v1.00.02 RC8 - IN TESTING
GENERAL
Revisions to AI kernel
NPC troops can now more frequently self-heal (using medkits) and self-repair
(using repair kits). They can also do this while clearly close to the point
of death (Grey TTD). Previously they won't pause to do this during a combat
engagment or if badly injured.
Since there is no ability for you or an NPC to carry an injured comrade to safety
(wait for the next game), you have to ensure that you manually pull your people
out of a hostile zone if they are badly injured as they will NOT abandon their
order (and subsequently their comrades) without a direct order. i.e. an Assault
Force Marine, carrying the devastatingly powerful A9MAG will never leave - even
if he has a very low LF or very high FF. You have to find a safe location and
then give him the order to escort you (and subsequently to that location) or
another NPC (in a safe location). If you give the RTB, he will bugger off home
and be lost to you.
NPC marines have long term memory - so treat them nicely or they will get you
killed at the very first opportunity, by ignoring a direct order.
NPC troops can now use supply stations (like the player) - even ones located
in hostile bases.
The supply station object is now a support platform so that NPCs (and player)
can get closer to it, since several NPCs may decide to use it all at the same
time.
The supply station must must exist in the current 3D world to be usable.
A supply station is not usable if more than six people are already using or
i ntend to use it.
A supply station is not usable if a hostile person is using or intends to use
the station.
A supply station is not usable if more than 5km from the position of the person
trying to use it.
Persons currenty do not go to a supply station of their own accord because there
are situations where they will bugger off in search of one - just when you need
them to be engaging enemy forces. They must be given an order using the Proceed
to Supply Station order in the Team Orders Menu. The order is ignored if there
is no suitable supply station nearby.
Once a station is selected, the person will then proceed to the supply station,
stand at a vacant position, and orient towards it. The supply operation takes
10 seconds to complete. On completion the person is rearmed, healed, resupplied
and the armor is restored. The person then resumes previous orders.
Supply station use is implemented as a gesture. The disarm/pose change/rearm
gesture sequence begins when the person arrives at a certain distance from the
TEAM tag position being used that is defined in the station object. The person
uses side steps to position accurately similar to when escorting a person.
The supply station use is cancelled if an order is issued that sets the objective
of the person e.g. "Attack My Target"
The LAND waypoint order will now cause the craft to land and halt, instead of
taking off 10 seconds later. To have a craft take off after this command, either
change the waypoint command or create a new waypoint, then issue the Resume
Waypoints order to the craft.
NPC personnel troops can now RTB to a Mobile Forward Base
Sometimes when you (as the leader) of a marine team goes prone, some members
of the team do not follow suit. This is because members who do not have direct
orders from you, will take orders only from their leader. So, if you have marine
A escorting you and you go prone, only marine A will go prone, as marine B (escorting
marine A), will not. This has been addressed so that orders are propagated based
on the chain of command within the team.
Changes to NPC repair/healing
Armor repair takes priority and has a higher "must repair" threshold.
Unit will now repair armour if it is less than 50%.
After performing healing/maintenance the NPC will repeat until he runs out of
supplies or is repaired/healed.
NOTE: that using a single MEDPAK, NUTRIPAK, or TOOLKIT (as viewed in the CVD/SMD)
will not immediately change the stores manifest as they each have 2 and 4 uses
respectively. The stores manifest will change after the healing process is completed,
not when it starts.
Disabled persons will not repair/heal themselves. They are considered unconscious,
it is up to something else to treat them.
The pain timer is used to reduce the number of pain SFX. The pain SFX will not
be issued for 3 seconds. (this uses the pain timer).
Increased the spectrum coverage of planetary SAM/SAL threats so that they acquire
and fire on hostile targets more frequently. This was heavily revised from previous
BC games in order to make the game a bit more playable without overwhelming
the first time player with a barrage of hostile fire they simply couldn't avoid.
Now, their previous rules have been restored, but a margin of error has now
been introduced so that experienced players don't cry foul.
