BZFlag 2.0.0 is Released!

News and info about current and upcoming releases of the game client and server.
Post Reply
User avatar
learner
General
General
Posts: 270
Joined: Sun May 11, 2003 2:06 am
Location: Maryland
Contact:

BZFlag 2.0.0 is Released!

Post by learner »

The BZFlag developers are proud to announce that after much of your patient waiting and anticipation, BZFlag 2.0.0 is now available. Binaries are presently being build for all of the platforms and will be posted to the sourceforge project site at http://sf.net/projects/bzflag. If you don't see 2.0 files for your platform yet, just be patient as they are all being built and posted as quickly as possible.

BZFlag 2 introduces a slew of major new features that you may already know about if you've been participating in the 1.11 developer builds. This release is probably the "biggest" release in BZFlag's history in terms of development time put into it and features being added since the last publicly released version.

With this release, BZFlag now supports vastly more complex worlds that may include more than just the traditional boxes and pyramids. Map makers can add incredible detail and creativity to worlds, including the addition of weather (rain, snow, frogs), physics drivers (spinning discs, conveyor belts, elevators), deadly buildings and water, mirrors, imagery (billboards, textures), rivers and more.

There are graphics improvements across the board, including the addition of tank tracks and treads, jets that kick off when you jump, tank animations when picking up certain flags, and an improved tank look. There are a variety of new flags as well, including the highly acclaimed Wings flag that lets you fly around a map. Also noteworthy is the Agility flag for short bursts of very high speed useful in dodging opponents and firing fast shots. There are a variety of nasty bad flags as well including ReverseOnly, ForwardOnly, ReverseControls (particularly nasty), TriggerHappy, and Bouncy.

There is also a new registration system where users will be able to log in to BZFlag using their BZBB username and password. There are global groups that will allow server operators to configure groups of known and trusted players with certain abilities. In a similar vein, there is also a global banning system now in place as well to help curtail cheating and disruptive behavior where they are not allowed. Various other cheat prevention mechanisms have also been made. Also, a "Message of the Day" now greets you when you start for delivering announcements.

Finally, there are a variety of new in-game commands. You can use /msg and /me for private chatting and actions ala IRC, there is similarly a /part and /quit for leaving a server or the entire game quickly with a message. The /uptime command will tell you how long a server has been running and the /clientquery command will tell you what version everyone else is using. Finally, for the league players, /countdown was modified to tell you how much time until a match begins and will accept an optional value for how long to count. To wrap it all up, there's also auto-completion (aka tab-completion) of commands and player names now too.

It has been a long time in development and we're just as glad to get this out the door and into your hands. Should you run into anything unexpected, please report it to the BZFlag bug tracker at http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_i ... tid=103248 so that it may be fixed quickly. Thanks and appreciation is well-deserved to all the developers, server operators, server administrators/cops, and players like you that have put in their time and effort and keep the game alive and improving. We hope you enjoy.

Cheers!
Sean
Last edited by learner on Tue Jan 18, 2005 4:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
RPG
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Posts: 2015
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 2:37 am
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Contact:

Post by RPG »

Thank you! :hugs everyone:
brad2901
Private First Class
Private First Class
Posts: 223
Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2004 9:17 am
Location: UK
Contact:

bug?

Post by brad2901 »

romfis-austria
Private First Class
Private First Class
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Österreich - Wien
Contact:

Post by romfis-austria »

NO, is a LAGGI Tank.

mfg.
romfis
User avatar
RPG
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Posts: 2015
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 2:37 am
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Contact:

Post by RPG »

There was alot of lag on that server, however I saw that same thing, with the tank parts swirling around on the ground before dissapating.
User avatar
learner
General
General
Posts: 270
Joined: Sun May 11, 2003 2:06 am
Location: Maryland
Contact:

Re: bug?

Post by learner »

Brad2901 wrote:Is this a bug?
<snip>
Hrm. Last paragraph of what I wrote (which I hope you actually read since you're posting to this thread) did say.. "Should you run into anything unexpected, please report it to the BZFlag bug tracker ..."

That said, it is a bug that's been in BZ for many years from at least 1.7 days and there's no need to report it. The spinning debris doesn't affect gameplay in the least, though. Just funny looking.
User avatar
tadd
Master Sergeant
Master Sergeant
Posts: 93
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 2:25 pm
Location: Raleigh, NC

MacOSX users get windowed mode!!

Post by tadd »

Congratulations on the new release! It is worth shouting to all of the MacOSX users that there is now a windowed mode. No longer do you have to quit to answer your IMs. Use F1 (or is it CmdF1?) to toggle.
Excellent. Thanks.

