Get the Arena Wars v1.2.1 patch off WP (4mb)

Get the Arena Wars v1.2.1 updated demo off WP (124mb)

Changes in v1.2.1

This patch fixes only a couple of issues with v1.2 and allows now serverbased replay watching.

New features

* Ready button, all player have to click ready before host can start!
The host can no longer immediately start or has to ask every player if it is ok to start now, all players can just press "Ready" and the host can start is everyone is ready to go (all players are always informed about all ready states).
Notice: Only real players have a ready button, observers don't got them, who cares about observers anyway (if they are ready or not).
* Fixed problem with online watching replays.
There were a couple of things wrong in v1.2, all fixed and improved now:
o Online watching is no longer screwed up (twice as many messages were sent, everything was going like crazy), server does not touch replay data anymore.
o Up to 12 players (but also counting the replay players) can join and watch an online replay, all chat, voice and webcam features and replay playback work now nice :)
o If host leaves, another player gets host status and can control the replay now
o Also improved resaving of replays for commenting them or adding a webcam stream to it. Newer replays have also a new identification, if you load older ones you will see a warning that the playback might be wrong (but it works still ok in most cases)
o I fought long to fix all playerlist bugs with replay playback, 2 long nights, not that this has anything to do with the features, but I just wanted to tell you ^^

Fixes

* Fixed problem for some people with the display initialization (anni666, Iradex, etc. thanks for reporting). Now the older fine working v1.1 display code is used again :)
* Fixed: When entering the serial, the button to login is not valid (e.g. if serial was stored or when entering the first time)
Now button state is reseted when showing screen for first time.
Also fixed demo-button/full-button for usa serial.
Also last players are now remembered and stored even if something goes wrong.
Thx to netfreak for helping out trying to find that bug.
* Fixed replay saving, when game name contained '*' (thanks for some online guys to create crazy game names)
* Fixed problem with serial deletion on client side, server always asked for serial everytime the player wants to log on (authenticationErrorMessage stuff).
* Fixed bombing run/double domination bomb/key reset if unit dies, is was reseted to start point if unit died while dropping bomb/key off to bombplace or domination point. Thanks to n.SK)AIL for reporting that.
* Ladder games use always 5 captures and no timelimit, player can't change that. You can always change to fun mode for all options.
* Fixed display bug for daily statistics, joining player were not displayed, also there was a bug with the number of created players and accounts (not all where counted).
* Funmode and 3on3 are no longer rated as ladder games! Thx to n.SK)AIL for testing.
* Remove ping display for leaved players (by fun screenshot from leba ^^)!
* Fixed: windowed mode startup command was changed/ignored when loading was finished (by anni666)

New Features

Main feature: Serverbased Games All games run now directly on the server! What does this mean for you?
This fixes 100% of all Peer-To-Peer problems, Hosting problems, Router or Firewall settings and problems.
Because all games are managed by the Server, all games are also saved as replays directly on the server.
This feature is very cool if you search for replays or have lost a replay, if played online, you will find it back!
The link for all serverbased auto saved replays is: http://arenawars.dynserv.net/AutoSavedReplays/
The first logon to the AW Server for new Demo Users is now much simpler (no more emails, no authentication,
just click demo, enter your new playername+password to create new player and join)

All games and channels are updated much quicker now (every second)
You can now join or create games in Only-Chat mode (all required data will be loaded automatically).
This is a very cool feature, just start AWOnlyChat.exe and be online in a couple of seconds and you can join and
create games even in only chat mode (everything will be loaded and you will be converted to a normal player).

There are no more Settings for your listening port, UPnP Nat support, etc. Options are now much simpler.
All games will now allow observers by default, much more players can join because each player only sends
to the Server and saves enormous bandwidth this way! Up to 12 Players can join a game.
You will always be able to play with no lag if your connection is ok, only players with very high fluctuating
lag will notice lag at all. The complete network code was rewritten to improve the online gaming experience.