Revisions to Dynamics kernel:
Tweaked the CALS system (manual p59) a bit more in order to alleviate twitching
when landed on some terrain slopes. Also resolves some issues related to landing
profiles in some instances.
Tweaked the landing profile for NPC gunships in order that they can better intercept
landing waypoints especially when under fire.
You can now eject from a craft (while in VTOL mode) without having to first
land it. This allows you to do silly and crazy things like, oh, I dunno, say
(a) flying a fighter into another unit while ejecting at the last minute (b)
dropping in on a carrier deck and stealing a fully functional fighter from its
deck (c) ejecting from a craft that is sure to be destroyed in the coming moments
etc. Naturally, if you jump at a high altitude and end up on land instead of
water - without a jetpack - you're dead.
Significantly revised and tweaked the collision detect and avoidance so that
it is less likely to fail during low frame rate processing. NPC units will now
predict a collision more quickly and can avoid them where possible. This is
mostly beneficial on planetary scenes where there are a lot of buildings and
NPC (mostly troops) have too many buildings to process in order to eliminate
from their decision tree.
The orbital speed for stations has been increased to 100 m/s. And for orbital
defense systems, it has been increased to 750 m/s. The rotation speed of the
ODS has also been increased.
The orbits for stations and orbital defense systems have been moved out from
800km to 8000km and 500km to 5000km from the center of the planet, respectively.
The egress altitude has been reduced to 14,000 feet because some playets were
unable to reach this altitude and breach some planets escape velocity in order
to return to space - because they're not reading the docs.
The sea to surface ascent rate of subs has been reduced to prevent them overshooting
the surface level and then having to drop back down again, as observed in IA0111
scenario.
Revisions to interface:
Revisions to the Priority List Viewer (PLV)
The PLV is now active in all craft views. Was previously only available in
the fp mode view. It was originally designed for ease of handling combat troops
in this mode.
The image of a speaker is no longer displayed if the PLV is active
Adding a target to the priority list (P) now plays a sound and provides visual
feedback (same as target designation using G)
Revisions to the Team Orders Menu (TOM)
Now has three new orders :(REPAIR, DOCK WITH, PROCEED TO...WDU/SUPPLY STATION)
The 1-9 command keys have been remapped to F1-F12.
Entries that have no effect are displayed in Red
The "DOCK WITH" order tells a person to dock with a player asset.
When completed the person will disappear. This command will later be revised
for better support so that if an NPC docks with, e.g. a vehicle, it can later
exit when you do. Also, if you order your own CC team to dock with one of your
own assets (e.g. SC), they will appear in the cargo manifest.
The "REPAIR" (NYI) command tells a person to repair either another
person using a Medkit for LF or Toolkit for armor. Since NPC do not currently
assist each other in this regard, you can order them to do it.
The "PROCEED TO..." command takes either a (1) WDU (Waypoint Designator
Unit) which you can select from the list, if you have deployed any or (2) a
supply station (the NPC will seek out the nearest supply station in the vicinity).
Completely revised the DJP menus. Are now cascade style menus; making selection
navigation easier
The gun hotspot in the HUD now works like the turret one, so that you can toggle
it ON/OFF. Previously since the gun was always on, there was no need to turn
it off.
The altitude digits and orbit marker have been relocated so they do not visually
intersect. The altitude digits have been shifted vertically to improve registration
with the overlay.
The Egress Altitude Indicator (EAI) now blinks when the required egress altitude
has been reached.
The WAYPOINT button in Tacops is now available in first person mode when playing
the commander career
The ASSET and GEAR buttons are no longer displayed in campaign mode, since you
can't alter the user details required by the campaign.
Revisions to content:
Revised the numbering scheme of the IA scenarios to go from IA0101 to IA0115
for those non-programmers who don't understand that numbering starts at zero.
Not one. And thus wondering what IA0100 to IA0114 is all about.
Revised the APR_GPR rocket (fired by some weapons e.g. the KLMP launcher) attributes
and added a shockwave explosion for better effect and coverage
The intensity in the textures for artic (White) animals has been reduced in
order to prevent shimmering.
The pilot's texture has been revised so that it looks better when his hand (holding
a pistol) is visible in the front view.
