Meteor 2 Change Log

Changes from v1.22 (beta 1) to v1.3

Greatly improved the game's general stability (this should include the random in-game crash bug).
Selecting groups of objects now requires holding down the left shift key as well as dragging the mouse. This frees up the mouse for general gameplay and keeps the group control out of the way for those who really use it much (basically group control is a nice feature but it is not designed to be a mainstream game thing).
Dropped GIF file support for animations as the "GIF" library being used no longer works under the current version of the Allegro game programming library and is not supported anymore. There are also some questionable legal issues with the GIF file format. Sorry to modders who use GIF animations, these will be converted to FLC. The "animated texture" hack used by some modders will not work anymore.
Survivors (objects added when vehicles are destroyed) are set to active by default so they wake up even if created off screen.
When getting out of a vehicle following units will still follow the player.
The music no longer restarts when switching maps or loading games with the same music (this was a bug which appeared in v1.22).
On the last level the name for the object "Genral Hammondeggs" has been corrected to read "General Hammondeggs".
Sounds are now played correctly for all game objects and at all times (this "silent object" bug appeared in an earlier version).
Increased the speed of the rotors on me_mantis' "Stingray 2" helicopter.
Fixed a bug in the Base Alpha script where Cooper was not being made indestructible.
Removed some unused code from the North Battle script.
The plutonium ammo now has a green light around it.
Guarding units now stay still for random intervals before turning again (thanks to Mike323 for the suggestion).
Altered the player car/boat handling to try to make it steered vehicles more realistic, turning on the spot for cars etc is greatly reduced.
Added the "crash" console command (don't worry it won't make the game crash). Works best with base\maps\samples\CrashTest.map!
Indestructible objects can no longer be run over (for example Cooper on the Westcorn Village map).
Added options to game.ini to change the sniper scope lines and background colours etc.
Fixed a general timer bug which making things suddenly "jump" every now and again (most noticeable in the credits).
Map Editor: Added the sector palette. Right click any sector and select "Add to Palette" to add sectors, use the "Sector Palette" toolbar button to pick & place previously added sectors. The sector palette is saved to disk on exit and is common across all maps.
Map Editor: Fixed a bug where waypoints were being left connected to deleted waypoints.
Map Editor: Fixed a bug where the base sector vertex IDs were not being assigned on map creation.
Changed the large font and altered the padding of the main menu.
Weapon Editor: When selecting a projectile's origin coordinates the correct weapon is always displayed (even with new weapons).
Changed the credits so that people appear in bunched up into groups, also added a backdrop image.
Spell checked all of the mission briefings, finally.
The player no longer appears to be moving when riding other objects (for example, no more walking while riding the motorbike).
Fixed problems with lasers being duplicated or flickering.
Sprite Editor: Preview sprite now draws a single sprite in the exact screen centre, the sprite can also rotated manually using the cursor keys.
Added "Show FPS" option under Video Options.

Multiplayer Specific

Fixed a general problem were packets were being lost, this solves a lot of issues on its own.
When joining a game clients no longer get the kills count of previous players who have left the game.
The "No Monsters" option works.

New Script Commands

SC_RemovePdaMessage

Changes from v1.21 to v1.22 (beta 1)

Added basic group control, select units by dragging over them with the mouse and issue commands such as goto, guard and follow. This only effects applicable allied units (just like the "E" key to follow mode).
Changed the script file extension from .sc to .c. This is to aid script includes and also allows script to be edited properly in conventional C editors (like Visual Studio or Notepad 2) without any issues or special configuration. Meteor will look for .sc files too so older map scripts will continue to work just fine.
Objects with rotating weapons now only rotate their turrets when in guarding mode.
Increased the maximum "item count" in multiplayer from 32,767 (signed 16 bit) to 2,147,483,647 (signed 32 bit).
Minor tweaks to Base Alpha map.
When saving games the current playing music filename is stored, so loading the game again will not effect the music playback (even for custom tracks).
Obsolete saved games are now detected correctly. In previous versions Meteor attempted to load older saved game files which caused problems.
Fixed game pausing, it now works better than ever!
Weapon Editor: Fixed a bug which was preventing some of the data in the list from being updated (sprite image).
Sprite Editor: When changing a sprite's description the current description is shown in the box (its not just blank anymore).
Sprite Editor: When adding a new frame the image picker defaults to the image of the previous frame (if more than 1 frame exists).
Map Editor: Added a resize map function (its basic but it works).
Map Editor: Added "Random Angle" to the sprite right click menu (handy for placing loads of sprites at random angles).
Map Editor: After running a map the mouse pointer is placed in the centre of the screen. This stops the map from always scrolling downwards when returning to the Map Editor.
Renamed "mike323323" to "mike323" in the credits.
Fixed a bug were one (or more in multiplayer) seemingly random placed object was not appearing at the start of a map. This was happening during player spawn because Meteor thought the object was an old (wasted) player and deleted it.

