v5.4.0 - beam fixes and movement updates

Fixed offset issues with AI units' beam attacks.

Changed player leg animation playback rates to be based on velocity and not a fixed rate.

Refined accel/decel values to be more natural and less jerky.

5.0.0 - the big update

GAMEPLAY

• 3 Brand new maps, and 1 map rebuilt entirely from scratch.
• all original 12 maps overhauled with extra detail and balance.
• Ramshocks - can now hit mechs but will deal feedback damage.
• Player can destory crystal map hazards.
• Crystal hazard now plays particle effect when hitting player.
• Player radar always set to [active] on-spawn.
• Added Headlight for dark places, default bind is 'L'.
• All mechs now have 3 'auto-config' slots. These are auto-populated based on player's CURRENT inventory availability, and split between 3 general roles.
• Auto-configs can still be modified! they just won't save their modifications.
• 'Wreckage' skins for mechs and vehicles to make the destroyed ones easier to see.
• 'Shields active' and 'Shields disabled' particle effects for all units that have shields.

UI

---

• Hangar menu uses numbers and icons for mech stats, no more bar graphs.
• fixed aspect ratio for 2D elements, no more stretching.
• 3D models for Hangar, Arming, Targeting views.
• Player can toggle between 2D and 3D target armor diagrams.
• Targeting arrow rotates 360 degrees on player's view to show target direction.
• Fixed lock-on indicators.
• Enemy variant abbreviations now show on targeting computer - ENE, BAL, etc.
• Added 'Restart Mission' option to [Pause Menu].

BALANCE

---

• Maps have been rebalanced on a better difficulty curve.
• Rotary Plasma - 2-shot burst. Burn effect now a chance of burning.
• Flak - improved shield damage, and small-target damage buff. 3-rnd burst instead of 4.
• Missiles - all missiles given damage buff against buildings / turrets.
• PAC - increased damage.
• SFGA - damage propagation to adjoining mech part.

IMPROVEMENTS

---

• Small improvement to mech piece damage algorithm.
• Added 3D clouds and backdrops to every map.
• Better Line of Sight detection for rendering game objects, better overall average FPS.
• Some particle effects changed / enhanced.
• Added rock-column obstacle that matches the biome they're in.
• Better collision detecion on buildings and environment objects.
• Dead units and buildings replaced with non-interactive wreckage, improves FPS and network load.
• AI pathfinding tuned up a little.
• Improved rain/snow particle generation.
• Reduced code and function calls where possible.
• Mech leg direction based on velocity and smoothly rotates to heading.
• Save file format simplified and cleaned up.
• Shield-hit effects cleaner and more readable.

BUG FIXES

---

• Mech death animations and incorrect blown-off parts.
• that annoying 'floating item' bug when mechs loses components.
• Item divide by zero when running upgrade/downgrade.
• Double-cockpit model issue.
• Repair Bay not restoring player's ability to shoot.
• Repair Bay consistency with functioning and repairing the correct pieces.
• AI muzzle flash offsets.
• Projectile trail offsets when first spawning.
• AI targeting allied units that attacked it.
• Save file unlocks actually fixed.

V3.7.4 - new mechs, modflags, refactor

New Mech: Warden
New Mech: Sapper

plus data files, hud, loadouts.

• newgame+ mode.

Fixes

• fixed tank floatiness.
• AI mech weapons on destroyed components were still being shown.
• Repair bay not updating HUD when destroyed weapons have been repaired.
• issue where AI would move backwards forever and get stuck.
• Weapon muzzle flash for players, they are now drawn where they should be on the mech.
• O2M1 - enemy destroyed counters for all difficulties.
• O1M4, O2M1 - pathfinding node graphs rebuilt.
• issue with player shield regen and ctrl-key regen.

Balance

• Electro-static Repeater wind-up time increased, spread increased.
• Turbo charger now also buffs mech [i]forward[/i] speed.
• Quantum Rifle - minor increase to shard max random.
• High-Strength Shield Emitters should be working as intended now.

Initial 2.0 Release

This release includes all changes made after the previous release back in Feb 2021.

• Weapon balances in March 2021
• balance: anti-shield weapons now deal flat 10% dmg on UNSHIELDED targets.
• balance: ATC reverted back to fully automatic fire, shortened lifetime of trace particles to stop phasing through objects.
• removed 'hard' target locks from game.
• shader updates for VFX and particles.
• "iniConfig" feature for maps : override player inventory and spawn them into a selected mech with weapons.
• created 3rd person HUD file.
• added new HUD icons.
• skippable animatics.
• added in-mission weapon rebind menu.
• fixed issue with 0 saved games in newgame menu.
• pre-launch validation works for Weapon groups and mech selection.
• fix game clocks to show correct time elapsed.
• probably final fix for .ignoreSave map feature.
• fixed AI movement on mostly flat surfaces.
• fixed issue where Shield Break animation playing even when not actually breaking.
• complete fix for player inventory unlocks.
• fixed player team switching in Team Deathmatch.
• performance optimization of drawing client-side models.
• changed sound() calls to sound7() calls, allowing for pitch-bending and better sound playback.
• UI2.0 rebuild.