The ASSETS.INI had incorrect entries for a reactor and shield upgrade type
The class for the Medical Officer was missing, so sending her on away missions
was not possible.
Added a second ROAM scenario to the CMDR career for training purposes.
Revisions to gameplay:
All capital naval (sub, carrier, cruiser) units can now be used by any career
if the EP is 500 or higher.Previously (see the manual addendum) for game balancing
reasons, only some careers could use them, regardless of EP.
Revised the damage factor for some missiles (ATS/APM/APR)
Due to their vulnerability and need for precision strikes, gunships no longer
use conventional ATA/ATS missiles. They now all (those with weapons) use the
more powerful and accurate all purpose RALIX and RALAR missiles.
Implemented turret target prediction, mostly to prevent friendly fire within
planetary scenes
Enabled gesture animations in single-player mode and taught NPC marines how
to use/respond to them. This allows NPC personnel to (a) use them (b) react
to them based on your use. e.g. if you salute and a bunch of NPC marines are
around (and friendly to you), they will also salute. If you wave, they will
wave back. If you tell them to hold position or follow you, they will comply.
As long as they see you do the gesture. Refer to the keyboard commands sheet
for a list of gestures. WARNING: Go saluting your troops in the middle of a
hot zone and they'll all get shot in the head (since they have to drop their
weapons in order to return the gesture).
When starting the Elite Force Pilot career in ROAM mode, a wing of four fighter
escorts is also launched. This is only for aggressive castes (Military, Insurgent
etc) and not harmless ones (Trader, etc). Since these are escorts, they will
respond to team order commands (see Team Orders Menu info for details).
Threat generation has been activated for the Elite Force Pilot career in ROAM
mode.
The fighter loadouts in LOADOUTS.INI have been revised so that fighters going
on planetary sorties, no longer have STS missiles. To see what missiles are
loaded for an assignment (TACTICAL/LOADOUT), see the updated appendix LOADOUTS.HTML
file.
In IA0111 and IA0112 scenarios, the fighters now have only ATA (loadout profile
7) missile loadouts
Revisions to graphics kernel:
You can now toggle OFF planetary clouds in Config
Revisions to multiplayer kernel:
Developed an all new console based server. To use it, add /console to the "Start
MP Server" shortcut. This console server requires logging and will use
/l1 by default. If it does not start without this parameter, then try adding
this to the shortcut e.g. /s /console /l3 You can administer this server using
third-party tools such as UltraVNC. See the FAQ for more info.
Significant improvements to packet sizes, rates, transmissions etc etc resulting
in a marked improvement in multiplayer games.
Enabled client side gestures (wave, salute etc). This no longer needs to be
configured on the server.
If you joined a server using the server browser, using ALT+Q to quit the game
will now return you to Start New Game (SNG) screen. If you want to quit the
game, just use the CANCEL button. If you joined a server using the +connect
command line option, you will quit the game entirely. If you are killed in the
game, you still spawn (as normal) instead of returning to the SNG screen.
The multiplayer executable is no longer SafeDisc copy protected. This allows
you to host a dedicated server by installing a copy of the game on another machine
and not required the game CDROM in the drive.
The multiplayer console server no longer does the vertex shader check, so you
can now host a console server on a spare machine with a video card that does
not have a shader engine.
The GEAR, ASSET and CAREER buttons are now enabled in the SNG screen
FIXED: In some cases a dropped client object remained on the server indefinitely,
though the client had physically disconnected.
FIXED: Starting as Terran Insurgent at the Farpoint station located in the MP_TAPESTRAN
region would cause the game to exit due to an incorrect INI file setting.
FIXED: Dragging the server window or exiting it, would sometimes cause a crash.
FIXED: Minimizing the console server or covering it with another window will
no longer cause display corruption on some cards.
