I’m interested in installing adv3lite since it has so many useful extension added in among all the other awesomeness it includes.
I am wondering. I’ve been learning TADS 3 using the standard manuals and such. If i were to use adv3lite does normal code work? I know there are a few exceptions like room parts and actor states. But in general can i just copy and paste my existing project into a adv3lite project and have it work? And if i get stuck and need to search for an answer would the standard manuals and such work more often than not?
I want to use adv3lite but i dont want to start from scratch on my current project.
There are substantial differences between them—how rooms are defined, for example, and there are objects available in adv3 that are not present in adv3lite and vice versa. You could port from one to the other, but it would be a lot of work.
My advice would be to finish your current project, then switch to adv3lite for your next one.
But they are both TADS3, and the information in the manuals that come with adv3 is for the most part transferrable to adv3lite.
The lite library comes with its own updates to many of the manuals, and you’ll need to be familiar with those docs as well.
Today I’ve been having a go at translating an existing 1/4-finished game from adv3 to adv3Lite. What I’ve found thus far is that it’s not extremely laborious … but it’s not just a stroll in the park, either. Objects that use many of the standard classes in adv3 will need different class declarations, and will then need new parameters added in order to reproduce their former behavior. All of the vocabulary lines in the template statements for your objects will need to be rewritten. Certain macros, notably failcheck, are not used in adv3Lite, which means that your check() routines will need a little editing. Stuff like that.
Whether you would gain any advantages depends partly on the nature of your game. But I have by no means figured out what all the advantages are. I can tell you that adv3Lite seems to have a built-in spell checker that corrects the player’s wrong typing, for instance. It also has a built-in ‘go to’ command for the player. So there’s a lot to think about when considering whether to change horses in mid-stream.