Changes from v1.2 to v1.21

Moved the teleporters away from the Chinook's flight path on the North Battle map (it was no possible to finish this map in single player).
Fixed aiming issues (especially with tanks). Some tanks used to sit there and just look at you, now they will shoot at you like they are supposed to.
When getting on unarmed ride on vehicles (like hoverboards and perhaps jet skis) the player is moved to the hoverboard instead of the hoverboard being moved to the player.
Changed the HTTP master server update code to use ENet, thanks to Lee Salzman for the sample code. This means that people should be able to register their servers with no problems.
Meteor will now run in the background during network games (so its ok to Alt-Tab out etc).

New Script Commands

Added the SC_SetPlayerObject script command to change the player's controlling object (read the script docs).

Notes

This is a minor patch release that fixes some pretty big issues.
There is still a problem with "enter door password" boxes halting multiplayer games (so type quickly).

Changes from v1.1 to v1.2

When clients have trouble spawning, players can now press space to request another respawn from the server (other keys like Escape for the menu work too).
Added a master server, tick the option to "register" your server (when starting a new server) to make it appear on the Internet here.
Fixed all of the single player maps to work with coop (the coop campaign should play right through).
Fixed a problem where client weapon IDs were out of sync with the server (clients weapons were firing the wrong projectiles etc).
Fixed a bug where multiplayer clients where not running OnMapStart scripts correctly.
Fixed a bug where some off-screen objects were (seemingly randomly) being activated at the start of the map.
Fixed the "map" console command in multiplayer (the server was sending clients an invalid map path).
Optimised the object handling code, even though there is still some more work to be done here there should be considerable improvements in frame rate speeds.
Partly optimised the terrain drawing code.
Added the SC_ResetObjectRespawnCoords script command.
Added options to set the player X and Y draw offsets. These alter where the player object is drawn in relation to the centre of the screen. This feature is intended for playing on spanned monitors where the player object should be off-centre to avoid being drawn either side of the "gap/bezels" between the screens.
Added an option to set the sound travel distance. This distance should be increased for very high screen resolutions to allow everything happening on the screen to be heard properly.
The "vsync" option is now disabled by default. When enabled this forces M2 to wait for the next vertical retrace before drawing to the screen (capping the framerate at the monitor's refresh rate but ensuring the screen is drawn as a whole in sync with the monitor). On some computers (laptops?) this was capping the FPS at 20 (some TFTs have true refresh rates that are far lower then people are lead to believe). If you experience problems during screen updates then re-enable this option under "Video Options".
Added the ability to disable terrain textures and shadows to the F9 performance panel.
Fixed from minor glitches with opening and closing the PDA/menu/console.
Added some new MP maps submitted by me_mantis (HH_BlackCliffs.map, HH_CityRemix.map, HH_GeneralJ_Meleev1.map, HH_RedFacts.map and HH_StoneIslands.map).
Fixed a bug in multiplayer were clients were respawning too many times, this was creating extra "roaming" player objects with all weapons.
Dedicated servers will now actually end the level when the time has expired.
The F9 performance panel will no longer work in multiplayer.
The default server port is now 5920 (not 5910) to avoid conflicts with Meteor 1).
Moved the server based options to server.ini although there is currently no command line switch to set the filename to use.

