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Alien Arena: Combat Edition Changelog

What's new in Alien Arena: Combat Edition 7.66

Sep 17, 2013
  • Combat Edition now includes the brand new Alpha Demo of Alien Arena: Tactical, a completely new mode of play that is objective oriented, slower paced, and requires precise teamwork in order to defeat the opposing team.
  • Tactical pits Aliens vs Humans in a struggle to disable the enemy base by disabling their defense systems, destroying several key components and sub-components. Each team consists of three different player classes, each with a different ability that interacts with other classes. Working together a team can destroy their enemy much faster than if not.
  • The Alpha Demo contains a single map, Tac-Extermination, and serves as a proving ground for the evolution of this new game. Some of the artwork is placeholder, as this is an Alpha, and several other game play elements regarding physics and abilities are not yet implemented.

New in Alien Arena: Combat Edition 2011 7.60 (Jul 10, 2012)

  • Renderer/Client:
  • 1. Subsurface light scattering and rim lighting.
  • 2. God Rays from sun objects.
  • 3. Dripping water rain effect POV.
  • 4. Dripping liquids on walls effect.
  • 5. Glowing ember and blowing trash effects.
  • 6. Smoother transition of dynamic and static lighting of meshes.
  • 7. Chained particle effects(i.e improved lightning, etc).
  • 8. Fix endian related bug in IQM loading routines.
  • 9. Added tooltips to GUI.
  • 10. Simple items rendering option.
  • 11. Fix timedemo code.
  • 12. Conditionals added to rscripts.
  • 13. Various optimizations in MD2 and IQM rendering.
  • 14. Optimizations in shadow rendering.
  • 15. Improved LOD scaling.
  • 16. Fix ogg-vorbis read to use host endian order.
  • 17. Added framework for adding instrumentation to HUD.
  • 18. Sanity checking for corrupt bsp files and content.
  • Gameplay:
  • 1. Smart bombs now shootable.
  • 2. Added Mind Eraser weapon.
  • 3. Improved weapon switching/selection.
  • 4. Improved antilag to compensate for built-in latency.
  • 5. Added forward and backward dodging/improved dodging overall.
  • 6. New bot CTF ai and other bot ai improvements.
  • 7. Removed restriction of being able to change teams in team games.
  • 8. Added "adrenaline" music when flags are in play.
  • 9. Extended weapon respawn times for duel mode.
  • 10. All doors now shootable.
  • New Content:
  • 1. Dm-extermination.
  • 2. Dm-leviathan2k12.
  • 3. Dm-bloodfactory2k12.
  • 4. Dm-crucible2k12.
  • 5. Dm-dynamo2k12.
  • 6. Ctf-extermination.
  • 7. Ctf-purgatory.
  • 8. ctf-vesuvius2k11.
  • 9. tca-zion2k9.
  • 10. tca-purgatory.
  • 11. tca-extermination.
  • 12. Martian Overlord player character.
  • 13. Martian Warrior player character.
  • 14. New TCA spiderbots.
  • 15. Improved LOD's.

New in Alien Arena: Combat Edition 2011 7.53 (Jan 1, 2012)

  • Extended use of VBO for big performance increases
  • Signifigant improvements to bot AI
  • "Dm Lights" server option
  • Improvements to menu code
  • Improved stats algorithms
  • Entity definition files
  • Optimized and improved vegetation rendering
  • Variety of bug fixes and code cleansing
  • Two new maps
  • Optimizations to IQM and MD2 rendering
  • New "Ultra" skill level
  • Speed hack detection improvements

New in Alien Arena: Combat Edition 2011 7.52 (Nov 30, 2011)

  • Brings new features, levels and bug fixes.

