WHAT'S NEW IN THE LAST FEW RELEASES OF HOWITZER: This isn't a complete list - there are always a lot of little bugs I've fixed and places I've sped up the code. 0.95beta (10/18/93) Added routines for digital sound - interface is simple enough I should be able to add sound lots of places. Stores samples in EMS until they're needed. Can't handle mixing more than one sample together, though. Debugging output improved (again) Drastically sped up palette cycling (explosions are a lot faster as a result) Modified explosion speeds so everything happens at a more reasonable rate - some explosions happen faster than others (mushroom clouds rise slowly, etc.) Added -B flag to skip searching for Soundblaster Popup inventory menus now allow pressing a letter to select the current item All explosions are clipped to playfield (no more overwriting the status window) Improved handling of FM sounds - added many more sounds Can change border type from "Ch[a]nge some settings" Fixed marketplace flashing up if player had negative money 'V'isibility option changes trace colors too Memory [U]sage shows memory used by digitized sound support System [I]nfo shows sound card being used Should be able to fall back to lower screen resolutions if the requested resolution is not available If a tank falls on another tank, the top tank explodes (armor on the bottom of a tank is thinner than on the top) - usually the explosion kills the bottom tank, though. Fixed reflective shields (again...) Added Anti-Grav shields Added MIRV-2 and MARV-2 rounds for even more carnage :) Shift+clicking on a menu moves the value by 5x as much Added "Team Members Adjacent" option - if on, all members of a team will be placed next to each other in a group Fixed cruise missiles in non-earth gravity Added directly modifiable gravity (or set to PLANET to get real gravity based on planet type) Air Viscosity can now be set to PLANET, and is measured relative to Earth = 1 - note that computer players don't deal well with viscosity set to non-zero Fixed computer tanks happily pounding down their teammates' shields Improved computer opponents in countless ways Reduced trace buffers from 128KB to 78KB - should only rarely run out of trace buffer space (and that won't cause a crash) Made napalm slightly more lethal Increased max. tanks to 12 and max. simultaneous explosions to 7 If Howitzer runs low on memory, it will turn off fading traces and then digital sound in an attempt to free up enough memory to keep the game going. Fixed spurious low memory warning if traces were fading and no EMS was present Warns if less than 16KB memory free according to Memory Usage popup Added another screen wipe for drawing the aiming screen Upped max. rounds to 999 Popup scores now handles money over 99999 Info on a [T]ank now allows pressing a number to display that tank, and can press 'T' to display info on another tank without having to re-pop-up the system menu If reflective border, chooser will fire as a rebounder if it has a clear shot. Changed the way computer opponents buy ammo and shields - will now buy and use more kinds of weapons Added SCATTER and BLINK borders (try launching a few MIRV-2's up through the top of a BLINK border) Flight sound change from "Change some settings" takes effect immediately Fixed nasty bug where exiting while bullets were still in the air would crash Howitzer, DOS, Windows, everthing... Added different tank explosions If tank is dead, info box on that tank shows who killed it Renamed "Dirt Fall Percent" to "Chance Dirt Falls" Howitzer exits politely if it can't find its font files or howlogo.bin Added "Computers Buy Ammo" and "Computers Buy Shields" options (off in beginner mode) Messages in Howitzer now come in 3 kinds - grey (normal), yellow (warning), and red (panic!) 0.94beta (9/28/93) Added "-Zn" option to control the video mode Howitzer uses - now it can support 640x400, 640x480, 800x600 (default), and 1024x768 Marketplace works in any resolution (up/down buttons still need tidying) Fixed using 'R' key to end round from popup system menu when no round was in progress Fixed auto-naming tanks from popup change players Wrote own memory allocation scheme - more robust than Borland C's built-in scheme. Prints better information on math errors - handles many problems without crashing the program (those pesky "square root of a negative number" errors should go away now). Made memory used display more accurate (includes control block overhead) Improved handling of leftover memory blocks in error conditions Fixed "bad logical page" EMS errors caused by passing bad coords to SkyPixel() (showed up in nuclear explosions, among other things) Fixed turn number not updating properly in some situations Wind=0 doesn't need an arrow for wind direction - fixed Added HAIL and ACID HAIL weather Can change weather from Ch[a]nge Some Settings in popup system menu 0.93beta (9/01/93) Improved explosion sounds Fixed problem of computer beeping