Chat playerlist does now fully support showing all players on the server (including the playing players).
AWMap and AWReplay files can now be opened directly with ArenaWars.exe
New command line params for ArenaWars.exe:

"ArenaWars [replayname].AWReplay": Start this replay directly, you can also use
AWReplayManager.exe to start Replays. Just start it and doubleclick on a replay ;)

"ArenaWars Editor": Starts the editor (new empty map)
"ArenaWars [mapname].AWMap": Start editor with this map
You can also simply link the .AWMap and .AWReplay files with ArenaWars, just right click on a file, select
"Open with ..." and choose ArenaWars.exe as the program to start these files (choose also "Always open with this program")!

Allow to modify TexturePacks and create new ones with the texturepack editor (nice for modders).
The complete Editor in now available even in the demo mode (just playing the maps is not allowed in demo mode)!

There is now only 1 sub version number, only major updates will be released from now on!
Minimum handicap is now 100, by request from some players.
Stopped deleting Player Accounts, all Player will stay on the server forever,
no matter how unused they are ^^
Screenshot of the Statistics screen can be made now automatically.
A request by n.SK)AIL, especially useful for ESL, where you have to submit statistics screenshots sometimes.
You can now disable the description line in case you don't need it, makes the screen a little bit cleaner.
A request by some dude in the english feature board (search yourself ^^).
Cyclus is default map again.

Fixes --done for BETA1--:

Fixed some OpenGL release bugs (textures, display lists, wrong order of releases, etc).
The creator of glIntercept did email me and notified me about these glitches, thanks ;)
Hopefully this will also resolve some problems for players having troubles when starting up.
Fixed bug when clicking Internet mode, but canceling then, using other modes sometimes did not work anymore.
Fixed bug when login on the AWServer for the first time with only .NET 1.0 installed (used GetAddressBytes,
which is not available in .NET 1.0), works now with an alternative (like the rest of the socket stuff).
Fixed away stuff (again, when already in away mode, it got canceled sometimes).
/IsSameAccount server command did not work except when parameters where given comma-seperated,
works now either way (spaces or commas). Feels now like the other commands. Shortcut: /isa
No more message error boxes will be displayed for the StartGame screen and when playing unless absolutly
nescessary. Most of the time a very small or minor bug or error did display a big ugly message box and scared people ^^
If item gets lost when unit dies, give item back to player (this happens only if item could not be applied,
if a item like fog protection was applied, it still counts normally. This is most likly only useful for the Shield item).
Fixed german text bug when logging in: "einlogggen" (german login screen) with 3 g's (by german board user)
Esc did not only abort enter chat line, but also PlayerViews or entered the game menu.
Esc now handles only 1 thing (as it should be).
Replay autosaving did not saved all player names in filename correctly (mp only).
Also replays are now saved in a very descriptive way (name, map, players), much more informative.
Fixed bug which showed green damage bar all over the screen of dead units
Artilleries will not be build up automatically anymore (it just sucks if you want to move them)
Fixed intro movie playback: Playback works now perfectly with wmp9 and 10, so if you got any problems,
just download windows media player 10 from here.
Playback will stop now when intro is finished (waited sometimes infinite until user pressed something).
The installer now finds out the last used arena wars directory automatically and repairs it, if it is saved wrong.

Fixes --done for BETA2--:

Server IP+Port is now fixed, some people had problems using the first beta because
of wrong local server settings.
Fixed: game ends if player (or observer) leaves, also a lot of strange problems happend
a player did not receive any game messages anymore (but playerview messages), another one did
not receive any ping, but was able to play for a while, until he lost contact with server.
Fixed: voice and webcam messages seem not to work at all (get not retransmitted)
Fixed: when in only chat mode, create game is still gray (can't create game)
Improved: for heavy lag it is not very pleasent (we should increase response time a little)
Especially when player is lagging the gameplay appears much better now.
Improved: Rewrote socket code to similar fast code as P2P socket code before.
Some server optimizations were not so good for fast response times when playing (ping is much better now).
Fixed: Player did get kicked if sending to much data, server allows now much more data
(for voice and webcam support). Also the random kicks should be fixed now.
No solution yet: From some players in the board: No response/crash bug when game ends
and statistics are shown (works fine when music is disabled), happens usually after a couple of games?
Fixed: Also some ppl have problems with the intro, don't show error message all the time!
Fixed: Demo users can full version users don't get confused by the server anymore
(this perhibited some people to logon).
Fixed: Lots of error messages on server, errors when updating games and when player are quiting!
Also improved interaction of the Beta Server and the normal server (which are interfering quite a lot).
Not completly fixed: Local game list sometimes shows an old game or removes a still existing game
if the original host left the game (has maybe something to do with that fact).
AWEditor.exe is now included, you can start the editor directly or even drag and drop files onto
this file to start the editor with this maps (works also with linking or dragging on ArenaWars.exe).
Added Idea from ani666: Fun mode with $2000 (this doubles number of possible units),
extra checkbox in startgame screen
Added Idea from n.SK)AIL: Consider changing to battle net/ELO like ladder!
All players start at 1000 and get +-50 point per game (25 usually). Maybe already for v1.2?