Changes from v1.01 to v1.1

Added basic multiplayer mode. There are currently two modes (Head to Head and Cooperative), see the M2 docs for more info on servers and multiplayer. There are future plans to add more multiplayer game modes as well as an on-line game servers list. There may be problems with the later missions in coop mode, these will be addressed in the next patch.
Added the ability to load mods from the main menu within the game. Note that mods should have a mod.ini file (see the sample RealWeapons\ mod).
Added Papercut's "Realistic Weapons" mod which can be loaded from the main menu, once loaded the entire game can be played in this new mode.
Added Papercut's Battle Walker object (the smaller version of the Big Mech from Meteor 1).
Rewrote the scripting core, this means that script runs faster, instances don't run out and it can handle child scripts (like when calling SC_GetInVehicle which in turn called SC_OnEnterVehicle). Before child script calls made the game crash.
Mod "cross linking" now works. This means that modded things can make use of standard game things. For example a modded object may use sprites from the standard "base" folder. This applies to all game elements (images, sprites, projectiles, weapons and objects can all interlink freely between the "base" folder and any mod folder).
Removed "EnableMultiplayer" from base\game.ini.
Removed "EnableObjectSkipping" from base\game.ini.
The "spo" (or "SetPlayerObject") console command has been changed to "spi" (or "SetPlayerObjectId").
Added object sprites to the minimap. If preferred people can still use traditional "blips" or even both (see the in-game options).
Removed the messages that were displayed when toggling the minimap (for example "Minimap on" etc).
Changed the "UseSteering" flag to 0 for turrets in ObjectClasses.ini (this allows players to mouse aim turrets).
Added a laser/scope to the long range turret weapons. This is great for player controlled turrets in multiplayer.
Removed power up collection console messages (for example "Found a box of bullets"). The name of the last collected power up is still shown at the top of the screen for a few seconds along with a picture.
Map Editor: Moved the mode buttons to the sidebar, this makes the editor more intuitive and frees up space on the top toolbar for new buttons.
Map Editor: Added the Shapes button to the top toolbar allowing for basic shapes to be drawn (currently only ellipses are supported).
Map Editor: Added the ID button to the top toolbar which toggles the displaying of ID numbers above objects, sprites, waypoints and lights (easy ID lookups for scripting).
Map Editor: Fixed a bug where the current sprite (at the mouse pointer in Sprites mode) may not have been drawn correctly, this may also have caused crashes in some cases.
Increased the maximum particle count from 384 and 768 and suppressed the "Too many particles" console messages.
The main menu background now stretches to the correct size regardless of the screen resolution.
The last saved video type is now actually used (i.e. Meteor 2 remembers when it was run in a window for the next time).
When drawing messages to the screen (main menu and in MP games) it no longer shows the word "Messages" above the message list. Also the like on the left does not flash anymore.
Sounds travel 50% further (you can hear stuff that is further away).
Boats and planes steer faster.
The submarine objects are now water objects (not land based), the underwater missions have been updated accordingly (this all came about because of multiplayer).
The Black Ops Sniper trooper no longer drops the sniper rifle, this was a problem because the player could get this weapon too early in the game (Warden Rescue mission).
Added a performance test panel allowing certain features to be temporarily disabled to test the game's speed on different computers (press F9).
Added "Markers" in the Map Editor ("Markers" button on top toolbar). Markers mode toggles Union Jack style lines being drawn across the map to help editors find the map centre etc.
Removed the sword as a player weapon.
Played around with the Sheep Blaster to make it more formidable and well fun I guess. Great for multiplayer.
Me_mantis redid the flamethrower to make it more realistic and rewarding.
Me_mantis redrew the heavy tank.
Moved the time remaining display (for timed missions and head to head games) down to the bottom right of the game screen (status bar).
Removed the word "Mission" from the status bar on the game screen.

New Console Commands

fps
mission
rotation
warp
net gameinfo
net players
net ping
net id
net peers
net ResolvePlayerId

New Script Commands

GameType (variable)
SC_GetObjectSpeed
SC_SetObjectSpeed
OnObjectHurt

Changed Script Commands

These have been changed for v1.1, old scripts may need to be updated, see the editor docs for more information.

SC_AddObject
SC_CreateToolbar
SC_AddToolbarButton

Changes from v1.0 to v1.01

Added five different skill levels (pick one from the menu when starting a new game).
Updated the in-game documentation and keys reference.

Notes

Existing saved games from v1.0 will work fine with this version. To change the skill level for older saved games type "skill x" on the console (where x is between 0 and 4).

