[conquest] Conquest 8.3 (stable) is available

[Jon Trulson]

Subject: Conquest 8.3 (stable) is now available

         Source tarball:
         http://radscan.com/conquest/conquest-8.3.src.tar.gz

         Optional musicpak (unpack in ~/.conquest/):
         http://radscan.com/conquest/conquest-musicpak-8.3.tar.gz

         SVN tagged release:
         svn://radscan.com/conquest/tags/conquest-8.3/

         SVN current (possibly unstable) development:
         svn://radscan.com/conquest/trunk/


   8.3 (stable) is now available.

   This version is a major upgrade from 8.2.  It adds full sound support
   via SDL and SDL_Mixer, magfactors (zoom in/out on LR/SR scan), and
   several fixes and improvements to the GL client.

   TCP Wrappers is now optionally supported in conquestd and conqmetad.

   Here is the relevant HISTORY snippet:

8.3 (stable) 09/03/2007

   - 8.3 stable release.  We hope.  The main features for this release are:

   - Sound support. This version of conquest updates the GL client to
     support sound via SDL and SDL_mixer.  A wide variety of effects
     and sounds are now provided.  No more of that insipid X11 beeping.

     Cat provided the original patch and samples adding this support,
     though it was completely rewritten using a new internal cqs* API
     within conquest, and is configurable via CQI config files (soundrc).

     The conquest distribution includes the sounds used for the
     effects.

     An optional musicpak tarball is available seperately, due to it's
     size.  To use it, simply unpack the musicpak tarball into your
     ~/.conquest/ directory.

     To use sound support, you must have SDL and SDL_Mixer libraries
     and headers.

   - The ability to zoom in and out in SR/LR scan was added to the GL
     client, based loosely on a patch from Cat.  You can zoom in or out
     in +/- 5 steps (magfactors) in either LR or SR scan.

   - In addition, several changes and improvements have taken place
     regarding rendering in the GL client:

     - The HUD is laid out a little differently (and more configurably)
       via CQI.

     - The VBG and NEB are rendered better (scaling and appearence).

     - A large number of scaling bugs were fixed.

     - A crosshair cursor is now used in the GL client.

     - The torp pips have been relocated next to the phaser recharge
       indicator.

     - explosions are now visible in LR scan.

     - several other fixes too minor to mention.

   - optional TCP Wrappers support for conquestd and conqmetad.

   - fixed some security (possble buffer overruns) in the client
     (meta.c and CLIENTSTAT processing) reported by Luigi Auriemma.

   The following is the more detailed history of the intervening devel
   releases, if you really have nothing better to do than read it :).

   8.2c (devel) 07/08/2007

   - bug report from Adam Sampson: 'make install' should not
     chgrp/chmod $(DESTDIR)$(CONQSYSCONFDIR)/*rc . Depending on where
     $(DESTDIR)$(CONQSYSCONFDIR) actually is (say, /etc) this can cause
     'issues' :)

   - fix bug whereby statistics data (ALT-S) in conquestgl (FPS, ping
     RTT, bandwidth, etc) would not be shown unless althud was also
     enabled.

   - clear all of the message/prompt lines when initting the CP node.
     If you self-destructed for example, then re-entered, you could
     still see the destruct confirmation message in the prompt area.

   - add the ability to zoom in/out during playback of a previously
     recorded game.

   - fix issue where in SR scan, but zoomed all the way out, you could
     see ships that you can't really see.

   - when quitting from the main menu, or in the CP via ^\ , stop all
     music and FX channels before leaving to avoid stuttering audio.

   - added warp2 (background warp) textures from Cat (with some slight
     changes).

   - add tcp wrappers support to conquestd and conqmetad - not compiled
     in by default.  You can enable by specifying
     '--enable-tcpwrappers' to the configure command line.  You will
     need to have tcpd.h and libwrap installed.  The daemon name (for
     your system hosts.allow file) is 'conquestd' and 'conqmetad'
     respectively.


   8.2b (devel) 06/04/2007

   - 8.2b devel release

   - fix bug that prevented timed effects from being triggered for
     delayms (if specified in the soundrc file) after the game started.

   - disable allocation of a depth buffer.  We aren't using it,
     so...

   - added sound effect for torp alerts.

   - fixed up configure so that it won't barf if sdl-config or other
     SDL checks fail.  If that happens, sound support will just be
     disabled.

     Also fixed some problems that prevented the GL client from being
     built when sound support was not available.  Sorry about that.

   - add capability of specifying named texture rectangles (texareas)
     as part of a texture definition into CQI.  This makes it possible
     to define the element positions of the 2 decals used in the hud in
     the texturesrc file, rather than hardcoding all that crap into
     updateIconHudGeo().  Simplified alot of the hud computations,
     especially in updateIconHudGeo().

     Simplified scale/gauge drawing considerably.  No more stupid stuff
     in there anymore I hope :)

     Added the new item rectangles to the various team decal1 and
     decal2 texture definitions in texturesrc.  Knock yourself out Cat
     :)

     Moved the torp status pips to the right of the icon ship, next
     to the phaser charge status gauge.

   - new hud decal1 and decal2 textures are provided.  These have been
     modified to contain all of the relevant decal data, so there is
     no more seperate fuel gauge and fuel number rendering, for
     example.  The number boxes are contained within the decal textures
     now - their locations are specified via texarea subsections in
     their respective texture definitions.

