Universal Combat v2.00.00

Last Updated : 05/09/04 Red entries are new since current patch Retail Version : 1.00.01 (Released on 02-04-04) Official Patch Version : 2.00.00 (Released on 05-07-04)

ISSUES UNDER INVESTIGATION

NPC characters cannot navigate around certain (irregular) objects. This is probably due to their slow turn rate which is not fast enough at low frame rates. As a result, they seem to walk back, then by the time they have completed a turn (in an attempt to not face the obstruction), walk forward and because their turn did not cause them to face away from the obstacle, then end up moving forward - and once again into the obstruction. They will usually recover after several attempts.
Some crafts flying within the vicinity of stations can get stuck inside their structures (e.g. TYPE 0 and 1 stations) because they cannot change direction fast enough in order to find a suitable exit route from within the structure. The same can happen to some slow crafts operating around cities (which have closely packed buildings). Personnel moving around small confines (e.g. in cities) can also have similar pathfinding issues.
Sometimes (during low frame rates) the precise collision detect (which handles support structures such as buildings which you can climb or land on with a jetpack) will allow a building to be breached. This usually happens if you repeatedly drive a vehicle into a building which is a support structure, but which you can't really climb up on.
If you walked behind an intruder (or under any gunship's tail) gunship on a carrier and tried to enter the tailgate, the precise collision detect (which handles support structures) may cancel the collision detect (because it doesn't know if you are on the gunship or the carrier deck) and you will fall into the water.
It is possible to crash through visible fighers/gunships located on the decks of assault and naval carriers because there is no collision detect handling between support structures (naval carrier) and the entities they are supporting (gunships on deck).
In some cases a craft could attach to a support structure (e.g. a building) and be able to take off and still be attached to it.
Sometimes an NPC which ends up walking over a support structure (e.g. a gunship) and then walks off, may not fall to the ground immediately and will seemingly walk in the air for a short while before dropping to the ground.
At resolutions higher than 1024x768, some HUD screen elements are misaligned
Character models are still not visible in open vehicles on all video cards e.g. if you enter a CAV, you will not see your character model inside the vehicle.
Some problems in the keyboard controls for the space force marine (especially when standing on a support structure)
If you asset switched to some units and your controller option is not yet to Mouse, you can only use Q/E to rotate the unit. This means that after switching to an asset (e.g. a SAM site located on the planet), for full control of that asset, you need to have Mouse set as your controller in the OPTIONS menu.
Sometimes ground vehicles (especially mining drones) will end up under the terrain (if they go over a very steep and sharp incline) and due to how they hug the terrain, don't know they have actually ended up underneath it. As such, they will remain their until they encounter another such topology which puts them back on the surface.
The prediction code does not seem to work reliably in the translation model as it does in the orientation model. This results in a time lapse type delay if you change your translated position in large increments. The effect is a sort of rubber-band warp effect.
Planet based issues (serious)

Because the first person view position is tied to the model, your model will sometimes appear to be tilting at an angle, when viewed by another client.
Some minor jittering when using vehicles on the planet.
Some timing syncronization issues may cause anomalies such as, "going back in time" (which also causes animations to freeze momentarily), "warp ahead", "character model distortion", weapon jittering etc. And sometimes if the current time falls out of synch with the display frame, this will result in a irrecoverable drop in frame rate with the only option being to quit the game.

If you connect to a password server using the in-game browser, after you enter the correct password and have pressed enter, the dialog will re-appear, even though the password was in fact correct. So, if you enter a password and the server does not reject it, when the blank prompt returns, just ignore it and wait to connect to the server. You can also use the +connect option. See the FAQ for more on this.
If you had the chat message log window open in the front view, then switch to Tacops and back again, the window is not refreshed until a new message comes in.
The TTD and VDD shield/armor info for player assets are sometimes not in synch with the in-ship systems. e.g. in one instance a player carrier showing 1500/2500 for shield/armor, actually had internal values of 0/92.
On servers with NPC auto-generation enabled, the NPCs will not actively acquire targets nor do anything interesting. This needs some special handling in order to get it to work like it does in single player.
Cargo pods dropped by NPCs are usually empty.