Changes from Beta v1.42 to v1.0

Totally rewrote all of the collision detection code, this now rotates rectangles rather than using large binding boxes.
Object blips on the minimap are now proportional to the object's size and are drawn in the correct place.
Updated the timer code which fixes many timer related issues (including rate of fire).
Fixed a bug where objects getting killed were sometimes affecting other objects.
Corrected placement coords of wasted sprites, wasted sprites should be the same aspect ratio as the object's base sprite for perfect placement.
Added the "ScriptSymbols" console command (this lists all the functions in the current script).
Projectiles no longer move while the game is paused.
Weapon spray now works for all objects (not just the player).
Changed the flashlight colour to 75,75,75 by suggestion of Papercut.
Objects now stop instantly when firing. This was a problem for objects with slow deceleration (like helicopters) as it caused then to stop and fire from directly above the target.
Non player objects can shoot slightly further.
Power ups animation has been improved.
- game.ini now contains both SpinPowerUps AND HoverPowerUps (use and/or!).
- The powerup slide factor has been changed from 4 to 3.
When getting wasted on a linked the player restarts the current map instead of the initial map.
Added the "closed" sector passable type, this stops anything from passing (including aircraft).
Aircraft now rebound off the edge of the map (and "closed" passable type sectors).
Fixed a bug where objects were being activated too early (before becoming visible). This was happening when map switching because the old map window coords were being used to draw the first frame (objects wakeup when they are first drawn).
Fixed a bug where boats were drowning when their AI type was set to guarding. This was happening because "guarding" objects inherit the "turret" object class which is land based.
Increased the default map size in the Map Editor from 3000 by 3000 to 5000 by 4000. As people don't tend to change this when starting a new map, most of the maps that get sent in are quite small.
When loading a map in the Map Editor the terrain window now centres around the single player start point.
Increased the maximum game object count from 768 to 1536.
Textures displayed in the texture picker are resized down to 96 pixels where either dimension is larger than 96 (aspect ratios are preserved).
The mouse wheel can now be used to scroll the pages in all image selectors (this includes the texture, object, sprite and power up pickers).
Added 2 new buttons to the angle select boxes for rotating by 45 degrees to the left and right.
Fixed the "are you sure you want to exit?" style message in the Map List Editor (this was typoed as "edit" instead of "exit").
Removed meteor2.dat and moved the files to base\system, this makes all data modable (the lot!).
Moved base\menuback.pcx to base\system\menu\menuback.pcx.
Moved base\intro.gif to base\clips\intro.gif.
Removed base\graphics\system\ (side icons went to base\graphics\icons\).
Changed the default font to 8 point Verdana.
F1 now displays in-game help rather than going to the main menu.
Fixed a map sprite animation bug which was preventing placed sprites from animating.
Vehicles with less than 25% health show a smoke trail.
Tanks turn faster (this provides a smaller turning circle while moving).
Boats turn slower.
Vehicle reverse speeds are now defined by their object class (tanks reverse at full speed, cars at half speed etc).
You can drive trains! Just be sure to block off each end of the track (sorry you can't couple coaches together yet).
TNT now explodes. To script an explosion simply set a TNT object's hits to 0 using the SC_SetObjectHits function.
The first (default) sprite will always use the first (default) image (a white box).
The first (default) object will always use the first sprite (missing map objects will now be a white box instead of an "airlock" sign).
The player can no longer move while the game is paused (not sure if I made this bug while developing this version).
Added special 50 cal ammo for the 50 cal minigun and made the player able to use this weapon.
Added support for 20,000 by 20,000 pixel "mega maps" (20,000 pixels is the equivalent of 1,250 tiles in Meteor 1).
Added scaling for the minimap (it will never get bigger than a set size in either dimension).
Added a new "Game Option" for the minimap size (1-10), 10 is full screen width, 1 is 1/10 of the screen width.
Fixed a bug where deleted verts where not been removed from sectors. For example if a sector had 5 verts and one was deleted, the sector would still have 5 verts but 2 of them would occupy the same space (nasty bug!). The map loader in this version automatically fixes these errors, the "delete vertex" code has been fixed to prevent any more occurrences. Some sectors made in older maps (sectors where the same vertex is used more than once) may be affected, you should check your maps to be sure.
grass-dry-drk.pcx has been made darker than grass-dry-reg.pcx (these were the same image).
Objects can be bound to waypoints in the Map Editor (see Object Properties).
Fixed a bug where the current player weapon was incorrect on maps using a custom player object.
Added support for ride on objects (also added the hoverboard). Non player objects need to be attached to ride on objects using the SC_PutObjectOnHorse script command (see base\maps\examples\HorseTest.map and HorseTest.sc).
Added "Set as Default Object" on the object right click menu in the Map Editor. After selecting a default object all objects placed will be the same in every way (except ID). This will reset once another object is picked.
When the player is wasted it is no longer possible to scroll around the map using the cursor keys.
Sounds now fade when further away.
Fixed a bug in the bitmap pickers that was causing some of the images to be missing (images no longer go off the edge of each page).
Fixed the dragger size on the bitmap picker scrollbars (the dragger used to take up the whole bar).
Objects are now drawn at the right angle in the Map Editor (it was drawing at the specified angle even if "Specify Object Angle" was set to False).
Improved player placement when getting out of vehicles (its also harder to get out on the other side of walls).
Created new folders (base\graphics\effects and base\sprites\effects) for storing effect related images and sprites.
