Patch Notes Feb-2006

From Seed

Here is the list of the most recent Changes in Seed:

Contents 1 February 2006 1.1 February 27, 2006 1.2 February 22, 2006 1.3 February 21, 2006 1.4 February 16, 2006 1.5 February 15, 2006 1.6 February 11, 2006 1.7 February 7, 2006 1.8 February 6, 2006 1.9 February 4, 2006 1.10 February 3, 2006 1.11 February 2, 2006

February 2006

The official patch patch notes are located at:

• Feb 6-27: http://www.seedthegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=974
• Feb 4: http://www.seedthegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=943
• Feb 3: http://www.seedthegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=913
• Feb 2: http://www.seedthegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=848

February 27, 2006

• Repair tools: Tools no longer stop working after a while.
• Deleted characters: If you create a new character with the name of a deleted character, you no longer take over the deleted character's admin bits, objects, etc. Production jobs are not cleaned up yet.
• Max stack size for inspiration drops set to 1.
• Activating "empty" function no longer gives an error message.
• Server side stability increased.
• Checksum error bug in launcer fixed. Memory usage in launcher drastically reduced.
• Ordering a priority job no longer steals voucher from administrator.
• Message board implemented on TAU (still in progress). It is possible to send a message to recipient "tau" to put it on the message board. Only 50 latest messages are shown at the moment.
• Ring list window on TAU where you can see info on all rings.

February 22, 2006

Two patches were issued today, both of which were concerned primarily with stability.

• Client
  • We have had some issues with the client lagging heavily, also causing severe server lags. This turned out to be due to discrepancies between serverside and clientside Q databases; these discrepancies shouldn't occur but they can happen, and if they do, we handle this (more) gracefully now.
  • Fixed errors in FactoryMachines which may have made the client more unstable, even when just being in the same zone as them.
  • Errorcode 2-bug fixed.
• Server:
  • Many major and minor fixes. Yesterday's server patch replaced a lot of code in the lower levels of the client communication - this caused more than the normal number of crashes yesterday and these issues should now be addressed.
• Database:
  • NOTE: We have a major data contamination problem in RecSpace's Garden which will crash you with certainty when you get more than two zones away from Garden. One of the zones that lie two zones away is the radlock closest to Garden; if you go in there, you will crash with certainty. We are looking at the problem, of course, but be advised that just getting near Garden and then leaving again will crash you.

February 21, 2006

• Graphics:
  • Fixed a lot of gaps between meshes, causing the camera to slip outside. This should be less possible now. Please report any new occurences.
  • Closed up the "tubes" in Floatbed Chambers. You should no longer be able to get the camera inside and outside.
  • Fixed pathfinder. You should no longer be able to go through, or get the camera through, the bulkhead at the entrance of Garden.
  • Fixed alpha sorting bug of transparent textures in Garden. Foilage should now sort properly.
  • Changed the zone of Hub A, due to a scope issue (too many zones in scope).
  • It is now possible to enter (and leave) lab space from canyon radlocks.
  • Fixed elevator access, so you can only enter them when they are at your floor.
• Client:
  • Factory label and factory windows now show factory name, e.g. "HP07". Please use this name when reporting bugs on specific factories or production jobs.
  • Cannot drag empty text anymore.
  • Share point no longer crashes client if you drag a blueprint or component to the Donate frame. (Edit: Minor typo)
• Server:
  • Working on increasing stability.

February 16, 2006

• Notification bubbles: Fade slightly faster - still being finetuned.
• Vote window: Long names shortified so you should be able to see all candidate names now. Please report if this is not the case!
• Message window: Should not crash on long messages any more, but is still buggy. Please report any crashes with details about what you were writing!
• Skill training: Should no longer show negative times.
• Text input window: Default position set, so it is no longer positioned at bottom left of the screen.
• Misc. changes to server code; update of network code, more debugging, misc. cleanups.

February 15, 2006

• Abilities: Now activated when you get access to them.
• Skills: Fixed weird printout of time left to train.
• Production: Jobs with negative times are resolved on server restart.
• Messages: Several messages can now be deleted in fast succession.
• Messages: No longer receiving a notification when deleting messages.
• Inspiration drops: Magnitude now depends on current skill points.
• Hardpoints: Order button disabled when ordering new machine.
• Improvements in misc. window updates.
• Cam window: No longer opens with your own character when you talk to yourself.
• Emotes: No longer changing orientation when emoting to yourself.
• Equip windows: No longer shows attributes of last equipped item when equipping a new item. Misc. other minor fixes.
• Repair: No longer getting the "Can't repair while running or walking" error, unless you're actually running or walking.
• Char creator: Black circles now shown around default colors.
• Tell: No longer sending empty tell messages.
• Tell: No longer showing message in chat log if receiver cannot receive.
• Ring window: "Leave" button no longer shown for ring leaders.
• User settings are under construction - you can pt. set the following:
  • Position and size of the following windows:
    • Chat log
    • Text input
    • Assets
  • Position, with minor error (about -30 in y-direction) of:
    • Trade-off window
    • Equip windows
  • Window positions are saved by pressing "Ctrl-F3".
  • You can also apply and save the settings displayed in the User Settings window (opened through the Game Menu window). Saving these settings also saves window positions.