KNOWN ISSUES - NONE BUGS

At very high frame rates, characters in escort mode will constantly update their position around the object they are escorting (e.g. player). This is not fatal and is only happening due to the increased AI processing loop. Its more of an annoyance than a bug and is only seen if viewing the character from an external camera view or if a character who was previously prone, decides to fine tune his position, even though you [player] have not moved at all and then crosses your view (thus ending up in obscuring the line of fire).
If the player enters a multi-person vehicle (e.g. CAV), escorting NPCs cannot enter the same vehicle. This was not part of the original design and is not a bug. If you are part of a personnel team and you take off in a vehicle, they will simply run after the vehicle you are in. This will PROBABLY be implemented at some point if the sales of the game warrants the extra investment in time and resources. Otherwise, wait for the next game in the series.
You can drive through trees and animal flocks. That is correct, collision detect for them is disabled because performance is significantly hampered, especially due to the sheer number of trees. Vegetation (trees, grass, flocks) are there for scenery purposes only and do not bear any relevance to gameplay. e.g. you're not required to climb a tree or go bear hunting. If this bothers you, disable them in CONFIG (see DOCS\CONFIG OPTIONS.PDF).
If you go up a building then go prone and have personnel escorting you, they too will go prone and possibly end up prone at some really funny angles. This is the same as going prone on a mountain, then crawling over a peak because you can. The end result being that a good portion of your body is suspended in midair. So don't do it because it can't be addressed.
While on the planet and viewing a target which resides on another map (that you are not on) using the F10 key, the target will either appear to be slightly above/below the ground. This is due to terrain height variations since that region is only demand loaded. If you actually go there, you will see that the ground units are exactly where they should be. The F10 camera - like all view cameras - are for viewing purposes only.
You don't have the ability to switch to turret/gunner positions on crafts. e.g. you cannot switch to the door gun of the Blackghost gunship. We just didn't have time to implement this. Maybe in a future update.
You cannot control vehicles using the joystick
If you died in the game and previously had a saved game prior to your death, but when you restore it you are still dead, it means that the saved game in which you are dead, is still cached and being auto-loaded. A workaround for this is to quit the game, go to the SAVE folder and delete the file with the .SAV extension. Then start the game and Restore the saved profile you wish to use.

NEW VERSION INFO

v2.00.02

GENERAL

When the SOS emitter (CTRL+ALT+T) is on, "SOS" is now displayed on the FP HUD status bar
FIXED: Tractor beam was hard to lock-on when used in certain crafts

MULTIPLAY

FIXED: Sometimes messages sent by the server are logged and decoded in the chat message window as being sent by other clients. There may still be others. They too will be removed as they are discovered.
FIXED: When a player in Commander career launches support crafts, they were not visible to other clients or the [graphical] server.
FIXED: Tractor beam didn't lock-on. Remember, in mp you cannot tractor any other craft unless they have their SOS emitter in broadcast mode. i.e. if you want to tow another player, they should first manually activate their emitter using CTRL+ALT+T, then they can be towed.
FIXED: Strobe and blink timers not updated on server (causes SOS circle to remain fixed at TTD size)

v2.00.01

MULTIPLAY

v2.00.00

GENERAL

Revisions to AI kernel

NPC troops can now more frequently self-heal (using medkits) and self-repair (using repair kits). They can also do this while clearly close to the point of death (Grey TTD). Previously they won't pause to do this during a combat engagment or if badly injured.
Since there is no ability for you or an NPC to carry an injured comrade to safety (wait for the next game), you have to ensure that you manually pull your people out of a hostile zone if they are badly injured as they will NOT abandon their order (and subsequently their comrades) without a direct order. i.e. an Assault Force Marine, carrying the devastatingly powerful A9MAG will never leave - even if he has a very low LF or very high FF. You have to find a safe location and then give him the order to escort you (and subsequently to that location) or another NPC (in a safe location). If you give the RTB, he will bugger off home and be lost to you.
NPC marines have long term memory - so treat them nicely or they will get you killed at the very first opportunity, by ignoring a direct order.
NPC troops can now use supply stations (like the player) - even ones located in hostile bases.

The supply station object is now a support platform so that NPCs (and player) can get closer to it, since several NPCs may decide to use it all at the same time.
The supply station must must exist in the current 3D world to be usable.
A supply station is not usable if more than six people are already using or i ntend to use it.
A supply station is not usable if a hostile person is using or intends to use the station.
A supply station is not usable if more than 5km from the position of the person trying to use it.
Persons currenty do not go to a supply station of their own accord because there are situations where they will bugger off in search of one - just when you need them to be engaging enemy forces. They must be given an order using the Proceed to Supply Station order in the Team Orders Menu. The order is ignored if there is no suitable supply station nearby.
Once a station is selected, the person will then proceed to the supply station, stand at a vacant position, and orient towards it. The supply operation takes 10 seconds to complete. On completion the person is rearmed, healed, resupplied and the armor is restored. The person then resumes previous orders.
Supply station use is implemented as a gesture. The disarm/pose change/rearm gesture sequence begins when the person arrives at a certain distance from the TEAM tag position being used that is defined in the station object. The person uses side steps to position accurately similar to when escorting a person.
The supply station use is cancelled if an order is issued that sets the objective of the person e.g. "Attack My Target"
The LAND waypoint order will now cause the craft to land and halt, instead of taking off 10 seconds later. To have a craft take off after this command, either change the waypoint command or create a new waypoint, then issue the Resume Waypoints order to the craft.

