Netrek XP 2006, Version 1.3:
User interface:
1) War window now says "Re-program" instead of "Save" for changing war settings.
2) The planet list window can now be used with info, lock and certain RCDs. In
other words, you can lock onto planets through the planet list window, and send
planet-related RCDs through the window as well.
3) New Options menus for Hockey and Weapons.
4) Added ability to update buttonmap through the options menu.
5) Restored ability for middle and right mouse clicks to raise the current
window to the top, helps with overlapped windows.
6) Default buttonmap now uses mouse wheel for accel/decel, scroll up to
accelerate to max, scroll down to decelerate to warp 0.
7) Left clicking on message window will either a) start a new message to all
board or b) continue current pending message.
8) Message window will now say "Click here to send a message to ALL" until any
message is sent, then it will be blank as usual. Mostly to help newbies
figure out how to send a message.
9) Rank window now shows DI needed for next rank.
10) Added the ability to change the size of the local or map windows! This is a
huge improvement, and is probably the most often requested feature. There
really is no limit on how big or small you can make the windows. As you
increase local window size, you can see further, giving somewhat of a gameplay
advantage - you can see ships, shields, explosions, but not weapons fire other
than your own torps. Just as important, you can now choose a different size for
local vs map window. A typical user may want a 750x750 local but only a 400x400
map. The upper pixel limit is 5000x5000 for either map or local window, but I
don't expect anyone has a monitor to support even close to that limit.
11) Most netrekrc window's geometries are now commented out (all except map and
local), this is because adjusting the size of local or map will now do a pretty
good job of autoplacing all the other windows for you.
12) Added new function keys, control-z and control-a, for zooming. Control-z
zooms in, and control-a zooms out. As part of the benefit of having all
graphics scale, ALL ship bitmap sets can now show ships to 256 positions.
13) Richtext message windows are now resizeable and moveable. Moving works a
little different than moving other windows. Instead of clicking on border, you
click on the body of the window, hold down left mouse button, and move the
window. This only works if the richTextMove option is on.
14) The mainResizeable netrekrc option now allows map/local to be resizeable.
Note that resizing local and map windows only lets you size them as squares.
Some windows (team select, quit) will resize properly to match new local size,
others (position of options menu, dashboard, etc.) will not move. Interesting
sidenote: resizing local window will reinitialize background star positions.
To resize the local/map/richtext windows, right click on window border to
activate sizing border, resize the window as you want, then right click again
to deactivate sizing border. The reason the procedure is a little complicated is
because having a border which can both resize the window requires a larger border,
which cuts into precious screen space. So this sizing border needs to be
activated first, then deactivated when the window is done sizing.
15) The ' key (single quote) is now the default key for toggling on and off the
expanded playerlist window.
16) Color settings are now all listed in netrekrc, and a list of valid colors is
now found at the end of the netrekxp manual.
17) You now get a popup box when client receives a game shutdown message from
server, indicating that the game has been terminated and to try again later.
18) Main title bar now defaults to on.
19) Can now change login name via options menu (don't forget to save if you want
to make it permanent).
20) The left and right arrow keys are now mapped to turn left and turn right,
they execute a turn request for a 1/16 turn in the desired direction. I
personally find it awkward but if someone is playing without a mouse for
whatever reason, it allows them to move at least. Since using the arrow pad
requires a keyboard equivalent key, and these are new keyactions, there are now
2 less available key sequences. Control+[ is now mapped to turn left, and
control+] is turn right, these keys were selected to be as out of the way as
possible to avoid conflicts with existing keymaps. Turn keys are controlled
server side via the TURN_KEYS feature packet, so they will only work if the
server allows it.
21) The up and down arrow keys now are mapped to accelerate and deccelerate.
Graphics:
1) New graphics for the team select windows, and new option
"newTeams: (on)/off" whether to use these graphics or the old team windows.
2) Fixed flicker experienced sometimes seen with stationary ships near a planet
on the galactic map.
3) The old mono torps are now default. Big torps are nice and all, but I think
there is a loss in dodging ability with the bigger torps.
Sound:
1) Added new sounds for when engine melt, and then for when they are unmelted.
2) Sound can now be initialized via sound menu if program starts with sound off.
3) Start music will no longer play if you connect to a server and wind up on a
wait queue, the music will instead play once you reach the login screen.
General bug fixes:
1) Fixed bug with metaserver not sorting correcty sometimes, and some server
entries not having their metaping field initialized.
