Inner Space 2

Introduction

Why Inner Space 2?

Inner Space is a good thing, right? And why mess with a good thing? There are inherent flaws in Inner Space, and I intend to solve them. It's supposed to be a development platform, but developers are turned off by things that are difficult to develop with, such as LavishScript or LavishGUI. New technologies have been added to Inner Space since its inception that move in the right direction (such as .NET support), but advancement is held back by backwards compatibility and the continued use of conflicting old technologies.

What will happen to Inner Space 1?

The original Inner Space will remain as is. It will be feature frozen after the release of IS2, and will only receive bug fixes and other maintenance updates. Most customers will not even realize these changes are taking place.

Features

IS2 will work essentially the same as IS1. There will be a main program (known as the Uplink), and this will be used for configuration and launching new sessions. Most of the core of IS1 will be reused -- Virtual Input, D3D8, D3D9 support, much of the IS1 Kernel -- this also means that development time required to complete this new project is fairly low. But these are the parts that have little wrong with them. The core of IS2 will, however, be modified to be more modular. For example, a developer will have direct access to the Direct3D9 display device object if he so desires. That developer could create his own user interface module, that allows WinForms to be displayed in the game's D3D window. Or he could create a radar application, unhindered by the restrictions of LavishGUI.

IS2 will also feature a sort of marketplace, with both free and pay services. Developers will be able to share their work through this common interface, which will serve as a package updater (so that finding, downloading, and updating extensions and apps is less painful), and an authentication system for their products. Extensions, for example, will be able to be locked such that only authorized users can access them.

Gripes about IS1

Believe it or not, I listen to comments on what is good or bad about Inner Space. Here's what irks people.

• Configuration UI is hard to use, partly because of LavishGUI bugs, and partly because I hoped someone else would eventually create their own configuration UI to share. Nobody did.
• Lord of the Rings Online "is not supported" due to use of a .NET launcher. It works fine on some systems, but not on others. A loader can be used for systems it does not work on. This probably won't be fixed anytime soon in IS1 or IS2, and doesn't prevent anyone from actually using IS with LOTRO. Sorry Valerian.
• LavishScript is "slow", among other things. LavishScript was never intended to be a replacement for real languages. I needed a command interpreter for the console.
• LavishScript objects are relatively difficult to define (in C)
• LavishGUI is a pain in the ass to create UIs in

Feature requests

• "TITTIES!" - Adadada.

Sorry, this won't be implemented. But look at the bright side, you could make a titties skin!

• A new presentation layer - LightShadow
• .NET 3.5 support - Risky

This should work in IS1, according to LightShadow. I haven't tried it myself.

• Backwards compatibility - Amadeus

Sorry, no promises here. It will be vastly different

• Versioning support (e.g. ability to launch a prior version of an app) - Singularity

Discuss

Join discussions of Inner Space 2 on irc.lavishsoft.com in #innerspace2