News/2010
Help keep the spirit of X-COM alive UPDATE
The Ninex server hosts projects related to X-COM, including UFO: Alien Invasion, UFO: The Two Sides and OpenXcom. Server bandwidth isn't free and we need your help to keep them alive.
We need to raise at least 225Euro each year to keep the server delivering downloads, developer tools, forums, and all the other bits and pieces that help these projects run.
Server specification will depend on how much money will be raised:
For 225 euro / year – Intel Celeron D/215/220 1.20+ GHz, 2 GB DDR 1 / DDR 2, HDD 250 GB
For 625 euro / year – Intel Quad Core Q6600 4x 2.40+ GHz, 4 GB DDR 2, HDD 1 TB
So donate today to keep development moving on the unique blend of tactics and strategy that made X-COM the greatest game of all time.
Donate
Update
We have enough money for the server. NineX is working on setting it up now. We would like to thank all of you who contributed money. Thank you very much.
Server crash
Yesterday our hoster NineX lost his server due to a hardware failure. We are back online again, but some services are not yet up again. It might take some time until we get the nightly builds again, and until the wiki works correct again (some plugins are missing on the new server).
A big 'Thank you!' to NineX who brought us online again really fast.
Hotfix for 2.3.1
We are going to release 2.3.2 soon, but in the meantime we have a patch for you to fix a map bug in city maps that prevents your soldiers from leaving the dropships. 1maps.pk3: Copy this file into your base dir of your UFO:AI installation.
Monthly update for November, 2010
- further UFORadiant refactoring and fixes
- starting to support sliding doors
- extending the new alien base theme
- fix removing aliens on destroying alien containment
- aircraft rebasing fix
- fixed bug #3064361 (Earth's city lights always turned on even @ daytime)
- sound system refactoring
- huge optimizations for internal data structures
- buildsystem fixes
- reset aircraft target on returning home
- fix transfer target base selection on opening transfer screen
- fixed production time calculations
- remove equipment of team in a crashed aircraft from baseinventory too
UFO: Alien Invasion is available via Desura
A few days ago UFO: Alien Invasion 2.3.1 was released on Desura. It offers a patch system and other neat features for gamers. It is a distribution service similar to Steam - just multi-platform and community driven.
Desura screenshot
UFO: Alien Invasion 2.3.1 released
UFO: Alien Invasion has released 2.3.1. This release is a bug fix for the stable 2.3 release and maintains compatibility for all saved games under 2.3. It includes dozens of fixes to small bugs throughout the game.
A few of the highlights:
- Reaction fire now working properly.
- Several map adjustments fix inaccessible portions of Harvester UFOs and bad alignment of dropships.
- Fixes to the fuel bug where Phalanx craft would erroneously report out of fuel errors.
- Interceptor radar now cleaned on landing so previously detected UFOs appear on next flight.
- Several UI bugs squashed.
- Sound and music problems fixed.
- Fixes savegames with "Base ON RED ALERT" bug.
- Fixes dropship transfers if the destination base does not have enough living quarters space.
- Fixes UTF-8 character encoding problems which could lead to corrupted saves in non-latin languages.
- Faulty missions where UFOs disappeared are now working properly.
- Soldiers en route to a mission can no longer take part in base defense.
You can see a (very) full list of fixes that went into the 2.3.1 release.
Note
Due to a change in the tech tree, loading savegames can result in error messages being displayed. These are harmless and your game will play fine. The error will begin "RS_GetTechByID: Could not find a technology...".
Work on the next major release continues. New features such as rescue missions for downed interceptors and dropships are already getting worked into the development version. Beautiful, brand new soldier models are nearing completion, production requirements have been upgraded to require certain materials and a host of other improvements are in the works.
Stop by our forums and see what's going on.