Added muzzle flash sprites to weapons (see "Muzzle Flash Sprite" in the Weapon Editor). Note that muzzle flash sprites are centred around the the tip of the weapon, therefore it is often appropriate the leave the bottom half of each image blank to make the sprite appear at the end of the weapon.
Added multiple projectiles for weapons (i.e. the shotgun fires 10 shot projectiles with 1/10 of the original damage). See "Projectile Count" in the Weapon Editor, note that if a "Spray Factor" is set this will essentially mimic a firing cone.
Greatly improved the visual appearance of non-seeable projectile lines (bullet lines). Basically a 1 pixel wide line is taken from "base\graphics\effects\BulletLine01_01.pcx" (don't get to hung up on changing the colours in this image as white is "on" and magic pink is "off" (its just a mask, M2 colours it in). The angle of the line taken from the image mask is the same as the projectile's angle, the position it totally random every time. In basic terms the bullet lines are drawn using a "pattern line", this image provides the tile for that pattern. (Tech heads see DRAW_MODE_MASKED_PATTERN using random anchors of the images dimensions).
God mode now works properly in all cases.
Health power ups can be collected when in or on vehicles.
The HUD now displays separate health bars for the player and the vehicle they are in/on.
Damage (acid) sectors now work. Set the damage amount and time interval in the sector properties.
The music does not change when "quick" level switching (this means when using the console or script commands to run a new map).
Fixed the standard C functions for scripting (only strcpy actually worked, the other caused an "dummy instance" error).
Fixed a bug when loading saved games which was messing up the passable map (not allowing the player to move after loading the game).
It is now possible to have shadow roof sectors (these did not work before).
Added Papercut's varied power up sounds (these are great).
Improved texture offsetting in the Map Editor (press the cursor multiple times, it no longer goes zooming away to some ludicrous value when holding the key down).
Added sniper mode support for weapons (hold down the right mouse button and scroll around). The flag for this is set per weapon in the Weapon Editor. There is also a laser option (this is always present in sniper mode). Basically use the scope option for the player and laser for NPC objects.
Practically rewrote the Weapon Editor, it does not crash on exit anymore.
The player is not constantly prompted to enter access codes for those "Enter Access Code" sectors.
Added mechanics and medics. The AI of these objects is controlled in the Object Editor, there weapons do minus damage values (see Projectile Editor).
Added object following other objects AI. In the game use the E key to ask objects to follow you or guard. In script use SC_SetObjectFollow to tell an object to follow any other object.
The intro video no longer plays on program start. Instead this has to be picked from the main menu. However great the video is it is unlikely that people are going to want to watch it every time. Due to the size of the intro this ultimately improves load speed (you used to have to wait for video to load even if you "space" or "esc" to skip it).
Only the textures for the current map are loaded. This saves a whole bunch of memory and increases the game's initial load speed. Of course the Map Editor still loads all the textures so it takes a few seconds to load the editor.
Added the "MapTextures" console command, this shows all of the currently loaded textures.
Fixed a crash bug that was occurring sometimes when the player died, this was quite a technical and complex bug to fix.
Fixed a crash bug when starting a new game which was connected to power ups. This was a "sheer coding stupidity" bug which was staring me in the face.
Fixed a crash bug when starting a new game (in fact whenever stopping/changing the current music). This was due to a complex memory allocation issue.
Computer controlled (NPC) objects now reload their weapons from time to time if their clips are not full.
Added 2 new console commands IconRecord and IconStop. I will document these in the docs later. Basically it pumps out 96x96 size frames of the player to PCX files in the game directory.
Fixed some issues with certain weapons not reloading properly (not using clips at all). This was with clip weapons that did not have required items. It is now fine to now have required items for clip weapons.
Added a "Centre Weapon on Object" button in the Weapon Mount Editor. This is handy for turret based weapons that use a laser sight or scope because the laser always comes from the centre of the object.
Projectiles now teleport. Also the bullet lines/teleporters thing has been properly addressed.
Fixed a bug that was causing special and teleport sectors to be activated seemingly at random (usually when the player is nearby). This fix may also resolve some other more minor terrain collision issues.
Fixed some object targeting issues, these were causing noticeable problems with turret ranges. Thanks to Dave Man for picking this up.
Mouse aiming can no longer be used to steer vehicles.
Vehicle enter and exit sounds can be customised in the object editor. Thanks to mike323323 for bugging me to get this done.
The Map time limit (advanced map properties) is now actually saved (this was not being stored at all). Thanks to Assain for the bug report.
Game data is no longer automatically reloaded after leaving certain editors. When the data needs to be reloaded a new item appears on the main menu. Now you can choose when to load the data back in thus saving load times with multiple edits.
Fixed a problem where new objects (added during play using script or when their vehicle was killed) were being given the id numbers of previously killed objects. This was causing all kinds of strange problems most notably the duplicate running of OnObjectDie_?? events long after the object had been killed. Thanks to mike323323 for first bringing this to my attention back in May.
Both the "battle" and "storm" weather effects now work (set these in the Advanced Map Properties).
Fixed a bug where SC_GameOver was not working properly when the player was in a vehicle.
Added quick load/save support (use F6 and F7).
Finished the entire single player campaign (this took months)!