New in Alien Arena: Combat Edition 2011 7.51 (Mar 13, 2011)

  • Extensive rewrite of bsp surface rendering for a massive performance increase
  • Complete rewrite of vertex buffer object code
  • Complete rewrite of post process effects(pain, heat wave distortions, etc)
  • Improvements to light volumes
  • Improvements to shadow mapping for dynamic shadows
  • Massive renderer cleanup and re-or
  • First editions of a developer reference
  • Improvements to vehicle hud rendering
  • Added configure option for Unix/Linux ANSI color console output
  • Integrate ODE library into Unix/Linux build to avoid potential problems
  • Variety of graphical updates
  • Three new/revamped levels
  • Fixed bug with vid_restart on map change, for much faster map loading
  • Added downloading of iqm meshes

New in Alien Arena: Combat Edition 2011 7.50 (Dec 17, 2010)

  • Ragdoll physics using the Open Dynamics Physics Engine
  • Implementation of AutoTools
  • Extensive re-write of in-game IRC client
  • Two brand new maps - Annihilation and Neptune
  • Player models and skins updated
  • Fixed LOD meshes for all player models
  • Added alphamasking to ppl lit BSP surfaces
  • Fixed dodge-chaining exploit
  • Extensive code cleanup in many areas
  • Faster particle rendering
  • Updated MacPorts build
  • Fixed bugs with exiting vehicles
  • TTF fonts for console and game messages
  • Fixed issues with colored names and kick/ban routines
  • Reworked auto-bot kick and auto team balancing
  • Fixed and cleaned up various rscript issues
  • Option to replace vehicle consoles with 2D HUDS
  • Listen servers automatically passworded
  • Fixed OpenAL segfaults when no devices are defined
  • Fixed precaching of base player models and their weapon models for much smoother gameplay
  • New music added for various maps
  • Fixed server issues with intermissions, and player names
  • Revamp of dm-babel
  • Updated/improved various shaders
  • Streamlining of several bsp surface renderer functions

New in Alien Arena: Combat Edition 2011 (Dec 16, 2010)

  • Do you like old school deathmatch with modern features? How about rich, colorful, arcadelike atmospheres? How about...retro Sci Fi? Then you're going to love what Alien Arena has in store for you! This game combines some of the very best aspects of such games as Quake III and Unreal Tournament and wraps them up with a retro alien theme, while adding tons of original ideas to make the game quite unique.
  • Alien Arena is a furious frag fest with arenas ranging from the small, to the massive. With a large built-in player base, it's never hard to find a good match going on, at any hour of the day. The community is friendly, as well as prolific. Dozens of maps, models, and various accessories have been created by community members to add on to the game experience. The CRX engine that powers Alien Arena has received very signifigant upgrades in recent releases, resulting not only in stunning new visuals, but vastly increased performance as well.

New in Alien Arena: Combat Edition 2009 7.45 (Jul 29, 2010)

  • New skeletal model format.
  • Soft shadows.
  • Faster, more accurate lighting.
  • Major optimizations for faster rendering.
  • Fixes for old vertex animated meshes.
  • All player models re-animated with new skeletal format.
  • Fixes in IRC client.

New in Alien Arena: Combat Edition 2009 7.40 (Jul 23, 2010)

  • Five new maps!
  • Two new weapon models.
  • Improvements to the renderer.
  • Security and memory bugfixes.
  • A variety of gameplay changes and tweaks.
  • Antilag bugfixes.
  • Revamped menu.

New in Alien Arena: Combat Edition 2009 7.33 (Dec 29, 2009)

