Wesnoth 1.13.4

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vultraz
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Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by vultraz »

Wesnoth 1.13.4 is out!

Screenshot Screenshot

This is being released as 1.13.4, as unfortunately, a crash-inducing bug was discovered mere hours after tagging 1.13.3.

Since the 1.13.2 release back in December, our team, especially Aginor, has been working hard on a major framework change: switching to SDL 2. This allowed us to fix a significant number of old (and ancient) bugs that have been sitting around the tracker for years. For players, this means better window and fullscreen handling, smoother performance, color cursor support, and other improvements. It also provides us a platform for working on several exciting changes in the months ahead.

This release also features redesigned Preferences and Attack dialogs, using GUI2. Feedback is appreciated on their new functionality.

As this is a development version, and especially since it's the first release making use of SDL 2, we would like to remind everyone how the testing and feedback process works for these:
  • Download and install, making sure to keep the latest stable release around in case the game breaks and you find yourself unable to get your daily fix of Wesnoth.
  • Playtest the game, try out some of the API additions for content creators, and write down your observations in a notebook or similar.
  • If you encounter issues, don’t panic; instead, grab some bug spray and protective gear, and head directly to our instructions for reporting bugs. Most importantly, keep in mind that we can’t know about any bugs you encounter unless you report them to us!
  • Near the end of the release notes below you will find a list of the most important bugs known at the time of release. Some items are due to be fixed in the next release, but for others we depend on contributed patches from volunteer coders like you! (If you are a coder, that is.)
  • Check our bug tracker for a full list of bugs and feature requests, including other bugs found after the release was published.
Read on for more details about the most notable fixes and additions in this release:
General
The game now uses SDL 2 for all operations. There is still a fall-back option of using SDL 1.2, but it is deprecated and slated for removal.
The hotkey implementation has been changed to rely on scancodes over characters. This means that the hotkey configuration now uses the same physical buttons on the keyboard, regardless of the keyboard layout.
  • A new 'unit placed' event has been added, making it possible to better implement certain kinds of event-driven behavior. See the wiki for details
  • Added {CURRENT_FILE} and {CURRENT_DIRECTORY} macros, which return the path to the file or directory with the file including the respective macro.
  • Added description_alignment= key to [campaign], which allows UMC authors to specify the alignment of the campaign description text.
The new animated water graphics introduced in 1.13.2 now consume considerably less memory. Also, water animations can now be toggled off independently from other terrain animations in Preferences->Display if they cause too much slowdown on large maps.
Known Issues
General bugs:
  • The MP server has trouble with Local player types in campaigns (bug #21965 [Gna.org]). We have decided to postpone dealing with this. In the meantime, you might try assigning such sides to the host, or running multiple instances of Wesnoth.
  • Wesnoth might sometimes not appear in the taskbar in Linux. (bug #24202 [Gna.org]).
  • "Name of Game" bleeds onto "Player/Type" label when leaving/entering the app (bug #24437 [Gna.org]).
  • Inconsistent transparency on credits screen (bug #24428 [Gna.org]).
  • [message][option] fields can become black when hovered ovber (bug #24478 [Gna.org]).
  • Dialog In Replay Clearing Issue (bug #24491 [Gna.org]).
  • [text_input] does not fully clear between entering/removing characters (bug #24513 [Gna.org])
General bugs:
  • The game can crash when planning recruits in Planning Mode.
Bugs specific to Microsoft Windows:
  • ClearType font rendering is disabled as it causes glitches (bug #21648 [Gna.org]).
    This is likely caused by outdated libraries in the packaging process.
  • Consecutive line breaks (paragraph breaks) are not rendered as expected (bug #21649 [Gna.org]).
    This is likely caused by outdated libraries in the packaging process. There is no built-in workaround available yet.
Bugs specific to Apple OS X:

