WolfQuest Amethyst Mountain Deluxe Release Notes July 17, 2008 v 1.6.3 RESOLVED ISSUES Single Player * Mate no longer causes a huge performance hit when standing idle. This should considerably improve overall framerate when a mate is in the game. Multiplayer * Server host name properly added to lexicon in open games (was the username and not the wolf name). * Both user and wolf names are now added to lexicon in open games. * Server host wolf name now shown with the server host username when connecting to the server (was just the username). ------------- July 16, 2008 v 1.6.2 RESOLVED ISSUES Multiplayer * Windows version no longer crashes when trying to connect to a NAT-facilitated server (was seen as a crash on trying to enter the game). * The player's connection is tested when starting a server to disqualify games that can't actually be seen from the outside (must have either a public IP address or be able to do NAT punchthrough). Games that won't work will no longer be advertised on the list of available games. Users will receive error messages to help them open ports, etc. * Added testing of the player's connection when joining a game to make sure they actually can connect. (To the extent that the NAT test is accurate) * Any connection error caught will now show the error dialog immediately. The error message will be shown in the chat window as well as the output_log file. * Game host name is no longer filtered in chat. * Fixed potential crashing errors when player enters a game after another player that has done things like eat and jump leaves the game before the new player enters. * You are no longer allowed to join a private game if you don't enter a password. Single Player * Elk no longer float just above the ground when running. This was most noticeable with shadows turned on. KNOWN ISSUES * Games started with v1.6.0 or 1.6.1 may show up in the list of available games even if they can't be connected to because they are not properly set up to allow NAT punchthrough. All players should upgrade to 1.6.2. If the connection test fails before you start a game, then you needs to configure your firewall or Internet router. Some routers may not properly do NAT punchthrough and may not allow starting or joining a game even if the network connection says it should work. ------------- July 11, 2008 v 1.6.1 RESOLVED ISSUES * Now has time-outs for stalled connections when loading the lexicon and validating user login for open games. This deals with situations where the wolfquest.org server fails to respond. In private games, this allowed the game to start but no words would get through. Open games would not launch at all. Private games can now be started with the built-in lexicon even if wolfquest.org is unresponsive. Open games must still connect to wolfquest.org, but an error is shown instead of freezing the game if the user validation request stalls or fails. ------------- July 10, 2008 v 1.6.0 IMPORTANT NOTE: The internal version number of the game has been changed from 1.5 (Amethyst Mountain Deluxe April/May releases) to 1.6. All players are encouraged to update to be able to take advantage of the improvements in performance, stability, and safety in open multiplayer games. All players must have the same new version to play multiplayer together. An actived WolfQuest Community account is now required to start and enter an open multiplayer game. See the Multiplayer Enhancements below and the WolfQuest Manual for details. RESOLVED ISSUES Single Player * Grayscale effect is turned off completely for all old video cards and Intel, Nvidia, and ATI integrated cards, since integrated video does not really perform well enough and a number of video drivers are buggy with not properly disabling image effects automatically (old Intel 82865 on Windows, Radeon on G4 Mac Mini and old iMacs, and current Intel X3100 on OSX MacBooks show blank screens). The old "gray screen of doom" workaround disabled the grayscale effect on Fast and Fastest. But now some integrated graphics perform well enough on Simple, so it needs to be turned off across the board. This means that for an image effect capable card, the grayscale effect will be visible at all quality levels. * Intro theme music carries forward seamlessly through flyover as originally expected. Switches to exploration music when flyover ends. * Music will no longer play briefly at music change points when music volume is set to 0. * Camera immediately returns to follow mode when player starts to run away from the social arena (was a pause where the wolf would run in place and look odd). * Zone entry chime volume reduced. * Player and NPC social arena run away locations adjusted to not have obstacles confuse them, and to run off camera properly. * Stranger wolf should run away properly and not leave the player