Prerelease 1.202J (Visual polish, more planetary summary improvements)

[x4000]

Note:  If you previously downloaded the I version, make sure and update to J if you want the latest.

The latest prerelease is available at http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar1202J.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 1.202H:
(Cumulative release notes since 1.201 are attached at the bottom)

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-Control groups are now the first item shown in the planetary summary, and then the current player's ships, allied ships, and finally enemy ships.

-The planetary summary is now grouped into multiple sections (mobile military, fixed military, mobile nonmilitary, and fixed nonmilitary), each with a different color pattern to make the section type clear.

-Dreadnoughts are now immune to tractor beams.

-Previously, harvester exoshields had a mild attack.  With the increase in turret strengths, that is no longer neccessary.  The attack has been removed.

-There is now a header to the AI War intro story text, and the story text appears more quickly.

CHANGES FROM PRIOR PRERELEASES
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-Changed it so that the splash screen is more likely to display now.

-Updated the splash screen look.

-Scouts no longer show up in the mobile military section of the sidebar, they now show up as mobile nonmilitary.

-Turrets, force fields, and heavy defense items now always show up in the fixed military section of the sidebar, instead of the fixed nonmilitary.

-More changes have been made to hopefully show the splash screen.

NEW ART - Philippe Chabot
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ButtonPanelConnector

[Haagenti]

Menus look great.

No splash screen: screen goes gray as always

[Valarauka]

Wow, it's looking really good! I love the 4/3/2/1 threat lights on the sides. Also, fastest suggestion turnaround, like, ever.

Minor niggle: Scouts are currently in the mobile military category, they should probably be non-military?

[Volatar]

I think that we should put scouts and scout starship under mobile non-miliatary.

[Echo35]

Menus look great.

No splash screen: screen goes gray as always

Yeah, I start the game, blank screen, main menu. I host a new game, it says Loading Data, and then the game. Is the "Loading Data" screen the spash screen, because I don't see anything else.

[x4000]

I think that we should put scouts and scout starship under mobile non-miliatary.

Agreed, that was an oversight.  Good suggestion, both of you!

[dumpsterKEEPER]

Yeah, I start the game, blank screen, main menu. I host a new game, it says Loading Data, and then the game. Is the "Loading Data" screen the spash screen, because I don't see anything else.

No, it's an actual splash screen that appears when the game is initially launched from the desktop. I'm not sure what causes it, as I have gotten that same gray screen with other games.

[tals]

I'm seeing the splash screen.

Menu's - I prefered the old ones, when it starts the screen has quite a large blank space where the text appears for the story and imho it just looks wrong. On my 22' the whole menus just look huge.

All imho.

Tals

[x4000]

Menus look great.

No splash screen: screen goes gray as always

Yeah, I start the game, blank screen, main menu. I host a new game, it says Loading Data, and then the game. Is the "Loading Data" screen the spash screen, because I don't see anything else.

Your screen goes gray or black?  That's very odd.  I wonder if this is basically the application not taking the time to actually update the interface on load.  I'll try something else for this.  The splash screen should be appearing right when the game is first loading, before you see the main menu.  It has a picture of a planet, and some other stuff.  If you look under Images\Splash.png, that's what I'm talking about.

[x4000]

I'm seeing the splash screen.

Menu's - I prefered the old ones, when it starts the screen has quite a large blank space where the text appears for the story and imho it just looks wrong. On my 22' the whole menus just look huge.

All imho.

Tals

Definitely not going back to the old, the new is a huge improvement in general.  I am wondering if something is off with the display on yours?  It has a nice little bordered area where the text comes in, like a little screen.  Can you post a screenshot of what you are seeing?

[Haagenti]

I'm getting a light gray screen with a very small light-blue rectangle stating AI War (like the left part of a menu bar) in the top left corner.

I have tried starting the game in full screen and windowed made. Same.
I have turned on/off Scaling. Same
Turn SLI on/off. Same.

Also, in the past (say a 100 patches back), there was this fleet battle in the start screen. After a while it went away, and I've never seen it back. Is that intentional?

[tals]

As requested below On my screen it just looks huge

[dumpsterKEEPER]

Menu's - I prefered the old ones, when it starts the screen has quite a large blank space where the text appears for the story and imho it just looks wrong. On my 22' the whole menus just look huge.

I recently upgraded to a 22" widescreen as well (1920x1080) and personally I think the new menus look great on it.

I do see what you're saying about the blank space where the story scrolls though. When it first loads that's just a large empty space, and the text scrolls so slowly that I rarely see more than the first line or so. Perhaps the text could scroll a little more quickly? Or maybe start a little higher on the screen so that space isn't completely blank initially?

[x4000]

I'm getting a light gray screen with a very small light-blue rectangle stating AI War (like the left part of a menu bar) in the top left corner.

I have tried starting the game in full screen and windowed made. Same.
I have turned on/off Scaling. Same
Turn SLI on/off. Same.

The splash is a GDI thing, not a DirectX thing, so it's not a hardware-accelerated part of the game.  It sounds like you are actually seeing the splash screen, sort of, but that something is amuck with it.  If you look at Images\Splash.png, is that part of what you are seeing?  Can you get a desktop screenshot of what you are seeing and post that? (Just hit Print Screen on your keyboard and past to some program).  I'm not quite sure what is going on there.

Also, in the past (say a 100 patches back), there was this fleet battle in the start screen. After a while it went away, and I've never seen it back. Is that intentional?

Yep, people hated that, so I took it out.  

[x4000]

As requested below On my screen it just looks huge

I see.  Yep, that's what it should look like, so no mishaps there.  I should note that the main menu has not been resized at all -- the space for the text was already there before, it is just pretty and bordered now.