  • Major 7.33 features:
  • 1 - Major performance optimizations.
  • 2 - Automatic video setting detection on first run(improved).
  • 3 - In game IRC client
  • 4 - Access to player rankings and stats, and skill matchmaker
  • 5 - Improved disruptor effects
  • 6 - New map, Dm-Deathray
  • 7 - Vastly improved antilag code
  • 8 - GLSL shell effects
  • 9 - Headshots
  • 10 - Improved player skins and other gfx
  • 11 - Various client and server bugfixes
  • 7.32 to 7.33 Changelog:
  • Revision: 1605
  • Fixed bug with volumetric shadows causing occaisonal crashes.
  • Revision: 1604
  • Updated with some code cleanups.
  • Revision: 1603
  • Add CPU info for Linux. Remove uninitialized variable.
  • Revision: 1600
  • Fixed invalid shader call.
  • Revision: 1599
  • GLSL shells should only be used when normalmapping is enabled.
  • Revision: 1598
  • Cleaner shell code.
  • Revision: 1595
  • Fixed bad shader.
  • Revision: 1593
  • Added headshots.
  • Revision: 1586
  • Dm-deathray, completed.
  • Revision: 1581
  • Improved HUD FPS display calculation. Make curtime variable consistent.
  • Revision: 1577
  • Fix bug with irc shutdown.
  • Revision: 1575
  • ATI/NVidia checks in first run(in other words, if it's an offbrand GPU, don't default to high settings no matter what).
  • Menu updates in IRC chat. Allow setting of server.
  • Revision: 1574
  • 1. Improved Gamara Skin(martian enforcer)
  • 2. Shell tweak.
  • 3. Menu cleanup.
  • Revision: 1573
  • Max's zoom fix.
  • Revision: 1569
  • Improved vaporizor readout.
  • Revision: 1568
  • Better zoomscope.
  • Revision: 1567
  • Updated lauren's skins.
  • Revision: 1566
  • Enforcer skin improvements.
  • Revision: 1565
  • Commander gets some improvements in skin.
  • Revision: 1564
  • Some optimizations in r_mesh.c
  • Revision: 1562
  • CPU core and speed checks for automatic video setting detection on first run.
  • Revision: 1557
  • IRC now uses it's own buffer.
  • Revision: 1555
  • Use GLSL on shell effects.
  • Revision: 1554
  • Fixed volume of countdowns.
  • Revision: 1553
  • 1. Player setup now on main menu
  • 2. Players can no longer join servers or IRC until they change their player name from default.
  • Revision: 1552
  • IRC connection indicator in menu.
  • Revision: 1549
  • Fix unix socket.
  • Revision: 1548
  • 1. In game IRC, early version. 2. Some shell effects for dying bodies.
  • Revision: 1546
  • Green effect on disruptor when firing.
  • Revision: 1545
  • Updated announcer sounds.
  • Revision: 1543
  • Moved all bot slot checking out of game code and into server code.
  • Revision: 1540
  • Removed instant packets for firing weapons, this causes packet flooding.
  • Revision: 1538
  • Revert shadow/mesh storing of lerped vertex info in entity. This caused a 10 percent or more slowdown.
  • Revision: 1537
  • Strat's send packet fix.
  • Revision: 1536
  • Strat's "sticky walls" fix.
  • Revision: 1533
  • Plasma flash tweak.
  • Revision: 1532
  • Attached muzzleflash for disruptor beams.
  • Revision: 1531
  • Changes to disruptor beam. Now fires a more random beam, and effect fades into distance.
  • Revision: 1529
  • Various weapon model improvements. Skins, position, etc.
  • Revision: 1528
  • Completed ranking, matchmaking items in game browser.
  • Fixed Statsgen truncating player names over 16 chars.
  • Revision: 1525
  • Added new stats lookup system.
  • Callvotes with only two players win on simple majority(i.e 2 votes).
  • Revision: 1524
  • Spectator no longer displays chat icon.
  • Revision: 1523
  • Polygon offset to reduce z-fighting artifacts with shadowmaps.
  • Revision: 1522
  • Added rotating icon during map loading. Disabled due to some inconsistencies.
  • Revision: 1521
  • Fix bug in menu.
  • Remove legacy scoreboard code in servers.
  • Revision: 1520
  • Antilag enabled by default. Added projectile antilag, but it is disabled.
  • Revision: 1519
  • Notification for antilag.
  • Revision: 1517
  • Add debug cvar for antilag. g_antilagdebug.
  • Revision: 1516
  • Some cleanup on antilag.
  • Revision: 1514
  • Fixed antilag.
  • Revision: 1512
  • Added framebuffer extension check failsafe.