stuck in the social arena. * Game no longer unpauses when opening help menu from option menu. * Mate name is now filtered when entered in social arena, as well as on load and save of game. (Was filtered in stats panel already). * If a game save is not selected, load game button does not try to load anything. (Previously started the level but threw errors.) * Fixed a problem with player nametags not showing properly when players entered and exited game or mate was added (toggle would flip between old and new wolves showing names). * Game now properly pauses when windows are open (single player only. May have only been an IDE issue). * Saved carcasses are grounded properly when loaded again (single player). * New carcasses are now grounded properly on slopes. * Saved carcasses will not create duplicates when loaded again into fixed carcass mission locations. * Pickup carcasses don't show eaten condition while they have full food value. (They now change after first bite). * Scent spokes now extend all the way to the center (there was often an empty area in the center and missing spokes entirely). * Scent spokes now properly span the zone, even when the center of the spokes is near the edge of the zone (they were only as long as the distance from the player to the center, but this made them too short when loading into a zone). * All territories have the same number of scent trails leading to the stranger wolf and scent spoke placement is cleaner. * Wolf death animations won't loop anymore. * Mate no longer runs toward the world fence; should also die properly if it is killed. * Reduced chance of getting a second mate in the social arena. * Camera will stand still in social arena when wolves bite. * Character animations such as running should be smoother. * Large patch of dense flowers removed from forest since they were a performance problem. * / and \ characters replaced with "_" in saved game names so the save does not fail. * Carcass and other pickup creature triggers are now properly grounded. (Triggers that appeared on a steep hill might been too far off the ground to be able to trigger it, even though with carcasses the carcass scent plume was visible on the ground.) * Multiple carcasses will no longer spawn on top of each other if player stands still for a long time ("mutant" or "deformed elk" glitch). Multiplayer * Server game instance no longer crashes when players enter and exit MP game. * Multiplayer connection error messages should show more reliably, and return user to splash screen more gracefully. This includes trying to start a multiplayer game without an Internet connection. * Player join and leave game messages in chat window, including names, should be more reliable. * Only the local player should trigger a change in music to forest theme. * "ass" no longer gets through in chat (allowed word "as" + ending "s" = "ass"). * "a**" and "bit**" will no longer get through in chat. * Available multiplayer games should stay visible in the join game list even after the server game instance has been running for a time. (Servers re-register with the Master Server every 60 seconds. Client games still may still need to click the Refresh button over the course of a minute to see the game.) * Password field may not be left empty when starting a private game. (Also fixes issue where starting a private game without a password would advertise it as an open game.) * Chat window is deactivated on reentry into MP game even if it was open when bounced out of MP game previously (helps prevent turbo wolf on startup). ENHANCEMENTS Single Player * Several optimizations should give a major performance gain of at least 10-15 fps increase on all quality settings. This will give low-end machines tolerable performance at the lowest settings. Better graphics cards can now use higher quality settings and resolutions and still maintain decent performance. * Shadows! On supported video cards, at Good, Beautiful, and Fantastic quality levels, shadows may be enabled in the Game Settings window. This setting is saved between game sessions. Shadows are very taxing on the CPU and GPU, so only higher-end video cards can run them with decent performance. Reducing the resolution at launch can help pick up enough performance to run shadows. Shadows checkbox is NOT visible on computers with integrated graphics or older graphics cards. * Lighting more accurately reflects position of sun and time of morning. * Simplified terrain texturing is used for integrated graphics and older graphics cards. The cliffs and ponds don't have separate textures on these cards. * Music playback is stopped completely when volume set to 0. This may give slower systems a slight performance boost. * Help file updated with info about anti-aliasing at Fantastic quality setting. * Ponds and new