Release Notes 016

Gameplay

• Added Core game type. Destroy enemy cores to win. Core health can be set in the editor.
• Added loadout presets. Players can save loadouts with Ctrl-1/2/3 and load them with Alt-1/2/3. Loadouts are saved via INI and can be viewed with the /showpresets command.
• Upgraded Sensor increases passive viewing range and allows spybug placement without using a weapon slot. Spybugs are now placed with double-click
• Added spawn shield. Protects newly spawned players for several seconds until they move, activate a module, or fire a weapon
• Energy recharge rate increases while idle and doubles while idle in a loadout zone. Hostile loadout zones drain energy.
• Removed soccer ball pick-up. The ball is now “heavier”, and other objects, like TestItems, are heavier as well.
• Triples consume about 20% less energy than in the 015 series
• Bouncers are more effective against the Armor module
• Loadouts no longer carry over from level to level -- now you start a new level with the default loadout
• Added top scores in single-team games like Rabbit and Bitmatch to lower right corner
• Player ratings are determined by kill/death ratio. If you die more, your rating is negative
• Forcefield engineer abuse has been greatly reduced. Note: Original forcefield behavior can be accessed through 'EngineerUnrestricted' instead of 'Engineer' in Specials
• Team bitmatch suicides no longer hurt team score
• Teleporting onto a loadout zone triggers loadout change, just like flying onto one

Client

• Added music sub-system. Plays Ogg Vorbis music files
• Fixed screenshots; now use PNG format
• 64-bit Intel Mac build available now
• Fixed voice chat for all operating systems, with improved quality
• Reduced leave/join spamming in lobby
• Allow /mute in server lobby
• Fixed some game lobby bugs with leaving/joining being out of sync
• Added scoreboard marks for admins (@) and level changers (+)
• Joystick profiles are now kept in a separate INI, joystick_presets.ini, that can be adjusted and added to for your joystick
• Smaller text should look crisper throughout the game
• Line smoothing is now officially part of the game
• Removed -jsave and -jplay cmd line options. It's been ages since they worked, and it's unlikely they ever will
• -help cmd line option now displays meaningful help
• Added engineer to help screen
• Added Bitfighter icon for the taskbar
• Diagnostics work a little better and will not show joystick info if none is attached
• Reduced network load by convert objects from a 32-bit mask to an 8-bit type number
• Reduced CPU usage on diagnostics screen
• Reduced CPU usage for overlapping asteroids
• Migrated from GLUT to the SDL framework. This brings several improvements like faster rendering on Mac and nicer Input programming.
• Fixed message rendering problem with disabled loadout indicators
• Multi-line chat is now indented to prevent spoofing
• Prevent impersonations with spaces in a username

Editor

• Added mouse wheel zooming in the editor
• Implemented 2-tier snapping in editor -- hold space to disable grid snap, but still snap to wall corners and other items; hold shift-space to completely disable snapping
• Added plugin system for the editor -- users can write scripts to generate items in the editor and bind them to hot keys. Includes simple curve generation tool as a sample.
• Added editor option to disallow robots
• Added 'tab' filename completion in editor levelname entry screen
• Added mouse wheel scrolling for existing level names on levelname entry screen
• Removed dedicated wall-editing mode (Ctrl-A)
• Game statistics not recorded when testing a level from the editor

Hosting

• Added /leveldir admin command to change folder where levels are read. Change affects current session only, and will not be saved in the INI.
• Added /ban and /banip for persistent server ban lists.
• Added /resetscore command
• Added /shuffle command for admins
• Removed optional hostAddr cmd line parameter for -dedicated <hostAddr>. Specify host address (only rarely needed) with the existing -hostAddr option
• Removed -server cmd line parameter; not sure it really ever worked at all
• Incorrect admin and levelchange password entries are now logged in server log
• Fixed rare crash with bot zone generation
• Console command history now working in a sane manner

Bots & Scripting

• Robots are smarter with forcefields
• Robot team messages now only go to the team
• Robots only spawn if a valid script is detected
• Removed deprecated getMove() method -- if your bot still relies on this, it will no longer work
• Migrated onTick() to a standard event -- this will let bots unsubscribe to onTick events if they like (bot start out subscribed to onTick by default). See wiki for how to use this to make the bot sleep for a time.
• Added nexusOpened and nexusClosed events. See wiki for details.
• Lua added copyMoveFromObject, Lua getCurrLoadout and getReqLoadout can now be used for ships
• LUA scripts print to the OGLconsole