NPC personnel troops can now RTB to a Mobile Forward Base
Sometimes when you (as the leader) of a marine team goes prone, some members of the team do not follow suit. This is because members who do not have direct orders from you, will take orders only from their leader. So, if you have marine A escorting you and you go prone, only marine A will go prone, as marine B (escorting marine A), will not. This has been addressed so that orders are propagated based on the chain of command within the team.
Changes to NPC repair/healing

Armor repair takes priority and has a higher "must repair" threshold. Unit will now repair armour if it is less than 50%.
After performing healing/maintenance the NPC will repeat until he runs out of supplies or is repaired/healed.
NOTE: that using a single MEDPAK, NUTRIPAK, or TOOLKIT (as viewed in the CVD/SMD) will not immediately change the stores manifest as they each have 2 and 4 uses respectively. The stores manifest will change after the healing process is completed, not when it starts.
Disabled persons will not repair/heal themselves. They are considered unconscious, it is up to something else to treat them.
The pain timer is used to reduce the number of pain SFX. The pain SFX will not be issued for 3 seconds. (this uses the pain timer).

Increased the spectrum coverage of planetary SAM/SAL threats so that they acquire and fire on hostile targets more frequently. This was heavily revised from previous BC games in order to make the game a bit more playable without overwhelming the first time player with a barrage of hostile fire they simply couldn't avoid. Now, their previous rules have been restored, but a margin of error has now been introduced so that experienced players don't cry foul.
Added target acquisition/prosecution logic to several units in order to make it more difficult to wipe out bases. If you are assaulting a base, the high priority targets are bunkers, barracks, command and control, starbases etc. If you even think of dropping inexperienced troops on the ground without first softening these targets, they'll all die. Quickly.
NOTE: STO silos are still disabled until they can be prevented from activating several planet maps during their flight from planet to space. Once re-enabled, observing a base from orbit in order to execute an OTS strike, will trigger an OTS launch if a silo exists on the base/city being viewed.

Revisions to Dynamics kernel:

Tweaked the CALS system (manual p59) a bit more in order to alleviate twitching when landed on some terrain slopes. Also resolves some issues related to landing profiles in some instances.
Tweaked the landing profile for NPC gunships in order that they can better intercept landing waypoints especially when under fire.
You can now eject from a craft (while in VTOL mode) without having to first land it. This allows you to do silly and crazy things like, oh, I dunno, say (a) flying a fighter into another unit while ejecting at the last minute (b) dropping in on a carrier deck and stealing a fully functional fighter from its deck (c) ejecting from a craft that is sure to be destroyed in the coming moments etc. Naturally, if you jump at a high altitude and end up on land instead of water - without a jetpack - you're dead.
Significantly revised and tweaked the collision detect and avoidance so that it is less likely to fail during low frame rate processing. NPC units will now predict a collision more quickly and can avoid them where possible. This is mostly beneficial on planetary scenes where there are a lot of buildings and NPC (mostly troops) have too many buildings to process in order to eliminate from their decision tree.
The orbits for stations and orbital defense systems have been moved out from 800km to 8000km and 500km to 5000km from the center of the planet, respectively.
The egress altitude has been reduced to 14,000 feet because some playets were unable to reach this altitude and breach some planets escape velocity in order to return to space - because they're not reading the docs.
The sea to surface ascent rate of subs has been reduced to prevent them overshooting the surface level and then having to drop back down again, as observed in IA0111 scenario.
The 0-9 keys can now be used to set the thrust of crafts and vehicles to preset values. You can still use the W and S keys, which effectively act like afterburner and retros. e.g. if you set your max speed to 5, the craft will slowly ramp up to thrust factor 5. However, if you then press and hold the W key, you can exceed this thrust setting and go up to the max speed of the craft. When you let go of the W key, the craft will slowly reduce it's thrust back to factor 5. A thrust factor of 9 sets the max thrust of the craft, while 0 brings it to a halt.
If you are using a joystick the speed value is modified by the joystick throttle if enabled. This means that if you have thrust factor 9 set, then setting the throttle to min level will effectively bring the craft to a halt. While setting it to the max level (pushing it all the way forward), will take the craft up to the max thrust speed set by the 1-9 thrust settings. e.g. if you have thrust factor 9 set, then moving the throttle all the way forward will ramp the craft all the way up to its max speed. In the CC, this is dependent on the Logistix engine power setting. See below.
In the case of the CC, this is also dependent on the Logistix engine power settings. By default this is set to 5 (which keeps the engines on) which means that the thrust value of 9 will take the craft up to near cruise speed. e.g. if the craft's max speed is 400 m/s, a thrust factor of 9 with a power setting of 5, will take the craft up to around 300 m/s. At higher engine power settings (6-10), the craft will ramp up accordingly and use more fuel. e.g. at engine power 10, the craft can go up to 400 m/s.
Revisions to Logistix power setting as related to CC thrust controls

Reducing the Logistix power level now causes the craft speed to drop if higher than the limit set by the new power level. e.g. if Logistix power level 10 and thrust level 9 are set (causing the craft to attain its max speed) and Logistix power level is later reduced to level 5, the craft's thrust level will also start to drop.
Logistix power level greater than level 5 no longer increases the craft's max speed beyond the craft's defined limit
The default power setting of level 5 now sets the craft's max speed to half the limit and level 10 gives the maximum speed

