VCMI 0.9 - Changelog

What's new in VCMI 0.9:

October 2nd, 2012

· This build features several important new features coming beyond H3 that we implemented. The first one is the new filesystem handler. It is now possible to deploy VCMI onto various types of installation (check the file config/filesystem.json to get a taste). Thanks to that, VCMI is now able to work with ERA as well as with WoG. All mods rely on the new filesystem, please check the New Main Menu graphics or HotA Creatures mods to see how are they organized.

· The second important novelty is a mechanism allowing adding new creatures into the game. It still should be treated as provisional one, although it seems to be fully functional. Please check the Warmonger’s mod that adds HotA creature into VCMI. We also moved even more hardcoded properties to the text config files, so it is possible to modify them with a mere text editor.

· Eventually there comes an effort to provide a new and better battle AI. It is still in a very early phase and not as stable as the current AI but it will eventually replace it. The new battle AI is called unsurprisingly “BattleAI”, while the old one is “StupidAI”. Both AIs are shipped in this release and it is possible to select, which one will be used by typing “setBattleAI ” into VCMI console. By the default StupidAI, as the more stable one, is used. More AI improvement should be expected in the coming releases.

· There are also other new features, like the new quest window, please check the changelog below. We also did a number of bugfixes, including fixing previously implemented parts of Campaign support that got broken. It is now possible to start and to a certain degree play a Campaign — though there are still a number of missing features. We hope to implement them in the further releases.

What's new in VCMI 0.88:

March 2nd, 2012

· added an initial version of new adventure AI: VCAI
· system settings window allows to change default resolution
· introduced unified JSON-based settings system
· fixed all known localization issues
· Creature Window can handle descriptions of spellcasting abilities
· Support for the clone spell

What's new in VCMI 0.85:

August 16th, 2011

· Support for stack experience
· Implemented original campaign selection screens
· New artifacts supported: Statesman's Medal, Diplomat's Ring, Ambassador's Sash
· Implemented animation for new town buildings
· It's possible to sell artifacts at Artifact Merchants
· Neutral monsters will be split into multiple stacks
· Hero can surrender a battle to keep the army
· Support for Death Stare, Poison, Age, Disease, Acid Breath, Fire/Water/Earth/Air immunities and Receptiveness
· Partial support for Stone Gaze, Paralyze, Mana drain
· Other changes

What's new in VCMI 0.84:

March 2nd, 2011

· Bonus system has been rewritten
· Partial support for running VCMI in duel mode (no adventure map, only one battle, ATM only AI-AI battles)

New artifacts supported:
· Angellic Alliance
· Bird of Perception
· Emblem of Cognizance
· Spell Scroll
· Stoic Watchman

What's new in VCMI 0.83:

November 16th, 2010

GENERAL:
· Alliances support
· Week of / Month of events
· Mostly done pregame for MP games (temporarily only for local clients)
· Support for 16bpp displays

Campaigns:
· support for building bonus
· moving to next map after victory
· Town Portal supported
· Vial of Dragon Blood and Statue of Legion supported

HERO:
· remaining specialities have been implemented

TOWNS:
· town events supported
· Support for new town structures: Deiety of Fire and Escape Tunnel

BATTLES:
· blocked retreating from castle

What's new in VCMI 0.82:

August 2nd, 2010

GENERAL:
· Some of the starting bonuses in campaigns are supported
· It's possible to select difficulty level of mission in campaign
new cheat codes:
· vcmisilmaril player wins
· vcmimelkor player loses

ADVENTURE MAP:
· Neutral armies growth implemented (10% weekly)
· Power rating of neutral stacks
· Favourable Winds reduce sailing cost

HERO:
· Learning secondary skill supported.
Most of hero specialities are supported, including:
· -Creature specialities (progressive, fixed, Sir Mullich)
· -Spell damage specialities (Deemer), fixed bonus (Ciele)
· -Secondary skill bonuses
· -Creature Upgrades (Gelu)
· -Resorce generation
· -Starting Skill (Adrienne)

TOWNS:
Support for new town structures:
· Artifact Merchant
· Aurora Borealis
· Castle Gates
· Magic University
· Portal of Summoning
· Skeleton transformer
· Veil of Darkness

OBJECTS:
· Stables will now upgrade Cavaliers to Champions.
New object supported:
· Abandoned Mine
· Altar of Sacrifice
· Black Market
· Cover of Darkness
· Hill Fort
· Refugee Camp
· Sanctuary
· Tavern
· University
· Whirlpool

What's new in VCMI 0.81:

July 17th, 2010

· Zone of Control has been implemented for monsters on adventure map - they'll now guard neighbouring tiles.
· Several first adventure map spells are supported.
· All war machines are now functional.

