1.1.16 Release (Win)

I'm in the process of moving to a new place, so I don't know when I'll get back to coding.  It may not be the smartest idea to release at such a time, but I wanted to get something out for you guys.  These changes have been in place in the beta for a while and appear to be working pretty well.
Please PAY ATTENTION to these changes as some of them alter gameplay significantly.
Changelog since 1.1.15:

• Spice is now very evenly distributed during random map generation.  No more giant "no spice zones".  This affects a lot of things so I'm looking forward to feedback.
• Merc group costs raised by 25% (yeah you guys beat me down on this)
• Carryall strength lowered by 25% and Harvester strength reduced by 33% to make harvesting easier to harass effectively (also happens to make offensive drops harder)
• Fremen: +2.5 Strength, +3 Bonus Damage
• Wall: production time halved
• Gun Turret and Rocket Turret: +1 Range
• And finally, drum roll please...  Tier 2 upgrades!  This includes damage and strength upgrades for all types of units, and also an upgrade here is required in order to be able to access Mercs.  These options can currently ONLY be accessed after ALL other IX upgrades have been researched.
• Fixed bug with canceling Barracks orders not applying to Fremen
• Fixed bugs with Alliance access to Barracks/WOR

General status update

Hey everyone,
As some of you know, I've got some big changes coming up in my life, not least of which is relocation.  I'm looking at places and have a heck of a lot to do and plan for, so I'm not devoting a lot of time to D2TGP right now.  Any free time I have goes to my personal life or playing Minecraft to chill out.  I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all the forum members who have donated and also to all those who have been working hard to get extra players involved in the community and bring them up to speed once they arrive.  I no longer feel like I have quite the burden I used to.  Currently the biggest contributors are Puxii (aka Frontliner), Sevain, and TheRaffy.  So, if you see any of these players online or have the pleasure to talk to them, rest assured that you are talking to long-time users with a ton of experience and knowledge to pass on.
Thanks for your patience everyone.  Things will pick up again in a couple months most likely.  I'll keep slowly chipping away at betas though in the mean time.

Jesse

1.1.15 Release (Win)

Many, many fixes for stability and bugs.  This version was taken a long way through beta in the Donators forum and is now ready for public release.  I've also had reports that network games with more than 2 human players are at least sometimes possible with no lag or crashes, which is great!

Linux release will come later.

Changes since 1.1.14b:

• Altered map sending from network to client to send only Seed value when in Random mode
• Updated and fixed many issues in Mapmaker mode
• Enabled Vertical Sync to smooth graphics
• Some resolutions are now available only in full-screen mode
• Fremen are now Infantry units with altered statistics (Forum Manual will be updated)
• Map scrolling is now restricted to map boundaries
• Fixed bug with larger maps causing client to timeout in network games before all data is received (adds a 1-second delay to the game start)
• Fixed bugs with crashes in full-screen mode
• Fixed bug preventing Infantry from being visible after losing Radar or changing Zoom level
• Fixed bugs with some objects being visible in certain positions in unexplored areas
• Fixed bug with Frigates drawing in unexplored zones
• Fixed graphical bugs with drawing stealth circles, turrets, and damage smoke at high Zoom
• Fixed bugs with disconnect messages sometimes not showing names
• Fixed bugs with selecting buildings in high Zoom
• Fixed bugs with unit Deviator Conversion having previous Orders locked in place
• Fixed bug with client not showing harvested spice as cleared sand on minimap
• Fixed bug with system timer causing crashes if a user's computer was on for many days in a row

Future

Hey everybody,
First of all, happy holidays to all!  And thanks very much to those special few who donated recently.  As some of you know, I'm back early from my overseas trip, due to some medical issues.  In the interest of staying sane, I've been looking at D2TGP and the new project I've been working on, and decided to make some decisions (that I will actually stick to this time).  They are as follows:

• My next project (see previous blog post regarding that) will now get almost all of my free time by priority.  D2TGP is full of so much legacy code, I don't even want to look at it any more. :)  This is the main reason so many bugs keep popping up as I add new features (or even fix other bugs).  It's time to start over completely instead of plastering half the body.
• There will be only one more major update possible for D2TGP.  That will be upgrading to a new network library as previously mentioned, and possibly one final change with the Fremen.  No other new features will be added now that waypoints and the new zoom effect are in place.
• New versions will be less frequent, and as stated, will involve a beta test period available only to donators.  They will be focused on fixing bugs and occasional optimization.
• The source code may someday be available, but hasn't been up to now for the following reasons:
• I don't know how to manage an open source code project while protecting against version splintering
• I code in Blitz, which not many others know, and I have almost no knowledge of C, so working with others collaboratively is difficult
• It has always been possible that some of what I created for this project will be used in a future commercial effort (i.e. the next project)
• In short, I have not decided to release the source, but I have decided to make a decision on it some day. :)

So effectively, I am declaring D2TGP as being out of the design stages.  If you wanted, you could say it is out of alpha, and halfway through beta.  Any changes to design at the moment would be minor and will run through the beta process.

So please, continue to report bugs and help the project along.  Good things will come in the future, both for stabilizing this project and for an entirely better system in development.

Cheers

1.1.14b Release (Win)

Last release of the year.  Just a small one to fix some bugs.  Please see the previous two posts.  I'm off overseas tomorrow and won't be updating anything until January at least.  I've tested this release as much as I can, locally and networked, and remember that you can find links to older versions in the forums (in case there's some huge bug here I missed)!

And just FYI, the reason so many odd bugs popped up is because I needed to rewrite a substantial amount of code to work with the new zoom system, both to allow the same normal functions at any zoom level, and also to draw so many elements without taxing the average computer system.

One big caution about this update:  random maps now take a lot longer to generate!  I will try to optimize this later, but the upside is that drawing the map itself is faster.  So please, have a bit of patience when starting a game.  It may seem frozen a few seconds but it should complete.

Changelog since 1.1.14a:

• Fixed bugs with concrete slab behavior
• Fixed bugs with spice behavior
• Fixed drawing positions of Starport queues

Other known bugs will have to wait for later.  And remember that Donators will have access to the beta program starting next year, which may also include other projects in the future.

Happy Holidays everyone and see you next year!

Holidays and beta program

Hi all,
I hope you're enjoying the new zoom effect, even though it created some new small bugs.  It took a lot of work to figure out and implement, since it is actually in 2d.  I'll try to get another bugfix version out this week but I'm not sure I'll have time.  The crashing appears to have been fixed though, so I won't feel too bad about the state of D2TGP if it has to stay this way a month.

Now that we have over 100 forum users, when I come back I will be starting an official beta program.  Donators will automatically have access to it.  I will be making early versions available for testing to that select few, and stable versions will start to be released much more slowly to make sure they have as few bugs as possible.

On a related note, I could still really use any donations anyone might be considering.  I leave this Friday and I've only had one donation so far, from someone who already donated before!  Even if it's only $1, that's enough to get you in as a Donator at the forums and to have my thanks.  Obviously you don't have to, and you shouldn't feel bad if you are unable (we're all poor right now).  But it's all appreciated very much.

Thanks everyone

1.1.14a (Win) Bugfix Release

1.1.14a is now available for download.

• Windows graphics drivers now set to DirectX 9 in an effort to resolve many visual bug issues for certain users (was OpenGL).  It's been used in older versions so there should be no new issues because of it
• Fixed bad limits for scrolling using keyboard direction keys
• Fixed Frigate scaling
• Fixed several issues with graphics being drawn in unexplored areas

Please see the previous post for full changes in 1.1.14.