Difference between revisions of "Worms Armageddon ReadMe (English)"

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{{ParentArticle|[[Guides, FAQs, and ReadMes]]}}
 
{{ParentArticle|[[Guides, FAQs, and ReadMes]]}}
 
{{Languages/Readme}}
 
{{Languages/Readme}}
  
This page contains a complete transcription of the Beta ReadMe. Besides minor formatting changes for the purposes of presentation and some spelling corrections, the content has been unmodified.
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This is a web version of the Worms Armageddon Update Documentation. The original RTF is included with the updates, and can be found in your W:A folder.
 +
{{Anchor|section-1-0}}
  
The original RTF is included with Beta updates, and can be found in your W:A folder. You can also download it from [http://wa.team17.com/main.html?page=supp&area=upda&file=16 here].
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==Introduction==
  
{{anchor|Important License Information}}
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Since its initial release in 1999, Worms Armageddon has undergone continual evolution, with two programmers, Deadcode and CyberShadow, continuing to add new features and implement community-requested improvements to the game. This document lists the changes which have been introduced in each version and provides a list of known issues and bugs in the current software.
== Important Licence Information ==
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Thank you for participating in this External Beta Test for Worms Armageddon PC. All your comments are gratefully received and we will endeavour to address all of your reported problem points where possible for the intended Update Final Release. We would also like to extend our gratitude to the countless users providing requests and points for inclusion, without which much of the improved content could not have been made possible.
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{{Anchor|section-2-0}}
  
Please note that we can provide beta support in the English language only.
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==[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/Supplementary Documentation|Supplementary Documentation]]==
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{{Anchor|section-3-0}}
  
If you do happen to encounter any bugs during play, please read the [[#Bug Reporting To Team17|Bug Reporting]] section later in this document for how to produce and report any findings directly to the Team17 Development Team.
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==Version History==
  
'''IMPORTANT:''' You should very carefully read and agree to the following External Beta Test Licence Agreement prior to installing this software update.
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{{Anchor|version-v3-5-beta-1-update}}
  
If you do not agree to the terms and conditions of the licence then please do not install the software. It is also highly recommended to view this entire document in order to fully understand the software content, specific game additions and implications of accepting subsequent installation and use.
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.5 Beta 1 Update|v3.5 Beta 1 Update (2002-08-09)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-5-beta-2-update}}
  
'''External Beta Test Licence Agreement'''
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.5 Beta 2 Update|v3.5 Beta 2 Update (2002-08-15)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-19-7-beta-update}}
  
This software update and accompanying documentation are a copyright of Team17 Software Ltd. This release is provided to end users specifically for evaluation and testing purposes only within the conditions of the licence agreement. Any forms of use outside the terms of the licence agreement are expressly prohibited. On acceptance to proceed with the installation of this software you agree to be fully bound by the terms and conditions of this licence agreement and the acknowledgements comprised herein.
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.7 Beta Update|v3.6.19.7 Beta Update (2004-02-09)]]===
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{{Anchor|version-v3-6-19-11-beta-update}}
  
'''Licence Acknowledgements'''
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.11 Beta Update|v3.6.19.11 Beta Update (2004-02-10)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-19-12-beta-update}}
  
It is your understanding that this particular software update is BETA, and is therefore as such a work in progress and may possibly contain problems that could be resultant in a loss of data. Team17 Software Ltd cannot be held responsible for damage sustained to operating system and / or game setups through installation and use of this update program in its current form.
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.12 Beta Update|v3.6.19.12 Beta Update (2004-02-11)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-19-14-beta-update}}
  
Feedback information should be provided by you, the end user, where possible relating to problematic instances that may occur during use of this software update. This supply of information should be generated and forwarded for the attention of Team17 Software Ltd via the contact method as outlined within this documentation.
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.14 Beta Update|v3.6.19.14 Beta Update (2004-02-12)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-19-15-beta-update}}
  
The software content comprised within this update is a property of Team17 Software Ltd and should therefore not be reverse engineered, disassembled, de-compiled or altered in any way from its original compilation. If conduct such as the aforementioned is subsequently performed without prior permission from Team17 Software Ltd this will be considered a breach of licence agreement terms and may result in appropriate action being taken.
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.15 Beta Update|v3.6.19.15 Beta Update (2004-02-20)]]===
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{{Anchor|version-v3-6-19-17-beta-update}}
  