The orbital speed for stations is now 5 m/s (was increased from 1 m/s to 100 m/s in RC1)
The orbital speed for Orbital Defense Systems is now 100 m/s (was increased from 50 /ms to 750 m/s in RC1). The rotation speed has also been increased.
The speed of the jetpack has been revised as follows PLANET - increased from 12.5 m/s to 15.0 m/s and boost reduced from x5 to x2 SPACE - increased from 42.0 m/s to 250.0 m/s and boost reduced from x5 to x2

Revisions to interface:

Revisions to the Priority List Viewer (PLV)

The PLV is now active in all craft views. Was previously only available in the fp mode view. It was originally designed for ease of handling combat troops in this mode.
The image of a speaker is no longer displayed if the PLV is active
Adding a target to the priority list (P) now plays a sound and provides visual feedback (same as target designation using G)

Revisions to the Team Orders Menu (TOM)

Now has three new orders :( REPAIR, DOCK WITH, PROCEED TO...WDU/SUPPLY STATION )
The 1-9 command keys have been remapped to F1-F12.
Entries that have no effect are displayed in Red
The "DOCK WITH" order tells a person to dock with a player asset. When completed the person will disappear. This command will later be revised for better support so that if an NPC docks with, e.g. a vehicle, it can later exit when you do. Also, if you order your own CC team to dock with one of your own assets (e.g. SC), they will appear in the cargo manifest.
The "REPAIR" (NYI) command tells a person to repair either another person using a Medkit for LF or Toolkit for armor. Since NPC do not currently assist each other in this regard, you can order them to do it.
The "PROCEED TO..." command takes either a (1) WDU (Waypoint Designator Unit) which you can select from the list, if you have deployed any or (2) a supply station (the NPC will seek out the nearest supply station in the vicinity).

Completely revised the DJP menus. Are now cascade style menus; making selection navigation easier
The gun hotspot in the HUD now works like the turret one, so that you can toggle it ON/OFF. Previously since the gun was always on, there was no need to turn it off.
The altitude digits and orbit marker have been relocated so they do not visually intersect. The altitude digits have been shifted vertically to improve registration with the overlay.
The Egress Altitude Indicator (EAI) now blinks when the required egress altitude has been reached.
The WAYPOINT button in Tacops is now available in first person mode when playing the commander career
The ASSET and GEAR buttons are no longer displayed in campaign mode, since you can't alter the user details required by the campaign.
The launch command menu for fighters, now shows the missile class which will be loaded into the selected profile prior to launch. For a list of missile class and loadouts, refer to the appendix.

Revisions to content:

Revised the numbering scheme of the IA scenarios to go from IA0101 to IA0115 for those non-programmers who don't understand that numbering starts at zero. Not one. And thus wondering what IA0100 to IA0114 is all about.
Revised the APR_GPR rocket (fired by some weapons e.g. the KLMP launcher) attributes and added a shockwave explosion for better effect and coverage
The intensity in the textures for artic (White) animals has been reduced in order to prevent shimmering.
The pilot's texture has been revised so that it looks better when his hand (holding a pistol) is visible in the front view.
The ASSETS.INI had incorrect entries for a reactor and shield upgrade type
The class for the Medical Officer was missing, so sending her on away missions was not possible.
Added a second ROAM scenario to the CMDR career for training purposes.
Revised the CAMPAIGN scenario script and fixed a bug related to repeated EPs being awarded when player reaches LV-130 (the final destination system).
Changed the skybox type used in the Eluria (mp) starsystem
Revised some terrain textures to use higher detail variants
Major content revisions. Yeah, thats right, saved games are obsolete and will be deleted by this patch. Before crying out loud, just think of the benefits of this patch.

Replaced tree billboard textures with new ones created with Bionatics natFX
Revised ALL scenes with smaller and better organized variants. All bases now have an abundance of assets, buildings etc.
Cities (scenes also revised as above) now have defense systems. Also due to their new revision, fp combat in cities is now a ton of fun. HINT: Got a launcher? Take out the bunkers first!!!
Revised all IA scenarios to support new mzone/scene revisions
Added five new adrenaline pumping IA scenarios : IA0116 - IA0120.
Revised the Marauder and Intruder gunships by removing the problematic rear tail gate and the door separating the cargo area and gun compartment. This allows more players to pack into these gunships.
Also tweaked some properties of all gunships e.g. they are now a tad faster, the Blackghost gunship now has a pair of mounted guns etc etc

Increased the volume on some soundfx files

Revisions to gameplay:

