Upcoming August 2008 release - RCs available!

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Carsten
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Upcoming August 2008 release - RCs available!

Post by Carsten » 2008-07-18, 16:58

Hi all,

I'm happy to announce that the first release candidate (RC1) of the upcoming August 2008 release is now available at http://www.ca3d-engine.de/e107/e107_fil ... -win32.zip (roughly 270 MB). :cheesy:
[EDIT: RC1 is no longer available as it has been replaced by a more current release. See the last post in this thread and newer posts in general for the latest release.]

The release candidates will be updated until August 1st, and unless severe errors are found until then, the last release candidate will be turned into the final release on the same day, and be renamed to "August 2008 (8.08) release".

Please test, and let me know what you think!

Very important notes about the RC1:
  • This is a Release Candidate, not the final demo.
  • Minimum System Requirements: 1 GB main RAM (1,5 GB on Windows Vista), 256 MB video (GPU) RAM.
  • There are a few known issues (problems with the music during level load, default values in Main Menu for map and model names, memory requirements reducement patch pending, Linux version not yet available). To be fixed next week, along with the Linux release.
  • I'll post a list with new features since the last release during this week.
  • The above link will only work as long as the RC1 is current, which however is to be expected short-lived and to be updated/replaced soon. If you find the link not working, check for more recent RCs or the final release of the Ca3D-Engine demo.
Have fun! :up:
Best regards,
Carsten
scott
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Re: Upcoming August 2008 release - RCs available!

Post by scott » 2008-07-19, 07:21

Great news :)
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Thrawn
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Re: Upcoming August 2008 release - RCs available!

Post by Thrawn » 2008-07-22, 14:59

Hi, great work! I really like the new GUI.

However, is it normal that not all menus are working or is it no bug and caused by the fact that it's still a release candidate? While map launching works flawlessly, the options do not work yet.

Anyway, good progress, I'm looking forward to discover the change list!
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Re: Upcoming August 2008 release - RCs available!

Post by Carsten » 2008-07-23, 18:42

Dear Thrawn,
Thrawn wrote:However, is it normal that not all menus are working or is it no bug and caused by the fact that it's still a release candidate? While map launching works flawlessly, the options do not work yet.
Yeah, the Options dialogs are not yet implemented. I'll try to make as much of them work for the final release as possible, but e.g. the input control customization will certainly not make it (the older 8.03 release has none either), same is true for the Load Game and Save Game feature. However, I'll do my best in order to get at least the basic settings (i.e. all existing and a few more) into the Options dialogs.

We've already fixed a great bunch of issues during the past days, and will continue until Friday, when the next RC is due. ;)
Best regards,
Carsten
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Re: Upcoming August 2008 release - RCs available!

Post by Carsten » 2008-07-26, 13:41

Argh! We worked like crazy, but unfortunately, RC2 didn't make it in time yesterday. :sorry:
There are just a few more issues to solve, and so I'll upload the RC2 early next week.

Here is a list of items though that we addressed (changed in RC1) during the past week:
  • A memory reduction patch has been applied that reduces memory consumption significantly. This has been achieved by the client and server now sharing a common world instance. For the TechDemo map, this reduces total memory consumption by about 260 MB(!).
    This change in turn improves level load time especially on machines with little RAM (e.g. about 1 GB) and helps with overall performance.
    In the same spirit, I had several sessions with Valgrind, fixing all detected memory leaks (e.g. in GuiSys and ClipSys). :cheesy:
  • Ca3DE.exe now also has a proper manifest and exe icon for Windows Explorer.
  • More improvements to the GuiSys scripting API.
  • Improvements to the Main Menu GUI script.
  • Several fixes and smaller changes to the SoundSys.
  • Music playback in general has been revised: The Main Menu GUI script now makes sure that there is "Main Menu Background music". That music is also stopped again before a level is loaded so that distortion and stuttering sound is avoided. The client in turn makes sure that "level intro music" is played whenever the player enters a new level. This is similar to the old Ca3DE releases.

    All this (Main Menu and Level Into music) has been implemented in scripts: Both the Main Menu and the game client call console functions in order to play the music titles, and thus the user has great control over the details, if so desired. For example, even the directory scanning and choice of the next music title is implemented in the console program state.
  • Left-handed folks like me, who have the meaning of their left and right mouse buttons swapped in the OS's System Settings, now get this setting respected throughout Ca3DE. This is highly useful both in 2D GUIs as well as for firing weapons... :flex:
  • Added early support for plants, i.e. vegetation such as bushes, trees, etc. This will however not be included in the upcoming 8.08 release (but certainly in the next).
Best regards,
Carsten
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Re: Upcoming August 2008 release - RCs available!

