Author Topic: Prerelease 1.005J now available.  (Read 7792 times)

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« on: June 09, 2009, 02:16:38 pm »
Okay, so this is probably going to be the last prerelease for today.  My focus now is to make sure that everything is stable and functioning properly with all these new features that have been added, so that there are no problems with the full 1.005 release.  Any playtesting that you guys would like to do on this latest version is much appreciated (as always) in that light!  Right now I'm a bit on the fence as to whether to release this today, or wait until there is more testing done sometime tomorrow.  My gut says to wait until the morning of tomorrow at least, and so that's probably what I should do.

Here's the latest prerelease:  http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar1005J.zip

That version is an upgrade from version 1.004, so you have to already have 1.004 installed. Just unzip it into your game folder (usually C:\Program Files\Arcen Games\AI War\ unless you specified something else). Please make sure that your unzip process keeps the folder structure from the zip file, rather than just unpacking all of the files into the base target directory.

What's new since 1.005I:

-------------------

-Science Labs have been moved to the right in the ECON menu of command stations.

-Science Lab II has been added to the ECON menu of command stations.  These gather knowledge half as fast as a regular science lab, and cost 8x as much, but they are heavily armored for taking into high-level enemy planets.

-In recent prereleases, ships were sometimes closing their distance too far when attacking an enemy ship. Fixed.

-The keyboard shortcuts for three of the galaxy map display buttons have been remapped.  We will endeavor never to change existing keyboard shortcuts, but in this case we felt it was worth it so that some of the new display keyboard shortcuts (see below) would be consistent with similar shortcuts in the main view.

-There are now galaxy display modes for showing the individual counts of crystal and metal on planets, as opposed to just showing all the resources combined.  A small letter (M, C, or R) now identifies which of these modes is currently in use.

-There are now galaxy display modes for locating scouts, starships, starship constructors, and all constructors.  All of these show totals from your entire team.

-There is now a galaxy display mode for showing incoming wave counts.

-There is now a galaxy display mode for showing how many hostile wormholes each planet has (enemy planets with a warp gate).  This is invaluable for planning and managing your defenses.

-The game settings now support setting specific window width/heights (instead of always fullscreen), and it now supports having the cursor not snap to the window or having the toolbar be shown on the window.

-A message is now shown at the top of the screen when the game does not have input focus (so that players can see why their mouse wheel and keyboard inputs are not being registered).

-If the main game form does not have input focus for whatever reason, it will refocus itself the next time a player clicks it.  This should prevent most issues with Alt-tabbing in and out with the new windows-messages-based keyboard input, and it should also prevent sub-fields (textboxes, mostly) in the application from inadvertently deciding to steal input focus.

-The message in the lobby about how to select a starting position also explains that this is how to select a ship type, and it also flashes so that new players will see to do this.

-In recent prereleases, the backspace key was not functioning in textboxes (but the delete key was).  Fixed.

EDIT:  Here's a new update, with a couple of fixes: http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar1005K.zip

-The game no longer scales incorrectly when in windowed mode (that was causing slight graphics degradation, as well as slightly-off mouse click detection).

-The game now includes an "are you sure?" popup when being killed by Alt-F4 or clicking the window X in windowed mode.  This prevents players from accidentally closing their game and losing their progress through a stray click or keypress.
« Last Edit: June 09, 2009, 03:39:34 pm by x4000 »
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2009, 02:17:44 pm »
bump
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline T-Bone Biggins

  • Newbie Mark III
  • *
  • Posts: 36
Re: Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2009, 02:20:23 pm »
Not complaining or anything, but shouldn't these be under news or technical support? Also, shouldn't all the pre-releases be condensed into a single post that gets edited for each new one with new download link? It'd be easier to keep up and easier on the eye when browsing the forum :)

The post would look like:

Blahblahblah text

Pre-Release 1.xxxA [link here]
Pre-Release 1.xxxB [link here]
Pre-Release 1.xxxC [link here]
Pre-Release 1.xxxD [link here]

1.xxxA: blahblahblah text on revisions

1.xxxB: blahblahblah text on revisions

And so on.

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« Reply #3 on: June 09, 2009, 02:24:21 pm »
Well, these prerelease topics get pretty huge pretty fast, and each prerelease is cumulative from the others, so you never have to get anything but the latest one.  It's not a technical support issue per se, it's more about features and enhancements and suggestions, so that's why I put it in the main forum.  The news is just for stuff that goes on the front page of the site (well, mostly), and doesn't allow replies or conversations from anyone but Arcen staff.