UFORadiant updates
We've worked on merging a lot of code changes from DarkRadiant into UFORadiant. This screenshots show some of the new features:
Floating XY Window
TexTool
Updated texture browser
Shortcut Editor
Selection sets can be saved
Filter Editor
Updated EntityInspector
Monthly update for October, 2010
- Fixed UI bar component's direction property
- Language names translated to current language
- Fixed bug on loading crashed Phalanx aircraft mission #805242
- Fixed parsing of researched and researchable lists
- Fixed GAME_IsMultiplayer bug
- Applied Dutch translation patch
- GPLed some more textures
- Several new UFORadiant features
- New popup XY window
- New selection sets
- Adjustments to texture browser
- New default night lighting values for all maps
- More work on +city and new alienbase RMAs
- New prefabs
- Aircraft PBW and armor plating now require ALIEN MATERIALS
Monthly update for September, 2010
- fixed pk3 creation
- extended unittests
- new textures
- new build system
- updated cursor pics
- updated and new sounds
- updated rpg model
- fixed a bug in unsorted filelists for loading scripts
- patch #3067252 (Fix LE not found error when swappin ammo from the floor)
- applied patch #3066156 (Ammo swap fix)
- fixed roq cinematic
- implemented scriptable actor skins
- implemented better physics for particles
- fixed memory leaks and thread related game lib problems (bug #3048626 (Mission Hanging on completion)
- fixed console history buffer
- crash aircraft on geoscape if their homebase (/hangar) destroyed and cannot be redirected
- fixed an assert bug in B_MoveAircraftOnGeoscapeToOtherBases logic
- new and updated weapon sounds
- updated sequences
- updated sounds and music tracks
- updates on +hills theme
- fixed bug #3062673 (Order to aircraft implies segmentation fault)
- new and updated prefabs
- move aircraft out from base structure
- updated +city RMA
- feature request #3061181 (UFORadiant : Mark unlicensed files)
- GPLed some more textures
- introduced G_ActorModifyCounters to fix bug #3056168 (victory screen bug)
- Added bloodspider autopsy research image
- fixed brush model world positions (wrong door positions)
- stunned actor animation particle
- sequence integration inside UI
- removed unused models
- fixed bug #3059425 (dark traces on battle screen) - opengl state leak (blend)
- changed windows binary name for the ufoai dedicated server from ufo_ded.exe to ufoded.exe
- only include visible actors in the spotted-enemies-calculation
- count visible enemies each time an actor appears, dies or disappears
- new normal- and specular maps
- reworked aircraft transfer
- fixed aircraft healthbar visible when aircraft is not
Nightly builds
Monthly update for August, 2010
- Player related:
- Re-balancing of the campaign
- Rework game option interface
- Translation update (Finnish, Russian, Ukrainian)
- Create and update a lot of weapon/bullet/explosion effects
- New music for campaign (intro, geoscape...)
- Add and rework a lot of sound effect (foot step, geoscape event, weapon...)
- Allow transporting aliens to other bases
- Maps improvement (new tiles for Japan theme, rework of light for City theme, new Hills theme), and fixes.
- Multiplayer:
- Introduced
rcon_addressto control a remote server without being connected to it
- Introduced
- Work in progress:
- Replace a lot of textures/sounds with free content
- Enabling 2x2 pathfinding
- Implemented HTTP download support for random map assemblies
- Work around stunned actors (animation, effects, behaviours)
- Work around rescue mission
- Many clean up, refactoring and bug fixes
- For hackers:
- Improvement of the particle engine with more supported effects
- Refactoring of the sequence code as a widget. Adding new commands to manage sound and music
- New prefabs
- Character statistics are now scriptable
- Actor skin descriptions are now scriptable
- Add glowmap support for material system
- Commit message contest:
- "Step 4 of...uh.. 2 OK, so there were plenty more than two steps - sue me." --Destructavator
New Hills theme.
Some tests around particles.
In total, 864 commits were made to UFO:AI repository in August.
Changed to Git
We have switched from Subversion to Git. Head over to the Getting the source article and read how you can get the sourcecode. Git for SVN users tutorial can provide to you further help.
Texture artists
We are currently looking for texture artists that could help us to replace the unknown license textures in UFO:AI with content released under the GNU General Public License 2.0 or later or the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0.