All capital naval (sub, carrier, cruiser) units can now be used by any career if the EP is 500 or higher.Previously (see the manual addendum) for game balancing reasons, only some careers could use them, regardless of EP.
Revised the damage factor for some missiles (ATS/APM/APR)
Due to their vulnerability and need for precision strikes, gunships no longer use conventional ATA/ATS missiles. They now all (those with weapons) use the more powerful and accurate all purpose RALIX and RALAR missiles.
Implemented turret target prediction, mostly to prevent friendly fire within planetary scenes
Enabled gesture animations in single-player mode and taught NPC marines how to use/respond to them. This allows NPC personnel to (a) use them (b) react to them based on your use. e.g. if you salute and a bunch of NPC marines are around (and friendly to you), they will also salute. If you wave, they will wave back. If you tell them to hold position or follow you, they will comply. As long as they see you do the gesture. Refer to the keyboard commands sheet for a list of gestures. WARNING: Go saluting your troops in the middle of a hot zone and they'll all get shot in the head (since they have to drop their weapons in order to return the gesture).
When starting the Elite Force Pilot career in ROAM mode, a wing of four fighter escorts is also launched. This is only for aggressive castes (Military, Insurgent etc) and not harmless ones (Trader, etc). Since these are escorts, they will respond to team order commands (see Team Orders Menu info for details).
Threat generation has been activated for the Elite Force Pilot career in ROAM mode.
The fighter loadouts in LOADOUTS.INI have been revised so that fighters going on planetary sorties, no longer have STS missiles. To see what missiles are loaded for an assignment (TACTICAL/LOADOUT), see the updated appendix LOADOUTS.HTML file.
In IA0111 and IA0112 scenarios, the fighters now have only ATA (loadout profile 7) missile loadouts
The VTT tags for personnel has been reduced to a min/max value of 1/250 m in space and 1/1000 m in space. This was done for gameplay reasons. What is the VTT? Refer to the UC_MANUAL_REVISIONS.PDF file.
The max range of the DIE radar is now 5km (same range as a craft's PASSIVE radar mode when on a planet). This makes it easier and faster to scan for targets in the immediate vicinity. The average size of a scene is about 2.5km edge-to-edge (depending on furthest object in the scene) and an mzone is 204.8km, edge-to-edge. So, since the default radar scan range is 250km global (i.e. in crafts, DIE etc), in the heat of fp combat (when NPCs with weapons of mass destruction are hell bent on, well, sending you to hell), when you're searching for a target, you don't want to be cycling through targets that are up to 250km away when an important threat could be less than 1km from your location.
Revised some entity attributes so that they can be destroyed with lasers and fp weapons. Some folks didn't understand why some units (e.g. bunkers) could not be destroyed with lasers or fp weapons - only with missiles. Some still remain laser and fp weapon resistant, but it should be easier to have a team of NPC marines flatten a base or city.

Revisions to graphics kernel:

You can now toggle OFF planetary clouds in Config
Several improvements to the rendering kernel e.g. lighting, detail texturing, optimizations etc
Implemented Pixel Shader or TnL toggles for clouds and oceans rendering on the planet. This is for cards that have a lower than 1.1 Pixel Shader version; or if the shader versions don't look good on your video card. If you do want to use the non-shader version of the clouds and oceans rendering, then you can change this in the OPTIONS screen, save the settings, and quit/restart. See the CONFIG OPTIONS.PDF file for more details.
Revised blending of alpha bitmaps (e.g. on trees).
Implemented a new model caching scheme via the PRELOAD 3D MODELS option. WARNING: This increases game load times and takes up an additional memory - but its worth it, as you will soon find out. See the CONFIG OPTIONS.PDF file for more details. The previous /preload commandline option has been removed.
Implemented a new character animation loader via a new 3DM file format. This is significantly faster. On high end machines, this in addition to the model caching (above) virtually eliminates the delay when new character models (and their animation models) enter a scene. e.g. in IA scenarios which take place on a planet, when a batch of NPC ships appear in space etc. NOTE: The patch will run a process which converts all 3D animation models to the new 3DM format. As such, do NOT interrupt the patch process until you get the prompt that the patch process has completed!!
Revised several explosion specialfx settings
Rockets fired from fp weapons (KLMP, LR12) used by the AFM, will now generate post-destruction fragments and sound. WARNING: These weapons, by their very nature, are absolutely dangerous - especially in the hands of low AI marines. Expect to get killed a lot unless you learn how to dodge these rockets.

Miscellaneous Revisions:

Updated several appendix files, as well as the CONFIG OPTIONS.PDF and UC_MANUAL_REVISIONS.PDF files
In first person mode, the numeric mappings for step L/R keys have been changed from from END/PGDOWN to HOME/PGUP. This is so that stepping left and right works when using a weapon with a zoom scope. Previously you could not use END to step left with such a weapon because that key would effect zoom in instead. Using HOME/PGUP avoids this problem because the zoom out function provided by HOME has no effect when zoomed out (off) so the key can function as step left. Stepping left/right is disabled when zoomed in.
The numeric arrow keys are no longer effected by the state of NUMLOCK
ALT+J max toggle rate has been reduced to 0.25 seconds so that it does not switch rapidly
Implemented ( UNSUPPORTED! ) quick save (CTRL+Q). This will save the current game state and which allows it to be resumed via the Main Menu. ALT+Q no longer auto-saves the game on exit; so if you use this to quit the game and you don't have a quick saved version of the game, you won't be able to resume the game. If you are killed in a game or just wish to revert to a previous quick save point, simply use ALT+Q to quit the game, then resume via the Main Menu. In order to do a full game save, you must use ALT+G or the Command Menu; both of which will take you to the Roster save screen.
Changed the Designate Target from G to CTRL+P in craft and also now implemented in fp mode when the DIE is active. NOTE: CTRL+P no longer activates the PTA system (the menu must be used instead) and G is now undefined for crafts.
Updated EP.HTML, VEHICLES.HTML, TRADEITEMS.HTML, CASCRAFTS.HTML, ARTIFACTS.HTML, UCFAQ.HTML, CONFIG OPTIONS.PDF and UC_MANUAL_REVISIONS.PDF files
Added UC_TUTORIAL.PDF which takes player through various tutorials in order to be better introduced to the more advanced elements in the game. This does NOT replace the manual, which, in itself, is a MUST READ.

