This is the alpha test page. For the first time ever, we are making a public alpha release of our newest version. Over two months since our last release, this one is the culmination of nearly a year of work on the 24-bit front. And we're not done, yet! We wanted to get as much done as we could to get some initial Q3 support in place. I think you'll find we've succeeded at just that, with some additional goodies that made the wait worthwhile.

Go no further if you just want to grab this sucker and start playing:

Download Wally v1.49a.02 (Alpha release) - Updated 01/25/2000 22:45pm

Now, if you've gotten this far, then let me explain exactly why we've put this out, what all we're looking for in you, the brave alpha test volunteer, and what sort of stuff to expect from it. Please note! If you're a big-time artist-type person who has deadlines and stuff to make with your RL job, then we don't suggest downloading this and becoming a sacrificial lamb to the Wally cause. There's plenty of people who will nab this and do the sacrificing for you :) Hopefully after a couple weeks of thoroughly testing this sucker, we can release 1.49b, with the ultimate goal of an official release at 1.50 with some added "cool stuff."

Okay, down to the good stuff. Here's the list of things we've added since 1.48:

• 24-bit viewing, editing, saving
• TGA, BMP, PCX editing support in 8- and 24-bit as actual image types instead of import/export
• PNG support (same as above, can actually edit them)
• JPG support (ditto)
• Added all supported file types to File Associations tab
• New registry handling code
• Moved size, shape, and amout tool controls to Settings tab on ToolSettings toolbar
• Added color tolerance tool setting
• Added quick-zoom combo box to Settings tab
• TONS and TONS and TONS of internal stuff no one can see, but the main reason for this alpha in the first place

I'm sure there's stuff I'm missing here, but it's late and I've just finished up 5+ hours of coding and bug hunting, so my brain is not functioning properly. What we're looking for from you the guine... err I mean brave soldier... is an all-out assault on our friend Wally. Let's use the forum as the gathering point for bug posts, so we can acknowledge them and keep a public record so other people don't have to report stuff already mentioned. The build we've put out is a DEBUG build from VC. This means the file size is much larger (resulting in a two-fold increase in d/l size) but it includes tons of useful information for us to use to actually, well, debug the thing. If something craps out, you'll be given a source code file name (xxx.cpp) and a line number. Just include those in any correspondance or a note on the forum, and we'll have a faster time of tracking it down. I've already found a couple bugs that are probably going to take some work to fix, but obviously if you wait long enough you'll eventually get them all. We wanted to get this out and about!

How to test 24-bit? Easy: load up a 24-bit image, or go File|New and select any of the non-game types (TGA, PCX, BMP, PNG, or JPG.) You might be wondering about that PNG type. PNG is the heir apparent to the GIF format. You may or may not be aware of the legal crap involving the GIF format. Long story short, Unisys owns the patent to the compression algorithm used in every compressed GIF file ever created. Unisys, trying to protect the patent, charges licensing fees for any application capable of writing out GIF files. I inquired last year about said license fee, indicating that we were a freeware app and did not charge our customers for downloading it. Unisys still required us to pay royalties for every single copy we gave away free. Needless to say, we won't be adding GIF support any time soon. PNG is much better. It supports both 8- and 24-bit, it has alpha channels, and in many cases the compression is just as good if not better than GIF. Make the switch today!

Now a point about the future: this is sort of an interim 24-bit solution. We're still tied a bit to the old 8-bit Quake2 days, and you'll notice right off the bat when you load 24-bit images that you still have an 8-bit palette to choose colors from. This so far is by design. Actual editing occurs in 24-bit, so think of the palette merely as a color selection plate. You can load up new palettes in your image and have a wealth of new colors to choose from. Our ultimate goal is to be 100% 24-bit all the way around; we can't do that in a short amount of time and continue to post updates, so this is the work-around. We're working on a new model for image editing for Wally's future that will dramatically change the way you work and edit with game textures, not to mention regular image files.

Grab the alpha and have fun!

Wally is © Ty Matthews and Neal White III. Quake2, Quake, id, and anything related to the Gods in Texas is of course their property.