Battlezone II v1.3.7a130 Public Alpha released

[Axeminister]

I'm seeing the dark bridge sides as well

[General BlackDragon]

I like the dark bridges :3

Turn EMBM maps on if you want bright stuff.

[coxxon]

Well ,while I overall like the changes in 137a, and I’m all for trying to get the game’s lighting improved, those new prop shadows are just too dark; all the maps seemed to have been darkened (and adjusting brightness doesn’t really fix it). EDIT: I just went through four different maps on for different planets, and I also noticed the dark props actually get darker as you get closer to them - opposite of reality. Even on Snowblind, a fairly daylight mission, the buildings pretty much turned into black silhouettes when you get right up to them.

The new shadowing's full darkness would probably be better if capped(?) at around 50%-70% black. It seems to be from 80-95% black at the moment which is way too dark, and contrasts too much with the other things that don' have it.

Also, like spec highlight and bumpmaps, it would be good to give the player a convenient way to turn them on, off, or a slider in the graphic options (and not being forced to enter console commands or modding odfs).

My main thing is giving the player (at least some) built in option, especially since this change appears to be gamewide.

[Jaedrik]

Hello, everyone.
I've encountered a strange and unfortunate occurrence.

I was playing 1.3.5 merrily one day, got to mission 12 and came here to download the mission 12 fix.
Also realized the 1.3.7 alpha was out, and wanted to get in on the action.
I wanted a fresh install after encountering another problem (see later), so I deleted all of the files I could find on my hard drives related to Battlezone 2 because I couldn't uninstall it.
When I attempted to uninstall it the message "unable to locate the installation log file 'e:\games\Battlezone II\BZII.isu'. Uninstallation will not complete.'
Onto the more serious problem. This occurred in both the 1.3.5 to 1.3.7 and the base to 1.3.7.
After installing the update in what I believe was the proper manner, I double click on a shortcut to bzone.exe once and this is what shows up in Process Explorer



Whenever I try to suspend or kill the processes, they simply do not die. This is their constant state. The program won't start.
Will update in a moment on confirming what happens when I restart explorer.exe

[Jaedrik]

Small update. The first instance of bzone.exe becomes suspended when explorer.exe is restarted, and is now no longer grouped under explorer.exe

Edit: Oops, it seems this got approved for viewing while the first message didn't. Sorry for the lack of context, gents. I'm too tired to edit in the issue. Maybe in the morning.

[Commando]

No need to uninstall. Just delete or rename your bz2 folder then reinstall.

It should ahso replace that isu file you referenced above.

[Jaedrik]

No need to uninstall. Just delete or rename your bz2 folder then reinstall.

It should ahso replace that isu file you referenced above.

It seems that the alpha patch deletes BZII.isu
Another reinstall, it's there, another repatch, it's gone.

Any information you guys need on the other issue I mentioned? I'd love to be able to play.

[General BlackDragon]

What are your system specifications?

Did you install all the various support installers at the end of the patch install? (DX9, c++ 2013 Redist, etc)

[GSH]

Yes, the BZ2 patch installer force-deletes BZII.isu -- and that is by design. The BZ2 uninstaller is based around BZ2 1.0/1.1 from CD, and wouldn't properly clean up after any newer patch -- even 1.0 from the North American CD + 1.1 patch would leave artifacts. The best way to uninstall is to simply delete the entire folder BZ2 is installed into. The readme file mentions this, plus the recommendation to keep an archived copy of the install from CD so you can quickly copy/paste that directory and patch and/or mod different directories as desired.

As to 1.3.7.0a130 not running, I recommend you ensure that all MS redistributable installers triggered by the 1.3.7.0a130 install are allowed to proceed. Even if you think you've got DirectX installed, there are 40+ versions of DirectX 9 -- and 1.3.7.0 uses a different version than 1.3.6.5. There's a DX9 web installer under the redist folder installed with 1.3.7.0 that will update any/all versions of DirectX on your system. Also, rebooting is sometimes needed after these MS redistributables.

-- GSH

[Jaedrik]

Yes, the BZ2 patch installer force-deletes BZII.isu -- and that is by design. The BZ2 uninstaller is based around BZ2 1.0/1.1 from CD, and wouldn't properly clean up after any newer patch -- even 1.0 from the North American CD + 1.1 patch would leave artifacts. The best way to uninstall is to simply delete the entire folder BZ2 is installed into. The readme file mentions this, plus the recommendation to keep an archived copy of the install from CD so you can quickly copy/paste that directory and patch and/or mod different directories as desired.

As to 1.3.7.0a130 not running, I recommend you ensure that all MS redistributable installers triggered by the 1.3.7.0a130 install are allowed to proceed. Even if you think you've got DirectX installed, there are 40+ versions of DirectX 9 -- and 1.3.7.0 uses a different version than 1.3.6.5. There's a DX9 web installer under the redist folder installed with 1.3.7.0 that will update any/all versions of DirectX on your system. Also, rebooting is sometimes needed after these MS redistributables.

-- GSH

Alright--missed that part of the readme. Thanks. This has shown me how inept I am at computers in general.

What are your system specifications?

Did you install all the various support installers at the end of the patch install? (DX9, c++ 2013 Redist, etc)

Turns out I was just being an idiot.
I was skittish of the redistributables. Allowed them all to proceed after this install, restarted at the time prompted, and now it's working properly.
Thanks again~

[Red Devil]

be sure to check your windows firewall exceptions if you copy/rename your bz2 folder; might have to add a new exception or tweak the old one so it points to the correct directory.

[Jaedrik]

Okay, here might be an actual bug or two:

1
The game doesn't read "mousewheel down" when attempting to bind, instead designating the motion as mousewheel up. Additionally, when attempting to use mousewheel up as "next weapon" exclusively, the input failed.

2
Went through first mission fine. Tried to launch mission 2
The first time it stopped loading Cook's voiceover was still playing, and progress bar read something about DX9, but I exited (through ending the process from task manager, there was no bzone application running).
On subsequent attempts, the bar froze when almost completed with "loading objects."
Here's the log (did I get the right one?) from the most recent attempt: http://pastebin.com/Wi6bse5z

[Red Devil]

heh, just got the dx9 error, but then realized i have another instance of bz2 running; check to see if you have the same (check task manager, too).

[Red Devil]

hmm, it doesn't go away, but i see windows has a restart scheduled, so trying that now

[Jaedrik]

heh, just got the dx9 error, but then realized i have another instance of bz2 running; check to see if you have the same (check task manager, too).

Nope, just one instance at every step as far as I can see.