New Script Commands

SC_CreateToolbar
SC_DestroyToolbar
SC_AddToolbarButton
SC_AddExplosion
SC_GetObjectActive
SC_SetObjectActive
SC_GetSoundNumberForName
SC_PlayDirectionalNumber
SC_BindObjectToWaypointSoft
OnExitVehicle
SC_GetObjectTypeNameForNumber
SC_GetObjectTypeNumberForName
SC_GetObjectSide
OnObjectTypeEnter
OnObjectTypeExit
StaticFlags (variable)
UseMiniMap (variable)
SC_CloseForcefield
SC_GetObjectNoTarget
SC_SetObjectNoTarget
SC_AddObject
MapWidth and MapHeight (variables)
TimeLimit (variable)
SC_PassToConsole
SC_PlayMovieClip
SC_DoesObjectExist
SC_PutObjectOnHorse
SC_KickObjectOffHorse
SC_ObjectHoot
SC_OpenDoor
SC_SetSectorDamage
SC_GetSectorDamage
SC_SetSectorDamageInterval
SC_GetSectorDamageInterval
SC_SetPlayerInteractionEnabled
SC_GetPlayerInteractionEnabled
OnObjectLaserTrip
SC_SetObjectFollow

Changes from Beta v1.4.1 to Beta v1.42

SC_BindObjectToWaypoint will now accept a Waypoint ID of -1 to unbind objects.

Changes from Beta v1.4 to Beta v1.41

Sprites can be added to maps in the Map Editor, this is handy for setting up previous fire fight scene with loads of wasted sprites. Of course there are far more possibilities.
Pressing R (reload) now reloads all weapons when in a vehicle.
Sector passwords can now be set (i.e. password doors), look in Sector Properties in the Map Editor.
Multiple required items are now supported, look in Sector Properties in the Map Editor.
Map Editor: The sector damage interval default value has been changed from 5000 to 500 (5 seconds).
Note that sector damage is still not implemented!
Fixed object placement detection in the Map Editor, this is especially noticeable when holding the mouse over rotated objects.
Fixed keyboard shortcuts on dialog boxes (these were not working at all in beta v1.4).

New Scripting functions (refer to scripting docs)

SC_GetSectorHidden
SC_GetObjectHidden
SC_SetSectorTriggerEnabled
SC_GetSectorTriggerEnabled
SC_Random
sprintf
strcmp
stricmp
strchr
strstr
atoi
itoa

Notes

Saved games from previous versions will not work.

Changes from Beta v1.33 to Beta v1.4

This is a major version release with a massive amount of changes, some of these changes are listed below.

Game

Added a whole load of new units.
Added turret support for units.
Had a go at the menu screen and fonts.
The briefing viewer has been replaced with the message viewer (this remembers all briefings and can be manipulated at game-time using script).
Mouse aiming while moving now works correctly.
Aircraft are no longer affected by conveyor belts (there is also some code optimisation here).
Helicopter rotors spin slightly faster.
Removed some unused images from meteor2.dat.
Optimised sector retrieval, this may also fix a problem where sectors are rarely wrongly detected.
Fixed a crash bug which occurred while scrolling down in some list boxes.
Fixed a crash bug which occurred when attempting to select a sound name when no sounds were loaded.
Fixed a minor bug where the base sector was been rendered one pixel short of the bottom of the screen.
The status bar is more transparent making it easier to see the bottom of the game window.
The yellow box around the selected weapon (left side weapon bar) is slightly more transparent.
The items on the HUD (right side) are now transparent and there are no longer any boxes around them.
Radically altered vehicle control, some vehicles have steering and are controlled differently (i.e. left/right = turn, up/down = forward/reverse). This needs a little work to get right. Note that boats are supposed to turn the wrong way in reverse.
Objects now feature acceleration and deceleration (can be customised in base\ObjectClasses.ini).
You can now run people over in vehicles. This will not work for people on the same side as you or for different terrain types (yes boats can run down fish and planes can kill birds - can someone draw me in flight some birds?). Be careful because you can also be run down by enemy vehicles!
Added James Sinha to the credits for supplying some shroud code and pledging a donation to jbgames.com.
The player is now placed properly when getting out of a vehicle. If there is nowhere to place the player then a message is displayed (thanks to Zable Fahr for message idea).
Added the "BigScreenShot" console command (takes a screen shot of the entire map).
Normal screenshots (F12) are now written as TGA files instead of PCX, this process is much faster.

