shithub: choc

ref: d0d6c7293373af193bc99989e64f1d5eadba4f31
dir: /NEWS/

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0.2.1 (???):

    This release is dedicated to Dylan 'Toke' McIntosh, who was
    tragically killed in a car crash earlier this year.  I knew Dylan
    from IRC and the Doomworld forums for several years, and he had
    a deep passion for this game.  He was also a huge help for me while
    developing Chocolate Doom, as he helped point out a lot of small
    quirks in Vanilla Doom that I didn't know about. His death is a 
    great loss.  RIP Toke.

    This is version 0.2.1: the reason for this is to distinguish from
    the various beta versions that have been built over the past months
    before this release, as these all had the version "0.2.0".

    Big new features:
     * Multiplayer!  This version includes an entirely new multiplayer
       engine, based on a packet server architecture.  I'd like to thank
       joe, pritch, Meph and myk, and everyone else who has helped test
       the new code for their support, feedback and help in testing this.  
       The new code still needs more testing, and I'm eager to hear any 
       feedback on this.
     * A working setup tool.  This has the same look and feel as the 
       original setup.exe.  I hope people like it!  Note that it has 
       some advantages over the original setup.exe - for example, 
       you can use the mouse.

    Other new features:
     * New mus conversion code thanks to Ben Ryves.  This converts the
       Doom .mus format to .mid a lot better.  As one example, tnt.wad
       Map02 is now a lot closer to how Vanilla says.  Also, the music 
       on the deca.wad titlescreen now plays!
     * x3 and x4 display scale.
     * Fullscreen "letterbox" mode allows Chocolate Doom to run on machines
       where 1.6:1 aspect ratio modes are unavailable (320x200/640x400).
       The game runs in 320x240/640x480 instead, with black borders.
       The system automatically adjusts to this if closer modes are 
       unavailable.
     * Working three-screen mode, as seen in early versions of Doom!
       To test this out, put three computers on a LAN and type:
         chocolate-doom -server
	 chocolate-doom -autojoin -left
	 chocolate-doom -autojoin -right
     * Allow a delay to be specified on startup, to allow the display to
       settle after changing modes before starting the game.
     * Allow the full path and filename to be specified when loading demos:
       It is now possible to type 'chocolate-doom -playdemo /tmp/foo.lmp'
       for example.
     * Savegames are now stored in separate directories depending on
       the IWAD: eg. the savegames for Doom II are stored in a different
       place to those for Doom I, Final Doom, etc. (this does not affect
       Windows).
     * New mouse acceleration code works based on a threshold and 
       acceleration.  Hopefully this should be closer to what the DOS
       drivers do.  There is a 'test' feature in the setup tool to help 
       in configuring this.
     * New '-nwtmerge' command line option that emulates NWT's '-merge'
       option.  This allows TiC's Obituary TC to be played.
     * The ENDOOM screen no longer closes automatically, you have to click
       the window to make it go away.
     * Spechit overrun fixes and improvements.  Thanks to entryway for
       his continued research on this topic (and because I stole your
       improvements :-).  Thanks to Quasar for reporting a bug as well.
     * Multiple dehacked patches can be specified on the command line,
       in the same way as with WADs - eg. -deh foo.deh bar.deh baz.deh.
     * Default zone memory size increased to 16MB; this can be controlled
       using the -mb command-line option.
     * It is now possible to record demos of unlimited length (by default, 
       the Vanilla limit still applies, but it can now be disabled).
     * Autoadjusting the screen mode can now be disabled.
     
    Portability improvements: 
     * Chocolate Doom now compiles and runs cleanly on MacOS X.  Huge
       thanks go to Insomniak who kindly gave me an account on his machine
       so that I could debug this remotely.  Big thanks also go to 
       athanatos on the Doomworld forums for his patience in testing 
       various ideas as I tried to get Chocolate Doom up and running
       on MacOS.
     * Chocolate Doom now compiles and runs natively on AMD64.

    Compatibility fixes:
     * Check for IWADs in the same order as Vanilla Doom.
     * Dehacked code will now not allow string replacements to be longer than
       those possible through DOS dehacked.
     * Fix sound effects playing too loud on level 8 (thanks to myk
       for his continued persistence in getting me to fix this)
     * Save demos when quitting normally - it is no longer necessary to
       press 'q' to quit and save a demo.
     * Fix spacing of -devparm mode dots.
     * Fix sky behavior to be the same as Vanilla Doom - when playing in
       Doom II, the skies never change from the sky on the first level
       unless the player loads from a savegame. 
     * Make -nomouse and config file use_mouse work again.
     * Fix the -nomusic command-line parameter.  Make the snd_sfxdevice
       snd_musicdevice values in the configuration file work, so that it
       is possible to disable sound, as with Vanilla.
     * Repeat key presses when the key is held down (this is the Vanilla 
       behavior)  - thanks to Mad_Mac for pointing this out.
     * Don't print a list of all arguments read from response files - Vanilla
       doesn't do this.
     * Autorun only when joyb_speed >= 10, not >= 4.  Thanks to Janizdreg 
       for this.
     * Emulate a bug in DOS dehacked that can overflow the dehacked
       frame table and corrupt the weaponinfo table.  Note that this means
       Batman Doom will no longer play properly (identical behavior
       to Vanilla); vbatman.deh needs to also be applied to fix it.
       (Thanks grazza)
     * Allow dehacked 2.3 patches to be loaded.
     * Add more dehacked string replacements.