Major Refactor of Network back-end.

Back-end and QoL
Finally ready after a few weeks of work, this fairly sizeable update is here. I appreciate everyone providing
good feedback on things that needed improvement.

Co-op work is ongoing at this time, I've noticed a lot of latency when fighting a lot of bots.

new .cfg vars
Please check your config.cfg (found in c:\users\user\Saved Games\battlemetal\metaldata\ )
copy-past these settings if you don't already have them set.
These are part of the network improvement features of this patch.

//sv cfg:
sys_ticrate 0.01
net_usesizelimit 0
sv_gameplayfix_consistentplayerprethink 1
sv_checkforpacketsduringsleep 1

//player config:
_cl_rate 375000
_cl_rate_burstsize 8192
net_usesizelimit 0
cl_movement 1
cl_netfps 72
cl_netimmediatebuttons 1
cl_nettimesyncboundmode 6
cl_nettimesyncboundtolerance 0.25
cl_nettimesyncfactor 1

Fixes

• Player Critical hits not resetting after they respawn in multiplayer.
• Player location refinement in networking games.
• Player quitting network game works gracefully now.
• Player having older target info when respawning in multiplayer.
• Player not being able to target things in multiplayer, especially Deathmatch.
• Player beam-weapon origins and endpoints now reflect where the hits are going for all players.
• Player accuracy moved clientside, and tuned up, not essential for gameplay.
• Player weapon reloads weren't not functioning properly in the release build.
• Player upstream data now sent more consistently to server.
• Menu - Hosting games, sorted out proper engine config vars being set in the UI.
• Server - TDM servers weren't detecing their 'timelimit' rule properly.
• Save files - game now properly saves the 'current' map that they are in for campaigns.
• Various network updates to clean-up data syncro and speed.

Added

• Game Rules handling setup in dedicated GameInfo entity, increases consistency when sending info the players.
• Data caching enhanced for game stability, should reduce memory overhead and decrease logging messages.
• AI - AI voice system moved to the client, reducing network traffic load for AI units.
• AI pathfinding and update rates now detect if game is a network game or single player, adjusting their refresh rates accordingly.
• Player death in multiplayer is only shown to each player.
• Player debrief in Campaigns now has a countdown bar over the 'next mission' button to display the wait time for debrief end.

Release v1.0.4

Version shipped with full game on 12/23/2020.

Not compatible with any prior Alpha or Beta version!

Itemized Changes

• Darkplaces engine re-baselined to the latest 2018 build.
• Darkplaces engine VM memory caps lifted for particles, CSQC entities, effects, etc.
• AI API completely overhauled to use true path-finding via a nodegraph implementation.
• AI State/behavior refactor: code complexity reduced, readability increased.
  • AI properly lose targets and will return to previous behavior.
  • patrol paths now are metadata placed on top of the nodegraph data set.
  • tether still needs some work.
  • AI can be given new orders by map triggers at run-time.
  • AI will attempt to pathfind to next patrol nodes.
  • 3 basic behavior sets now define all AI cases, much easier than before.
  • Dead AI Mechs now leave behind wreckage that reflects their state on-death; no more re-appearing limbs on wrecks.
• Nodegraphs - implemented and usable with trenchbroom
  • engine looks for a .nodes file in the data/maps/<map> folder.
  • cmd m nodexprt 1 will build the .nodes file, remember to move it to the right folder.
  • cmd m dbgedge X will show all valid edges of a ai_node_path entity in-engine.
• Main Menu - expanded player color picker.
  • player can set different colors per-mech-piece.
  • player can save 1 unique color set for each faction.
• Main Menu - Server Browser
  • actually works as intended now.
• Mapping - updated a bunch of entity definition items and fixed some lingering problems too.
  • hitboxes for many buildings are now accurate.
  • map_deploy_points now use internal ID counter to generate their UID, a nice QoL for mappers.
  • map_deploy_points can be filtered by skill value, allowing maps to have different start points based on difficulty.
• Network: Map lists work, Deathmatch/Team Deathmatch map list is defined in file sv_maplist.txt in cache.

Balance

• Rockets: Damage 67 -> 55
• Ion Coil: Damage 90 -> 75
• Monitor - Hardpoints: re-balanced to encourage more diverse weapon options.

Fixes

there is a lot, but here's the highlights.