General Bug Fixes:

FIXED: Naval units could sometimes not be moved if they were too close to land e.g. there is a naval base on Earth and even when you switch to the carrier (assuming you have the required EPs and rank), you couldn't move it. Same thing applies to subs, LCACs etc. This bug actually crept in as a result of a recent seabed detection routine revision and nobody noticed it (since naval units aren't that sexy to play with).
FIXED: The PL12 sniper rifle and FG45 combat rifle had incorrect export values. This resulted in them being incorrectly attached to a jetpack or backpack when holstered. They attach just fine to the characters back holster, as long as there is no jetpack or backpack.
FIXED: Grenades are no longer removed from list of inventory ammo when running an IA scenario. This also fixes an issue whereby NPC troops are created without grenades (for manual throwing) if they don't have a weapon (ZS10 rifle or GLE22 launcher) that uses them.
FIXED: A crash related to escort NPC troops trying to copy the pose of a target that has not yet selected one.
FIXED: Escort troops remain in prone state and move at running speed when leader decides to up and run
FIXED: Excessively injured characters no longer instantly vanish instead of being correctly killed and thus causing the death animation to be played. If you ever see a marine killed and he instantly disappears with no death animation, thats what this fix corrects.
FIXED: commlink personnel image sometimes not being displayed in FP front view e.g. in some IA scenarios the image of the speaker (e.g. NPC marines) is only displayed in other views
FIXED: Player gun no longer fires (left-click) after using the DJP menu to make a destination selection
FIXED: Turning some planetary terrain options off in CONFIG, had no effect
FIXED: Game was attempting to auto-save (when player killed) in INSTANT ACTION mode. This could cause a crash in some instances.
FIXED: The person would not re-arm or resume action after maintenance if the gesture time was decreased to exactly zero.
FIXED: The invert Y axis toggle in CONFIG did not work in first person mode or when in turrets. Now operates in the first person view and mouselook. It now also effects the turret pitch when controlling a turret in a vehicle (OC).
FIXED: Switching to some assets (e.g. AX25 SAM) would sometimes cause a crash due to incorrect missile loadouts defined in the DATA\ASSETS.INI
FIXED: The environment weather was not being overwritten via a script command if not running in debug or cheat mode. e.g. IA0115 should take place in stormy weather.
FIXED: Crash in some Frontend modules (e.g. Logistix, Tradcom) due to inventory not being initialized
FIXED: Crash resulting from items inventory not being initialized. This resulted in weapon modes containing incorrect clips counts for weapons with more than one mode (e.g. ZS10)
FIXED: The NAVCHART.INI file was missing some military base entries. This would result in a crash if you tried to start on EARTH08_MB01 using a marine career.
FIXED: A crash would occur if you tried to select an asset for the Space Force Marine career. At one time this career could not use assets, but in UC it has access to shuttles.
FIXED: When attempting to repair a reactor, the ship's alert condition is set to Red. This in turn sends all personnel to on station and ready for evac. A crash would occur when station engineers were sent to on station, though you were'nt actually docked.
FIXED: In first person the view position would drift due to precision loss.
FIXED: A 90 degree orientation/direction snap in first person mode. This was caused by the previous fix.
FIXED: When NUMLOCK is on, keys in the control cluster (between the numeric pad and main keyboard) were innefective.
FIXED: The NUMLOCK key (which has the same scan code as the PAUSE key) no longer pauses the game.
FIXED: The GAME PAUSED message was sometimes not displayed (it was behind by a frame)
FIXED: The player image in Start New Game didn't change when the sex of the Commander was changed
FIXED: The commander's Wristlaser was not firing
FIXED: At resolutions higher than 1024x768, the menus would sometimes be incorrectly positioned at the left or right edges of the display.
FIXED: If you changed the default commander gear profile and then tried to exit the craft while in space, the game will no longer crash due to missing SFM profiles.
FIXED: The status of destroyed mining drones was not being updated in some cases. This causes the drone to not be located on the planet (since it is destroyed), but the CC still thinks it exists and thus continues to track its location, status, contents etc in the Tactical computer.
FIXED: when an object moves off the boundary of a support structure while over water, the object is no longer relocated onto the seabed. This used to happen in instances where you had landed on a naval carrier (e.g. IA0111 scenario).
FIXED: Repair levels should no longer exceed 100 units
FIXED: If you first exited the CC in space using ALT+E, then entered a planet, landed and tried to again exit, the operation would fail because the SFM profile (used by the AE when in space) was still active.
FIXED: Medkits were not being updated correctly when used
FIXED: If a prisoner died while in detention, his status was not being updated when player docks at a station/base and the prisoner removed.
FIXED: When you asset switched to some SAM units (e.g. AX25) the missiles would not lock on because the missile launch tables were out of synch or not defined in ITEMS.INI
FIXED: A rendering problem on gaseous (e.g. Jupiter) planets