Editing

Object Editor\Weapon Mount Editor: All weapon mounts are drawn (no longer just the current mount).
Map Editor: Added "Change Side" to the object right click menu.
Map Editor: The default shadow offset for roof sectors is now 0 (was 15, 0=not drawn, they look best when added manually as shadow sectors).
Map Editor: Vertex dragging now updates the minimap.
Added a new file called "ObjectClasses.ini" in the base folder. This can be copied into a mod folder and edited to change the general behaviour of objects.

Scripting Changes

Map Editor: Added script commands to to the script help file, this is very untidy as its just pasted right in from the web page :) , they may also be slightly out of date!
Added loads of new script commands and event triggers, refer to the Meteor 2 docs for more info.

Changes from Beta v1.32 to Beta v1.33

Added SideId to the sides in base\game.ini. Sides with the same SideId will not attack each other.
Added sides for GNV and ROD (aliens).
Added the SC_SetSideId(int SideNumber, int SideId); scripting command. SideNumber is the side number to change (0=neutral, 1=allies, 2=enemy, 3=GNV, 4=ROD). SideId is the SideId to set for the side (0 to 127).
Map Editor: New maps will now set the correct default player object.
Map Editor: The maximum number of map lights has been increased from 64 to 192.

Changes from Beta v1.31 to Beta v1.32

I have listed most of the major changes, there are a number of smaller changes which are not listed.

Added full mod support (meteor2.exe -base yourmod now works), a launcher will be available shortly.
Changed the sides system, these can be defined (along with icons) in base\game.ini (supports up to 16 sides).
Objects have side colour coding, all objects are now available to all sides (you pick the side when picking an object in the Map Editor). The physical colour coding itself needs some cleaning up.
Radically overhauled the object folder system (no more allies, enemy etc, base\objects and base\sprites\objects are flat folders). There should be very little impact on existing maps (GNV Troopers wont work).
Map Editor: Added the "Change Object Type" command to the Object right-click menu, use this to change an object's type while preserving its ID and other attributes (handy for old GNV Troopers which have become Airlock signs!).
Added "Override Name" to map objects (see Object Properties in Map Editor), this allows you to name all of your map objects individually (you literally can give them names!). See skybase.map for an example, you can also set the player object's name in the Advanced Map Properties.
Added a whole bunch of objects, loads of new troopers of various types and ranks.
Added skybase.map (mission 4, use the endlevel console command a few times to get there in a hurry, Foxtrot is now mission 5).
Add the SC_SetObjectSide script command (see base\maps\skybase.sc for examples).
Objects are now rendered fully in the Map Editor and in Object Pickers.
Sprites in the object and sprites selector grids are now drawn with sub-bitmaps, they are also always shown at the first frame.
Map sprites now have individual animation data (makes animated wasted sprites work correctly).
Sprite Editor: The sprite image in the Lights Editor was not quite in right place vertically, this has been fixed.
Sector textures can now parallax scroll. Note that the sector coords still scroll the same so this is only really any good for base sectors or pools of water (when used with a very slight scroll adjustment). Use the "Scroll Ratio" in the Sector Properties to adjust the ratio, 100 is normal, 10 is 10% of the normal speed etc.

Changes from Beta v1.3 to Beta v1.31

Fixed a bug where player ammo was not been deducted when using non-clip weapons.

Changes from Beta v1.2 to Beta v1.3

Many changes are not listed, here are most of the more important ones.