2) Fixed bug where alert border was not working right upon death with old ship
bitmaps.
3) Fixed error messages with cambot and beeplite.
4) Fixed music playback with cambot so it stops playing on entry properly.
5) Several fixes to BRMH shrink phasers - they now can shrink on miss, and
enemy phasers also shrink properly.
6) Planet window no longer gets unmapped on death.
7) Fixed macro crash bug with sending macros to invisible players on the
playerlist.
8) Fixed annoying bug where tactical would sometimes seem to disappear on
reentry into game after death, was due to losing your position packet and not
requesting a new one (you now WILL request a position update if alive but
seemingly off the map).
9) Fixed bug with self phasers where they would sometimes stretch across the
screen upon death.
10) Dist.taking (used in older netrekrc files) will now work, though dist.take
is still the preferred name for that distress call.
11) Changed how message HUD works, it now is refreshed during the redraw of the
local map rather than updated independently, should fix some redraw bugs with
message HUD.
12) Enemy torps which are off local screen are no longer automatically freed
(since this data is now sent for observers). Also fixed an issue with exploding
torps that would not clear properly.
13) Fixed a bug with RCM kill messages when kills were higher than 255 but less
than 320.
14) Bomb RCD used on an unknown planet or planet with 4 or less armies will now
say "bomb <planetname>" instead of the more useless, unspecific "bomb".
15) Fixed galactic and tactical planet names so they are centered on planets.
16) Phaser misses on sturgeon servers now show proper phaser length based on
how many phaser upgrades the ship has.
New features:
1) Main window titlebar now shows your loginname and slot number, in addition
to showing the servername.
2) New dashboard message for warp 0 ("Stopped") instead of saying "Impulse"
3) Added "autoSetWar: (0-2)" netrekrc option that controls declare war settings
with enemy races when you first join. Can now automatically declare peace on
3rd space races, for example.
4) Improved explanation of keymap/buttonmap in the netrekrc.
5) Support for AT ship in playerlist and info window (shows 'AT' instead of
'??').
6) The "Flags" text on COW and KRP dashboards will now turn red if your ship is
weapon temped or engine temped.
7) Added "lockLine: (on)/off" to draw a dashed green line on the galactic map
between your ship and the target you are locked on to, whether it be a player or
a planet.
8) Added "tractorID: (on)/off" to draw the player number of the person you are
tractoring or pressoring below and to the left of your ship. Continues to
display who you are tractor/pressoring even if they cloak.
9) Added "puckArrow: (on)/off" option to draw a tic mark on the puck in hockey
to indicate puck direction.
10) Added "sortPlanets: (on)/off" to sort the planet list, with your planets
first, then the planets of the other teams, starting with the team with the most
players. Within a team, planets are sorted from low to high army count. Left
clicking the planet list window will toggle between a sorted and unsorted planet
list, right clicking will close the planet window. Team's starting planets are
separated by a white line.
11) Added "headingTic: on/(off)" to draw a tick mark indicating your ship's
heading, as well as a smaller secondary mark indicating where you are turning
to, or in the case of when you are locked on to a player/planet, indicating the
direction to that player/planet. This option helps with aiming in hockey and
hitting cloaked ships you are locked on to.
12) Added "weaponsOnMap: (on)/off" to show torps, plasmas and phasers on the
galactic map.
13) Removed the netrek.w32caption option that was undocumented and has since
been replaced by the mainTitleBar option.
14) Added "viewRange: (0-3)" option to draw a dashed circle on the map showing
the range at which enemies can see you. You can choose to draw it at all times,
only when you are cloaked, only when carrying, or not at all. If orbitting a
foreign planet, no circle is drawn, as you are visible to all. View range is
disabled if your ship is a starbase. Cloaked view range will also show on the
tactical map if tactical is resized large enough. Showing view range circles on
the galactic map is controlled server side via the SHOW_VISIBILITY_RANGE feature
packet, so this option will only work for the most part if the server allows it.
15) Added support for feature packet FULL_WEAPON_RESOLUTION, this means that
observers can see all weapons on the galaxy map, yay! It also means you can see
your torps on the galaxy map beyond your tactical range (good for plinking).
Can turn this feature packet on/off with the netrekrc option
"useFullWeapInfo: (on)/off".
16) Added "clickDelay: (0-50)" to allow for a delay between continuous mouse
clicks, range is in # of updates.
17) Added "packetLights: (on)/off" to show packets sent and received via
blinking lights on dashboard.
