Greetings Commanders,
We just released DTA version 9.5.0. We first thought this patch was going to be a minor one, but it happened to increase in both size and development time during its course.
First off, with this update, DTA has started to make use of the Vinifera TS engine extension by CCHyper, that we've also been heavily contributing to. Currently the effects are limited, but over time this project can open up potential for major game engine improvements that would've previously been impossible even for us. Presently our custom build of Vinifera gives us the following features:
- Screen shake, like in Red Alert 1, when objects with a high amount of HP are destroyed
- Improved area damage logic for our Nuke
- Improved AI nuke targeting
- Fix for projectiles like SSM missiles disappearing in mid-flight when their target died from another damage source
- The ability to load a saved game when you've lost a singleplayer mission, instead of only restarting or quitting
The new 3-player Co-Op Mission "Liberation Extermination" by Tiberius.
This update also brings a bunch of new playable content, including a new Co-Op mission and 4 new multiplayer maps, two of them featuring large infantry-only swamp areas for unusual tactics.
[4] Lakesides
[6] Narrow River
[6] Marshlands
[8] Extreme Marshlands
As demonstrated by [4] Lakesides, this update also includes our new autumn assets for mappers to create maps for the season between our existing summer and winter theaters.
Speaking of maps, this version marks the public release of our new map editor that we revealed a month ago. The old "FinalSun" map editor is still included for people who want familiarity and for edge cases, but the client now directs you to the new editor by default. It can do 95+% of what FinalSun can, and it does most of it more efficiently. As it's the first release, some things can still be a bit rough on the edges; please drop a message for us on Discord, here at ModDB or on our forums at PPM if you have feedback or questions.
We've also made some minor graphical changes, balance changes and bug-fixes, the most significant ones being the new Chem Warrior created by Pinkthoth and the rename of the "Gatling Tank" to "Quad Tank", as its real-life inspiration, the Shilka, was never really equipped with a gatling gun. For more information about the changes, check out our change log page.
See you on the battlefield! We hope you'll have fun with these additions, and are looking forward to playing with you on CnCNet.
The screen shake effect is going to add much more of an impact, feeling-wise, to gameplay, love to see it.