Evochron Legacy 1.0108 Update

By Rebecca Smith,

- Cargo scanners now properly display container contents on screen when in range.
- Improved field of view and perspective behavior added to experimental Oculus mode.
- Ability to pan head around and 75Hz refresh during intro added to experimental Oculus mode.
- Background object surfaces set to masked during launch sequence by default for experimental Oculus mode.
- Bypass added to mouse flight control modes to prevent message log button highlighting while in flight mode.
- Limb error that could occur if a client with a low terrain detail setting joined a server with a higher detail setting fixed.
- Missile tracking system updated to prevent occasionally locking onto incorrect threat level target after initial target is destroyed.
- Description of Pulsar and shipyard specs updated to reflect smaller military frames having 8 secondary weapon hardpoints.
- Alt key bypass added to consolidate and transfer cargo when docked at location where selling would be rejected.
- Problem with ships not showing up in multi-waypoint contracts in certain system locations should now be fixed.
- Custom control profile system updated to load from install folder rather than save data folder.
- Variable inertial forward/reverse control input now appears on thruster output display.
- Axis specific deadzone setting for inertial forward/reverse now applies correctly.
- 4X higher precision added to global and axis specific deadzone adjustment options.
- Vonari capital ships missile spawn points less likely to self-collide.
- Capital ships now properly fire missiles at nearby hostile NPC ships.
- Several issues with escort contract missions in war zones corrected.
- Fleet ships mining in open space under certain conditions fixed.
- Trade requests to AI ships set to be declined when mining.
- Capital ship armor level increased by about 40%
- Private text chat in multiplayer fixed.

Server Improvements:
- 3D enabled server program updated to use DirectX 9Ex by default for improved display interruption handling.
- Server programs updated to check current active folder first for universemulti.txt file.
- New checking/validation systems added to territory control value changes.

Notes:

On the experimental Oculus side of things, this update should help make things look better without any stretching or distortion. However, it comes at a penalty of text legibility. With a wider FOV to line things up, the central scope of view has to be reduced, requiring the scene ahead to be rendered through fewer pixels. This of course reduces what detail can be rendered across the same number of pixels. I'm hopeful the CV1 will provide a significant increase in resolution and image quality to help counter these kinds of compromises. In the meantime, anyone wanting to test the Oculus system can change the FOV setting back to one of the other supported values to bring the scene closer in to the player's viewpoint. One significant remaining issue involves a left/right head turning and a Z axis shift. I'll be focusing my attention on that next.

Regarding the server programs. I'd received a reports of a server operator running into problems with having to refresh the server display in the 3D server program after certain events. This was due to the fact it was based on DirectX 9.0c, which has to reload/refresh data in video memory when the display device is interrupted. This created some unwanted behavior and as such, I've updated the server program to use 9Ex instead. This allows it to use the WDDM and not require reloading/refreshing of video memory data when certain display events take place (control-alt-delete being one of them). The display behavior benefits are significant and should help provide improved stability for server operators using this version of the program. The drawback to this change is that it no longer supports Windows XP, which shouldn't be too much of a compromise. If anyone still needs to run the server program on Windows XP, the 2D version of the program should continue to run fine on that OS.

Another issue involving the server program was when it would be installed to a non-default folder. The server program looks for the universemulti.txt file in the default save data folder location and if one isn't there, no station/city modules would appear in the game. So changes to the server programs now include the current active folder path in the search for the universemulti.txt file. Make sure to back up your universemulti.txt and text8.dat files before installing any server update. That way, when the installer places default files in the install folder, you can restore them from the backups to keep your server settings and the latest station/city module data.

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Written by Rebecca Smith

Rebecca is the Newshound Manager at TrueSteamAchievements, TrueAchievements and TrueTrophies. She has been contributing articles since 2010, especially those that involve intimidatingly long lists. When not writing news, she can usually be found sharpening her very, VERY, pointy grammar stick in anticipation of its imminent use. Outside of TSA, TA and TT, she works in an independent game shop so that she can spend all day talking about games too. At home, with a variety of PCs and consoles on hand from which to choose, starting with a ZX Spectrum, games are never far away there either. However, as you're not supposed to have an unhealthy obsession with just a single subject, she also likes to read and dream about owning her own tribe of minions. She'll occasionally go outside.