== [[Worms Armageddon ReadMe (English)/Supplementary Beta Documentation|Supplementary Beta Documentation]] ==
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.17 Beta Update|v3.6.19.17 Beta Update (2004-03-11)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-19-17a-beta-update}}
  
== Version History ==
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.17a Beta Update|v3.6.19.17a Beta Update (2004-03-12)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-19-18-beta-update}}
  
Click an update to see a list of features and fixes for that update.
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.18 Beta Update|v3.6.19.18 Beta Update (2004-03-19)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-19-19-beta-update}}
  
* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.5 Beta 1 Update|v3.5 Beta 1 Update]] (2002.08.09)
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.19 Beta Update|v3.6.19.19 Beta Update (2004-03-21)]]===
* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.5 Beta 2 Update|v3.5 Beta 2 Update]] (2002.08.15)
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{{Anchor|version-v3-6-20-1-beta-update}}
* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.7 Beta Update|v3.6.19.7 Beta Update]] (2004.02.09)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.11 Beta Update|v3.6.19.11 Beta Update]] (2004.02.10)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.12 Beta Update|v3.6.19.12 Beta Update]] (2004.02.11)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.14 Beta Update|v3.6.19.14 Beta Update]] (2004.02.12)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.15 Beta Update|v3.6.19.15 Beta Update]] (2004.02.20)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.17 Beta Update|v3.6.19.17 Beta Update]] (2004.03.11)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.17a Beta Update|v3.6.19.17a Beta Update]] (2004.03.12)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.18 Beta Update|v3.6.19.18 Beta Update]] (2004.03.19)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.19.19 Beta Update|v3.6.19.19 Beta Update]] (2004.03.21)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.20.1 Beta Update|v3.6.20.1 Beta Update]] (2004.07.13)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.20.2 Beta Update|v3.6.20.2 Beta Update]] (2004.08.03)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.20.3 Beta Update|v3.6.20.3 Beta Update]] (2004.08.06)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.21.1 Beta Update|v3.6.21.1 Beta Update]] (2004.09.23)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.21.2 Beta Update|v3.6.21.2 Beta Update]] (2004.09.27)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.21.3 Beta Update|v3.6.21.3 Beta Update]] (2004.09.28)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.22.1 Beta Update|v3.6.22.1 Beta Update]] (2004.10.06)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.23.0 Beta Update|v3.6.23.0 Beta Update]] (2005.03.23)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.23.1 Beta Update|v3.6.23.1 Beta Update]] (2005.03.23)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.23.2 Beta Update|v3.6.23.2 Beta Update]] (2005.03.24)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.24.1 Beta Update|v3.6.24.1 Beta Update]] (2005.03.29)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.24.2 Beta Update|v3.6.24.2 Beta Update]] (2005.03.31)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.25.1a Beta Update|v3.6.25.1a Beta Update]] (2005.04.26)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.26.4 Beta Update|v3.6.26.4 Beta Update]] (2005.11.22)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.26.5 Beta Update|v3.6.26.5 Beta Update]] (2006.01.05)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.28.0 Beta Update|v3.6.28.0 Beta Update]] (2007.06.29)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.29.0 Beta Update|v3.6.29.0 Beta Update]] (2008.07.28)
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* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.30.0 Beta Update|v3.6.30.0 Beta Update]] (2010.10.26)
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== Installation ==
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.20.1 Beta Update|v3.6.20.1 Beta Update (2004-07-13)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-20-2-beta-update}}
  
The contents of the update installer are the files required to update your current version of Worms Armageddon to v{{LatestBeta}} (Beta). This Beta includes all previous updates from the Official v3.0 and Beta versions of the game, excluding updates to GFX archives (introduced in v3.6.22.1). The Beta update installer will automatically offer to download and install the Official v3.0 Patch and the GFX updates if required. It will preserve your customized settings and teams, schemes, saved levels, replays, etc., contrary to what was done in the v3.0.5.0 Beta installer and v3.0 Patch.
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.20.2 Beta Update|v3.6.20.2 Beta Update (2004-08-03)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-20-3-beta-update}}
  
'''INSTALLATION'''
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.20.3 Beta Update|v3.6.20.3 Beta Update (2004-08-06)]]===
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{{Anchor|version-v3-6-21-1-beta-update}}
  