Fixes --done after BETA2 for final v1.2--:

Fixed computer artillery behaviour, was building up/down to often!
Fun mode with $2000 (double number of possible units), extra checkbox in startgame screen
The fun mode does not count as a ladder game.
Changed to ELO ladder system, see Ladder Ranking Information.
Auto-Balancing Flag-Carrier speed for 2-4 captures difference.
2 cap more: -5% flag carrier speed, +5% for -2 cap player
3 cap more: -10% flag carrier speed, +10% for -3 cap player
4 or more cap more: -15% flag carrier speed, +15% for -4 cap player
Fixed: Bug in some maps with warpgates: Units get stuck and can get out of warpgate if there is no place.
Fixed: Plyon/Bomb is not returned in warpgate if unreachable.
Also Flag return logic should be less dramatic, if unit dies in front of warpgate,
flag is still reachable and should not be returned.
Fixed: If EnumDisplayModes fails, AW ignores it and uses a default display list (by ani666)
Fixed: wav imports do now work if they contain weird chunks (loading was aborted before with "invalid file format")
Fixed: no need to restart background replay when logon to aw server! this speeds up things a little.
Fixed: win.mp3 gets sometimes played when lossed? will now be double checked before statictics screen
pops up and win/lose music starts playing. Also fixed win/lose logic if some player leaved before end.
Fixed: Replay playback does not work with observer stuff (e.g. for tutorials)
Replays work now fine again, when containing observer playerview, voice or webcam data.
Also fixed playing the BR and DD tutorial maps.
Fixed: for very high lags (more than a couple of seconds) the game has to keep up all the time
and playing back game content, which worked good in v1.2 Beta2, but the playback was
not as good as normal lagfree gaming, so a little smoothing high lag values is now enabled.

Changes in v1.1.0

Balance Changes (this won't be noticed at all except in very special cases, so plz don't complain!):

* Changed Walker Damage from 4/45 to 5/52 per shoot.
* Changed Upgraded Walker Damage from 6/70 to 7/74 per shoot.
* Changed Buggy Behaviour when executing special, unit does now only lose 25% special energy (was 100% before) and can jump a little further (+1 field). In general the effect is the same, but this allows you to take the risk and jump a little further and not hitting that good. Also when ordering from somewhere else, canceling the special does not longer require the unit to wait for a long time until you can order a new self-destroy target.
* Increased Buggy Self-Destroy Damage slightly from 220/400 to 250/400
* Increased Upgraded Buggy Self-Destroy Damage slightly from 260/600 to 300/600

New Features

* Changed lag behaviour, game will hold much earlier when players are lagging, but the lag screen is not shown immediatly.
* Included ESRB Rating into the logo intro video for the english demo (v1.1.0), not really a useful "feature" ^^
* New default language is now always english (was german before), also made installer much easier for english folkz.

Fixes

* Fixed bug when pressing tab in chat screen, first word is now correctly converted to player name.
* Autosave filenames go now 001_, 002_, 003_, etc.
* Corrected mousespeed when aborting replay (value is not longer so big)
* Fixed bug which canceled own away mode after 5 minutes sometimes.
* Fixed a minor singleplayer bug (start button was useable in certain situations, but direct clicking was not possible)
* Fixed video playback on systems with corrupt amovie.ocx file (works now via WMP9, maybe this has something to do with sp2.
WMP9 codecs, etc. gets automatically installed when installing Arena Wars)
* Fixed problem with french language when language graphics are missing, works now much better, no errors anymore ^

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