Check the list of textures that must still be replaced. This list is updated each night at 04:00:00 UTC.
We would be glad about every single texture someone could contribute. If you would like to submit a texture, head over to the forum thread and attach it there.
Hardware needed (Big endian)
I'm looking for someone who would sell me some big endian hardware. I need this to make UFO:AI work on this architecture, too.
I'm looking for something like a MAC PowerPC G5.
But any other big endian hardware with a decent graphic card would work, too. Please contact me via IRC or Forum if you could offer me something like that.
Monthly update for July, 2010
- new content
- updated a lot of sounds
- updated some particles
- some new textures and normalmaps
- updated some maps
- max texture bug fixed
- phalanx craft healthbar if ufo is visibe, show ufo health if researched
- upgrade for the options menu
- fix random bonus for damage scoring
- mark disassembled items as collected
- fix disappearing ufos
- reset interceptors' radars too on returning to homebase not just dropships' (fixes an assertbug)
- detect Software Rasterizer and error out if found
- fixed some threading related bugs
- use sounds for mouse clicks and drag & drop
- fixed soundonce flag (e.g. flamethrower)
- fixed particlebeam damage type parsing
- fixed endian stuff in R_ModLoadMDX
- fix saving items (storage, market)
- applied fix for AI_HideNeeded
- use PKGLIBDIR for loading the game lib
New rocket explosion particle
In total, 356 commits were made to UFO:AI repository in July.
Monthly update for June, 2010
- menu code developments
- material system developments
- more material animations
- fixed bug aircraft returned with not enough fuel message
- fixed endian bug with models
- fixed and extended production requirements feature
- fixed bug base got attacked status when it shouldn't
- fix map selecting statistics
- unicode fixes
- map fixes
- UGVs in skirmish
- use soldiers at homebase only for base defending
- new and updated sounds
- start changes about more than 8 soldiers per mission feature
- start changes about rescue mission feature
- missions can be spawned without UFOs in early-game too
A UGV in skirmish mode.
Another one.
In total, 460 commits were made to UFO:AI repository in June.
UFO: Alien Invasion 2.3 released
The UFO:AI development team is proud to announce the release of UFO: Alien Invasion Version 2.3. Two years in the making, this version features loads of new content, a dramatically improved rendering engine and extensive improvements to nearly every aspect of the game's campaign and battle systems.
A few highlights of what's new in version 2.3
- Complete overhaul of the campaign system, so that alien activity changes depending on the player's actions
- New capabilities for the rendering engine, including bumpmapping, specular lighting, glowmapping, flare support, texture blending and more
- A new tactical overhead map
- Alien bases have been added and the player can mount an assault on them
- Support for crashed UFO missions
- Overhauls of the map editor
- Loads of new maps and new tiles for existing maps that are randomly generated
- New weapons
- New music and sound effects
- And loads of behind-the-scenes optimizations and tweaks for everything from the pathfinding to the user interface
Read the full Changelog for 2.3 here: Changelog
Join our announcements mailing list: http://lists.killfile.pl/mailman/listinfo/ufoai-announces
A call for help
The release of 2.3 is a milestone, but it is not the end of the road. The UFO:AI team has many plans for the game's development. New features appearing on the horizon for 2.4 include special mission objectives like rescuing downed pilots and expansions to key maps. UFO:AI needs contributors of all kinds. In particular, artists are needed to produce content for the expanded feature set, develop new battlegrounds and bring older content in line with the rendering engine's enhancements. If you'd like to help, join our forums and check out our contribution section.
Sponsoring
Our hoster NineX has recived some help:
- Xserve G5 2.0GHz CPU module has been sponsored by Pawel Iwaniec “Iawan” – THANK YOU!
- 4x 1GB PC3200 DDR 400MHz 184-Pin DIMM ECC Non-Registered memory modules have been sponsored by SCHULZ Brandfriendly – THANK YOU!
We’re still in a need of a set of 4x 1GB PC3200 DDR 400MHz 184-Pin DIMM ECC Non-Registered memory modules
- eBay page showing some potential RAM modules.
