Drakan v444

Drakan v444

This patch contains new fixes and features, and contains all content of previous patches as well.

Multiplayer Changes / Fixes

The DirectPlay-based networking code has been replaced with Winsock (TCP/IP and UDP).

Dedicated server now works under Windows NT 4.0 (SP3).

More reduction of network bandwidth.

Better packet aggregation. This feature reduces bandwidth by combining multiple packets into larger, single packets which have less overhead.

Smarter modem support. The server adaptively avoids bottlenecks by keeping packet flow to a minimum through tight connections like modems.

Dragon (air) Teamplay now sets all the players on one team to have the same dragon skin (defined by the server admin).

Added server commands for viewing in-game chat and talking to the players ("chat on/off" and "say MESSAGE").

Added server commands for changing the timelimit and kills limit in-game ("timelimit SECONDS" and "scorelimit KILLS").

Fixed long delay in the join-game screen if your computer's DNS settings were not correct. The system will no longer hang while it is looking up the Drakan master server address.

When joining a team, the scoreboard is now displayed so you can see what players are on each team (and how many).

Added new rules that the server reports when queried: Number of Teams, and Network (connection) Speed.

Dedicated server now automatically chooses the Primary Display Adapter. This fixes the crashes when people tried to run a dedicated server on a machine with a Voodoo or other secondary card.

More layers of mush to prevent cheating (remaining critical holes moved server-side).

new Fixed bug where weapons that people were holding would rarely not be visible to every player.

new Fixed bug where weapons could be given more than once to someone or to multiple people at a spawn point.

new Fixed bug in Master of the Dragon games where the Dragon would sometimes disappear until the level was restarted, or two dragons would appear, or a dead dragon could shoot at you.

new Added 256 color (8-bit) and 24-bit color display support for the dedicated server window.

new Dedicated server now displays the name of the server in the title bar of the window and the build version. The server also now displays max number of players along with the current number of players.

new LEVELLIST now works as a command in the dedicated server.

new Server rules are now sorted alphabetically in the Server Info Screen.

new Fixed bug with not skipping over blank lines when reading the LFL files (it would try to load a NULL level).

new Dedicated server is now more efficient when minimized because it does not have to use CPU for drawing the display.

new Dedicated server now uses much less CPU and can be clamped below a certain update rate. The maximum update rate can be set in the Drakan.cfg or changed with the "maxrate" command. The default is 50 updates per second ("maxrate 50"). Server CPU usage has gone down considerably!

new Fixed bug where the Soul Stone would not get reactivated when it was supposed to.

new Fixed a bug where your player color would get changed to purple if you picked a pure white or gray color.

new Fixed bug with client ports getting mapped incorrectly when playing behind a firewall.

Gameplay and Design Tweaks

new Increased radius and damage on Blue Energy Bow explosion. This will make the bow more effective and useful.

new Fixed Green Energy bow (DragonStrife) so that it seeks from a longer range. This should make it easier to kill the dragon.

new Decreased damage on ring of fire and lightning axe. Good armors will reduce the damage on these weapons enough to survive them.

General Changes / Fixes

Better joystick/gamepad support: joystick and gamepad axes can now be bound to forward/back, strafe right/left, and up/down (jump/crouch) as well as the existing pitch and turn. Any axis can also be inverted, not just the Y-axis. Supports joysticks with trackballs such as the PantherXL. Added new joystick axis binding interface to the Options->Controls screen.

New 3D benchmarking feature. The output is compatible with benchmarking utilities such as 3D GameGuage.

An auto save file is now created when you first transition to a level. The file can then be loaded in to allow you to continue from the start of the level.

Fixed bug where you would sometimes lose crystals when hot keying between weapons.

Fixed crash that sometimes happened when using items in the inventory.

Fixed rare crash when loading in saved-games. Your previous saved games (even the ones that crashed before) can be loaded using the patched version.

Fixed minor level-specific gameplay bugs.

The boss at the end of the game is now smarter and harder to kill and also now honors the difficulty level.

new Added error message for when DirectDraw cannot be initialized completely (bad DirectX setup).

new Added error message for when the Engine is run in an unsupported color depth for the game, like 256 colors.

new Fixed bug with FOV getting messed up when zoomed in (bow alt attack) and going to any Interface Screen. Now the zoom-in gets turned off when you resume the game.

new Fixed rare crash that happened sometimes when removing a single grouped item from the inventory.

new Fixed several locations in various levels where Arokh could get stuck on the ground and was not able to fly.

new Added "nightmare" skill level. Creates attack faster and are more aggressive.

new Fixed crashing problems on the Matrox G400 when the bump-mapping feature is enabled.