BZFlag 2.4 Release Candidate 1

[JeffM]

We have been busy fixing the reported bugs and feel we are ready for a release candidate.

If this version has no major bugs then we will make the final release this week.

Source Code
http://beta.bzflag.org/bzflag-2.3.17-20110627.tar.bz2
http://beta.bzflag.org/bzflag-2.3.17-20110627.zip

Windows Installers
http://beta.bzflag.org/bzflag-2.3.17-20110627_32Bit.exe 32Bit (runs on all windows computers)
http://beta.bzflag.org/bzflag-2.3.17-20110627_64Bit.exe 64Bit (Requires 64 bit windows)

Macintosh
http://beta.bzflag.org/bzflag-2.3.17-20 ... 86.app.zip

So please test away.

[Yrogirg]

I wish I could test it a bit more. Not sure, but maybe chat messages are not displayed on the screen, only in the console. I've been talking with Bullet Catcher, but I realized the possible issue only in the end, after he had left. So test 'n' chat if you can.

UPD it's working, no bug, it was only my imagination.

[Mopar Madness]

I was playing on Mystic Valley Rabid Rabbit server and everyone died, so the rabbit went to an unspawned player, that part made sense, but I was the 1st player to respawn and the rabbit stayed as the unspawned player. Shouldn't the rabbit switch to a spawned player as soon as a player spawns? An AFK rabbit could ruin a fun rabbit hunt.

[JeffM]

The question would be if that is a new bug or an old bug? Right now we are looking for new bugs added with this codebase.

[Mopar Madness]

its not in 2.0.16. In 2.0.16, when you join an empty server, you dont get rabbit till you spawn, if you kill yourself, you keep rabbit till you or another tank spawns, at that point the spawned tank becomes the rabbit. In 2.3.17 when you join an empty server you become hunter, you stay hunter after you spawn. I guess you only get a rabbit after 2 tanks, not sure who gets rabbit though. When you die, rabbit goes to a spawned tank unless none are spawned, then it will go to an unspawned tank, where it will stay till that tank leaves or spawns.

This probably has to do with rabbit and hunter getting dedicated teams in V2.4.

*edit* Well I thought you needed 2 tanks for rabbit in 2.3.17, but it seems to be random, sometimes you spawn on a server by yourself and get rabbit, other times you get hunter. It sounds like the glitch is somewhere in the logic that determines who gets rabbit, it seems to forget to give rabbit to a spawned player at times.

[blast]

The tank model in the radar is has a known bug that will be corrected in the 2.4.2 release.

[JeffM]

re: colored FPS.
We are not adding features during a release candidate. Please submit the code to the patch tracker for inclusion in a future release.

re: turning speed
Some servers have an acceleration setting turned on and that will make the tank slower to turn. This is an option for the server.

[Yrogirg]

I was playing on Mystic Valley Rabid Rabbit server and everyone died, so the rabbit went to an unspawned player, that part made sense, but I was the 1st player to respawn and the rabbit stayed as the unspawned player. Shouldn't the rabbit switch to a spawned player as soon as a player spawns? An AFK rabbit could ruin a fun rabbit hunt.

Are you sure that the unspawned player preserves rabbit state? It may took some time (a second or second and a half) for the first spawned player to become a rabbit. So if the rabbit spawns shortly after the first player he might preserve his rabbitness. I was trying to catch the bug with solo bot, but unsuccessfully.

*edit* Well I thought you needed 2 tanks for rabbit in 2.3.17, but it seems to be random, sometimes you spawn on a server by yourself and get rabbit, other times you get hunter. It sounds like the glitch is somewhere in the logic that determines who gets rabbit, it seems to forget to give rabbit to a spawned player at times.

I've tried many times (20-30? dunno actually) to enter Fox Burrow and Mystic Valley Rabid Rabbit. Except for once (on Mystic Valley) I was always given a rabbit after the spawn.

[Mopar Madness]

*edit* Well I thought you needed 2 tanks for rabbit in 2.3.17, but it seems to be random, sometimes you spawn on a server by yourself and get rabbit, other times you get hunter. It sounds like the glitch is somewhere in the logic that determines who gets rabbit, it seems to forget to give rabbit to a spawned player at times.

I've tried many times (20-30? dunno actually) to enter Fox Burrow and Mystic Valley Rabid Rabbit. Except for once (on Mystic Valley) I was always given a rabbit after the spawn.

I tried to replicate this again too and couldn't replicate it for the longest time, but I finally figured out what happened there. When I joined the server, I also had a 2nd BZFlag up idling in obs under the same name. Apparently that's what caused that glitch. If you're by yourself in a rabbit hunt server and you open up a 2nd BZFlag window and connect to the same rabbit hunt server, it will glitch and not make you rabbit regardless of what team you were on with the 1st BZFlag window. Another thing I found while further testing this is that when I paused as rabbit, I stayed rabbit. On my 2nd BZFlag, I had to self kill or rejoin in order to take rabbit from the paused player.

[Yrogirg]

Where I can see the changelog for 2.4? I've just understood that the things that have been changed are the ones to be tested. Well, sometimes I'm slow even with such apparent ideas.

[JeffM]

big file that says "changelog" in the source package as well as in SVN.

[Mark_IV]

Sorry this is a stupid question, but in the changelog it says plugins can now register custom flag types. So is this kind of instead of using useless to make things (Proxy mine) People can wrtie plugins to create their own flags, with their own name and code. (So when zoneing it can be a code other than the already taken ones)

[JeffM]

yes, that is exactly what that feature is for. to stop the abuse of useless.

[Yrogirg]

What was the POLL permission introduced for?

Is there still a bug when players with '-' count in polls? So when a cheater joins with a lot of bots with reged callsigns of real people (like ahs3, blast, mrapple ...) and these bots do not spawn (so they are not kicked by the server though the passwords are invalid) he cannot be polled out.

[Yrogirg]

I should confirm, that bug with the rabbit occurs. Today we've played on the Fox Burrow, we both went paused for more than a minute, I was the rabbit. The second player spawned as a hunter and didn't get the rabbit state.

[blast]

The POLL permission wasn't added for 2.4. It has existed for a long time. Version 2.4 will make polls correctly count who is eligible to vote and only use those in the calculation to see if a poll has passed. So yes, this should fix the issue with multiple bots clogging up the poll.

[macsforme]

Mac build is up at http://beta.bzflag.bz/builds/2.3.x/MacO ... 17-RC1.zip

It's Intel only for now. We need someone to test it on a Tiger (10.4) and Leopard (10.5) system.