Launch the WA_update-{{LatestBeta}}_Beta.exe update installer, and follow the installer instructions. Automatic download and installation of the v3.0 Patch and GFX updates requires a working Internet connection. Users requiring an offline installation may download the stand-alone installers for the v3.0 Patch and GFX updates from Team17's FTP server ( ftp://ftp.team17.com/pub/t17/patches/pc/ ).
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.21.1 Beta Update|v3.6.21.1 Beta Update (2004-09-23)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-21-2-beta-update}}
  
Once the update has been installed, you can then run the game as you would normally.
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.21.2 Beta Update|v3.6.21.2 Beta Update (2004-09-27)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-21-3-beta-update}}
  
== Known Issues/Bugs ==
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.21.3 Beta Update|v3.6.21.3 Beta Update (2004-09-28)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-22-1-beta-update}}
  
{{Collapsible boxes
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.22.1 Beta Update|v3.6.22.1 Beta Update (2004-10-06)]]===
| Versions / Patching
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{{Anchor|version-v3-6-23-0-beta-update}}
|
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* The Trymedia/Trygames online-downloadable version of Worms Armageddon cannot be patched, and is equivalent to v3.5 Beta 2. When the current Beta has stabilised sufficiently, it will be sent to Trymedia to be incorporated into a new Trygames version of W:A.
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| Crashes / Fatal errors
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.23.0 Beta Update|v3.6.23.0 Beta Update (2005-03-23)]]===
|
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{{Anchor|version-v3-6-23-1-beta-update}}
*If W:A is minimised in the front-end and it needs to display a dialog, switch to a different screen, etc., it may crash or the screen elements may be displaced on restoring. For example:
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**During the end-of-round screen in an online game, W:A will crash if the host clicks the "Play Again" button before you have restored;
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**W:A will crash if you are booted from a game while the game is minimised;
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**If W:A is minimised just before entering WormNET, upon restoring the screen elements will not be placed at their correct locations.
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*There are crashes that reportedly happen for various other causes, sometimes before W:A even has a chance to start up. These have not been thoroughly investigated, but may have something to do with nonstandard or erroneous files in the directory structure of the W:A CD-ROM or installed "Worms Armageddon" folder, often due to a pirated copy of W:A.
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*W:A will not run on notebook computers with Intel video chipsets running Windows Vista. The reason is that Intel's drivers for Windows Vista do not support certain DirectX technologies used by the game.
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* Norton Personal Firewall, and possibly other personal firewalls, do not gracefully detect the replacement of "WA.exe" with a new version.
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** Symptom: You can no longer connect to WormNET.
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** Workaround: Each time after you install a new W:A beta update you need to delete the entry for "WA.exe" from your firewall so it can create a new, working entry.
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** Plan: In a future version this will be addressed by "faking" accesses to the needed ports before going full-screen, so that the user has a chance to respond to firewall windows that may pop up.
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| Privacy
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.23.1 Beta Update|v3.6.23.1 Beta Update (2005-03-23)]]===
|
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{{Anchor|version-v3-6-23-2-beta-update}}
* Whispers are not sent securely, and can be spied upon using a network packet logger. This applies both to the host/join lobby and the in-game chat.
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| In-game Connectivity
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.23.2 Beta Update|v3.6.23.2 Beta Update (2005-03-24)]]===
|
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{{Anchor|version-v3-6-24-1-beta-update}}
* When you are not the host during an online game, and someone other than the host is disconnected, you will not see the reason for the disconnection. Additionally, if the current player is disconnected due to a desynchronisation, from that player's point of view the reason will be stated as being "due to network drop", even though the network drop is merely a byproduct of the desync.
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* When a v3.6.24.1 user is present in an online game along with v3.6.23 or v3.6.24.2+ users, a desync may happen during long turns of the v3.6.23 / 3.6.24.2+ users.
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* In an online game with 3 or more players, when a non-host player disconnects at an odd moment (in all or most cases due to a crash or desync), it can in some cases trigger a cascade desync, where the other players desync one by one. Also, the desync of one player during game initialisation can cause another player to be disconnected.
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* In an online game, the delay between turns is perhaps sometimes longer than necessary.
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| Usability issues
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.24.1 Beta Update|v3.6.24.1 Beta Update (2005-03-29)]]===
|
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{{Anchor|version-v3-6-24-2-beta-update}}
* The front end may be slow/laggy sometimes. One known cause of this is MSN Messenger; if you are using it, go to Tools&rarr;Options&rarr;Personal and uncheck the box ''Show me as "Busy" and block my alerts when I'm running a full-screen program, such as a slide presentation''. Another known cause is video driver related, and this is addressed in v3.6.26.4.
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* When returning to the front end from a finished game session, the palette sometimes is not correctly set and is black and white. Minimising and restoring fixes it, but without this step it's necessary to operate blind.
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* In the end-of-round screen of an online game, the "Exit" button sometimes stays greyed out for an unreasonable or indefinite amount of time.
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*When a WAgame file is launched from Windows Explorer, a refresh is triggered in Explorer, so upon returning from Playback, the selection is reset to the first file in the folder.
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*A game hosted on WormNET will disappear from the list after a timeout, even if the game is still open for joining. If this is fixed before the implementation of a new rankings/server system, the fix will be an auto-renewal.
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*There are some text strings (mainly those added in the beta patch) that have not been translated and are shown only in English.
