Viewizard News

Minor update: AstroMenace version 1.2 build 80115 (Tue, 15 Jan 2008)

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:01:01 +0200

AstroMenace version 1.2 build 80115 has been released.

Cahges:

Windows version: the protection system has been updated.

Minor fixes and improvements.

Minor update: AstroMenace version 1.2 build 71105 (Wed, 5 Nov 2007)

Wed, 5 Nov 2007 12:01:01 +0200

AstroMenace version 1.2 build 71105 has been released.

Cahges:

English version: mistypes in the text have been corrected.

Windows version: the protection system has been updated.

The warning display feature revealing the non-effectiveness of some systems in the arcade mode has been changed.

The bug of improper energetic mines redrawing has been fixed (Mission 11).

Windows version: Installer has been updated.

Minor bugs have been fixed and some necessary changes performed.

Major update: AstroMenace version 1.2 build 70914 (Fr, 14 Sep. 2007)

Fr, 14 Sep 2007 12:01:01 +0200

AstroMenace version 1.2 build 70914 has been released.

Cahges:

Availability of all resolutions supported by the user's graphics card, including non-standard ones.

All settings are now stored in an XML file.

Added an ability to select a joystick (by editing the settings file) if several joysticks are connected.

Added an ability to change the keyboard layout (by editing the settings file) regardless of the selected in-game language.

New version of VFS (virtual file system). The data file has been reduced, which resulted in a slight decrease of the game loading time.

The missile lock notification has been changed. The voice is now played only once. A text notification has been added.

Settings menu changed. Added an ability to specify the aspect ratio.

Minor changes of the sound output in the game menu.

2D graphics rendering mechanism has been improved. Optimization of texture rendering has been added.

Sound processing and output have been moved to a separate thread during the loading process.

Changes in ship controls for the standard aspect ratio.

All game missions have been modified for widescreen resolutions.

Added an ability to enable/disable VBO usage by editing settings files.

Shader processing for rendering 3D objects has been improved. Shader manager added.

Rendering of static stars has been optimized. When GLSL shaders are enabled, all calculations are performed by the GPU.

Rendering of 3D objects has been optimized for graphic cards supporting OpenGL 1.5 and above.

Explosion physics calculations have been improved.

All 3D models have been modified, all mathematical transformations in the model loading code have been removed.

VBO creation has been moved to the 3D model loading process (before it was generated after the first call during the game process).

The explosion code for space and land objects has been improved.

The texture priority manager is off by default. You can enable it by editing the ForceTexturesPriorManager option in the settings file.

Optimized the rendering mechanism for models using multi-texturing when GLSL shaders are enabled. Vertex data is 32 bytes now.

When GLSL shaders are enabled, all calculations of explosion physics are performed by the GPU, VBO is used if possible.

Improvements in resource manager during mission restarting.

Added an ability not to unload/load data during each game-menu and menu-game switching for graphic cards with 128+ MB of video memory. The mode is enabled by editing the EqualOrMore128MBVideoRAM option in the settings file.

Added hardware Mip Map texture levels generation capabilities for video cards supporting SGIS_generate_mipmap OpenGL extension.

Added an ability to specify the Mip Map texture levels generation method (software of hardware). This can be set in the HardwareMipMapGeneration option of the settings file.

RAM management has been improved. RAM usage has been decreased.

Added the dependency of the object rendering quality, distance to the camera and the number of light sources affecting the object. Simplified rendering for distant objects has been implemented.

To increase the performance rate when the GLSL is enabled, per-vertex lighting instead of per-pixel lighting is used for objects that are parts of the base and planets.

The detection supported by a video card shader model has been implemented.

3D models drawing has been optimized for video cards that do not support OpenGL version 1.5 or higher.

Now it is possible to disable the movement of the game camera in case of the standard aspect ratio of the screen in the settings file (the CameraModeWithStandardAspectRation option).

The bug in displaying the list of missions has been fixed.

The bug in calculating the damage from a shock wave produced by torpedoes and bombs has been fixed.

Instead of the Shipyard menu, the Weaponry menu is displayed between the mission selection menu and the game start by default.

When you pause the game and open the menu during the game (the windowed mode), the system cursor is unlocked.

Windows version: libSDL has been upgraded to version 1.2.12

Open testing of version 1.2 has been started. AstroMenace version 1.2 build 70707 (Sat, 7 July 2007)

Sat, 7 July 2007 12:01:01 +0200

AstroMenace version 1.2 build 70707 has been released.