Major changes

• New game type: Core

New features

• New game type: Core
• Migrated from GLUT to the SDL framework. This brings several improvements like faster rendering on Mac and nicer Input programming.
• Added /leveldir admin command to change folder where levels are read. Change affects current session only, and will not be saved in the INI.
• -help cmd line option now displays meaningful help
• Loadout presets: define them with Ctrl-1/2/3, retrieve them with Alt-1/2/3. They persist in the INI between sessions. You can see your current preset definitions with the /showpresets command.
• Mouse wheel zooms in and out in the editor
• Implemented 2-tier snapping in editor -- hold space to disable grid snap, but still snap to wall corners and other items; hold shift-space to completely disable snapping
• Plugin system for the editor -- users can write scripts to generate items in the editor and bind them to hot keys. Inlcudes simple curve generation tool as a sample.
• Music sub-system added. Plays Ogg Vorbis music files
• Screenshots work now and are saved in PNG format
• 64-bit Intel Mac build available now
• Sensor module is now gives increased sight passively
• Sensor module now deploys Spy-bug with a double-click; this means Spy-bug is now part of the Sensor module and not separately equipped
• Spawn shield
• Voice chat works on all three platforms and uses the SPEEX codec for better audio
• Bouncers do more damage to the Armor module (3/4 damage instead of 1/2)
• Energy recharge changes: recharge slightly faster if your ship isn't moving; double recharge if not moving in a loadout zone; hostile loadout zones reduce energy.
• Servers have a persistent ban list now that is saved in the INI. See admin commands /ban and /banip
• Allow /mute in server lobby
• Added /resetscore command
• Additional scoreboard marks for admins (@) and level changers (+)
• Editor option to disallow robots
• Add inertia-like behavior to objects. This means larger items like TestItems take more shots to move
• Soccer changes: pick-up has been removed for good and the Soccerball has more inertia
• Add /shuffle command for admins
• Joystick profiles are now kept in a separate INI, joystick_presets.ini, that can be adjusted and added to for your joystick

Bot scripting

• Lua added copyMoveFromObject, Lua getCurrLoadout and getReqLoadout can now be used for ships
• Removed deprecated getMove() method -- if your bot still relies on this, it will no longer work
• Migrated onTick() to a standard event -- this will let bots unsubscribe to onTick events if they like (bot start out subscribed to onTick by default). See wiki for how to use this to make the bot sleep for a time.
• Created nexusOpened and nexusClosed events. See wiki for details.

Bug Fixes

• Fix team bitmatch suicide score
• Teleporter, added Delay option in levels for teleporters <<=== what is this??
• Teleporting onto a loadout zone triggers loadout change, just like flying onto one
• Console command history now working in a sane manner
• Messages render with disabled loadout indicators
• Indent multi-line chat to fix clever impersonations
• Only spawn a robot if a valid script was detected
• Prevent impersonations with spaces in a username
• Fix rare crash with bot zone generation
• Fix some game lobby bugs with leaving/joining being out of sync
• Reduce the leave/join spamming in chat
• Don't send game statistics to master server when testing a level from the editor
• Robot team messages now only go to the team
• Forcefield abuse has been greatly reduced. Note: you can return to the original forcefield behavior by specifying the level Special of 'EngineerUnrestricted' instead of 'Engineer'

Other changes

• Reduced CPU usage for overlapping asteroids
• Removed -jsave and -jplay cmd line options. It's been ages since they worked, and it's unlikely they ever will
• Removed optional hostAddr cmd line parameter for -dedicated <hostAddr>. Specify host address (only rarely needed) with the existing -hostAddr option
• Removed -server cmd line parameter; not sure it really ever worked at all
• Smaller text should look crisper throughout the game
• Tab does filename completion in editor levelname entry screen
• Mouse wheel will scroll through existing level names on levelname entry screen
• Triples consume about 20% less energy than in the 015 series
• Removed dedicated wall-editing mode (Ctrl-A)
• Loadouts no longer carry over from level to level -- now you start a new level with the default loadout
• When requesting admin or level change permissions, incorrect passwords are now logged in server log
• LUA scripts print to the OGLconsole
• Diagnostics work a little better and will not show joystick info if none is attached
• Reduced network load by convert objects from a 32-bit mask to an 8-bit type number
• Robots are smarter with forcefields
• Add engineer to help screen
• Add Bitfighter icon to the taskbar
• Line smoothing is now officially part of the game
• CTRL + A mode has been removed from the editor
• Top scores are rendered in single-team games like Rabbit and Bitmatch in lower right corner
• Player ratings are determined by kill/death ratio. If you die more, your rating is negative
• Reduce CPU usage on diagnostics screen