User:CyberShadow/Worms Armageddon ReadMe (English)/Supplementary Beta Documentation

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Supplementary Beta Documentation

This section is an overview of major improvements introduced in the Beta versions, starting with v3.5. As such, it is supplementary to the official game documentation. An electronic copy of the original manual can be downloaded from ftp://ftp.team17.com/pub/t17/manuals/Worms_Armageddon.pdf. Detailed information about the improvements can be found in section Version History. Features affecting game logic may not work unless all players are using a recent enough version of the game.

Manual Errata

• Page 12: Girder Starter-Pack is incorrectly documented as "Bridge Kit".
• Page 14: Earthquake does not cause the water to rise.
• Page 18: The strike weapons Mail Strike and MB Bomb are also affected by wind.
• Page 25: The Invisibility utility only appears in the weapon panel in network games, regardless how many teams there are.
• Page 25: The Invisibility utility remains active until any damaging weapon is used — specifically, anything other than Girder, Girder Starter Pack, Prod, Freeze, Ninja Rope, Bungee, Parachute, Teleport, Select Worm, Skip Go, Surrender, and all Utilities.
• Page 25: Laser Sight is incorrectly documented as "Laser Target".
• Page 25: Fast Walk and Laser Sight last for just one turn.
• Page 45: The default port used for hosting games is 17011, not 17217.

General

• Worms Armageddon now runs under the majority of Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / 7 Platforms. (introduced in v3.5 Beta 1, improved in 3.6.30.0)
• It is now possible to successfully minimise W:A in all areas, within the front end and in-game. To minimise the game in the front end, position the mouse cursor at the bottom of the screen and click; to minimise from in-game, select the appropriate option from the Escape menu. Shift+Escape also works as a minimisation hotkey both in the front end and in-game. (introduced in v3.5 Beta 1, improved in v3.6.28.0)
• The language used for front end and in-game text can now be chosen manually from the Options menu. (introduced in v3.6.26.4)
• It is possible to take screen-shots, both in the front end and in-game. To do so, press the Pause key. Screenshots are saved in PNG format, are named screenNNNN.png and are stored in User\Capture under your main W:A folder. (introduced in v3.6.19.17, improved in v3.6.24.1, v3.6.28.0)
• The colour scheme used for allies (red, blue, green, yellow, magenta, cyan) can now be modified to allow those with certain types of colour deficiency to be able to easily distinguish problematic colour pairs. (It is targeted particularly towards protanomaly.) This switch has been added to the Options menu, replacing the terrain editing button in that screen. (introduced in v3.6.22.1)
• In case of an unrecoverable error, W:A will save an error report to the file errorlog.txt, and a minidump to crash.dmp. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• The game has been fully translated to Russian, and support for Cyrillic has been added for chat, WormNET game names, worm and team names. (introduced in v3.6.29.0)
• Certain settings may be configured with the help of included registry scripts, which can be found in the Tweaks subdirectory. Before v3.6.30.0 introduced a graphical user interface to configure these options, using the registry scripts and direct registry editing was the only way to set these options. (See Footnote 4.)

Front End

• If you have achieved a Gold Medal in a mission, you can now adjust the number of Attempts by left- or right-clicking the number. (introduced in v3.6.29.0)
• It is possible to precisely adjust certain game settings by holding Shift and left- or right-clicking the settings to increase or decrease the values by 1. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• The Scheme combo box now allows you to navigate to subfolders under the User\Schemes folder. (introduced in v3.6.29.0)
• A new utility option editor has been added, allowing to edit the crate probabilities, delays etc. of utilities. (introduced in v3.6.30.0)
• It is possible to play TCP/IP online games directly, bypassing WormNET. To host, click the Direct TCP/IP button on the network selection screen; to join, enter the host's IP address in the field near the Direct TCP/IP button, and click the button or press Enter. A port may be specified using the IPAddress:Port format. (introduced in v3.6.19.7, improved in v3.6.28.0)
• It is now possible to set the TCP port used for hosting games. This setting is in the Network Configuration screen, and affects both WormNET and Direct IP games. Games hosted on a port other than the default one, 17011, will be inaccessible to game versions prior to 3.6.28.0. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• W:A will now attempt to automatically forward the port used for hosting using UPnP when hosting WormNET and Direct IP games. (introduced in v3.6.29.0)
• W:A now auto-detects the user's IP address using a reply from the WormNET server. This should make manually configuring the external IP address unnecessary in most cases. The IP address can still be overridden using the "Force IP address" checkbox. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• The Server List now includes a link that automatically logs you onto WormNET using the nickname entered in the main Network Menu (this works because logins are currently not enabled). (introduced in v3.6.23.0)
• WormNET flags have been added for the following countries: Chile, Serbia, Slovenia, Lebanon, Moldova, Ukraine, Latvia, Slovakia, Costa Rica, Estonia, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Venezuela, Algeria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Lithuania, Macedonia, Marshall Islands, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and United Arab Emirates. (introduced in v3.6.23.0, v3.6.24.2, v3.6.28.0, v3.6.29.0, v3.6.30.0)
• An "Ignore" feature was added in WormNET. To ignore/unignore someone, hold Ctrl and double-click on their nickname in the nickname list, or type /ignore or /unignore followed by their nickname. Ignored nicknames are shown in red in the nickname list. (introduced in v3.5 Beta 2)
• Web and E-mail URLs are now automatically parsed and converted to hyperlinks in message histories (WormNET, LAN and host/join screen). (introduced in v3.6.30.0)
• A host can now limit the number of players joining, by resizing the player list box. To do so, click and drag the thick bottom edge of this box. (introduced in v3.6.19.7, improved in v3.6.25.1a)
• In front end network screens, entering the command "/u" or "/url" will now copy a wa://address-of-host URL into the clipboard, which can be used by other players to join the game directly (even for a WormNET game). (introduced in v3.6.29.0, improved in v3.6.30.0)
• An Advanced Options screen has been added, which allows configuring settings previously only configurable using registry scripts and direct registry editing. (introduced in v3.6.30.0)