What's new in VCMI 0.80:

April 6th, 2010

· support for hot-seat mode. It's still somewhat preliminary but should be functional.
· victory and loss conditions. It's finally possible to win or lose game (though counting points and Hall of Fame are not implemented yet). This feature, together with hot-seat, makes VCMI 0.8 first playable (to some degree) build.
· compound artifacts can be assembled and disassembled.
· Kingdom Overview window has been implemented. It has several variants, adjusted to different game resolutions.
· Grail and related functionalities: Obelisks, Puzzle Map, Digging, Constructing the ultimate building.

What's new in VCMI 0.75:

March 19th, 2010

· Implemented "main menu" in-game option.
· Hide the mouse cursor while displaying a popup window.
· Better handling of huge and empty message boxes (still needs more changes)
· Fixed several crashes when exiting.
· Movement cursor shown for unguarded enemy towns.
· Battle cursor shown for guarded enemy garrisons.
· Clicking on the border no longer opens an empty info windows
· Improved artifact moving. Available slots are highlighted. Moved artifact is bound to mouse cursor.
· new special town structures supported
· Academy of Battle Scholars
· Cage of Warlords
· Mana Vortex
· Stables
· Skyship (revealing entire map only)
· External dwellings increase town growth
· Right-click info window for castles and garrisons you do not own shows a rough amount of creatures instead of none
· Scholar won't give unavailable spells any more.

What's new in VCMI 0.74:

February 28th, 2010

· Partially done sieges. Walls are present and blocking movement, turrets are shooting. Catapult can attack and destruct the walls.
· Redone stack queue, now with info about stacks quantity. New queue graphics for high resolutions. Now 'Q' button toggles the queue. Stack acting order was also improved (though still not perfect).
· Improved pathfinder. It now supplies GUI with information about accessibility of tiles and cost of movement. That allowed implementation of most of adventure map cursors.
· creature banks (and several other objects)
· vastly improved creature animation handling in battles
· implemented save game and scenario information windows
· new resolutions

What's new in VCMI 0.73:

August 23rd, 2009

· Support for videos.
· Exchange window. It's finally possible to exchange artifacts and creatures between your heroes.
· Sailing support. You can buy a boat in shipyard and visit most of the sea objects. Water areas became accessible!
· Special battlegrounds supported.
· More artifacts and objects (including creature generators) supported.

What's new in VCMI 0.7:

February 25th, 2009

GENERAL:
· move some settings to the config/settings.txt file
· partial support for new screen resolutions
· it's possible to set game resolution in pregame (type 'resolution' in the console)
· /Data and /Sprites subfolders can be used for adding files not present in .lod archives
· fixed crashbug occurring when hero levelled above 15 level
· support for non-standard screen resolutions
· F4 toggles between full-screen and windowed mode
· minor improvements in creature card window
· splitting stacks with the shift+click
· creature card window contains info about modified speed

ADVENTURE INTERFACE:
· added water animation
· speed of scrolling map and hero movement can be adjusted in the System Options Window
· partial handling r-clicks on adventure map

TOWN INTERFACE:
· the scroll tab won't remain hanged to our mouse position if we move the mouse is away from the scroll bar
· fixed cloning creatures bug in garrisons (and related issues)

· BATTLES
· support for the Wait command
· magic arrow *reallyworks
· war machines support partially added
· queue of stacks narrowed
· spell effect animation displaying improvements
· positive/negative spells cannot be cast on hostile/our stacks
· showing spell effects affecting stack in creature info window
· more appropriate colouring of stack amount box when stack is affected by a spell
· battle console displays notifications about wait/defend commands
· several reported bugs fixed
new spells supported:
· a) Haste
· b) lightning bolt
· c) ice bolt
· d) slow
· e) implosion
· f) forgetfulness
· g) shield
· h) air shield
· i) bless
· j) curse
· k) bloodlust
· l) weakness
· m) stone skin
· n) prayer
· o) frenzy

AI PLAYER:
· Genius AI (first VCMI AI) will control computer creatures during the combat.

OBJECTS:
· Guardians property for resources is handled
· support for Witch Hut
· support for Arena
· support for Library of Enlightenment