New in Alien Arena: Combat Edition 2009 7.31 (Oct 9, 2009)

  • Added blowing leaf weather effect (type 3).
  • Cleaned up some ugly code in particles.
  • Removed redundant, useless c++ version of the map script loading routines.
  • Fog isn't drawn if density is zero(allows for weather effects without fog).
  • Fixed bug when going into menu with maps that had alot of grass/beams.
  • Dm-purgatory completed.
  • type 2 lensflares added.
  • Adds OpenAL device selection
  • Tunes OpenAL parameters
  • Various other sound improvements, cleanups
  • Deletes obsolete win32/snd_win.c
  • Fix doppler velocity initialization bug
  • Correct attenuation classification for announcements
  • Quiet some gcc "unspecified behavior" warnings
  • Massive code cleanup.
  • Fix bug with forgetting table sort order when selecting between 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 results.
  • Much better working world shadows. Set gl_shadows 4 to test, note this is not nearly finished, or perfect yet, but there was good progress.
  • cleaned up a few warnings and vars.
  • added fraglimit, timelimit, and map to callvote commands.
  • changed voting requirements. Must be at least 3 "yay" votes, and vote must win by 2 or more.
  • Do not allow players to change names during votes.
  • Added empty index.php for security in ip_flags web directory
  • Update of IP to country mappings from software77.net
  • Duplicate player names get renamed when entering server.
  • Added callvote. To disable, set g_callvote 0, it is on by default. This is in early stage, more to be added.
  • More bouncing brass fixes.
  • Fix filename string declares per Gentoo patch.
  • Make generic "sv addbot" work in team games.
  • Remove redundant glFlush in Unix version.
  • If less than OGL 2.0, forget about glsl.
  • Added automatic detection of video settings on first run. Maybe we can do some CPU checks. For now, we just look at OGL version. If a card has OGL 2, it can be safe to assume the game will run reasonable on high settings. If it has OGL 3, we can assume it will run on highest. Below 2, we check the subversion, and if it's below 1.4, then we know that it cannot run GLSL so we set it to low. Might want to check for cases like intel cards where we can set it to lowest.
  • F keys in map vote message.
  • Removed some of the ancient hardware checks.
  • Fixed cvars with anisotropic filtering.
  • Added anisotropic image filtering.
  • Implement VBO for meshes. Right now, it's only used for normalmapped meshes, when normalmapping is used. Otherwise, there is no effect as of yet, but this will change after a few issues are resolved.
  • Add VBO subsystem.
  • Rewrite particle, vegetation, and light volumes to use vertex arrays.
  • Optimizations in mesh, shadows, and other areas for fps increases.
  • Fixed duel scoreboard.
  • Redid lerping optimization, now fixed bugs with array overwrite.
  • Optimization - normal, tangent, binormal calcs done at load time for bsp surfaces.
  • Cleaned up a variety of warnings.
  • Final version of dm-saucer2k9.
  • Added dynamic light option to func_train(only purple flicker for now).
  • Added some the numerous alien props for dm-saucer2k9 - many more coming.
  • Change static url to dynamic for default download repo.
  • Galaxy - change all static urls to dynamic.
  • Fix security issue in menu.
  • Remove old screen sizing code, no games use this anymore, it's ancient junk that has no real purpose.

New in Alien Arena: Combat Edition 2009 7.30 (Jun 20, 2009)

  • GLSL per-pixel lighting on meshes(now all surfaces).
  • OpenAL 1.1
  • Ogg-Vorbis support.
  • GLSL post process framebuffer effects.
  • New scoreboards.
  • New HUD.
  • Stereo music files.
  • Seven new maps.
  • Two new player characters.
  • Voice taunt system.
  • Doppler sound effects.

New in Alien Arena: Combat Edition 2008 7.20 (Oct 24, 2008)

  • Implementation of GLSL per-pixel effects such as parallax, normal and specular mapping
  • Reward system
  • Antilag code
  • Huge optimizations
  • Bugfixes