The major improvements of 1.3 public beta 6, compared to the previous release are:
- Upgraded to latest GameSpy SDK. BZ2 now uses the GameSpy QR2 communication protocol, the GameSpy transport SDK, GameSpy NatNeg technology for easier hosting w/o having to open ports in many routers, GameSpy Voice communication for ingame voice communication.
- Tweaked network code for better performance with lots of players in game.
- Various other fixes and optimizations.
The major improvements of 1.3 public beta 5.1, compared to the previous release are:
- Performance optimizations to DirectX 9 graphics, most noticeably in the terrain rendering. Satellite view should be far faster, especially on slower machines
EMBM bumpmaps work once again. High res shadows are re-enabled, but still just as buggy as it's always been (since Battlezone II v1.0)
- Local fog should look better
- Various crash bugs fixed
- Max vertex count for models has been upped to 20,000 verts/model; old limit was 2730 verts/model. No stock assets have higher poly counts, but mods may take advantage of that.
A number of tweaks and enhancements are in v1.3:
• Much greater MOD (game modification) support, allowing up to 26 total races to be active at once. Many MODders have been among 1.3 beta testers, and have been working to take advantage of the new features. Mods supporting 1.3 are not included in this download, but are available.
• Developed/Tested on Windows 2000/XP, DirectX 8.0-9.0b for much better compatability out of the box. Limited Vista testing has been done; you'll probably have to run it as an administrator if it gives you issues.
• Many crashes/freezes fixed.
• Redone audio system that supports far more channels (up to 64) and DirectSound3D for a far more immersive experience. Note: not all sound cards on the market support that many channels; if the driver on your system notes a limit under 64, BZ2 will use that instead.
• Support for Ogg Vorbis compressed sounds - similar to mp3 files, but with higher quality.
• Some graphics tweaks: Maximum ingame resolution can be set much higher than 1280x1024 if your hardware supports it. Gamma (brightness) adjustment works on ATI cards.
• New graphics options like anisotropic filtering, mip bias, more efficient use of graphics card memory with DXT textures improve the visual appeal of the game.
• Enhancements to many parts of the game, including AI, craft handling, etc.
• Many more pregame options for IA, DM, Strat & MPI games (feature available to MODs to define custom options pages on a per-map basis)
• Bots in DM, and some additional DM gameplay modes.
• Strategy-CTF game mode -- capture a goal, tug it back to your recycler to win, on 6 classic maps. Finally a good use for tugs in MP!
• Over 50 additional Instant Action & Multiplayer maps by several mappakers within the BZ2 community, and tweaks to some existing maps to reduce bugs. As of 1.3PB4a, there are 20 classic & additional IA maps, and over 100 classic & additional MP maps installed.
• Several additional security measures to make cheating in multiplayer much more difficult; deliberate remote crashing of games should be fixed.
• New BZ2 editor screen layout files contributed by testers to expose more functionality that was already there.
• Ability to rotate buildings (on 90-degree increments) for even more base-building fun
• Updates to the manual (located in the Extras folder where BZ2 is installed to) to give updated and more accurate information
• Includes over 900Kb of text files listing changes made since 1.2. This changelog contains our (minimalist) notes as to what changed for each version, and isn't guaranteed to be easily understood. But, it may be useful reading.
