********************************************
New Features for v0.99f
********************************************

This is a list of new additions and dramatic changes for 99f.

General Features
--------------------------------------------
Version 0.99f is primarily a patch for version .99e. It does, however, have some important changes beyond bug fixes. Here's a list of some of the newer and more prominent features:

Generations Arena requires more memory than standard Quake 3 Arena. This requires a higher com_hunkmegs value to properly run. We have now forced com_hunkmegs to a min 128 value. You can set it higher, but no lower. This should hopefully prevent bug reports resulting from too low a setting. This does NOT affect dedicated server, only actual playing clients will have this value forced.

There have had some minor modifications to some of the classes. For Earth Soldiers, armor shards now give 5 points of protection as opposed to 10. Rifle damage has been decreased to 100, and reflection shots to 50. Strogg Troopers' railgun now does 100 points of damage as well. The Mortar takes a bit more skill to use than in past versions. It still traverses the same arc, but you'll have to lead your shots more, and land them closer to your target. It can still reach where no other rocket launcher can, and will still deliver a nasty concussive blast to anyone close to the bomb when it lands. The dual gatling guns are a bit less effective at longer ranges, but can cover a wider swath at close to medium range. For those who prefer a more old-school appearance, Earth's gatling gun(s) can now switch the laser off as well. Just set your color2 variable to "0" while an Earth Soldier and it will deactivate your laser during Free-For-All and Tournament matches. Arena Gladiators now spawn with 100 health just like everybody else. We have our own optional spawn protection system, and this helps to ensure that everyone is in fairly equal footing after respawning.

Invunlerability has been modified as well. It is now fully adjustable by the server for both direct hit and splash hit damage protection. It can absorb all damage, or a partial amount. By default it protects against 2/3 of all damage given. This means you CAN kill a player with the invulnerability artifact, much like you can kill someone with the Battle Suit in normal Quake 3 gameplay, but you'll still have a fairly tough time doing so. This does not affect spawn protection. A spawn protected player is always fully invulnerable until he or she discharges a weapon or the timer expires. In addition, invulnerable players can no longer be set on fire. They can still take direct damage from the Napalm Launcher.

You can now disable the visual kickback on some of the weapons. This is primarily intended to help those with low framerates or who have problems with motion sickness during play. We recommend leaving it enabled to get the full experience during gameplay.

You can now selectively disable the dynamic lights on the Doom plasma rifle.

Map rotation has been changed again to work a bit more intuitively from our last build. (This will be covered under the Server Setup section of the manual as well.) Generations Arena now supports list-style map rotation files, as well as the old Q3 way of doing things. By default, maplists are enabled. There are four main default map rotation files, located in the "rotations" subfolder. Along with these are several sample gametype rotations for custom play. The main rotation files are as follows:

gen_ffa_maplist.cfg
gen_tourney_maplist.cfg
gen_teamdm_maplist.cfg
gen_ctf_maplist.cfg

Maplist files MUST end in .cfg or they will not properly load. This is due to how Quake3.exe handles text data. For clarity's sake, all maplists end in _maplist.cfg to differentiate them from executable config files. Maplists can be kept either in your generations folder, or the rotations sub-folder. Generations Arena will look in both places when attempting to load a maplist into memory, so you don't have to specify a path, just the name of the file. After a gametype change is issued, the new maplist will load into memory prior to level exit. If you've requested a specific map after requesting a gametype change this map will take precedence over the maplist.

Note these are now a list-style setup. In addition, server commands can be issued upon map execution by encapsulating them with brackets, as follows:

mapname
{
fraglimit 20
timelimit 0
dmflags 64
}

You can include up to 32 commands, which will execute immediately preceeding the map's loading. This allows you to customize maps for number of players, timelimit, fraglimit, capturelimit, dmflags, genflags, etc. We do not recommend gametype changes or maplist changes to be issued from within a maplist. A sample file is included in the rotations folder to demonstrate how this system works in full.

So what's the advantage of this system? First, you can specify any maplist using the maplist cvars (specified in the cvars section of this update). That means you don't have to run the same maps over and over, or write complex vstr statements that are prone to mistakes. Just change the cvar to point to the maplist you want, and those are the maps you'll play. You do have to specify an initial map using the "map" command at server start, but after that the game will load whatever maps you've ordered. All you have to do is write an initial config to set timelimit, fraglimit, etc, call the map, and it'll take care of itself. We've included some default .cfg's that you can use for quick server setup. Just exec them on server initialization:

gen_ffa.cfg
gen_tourney.cfg
gen_teamdm.cfg
gen_ctf.cfg

Please note that unlike .99e, these do NOT automatically execute on gametype change! These are intended for a server admin to execute upon server start. Only the map rotation file is automatically parsed on gametype change.