February 11, 2006

• Vote window: Now showing votes left for current cycle.
• Vote window: Candidate lists layouted better.
• Running for votes: Minor fix in error message when running for too many votes.
• Rings: Empty ring names no longer possible.
• Rings: Empty ring chat messages no longer possible.
• Rings: You can now leave a ring by selecting your name in ring window and clicking "Leave". Not possible for ring leaders.
• Rings: When invited to a ring, the "Info" button now shows the ring you're invited to instead of your current ring.
• Share points: "Recycle" changed to "Donate".
• Share points: When recycling a stack of components, you now get APs for full stack instead of just one component.
• Share points: When recycling several objects, share point no longer crashes.
• Share points: Better list layout.
• Share points: Prices properly displayed in various windows.
• Skills: Multiple instances of the same skill no longer occur.
• Skills: Skill training now continues on server after crash. Also fixed problem with radlocks stopping skill training.
• Skills: Parallel skill training through inspiration drops no longer possible.
• Skill window: Now displaying trade-off icons for trade-off abilities.
• Ability info window: Inserted missing text for stress modifiers.
• Equip: Fixed bug that caused client crash when trying to unequip left-hand item from asset window
• Equip: Function bar in equip window now disabled if you don't have the skills. Tooltip shows skill requirements for that function.
• Items: Charge bar in equip window is no longer decreased, since charge is not currently in use.
• Temporary extra QDatabase hack.q added:Characters now stop running when they reach their destination, and other animations should play fine.
• Pie menus: Should now consistenly close when the mouse is moved away.
• Pie menus: Can now be closed by pressing the right mouse button.
• Various clean-up in bad objects and resource allocation: Should make client and server more stable.
• Launcher updated: Should provide more output on the updating process.
• Changes to client logging output: Some more client logging output is generated. Most client output is by default piped to a 'client.log' file in the installation directory. It would be practical if you provide this file when reporting crashbugs. You may want to delete 'client.log' from time to time.
• AccountManager updated: Should now be more responsive, and thus slightly reduce client lag.
• AccountManager updated: Error code 40 should now be eliminated. Instead a new session is generated automatically.
• Repair Jobs: Spawn and evolution rate reduced, and slight rewrite of data for repair jobs. Should make it possible to keep an area mostly clean, and thereby give you a better feeling of how repair jobs get worse over time.

February 7, 2006

• It is no longer possible to cancel other players' production jobs.
• It is now possible to fix a repair job on an empty hardpoint, thus making a new machine.
• Equip behavior should be more consistent - please report remaining weird behavior.
• User settings window can now be closed by clicking "Cancel and exit" as well as the 'x'. Window still under construction.
• Old tooltips now removed from equip window when equipping new item.
• Pressing backspace or delete in character creator name field no longer produces incorrect error message.
• Ring window now updates when promoting/demoting/kicking members. Leave button not fixed yet.
• When clicking "Info" button in ring invite window, the ring info window now shows the ring you're invited to instead of your current ring.
• Client no longer crashes when quitting game.
• It is now possible to select "none" in hair picker, i.e. you can make bald characters.
• New patch for connection manager, hopefully fixing connection bugs.
• Cleaned up bad object errors in client.
• Increased client lifespan by fixing resource leakage.
• Fixed "Readling" spelling error in launcher window.
• Fixed progress bar error in launcher window (doesn't go to 260% anymore)
• Fixed bug in patching assets.q
• Fixed broken seed_data_XXXX.zip file on web-server
• Known error codes translated to text messages in launcher
• New, but still not finished, canyon

February 6, 2006

Today is just a server patch to provide a bit more stability while we look further at the root causes of various problems. We don't have time to make any major fixes, as we also do some regular status keeping and planning on mondays. So todays changes are mainly adressing some stability and logging on the server, so you will not see any significant performance improvements.

Because of these fixes two new startup error codes have been introduced.

• 50 : Too many accounts currently logged in
• 60 : Too many users trying to connect at once

February 4, 2006

• Improved object loading. Object loading should be smoother as communication with the server during the loading phase has been limited
• Skill System Improvements. The client-side skill display should not be as garbled as it was before.
• Various common data cashed which should improve server performance slightly
• Various server issues adressed and debugging information improved, to help us track the rest.

February 3, 2006

• Connection responsiveness improved (should give faster login times)
• Some server vulnerabilities fixed.
• More debug added to server to better track server crash issues.
• Ring interface fixed - it is now possible to promote/demote/kick members of your ring without causing a client crash.

  Note that the ring window is NOT currently updated, so you have to close and re-open the window to see the changes.

• Some improvements to skill training - it might still be buggy, so please report issues you come across.
• Sound disabled until the ogg-issue is resolved - should remove the *beep* sound that sometimes occured.
• "Horrible cursor error" output replaced with more debug info, and the cursor should recover more gracefully.
• Minor fixes to share point gui.
• Error code 2 added to launcher output. Error code 2 = "Unable to locate assets.q"
• It is now possible to delete messages from your inbox using the message pie menu

February 2, 2006

• Thread Pool increased in the client. Should take care of the 'Running low on threads - warning'
• Improved object load on zone change. Should speed up zone changes making them more smooth.
• Cached location data. Should remove the lag seen about a minute after login.
• Better error codes on launcher start:
  • 5 : Could not connect to server
  • 10 : Wrong userId or password
  • 20 : Account not activated
  • 30 : Account Banned
  • 40 : Account already logged in
• Errorcode 1 should be eliminated, so if you still get it check that the launcher was succesfully update. You might even want to try a reinstall.
• Fixed various patcher errors. Should improve patching speed and reliability.
• Fixed a radlock transportation bug that caused server crashes. Radlocks should be safer to use now.