• fix: Config - mod-specific cvars should save now.
• fix: Critical Hits for players and bots - this works consistently and accurately in Single Player now.
  • net : always a chance of a dropped packet, and there's not much for re-send on this value.
• fix: Menu - Arming : player prevented from launching into mech IF they have no weapon groups set.
• fix: Menu - Graphics : resolution setting now should work consistently.
• fix: normalized player clientData.Send events to sv_player_api.PlayerPostThink, guaranteeing packet events are mostly sync with other player update funcs.
• fix: big fix with client-side ents being re-used too quickly. Now they have their own client-side timer before they are freed.
• fix: HUD - target name and shield meter spacing in 3D coords.
• fix: HUD - Weapon Meter Style 2 wasn't rendering properly.
• fix: HUD - added bar-line overlays to most meters for easier readability.
• fix: HUD - startup sounds now do follow player around (was a longstanding minor bug).
• fix: Networking - fully fixed player and AI target ID being sent client-side.
  • this fixes AI beam-fire origin / endpoint issues as well.

Map Fixes

• Training/Training Only - updated wording and fixed some display issues with text boxes.
• O1M1, O1M2, O2M1, O2M3, O2M4, O2M5 - rebalanced enemy spawn and types.
• O1M4 - updated objectives, no more escorts - they don't work well AND not fun. win-win.
• fix: missing building / misc_ entities.
• fix: bboxes for many entities.

Beta 2 Final Changes

Merging the final post-Beta 2 changes back into master.
I tried to make sure every commit this time around was as granular as possible. This has exploded the volume of commits but should make the history much more readable than in the past.

note compatible only with Beta 2 v1.2.3 content release, may throw errors when using other release versions.

Itemized Changes

Large Fixes

• correct render lifecycle for CSQC-side sub-entities.
• CSQC entity refactor created a knock-on effect of player target data.
• discovered possible fail-silent compile issues with my csprogs.defs, .float() t_remove and .vector v_angle were in the wrong spot.
• figured out that .float entnum needs to be set IF you implement CSQC_Ent_Spawn, to give the local ent the correct entnum.
• found that NO_DROP flag for misc_buildings not only didnt work...but used a 'do not use' flag value, whoops!
• Repair Bays fully fixed.

updates

• ui_menu_controller.qc for new scoreboard code.
• Shield hit bubble for player in FPS view is more transparent.
• added static mech models as decorations for mappers.
• func_train can now have variable speed via .speed value on the target of a train.
• reduced Monitor bbox size a little to make fitting into repair bay easier.
• removed some dead code - ai_node_recall isn't used anymore.
• AI mechs that die standing still, will leave a smoking wreck.
• animatic file spec and flags .

fixes

fix: Server Browser menu's Server List code.
fix: fully removed Compass and Graphics from CSQC UI - obsolete.
fix: background image for Radar box in HUD.
fix: proper fix for server ENDTIME check.
fix: Scoreboard for all network games.
fix: coop scoreboad and coop game mode hosting.
fix: player aim when CHASE_ACTIVE was not adjusting to crosshairs.
fix: AI death packet info send order.
fix: proper cleanup of UI Mech data ents.
fix: active radar missile cluster-ents on client-side.
fix: weapon loadout call-order for turret_light units.
fix: correct hardpoint count of turret_light units.
fix: moved default: case in weapon data ini selector to bottom.
fixes: cleaned up turret network code.
fix: further refinining aim-fix for 3PS camera.
fix: CSQC_Ent_Spawn fix also fixed piping correct entId over the network
fix: shieldHit effects were bugged somehow, now fixed again.
fix: client damage totals now tracking for network games.
fix: implemented EndFrame(), confirmed in engine source that it is a thing, just not a default spec.
fix: show zero-clock when a network game is ending.
fix: corrected dynamic light calls on repair bay and guard tower.
fix: Weapons offline notification works again and burn effects on the player.
fix: color of friendly target names corrected.
fix: only objects marked with canTarget show up on radar.
fix: ATC tracer particles only kick on at ranges > 100gu for presentation purposes.
fix: 'target killed' notification works again.
fix: ram charge up time reduced for all mechs.
fix: realized the alarm function call stack might end up with collisions or near-endless looping/overriding the original alarm ent.
fix: hud lock on graphic - mostly disabled for now.
fix: removed free ent bug,
fix: whitespace fix in change_faction map trigger.
fix: even better frame scaling algorithm for animatics to have correct aspect ratios.
fix: moved version draw to developer mode.
fix: fixed label issue in graphics menu.
fix: correct hitbox sizes in map editor for misc. buildings.
fix: added server spawnflag rules for misc. buildings. apparently thet weren't working before.

Beta 2 release v1.0.0

tagging this as Beta 2 v1.0.0 release, from here on out it'll increment on beta 2 till release.