Maps and the Map editor

• While clicking rapidly through map thumbnails, you may accidentally skip past a good looking one. Now you can backtrack with a Shift+Click. (introduced in v3.6.19.7)
• Imported colour maps are saved in PNG format (with metadata) and usable in online games. (introduced in v3.6.19.7)
• Colour PNG maps may be loaded directly in the map editor, with the following limitations:
  • Maps may have up to 64 colours (65 including black) if graphical glitches are to be avoided; (introduced in v3.6.19.7)
  • Maps may have up to 96 colours (97 including black), but then soil textures (the background that appears when land is blown up) and the background graphics (clouds, etc.) will be disabled, and the destroyed-soil border will be solid gray; (introduced in v3.6.19.7, improved in v3.6.25.1a)
  • Maps may have up to 112 colours (113 including black), but then (additionally to the limitations above) the background gradient will be re-rendered using the map colours and whatever free space there will be left in the colour palette. (introduced in v3.6.25.1a, improved in v3.6.28.0)
  • Maps can be organised into folders underneath User\SavedLevels, which can then be navigated in the map editor combo box. (introduced in v3.6.19.7)
  • PNG maps may have dimensions other than 1920×696. A cavern map may now be up to 32504 pixels wide or 32600 pixels tall; an island is limited to being 28408 wide or 30552 tall. The minimum map size is 640×32. A map's width and height must be divisible by 8. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• To draw lines: click a point with the brush, hold down Shift and click an end point. This can be used to draw many connecting lines if Shift is held down the whole time. (introduced in v3.5 Beta 1)
• To cycle through available brush sizes, rotate the mouse wheel; to draw vertical/horizontal lines, hold Ctrl; to move the mouse cursor at ¼ speed, hold Alt. (introduced in v3.5 Beta 1)
• In the Map Editor, you may now fine-tune the number of Placement Holes instead of being constrained to either 0 or 18. This is done by left- or right-clicking the circled-girder icon, which displays the current number of Holes; holding Shift allows you to fine tune the value, otherwise it skips from 0 to 18 to 32 to 48 and then to the maximum of 300. Holding Ctrl while clicking Reseed will force it to try for as many Holes as it can get. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)