Hardware donations needed
Our hoster NineX bought a new server to offer better performance for all his X-COM related hosting projects. He is not taking any money for all the services he offers for us - so helping him improving the server hardware even more is the least we can do. Here is the hardware he needs:
- Xserve G5 2.0GHz CPU module with eee code: R33,R34,R35,R7K,R7L,R7M,R7N,R7P,R7Q
- eBay page showing some potential CPU module.
- 8x 1GB PC3200 DDR 400MHz 184-Pin DIMM ECC Non-Registered memory modules
- eBay page showing some potential RAM modules.
If you would like to donate some hardware, you can contact NineX here:
- IRC
- ninex@freenode
- ninex@quakenet
- ninex@IRCNet
- Jabber
- kosh@volron.net
- Skype
- Nine-X
Monthly update for May, 2010
- fixed a lot of map bugs
- new music track
- speedup for AI
- add a big tooltip for soldiers on hud
- eclipse plugins for script editing and md2 viewing
- replaced textures with GPLed versions
- UFOs are now armed with Particle Beam weaponry
- increased health for most craft
- greatly reduced rate of fire for most weapons
- research image is no longer displayed on the research screen (only shown after research is finished)
- menu code refactoring
- new alienrace model "alientank" (no final name yet)
- fixed UFORadiant md2 rendering
- more work on the city RMA
- model fixes
- fix (aircraft) route distance loading #3002323
- added scout crash version for the oriental RMA
- added UFO support to the laboratory RMA
- medium resolution textures for the geoscape
- a lot of glowmaps
- merge savegame_break into trunk
- support for SDL_ListModes
- fixed hurtsounds #2971465
- applied patch #2999000 to fix actor movement out of sync bug
- fixed 'aliens not walking around a corner to close in'
- decreased min zoom level and min pitch value for the battlefield camera
- reduced filesizes a lot
- GLSL shader updates and fixes
- added UFORadiant feature to move selected brushes one level up or down (by levelflags)
- Grid_Fall does no longer assert for z >= 8
In total, 630 commits were made to UFO:AI repository in May.
Monthly update for April, 2010
- Fixed pilot salary for normal difficulties and up
- fixed bug "Cannot Get Promoted Past Warrant Officer"
- model related cleanups
- reduced file sizes for images and music files
- display full path for units with more than 32 TUs
- bumpmapping for meshes/models on the battlescape
- pathfinding optimizations
- map updates and fixes
- added new +city rma theme
- add support to the skirmish menu to select the amount of soldiers to start the mission with
- fixed "alien not visible through window with glass"
- clean-up pilots/soldier assigment menu with components
- unicode related fixes
- lua ai updates
- basic implementation of mouse-based pan/tilt for battlescape
- postprocessing effects for the battlescape (glow map support)
- extended the material animation system
- improved geoscape rendering
In total, 447 commits were made to UFO:AI repository in April.
+city global view
+city building
Big savegame break ahead!
In about a week (most likely on May 8) savegame compatibility will break in trunk as I merge savegame_break branch back into it. The new version will not even see the old savegames as their extension was changed too. (Your old saves will remain on disk).
In the branch I've restructured the saved data and fixed several bugs were hidden before. The uncompressed size of an initial save is now about 75% of the old one && better structured.
Multiplayer team definitions are affected as well.
Call for Testers!
Until the deadline we should find and fix any possible bugs I've introduced/left in. Unfortunately I don't have much/any time for playing so I ask U, beta testers, to help me.
For this you should either checkout the savegame_break branch or make a copy of your trunk checkout and switch it to the branch's url (and update).
Please, if you find any bugs, open a ticket at the tracker or tell us in the forums!
Thank You!
Monthly update for March, 2010
- some new textures and normalmaps
- fixed a glitch in the menu item rendering
- fixed "No free inventory space!"
