Since the previous testing build ended up being quite buggy, there is a change in the plans, and new testing build is now provided which addresses the following:
- Fixed crashes in Doom 1 New game menu screens
- Fixed crashes upon entering Doom 1 level with no sky texture specified in MAPINFO
- Fixed crashes when loading game that had running FraggleScript scripts
- Fixed crashes in different versions of SMMUTEST.WAD
- Made memory management around MIDI music playback more robust to address crashes
- Restored level music customization via MAPINFO
- Shim wad for Sigil now uses correct sky texture
- When exiting to main menu from automap clear out left-over messages from the screen
The new build also contains more tweaks in Allegro sound library to bring music playback closer to the original Doom and Doom II executables when using Adlib or Sound Blaster sound cards and a customized sound setup utility to configure Allegro.
When it comes to Sigil (and in a month time also to Sigil II) the following improvements are included, mostly focusing on user-friendliness of the port:
- Shim for Sigil is now loaded even if the name of the WAD is not exactly SIGIL.WAD, so renaming it before playing is no longer required
- A dummy testing shim is provided for yet to be released Sigil II
- When Sigil II is loaded Sigil is also loaded if found in the same directory (for a glorious 6 episode package)
Initially, the hopes were to promote previous build to maintenance release for Stage 5 of Tartar in early December, but this does not seem reasonable now - let it stay in testing for a bit longer. Still up for a small set of changes before Christmas break, so tune in in roughly a month for updates.
Until then - happy Dooming.
Oh, and if you have not yet tried Tartar sister port for Hexen - Bernewfie - it has also received updates in Allegro department (meaning updated sound of Adlib music and a refreshed setup utility), so why not give it a spin as well?
