Frontier Actor is a re-implementation of the original Microsoft Actor API that was found in various Microsoft products, most notably Microsoft Bob and Microsoft Office 97.
Using the Frontier Actor Custom Controls is relatively simple, currently requiring any version of Visual Studio that supports .NET Framework 4.0 (Windows XP SP3 or later) or .NET Framework 2.0 (Windows 98 or later).
- Create a new VB.NET or C# application in Visual Studio.
- Right-click the toolbox, select "Choose items..."
- Under the ".NET Framework Components" tab, click "Browse..."
- Select the FrontierActorControl.dll and any other applicable controls.
- Click OK, and you will be able to drag-and-drop Frontier Actor on your form, just like the classic Microsoft Actor Control for Visual Basic 3.0!
What languages does Frontier Actor support?
Currently, the Frontier Actor Control, Frontier Podium Control, Frontier Rgnwnd Control (word balloon) can be used in any WinForms supported language, including VB.NET, C#, C++/CLI, and F#.
Does it support Microsoft Actor 1.0 and 2.0 characters?
Yes, Frontier Actor supports all Microsoft Actor 1.0 characters and all known 2.0 characters except for 4 (Rocky, Genius, Mother Nature, and Earl.
Is there a way for me to preview the characters?
Whatever ACT file you select will have a preview version in the Control of their restpose frame set in the Utopia Animation Editor. If you are talking about viewing all their actions yourself, we have a separate program called the Actor Toolkit: https://agentpedia.tmafe.com/wiki/Actor_Toolkit
Where can I download Actor files? I need one for my sample!
You can get them from our archive of known Microsoft Actors here: https://tmafe.com/classic-ms-actors Please note MacOS actors are not supported as they are in a completely different binary format!
You may find out more information on Agentpedia.