Prerelease 1.202E (Internal Timing Updates / Performance Boosts)

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[Note from Fiskbit: Due to a game-breaking bug in 1.202F, I've put 1.202E back up for download. If you've already applied 1.202F, you can simply copy 1.202E on top of it to roll back]

Note:  This doesn't affect players playing solo, but multiplayer players please note that this version contains experimental network code.  Basically, the entire TCP-based networking code from past versions has been ripped out, and a (hopefully faster) UDP-based solution has been put in its place. There may be problems.  However, this has been out for several days with zero reported bugs so far, so it is probably mostly fine.  More testing and feedback is much appreciated, though!

The Latest prerelease is now out: http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar1202F.zip

The latest playable prerelease is available at http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar1202E.zip

That version is an upgrade from version 1.201, so you have to already have 1.201 (or greater) 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 1.202D:
(Cumulative release notes since 1.201 are attached at the bottom)

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

-A slight change has been made to the internal game timing -- there are now 50ms instead of 45ms per internal game cycle.  Thismakes for a more even number of cycles per turn, and also provides a bit of a load reduction for lower network/gpu/cpu specs.

-There was previously an issue with the timing of the game on very fast CPUs in very low-load situations.  It was running the game at too fast of a speed if the game simulation was able to get more than 30ms ahead of itself (something only made possible by very fast CPUs and recent performance improvements).  This 30ms cap was previously in place as something of a safety valve, but it is no longer needed and has thus been taken out, thus fixing the timing issue in the process.

-Some more performance tweaks have been made.

[Echo35]

Saves Game
Quits Game
Downloads Patch
Installs Patch
Continues Playing

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Note:  the above link has been updated to F, instead of E.  If you already downloaded E, you may want to download F because it includes yet more performance improvements.  That's the only difference between the two, so I didn't feel like it warranted a whole new topic at this stage.

[Fiskbit]

Currently, the game never calculates how much energy I have, leaving me with ??? (effectively negative) both when starting new games and when loading. Unfortunately, this makes the game essentially unplayable.

[Haagenti]

BTW: My "squeezed map" problem is still there. Installed new NVIDIA drivers and DirectX did not help.

EDIT: It only occurs when I have the Scale option for Large Monitors on. When I turn it off, the map is back in its old glory.

Is there a way to force the game into a lower resolution other than the Scale option (or using a window)?
The game becomes somewhat microscopic now.

[dumpsterKEEPER]

Currently, the game never calculates how much energy I have, leaving me with (effectively negative) both when starting new games and when loading. Unfortunately, this makes the game essentially unplayable.

I have this same issue, and in addition none of the second row information displays for metal, crystal and knowledge (i.e., all of the net income numbers). None of the numbers that are shown are updating at all. It appears that something is stuck on displaying, as I also have a science lab sitting on my home planet at 1,168 knowledge and it's not continuing to gather knowledge.

[Fiskbit]

I put 1.202E back up. F is currently still available if anyone wants it, though I can't imagine why they would. E appears to be working just fine in this regard.

[x4000]

I put 1.202E back up. F is currently still available if anyone wants it, though I can't imagine why they would. E appears to be working just fine in this regard.

Thanks for doing that!  I have fixed the problem with F and will have G out shortly, but I'm really glad you fixed that link in the meantime.  I can't believe I didn't notice that myself, sheesh!

[x4000]

EDIT: It only occurs when I have the Scale option for Large Monitors on. When I turn it off, the map is back in its old glory.

Is there a way to force the game into a lower resolution other than the Scale option (or using a window)?
The game becomes somewhat microscopic now.

Oh!  Okay, that's what the problem is.  The Scale option is the only way to get the game to run in a smaller resolution, because the game runs at your desktop resolution only -- it's not a true fullscreen application.  You could potentially just up the font sizes and then see how that works for you, but that wouldn't help the size of any other elements.  Most people who are comfortably able to see their desktop are also comfortably able to see the game at their desktop resolution (fonts aside, if they have upped the font size or DPI on their desktop).

But, at any rate, now that I have info on exactly what is triggering this -- the scale option -- I should be able to duplicate it and fix it.  I'll try to get that in the game for G, in just a bit.

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New version:  http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,1248.0.html