MULTIPLAY

Developed an all new console based server. To use it, add /console to the "Start MP Server" shortcut. You should also use some form of logging when using this console server. e.g. /console /l3
The multiplayer console server no longer does the vertex shader check, so you can now host a console server on a spare machine with a video card that does not have a shader engine.
Significant improvements to packet sizes, rates, transmissions etc etc resulting in a marked improvement in multiplayer games.
Enabled client side gestures (wave, salute etc). This no longer needs to be configured on the server.
If you joined a server using the server browser, using ALT+Q to quit the game will now return you to Start New Game (SNG) screen. If you want to quit the game, just use the CANCEL button. If you joined a server using the +connect command line option, you will quit the game entirely. If you are killed in the game, you still spawn (as normal) instead of returning to the SNG screen.
The multiplayer executable is no longer SafeDisc copy protected. This allows you to host a dedicated server by installing a copy of the game on another machine and not required the game CDROM in the drive.
All server/client chat messages are now logged to the MPCHATCLIENT.LOG and MPCHATSERVER.LOG files. This requires the /logchat parameter to be added to the "Join MP Server" and "Start MP Server" shortcuts. All messages that you (local client) send, are preceded by a ">" character.
Implemented a new chat log window display which can be activated by pressing ESC twice. This window is open by default.
Messages are displayed in a first in, first out fashion (they scroll up) and contain info about the sender such as race/caste alliance, time sent etc.
Up to 16K worth of messages are displayed in the chat log window. These are identical to what is recorded in the .LOG files, though those files can grow larger than the 16K that is displayed in the chat log window. The chat log window can be navigated when the chat message window is active, as follows : UP/DOWN arrow: scroll up/down one message at a time PGUP/PGDN : scroll up/down one page at a time HOME/END : scroll to top/bottom of the list If the chat log window is closed, use of a navigation key will open it.
If a chat log navigation key is used, the chat message window is not closed when ESC is pressed to leave the chat message window.
Normally when chat messages arrive, the chat log scrolls to the end of the list so the message is visible. This is disabled while navigating the chat log.
The chat log window has a header that indicates the number of messages in the log and the number of messages that have not been "read" (i.e. seen). The header has two carets similar to Perscan that indicate that there are additional messages before or after the section being viewed.
The chat message log is color coded as follows : On Client Yellow: outgoing messages White: messages from server Green: messages from friendlies Red: messages from hostiles Cyan: all other incoming message sources On Server Yellow: outgoing messages White: incoming messages
In order to send a message, press the ESC key as before, type the message and send it as normal (e.g. by pressing ENTER).
To remove both the chat send and log windows, press the ESCAPE key twice.
To see the clients on the server, use SHIFT+ESC to activate the clients list.
Chat and mp related messages are no longer sent via the COMMLINK system. They all go through the chat log system.
Because the PLV is only active for 4 seconds it has higher priority than the chat log window since they are both displayed at the same screen location.
You can now use the UP/DOWN arrows to cycle through the multiple recipient list in the chat message box.
Client date/time stamps are now synchronized from the server upon connect
The GEAR/ASSET/CAREER buttons are now also available in the multiplayer SNG screen.
You can now manually activate your SOS emitter in fp mode using CTRL+ALT+T. This will allow your allies to come to your aid. Of course, the enemy can also see this emitter if they have you targeted or if they are viewing the region from Tacops. Note that your TTD/VTT tag will go Grey when you have your emitter activated.
The following OPTIONS are now ignored and set by the game in order to remove any advantage that one client may have over another. PLANET TERRAIN GRASS ON PLANET TERRAIN TREES ON PLANET WILDLIFE FLOCKS OFF EXPLOSION FRAGMENTS ON
Created all new mp specific scenes. Like the newly revised single player versions, these are better laid out, contain a lot of assets etc. There are now a total of 34 mzones and 278 scenes containing 80 starbases, 111 military bases and 65 cities.
Can now start at all base types (starbase, military, naval) which your starting race/caste alliance has access to.
The following asset usage rules have been implemented

Marines (all except SFMs) can no longer have an asset selection option. If you want an asset, go find one when you deploy.
Planetary Support Pilots now have access to light and medium class fighters as a starting asset.
Elite Force Pilots now only have access to super and medium class fighters as a starting asset.
Space Force Marines now have access to heavy class fighters as a starting asset. Remember, if you enter a planet and attempt to exit the craft....well, try it.