lighting incorporated into world map. * Game won't freeze up for a moment while NPCs or scent spokes appear. * Player name is filtered when Play Game button is clicked and can be corrected before leaving Customize Wolf. * Windows that do not have a hotkey to toggle (like map or help) will close by pressing ESC and/or advance to the default option by pressing RETURN (Windows with just one button now say "Done" and use RETURN to close them, like the quest dialogs). * FPS display has dark background to be legible on all terrain. Rounded to 1 decimal place. * No more than 1 grizzly will be active at a time. * New "Got a mate" music cue plays when you get a mate in the social arena. * Random grizzly frequency reduced. * Carcasses spawn at a minimum distance from each other if player stays in one place for a long time. No more carcass clusters. Multiplayer * Internal version number changed to 1.6. All players must have this version to play with each other in Multiplayer. * Starting or joining an open multiplayer game now requires entering an activated WolfQuest community username and password. (Private games can still be started with only a pack password.) Review the policy for safe multiplayer games and report abuse at http://www.wolfquest.org/abuse. Get your free community account at http://www.wolfquest.org/bb. It may take 2 days for your account to be activated. You do not have to post to the forums to activate your account. Private games still do not require a community account. * Password entry for joining a game is shown only after selecting an available game. * Chat message is filtered before sending. Filtered words must be fixed before it is sent. * Punctuation or non A-Z characters not allowed in pack names to discourage creative spellings like "$EX" * Starting or joining a multiplayer game logs the following information to a log file on WolfQuest.org: Date and time; Graphic card type; Graphic driver version; server or client game; open or private game; max number of players. No personal information, such as IP number or forum user name is saved to this log. It is purely to allow the WolfQuest team to demonstrate how many users are taking advantage of multiplayer, and to get a better idea of the hardware users have in order to improve the game. * There are now separate error messages for wrong forum login, wrong private password, and network related connection failures. * A dialog is shown when host shuts game down. (Previously were just bounced out.) * Additional words added to lexicon and banned word list for names. * Lexicon and banned word list can now be updated without a full game update. (Will result in more frequent updates.) * Lexicon and banned word list expanded with user suggestions. * Filtered words now shown as "???" instead of ***. * Text box in chat window will get focus when chat window is enabled. (You no longer have to click first.) SIGNIFICANT KNOWN ISSUES * Macs with Nvidia graphics cards can freeze when VRAM is used up. This can happen when running at a high resolution for the game (over 1280x1024). Fantastic quality level may make this happen at a lower resolution. This is a bug in Apple drivers. * Carcasses or carcass plumes may still appear outside the world fence if the player spends a lot of time near the fence. * Mate sniff nose animation with player has been disabled because of an issue with the animation. -------------- April 29, 2008 v 1.5.3 RESOLVED ISSUES * Frame rate during elk hunt dramatically improved. * Extended idle animation plays again for player and mate. -------------- April 26, 2008 v 1.5.2 RESOLVED ISSUES * Red arrow will not appear on map. * Screen Capture folder will not be created each time game start (OK to delete old ones). * Saving while dead disabled to prevent problems with loading the game in that state. * Elk scent should be visible across the entire zone. * Biting should always work when red head is visible. * Carcasses from old saved games should no longer appear outside the world fence and attract the mate to the fence. * Pickup creatures disappear more reliably when player moves out of range (may help keep framerate up after extended play). * Player name display turned off by default. This prevents incorrect toggling upon player respawn after death. * Time to mate respawn after mate death lengthened to 5 seconds to make sure player sees that mate is dead. Multiplayer * All players will see the initial scent spokes in the same location inside the elk hunting zone. * Remote players will not trigger the zone enter badge change and chime/dialog. * Remote players will not destroy the local player's spokes if they leave the zone. * Re-entering the hunting zone will not create scent spokes if the elk hunt is already active. ENHANCEMENTS * There are now more spokes in the elk scents so they