Miscellaneous Revisions:
Updated several appendix files, as well as the CONFIG OPTIONS.PDF and UC_MANUAL_REVISIONS.PDF
files
In first person mode, the step L/R keys have been changed from from END/PGDOWN
to HOME/PGUP. This is so that stepping left and right works when using a weapon
with a zoom scope. Previously you could not use END to step left with such a
weapon because that key would effect zoom in instead. Using HOME/PGUP avoids
this problem because the zoom out function provided by HOME has no effect when
zoomed out (off) so the key can function as step left. Stepping left right is
disabled when zoomed in.
The numeric arrow keys are no longer effected by the state of NUMLOCK
ALT-J max toggle rate has been reduced to 0.25 seconds so that it does not switch
rapidly
The 0-9 keys can now be used to set the thrust of crafts and vehicles to preset
values. You can still use the W and S keys, which effectively act like afterburner
and retros. e.g. if you set your max speed to 5, the craft will slowly ramp
up to thrust factor 5. However, if you then press and hold the W key, you can
exceed this thrust setting and go up to the max speed of the craft. When you
let go of the W key, the craft will slowly reduce it's thrust back to factor
5. A thrust factor of 9 sets the max thrust of the craft, while 0 brings it
to a halt.
If you are using a joystick the speed value is modified by the joystick throttle
if enabled. This means that if you have thrust factor 9 set, then setting the
throttle to min level will effectively bring the craft to a halt. While setting
it to the max level (pushing it all the way forward), will take the craft up
to the max thrust speed set by the 1-9 thrust settings. e.g. if you have thrust
factor 9 set, then moving the throttle all the way forward will ramp the craft
all the way up to its max speed. In the CC, this is dependent on the Logistix
engine power setting. See below.
In the case of the CC, this is also dependent on the Logistix engine power
settings. By default this is set to 5 (which keeps the engines on) which means
that the thrust value of 9 will take the craft up to near cruise speed. e.g.
if the craft's max speed is 400 m/s, a thrust factor of 9 with a power setting
of 5, will take the craft up to around 300 m/s. At higher engine power settings
(6-10), the craft will ramp up accordingly and use more fuel. e.g. at engine
power 10, the craft can go up to 400 m/s.
Revisions to Logistix power setting as related to CC thrust controls
Reducing the Logistix power level now causes the craft speed to drop if higher
than the limit set by the new power level. e.g. if Logistix power level 10 and
thrust level 9 are set (causing the craft to attain its max speed) and Logistix
power level is later reduced to level 5, the craft's thrust level will also
start to drop.
Logistix power level greater than level 5 no longer increases the craft's max
speed beyond the craft's defined limit
The default power setting of level 5 now sets the craft's max speed to half
the limit and level 10 gives the maximum speed.
Implemented quick save (CTRL+Q). This will save the current game state and
which allows it to be resumed via the Main Menu. ALT+Q no longer auto-saves
the game on exit; so if you use this to quit the game and you don't have a quick
saved version of the game, you won't be able to resume the game. If you are
killed in a game or just wish to revert to a previous quick save point, simply
use ALT+Q to quit the game, then resume via the Main Menu. In order to do a
full tracked save, you must use ALT+G or the Command Menu; both of which will
take you to the Roster save screen.
Changed the Designate Target from G to CTRL+P in craft and also now implemented
in fp mode when the DIE is active. NOTE: CTRL+P no longer activates the PTA
system (the menu must be used instead) and G is now undefined for crafts.
Updated EP.HTML appendix file
BUG FIXES:
FIXED: Naval units could sometimes not be moved if they were too close to land
e.g. there is a naval base on Earth and even when you switch to the carrier
(assuming you have the required EPs and rank), you couldn't move it. Same thing
applies to subs, LCACs etc. This bug actually crept in as a result of a recent
seabed detection routine revision and nobody noticed it (since naval units aren't
that sexy to play with).
FIXED: The PL12 sniper rifle and FG45 combat rifle had incorrect export values.
This resulted in them being incorrectly attached to a jetpack or backpack when
holstered. They attach just fine to the characters back holster, as long as
there is no jetpack or backpack.
FIXED: Grenades are no longer removed from list of inventory ammo when running
an IA scenario. This also fixes an issue whereby NPC troops are created without
grenades (for manual throwing) if they don't have a weapon (ZS10 rifle or GLE22
launcher) that uses them.