For performance and speed of update reasons, the graphical server no longer renders the planet terrain. So if you observed the planet from the server, you won't see any features, just the clients that are there.
FIXED: In some cases a dropped client object remained on the server indefinitely, though the client had physically disconnected.
FIXED: Starting as Terran Insurgent at the Farpoint station located in the MP_TAPESTRAN region would cause the game to exit due to an incorrect INI file setting.
FIXED: Dragging the server window or exiting it, would sometimes cause a crash.
FIXED: Minimizing the console server or covering it with another window will no longer cause display corruption on some cards.
FIXED: If you exited the CC in fp mode, it would crash the server, due to a missing texture asset (the commander can use one of two texture types for male or female)
FIXED: When the player is in fp mode, the character is no longer 3 ft above the ground.
FIXED: The client spawn time is now obtained correctly from the UCSETUPMP.INI file instead of using the default 30 secs value. NOTE: If you are on a LAN server, you can safely reduce this to as low as 5 secs. On a Net server, you don't want to go lower than 10 secs (since 30 secs may be too long for some players).
FIXED: The console (/console) server will now start more reliably if logging is not enabled in the shortcut. NOTE: you really SHOULD use server logging (at the very minimum use /l3) at all times.
FIXED: The status messages at the top of the display (e.g. when you press ALT+Q) are now displayed correctly instead of flashing with a Black background
FIXED: Due to the target prediction, when viewed from an external camera view, the speed of the target will fluctuate. This is just a display glitch.
FIXED: The target info in the CVD was in a different format from the single player game. This is due to the fact that everything appears neutral to the server (since it does not have a race/caste alliance).
FIXED: Entering a chat message which contains direction letters (e.g. WSAD) will no longer pass those characters through, causing client movement.
FIXED: Some characters when typed in the chat box were not echoed because they are reserved meta-characters used in menu systems. e.g. you couldn't type "Hi There" because the quotes will not be displayed. Also *G* could not be typed because of the asterisk character.
FIXED: Due to a recent change in the first person mouse view controls, when playing in mp and standing on the ground, your view position will slowly drift and making it seem as if you are actually moving - when in fact you are not.
FIXED: Over time, clients position (predicted) will sometimes go out of synch. This results in anomalies such as missiles locking on incorrect target positions, radar tracking an incorrect target location etc
FIXED: Clients jumping from one system to another, are not updated on client radar systems (only on the server). This causes "ghost" clients to be left behind at the previous region. The same thing happens when moving from space to planet and vice versa. The problem is that when the client jumps to another region, the clients still think it is in the previous region and thus cannot see it on radar in the new region.
FIXED: Sometimes if the first client on a server either disconnects, quits (ALT+Q) or dies and respawns, when they reconnect to the server (from the server browser) without entirely quitting the game (to the Main Menu), their object will be "ghosted" on the server. This sometimes causes problems such as other clients thinking this client is either connected when not and vice versa - which in turn results in comms messages (to this client) from being received etc.
FIXED: Sometimes a crash will occur if the first client on a server is destroyed and then respawns.
FIXED: To the server, when clients join and start on the planet, they seem to be falling gradually to the ground (this does not appear on the client side).
FIXED: When in a Frontend (e.g. Logistix) module, the time was accelerated by six times the normal rate.
FIXED: Pressing ALT+S would sometimes crash the server
FIXED: A separate packet containing data for scripted entities with name overrides (e.g. a station) is now sent. This for example, corrects the station info as displayed in the VDD/VID mode.
FIXED: The hyperspace effect is now disabled on the console server. This should fix the problem related to the HJ timer not being updated on clients running on a console server.
FIXED: If you took extensive damage and messages were queued up prior to your death, when you respawn, the queued messages (from the pre-death situation) are now flushed.
FIXED: If a client disconnects and then reconnects (or respawns after death), the sound system is now re-initialized.
FIXED: If a planetary building which can collapse into the ground when destroyed, was in fact destroyed, the server would CTD if logging was turned on.
FIXED: When any client quits the server, it causes all the other clients to disappear from the server because the server was sending a disconnect packet to all clients and not just the one that was disconnected.
FIXED: Turret beam graphics are now always rendered on clients
FIXED: Clients joining a server are now properly separated in order to prevent launch collisions when clients launch around the same time from the same station.
FIXED: A significant problem with packet queues in which the queue, though filled up, wasn't being allowed to send more than a certain amount based on a limit imposed by the GameCom network driver. This manifests itself in a host of problems, all of which made mp on the planet near impossible (due to the massive amount of data that needs to be sent). This problem also resulted in positional updates being lost, choked etc. This was the cause of the massive delays when playing on the planet.
FIXED: A major problem related to object creation on the planet. When a client entered the planet, a set of objects on the planet were created and tracked. The same set of objects were then also created by the server. This resulted in duplicate objects (e.g. as seen in Tacops) which in turn also led to the problem described above.
FIXED: The fp weapon for remote clients wasn't being sent; so you could sometimes not see someone holding a weapon in their hands, even if they were.
FIXED: Sometimes when you establish planetfall the shield burnup effect is not cleared on some clients.
FIXED: Chat messages are no longer aborted if the OUT queue is filling up.
FIXED: Was unable to set waypoints in Tacops if playing any career other than Commander.