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*Under certain conditions (possibly related to the v3.6.26.4 "slow front end" fix) the Alt fine-tuning key in the Map Editor doesn't work properly.
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*When entering the Map Editor screen (and possibly other screens) the game may minimize, possibly due to applications such as Winamp running "Always On Top".
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| Playability issues
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.24.2 Beta Update|v3.6.24.2 Beta Update (2005-03-31)]]===
|
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{{Anchor|version-v3-6-25-1a-beta-update}}
* Weapons dropped by a roping worm will sometimes immediately hit or bounce against the roping worm. Examples:
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* The Bazooka may hit the roping worm before it has any chance to retreat, instantly detonating even if there are no obstacles in the immediate vicinity.
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* The Holy Hand Grenade may bounce against the roping worm and fall the wrong way.
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* The Sheep Launcher may brush against the roping worm and drop straight down while requiring one less pressing of the Fire key than is expected to trigger explosion.
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* Graves can block a Girder from being placed in certain positions that would be possible if the grave were not present. The alternative, however, would be to allow the girder to be placed, thus causing the grave to fall down through the terrain, which would be rather weird.
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* The teleport may fudge sideways against the player's wishes; this can happen when the player is attempting to place a Worm directly on land, such that the Worm can jump after placement.
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* It is too easy to accidentally Surrender.
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* It is possible to fall onto a Crate in a the middle of Rope Roll without collecting the crate. This is very rare. (This can also happen in a Mission/Training round, if a worm continues roping after losing enough health to die; that is a separate issue, and if anything needs to be fixed in that case it is the fact that a zombie worm can keep moving.)
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* When computing the possibilities for firing a projectile, a CPU worm follows the paths with staggered pixels. However, a projectile's actual collision path sweeps a 7x5 rectangle, which may collide in a place the CPU worm didn't check. This can result in the CPU worm accidentally throwing a Grenade which bounces back onto itself, regardless of its CPU skill level.
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* When the Pneumatic Drill is used on top of an Oil Drum, it does not cause an explosion. (It does, however, if a corner or side of the Oil Drum is hit.)
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* The camera follows an opponent's active worm and cursor even if they are Invisible. This gives an advantage to players who are running W:A at a low resolution, since this narrows down the opponent's location.
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* There are several perfomance issues with large maps, particularly during spawning of supply crates.
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| Cosmetic issues
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.25.1a Beta Update|v3.6.25.1a Beta Update (2005-04-26)]]===
|
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{{Anchor|version-v3-6-26-4-beta-update}}
* PNG maps with more than 64 non-black colours create glitches in the background gradient, and in the soil texture when land is destroyed. This will be fixed by creating a standard for embedding gradients and/or soil textures in maps, and by allowing automatic girders to be turned off. (Note that the glitches can be avoided in 3.6.25.1+ by disabling Placement Holes, at the cost of losing soil textures and some or all background graphics.)
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* During fast-forward, rising water can cause a graphical glitch in which there is a temporary shift between the terrain and sprites. (This may only happen when the resolution is high enough to letterbox a cavern terrain.)
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* The sprite of a Worm holding a Mole Bomb always shows the worm as standing flat, regardless of whether it may be standing on a slope.
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* In the sprite of a Worm holding a Freeze, the worm is incorrectly shown as standing on a downward slope if it is standing on an upward slope. A fix for this will be bundled with the next update of Gfx0.dir and Gfx1.dir (delayed because it is hard to get the palette just right).
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* A Donor Card can give "-1x" of an item if the previous owner had an unlimited supply of that item. Collecting it has no effect.
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* In the WormNET and host/join lobbies, the wrap width for previously entered long lines in a message history will not be readjusted when a scrollbar appears, causing some characters in the previously wrapped lines to be hidden from view.
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* With ambient music enabled, sudden switches in the music track (for example, when Sudden Death initiates) can cause an ugly audio pop. It is unknown whether this happens on all systems.
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* Sometimes some buttons, e.g. the light-bulb icon in the host/join screen, are replaced by a small (16x16 pixels) black square.
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* Side effects of the v3.6.26.4 "slow front end" fix
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** The intro doesn't fade.
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** Resizing of the player list when hosting (to limit the number of players who can join) causes very perceptible flicker.
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* When viewing a map of nonstandard size (something other than 1920×696) in the Map Editor, the cavern borders are not rescaled or moved; they are shown as if the map is still 1920×696. Also, the water level will not be proportionally correct.
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| Replay/logging issues
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.26.4 Beta Update|v3.6.26.4 Beta Update (2005-11-22)]]===
|
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{{Anchor|version-v3-6-26-5-beta-update}}
* In recorded replay files of online games, only the passage of game time during turns will separate lines of chat. Chat that took place between turns or during network lag will be displayed all at once during playback.
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* In situations where a Mine is triggered after the end of a turn but before the beginning of the next, a Checksum Spurious and subsequent Checksum Missing may be reported during playback or in an exported log.
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}}
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== Footnotes ==
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.26.5 Beta Update|v3.6.26.5 Beta Update (2006-01-05)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-28-0-beta-update}}
  