The following issues affecting Wesnoth on Apple OS X are known and they are pending fixes. Many of them require significant re-engineering that can only be done in 1.13.x development releases later, or cannot be properly addressed due to a lack of experienced OS X coders in our team. Thus, unless someone can contribute patches to address them, it is unlikely that these bugs will be fixed.
  • The default variable-width font is used instead of a monospace font even where a monospace font is required (bug #23628 [Gna.org]).
  • Helvetica is used as the default variable-width font instead of DejaVu Sans (bug #23560 [Gna.org]).
  • Fullscreen mode does not fill the entire screen when maximum resolution is selected in Preferences → Display, and user interface elements are scaled and distorted.
  • System commands do not work while Wesnoth is running in fullscreen mode (bug #21943 [Gna.org]).
  • Trackpad tap clicking is sometimes not recognized (forum post).
  • Unofficial builds with OpenMP support enabled randomly freeze (bug #18144 [Gna.org]).
  • Consecutive line breaks (paragraph breaks) are not rendered as expected (bug #21649 [Gna.org]).
    This is likely caused by outdated libraries in the packaging process. There is no built-in workaround available yet.
As is to be expected with development releases, there may be many, many more changes in addition to the aforementioned, including WML and Lua API additions for user-made content creators, translation updates, and fixes for recent and long-standing issues. Most of these items are listed in the full changelog. If that seems too overwhelming, you might be glad to know we also provide an alternative players changelog including only those changes deemed to be relevant to the average player.

Do not be disappointed if the game crashes every now and then! Development versions are not the best for those in need of a stable gaming experience, who should stick to the current stable 1.12.x series instead. However, if you want to help us test what will eventually become the next stable 1.14.x series, you definitely should check out this release and report to us any problems you find so they can be fixed in a timely fashion. Content authors are also especially encouraged to port and test their content under new development versions to detect any problems with their add-ons or Wesnoth in advance.


Downloads
Source code (402.1 MB)
SHA256 sum: 7a903461ceaeb187a831085959bfc2b9b05a7e4c4d310140088dc2cb652c42fb
Packages for Microsoft Windows and Apple OS X 10.10+ are already available:
Windows installer package (366.3 MB)
SHA256 sum: 35a53e2b1ac003c80bd37785af3fd6f4c8d0da6600d97b3e65d86675bd63e3c8

Apple OS X 10.10 app package (414.1 MB)
SHA256 sum: 48cbc7f4a686115e8d990aefe647654236e5523e6e37b899aee5ed858aec1539
All known Linux packagers have been contacted, and binaries for your distribution may have already been created. Information about where to get the respective binaries or how to install them can be found on the Linux binaries page in the wiki.

Downloads for other platforms may be found on the Download page in the wiki as they become available.
The multiplayer server for 1.13.x is up and running. This server can only be used to play with other players running the latest development version.

The add-ons server for 1.13.x is already running. It was started for 1.13.0 and it serves all development releases from this series.
If you encounter any problems involving add-ons not working as expected, please notify the content’s author or maintainer.

If you find any bugs, do not hesitate to report them, but please read the instructions on how to report bugs first! As bug reports in the forums tend to be forgotten, you will get better results using our bug tracker. We require your help for finding and fixing issues, no matter how obvious, trivial or complicated they seem!

Have fun!
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Re: Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by doofus-01 »

Hi,

The terrain code for the desert mountains should probably be changed if it is really "Mdy" as the change-log says. The letters Y, y, Z, and z are for UMC/add-ons by convention (https://wiki.wesnoth.org/TerrainCodesWML). I think it will help avoid problems for most map editor users to keep that convention.

(Those mountains started life in an add-on, so that's how the "y" got in there in the first place. Sorry for the extra headache.)
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Re: Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by howwitty »

Terrain is a good example of the importance of add-ons, so how can one compile a set of eras into one era (like Ageless) and port it to 1.13.4? It seems like the terrain is encoded in a set of letters based on your post about this developmental release. In the same way that you and I have access to the alphabet, I have access to Ageless Era from the last version of Wesnoth. Can someone explain in plain English what I have to do to port an era?
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Re: Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by nuorc »

vultraz wrote:For players, this means better window and fullscreen handling
What can I expect from that?

I was hoping the changes would make BfW feel like a contemporary windows software, meaning for me that I can drag around screens, because they frequently block the view on other things (=No); or I could get rid of the scroll bars in e.g. the recruit list, because no matter how much space there's on-screen, it just wont' display completely, e.g. Knalgans (=No).