can be easier to find at the hunting zone edges. * Original scent spokes last longer so other players in MP can find the hunt after the herd starts up. * Chime plays when chat messages are sent and received. -------------- April 24, 2008 v 1.5.1 RESOLVED ISSUES *MSI package allows installation on systems with just over 512 MB of RAM *MSI package allows installation on 64-bit version of Windows XP SP2 and above. *Frame rate no longer limited to 30 fps. April 23, 2008 Amethyst Mountain Deluxe v 1.5.0 This release contains over 200 bugfixes and enhancements. The most significant items are described below. Because there are changes in functionality as well as new features, read this before posting questions to the forums or submitting a bug report. MAJOR RESOLVED ISSUES Controls * Wolf steering controls for both running and turning in place should be more responsive and manageable. "Autopilot" has been removed, as it is now not necessary. The targeting arrow still remains on for an extended time to help with tracking specific prey. * Scent view camera turns more responsively (same as main camera). * Jumping not allowed while stamina or health is low enough to force player to trot. * Jumping height should be more consistent when jumping up or down a slope. * Jumping height and distances are more realistic. * Stamina glitches during jumping removed. Social Encounters * Player moves into position properly for start of social arena. * Stranger wolves can be more aggressive because they are properly considered to be in their own territory. * Dying in the social arena does not count toward territory visits to get dispersal wolves. * Player does not increase stat bonuses by repeatedly entering and leaving the social arena. * Player will not get stuck in social arena if stranger wolf dies. * A stranger wolf will not appear when an elk hunt is active. * Several cosmetic fixes to the interface. Interface & Displays * Music volume correct on startup of main level. * Options menu no longer uses grayscale effect because of bugginess in switching modes. * Scent trails and plumes should be visible in scent view after player dies and respawns (single and MP). * Scent info display should update more reliably on wolf and elk scent spokes. Territory scent spokes should be cleaner. * Tutorial, Sensitivity, and Framerate display settings are remembered between game sessions (they are not saved to the saved game). * Player name is correctly limited to 8 characters and filtered for inappropriate words at all times. (Resolves registry exploit.) * Player respawns 10m from death location when they die instead of reloading the level. * Respawning after death in single player keeps accumulated stats; if playing from a saved game, wolf characteristics from the save will be correct. * Wolf names from saved games should be displayed properly (they were sometimes mismatched). * You can save your game after killing a hare. * Health and energy meters go up and down more linearly to reflect actual values more accurately. This may create the impression of having more health or energy for longer. * Stat bonuses are shown as +/- around zero in Customize Wolf. * Stat bonuses in Customize Wolf can never exceed the max values, and will be reset to the default values if they exceed the allowable maximum. * Strength stat bonus is properly applied to the damage done to prey and stranger wolves, and is also properly displayed in the stat window. * Stamina stat bonus now also affects stamina recovery rate. * Carcass fed on count in stats panel is now accurate. * Stat window shows strength bonus more accurately (combines initial plus constant damage). * Stat window shows stamina bonus scaled to be more like the other bonuses. * Numerous other bug and cosmetic fixes and gameplay tuning fixes. Multiplayer * If joining an MP game as a client fails, after timeout at flyover, a dialog will display giving player the chance to return to the splash screen. (Failing to connect to Internet as a game host give error, but allows player to continue playing by themselves). * Scent trails are now properly visible for client players in multiplayer games. * Major overall stability fixes. Multiplayer "lag" still depends heavily on player's network connections and overall Internet traffic. * Leaving and rejoining a game should be more reliable, including chat window clearing and number of current players showing properly. * Clones of other players should not be visible at the spawning point, especially after dying; other players should not appear frozen in place or be invisible. * After dying and respawning, the player health bar should be restored properly. * Starting a new game as host should work properly if the pack name is first filtered and then corrected to an allowed name. * Going back and forth between