- improved lua ai
- GLSL support for geoscape rendering
- fixed some map related bugs (like wrong level flags and misaligned textures)
- reaction left over TUs is now a per-player-setting
- updated the material files with some texture animations
- fixed invalid entnum for local model ERR_DROP
- changed the default font from FreeSans.ttf to DejaVuSans.ttf
- Show antimatter quantity when click to the building
- fixed a civilian ai hiding bug
- fixed "Actor sometimes uses 1 too many TUs for movement."
- added tags for animated palms
- new music tracks
- fixed "first actor can"t move in first turn"
- fixed "actor movement different to displayed path"-bug
- fixed "No light armor on Tamans"
- try to equip medikit and other items even if armour is not allowed
- added missing level preview image
- merged flare and corona support from quake2world for the material subsystem
- render bounding boxes for bsp surface if r_showbox is 2
- reworked nation happiness calculations
- reactivated the weather particles in some maps
- some savegame related fixes
- implemented the ability to spawn dead actors
- fixed a bug with aliens calculating the risk of RF
- great speedup for the AI
- reworked huge parts of the reaction fire
- introduced cvar g_reaction_fair to activate/deactivate reaction fire timeout
- reduced employee salaries
- item production revisited
- death texturs for aliens
In total, 484 commits were made to UFO:AI repository in March.
Monthly update for February, 2010
- Updates and fixes for the reaction fire
- New map models
- Fixed enter alien base bug
- Fixed door usage
- Changed the way the debug cvars are handled (sv_cheats)
- Support tags for misc_models
- Fixes in the irc handling (timeouts, change nick)
- Fixed invalid reserved TUs after switching reaction fire weapons
- Fixes to the hud code
- Rivertown is playable again
- Disable advanced combat armour in campaign
- Changed image loading to SDL_image
- Unique mission ids which fixes some savegame problems
- Fixed item description for weapon and ammo
- Fixed Assertion "headnode < tile->numnodes + 6"
- Fixed model auto scaling
- Added new techs
- Extended the multiplayer menu
- Extended the multiplayer invite-feature
- Each weapon has a more detailed muzzle location now
- Changed the way models are rendered on the 3d geoscape
- A lot of TU related fixes
- Fixed actor reload bug in the lua ai
- Support for newer libpng and libjpeg
- Fixed bug "R_BindTexture: Assertion texnum > 0 failed"
- Added support for the GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two extension
In total, 371 commits were made to UFO:AI repository in February.
Full changelog.
UFORadiant download
We've updated the Windows installer of UFORadiant (our Mapeditor). Please give it a try and report problems to our Bugtracker.
Download: uforadiant-1.5-win32-r28750.exe (18.5MB)
UFO: The Two Sides Demo
UFO: The Two Sides released their first Demo. Head over to ufotts.ninex.info and give it a try.
UFO:TTS base
Monthly update for January, 2010
- UI improvements, including more sorting of various lists.
- Lots of UI fixes, including ones for tooltips and the alternative HUD.
- Changes to save subsystem, including changed save format and lots of fixes for saving and loading various objects.
- Improvements to map editor, including fixes for map saving problems, merged model loading fixes from DarkRadiant and undo system.
- Geoscape improvements, including distance penalty for disassemblying UFOs and some popup docking.
- New models, model animations, textures and Ufopedia images.
- Battlescape fixes, including ones for damage rendering, cursor text, multiple crashes, reload button, walking through civilians, TU reservation and target bleeding before impact.
- Aircraft equipment screen fixes.
- Inventory system fixes and improvements.
- Lots of map fixes.
- New map assembly tiles.
- Translation updates.
- Sound subsystem fixes.
- Campaign fixes, including fixes for experience gaining.
- New manpages added.
- Several multiplayer fixes, which also resulted in savegame version change.
In total, 660 commits were made to UFO:AI repository in January.
Call for translators and screenshot
We are coming closer to a 2.3 release. At this stage 99% of the strings are fixed and only a few ufopedia articles are missing for 2.3. This is the time our fellow translators should revisit their work and update their translations or add the still missing ones. If you are new to translations, please visit our wiki article for more information.
There is also a new feature for the geoscape. A list of missions and UFOs.
New geoscape panel
