WHAT'S NEW IN THE LAST FEW RELEASES OF HOWITZER:
This isn't a complete list - there are always a lot of little bugs I've
fixed and places I've sped up the code.
0.95beta (10/18/93)
Added routines for digital sound - interface is simple enough I
should be able to add sound lots of places. Stores
samples in EMS until they're needed. Can't handle mixing
more than one sample together, though.
Debugging output improved (again)
Drastically sped up palette cycling (explosions are a lot faster
as a result)
Modified explosion speeds so everything happens at a more reasonable
rate - some explosions happen faster than others (mushroom
clouds rise slowly, etc.)
Added -B flag to skip searching for Soundblaster
Popup inventory menus now allow pressing a letter to select the
current item
All explosions are clipped to playfield (no more overwriting the
status window)
Improved handling of FM sounds - added many more sounds
Can change border type from "Ch[a]nge some settings"
Fixed marketplace flashing up if player had negative money
'V'isibility option changes trace colors too
Memory [U]sage shows memory used by digitized sound support
System [I]nfo shows sound card being used
Should be able to fall back to lower screen resolutions if the
requested resolution is not available
If a tank falls on another tank, the top tank explodes (armor
on the bottom of a tank is thinner than on the top) -
usually the explosion kills the bottom tank, though.
Fixed reflective shields (again...)
Added Anti-Grav shields
Added MIRV-2 and MARV-2 rounds for even more carnage :)
Shift+clicking on a menu moves the value by 5x as much
Added "Team Members Adjacent" option - if on, all members of a team
will be placed next to each other in a group
Fixed cruise missiles in non-earth gravity
Added directly modifiable gravity (or set to PLANET to get real
gravity based on planet type)
Air Viscosity can now be set to PLANET, and is measured relative
to Earth = 1 - note that computer players don't deal well
with viscosity set to non-zero
Fixed computer tanks happily pounding down their teammates' shields
Improved computer opponents in countless ways
Reduced trace buffers from 128KB to 78KB - should only rarely run
out of trace buffer space (and that won't cause a crash)
Made napalm slightly more lethal
Increased max. tanks to 12 and max. simultaneous explosions to 7
If Howitzer runs low on memory, it will turn off fading traces
and then digital sound in an attempt to free up enough
memory to keep the game going.
Fixed spurious low memory warning if traces were fading and no
EMS was present
Warns if less than 16KB memory free according to Memory Usage
popup
Added another screen wipe for drawing the aiming screen
Upped max. rounds to 999
Popup scores now handles money over 99999
Info on a [T]ank now allows pressing a number to display that
tank, and can press 'T' to display info on another tank
without having to re-pop-up the system menu
If reflective border, chooser will fire as a rebounder if it
has a clear shot.
Changed the way computer opponents buy ammo and shields - will
now buy and use more kinds of weapons
Added SCATTER and BLINK borders (try launching a few MIRV-2's
up through the top of a BLINK border)
Flight sound change from "Change some settings" takes effect
immediately
Fixed nasty bug where exiting while bullets were still in the
air would crash Howitzer, DOS, Windows, everthing...
Added different tank explosions
If tank is dead, info box on that tank shows who killed it
Renamed "Dirt Fall Percent" to "Chance Dirt Falls"
Howitzer exits politely if it can't find its font files or
howlogo.bin
Added "Computers Buy Ammo" and "Computers Buy Shields" options
(off in beginner mode)
Messages in Howitzer now come in 3 kinds - grey (normal), yellow
(warning), and red (panic!)
0.94beta (9/28/93)
Added "-Zn" option to control the video mode Howitzer uses -
now it can support 640x400, 640x480, 800x600 (default),
and 1024x768
Marketplace works in any resolution (up/down buttons still need
tidying)
Fixed using 'R' key to end round from popup system menu when no
round was in progress
Fixed auto-naming tanks from popup change players
Wrote own memory allocation scheme - more robust than Borland
C's built-in scheme.
Prints better information on math errors - handles many problems
without crashing the program (those pesky "square root of
a negative number" errors should go away now).
Made memory used display more accurate (includes control block
overhead)
Improved handling of leftover memory blocks in error conditions
Fixed "bad logical page" EMS errors caused by passing bad
coords to SkyPixel() (showed up in nuclear explosions,
among other things)
Fixed turn number not updating properly in some situations
Wind=0 doesn't need an arrow for wind direction - fixed
Added HAIL and ACID HAIL weather
Can change weather from Ch[a]nge Some Settings in popup system menu
0.93beta (9/01/93)
Improved explosion sounds
Fixed problem of computer beeping if the keyboard buffer fills up
Fixed bug allocating huge chunks of conventional memory - this
caused many seemingly random crashes, especially if you
didn't have any EMS
Replaced EMS routines with my own routines - I get much better
diagnostic output this way.