single and multiplayer games should be more reliable. * Player death in Multiplayer should not cause crashes or create clones. * Local player only triggers mission icon, chime, and dialog when entering elk hunting zone. Scent trails properly removed on exit by local player only. * Other general stability and bug fixes. Stability & Performance * RAM overhead and runtime package size reduced by 45 MB. * Tree billboarding distances reduced at lower quality levels to boost performance. * Texture quality at lowest quality settings is higher with no performance cost on 32 MB or higher video cards. MAJOR ENHANCEMENTS & CHANGES IN FUNCTIONALITY Mate *The mate wolf will follow you and hunt with you. * Once you have a mate, it can be named. Mates (including from old saved games) can be renamed at any time in the Stats window (so an old saved mate can be resaved with the new name). * Use the N key to turn nametags on and off to show your names. Your mate's name and marker also appears on the map. * The small heart on the compass is a "rear view mirror" to show where the mate is when it's behind you. * The brightness of the large mate heart indicator on the wolf badge shows the mate's health level. * Howling will cause the mate to howl back and then come back to you. NPC Behavior * Grizzly bears will attempt to take over carcasses. * Bull and cow elk have been tuned to be more challenging to catch and kill, including in multiplayer. This may feel quite different from the previous release and the changes are intentional! (Have fun discovering what they are.) * Random ("pickup") carcasses are spawned at a distance from the player. A scent plume is visible before the carcass appears that leads you to the carcass. * Coyotes should not run in and kill elk the player is chasing. Interface * Save a screenshot you your home directory WolfQuest folder by pressing F1 or the ENTER key on the numeric keypad. Filenames are numbered starting with 1 every game session. * Loading and saving a game is disabled when a stranger wolf is visible before starting a social encounter. This prevents reloading back into the middle of a social encounter. * The last wolf created with Customize Wolf is retained for all new games and multiplayer sessions, even after loading a saved game. Previously loading a saved game saved that wolf as the new current wolf after the game was ended. * Turning speed sensitivity slider added to Game Settings. Not all settings may be playable -- user preference will be subjective. * Tutorial screens and tips provide more in-game help. They can be turned off and on in the Game Settings window. * Toggle HUD off/on in Game Settings window for taking screenshots and making machinima videos. Social Encounters * Dispersal wolves now include one wolf of each pelt color for both sexes. * Player will automatically enter the social arena when approaching the stranger wolf within about 1m (No blue howling head). * High polygon wolf model now used in social arena for better detail in animations. * Stranger packs aggression rebalanced to reflect the known reputations of the real packs, especially the Druids. * Overall stranger wolf behavior more accurately reflects their personality and sex. Multiplayer * Pack Rally in multiplayer triggered by howling gives 3 minute strength bonus (you can start a rally anytime, including while a bonus is already going). * Players can tail wag and play bow in multiplayer (J, K keys). * Chat lexicon allows -ed, -ing, -ly, 's, -s', -est, -ers, -edly, -less, -ness, and -n't word endings. * Lexicon expanded to include more user suggested words. * Chat window expands when active to allow more room for typing messages and viewing chat transcript. KNOWN ISSUES * Some scent plumes may not have a carcass associated with them. * It may be necessary to click in the chat text entry box after activating the chat window before typing text. * Allowed words may sometimes be filtered in chat. No workaround. * On Windows, some keys, including keys not included in the game controls, may trigger unexpected actions. Workaround: Redefine keys to safe keys using Input Tab on Resolution Dialog; only use defined keys while playing. * Stat sliders may not always update when one is changed. Workaround: Click each slider again to make sure bonuses are not too low. * Wolf eat animation may not play back when starting to feed from a carcass. This is to allow the player to more quickly start feeding instead of being forced into a specific position to start feeding. * Trees may appear to "hover" at close distances on Fast and Fastest quality settings. This is a cosmetic issue that has been left visible to allow higher performance at these settings to make the game more playable on Intel integrated graphics chips. ----------------- February 20, 2008 v 1.1.4 