As for the fullscreen handling, it feels worse than before. The game picks a resolution (1536x864), which is not the native resolution of my display (1920x1080). When 'Full screen' is ticked I can't do anything with the resolution list, when I un-tick it the game changes to windowed mode, I can select a resolution - and when I tick it again it goes back to 1536x864. I don't know if this behavior is caused by my set-up or the state of the development?
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Re: Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by Eagle_11 »

Some things for the future:
at the online lobby, please rework the modifications: to display an uncut full list via mouse hover over, as its displaying only the first 2 or 3 before getting cut off with ...
allow to skip replay entirely when entering an ongoing game at the lobby,
at the game lobby allow player to re-pick his own leader and faction without having to re-join or beg the host to change it for him.
addendum: implement a way to completely turn off the "press key to continue" unit sighted during movement messages.
Last edited by Eagle_11 on March 15th, 2016, 10:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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vultraz
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Re: Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by vultraz »

nuorc wrote:or I could get rid of the scroll bars in e.g. the recruit list, because no matter how much space there's on-screen, it just wont' display completely, e.g. Knalgans (=No).
This raises a really good point; we should use relative window sizes. I'll work on that for the next release.

As for the fullscreen issue, I really can't say what the cause is.

The 'better handling' refers to the fixing of many long-standing bugs we had in our tracker. I can't list them all here, but in general, window handling should be better.
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Re: Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by nuorc »

vultraz wrote:we should use relative window sizes. I'll work on that for the next release.
That sounds like I want it. So best of luck with it! :)
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Re: Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by beetlenaut »

Does anyone else have all the color cursors appearing with an opaque white background? I am asking because I want to have an idea of how specific I need to make the bug report.
Attachments
This happens in the game too. Normal cursors work correctly.
This happens in the game too. Normal cursors work correctly.
white_cursor.png (62.46 KiB) Viewed 14548 times
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Re: Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by Pentarctagon »

Color cursors work fine for me on Mint.
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Re: Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by nuorc »

Color cursors seem to work fine for me on Windows 8.1.
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Re: Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by gnombat »

I'm running Wesnoth 1.13.4 on an old machine - it's noticeably slower and a lot more CPU-intensive than Wesnoth 1.13.2. I don't really understand all this new-fangled technology, but is this something to be expected? I.e., SDL 2 is designed for newer hardware, and if you don't have a recent machine with a modern GPU, it's going to use a lot of CPU time?

This image shows what I'm seeing with 1.13.4 compared to Wesnoth 1.13.2 - I ran Wesnoth 1.13.2a for a couple of minutes, then ran 1.13.4 after that:
wesnoth-performance.png
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Re: Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by Aginor »

beetlenaut's problem is most likely https://gna.org/bugs/?23909. This is an upstream issue with the video drivers on AMD hardware.

The decrease in performance that gnombat reports is not entirely unexpected, but on my system the difference is much smaller. SDL2 does everything in software at this stage, whereas previously SDL 1.2 did a few things in hardware. I'm currently working on fixing some of the issues discovered in 1.13.4, and this should hopefully help with bringing down the cpu usage.

Would you be able to tell me exactly what you did when measuring the performance and your computer's specs?
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Re: Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by gnombat »

Aginor wrote:The decrease in performance that gnombat reports is not entirely unexpected, but on my system the difference is much smaller. SDL2 does everything in software at this stage, whereas previously SDL 1.2 did a few things in hardware. I'm currently working on fixing some of the issues discovered in 1.13.4, and this should hopefully help with bringing down the cpu usage.

Would you be able to tell me exactly what you did when measuring the performance and your computer's specs?
The CPU usage will obviously be a lot smaller on newer hardware - mine is an old machine from 2007 (AMD Sempron Processor 3200+, 1800 Mhz, 1 Core). (Although if SDL 2 is doing everything in software, I would guess that the difference in CPU usage is still measurable even on a new machine.)

The measurements in the graph above are just for displaying the titlescreen.
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Re: Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by beetlenaut »

Aginor wrote:beetlenaut's problem is most likely https://gna.org/bugs/?23909. This is an upstream issue with the video drivers on AMD hardware.
Yes, that's my bug. Silly me: I didn't search gna for "colour cursor". Wesnoth joins a growing list of software that used to work but has recently stopped working with "Won't fix: AMD's fault." Is there anything I can do about this?
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Re: Wesnoth 1.13.4

Post by Pentarctagon »

It is worth noting that supposedly 1.16 going to have OpenGL support. Nothing to see here, move along.
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