Got a problem with Messenger? Visit our community forums and our members will help you with your problem.StuffPlug 3.5 screenshots and features
on Mon 31 Dec 2007 (15:23 GMT)
on Mon 31 Dec 2007 (15:23 GMT)
I'm going to be honest here, the current release of StuffPlug is rather bland. It lacks what made the add-on for MSN Messenger so great; unique features, exceptionally well coded. It wasn't the fault of the developers, they were busy and everyone was inspired by their ideas. Stealing emoticons and display pictures used to be StuffPlug's big features until they were mimicked by various other add-ons. What could TheBlasphemer and the other developers do to fix this?
The answer ... StuffPlug 3.5! Beta testers today received one if the largest updates to program in recent months and its going to make using StuffPlug with Messenger a must again. StuffPlug 3.5 has a new design which matches Windows Live Messenger's Vista style and changes to your specific colour scheme. The add-on is integrated well, the features are vast and it also contains some small tweaks that make Messenger more bearable.
This release is due on January 7th 2008 (in English) and on 21st January for translated versions. This is just a small step to where StuffPlug will be soon as TheBlasphemer is working on StuffPlug 4 for Windows Live Messenger 9 which will contain some new features and perfect the experimental ones. StuffPlug 3.5 is an important update, but is essentially here so Windows Live Messenger 8.5 users can use StuffPlug while adding several must have new features including:
>> View some screenshots of the upcoming version
>> Visit the official StuffPlug website
The answer ... StuffPlug 3.5! Beta testers today received one if the largest updates to program in recent months and its going to make using StuffPlug with Messenger a must again. StuffPlug 3.5 has a new design which matches Windows Live Messenger's Vista style and changes to your specific colour scheme. The add-on is integrated well, the features are vast and it also contains some small tweaks that make Messenger more bearable.
This release is due on January 7th 2008 (in English) and on 21st January for translated versions. This is just a small step to where StuffPlug will be soon as TheBlasphemer is working on StuffPlug 4 for Windows Live Messenger 9 which will contain some new features and perfect the experimental ones. StuffPlug 3.5 is an important update, but is essentially here so Windows Live Messenger 8.5 users can use StuffPlug while adding several must have new features including:
- Editing of display name from the contact list
- Blocking of an entire group
- Adding new contacts through the wordwheel
- Sending 'action texts' to contacts, which mimics Messenger's action prompts
- Chatting to contacts whom you have blocked
- Use of chat only names within conversations
- Showing the current time of your contacts matching to their timezone
- Sending of fake invites to contacts
- Flashing of LED keyboard when computer is in full screen mode
- Disabling the file transfer limit allowing you to send more than 3 files at one time
- Boost character limit up to 5,000 in conversation messages
- Allow unlimited emoticons to be used within a message
- Window icons reflect your contacts status
- Creation of customizable timestamps
- Disable your 'user is typing a message' notification
- Opening of links in default browser
- Polygramy (multiple Messenger's running at once)
- Adding of mail icon in system tray
- Memory flusher: 'This feature periodically flushes messengers used memory and keeps its overall memory usage lower'
- Security speedup: addressing the issue that was highlighted here
>> View some screenshots of the upcoming version
>> Visit the official StuffPlug website
StuffPlug 3.5 and 4.0 development progress
on Fri 28 Dec 2007 (00:31 GMT)
on Fri 28 Dec 2007 (00:31 GMT)
StuffPlug creator, TheBlasphemer, has just posted an insight into the development status of his popular add-on, StuffPlug being developed for Windows Live Messenger 8.5.
>> View TB's post discussing development
It's been a while since I last posted here. Now I mention it, it's been a terribly long time since I've actually shown something to the outside world!
Some people had already declared SP to be dead, but nothing is further from the truth; I've never really stopped working on it completely.
So what can you expect?
Well, I've kinda lost track on the number of bugfixes, optimizations and stuff like that, there's just millions of those ;)
We've also been working on some new features, but most of those are far from completed, and still need a lot of work before they go public. Speaking of which, there's been a "debug" menu in SP for ages now, listing all not-completed and experimental features, but it's been well hidden and locked down. With StuffPlug 3.5, that is going to change. Anyone can enable the "Experimental" feature category now, and they can try out some of the new features we're still working on. We can't promise they're stable, hell for some of em we can't even promise they work at all, but you're free to try em and give us some feedback on it when we release :)
Now, apart from the WLM 8.5 compatibility, the other big change is the user-interface. I'd grown sick and tired of the fact that all SP windows seemed completely seperated from Windows Live Messenger, and that's why I've introduced a major UI overhaul: All StuffPlug windows will now look and feel exactly like messenger windows :) I'm still working on several parts of it, but in the attachment you can see that I've got the most important windows nailed already ;)
When to expect all this? I'm trying to get it released by new years as a little present, but to be honest I'm not totally sure I'm going to make it. It'll probably be done around 7 januari or so, or 21 januari if you want a translated version ;)
- TB
P.S. I've deliberately shot the options window with the experimental tab highlighted, to tease you a bit ;) Feel free to speculate what some of the names might mean, I might throw in some extra screenshots later!
