Aleph One 1.9
This is a major release featuring support for Classic Marathon 2 on Steam, dedicated servers, ping times for metaserver net games, a pregame network loading screen, automatic demos, and more authentic gameplay options. Aleph One 1.9 is not backwards compatible with Aleph One 1.8 net games.
Changes:
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Classic Marathon 2 with achievements on Steam
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Dedicated servers
It is now possible to gather multiplayer or co-op games without any router configuration. The netgame setup process is the same, but selecting the Use Dedicated Server checkbox will cause Aleph One to coordinate with the lhowon.org metaserver to find the nearest available dedicated server to do the actual gathering using the settings you've chosen. Dedicated servers are also a good option to ensure smooth gameplay for joiners when you are gathering on WiFi or a congested connection.
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Adds an invert vertical aim preference for controllers
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It is now possible to implement Classic Marathon music plugins
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Restores the automatic demo playback feature to Classic Marathon 2 and Classic Marathon Infinity. You will need to update your data files to get the new demos.
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Allows selecting original Marathon 2 or Marathon Infinity film profiles for solo games
Choosing the film profiles under Solo Gameplay setting allows you to begin a game with the strict original gameplay from Marathon 2 or Marathon Infinity, without Aleph One's fixes. Films will technically be compatible with the originals (if you don't use hotkeys), with a few modifications using a hex editor.
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Adds support for sphere-mapped landscapes (OpenGL only)
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Adds a new preference for disabling filtering on the HUD / Terminals (thanks to Celeste)
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Shows ping to the game gatherers (or their dedicated servers) in the find internet game lobby
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Shows a pregame network loading screen
Other fixes:
- Fixes issue gathering some old Classic Marathon net maps that have the same checksum as the main map
- Other fixes for old Classic Marathon net maps
- Uses search path in Music.valid; fixes #485
- Returns the key name for w_key labels, instead of the scancode; fixes #491
- Uses OpenGL routines to measure text width for DisplayTextCursor when OpenGL is active; fixes #473
- Returns Lua HUD FOV in degrees rather than internal units; fixes #496
- Initializes player_terminal.state to _no_terminal_state; fixes #498
- Fallback to default game files if the ones in preferences can't be located (fixes #477)
- Adds item and scenery visibility accessors and teleport functions; fixes #454
- Adds Triggers.calculate_level_completion_state
- Adds Triggers.monster_kamikazed; fixes #493
- M2 theme buttons now resemble the main menu (thanks to Blastfrog)
- Fixes to the M2 main menu rects