly) good to go, but we want to run it through a closed beta phase for a little while first to test and polish it. I'll be making a full announcement later today...

Apologies to all for the database glitches last night and this morning...it's all down to a silly blunder on my part. I'd managed to delete everyone's loyalty points AND passwords.

All is now restored from backup. (Any users who reset their password via the "Forgotton your password" link will continue to have their new passwords - everyone else has their old password restored. Don't forget you can change your password on the "edit profile" page.)

Again, sorry for the inconvenience!

<memo to all> do not change things after 00:00

if its any consolation I should note that last night I managed to delete my personal contacts database and it was last pu dekcab over a month ago ...

anyway, am having too much fun with Moviestorm so will not post for a while now

I downloaded the BaseBeta2 package, and tried installing both via double-clicking and the install button on the Add-on manager, but it keeps showing up as unlicensed, although there is an entry for it in my licenses folder. A little digging shows that the BaseBeta2 folder in my Moviestorm directory does not include the ".AddOn" file that appears in other directories, including the Base01 and Core folders. Could this be related?

Also, for some reason, EA 1.0 will not load the goatee. Or the heavy mustache. Ironically, it does load the full beard, the one facial hair appliance that doesn't properly fit any of the currently available heads. I haven't attempted CPT Destroyer's variations on the goatee, it's stock as installed. And it's a signature characteristic of the leading man for the next two productions in my pipeline.