# {{anchor|footnote1}}If a Worm dismounts a horizontally-stationary Ninja Rope in direct contact with the ground, it will land instantly, thus ready to do other things without delay. It is not always possible to extend a rope to the length necessary for this to happen — since it extends and retracts 4 pixels at a time, it may stop with 1-3 pixels of room remaining between Worm and ground. Also, even if a rope appears to be horizontally stationary, it may have a microscopic amount of momentum. Following are ways to recreate the circumstances required for an instant rope dismount:
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===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.28.0 Beta Update|v3.6.28.0 Beta Update (2007-06-29)]]===
#* ''(All versions of W:A)'' Worm is standing in a confined space (e.g. at the bottom of a tunnel 9 pixels wide and at least 8 pixels high), and shoots the Ninja Rope straight upward. It may then retract and extend the rope and/or fire a weapon, as long as it does not nudge the rope left or right. Then, when that rope is extended to maximum length (either by not moving at all, or by re-extending the rope as far as it will go) the Worm is in direct contact with the ground.
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{{Anchor|version-v3-6-29-0-beta-update}}
#* ''(v3.6.23.0 and later)'' Same as above, but Worm is not required to fire the rope from a confined space. It may do so from any standing position.
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#* ''(v3.6.23.0 and later)'' Worm is in midair, with no horizontal velocity, and shoots the Ninja Rope straight upward. There is a 25% chance that the rope will be phased such that it is possible to put the Worm in direct contact with the ground.
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#* ''(All versions of W:A)'' Same as above, but Worm must be in a 9-pixel-wide tunnel at the time the rope connects.
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# {{anchor|footnote2}}This bug is emulated for compatibility with older versions of W:A. An emulated crash ends the game in a draw for those using a newer version. The older versions will still crash.
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# {{anchor|footnote3}}The '''wa://''' protocol can be used to join or host games with advanced parameters. The format is '''wa://'''''address'''''?'''''param1'''''='''''value1'''''&'''...'''&'''''paramN'''''='''''valueN''. Specifying a blank address will cause the game to host a game with the specified parameters. The following parameters are supported:
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#* '''pass''' or '''password''' – specifies the game's password.
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#* '''id''' or '''gameid''' – specifies the game's ID, as used on WormNET.
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#* <p>'''scheme''' – specifies the channel scheme to be used. This setting should be identical on all ends. Since this information isn't transmitted via the game peer-to-peer connection, unmatching values can cause a desynchronisation. For more information on the channel scheme format, see [[WormNET (Worms Armageddon)#Channels|http://worms2d.info/WormNET_(Worms_Armageddon)#Channels]]</p><p>Using the scheme parameter, it's possible to create direct IP games with rope knocking enabled. To do this, the host must run '''WA.exe wa://?scheme=Pf''' , and other players must run '''WA.exe wa://'''''address'''''?scheme=Pf''' .</p><p>If the game is hosted on a TCP port other than the default one (17011), the port can be specified with the syntax: '''wa://'''''address:port'''''?'''''parameters'''''...'''</p>
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# {{anchor|footnote4}}The following registry tweaks allow setting certain game options, most of which can also be set using the '''Advanced Options''' screen. These files are located in the '''Tweaks''' folder, and are activated by double-clicking them (the game should not be running).