Game

• Resolution modes up to 1920×1440 are now supported (dependent on video driver / hardware capability). (introduced in v3.5 Beta 1)
• It is now possible to play with up to 48 Worms if all players are using v3.6.28.0 or later. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• It is now possible to play games with just one team, or with teams of just one allied colour. In such cases, the game will only end in a draw (when all teams surrender or are eliminated). This works for both "multiplayer" and "online" games. When an online game is started without anyone else joining, it will act like an offline game. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• Utilities can be selected with the ` key (which is located under the Escape key on most U.S. keyboards).
• A thought bubble can be displayed above the active worm by pressing T.
• It is now possible to enable certain "testing" game options, which are meant to allow playtesting certain game options which may be buggy or significantly change the game's behaviour. See the change log for v3.6.28.0 for more information. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• An AFK (Away From Keyboard) mode was added, activated by entering /afk or /away in the chat. The game will automatically skip your turns while this mode is activated. If enabled during worm placement, the worm will be automatically teleported to a random spot. (introduced in v3.6.19.7, improved in 3.6.23.0)
• During a game, players may now use Ctrl+PageDown to initiate "chat pinning", in which the chat panel is displayed even when it is not "in focus". This allows a player to play while reading what the other players are saying. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• The network chat panel can now be resized using Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• Pressing Ctrl+Home will enable "Home Lock", making the camera remain centred on the current worm. Pressing Home disables it. (introduced in v3.6.30.0)
• Players may now view the weapon panel for their team at any time, including during other players' turns. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• When there are several local teams with different team colours, a menu of team colours is displayed at the bottom of the weapon panel in these cases, allowing the inventory of any local team to be viewed by clicking the team's colour swatch. Similarly, it is possible to view the weapon panel of all ally team colours. (introduced in v3.6.30.0)
• Replays (both instant-replays in offline games, and automatic game recordings): (introduced in v3.6.19.7, improved in v3.6.19.17, v3.6.24.1, v3.6.23.0)
  • To pause playback, press S.
  • To step one frame while paused, press S.
  • The playback speed can be controlled with the top number keys 1 – 9. The progression is geometric in pairs: the keys correspond to 1×,1.5×,2×,3×,4×,6×,8×,12×,16×.
  • Holding 0 allows setting higher coefficients: pressing 1 – 9 while holding 0 corresponds to 24×,32×,48×,64×,96×,128×,192×,256×,384×. The speeds are, however, limited to the processing capacity of your machine.
  • Holding Shift while pressing a speed key or key combination will slow down playback, otherwise it will be speeded up.
  • To set a "bookmark" at the current position during playback of a game recording, press M. When using "Playback at", the game sets the bookmark at the specified position and fast-forwards the replay until the position is reached.
  • To rewind an automatic game recording to the current bookmarked position, or to the beginning of the replay file if no bookmark has been set, press R.
  • To clear the bookmarked position and restart playback from the beginning, press Shift+R.
• Holding down the left mouse button, or enabling Scroll Lock will prevent the game from automatically moving the camera. (introduced in v3.6.21.1, improved in v3.6.26.4)
  • Holding Shift while activating Scroll Lock will cause it not to be deactivated at the beginning of your next turn. (introduced in v3.6.29.0)
  • Holding Control while activating Scroll Lock will make mouse movement not move the game camera, unless the left mouse button is held down. (introduced in v3.6.29.0)
• Holding Shift now causes the mouse sensitivity to be multiplied by 4. Holding the middle mouse button does the same. With both combined, the multiplier becomes 16. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• The Mortar and Homing Missile now have shiny new launchers that are coloured differently, to make them easily distinguishable from the Bazooka and Homing Pigeon. The Bazooka also has a makeover. (introduced in v3.6.22.1)
• In-game sound effects are now played in stereo. (introduced in v3.6.29.0)
• The hotkey Alt+Delete toggles transparency for labels. (introduced in v3.6.26.4)
• Pressing Space during the playback of a recorded game will now skip to the beginning of the next turn. (introduced in v3.6.30.0)

Game settings (schemes)

• The turn time can now be set to an infinite value. The game will then display a forward turn time counter, starting at zero. (introduced in v3.6.19.17, improved in v3.6.25.1a)
• The number of in-game hazardous objects (Mines and Oil Drums) is now customisable. The setting can be adjusted in the Scheme Options editor by Shift+clicking the Mine/Oil Drum button. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• The Round Time is normally measured in minutes, however it can also be adjusted up to 128 seconds in steps of 1 second. The way this is done is a little strange — you need to go below 0 minutes, and then left- and right-clicking will have a "backwards" effect on the number of seconds. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• It is now possible to play a match which lasts exactly one round even in the event of a draw. (introduced in v3.6.29.0)
• "Random worm order" has been added as a third "Worm Select" option. Enabling this mode will cause a team's worms to be selected randomly every time the team gets a turn, instead of cycling through in a fixed order. (introduced in v3.6.29.0)
• It is now possible to specify the amount of Jet Pack fuel, however currently this can only be done using external scheme editors. (introduced in v3.6.29.0)

Integration and Command-Line Parameters

• W:A now automatically creates self-contained recordings of all played games, and saves them to User\Games under your main W:A folder with a .WAgame extension. (introduced in v3.6.19.7)
  • Double-click one of them to play back the associated game.
  • Right-click a replay to display a menu of available actions:
    • Playback - plays the replay as usual;
    • Playback at... - starts playing from a certain point in the replay; (introduced in v3.6.24.1)
    • Extract Map - extracts the map used in the game and saves it to the User\SavedLevels folder (with the same file name as the replay); (introduced in v3.6.19.15)
    • Extract Scheme - extracts the scheme used in the game and saves it to the User\Schemes folder (with the same file name as the replay); (introduced in v3.6.25.1a)
    • Extract Video... - renders a series of frames from the replay as images; (introduced in v3.6.24.1)
    • Export Log - creates a text summary of the replay, containing certain detailed information and statistics; (introduced in v3.6.21.2)
    • Repair - repairs certain errors in replay files. (introduced in v3.6.26.5)
• People hosting Direct IP games may now offer links in the format wa://address-of-host, and launching this link will cause W:A to automatically launch and join the hosted game. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
• The command line "WA.exe /host" will cause W:A to automatically launch and host a Direct IP game. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)