    Bugs fixed:
     * Fix crash when starting new levels due to the intermission screen
       being drawn after the WI_ subsystem is shut down (thanks 
       pritch and joe)
     * Catch failures to initialise sound properly, and fail gracefully.
     * Fix crasher in 1427uv01.lmp (thanks ultdoomer)
     * Fix crash in udm1.wad.
     * Fix crash when loading a savegame with revenant tracer missiles.
     * Fix crash when loading a savegame when a mancubus was in the middle
       of firing.
     * Fix Doom 1 E1-3 intermission screen animations.
     * Fix loading of dehacked "sound" sections.
     * Make sure that modified copyright banners always end in a newline
       - this fixes a bug with av.wad (thanks myk)

0.1.4 (2006-02-13):

    NWT-style merging command line options (allows Mordeth to be played)
    Unix manpage (thanks Jon Dowland)
    Dehacked improvements/fixes:
     * Allow changing the names of graphic lumps used in menu, status bar
       intermission screen, etc.
     * Allow changing skies, animated flats + textures
     * Allow changing more startup strings.
     * Allow text replacements on music + sfx lump names
    Fix for plutonia map12 crash.
    Fix bug with playing long sfx at odd sample rates.
    Big Endian fixes (for MacOS X).  Thanks to athanatos for helping
        find some of these.
    Install into /usr/games, rather than /usr/bin (thanks Jon Dowland)

0.1.3 (2006-01-20):

    Imported the spechit overrun emulation code from prboom-plus.  Thanks to
         Andrey Budko for this.
    New show_endoom option in the chocolate-doom.cfg config file allows
         the ENDOOM screen to be disabled.
    Chocolate Doom is now savegame-compatible with Vanilla Doom.

    Fixes for big endian machines (thanks locust)
    Fixed the behavior of the dehacked maximum health setting.
    Fix the "-skill 0" hack to play without any items (thanks to Janizdreg
        for pointing out that this was nonfunctional)
    Fix playing of sounds at odd sample rates (again).  Sound effects at
        any sample rate now play, but only sounds with valid headers.
        This is the *real* way Vanilla Doom behaves.  Thanks to myk for
        pointing out the incorrect behavior.

0.1.2 (2005-10-29):

    Silence sounds at odd sample rates (rather than bombing out); this
        is the way Vanilla Doom behaves.
    Handle multiple replacements of the same sprite in a PWAD.
    Support specifying a specific version to emulate via the command line
        (-gameversion)
    Fix help screen orderings and skull positions.  Behave exactly as
        the original executables do.

0.1.1 (2005-10-18):
    Display startup "banners" if they have been modified through 
        dehacked.
    Dehacked "Misc" section support.

    Bugs fixed:
     * Doom 1 skies always using Episode 1 sky
     * Crash when switching applications while running fullscreen
     * Lost soul bounce logic (do not bounce in Registered/Shareware)
     * Mouse buttons mapped incorrectly (button 1 is right, 2 is middle)
     * Music not pausing when game is paused, when using SDL_mixer's 
       native MIDI playback.
     * Pink icon on startup (palette should be fully set before anything is
       loaded)

0.1.0 (2005-10-09):
    Dehacked support
    WAD merging for TCs
    ENDOOM display
    Fix bug with invalid MUS files causing crashes
    Final Doom fixes

0.0.4 (2005-09-27):
    Application icon and version info included in Windows .exe files
    Fixes for non-x86 architectures
    Fix uac_dead.wad (platform drop on e1m8 should occur when all
        bosses die, not just barons)
    Fix "loading" icon to work for all graphics modes

0.0.3 (2005-09-17):
    Mouse acceleration code to emulate the behaviour of old
        DOS mouse drivers (thanks to Toke for information about 
        this and suggestions)
    Lock surfaces properly when we have to (fixes crash under
        Windows 98)

0.0.2 (2005-09-13):
    Remove temporary MIDI files generated by sound code.
    Fix sound not playing at the right volume
    Allow alt-tab away while running in fullscreen under Windows
    Add second configuration file (chocolate-doom.cfg) to allow 
        chocolate-doom specific settings.
    Fix switches not changing in Ultimate Doom

0.0.1 (2005-09-07):
    First beta release