BATTLEZONE

Unofficial Battlezone 1.5 Patch

Battlezone (Activision, 1998) was the first game I worked on professionally. For the past two years I've been working on an unofficial 1.5 patch with numerous fixes and enhancements relative to the official 1.4 patch. Activision does not endorse or support this patch.

Current Release

Version 1.5.2.27 (update 1) (2014-12-17)

Previous Releases

Version 1.5.2

Version 1.5.1

Version 1.5.0

Data Files

All-In-One 1.5.2.25 Asset Pack (2014-09-17)

Optional 16-bit Enhanced Texture Pack (2013-10-19)

Optional Ogg Vorbis Music pack (44100 Hz sample rate) (48000 Hz sample rate)

Changelogs

1.5.0 code changes and asset changes
1.5.1 code changes and asset changes
1.5.2 code changes and asset changes

Documentation

Debugging

How to collect debugging information when the game crashes

Scripting

I found the Decoda Lua integrated development environment and debugger helpful for working with Lua mission scripts; it's much better than trying to debug using print statements.

Configuration

Cheats

Sprite Table

Terrain

Asset Utilities

MakeZFS and MakeZIX utilities (2014-07-15) for manipulating ZFS pack files and ZIX index files

MakeTRN utility (2012-08-29) for creating terrain files

MakeMAP utility (2014-08-10) for creating texture files from images

MakeSTB utility (2013-09-07) for manipulating sprite table files

MakeObj utility 1.1.5 (2015-01-24) for cooking vehicle and building models

Servers

When installed from an original disc, the servers.dat file is out of date and prevents the game from connecting to matchmaking servers. Community-created game installers come with updated version of the file.  If you want to straighten out an existing retail install or update with an all-inclusive server list, here's an updated servers.dat file that includes all known Battlezone Anet servers.

If you want to roll your own from scratch:

  1. Optional: edit bootserv.txt to list server IP addresses and names that you want
  2. Delete servers.dat
  3. Launch the game
  4. Go to multiplayer
  5. Select Internet
  6. Anet will rebuild servers.dat

Difficulty

Difficulty settings work differently from 1.4 and earlier versions. Very Easy and Easy bias damage in the player's favor similar to 1.0-1.4, but Hard and Very Hard dial up enemy AI skill instead of adjusting damage. Units on the player's team always use maximum AI skill.

Special Thanks

Many people have contributed to the development of 1.5 over the years, both directly and indirectly. Without them, 1.5 wouldn't have come nearly as far and in some cases would not have started at all.