AOE-II UserPatch v1.5 Update

[scripter64]

Hi! Within the next few hours, UserPatch v1.5 Beta R6 (build 6068) will be uploaded to Voobly. This should not affect rec compatibility, so recs created by R5 should work fine with R6. It's up to tournament organizers to determine whether or not R6 should be used instead of R5, but it may be best to stay on R5 for at least a day or two in order to ensure that everything is stable on R6. As always, you can find the equivalent standard UP build here.

Game room lobby settings
If you create or join a lobby on R6, please confirm your game room menu options for v1.5, as I don't think Voobly will automatically transfer those settings from R5. For example, if you prefer to disable animated water, please check the game room window's Game menu -> v1.5 Beta R6 and disable it for R6, as well.

Pathing performance fixes
These fixes will not change the final pathing result, as that would break rec sync, so the in-game movements that you see will be identical to what they would have been in v1.0c, including all of the "classic ES" routes lol. However, the game should be able to process those routes up to 25 times faster, leaving a lot of extra time for other work, reducing cpu load and allowing for higher framerates and faster rec/spec playback on systems that are cpu-limited. This doesn't mean that the game will never have cpu lag, but in cases where it would have lagged in the past, the lag will now either be gone or significantly reduced. You can compare performance between R5 and R6 with this aoc save file.

Custom normal mouse
With this feature, the game will use a custom mouse cursor instead of directly drawing the cursor itself, which can make mouse movement more smooth on some systems, even under heavy lag. It's similar to the original "normal mouse" option, but uses actual game cursors instead. On some systems, 32-bit color mode may be required to avoid issues. For streaming, it may be necessary to enable the option to capture the mouse cursor in your broadcast app or the cursor may not appear on stream with this option.

Faster single player
With this option, you can run single player games at the slightly faster multiplayer game speed. This can be useful if you'd like to practice for multiplayer games.

Background audio
This feature will allow the game's music and sound to continue playing in the background while multitasking, which might be helpful when streaming or recording.

Change log for v1.5 Beta R6 build 6068

• New menu option: "Game Mechanics->Custom Normal Mouse" for a smooth, system aoc cursor.
• New menu option: "Game Mechanics->More Hotkeys Priority" to prioritize More over go-to hotkeys.
• New menu option: "Other Options->Faster Single Player" to match multiplayer speed levels.
• New menu option: "Other Options->Background Audio" for audio while multitasking.
• Client update fix: Hold "Ctrl+Alt" when right-clicking to move without targeting.
• The "Ctrl+X", "Ctrl+C", "Ctrl+V", and "Ctrl+A" hotkeys now work for all text input.
• Reset a hotkey from the editor with a right-click while changing it.
• Hotkeys under "More" (Build, Dock) now have priority over go-to-building hotkeys.
• Hold "Shift" when clicking the Idle Villager button to find idle military units.
• The mouse wheel activates manual gate rotation mode without affecting hotkeys.
• Rec: Adjust speed: "Ctrl+Left" for slower, "Ctrl+Right" for faster, "Ctrl+Shift+Down" for normal.
• Rec: Locate King/Guard: "Ctrl+Shift+Up" or hold "Ctrl" when clicking the Idle Villager button.
• Rec: Hold "Shift" when using the player name dropdown list to switch without changing view.
• Fixed issue with the accuracy of the client spectator counter display.
• Fixed issue with the minimum position of the music volume option slider.
• Fixed issue where the game may crash due to an internal AI attack response.
• Fixed issue with multiple selection, where the stat framerate would collapse.
• Fixed issue where AI attack behavior could cause a command overflow desync.
• Fixed issue where the presence of walls severely reduces pathing performance.
• Fixed issue where diagonal walls would not be placed as expected at the map edge.
• Fixed core, animation, and pathing performance for various cpu levels.
• No rec compatibility break, but the additional menu options require a new id.

Thanks to LightTree, Offwo, CheeseOnToast, TheMax, fenris, 1415, danielpr, TheViper, Memb, wattle, TWest, Jineapple, TriRem, iPhone, UnfairestEel, jeowaypoint, S3Kingcat, TheSerpent, Felipe_EL_Guapo, Krock, Toutttt, withmorten, FillemUp, Cataphract887, metric, and everyone here for testing, reporting, and providing feedback for R6!

 

[Ryuuma_]

Thank you scripter <3
Amazing job.

 

[teutonic_tanks]

Microsoft itself managed to increase pathing processoring only 4 times in Aoe1DE and you managed to make the already pretty good pathing in aoc another 25 times faster. That's just damn incredible. They should hire you asap

 

[Spring_]

I was wondering today if something like co-op control of units is possible for players on the same team, like they were cooped. I know sc2 has it but is it even possible on aoc? also, I think we talked about this before but is there any chance of a auto-matchmaking system based on rating in voobly?

 

[scripter64]

Hi Spring! I forwarded your request for the auto-matchmaking system to Voobly a few months ago, but I don't know what their plans are for that. For co-op control between allies, that would technically be possible with enough time and research, but it would probably require a lot of changes to various parts of the game and maybe some loosening of the cheat prevention stuff to allow cross-player commands, so it's probably out of scope.

 

[smarthy_]

Great work Scripter!

 

[scripter64]

The "More Hotkeys Priority" adjustment has now been made an option in the game room settings menu in order to ensure that your current hotkey setup operates as intended unless you decide to change that behavior by enabling the option. Thanks to HomusErectus for the report! If it isn't allowing rated play, please rejoin the lobby and it will download the latest update.

 

[k_the_foodie]

ty gman scripter64

 

[Clemensor]

And I always think it cant get any better, until a random scripter comes around

 

[scripter64]

Added another little adjustment for people using fullscreen mode instead of windowed mode on Voobly. If it isn't allowing rated play, please rejoin the lobby and it will download the latest update. Sorry for the trouble!

 

[JoshuaR]

Amazing, thanks! I'm not seeing any issues after a couple games.

 

[Henkdesupernerd]

<3

 

[Jeowaypoint]

Gate rotation already on R6? Impressive, most impressive. <3

 

[Poxo]

How does gate rotation work? Is it hotkeyable? Or It must be on the mouse wheel?
Remember some users allready use the mouse wheel as hotkey

 

[robo]

How does gate rotation work? Is it hotkeyable? Or It must be on the mouse wheel?
Remember some users allready use the mouse wheel as hotkey

If you use mousewheel for something else it is disbaled while placing a gate.

Eg if it is usually idle vil, if you are placing a gate and scroll it will rotate gate and not go to idle vil

 

[nhoobish]

Not necessarily 1.5 R5, but 1.5 in general broke the way triggers operate in custom scenarios.

For instance, if you were previously able to use a Trigger like so:
Cond0 - P1 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Cond1 - P2 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Cond2 - P3 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Cond3 - P4 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Cond4 - P5 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Cond5 - P6 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Cond6 - P7 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Cond7 - P8 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Eff0 - Create Object P1 X,Y - King
Eff1 - Task Object P1 X,Y -> Z,O

Currently, this kind of trigger only works, if all 8 players were present at the game start. Meaning, it seems that you have "deliberately" disabled all possible trigger-related activities with players that did not exist at launch?

 

[Gregstein]

Excellent work scriper64!! I'm glad R6 is pushed to UP 1.5 and I actually got to test only one game in the Alpha 6068; surprisingly enough my mouse movements felt smoother and the game-play was responsive and enjoyable. Looking forward to play more games this week with this update.

Thank you,

 

[scripter64]

Oh, haven't heard about that, nhoobish, was it reported earlier? I don't recall an intentional change to that stuff. Do you have a very simple example scenario that shows the difference to v1.4? Thanks!

 

[nhoobish]

Never mind, this seemingly does not work at all, regardless of any patch. Must be just poor memory of how trigger condition setup works by me and another designer.

 

[scripter64]

Oh, I was just trying it in a test scenario, too, but couldn't get it to work on v1.4 either. I was worried that something broke unexpectedly lol. I'm sorry that it doesn't work as you needed, nhoobish.

 

[Strepto]

Great job as always scripter and team. You rock!

 

[Gallas]

Not necessarily 1.5 R5, but 1.5 in general broke the way triggers operate in custom scenarios.

For instance, if you were previously able to use a Trigger like so:
Cond0 - P1 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Cond1 - P2 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Cond2 - P3 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Cond3 - P4 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Cond4 - P5 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Cond5 - P6 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Cond6 - P7 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Cond7 - P8 Objects in Area (Reverse) X,Y : 1
Eff0 - Create Object P1 X,Y - King
Eff1 - Task Object P1 X,Y -> Z,O

Currently, this kind of trigger only works, if all 8 players were present at the game start. Meaning, it seems that you have "deliberately" disabled all possible trigger-related activities with players that did not exist at launch?

Condition for a non-exist player not result as yes or no, but a NULL -> trigger do nothing

I fixed few weeks ago a map (mazebuilder) which had this issue in 1.0c. Trigger detected p4 and p8 too, but if p8 not existsed, the trigger simply went null.

 

[Gluttony_]

Great work!

 

[Kataphraktoi]

great stuff scripter64!

 

[nhoobish]

Trigger detected p4 and p8 too, but if p8 not existsed, the trigger simply went null.

Yeah, this seems to be the case, annoying at its core, but I suppose this has its reason behind it.