Some people had already declared SP to be dead, but nothing is further from the truth; I've never really stopped working on it completely.
So what can you expect?
Well, I've kinda lost track on the number of bugfixes, optimizations and stuff like that, there's just millions of those ;)
We've also been working on some new features, but most of those are far from completed, and still need a lot of work before they go public. Speaking of which, there's been a "debug" menu in SP for ages now, listing all not-completed and experimental features, but it's been well hidden and locked down. With StuffPlug 3.5, that is going to change. Anyone can enable the "Experimental" feature category now, and they can try out some of the new features we're still working on. We can't promise they're stable, hell for some of em we can't even promise they work at all, but you're free to try em and give us some feedback on it when we release :)
Now, apart from the WLM 8.5 compatibility, the other big change is the user-interface. I'd grown sick and tired of the fact that all SP windows seemed completely seperated from Windows Live Messenger, and that's why I've introduced a major UI overhaul: All StuffPlug windows will now look and feel exactly like messenger windows :) I'm still working on several parts of it, but in the attachment you can see that I've got the most important windows nailed already ;)
When to expect all this? I'm trying to get it released by new years as a little present, but to be honest I'm not totally sure I'm going to make it. It'll probably be done around 7 januari or so, or 21 januari if you want a translated version ;)
- TB
P.S. I've deliberately shot the options window with the experimental tab highlighted, to tease you a bit ;) Feel free to speculate what some of the names might mean, I might throw in some extra screenshots later!
>> View TB's post discussing development
StuffPlug 3.9 and 4.0 coming soon
on Thu 20 Dec 2007 (22:16 GMT)
on Thu 20 Dec 2007 (22:16 GMT)
StuffPlug creator, TheBlasphemer, has been very busy in recent years. As a result his add-on has took a bit of a hit, mainly trying to get a fully compatible update released for the new Windows Live Messenger 8.5. Despite this TheBlasphemer has been working hard on a new version and has outlined his plans for the future of one of the best add-ons for Windows Live Messenger:
Beta testers have been shown ideas for the new UI and we have discussed where we want the add-on to go. Development appears to be positive and you should be getting excited for the new release (whenever that may be).
>> View TB's news post discussing the update
- The current beta of StuffPlug 3 can be installed using this trick. It's not 100% compatible, but it works.
- StuffPlug 3.9, to be released soon, will be compatible with WLM 8.5, but not with 9.0.
- StuffPlug 4.0, to be released somewhere next year, will be compatible with WLM 9.0, but not with earlier versions. WLM 9.0 has changed too many things internally to make a version that is both compatible with 8.0 and 9.0, so SP 3.9 will be the last version for WLM 8.x, and SP 4.0 will focus purely on WLM 9.0.
- As I'm currently in a rather nasty personal situation, none of the above mentioned release dates or spans are definitive. It all depends on how soon I get my ability to concentrate on this stuff back.
- The new major version number was mainly due to a complete overhaul of the user-interface, but as having a separate major release for WLM 9.0 makes much more sense, this user-interface overhaul will now be in 3.9 (and in 4.0 too, but it won't be an overhaul then, will it)
Beta testers have been shown ideas for the new UI and we have discussed where we want the add-on to go. Development appears to be positive and you should be getting excited for the new release (whenever that may be).
>> View TB's news post discussing the update
Messenger Plus! Live update (4.50.312)
on Mon 17 Dec 2007 (09:37 GMT)
on Mon 17 Dec 2007 (09:37 GMT)
Patchou has released a minor update to the newly released Messenger Plus! Live 4.50. This version fixes some small bugs found in the initial release of 4.50, which are:
>> Download: Messenger Plus! Live 4.50.312
>> View Patchou's Announcement
>> View Messenger Plus! Live Skins Database
- Updated language files included.
- You now get a clear message when importing a skin that's not compatible with the version of Messenger you're currently using. A message is also displayed if an incompatible skin is enabled in the Preferences panel.
- The script editor is now LTR even with if Hebrew or Arabic is selected.
- Fixed: some preferences are not re-loaded properly when different users sign-in without restarting Messenger.
- Fixed: the Resource Extractor does not properly extracts the resources of Messenger Plus! when asked.
- Some small last-minute issues have been taken care of.
- Scripts: a new ImageId optional parameter has been added to Combo_AddItem(). This allows you to insert items with a picture in combobox controls.
>> Download: Messenger Plus! Live 4.50.312
>> View Patchou's Announcement
>> View Messenger Plus! Live Skins Database