Post by Carsten » 2008-07-30, 20:05

Release Update (RC2)

I'm happy to announce that RC2 is finally available:
http://www.ca3d-engine.de/e107/e107_fil ... -win32.zip
:groupwave1:
[EDIT: RC2 is no longer available as it has been replaced by a more current release. See the last post in this thread and newer posts in general for the latest release.]


Besides the improvements described in the last post, the Main Menu now also comes with the remaining dialogs: "Input Controls", "Player Settings", "Video Settings", "Audio Settings" and "Credits".

Moreover, support for persistent convars has been added. That means that the settings that you make in the Main Menu (e.g. the video settings) are saved for the next start of Ca3DE.

Remaining issues for the final release:
  • Linux release,
  • "Inverse Mouse Y-Axis" works only after the player has entered the first level,
  • "Volume" setting in the "Audio Settings" doesn't work yet. :wman:
As RC2 is much better than RC1 and we're approaching the final release, :kewl:
please test this one, then share your findings here!
Best regards,
Carsten
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Re: Upcoming August 2008 release - RCs available!

Post by Carsten » 2008-07-31, 16:36

Rolling like buses... :cheesy:
Release Update (RC3)

Less than a day after RC2, we've completed RC3:
Windows: http://www.ca3d-engine.de/e107/e107_fil ... -win32.zip :wohow:
Linux: http://www.ca3d-engine.de/e107/e107_fil ... 686.tar.gz
[EDIT: RC3 is no longer available as it has been replaced by a more current release. See the last post in this thread and newer posts in general for the latest release.]

[Edit: Added RC4 for Linux. Compiled and created under Ubuntu 8.04 - should work on all contemporary systems that provide libc6.]

RC3 fixes all the remaining issues mentioned above and is supposed to be renamed to final, providing further tests reveal no serious issues.
We're really proud on this release, so please test it on as many systems as possible and tell us any problems or bugs.
Most of all - have fun!! :demo:
Best regards,
Carsten
Cipher
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Re: Upcoming August 2008 release - RCs available!

Post by Cipher » 2008-08-01, 10:48

Hi!

Tested under Windows Vista with 1 GB RAM and shared memory GPU (256 MB RAM). Even though this is way below the minimum requirements for Vista it runs the TechDemo map nicely (although it needs some time to load it, which was expected).
Other maps load much faster and the ingame performance is quite good, even with my system.

I especially like the new main menu (tested the engine before ages ago) and the terrain editor inside CaWE :coolp:

So no bugs in my side and from my point of view this would be a great release 8)

Keep up the good work :thanks:
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Re: Upcoming August 2008 release - RCs available!

Post by Carsten » 2008-08-01, 13:56

Dear Cipher, welcome to the Ca3DE forums :welcome:
and many thanks for your report!

The recent memory reduction change to Ca3DE should have lowered the memory consumption enough to make Ca3DE also run on WinVista with "only" 1GB of RAM - I'm actually considering lowering the MSR (Minimum System Requirements) specs... :cheesy:


Besides that, I've also just uploaded RC4 (which only has minor improvements over RC3) for Linux, see the URL in my prior post!
The Linux version was developed on Ubuntu 8.04, and thus links against the libc6. It should therefore work on all similarly contemporary Linux systems out-of-the-box. You really must have hardware-accelerated 3D graphics drivers for a good experience though. :)

Unless unforeseen severe problems occur, the official release will be on Monday, and I'll also finish the list of changes since the previous release until then.
Best regards,
Carsten
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Re: Upcoming August 2008 release - RCs available!

Post by Carsten » 2008-08-01, 18:53

Another day, another RC... :up:
Release Update (RC4)

RC4 (likely the final) has just completed uploading: :wohow: [EDIT: RC4 is no longer available as it has been replaced by the final release. :wohow: See the main Download page for the latest files.]

If you got RC3 before, there is no need to pick up RC4 again. RC4 just updates the README.txt file and fixes a minor bug in the generated config_p.lua files for persistent convars. It also brings more minor fixes for Linux, but as there was no RC3 for Linux that's not a problem.

Let me repeat from above that we're really proud on this release, so please test it on as many systems as possible and let us know about any problems or bugs!
Most of all - have fun!! :demo:
Best regards,
Carsten
scott
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Re: Upcoming August 2008 release - RCs available!

Post by scott » 2008-08-03, 12:02

Wow I go away for 3 days and theres 3 new updates. Cant wait to see the memory improvements :)
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