18) New netrekrc option "showCloakers: (on)/off" to show other cloakers on
tactical, only works if server has the new feature packet SHOW_CLOAKERS on.
19) New netrekrc option "showOtherSpeed: (on)/off" to show speed next to other
players, only works if server has the new feature packet SHOW_OTHER_SPEED on.
20) Changed showArmy option to be a range (0-3), to take advantage of new server
feature packet SHOW_ARMY_COUNT. Range of values is now as follows:
# 0 - don't show army counts
# 1 - show army counts on local map only (default)
# 2 - show army counts on galactic map only
# 3 - show army counts on both maps
21) Added support for CHECK_PLANETS feature packet, this is a nice packet that
checks with the server to make sure your planet info is up to date, so no more
phantom armies on a planet or delay on bombing a planet flat because you lost a
planet packet. Also no more wondering if you missed a planet packet while
dropping if planet army count doesn't go down. This cross-check with server
occurs 10 times/second for a planet you are orbitting (critical), and once
every 4 seconds for all the planets your team has info on (non-critical).
22) New netrekrc option "infoRange: (on)/off" to draw a dashed white box on your
tactical if you increase the tactical size beyond 500 x 500. This box is drawn
to show the 500 x 500 range, which is important because other people's weapons
data is not sent beyond this range (box essentially shows limit of fog of war
for weapons).
23) Added netrekrc option "richText: (on)/off" to allow stuff like cut/paste
from message windows and clickable URLs. Richtext windows also have a smarter
scrollback mechanism. If the mouse is over a richtext message window AND
message position isn't already at the bottom of the window, it will not scroll
upon receiving a new message, as it is likely you are scrolling back to read
old messages. If mouse is not in a window that receives a message, that window
will scroll to the bottom, solving the problem of sometimes accidentally not
resetting window scrollback to bottom and the failing to see new messages as
they come in.
24) Added netrekrc option "scaleFactor: (10-40)" that allows you to zoom in the
tactical map to get more detail! Turn on those high resolution bitmaps, pump up
your tactical size to 1000x1000 and see the great graphics! Default scale is 40
(this is the traditional scale used in clients, changing scale to 20 will
effectively double the scale).
25) Added netrekrc option "color.God: <color>" to alter color of God messages.
26) New netrekrc option "fullBitmapRotation: (on)/off" that lets you choose to
draw the old ship bitmaps to 32 positions (off) instead of 256 (on). Useful
for those with custom bitmap sets, as it will use all 32 bitmaps in a set rather
than just rotating the first one in the set.
27) New netrekrc option "saveFile: name" to control what filename you write to
when you save your options in game (either with " key or via the save menu).
Default is now netrekrc, so that means if you save in-game, it will overwrite
your netrekrc with your current settings (I have a feeling the benefits of this
strongly outweigh the negatives such as mistakenly remapping things then
mistakenly saving your netrekrc). The netrekrc save feature now saves
EVERYTHING. Well pretty much everything. All netrekrc options, windows
geometries and locations, keymap, buttonmap, macros, etc. It also saves some
obscure options like ckeymaps, ship specific keymaps/ckeymap/buttonmaps
/netrekrc, b1keymap - b5keymap, and observer/servertype specific options.
Saving servernick options is not supported, but I doubt anyone uses those to
begin with. If any features are found which do NOT save properly, please send
in a bug report. In the case of the main window, it won't save the new size or
coordinates if you resize them in game, as this is complicated to do due to
things like task bars, title bars, and window resize borders. Hopefully
between using the mainTitleBar and mainMaximized options, as well as adjusting
your netrekrc line "netrek.geometry", you can easily size the netrek window to
be what you want it to be. The in-game save key takes a lot of the pain out of
setting up windows (you should be able to do it without having to edit netrekrc).
It also makes editting the netrekrc to change options mostly unnecessary.
28) Cambot files names are now autogenerated, similiar to logfile names, if no
name is given (names will be like 20070401.pkt).
29) New netrekrc option "mainMaximized: (on)/off" to make main window maximized
on client start.
30) New netrekrc option "richTextMove: on/(off)" to allow rich text message
windows to be moved. Since left mouse is used to move window, and left mouse is
also used to highlight text, this option defaults to off, to make it easier to
highlight text.
31) Added fontSize option to netrekrc (this option always existed, but was
undocumented and horribly buggy). This option controls the pixel height of the
font used in game. As a result of changing font size, most windows should adjust
to a new proper size. Such as dashboards and playerlist and message windows.