I'm still experimenting around with this, but right now each prerelease seems to have a separate conversation about it (in terms of the features that are in there, etc), which is why it kind of feels right to have it separate to me.  But, I'm open to whatever the majority wants to do -- we can combine all the future prerelease threads into one thread per real release (the 1.005 prereleases, 1.006 prereleases, etc) if that would make it easier for folks.

Hey, I know -- how about a poll?  I'll set one up. :)
« Last Edit: June 09, 2009, 02:28:24 pm by x4000 »
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline T-Bone Biggins

  • Newbie Mark III
  • *
  • Posts: 36
Re: Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« Reply #4 on: June 09, 2009, 02:32:04 pm »
Another note, the science ship when moving doesn't turn anymore when you order it to move. it stays in a fixed position sliding around like a hockey puck.

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« Reply #5 on: June 09, 2009, 02:34:43 pm »
Another note, the science ship when moving doesn't turn anymore when you order it to move. it stays in a fixed position sliding around like a hockey puck.

Oh -- that's by design, it's always been that way.  A few ships, like turrets and the smaller command stations and the science labs, rotate of their own volition, and don't turn when being sent places.  For all of those except the turrets, I felt like that was more space-station-y than space-ship-y, which was the sort of effect I was going for there.  The rotation is pretty slow, but it is there.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline netWilk

  • Newbie Mark III
  • *
  • Posts: 29
Re: Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« Reply #6 on: June 09, 2009, 02:57:14 pm »
Windowed mode.... YAY!  :)

With Show Window Toolbar on, the mouse click point is offset by the width and height of the window border with respect to the mouse cursor (ie. to the left and above the cursor.)

Did I mention Windowed mode YAY?  :)

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« Reply #7 on: June 09, 2009, 03:16:43 pm »
With Show Window Toolbar on, the mouse click point is offset by the width and height of the window border with respect to the mouse cursor (ie. to the left and above the cursor.)

Ah, nuts, I should have thought to check for that.  I'll see what I can do, and issue a new prerelease with this fix (a minor release, like H was).  Thanks for letting me know!

Did I mention Windowed mode YAY?  :)

:)
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline netWilk

  • Newbie Mark III
  • *
  • Posts: 29
Re: Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« Reply #8 on: June 09, 2009, 03:34:25 pm »
Glad I could help.

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« Reply #9 on: June 09, 2009, 03:36:04 pm »
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« Reply #10 on: June 09, 2009, 03:39:48 pm »
Here's a new update, with a couple of fixes: http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar1005K.zip

-The game no longer scales incorrectly when in windowed mode (that was causing slight graphics degradation, as well as slightly-off mouse click detection).

-The game now includes an "are you sure?" popup when being killed by Alt-F4 or clicking the window X in windowed mode.  This prevents players from accidentally closing their game and losing their progress through a stray click or keypress.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline netWilk

  • Newbie Mark III
  • *
  • Posts: 29
Re: Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« Reply #11 on: June 09, 2009, 04:24:51 pm »
Here's a new update, with a couple of fixes: http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar1005K.zip

-The game no longer scales incorrectly when in windowed mode (that was causing slight graphics degradation, as well as slightly-off mouse click detection).

-The game now includes an "are you sure?" popup when being killed by Alt-F4 or clicking the window X in windowed mode.  This prevents players from accidentally closing their game and losing their progress through a stray click or keypress.

Worked like a charm.  Thanks!

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« Reply #12 on: June 09, 2009, 04:25:40 pm »
Awesome.  You bet!
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline T-Bone Biggins

  • Newbie Mark III
  • *
  • Posts: 36
Re: Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« Reply #13 on: June 09, 2009, 04:26:29 pm »
Dang, another release! Can these be available on auto-updater so I can be lazy and just click once to check?  ;D

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: Prerelease 1.005J now available.
« Reply #14 on: June 09, 2009, 04:30:13 pm »
Dang, another release! Can these be available on auto-updater so I can be lazy and just click once to check?  ;D

Haha -- yeah, only the real releases go in the auto-updater because of how that works (it takes me about 30 minutes to prepare each release that way, plus then everybody can get it even if they are not particularly aware that this is a "bleeding edge" prerelease that might still have some bugs).  Sorry, not trying to overwork you with the many prereleases!
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

 

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk