Change log for TPM 2008 version 1.04

Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2008

I'm sorry that this is so late in coming but the icon-only mode to help people with slower computers turned out to be more complicated than we initially thought.  We actually had to disallow it for multiplayer (temporarily, I hope) because the scale is not correct in multiplayer games if both playrs aren't using icon mode or normal mode.

+ New: Candidate Pieces Added
    + Ears (Pierced, Elf-Like, Sideburns)
    + Bodies (Robe, Overalls, Pants and a TShirt)
    + New Eyes and Mouths, Facial Hair, and More!\

+ NEW Candidates
   + Mike Gravel
   + Mike Huckabee
   + Dennis Kucinich
 
+ NEW: Icon-only mode implemented for slower machines
    + The game will generate icons for the candidates, ads, buildings, etc and save them to the user data dir in the /gfx/Icons folder
    + The game will then load these in as they are requested and display them as billboards instead of using 3d models
    + This will cut down on the amount of memory used by the game and make it easier to render, so slower machines can use this mode for better performance
   + This option can only be set when not in a game.  If you’re in a game, you will be prompted with a “Cannot change while game in progress” message
   + The candidate thumbnail generator has been expanded to include multiple thumbnail types such as close-up, full-body, head-only, body-only
   + The thumbnail generator has also been expanded to include generating thumbnails for other objects in the game
   + Running mate icons are not generated at the beginning like the other icons.  Once you pick a running mate, then they are generated.
   + The new icons scale with the camera zoom
   + If in “icon only” mode, the camera view will be locked into “top down” mode so that collision detection of icons is not a problem

+ FIXED: Bug where textures were defaulting to generating all mip levels because max mip levels was not set correctly

+ FIXED: A bug in the AI difficulty where they were getting 15 free stamina points instead of the intended bonus to banking their stamina

+ FIXED: Republicans on Modern 2008 scenario are no longer “for” Affirmative Action.

+ FIXED: Cut down memory usage for video cards that use Shader 3.0, which should alleviate the crashing at the loading screen

+ FIXED: The chat entry fields on the Lobby screen and the Multiplayer setup screen no longer have a character limit and will scroll text, and the chat text for those screens is now formatted much better.

+ TWEAK: When you are running the LAN server, it should now prompt you to shut down the LAN server once you have started a game.  Say no if there are other people using the LAN server, otherwise you can say yes.