if the keyboard buffer fills up Fixed bug allocating huge chunks of conventional memory - this caused many seemingly random crashes, especially if you didn't have any EMS Replaced EMS routines with my own routines - I get much better diagnostic output this way. Fixed random mysterious crashes which went away if you used -X or -E flags. Sped up drawing single pixels of sky to the screen (big chunks of sky are unaffected) Tuned down the calculated number for "compensated events" - this makes Howitzer _seem_ faster. Edited the PIF file to disable Alt+Space and Alt+Enter under Windows - since those don't seem to count as "switching away" from Howitzer, but DO corrupt the SVGA screen. Fixed bug where landscape would be incorrectly drawn after players were reassigned 0.92beta (8/13/93) Fixed being able to start in NON-team mode Fixed popup scores in NON-team mode Bundled UNIVESA 3.2 VESA TSR with Howitzer (it's free, and good!) Removed "Scores pause" and "Logfile options" from system info Fixed Termites memory allocation error Can change some settings from within a game using "Ch[a]nge Some Settings" option - note that changing fast endgame will only take effect if a fast endgame hasn't already started! Fixed bullet remnants left at center of a MIRV split or thermite explosion Input box has cursor Clicking outside input box dismisses it (same as ESC) Tidied system menu During aiming, a magnified tank appears in upper right corner of the screen to aid in positioning the tank barrel Sped up drawing tanks during aiming Tanks at top of system screen would change color if tank 8's team was changed - fixed. Can reassign players at end of round by pressing 'P' from popup scores Can add/delete players from reassignment box by pressing a number key At start of next game, player list is compacted - this may cause tank colors to change if there were gaps in the list, but tank names and scores will stay the same Falling tanks will be stopped by other tanks' shields Fixed strange tank positions which happened if a tank was added at the tank scores Complains if you only have one team or one tank if you're changing tank teams or deleting players with popupchangeplayers() Reduced weather effects a little If in team mode, all tanks on winning team get money proportional to fraction of tanks that are alive Added "Prize Size" option to set multiplier for all rewards 0.91a.beta (in-house release) Fixed problem where EVERY keystroke in the aiming screen got delayed. (Oops...) Fixed spurious "MALLOC: freed" messages when using -C option Fixed drawing landscape with advance calculation set to SKY ONLY or NOTHING If you send a logfile please also send HOWITZER.INI - this lets me completely duplicate your run conditions. Added two more shades of visibility for tanks (dim and bright) Fixed opponent thought buffer overruns Fixed parachutes erasing dirt from beneath tanks (which made any tank using a parachute sink to the bottom of the screen) Tidied score popup for tanks with more than 100 kills Changed suicide penalty to -160%, teamicide penalty to -80% Added TEAM mode!!! Tank teams are now colored based on team number You can't start a team-mode game with only one team. 0.91beta (7/31/93, released to registered users only) Improved the look of shields Tidied base of mushroom clouds Marketplace and aiming screen now eat prior keystrokes, so users can't accidentally click too many times and enter input for someone else Added small delay at the start of each aiming screen, so that if the previous player accidentally presses the spacebar too many times, he/she doesn't deprive the next player of a chance to re-aim Added -V option to initialize verbosely (gives me more information if Howitzer crashes on startup) Changed -M flag (log money and purchases) to -P Added -M flag to not check for presence of mouse driver (forces howitzer to use simulated mouse support on numeric keypad) Records command-line options to logfile Howitzer now uses my VESA routines instead of the shareware BGI module. The executable is about 20 KB smaller, and 25% faster than before. Fixed mysterious Signal Error in intro screen (I think...) Added spiffy wipes for drawing terrain Added "Shields Last Between Rounds" option so that shields can last from one round to the next (but only if the tank survives as well) Added "Interest Rate" option, so that money kept between rounds can earn interest between -20% and 30%. Negative interest encourages spending money as soon as you get it. Contact fuses will explode against reflective borders Much better information when an error happens - dumps registers, so I can figure out what line of code caused the crash Weather! (several degrees of acid rain and snowfall - ground either gets eaten away or added as the round progresses) Nice fades for system screen Added pretty logo "Calculate delays" button disappears in beginner mode Added AEROGEL LAND (which has impurities, but you can still shoot through a lot of it)