Worms Armageddon Beta Patch v3.6.31

Worms Armageddon Beta Patch v3.6.31

This beta* patch will update Worms Armageddon to version 3.6.31.0.

This is the very latest update available for Worms Armageddon. This installation includes all previous updates and features compatibility for Windows 2000/XP, lots of bug fixes and many new features.

*IMPORTANT :: You should very carefully read and agree to the External Beta Test Licence Agreement found in the readme file prior to installing this software update.

Important Licence Information

Thank you for participating in this External Beta Test for Worms Armageddon PC. All your comments are gratefully received and we will endeavour to address all of your reported problem points where possible for the intended Update Final Release. We would also like to extend our gratitude to the countless users providing requests and points for inclusion, without which much of the improved content could not have been made possible.

This software update is in a continued state of internal development and testing. The update has been primarily released for external consumption in order to capture a greater range of system setups for compatibility purposes.

Bug Reporting To Team17

In the interests of efficiency we have provided a bug reporting service that is available through the Team17 Forum. If you wish to provide feedback, registering on the forum is free, quick and easy to perform. It is recommended and we would most appreciate that you browse through forum posts prior to submitting any feedback information. This will hopefully restrict the level of duplicate reports that are received.

If, for any reason, you encounter any problems whatsoever running the game, please contact us and provide the following information via the Team17 Forum links below.

Operating System

CPU

Motherboard

System Memory

Video Card / Driver Revision

Sound Card / Driver Revision

DirectX Revision

Nature of the problem

Steps to recreate

discussion forum

[ http://forum.team17.com ]

v3.6.31.0 FAQs You can update any WA CD version straight to v3.6.31.0 WITHOUT updating to any other version first.

Trymedia versions will not work with this update. If you download this update and apply it to a Trymedia version then the game will request a CD and you will have to re-install the game.

Fixes

• [DC] In emulation, /version messages, and Export Log output, W:A v3.6.30.0 incorrectly called the test versions "v3.6.30.0[BattyRope8]" and "v3.6.30.0[TestStuff8]" "v3.6.30.0[BattyRope7]" and "v3.6.30.0[TestStuff7]", respectively. It incorrectly called "v3.6.30.0[BoomRacing]" simply "v3.6.30.0", whereas it incorrectly called "v3.6.30.0" itself an empty string, "".

• [CS] Some features specific to internal testing (alpha) builds were accidentally left in v3.6.30.0.

• [CS] The game would sometimes crash during the worm death explosion animation, if the Russian language was selected.

• [CS] Sometimes, when exiting from a network game as a client, W:A would ask for a confirmation after switching to the front end. This only occurred if the "Back" button has been clicked (without actually leaving the game) since joining the current network game.

• [CS] On some systems, there was no sound in the front end in W:A v3.6.30.0. Starting with v3.6.30.0, W:A checks if the sound parameters requested by W:A are supported by the sound card's DirectSound driver. On some systems, the DirectSound driver incorrectly reported the sample rate used by W:A as out of range of its hardware secondary sound buffer sample rate specifications. W:A now does not check if the desired sample rate is within these specifications.

• [CS] If front end audio initialization failed, minimizing and restoring the game in the front end would result in various graphical artifacts, such as a mostly-black screen with white text and missing mouse cursor. This problem appeared for all users affected by the above problem.

• [CS] A redundant display mode change is now avoided when launching replay playback.

• [CS] On some systems, attempting to extract videos from replays at certain resolutions failed with a front end video initialization error message.

• [CS] The Russian file type description for .WAgame files was not being correctly registered.

• [CS] The Hungarian characters introduced in v3.6.30.0 could not be typed in the front end.

• [CS] The WormNET news window was being cleared when returning from a game.

• [CS, DC] LAN games hosted by v3.6.30.0 were only joinable via Direct IP due to Game ID checks and the fact that all versions before and including v3.6.30.0 did not send a correct Game ID for LAN games. Both problems have been fixed — v3.6.30.0 LAN hosts are now joinable by v3.6.31.0+ clients, and v3.6.31.0 LAN hosts are now joinable by older (v3.6.30.0 and earlier) clients.

• [CS] On some systems, the smooth background gradient was not being rendered properly on very tall maps.

• [CS] Map complexity and randomness

• [CS] In v3.6.30.0, loading a particular .BIT or .LEV map caused mouse-click terrain generation to iterate through the same sequence of random maps every time that same map was loaded (either by the local user, by another user who downloaded that map, or by the host of an online game which the user joined). This behavior is now changed — the sequence of generated maps will be different each time the respective W:A screen is opened, regardless of the initial map.

• [CS] Worms Armageddon will no longer store the RNG seed used for map generation and other tasks in the registry. Instead, a new seed is generated on each start, using a cryptographically random buffer. This removes any possibility of persistent effects on a W:A installation's RNG.

• [CS] When trying to connect to a v3.6.31.0+ game with a v3.6.31.0+ client using an incorrect Game ID, W:A will now show an appropriate error message instead of "Max Players".

• [DC] The "team (player) forced out by reason" message that is printed in red in the in-game chat, and also printed in Export Log, is now more descriptive in cases where the cause may be a HostingBuddy bug or message injection.

• [CS] The Italian translation for the "Prod" weapon has been changed from "Pungolo" (in the front end) and "Bastone" (in-game) to "Spintarella".

Features

• [CS] A slider has been added to the map editor, which allow controlling the range of complexity in randomly generated maps. This slider affects map generation outside the map editor as well, but not for Quick CPU and Deathmatch games (which will continue to be generated at maximum complexity). By default, the slider is set to the maximum complexity level, similar to the behaviour in versions v3.6.20.1 to v3.6.29.0.

• [CS] A new registry script, ResetRegistryOptions.reg, has been added. Importing this script will reset all Worms Armageddon options from the Windows registry. The Reset button in Advanced Options (added in v3.6.30.0) also does this, but also clears the options stored in win.ini.