Cahges:

Availability of all resolutions supported by the user's graphics card, including non-standard ones.

All settings are now stored in an XML file.

Added an ability to select a joystick (by editing the settings file) if several joysticks are connected.

Added an ability to change the keyboard layout (by editing the settings file) regardless of the selected in-game language.

New version of VFS (virtual file system). The data file has been reduced, which resulted in a slight decrease of the game loading time.

The missile lock notification has been changed. The voice is now played only once. A text notification has been added.

Settings menu changed. Added an ability to specify the aspect ratio.

Minor changes of the sound output in the game menu.

2D graphics rendering mechanism has been improved. Optimization of texture rendering has been added.

Sound processing and output have been moved to a separate thread during the loading process.

Changes in ship controls for the standard aspect ratio.

All game missions have been modified for widescreen resolutions.

Added an ability to enable/disable VBO usage by editing settings files.

Shader processing for rendering 3D objects has been improved. Shader manager added.

Rendering of static stars has been optimized. When GLSL shaders are enabled, all calculations are performed by the GPU.

Rendering of 3D objects has been optimized for graphic cards supporting OpenGL 1.5 and above.

Explosion physics calculations have been improved.

All 3D models have been modified, all mathematical transformations in the model loading code have been removed.

VBO creation has been moved to the 3D model loading process (before it was generated after the first call during the game process).

The explosion code for space and land objects has been improved.

The texture priority manager is off by default. You can enable it by editing the ForceTexturesPriorManager option in the settings file.

Optimized the rendering mechanism for models using multi-texturing when GLSL shaders are enabled. Vertex data is 32 bytes now.

When GLSL shaders are enabled, all calculations of explosion physics are performed by the GPU, VBO is used if possible.

Improvements in resource manager during mission restarting.

Added hardware Mip Map texture levels generation capabilities for video cards supporting SGIS_generate_mipmap OpenGL extension.

Added an ability to specify the Mip Map texture levels generation method (software of hardware). This can be set in the HardwareMipMapGeneration option of the settings file.

RAM management has been improved. RAM usage has been decreased.

Added the dependency of the object rendering quality, distance to the camera and the number of light sources affecting the object. Simplified rendering for distant objects has been implemented.

Minor update: AstroMenace version 1.1 build 70707 (Sat, 7 July 2007)

Sat, 7 July 2007 12:01:01 +0200

AstroMenace version 1.1 build 70707 has been released.

Cahges:

Linux version: improvements in the random number generation code.

Changed land objects targeting after the player’s ship is destroyed.

Minor changes in the settings menu (rendering of anisotropic filtering settings button).

The internal texture priority manager has been disabled.

Fixed a memory leak that occurred during an asteroid explosion.

Fixed memory damage during texture deletion (caused the game to crash on some computers when the Start button was pressed while loading the mission).

Minor update: AstroMenace version 1.1 build 70602 (Sat, 2 June 2007)

Sat, 2 June 2007 12:01:01 +0200

AstroMenace version 1.1 build 70602 has been released.

Cahges:

TinyXML XML parser updated to version 2.5.3

Fixed a bug in the supported resolutions detection code.

Anisotropic texture filtering is disabled by default.

Minor fixes and improvements.

Major update: AstroMenace version 1.1 build 70505 (Sat, 5 May 2007)

Sat, 5 May 2007 12:01:01 +0200

AstroMenace version 1.1 build 70505 has been released.

Cahges:

The color scheme in the Weaponry menu has been improved.

Added an ability to move the mouse cursor in the game menu using a joystick/joypad.

Linux version: fixed the issue with the initial signal from the joystick after the OS was reloaded (the ship uncontrollably flew to the corner of the screen).

Added an ability to create duplicates of pilot profiles.

Added an ability to mount weapons to an open panel of the weapon configuration slot.

Windows German version: added a license in German.

Windows version: installer updated.

Linux version: gcc version 3.4 is now used for x86.

Options menu improved. The list of screen resolutions now consists only of resolutions supported by the user's system.

VFS (virtual file system) operation improved, game loading time decreased.

Added an ability to install arbitrary music files by editing DATA/SCRIPT/list.xml

Windows version: added a 48х48 pixel icon for Windows Vista desktop.

The last selected mission is now saved for each pilot profile.

Minor fixes and improvements.