Atomic Tanks 2.2 released!

jesse · Site Admin Joined: 17 Dec 2006 Posts: 221

The 2.2 release of Atomic Tanks is just being uploaded to the Sourceforge
mirros now! This release coveres a few bug fixes, some new items and
a few more options. You can download the latest and
greatest from here:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=72358

At the moment only the source is availble, but a Windows version is
in the works. Many thanks to K and Cobra for their work and suggestions
for this release.

A list of important changes is as follows:

1. The title.dat file now has the proper permissions. This should prevent
the game from crashing at start-up.

2. The game tries to prevent players from accidently firing weapons
by clearing input after each tank fires.

3. The mouse wheel can be used to scroll through items on the buying screen.

4. The close button has been disabled on Windows to prevent the game
from hanging. The close button still works as expected on Linux.

5. Added an item called "Repair Kit". This item automatically repairs the
player's tank a little each round. More repair kits slightly improves
performance.

6. On the buying screen, more rounds can be added (or removed) by using the
"+" and "-" keys. For those of you without a number pad, the "=" key acts
as a "+".

7. When a player kills another player, the attacker gloats.

8. There is a new wall type called "Spring" which can be activated in the Physics
portion of the Options menu. This wall type causes missiles to bounce back with
more force.

9. There is a new device called "Swapper". This works a lot like teleport, but
causes the player to switch positions with another tank. Great for getting out
of tight corners.

10. The Wind settings are now saved properly.

11. Meteors self-destruct after five seconds to avoid endless loops when there
are a lot of meteors on the screen.

12. And meteors rarely fall from the sky when the players are aiming in
SIMUL turn mode.

There are some other minor changes, but they're mostly back-end stuff
players shouldn't notice. If you're interested, please take a look at
the change log.

I look forward to hearing your opinions and suggestions.
Jesse

jesse · Site Admin Joined: 17 Dec 2006 Posts: 221

The Windows version of Atomic Tanks has been built and released.
Please go here to get the package:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=72358

Thanks to Keilaron for providing this package.

Jesse

Ulgen · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 6

A quick question about installing a new version. Do I have to uninstall the previous version before installing the new one, or can I install it over the old one and keep all the old settings? We have quite a number of players in the list and have modded the money settings quite a bit, so it would be great not to have to do this every time we update...

jesse · Site Admin Joined: 17 Dec 2006 Posts: 221

Ulgen,

I'm not sure about the Windows version, but I know on a Linux
system, you can update without harming your settings. I think
it works the same under Windows.

I'm away from my development PC at the moment, but as I recall
all of your settings, players, etc are stored in one large file
called ".atanks-config". This is usually in your home or documents &
settings folder, depending on your system. If you're worried about losing
your setup, find this file (.atanks-config) and make a copy of it somewhere.
Then when you upgrade, if anything goes wrong, you can move the
copy back to its original location to restore your settings.

I try to keep all new versions of Atomic Tanks backward compatible
with older versions. So config files from about Atanks-1.1 to Atanks-2.2
should work on any new version.

I hope this helps,
Jesse

Keilaron · Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 127

To avoid confusion, I'm going to clear up the details:

- This is silly: I never paid attention to the version number, and I just realised that it shows up in add/remove. That's fine, though - the installer's smart enough to replace the old one, so there is no problem with installing over the previous version. The .atanks-config file generated by the game is just that: Generated by the game. I intentionally do not package it in the installer so that all changed settings will not be overwritten Smile

- The .atanks-config is actually generated within the game's directory, not the Documents And Settings directory - I may fix this in the future.

Happy tank-blasting!

Ulgen · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 6

Installing over 2.1 worked perfectly Smile

. But if you make changes that'll mess with the config file, would you let us know in the forum update?

Btw. What tech level is the repair kit and swapper available for? We play on tech level 2. Maybe it should be available there...? Or not... I don't know.

jesse · Site Admin Joined: 17 Dec 2006 Posts: 221

Don't worry, if I mess up the config file (which I may have in the upcoming release) I'll warn you in BOLD LETTERS both on the forum and the website.
I try to keep it backward compatible, I really do. In fact, you can
help. You see, I've toasted my config file so many times testing
changes, that I don't have an old one anymore. If you e-mail me
your config file to jessefrgsmith@yahoo.ca I'll test it against the
new release to make SURE it works. Deal?

I'm not at my development machine right now, but I'm
pretty sure the Swapper is tech level 4. The repair kit is, I think, 3.
The ability to swap your tank's position with another seems pretty
advanced to me. I may lower the requirements for the repair kit
as it's a pretty basic thing.

Ulgen · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 6

jesse · Site Admin Joined: 17 Dec 2006 Posts: 221

That's an interesting idea, different levels of tech and equipment. It could
be bizzar, especially with high equipment and low weapons. Telporting to
avoid small missiles... On the other hand, games with high weapons and
low equipment would probably go very fast. I'll think about it.

I tested the config file you sent me and it works fine with the new version
of Atanks (2.3). Since I don't plan to change anything else in the config
file before the release, you don't have to worry.

Of course, I always recommend making backups before installing a new
version of anything. You can never be too careful.