Prerelease 3.022 (Bugfixes, Localization Updates)

[x4000]

The latest beta is available via the Updates window in version 3.000 or greater of the game.  Just open the game and you can quickly download the prerelease through the updates tab.  If you don't yet have 3.000 or greater, you can download 3.000 here.  This prerelease version is compatible with any vendor's version of the game -- Steam, Impulse, whatever.

Note:  If you have bug reports related to this release, please log them in the bug reports subforum with one bug per topic.  It makes things infinitely easier for us.  Thanks!

What's new since 3.021:
(Cumulative release notes since 3.000 are attached at the bottom)

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

-Changes have been made to auto-wrap text in foreign languages, and to correct localization artifacts on game load, thus optimizing the look of the game in more localizations.

-Counter turrets (-sniper,-darkMatter,-missiles) now have increased range and much increased health.  -darkMatter and -missiles have lowered knowledge cost.

-New interface feature: shift-left-clicking an item from the popup lists from the tabs at the bottom of the screen will now attempt to toggle it's paused state.  This works for all of the ships that actually pauseable (i.e. not command stations or colony ships) but should work for the others just fine (including the low-power-mode tab for taking items off that list).

-Fixed bugs preventing the AI taunt conditions from ever being true.

-Lowered SelfBuildTime of several units sold through Zenith Trader, as they were so large (20000 in one case) that they were causing precision errors in determining the per-turn metal/crystal cost of self-construction, leading to ships like the Zenith Power Generator consuming a much lower rate for 95% of the build time and then spiking at the end to make up the difference.

-Increased repair costs of units sold through Zenith Trader.

-The auspicious Zenith Trader now offers a fine selection of Counter Spy units (well, only one ship type, but you know).

-There is now an absolute maximum ship cap of 1500 for any specific ship type (so 1500 Viral Shredder MkIs, 1500 MkIIs, etc).

CHANGES TO PAST PRERELEASES
--------------

-Another fix to the music playback.

[vonduus]

I have been looking all over the place, but I don't seem to be able to find a stand-alone update anywhere. My game is on a machine without internet access right now, and I believe there used to be some way to patch your game anyway, by downloading a zip etc. . But where is it? Please help.

[HellishFiend]

I have been looking all over the place, but I don't seem to be able to find a stand-alone update anywhere. My game is on a machine without internet access right now, and I believe there used to be some way to patch your game anyway, by downloading a zip etc. . But where is it? Please help.

Look up one of the old topics that had a URL to manually download the patch. Copy the link, and paste it into the browser, changing the url to reflect the latest version number. You should be able to download it that way.

[Amonchakad]

-There is now an absolute maximum ship cap of 1500 for any specific ship type (so 1500 Viral Shredder MkIs, 1500 MkIIs, etc).

NOES

How will I test the limits of my CPU now, without thousands upon thousands of shredders

[vonduus]

I have been looking all over the place, but I don't seem to be able to find a stand-alone update anywhere. My game is on a machine without internet access right now, and I believe there used to be some way to patch your game anyway, by downloading a zip etc. . But where is it? Please help.

Look up one of the old topics that had a URL to manually download the patch. Copy the link, and paste it into the browser, changing the url to reflect the latest version number. You should be able to download it that way.

I had to go all the way back to 2.001ZA before I found a manually downloadable patch. I tried doing as you suggested, even wrote 3.022 in several different formats, but to no avail.

If I download the whole game to my stick, will I get the newest version? (I guess not, but my guesses are often wrong).

[HellishFiend]

Oh, the manual patches used to always be there, but apparently the newest one isn't. Perhaps once they learn of your plight, they will post it!

[vonduus]

Yes I hope so. But according to my provider, the net should be back up today, so that should solve my problem.

Nonetheless, I hope Arcen will continue to release manual upgrades, as a lot of people here in Europe (especially in the eastern parts) has substandard and/or pay-per-view connections. And after the Ubisoft initiative - well, now is the time for Arcen to show the world how games really ought to be distributed. X4k has been really vocal on this issue, so I guess it is just an oversight on his part.

[Chimpster]

Only 4500 Shredders?! Ah well, I guess that'll have to do

[Guardia]

Yes I hope so. But according to my provider, the net should be back up today, so that should solve my problem.

Nonetheless, I hope Arcen will continue to release manual upgrades, as a lot of people here in Europe (especially in the eastern parts) has substandard and/or pay-per-view connections. And after the Ubisoft initiative - well, now is the time for Arcen to show the world how games really ought to be distributed. X4k has been really vocal on this issue, so I guess it is just an oversight on his part.

He actually was keeping up with it for a while. It may have been that a whole bunch of the updates between 16 and 22 were released in quick succession that he didn't get around to it each time. The place to keep an eye on is http://www.arcengames.com/share/. So you don't have to worry about trying to guess the format - just have a look at what has been uploaded.



On that note: Thanks for all the recent updates x4000. Watching bugs get cut down is satisfying even if I'm not that one that did the stomping.

[x4000]

Okay, for now here is a manual patch for 3.022:  http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar3022.zip

We'll always be doing manual patches for official versions (if you looked at the 3.016 thread, there was one there, too).  But, for the beta patches, there's no way that I'm going to be able to upload two versions for each one -- manual and automatic.  It adds twice as much uploading and processing time on my end, and with really frequent releases is going to cause some problems.

But!  What I will do is set up a way that you can grab the "automatic" updates and easily create your own manual update packages out of that.  It's as simple as putting two files in a zip file with a certain name.  The reason I'm posting this traditional manual link is that through some oversight, prior versions of the game did not allow for beta manual updates, so if you created your own they would fail anyway.  This linked version adds that ability, and so as long as you have that or greater you'll be able to quickly create your own manual beta patches if you so desire.

And, as noted, of course we'll continue creating all the various milieu of the official automatic/manual patches, full zip, full installer, etc.  Anyway, hopefully this will work out best for everyone, with everyone having access to what they need/want, and without putting undue extra burden on myself and the arcen server, etc.  Starting with 3.023, I'll post the manual beta patch creation instructions, as I noted it's super, super easy.  Let me know if there are any questions!


Oh, and Chimpster -- it's 6,000, not 4,500, assuming that you get an advanced factory. Still plenty lots!

[x4000]

The latest version is now out:  http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,3608.msg23440.html#msg23440

[vonduus]

Thanks Guardia for the link, and thanks x4k for showing me the zip method. As long as the official patches are manually downloadable, I guess everything is fine.