   - the compiled-in texture default configuration header file
     (texdata.h) has been removed.  All texture data is read from the
     texture config files at startup time, always.  The GL client will
     fail to start if the main texturesrc file cannot be found, or
     contains a syntax error.

   - more NEB rework so it looks a little better.  Added support
     to CQI texanim to modify the texture's s and t offsets.  Now use a
     'neb' animdef for rendering it to provide that 'high speed
     streaming cloud' look. :)

   - add new '-v' option to the clients to increase verbosity

   - output some basic GL info.  Using '-v' will list the GL
     implementation's various limits.

   - some sillyness fixed in cu2GLSize.

   - major rework of the vbg rendering.  It was pretty screwy,
     especially when you threw magfactors into it :)

   - Animdefs now always handle sizes in CUs, (istate and deltas and
     geo size).  These values must be rescaled via cu2GLSize or glScale
     prior to rendering now, in order for the magfactors to work
     properly.

   - Due to the size/scaling rework for the animdefs, explosions can
     now be drawn properly in LR scan, and therefore, are now drawn in
     LR scan :).  Planet bombing could work as well in LR, but for now
     it isn't.

   - make sure the mag change sound doesn't play more than once
     every 60 seconds.  Same for the info sound.

   - based on 'mag factor' idea from Cat, implemented zoom in/out in
     both SR and LR views.  There are 5 levels of zoom out and zoom in.
     You can zoom in/out with the '[' and ']' keys.  ^L resets the view
     to default zoom (none).

     During this work some subtle bugs in GLcvtcoords() were fixed,
     yielding much more accurate placing of objects.  Limit checks in
     GLcvtcoords fixed to properly account for magscaling.  It's main
     weakness now is accounting for the sizes of objects.  Oh well :)

     There were a variety of other scaling and sizing bugs fixed as a
     result of this work.

   - cursor now uses cross-hair shape.  With a fixed GLcvtcoords, it is
     actually accurate in the viewer now. :)

   - fixed some security (possble buffer overruns) in the client
     (meta.c and CLIENTSTAT processing) reported by Luigi Auriemma.


   8.2a (devel) 11/27/2006

   - Added sound support using SDL and the SDL_mixer API based on
     patches and samples from Cataboligne.

     This version supports sound effects for phasers, torps,
     explosions, and pile of other things.

     In addition, an optional 'musicpak' tarball provides some
     appropriate Conquest music to listen to during your campaign of
     terror.

     The musicpak is located on the webpage with the source tarball and
     can be installed by unpacking it into your ~/.conquest/ directory.

     SDL and SDL_mixer development header files and libs are required.
     All sound effects and music are supplied in OGG Vorbis (.ogg)
     format.  I believe all linux systems at least, support OGG in
     their SDL implementation.

     Sound is only supported in the OpenGL (conquestgl) client.

     I have to say thanks again to Mr. Cataboligne - sound is a
     definite improvment to the Conquest experience :)

     The following is a somewhat more detailed log of the sound work.
     You do not really need to read it unless you are curious about the
     details :)

        - Add option (-S) to disable sound in conquestgl.

        - Effect and Music volume (if you installed the musicpak) are
          configurable from the options page.  Sounds, like textures,
          can be overridden by the user.

        - moved the music into a seperate area in the repository
          (music/).  Music is packaged in it's own tarball since it's
          pretty large (15MB).  To hear the glorious music of Conquest,
          you must unpack the musicpak tarball into your ~/.conquest/
          directory.

          The effects are shipped in the main src tarball as they are
          small in comparison :)

          If you have a checked out version of the repository, you can
          create the musicpak tarball by running 'makemuspkg'.

        - fixed doomsday beam sound to not try to fire more than once
          per second, and made it a positional sound.

        - moved doomsday_theme checks into nCP.c.

        - add beep sounds for alert, message, and error conditions.
          No more X11 beeping :)

        - hook up 'hit' effect.  If you take more then 5 points of
          damage, it will play.

        - fix problem with volume.  If an effect isn't using a panning
          mixer effect, then make sure all panning is disabled for that
          channel.  Failure to do this results in non-positional
          effects playing at half their normal volume.

          As a result of this fix, went through soundrc and re-adjusted
          (equalized) some of the effect volumes.

        - rework themes() stuff, move into nCP.c

        - set the alert klaxon loop couts in soundrc to 0 (infinite).

        - Apply Cat's patch adding the themes() stuff and a few misc
          effect hookups.

        - fix clbCheckLaunch() to fail if weapons are overloaded.

        - Add option (-S) to disable sound in conquestgl.

        - Add support for .src (add-on sound RC files).  These work the
          same as texture add-on files (.trc), allowing operators or
          users to override sound related definitions.  They are looked
          for in the system-wide <install prefix>/etc/ directory, then
          the user's ~/.conquest/ directory.

        - beef up configure a bit.  Properly detect when SDL headers
          are missing (sound support) and glut/GL headers are missing
          (OpenGL support).  Don't try to build the relevant OpenGL and
          sound bits if not supported.

        - when searching for .trc and .src files, sort the filenames
          first before loading them, so that they are always loaded in
          a consistent order (alphabetically).

        - add engine background sound (engine).

        - converted all .wav's to .ogg's.

        - Initial sound support based on work by Cat.  soundrc and
          associate parser working.  Can init SDL/SDL_mixer and
          load/use sounds.  Yay.


   Enjoy!

-- 
Jon Trulson
mailto:jon at radscan.com 
#include <std/disclaimer.h>
"No Kill I" -Horta