Game

Saved games now work (use F2 and type in a filename to save your game).
Teleporters now work (set the teleport id for sectors in the Map Editor).
The minimap is now drawn after the lighting effects so its viewing is not impaired by map lighting.
Fixed a second key door (it was not actually requiring a key) in Chemical Plant.
"Found a bullets" and similar messages now read correctly (i.e. "Found some bullets").
Added a new ammo icon on the HUD (thanks to me_mantis for the image).
The console is new! A totally new console window component has been written, one major advantage is that it allows the user to type in a command while messages are being added to it.
The weapon selection bar and console colours can be customised for mods in game.ini.
SpinPowerUps has been added to game.ini, enable this (set to 1) in your mod for Meteor 1 style spinning power ups.
Multifire (fire in all directions) weapons now work.
Armour now works (this was not actually enabled before), it is very effective.
Fixed a crash bug where map lights where not been destroyed when unloading maps.
If the player picks up a weapon that they already have they now get some ammo (a bug was preventing this).
Added a God Mode power up (shades).
Added objects and projectiles to the minimap.
The debug build is much much faster.
Setting a projectile's ammo item to nothing means that no ammo is required (therefore you can have ammo-less weapons).
Finally nailed the problem with enemy range and sight etc (this was still not right).
Added a bunch of new units including the standard bad guy (red) troopers and a fencer!
Added a sword weapon that the player can use (this is a secret level thing, not for general gameplay!).
Fixed a crash bug where exiting a level in an unarmed vehicle would cause the game to crash when starting the next level.
Some objects (at angle 0) were being placed at angle 255 (1 unit off), this has been fixed.
Sprites now animate correctly (many on screen sprites of the same type will not animate faster).
Fixed a minor projectile spray factor bug (projectiles where only spaying to one side).
Hopefully there should be less crackle with module music playback (increased playback buffer size).
Added an XM8 rifle, this is more accurate and has a slightly larger clip size than the regular machine gun (image by me_mantis).
The weapon image on the HUD (status bar) is now drawn slightly higher (helps prevent images from going off the screen).
Sector/object collision detection has been improved, no more sticking half way through walls.
Doors are easier to open (sometimes it was tricky to get close enough), this is down to improved collision detection.
When in control of vehicles all weapons are now fired simultaneously.
Planes no longer change their course or speed while firing.
Added a bunch of new objects, especially loads of troopers, tanks and helicopters are on the way.
Added more action to the Beach Head Map.
Made some changes to the Swallow Lake and Chemical Plant maps.
Added a new "mega-map": Base Foxtrot.
Meteor 2 now uses a newer version of the Fblend library, this may help the light sourcing/crash bug?
When doors open the sector's bevel is set to flat (it no longer stays raised).

Editing

All things (objects, power ups, lights etc) can now be dragged (moved) in the Map Editor when in the relevant mode.
Fixed a general ID number allocation problem in the Map Editor (things were getting duplicate IDs).
Added a Reset/Fix ID numbers feature in the Map Editor's Advanced Map Tools menu (be careful with this if your script references IDs).
The frequency of sector damage (the amount that it hurts the player) can now be set as well as the damage value.
The Show Passable Colour Coding button in the Map Editor is now working.
The "P" key was assigned to 2 buttons on the Map Editor Toolbar (now it just selects Power Ups and not Player Start mode as well!).
Cancelling any image selector used to return the first image in the list, this has been fixed.
The placement of map lights is now more straightforward (centre of light is placed at mouse coords and lights are always centred around the original coords after being resized).
Adding a new sector in the Map Editor now updates the minimap.
Advanced scripting is now in place (albeit in its infancy), see the Meteor 2 docs for more info.
Textures can now be offset in the Map Editor (Sector mode -> mouse over sector -> shift + cursors).
Waypoints now work (you will need to figure it out), generally objects are bound to waypoints in a script.
Sectors can set set to indoors or outdoors (default) but don't get too excited because this data is not actually used (realistically it may never be used).
Object Editor: Added hurt sound.
Removed ProjectileMoveStep from game.ini, all speeds are now the distance moved per cycle (move step).
All editors now have the common status bar and verbose message output is suppressed.
Map Editor: Vertex select box can now dragged up and left as well as down and right.
Map Editor: Player start zones now have a transparent fill.
Map Editor: Sector rotation now works (be careful using this with shared vert sectors).
Map Editor: Added "Duplicate Light" function, right click on an existing map light to use.
Sprite Editor: Improved light editing, changed background to black, lights can be duplicated, lights show a box when being repositioned.
Object Editor: Added "Allow Shadow", objects have a small shadow when rendered, sometimes this is not appropriate as its based on frame 0.

Changes from Beta v1.1 to Beta v1.2

Objects (units) now have the correct range (so there is less chance of being shot at from off the screen).
Fixed the blue key door in the Chemical Plant.

Changes from Beta v1.0 to Beta v1.1

Fixed object target acquiring (now you get shot properly)
Fixed mouse aim light not working