FIXED: A crash related to escort NPC troops trying to copy the pose of a target
that has not yet selected one.
FIXED: Escort troops remain in prone state and move at running speed when leader
decides to up and run
FIXED: Excessively injured characters no longer instantly vanish instead of
being correctly killed and thus causing the death animation to be played. If
you ever see a marine killed and he instantly disappears with no death animation,
thats what this fix corrects.
FIXED: commlink personnel image sometimes not being displayed in FP front view
e.g. in some IA scenarios the image of the speaker (e.g. NPC marines) is only
displayed in other views
FIXED: Player gun no longer fires (left-click) after using the DJP menu to make
a destination selection
FIXED: Turning some planetary terrain options off in CONFIG, had no effect
FIXED: Some collision detect issues with units (especially on the deck of carriers).
e.g. if you walked up to an Intruder gunship from certain angles (e.g. near
its ramp and tail fin section), you could walk through the model because the
support structure (which allows you to get that close, since you can climb on
its ramp) and precise collision detect (which allow you to pass under its tail
fin etc without triggering a false collision) flags were being set.
FIXED: Game was attempting to auto-save (when player killed) in INSTANT ACTION
mode. This could cause acrash in some instances.
FIXED: The person would not re-arm or resume action after maintenance if the
gesture time was decreased to exactly zero.
FIXED: The invert Y axis toggle in CONFIG did not work in first person mode
or when in turrets. Now operates in the first person view and mouselook. It
now also effects the turret pitch when controlling a turret in a vehicle (OC).
FIXED: Switching to some assets (e.g. AX25 SAM) would sometimes cause a crash
due to incorrect missile loadouts defined in the DATAASSETS.INI
FIXED: The environment weather was not being overwritten via a script command
if not running in debug or cheat mode. e.g. IA0115 should take place in stormy
weather.
FIXED: Crash in some Frontend modules (e.g. Logistix, Tradcom) due to inventory
not being initialized
FIXED: Crash resulting from items inventory not being initialized. This resulted
in weapon modes containing incorrect clips counts for weapons with more than
one mode (e.g. ZS10)
FIXED: In first person the view position would drift due to precision loss.
FIXED: The NAVCHART.INI file was missing some military base entries. This would
result in a crash if you tried to start on EARTH08_MB01 using a marine career.
FIXED: A crash would occur if you tried to select an asset for the Space Force
Marine career. At one time this career could not use assets, but in UC it has
access to shuttles.
FIXED: When attempting to repair a reactor, the ship's alert condition is set
to Red. This in turn sends all personnel to on station and ready for evac. A
crash would occur when station engineers were sent to on station, though you
were'nt actually docked.
FIXED: A 90 degree orientation/direction snap in first person mode. This was
caused by fix #18 above.
FIXED: When NUMLOCK is on, keys in the control cluster (between the numeric
pad and main keyboard) were innefective.
FIXED: The NUMLOCK key (which has the same scan code as the PAUSE key) no longer
pauses the game.
FIXED: The GAME PAUSED message was sometimes not displayed (it was behind by
a frame)
FIXED: The player image in Start New Game didn't change when the sex of the
Commander was changed
FIXED: The commander's Wristlaser was not firing
FIXED: At resolutions higher than 1024x768, the menus would sometimes be incorrectly
positioned at the left or right edges of the display.
FIXED: If you changed the default commander gear profile and then tried to exit
the craft while in space, the game will no longer crash due to missing SFM profiles.
The number of CMDR profiles in FPGEAR.INI has to match the number of SFM profiles!
FIXED: The status of destroyed mining drones was not being updated in some cases.
This causes the drone to not be located on the planet (since it is destroyed),
but the CC still thinks it exists and thus continues to track its location,
status, contents etc in the Tactical computer.
FIXED: when an object moves off the boundary of a support structure while over
water, the object is no longer relocated onto the seabed. This used to happen
in instances where you had landed on a naval carrier (e.g. IA0111 scenario).
FIXED: Repair levels should no longer exceed 100 units
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