We've also included several class-specific gametype configs located in the rotations subdirectory. For example, if you wanted to create a Doom Deathmatch-style server, running only Doom-themed maps with only Doom Warriors allowed, just issue the following command at server start:

exec rotations/doom_ffa.cfg

This makes it easy for a server admin or someone with rcon to set up a specific gametype and take advantage of Generations Arena's customizable nature. In addition, the list-style system also allows better control over how the maps cycle. Instead of playing the same maps over and over, in the same order, you can set the server to pick a random point in the mapcycle to begin, or randomize the mapcycle completely. This adds more variety to the gameplay.

Commands and Cvars
--------------------------------------------

g_usemaplists - cvar to enable or disable use of rotation files.
0 - disable loading of map rotation files.
1 - enable loading of map rotation files

g_ffamaplist - specifies which maplist is loaded during FFA play. Default "gen_ffa_maplist.cfg"
g_tourneymaplist - specifies which maplist is loaded during FFA play. Default "gen_tourney_maplist.cfg"
g_teamdmmaplist - specifies which maplist is loaded during FFA play. Default "gen_teamdm_maplist.cfg"
g_ctfmaplist - specifies which maplist is loaded during FFA play. Default "gen_ctf_maplist.cfg"


g_mapsort - controls how maps cycle when maplists are enabled.
0 - Normal map order.
1 - Random start point. Maps will cycle normally, but from a random start point in the list.
2 - Randomized map order. No map will repeat until all maps have been played, then they will be shuffled again.


Added cvars for invulnerability control:
g_invulnFactor
g_invulnSplashFactor

cg_dlightplasma - enables/disables Doom plasma dynamic lights. Default 1 (enable).
cg_weaponkick - enables/disables viewkick on Strogg/Earth weapons. Default 1 (enable).


********************************************
List of changes
********************************************

Here is a full list of changes from 99e to 99f, including many bug fixes.

Small team huds for Doom and Slipgate fixed.
PORTAL surfaces fixed.
Stormatorium's sky fixed again.
Heavy Chaingun cg_predictitems with ammo pickup behavior for Doom Warriors fixed.
Heavy Chaingun no longer gets stuck while running out of ammo.
Discharging into slime and lava printing wrong obit for victims fixed.
Strogg and Slipgate waterlevel handling for viewheights fixed. This was preventing Slipgaters from jumping in shallow water.
Changed execing of map rotation configs to scripted list-style arrangement.
Added "g_mapsort" cvar to control rotation:
0 - Normal map order
1 - Random start map
2 - Randomized map order
Fixed spamming of "This model cannot be used for this class. Forcing default" at random during Team play.
Fixed bots having incorrect team data after switching from FFA/Tourney to TeamDM/CTF.
Added "g_usemaplists" cvar to control rotation. (0 disable, 1 enable)
Added g_ffamaplist cvar to specify FFA maplist
Added g_tourneymaplist cvar to specify Tourney maplist
Added g_teamdmmaplist cvar to specify TeamDM maplist
Added g_ctfmaplist cvar to specify CTF maplist
Fixed "Onfire" shader not rendering for spectators following a player or during demo playback.
Players no longer catch fire while invulnerable.
Fixed deferred models not loading during warmup at player death.
Removed accuracy checking for all melee weapons.
Fixed menu problem with driverinfo page printing a shader error.
Fixed server browser list not displaying empty and full servers.
Changed default server browser option from local to internet
Fixed LSOV icon bleeding through solids with cg_simpleitems 1.
Increased the horizontal spread on dual gatling guns from 350 to 500. (This affects the individual guns independantly)
Increased spacing on dual gatling guns from 16 to 20 units.
Increased mortar refire time from 1000 ms to 1200 ms.
Changed mortar direct hit damage from 125 to 100 + a random from 0 to 20 (Q1 and Q2-style direct hit damage).
Forced com_hunkmegs to a min 128 in UI.
Fixed out of ammo icons for Earth, Doom, Slipgate, and Strogg Troopers.
Changed out of ammo behavior Doom Combat Shotgun when down to one shell.
Changed weapon switch behavior for Doom Heavy Chaingun and Plasma Rifle when firing.
Changed weapon switch behavior for Strogg Troopers Chaingun and Hyperblaster when firing.
Changed maplist folder to subfolder "rotations"
Tweaked internal version number.
color2 0 now turns off gat laser.
Modified mortar flight path to keep old flight trajectory dynamics, even at slower missile speed.
Reduced Earth's shard pickup from 10 to 5.
Fixed "nextmap" cvar being set in q3config.cfg. This was bypassing the menu load and triggering a level load at startup.
added cg_dlightplasma cvar to enable/disable Doom plasma dynamic lights. Default 1 (enable).
added cg_weaponkick cvar to disable viewkick on Strogg/Earth weapons. Default 1 (enable).
Hand Grenade splash calculating wrong for expired timer fixed.
mortar flight slowed to 1200 units and radius reduced to 160.
Changed Arena spawn health to 100 from 125.
Added cvars for invulnerability control:
g_invulnFactor
g_invulnSplashFactor


//EOF