Resolved Issues *Stability improvements for Windows. *Coyote dies properly. *Wolf stops running properly after making a kill. *Elk should no longer skate along ground in grazing pose during multiplayer. *Controls work properly after a social encounter. *Scent trail "spokes" stay active until the player approaches the elk herd at close range. *Grass is back to being the correct color again. Enhancements * Press S or down arrow key to walk backward. * Additional user-suggested words added to chat lexicon. * Windows installer is now MSI format again for various technical advantages. * OSX installer is now a Disk Image. Known Issues *Wolf can't turn more than 180 degrees at a time with the arrow or A/D keys. ----------------- February 10, 2008 v 1.1.2 Resolved Issues * Only games with the same version as yours will appear in the available games list in the Join Multiplayer window. * Players in multiplayer now show their own wolf pelt properly. * Selecting "New Game" from the Options menu in multiplayer will properly unregister you from the game you left. * Camera should look ahead better up steep slopes. * Carcass condition should be properly visible to all players in multiplayer. Enhancement * Press SPACEBAR during the opening flyover to skip the flyover. ---------------- February 6, 2008 v 1.1.1 Enhancement * Terrain textures have been optimized and terrain drawing settings have been adjusted to increase framerate significantly for all quality settings. ---------------- February 5, 2008 v 1.1.0 Significant Enhancements & Changes in Functionality * Saved game files are now located in a folder in your home directory: [username]/WolfQuest (OSX) or My Documents\WolfQuest (Windows). Delete saved game files from the Finder or Windows Explorer. To keep your old saved games, move them from Applications/WolfQuest (OSX) or Program Files/WolfQuest to this location. * Scent vision is now automatically turned off when entering a social encounter. * Load/Save is not available during a social encounter. Save before or after the stranger wolf appears or disappears. * Player Stats window now accessible from the Options Menu. * Customize Wolf window always appears after starting a game. To use the saved wolf, click "Join/Play Game" without making any changes. * The Join Multiplayer Game window will tell you if it cannot connect to the Game Listing server to get the list of games (you may not have an Internet connection). * The "Run Away" and "Wait and See" choices in the Social Encounter menu have been renamed to be conversation phrases like the rest of the choices. Major Resolved Issues * Computers with Intel integrated graphics running Vista no longer crash the game as soon as the main level loads (was a problem with the downed tree model). * You can now properly backspace in the Name Your Wolf text area. * Approaching an elk carcass will not get you magnetically stuck to the carcass with the green biting head turned on. * Windows, especially the World Map, should open and close properly when other windows are open. * Starting a New Game from Multiplayer will properly let you start a new Single Player game without quitting the game. * Dropping framerate in Multiplayer as more time is spent in the game should be significantly improved. * Dropping framerate or crashing in Single Player when Scent Vision was never used, especially if the user has minimum RAM (512 MB), should be significantly improved. * Objects will no longer spawn outside of the world edge walls. * In multiplayer, all other players should see elk die properly when one is killed. * When the player dies, the camera should no longer spiral around the player out of control. * The player should be able to interact normally with stranger wolves after finding a mate. * A stranger wolf should no longer appear sunk into the ground. * The camera should follow the player more smoothly and the player's wolf should turn more smoothly when stepping in place and not walking forward. Known Remaining Issues * Wolf tail curls in wag animation at the wrong time. * Elk carcass condition is not visible to all other players in multiplayer. FURTHER HELP For help downloading, installing, or playing the game, visit the WolfQuest Online Community at http://www.wolfquest.org. A number of Frequently Asked Questions are answered here: http://www.wolfquest.org/faqs. To report a bug, send a detailed description of what you see to bugs@wolfquest.org. Include screenshots if appropriate and the Program Files\WolfQuest\Data\Output_Log.txt file. We can't offer personal technical support, so do not send requests for help solving specific issues. WolfQuest(TM) is copyright © 2007-2008 by the Minnesota Zoo and eduweb. All rights reserved. It is distributed free, but you may not redistribute, sell, or modify the game without permission.