Brianno Coller

Visual Studio 2013

 spuCDS  No Responses »
Jan 262015
 

I suspect that most of you who will be using your own computers will be installing Visual Studio 2013 for Windows Desktop. If this describes you, you should be aware that for VS2013, there are a few extra hoops that you will need to jump through to get Spumone fully functional on your computer.” The steps are outlined below.

  1. First, you should install VS2013 (it takes a long time to download) and Spumone. Instructions for the latter are here. When you run Spumone, it should work. You should be able to launch VS2013 without any problem too.
  2. Normally, when I open up the code for the cdsPilot, I go to the folder cdsPilotS15, and double-click on the solution file: cdsPilotS15.sln. However if you try this, you will find that your system does not recognize the solution file that I gave you as being associated with VS2013…. because it isn’t. The first time you open up the cdsPilot, you should do it differently. You should launch Visual Studio from the list of programs (or “apps”). Then, once VS2013 is running, you should open the solution file (cdsPilotS15.sln) via the File > Open menu at the top of the screen.
  3. When you open up the solution file, VS2013 will complain about out of date libraries, and it will ask you if you want to “upgrade compilers and libraries.” You need to do this, so click “Yes”, “OK”, or whatever indicates you agree to the upgrade.
  4. Once the previous step is complete, you should be able to look at your code. The stuff that you will be writing will be in the file called myPilot.cpp.
  5. When you are finished looking at the code (or modifying it), you should be ready to compile it. You can try it now if you wish. However, it will result in a link error and crap out. To avoid or get rid of the error, you need to delete some library files.  You will find the library files in the “lib” folder which is inside the “spumone322” folder. Delete all the files inside the “lib” folder.
  6. Now you can compile. Go to the “Build” menu at the top of the screen, and then select “Build Solution”. When it’s finished, it should indicate success at the bottom of the output window. After this initial build, it should not be necessary to delete the lib files any more.

Please post a question on Piazza if it is not working for you.

 

Espoo Help – Imprecise Cross Hair

 Help, spuChallenge, spuEngDyn  No Responses »
Apr 112014
 

Update: Through a painstaking update to the Espoo internals, this problem has been essentially eliminated. Ignore the comments below.

When you’re holding button 6 (or RB), Pokey should release automatically when the parabola passes through the cross hair. The problem is the at it is not perfectly precise. This is due to details on how a digital computer simulates physical systems.

However it possible to account for the imprecision. You may notice that the auto release always releases the projectile just a little bit late. If you account for this lateness in your aim, then you might be more successful.

Return to the Espoo page.

Espoo Help – Coefficients to the Parabola

 Help, spuChallenge  No Responses »
Apr 032014
 

Are you having difficulty deriving mathematical expressions for the coefficients to the parabola? These two videos may help.

First, we’ll start with the case where the balloon provides buoyancy which exactly cancels the weight of the projectile. In doing so, I hope you see how to solve it with and without buoyancy.

After determining the “parabola” for the case when B=1 as described in the video above, I hope that you are now ready for the general case of a parabola with or without buoyancy.

If you still have some lingering confusion, you can consult the following video (coming soon).

Return to Espoo Help.

Summer 2013 Improvements – SpuPilot

 News, spuEngDyn  No Responses »
May 222013
 

Over the summer, I’m making a whole lot of changes to Spumone. The first target is the SpuPilot. The following is a list of changes to the pilot

  • Switches and triggers will be combined into one entity.  It will make programming easier, hopefully. Players will not need to know ahead of time whether to use a switch or trigger. They can start off with a switch and then add trigger capability to the switch.
  • The SpuPilot will visually indicate whether scripts have been deployed.
  • The SpuPilot, itselft, will check for parse errors, and provide feedback without having to run Spumone and look through a log file.
  • The SpuPilot will provide a mechanism for looking back through previous scripts and reload/redeploy them.
  • After loading one world, you will be able to switch into a different world, without having to restart Spumone.

Swingline Help – What do I do at the end of the line?

 Help  No Responses »
May 032013
 

When you reach the end of the line… not the dead end, but the real end, you have one more thing you’re going to need to accomplish. You will need to fit your spuCraft into the small purple box, and keep it there, without touching any of the walls. To do this, you will need to lose almost all your energy. You do not need a trigger. You can lose energy manually.

Swingline Help – Got to the Dead End. Now what?

 Help  No Responses »
May 012013
 

When you first latch onto the swingling, a billboard states: “Find the end of the line… but which end?” The fact that you got to the dead end means that you are at the wrong end of the line and that you have to go to the other end.

So how are you going to get to the other end, when the conveyor belts are moving the wrong way?

Well… Here’s my advice to you. Do you see the orange and blue striped square? If you swing your third mass directly past the square, then the countdown ticks down. When the countdown reaches zero, something special happens.

 

 Older Entries