Tadd
This is a block of text that can be added to posts you make. There is a 800 character limit
User avatar
toaster
Private First Class
Private First Class
Posts: 457
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2004 4:44 pm

Post by toaster »

Tried to download this several times already. When using SourceForge to get access to the Win32 exe, get this message no matter which mirror I select.

The mirror you've selected, umn.dl.sourceforge.net does not currently have the file you requested. (This is an error on our part which will be fixed).
You are requesting file: /bzflag/bzflag-2.0.0.exe
Please select a mirror
-toaster
"So there I was, all alone, facing all of the enemy. I started driving in circles, until I had them surrounded, and then I escaped in the confusion."
User avatar
wegstar
Private First Class
Private First Class
Posts: 127
Joined: Sun Dec 26, 2004 4:33 am
Location: Good ol' California
Contact:

Post by wegstar »

yeah.. sourceforge was "down" a while ago... and I was unable to download anything. :( I posted a copy of the installer here: http://www.freewebs.com/wegstar/downloads.htm :)
*Please respect my bandwith*
Formerly "nader"
---
Microsoft broke Volkswagen's world record: Volkswagen only made 22 million bugs!
-----
"Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will pee on your computer." -- Bruce Graham
User avatar
learner
General
General
Posts: 270
Joined: Sun May 11, 2003 2:06 am
Location: Maryland
Contact:

Alternate download sites

Post by learner »

Until our SourceForge.net hosts recover from their 7 hour maintenance window, there are BZFlag 2.0 downloads available on high-speed links at:

http://bzflag.bz/builds/2.0/
and
http://my.bzflag.org/builds/1.11/

Please report any bugs or unexpected behavior encountered to http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_i ... tid=103248. Enjoy!

Cheers!
Sean
User avatar
Lan
Private First Class
Private First Class
Posts: 296
Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2004 1:21 am
Contact:

Post by Lan »

Hooray! I am really excited for this release, despite testing it a lot through development :) I can't wait to play, especially now that I have fast DSL, much more limitless than that old 56k :) Thanks for the great work, devs!
User avatar
Gerbil
Private First Class
Private First Class
Posts: 251
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2002 2:46 pm
Location: Habitrail Tube
Contact:

Wow!

Post by Gerbil »

Great job guys!

I remember the old days when the developers philosophy was to protect the integrity of the game and there was a real reluctance to add anything radically different. (For the really newcomers, would you believe that using "suspended platforms" in a world use to be a hot controversy?)

They did a great job of keeping the game a real community and making sure it didn't fade away into obscurity. (There should be developer's shrine for BZ.)

It' sexciting to see new features added and just wanted to say "Wow and Thanks!" for a great (and huge) job.

Who knew you guys were so busy.

One suggestion--put some effort now into PLAYER-friendly instructions for the server setup, world design, etc. Easy to read and understand details with WORKING examples for the programming challenged would be great.

Great job! I can't wait to play
Politically correct BZ: A kinder, gentler Guided Missile.
User avatar
SilverFox
Private First Class
Private First Class
Posts: 163
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2004 6:51 pm
Contact:

DOCUMENTATION

Post by SilverFox »

I feel like a normal "PLAYER", and I have to say that the bzfs man page is pretty explanitory. In fact, it seems pretty complete to me. Only thing missing is how groups work in a bit more detail with the list server (particularly the new group naming standard LOCAL.foo, etc)

I know, I know... patches welcome. I'll get to it when I have a chance.

This post started as a defense of how well bzfs was documented... how'd that happen?!?
User avatar
Gerbil
Private First Class
Private First Class
Posts: 251
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2002 2:46 pm
Location: Habitrail Tube
Contact:

Hmmm

Post by Gerbil »

Hmmm..apparently you aren't a moron though. What about the rest of us?

Hey wait... that didn't come out right ;)
Politically correct BZ: A kinder, gentler Guided Missile.
User avatar
Sir Lance-A-Lot
Private First Class
Private First Class
Posts: 503
Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2004 12:49 am
Location: Amongst my Computers
Contact:

Post by Sir Lance-A-Lot »

ahh - finally got a chance to try out 2.0. AwSoMe !
OO i love da curves and slopes. Great Job ;)

Now i needa try mappin in 2.0. :idea:
Image
User avatar
sherman
Private First Class
Private First Class
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 6:22 pm

Post by sherman »

Awesome. Love the new bad flags and animations.
nobody
Post Reply