Fixed random mysterious crashes which went away if you used
-X or -E flags.
Sped up drawing single pixels of sky to the screen (big chunks
of sky are unaffected)
Tuned down the calculated number for "compensated events" - this
makes Howitzer _seem_ faster.
Edited the PIF file to disable Alt+Space and Alt+Enter under
Windows - since those don't seem to count as "switching
away" from Howitzer, but DO corrupt the SVGA screen.
Fixed bug where landscape would be incorrectly drawn after
players were reassigned
0.92beta (8/13/93)
Fixed being able to start in NON-team mode
Fixed popup scores in NON-team mode
Bundled UNIVESA 3.2 VESA TSR with Howitzer (it's free, and good!)
Removed "Scores pause" and "Logfile options" from system info
Fixed Termites memory allocation error
Can change some settings from within a game using
"Ch[a]nge Some Settings" option - note that changing
fast endgame will only take effect if a fast endgame
hasn't already started!
Fixed bullet remnants left at center of a MIRV split or thermite
explosion
Input box has cursor
Clicking outside input box dismisses it (same as ESC)
Tidied system menu
During aiming, a magnified tank appears in upper right corner of
the screen to aid in positioning the tank barrel
Sped up drawing tanks during aiming
Tanks at top of system screen would change color if tank 8's team
was changed - fixed.
Can reassign players at end of round by pressing 'P' from
popup scores
Can add/delete players from reassignment box by pressing a
number key
At start of next game, player list is compacted - this may cause
tank colors to change if there were gaps in the list, but
tank names and scores will stay the same
Falling tanks will be stopped by other tanks' shields
Fixed strange tank positions which happened if a tank was added
at the tank scores
Complains if you only have one team or one tank if you're changing
tank teams or deleting players with popupchangeplayers()
Reduced weather effects a little
If in team mode, all tanks on winning team get money proportional
to fraction of tanks that are alive
Added "Prize Size" option to set multiplier for all rewards
0.91a.beta (in-house release)
Fixed problem where EVERY keystroke in the aiming screen got
delayed. (Oops...)
Fixed spurious "MALLOC: freed" messages when using -C option
Fixed drawing landscape with advance calculation set to SKY ONLY
or NOTHING
If you send a logfile please also send HOWITZER.INI - this
lets me completely duplicate your run conditions.
Added two more shades of visibility for tanks (dim and bright)
Fixed opponent thought buffer overruns
Fixed parachutes erasing dirt from beneath tanks (which made any
tank using a parachute sink to the bottom of the screen)
Tidied score popup for tanks with more than 100 kills
Changed suicide penalty to -160%, teamicide penalty to -80%
Added TEAM mode!!!
Tank teams are now colored based on team number
You can't start a team-mode game with only one team.
0.91beta (7/31/93, released to registered users only)
Improved the look of shields
Tidied base of mushroom clouds
Marketplace and aiming screen now eat prior keystrokes, so
users can't accidentally click too many times and enter
input for someone else
Added small delay at the start of each aiming screen, so that
if the previous player accidentally presses the spacebar
too many times, he/she doesn't deprive the next player
of a chance to re-aim
Added -V option to initialize verbosely (gives me more information
if Howitzer crashes on startup)
Changed -M flag (log money and purchases) to -P
Added -M flag to not check for presence of mouse driver (forces
howitzer to use simulated mouse support on numeric keypad)
Records command-line options to logfile
Howitzer now uses my VESA routines instead of the shareware BGI
module. The executable is about 20 KB smaller, and 25%
faster than before.
Fixed mysterious Signal Error in intro screen (I think...)
Added spiffy wipes for drawing terrain
Added "Shields Last Between Rounds" option so that shields can
last from one round to the next (but only if the tank
survives as well)
Added "Interest Rate" option, so that money kept between rounds
can earn interest between -20% and 30%. Negative interest
encourages spending money as soon as you get it.
Contact fuses will explode against reflective borders
Much better information when an error happens - dumps registers,
so I can figure out what line of code caused the crash
Weather! (several degrees of acid rain and snowfall - ground
either gets eaten away or added as the round progresses)
Nice fades for system screen
Added pretty logo
"Calculate delays" button disappears in beginner mode
Added AEROGEL LAND (which has impurities, but you can still shoot
through a lot of it)