BATTLEZONE

Version 1.5.2.21

Released 2014-07-10

So much for the monthly release cadence I was going for...

Update: General BlackDragon provided a solution for the broken models that got released in the 1.5.2.20 asset pack and carried forward into the 1.5.2.20b and 1.5.2.21 asset packs. The new 1.5.2.21b asset pack linked below incorporates the fix so be sure to get it.

Downloads

Testing Executable and Symbols

All-In-One 1.5.2 Asset Pack (updated 2014-07-12)

Check the main 1.5.2 page for other downloads.

What's New

Rendering

• Fixed psychedelic colors at lowest monitor brightness
  • The lowest setting was reading values outside the gamma table
  • Brightness levels will now be one step higher than before

Stability

• Fixed a crash when aborting a mission and jumping to another mission
  • Post-load used positional audio while waiting for load VO to finish
  • The camera owner wasn't set up properly yet so the listener crashed
• Avoided potential divide-by-zero in Reticle::FindReticleObject
• UnitTask AbleToHit no longer crashes if it has no active weapon
  • AbleToHit uses the unit's eyepoint in that case
  • This may just be masking some underlying problem...

Cheats

• Mission initialization clears "drawguns" and "drawcoll" cheats
  • Prevents them from carrying over into multiplayer
  • They allowed players to spot units through terrain
• Added cheat codes to toggle play options in-game [Dx]
  • Hold Ctrl+Shift (as usual)
  • Type "level" to toggle automatic leveling
  • Type "aim" to toggle target lead position
  • Type "flip" to toggle reverse mouse (up/down)

Single-Player

• Fixed "Target Drone" moving too early in training mission 2
  • Code that built an AI command but never sent it got turned into a Goto call

Multiplayer

• Removed the artificial 100 FPS cap in net play
  • It was added to work around problems at high frame rates
  • Those problems have been fixed so the cap isn't needed any more
  • TO DO: make the cap an option in render.cfg?
• Automatic leveling works correctly for remote players
  • Fixes remote Flash cannon not aiming properly
• Fixed a random crash between mission load and entering simulation
  • Network code could create ordnance before simulation was set up
  • Deferred the "waiting for network" phase until after post-load
• Reset the camera stack when the local player respawns
  • This may fix view selection controls sometimes not working

Shell

• Lobby and pre-game chat can show message timestamps
  • Disabled by default to avoid clutter
  • Enable with /times or /times on
  • Disable with /notimes or /times off
  • Timestamps are not retroactive; they apply only to new messages
• Fixed incorrect references to Wil Stahl and Willie Rosas' dedications
  • This has been broken since at least version 1.3 (!)
  • FEARTHEMANOX
  • IAMWILLIEROSAS
• Fixed pre-game lobby issues for non-host players
  • Map list showing "Unknown" after leaving and rejoining
  • Excessive mission CRC checks on entering
• Pre-game lobby shows Version and Mission CRC up top

Pathing/AI

• Fixed building area coverage in BlockCells
  • Building terrain cells should fit a lot better now
  • Should improve reliability of units arriving at the building
• Updated the Go Near distance of several AI tasks
  • Scavenger GotoDrop and GotoRepair
  • Construction Rig UnBuild
  • Further reduces chances of those units getting stuck
• Use aiName for team 0 instead of aiName2
  • Prevents neutral producers from seeking geysers automatically
  • Should fix neutral producers CCA mission 7

Gameplay

• SupplyDepot and RepairDepot can play a deploy animation
  • It works just like PowerPlant :)
• Generally improved point/box collisions
  • Should fix the cases where bullets pass through collision geometry
  • Particularly improves compound shapes like buildings and producers
• Don't perform automatic team slot reassignment for producers
  • Should improve compatibility with 1.4 Instant Action maps
  • This will need testing...
• Restored some 1.4 behaviors
  • Poppers only attack enemies, not neutrals
  • Craft GetCommand no longer excludes neutral objects
• Added [SprayBombClass] bounceRatio property
  • Defaults to 0.5 (like stock)

Editing

• GoNear task (and its derivatives) shows its radius in shift-F9 view
• Fixed an error dialog popping up while starting an empty/default mission
  • The strategic AI scheduler was getting initialized twice
  • Cases where this came up: loaded .TRN, missing .BZN, /nobodyhome option

Scripting

• Scripts can now import modules from files in addon or pack files
  • Added a Lua package loader that uses the Battlezone asset system
  • Standard Lua package loaders should still work
  • See the lua-users Modules tutorial for examples of creating and using modules
• Added GetAIControl
  • Returns true if the team is AI-controlled
• GiveWeapon can remove a weapon from a slot
  • Must provide a valid slot index
  • C++: pass NULL or "" as the weapon name
  • Lua: pass blank, nil, or "" as the weapon name
• Added new objective-related script utility functions
  • UpdateObjective: change the color of an existing objective
  • RemoveObjective: remove an existing objective

Terrain

• Support maps larger than 80 zones
  • Absolute upper limit is 80x80 zones (102400x102400)
  • Practical upper limit is 32x32 zones (40960x40960)
  • Especially large maps can take a very long time to initialize

Debugging/Logging

• Asset indexing system logs to zixindex.log
  • Shows the active ZIX file (e.g. bzone16q.zix)
  • Lists all asset files and their locations . Active asset shows " @ " . Overridden asset shows "! "
  • Helps diagnose asset conflicts
• Shell logs asset CRC checks
  • Check CRC logs to crc32game.log
  • Mission CRC logs to crc32mission.log
  • Helps diagnose Check CRC and Mission Version Mismatches
  • Tip: look for entries with unusual locations . Example: abhqcp.odf b3a1697f (addon\testluadev)
• Added debug output console
  • Enable with the /console command line option
  • Grey for debug trace message
  • White for Lua print statement
  • Yellow for Lua error message (+ warning dialog)
  • Red for Lua panic message (+ error dialog)
  • Click on the upper left corner to show the console menu
  • Can select, mark, and copy text using the Edit sub-menu