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#* '''BackgroundGradientParallax_Disable.reg''', '''BackgroundGradientParallax_Enable.reg'''&nbsp;– enable or disable the dithered gradient parallax effect introduced in the same version. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.30.0)}}
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#* '''FrontendPaletteFix_On.reg''', '''FrontendPaletteFix_Off.reg'''&nbsp;– Enables workarounds to prevent palette loss in the front end. Enabled by default. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.30.0)}}
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#* '''FrontendUseDesktopWindow_Enable.reg''', '''FrontendUseDesktopWindow_Disable.reg'''&nbsp;– Enables a workaround to allow the front end to render correctly under Wine. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.30.0)}}
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#* '''FrontendUseVRAM_Enable.reg''', '''FrontendUseVRAM_Disable.reg'''&nbsp;– Allows or prevents usage of video memory in the front end. Enabled by default. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.30.0)}}
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#* '''ForceWineVirtualDesktop_On.reg''', '''ForceWineVirtualDesktop_Off.reg'''&nbsp;– Causes W:A to automatically restart itself under a Wine virtual desktop. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.30.0)}}
+
#* '''InGameDoubleBuffering_Enable.reg''', '''InGameDoubleBuffering_Disable.reg'''&nbsp;– Enables or disables in-game double buffering. Disabling fixes flickering under VMware. Enabled by default. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.30.0)}}
+
#* '''LargerFonts_On.reg''', '''LargerFonts_Off.reg'''&nbsp;– Use a larger font in some places in-game and in the front end. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.28.0)}}
+
#* '''LegacyUtilityKey_On.reg''', '''LegacyUtilityKey_Off.reg'''&nbsp;– Use the key used for typing the ` character for the current input language to select utilities, instead of using the key under '''Escape''' (for non-US keyboard layouts). {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.28.0)}}
+
#* '''MapAreaWarnLimit_Always.reg''', '''MapAreaWarnLimit_Default.reg''', '''MapAreaWarnLimit_Unlimited.reg'''&nbsp;– Sets the threshold for which to display the map loading prompt, to prevent a Denial of Service attack by loading a very large map. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.28.0)}}
+
#* '''NoLandInVram_On.reg''', '''NoLandInVram_Off.reg'''&nbsp;– Controls whether W:A creates land surfaces in video memory. Improves compatibility with certain '''Wine''' versions. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.28.0)}}
+
#* '''SkipIntro_On.reg''', '''SkipIntro_Off.reg'''&nbsp;– Skips the intro and logos shown upon W:A startup; identical to the /nointro command line option. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.30.0)}}
+
#* '''OfflineRopeKnocking_On.reg''', '''OfflineRopeKnocking_Off.reg'''&nbsp;– Enables "rope knocking" in Offline Multi-Player and Quick CPU games. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.24.2)}}
+
#* '''Phone_Disable.reg''', '''Phone_Enable.reg'''&nbsp;– Disables or enables the in-game telephone icon (used for notification of new chat messages). {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.26.4)}}
+
#* '''RegisterAssociations_Automatically.reg''', '''RegisterAssociations_Manually.reg'''&nbsp;– Enables associating W:A with replays and wa:// on W:A start-up. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.30.0)}}
+
#* '''SlowFrontendWorkaround_On.reg''', '''SlowFrontendWorkaround_Alternative.reg''', '''SlowFrontendWorkaround_Off.reg'''&nbsp;– Enables a compatibility tweak for certain new video cards, which may resolve low responsiveness and refresh rates in the front end. Even if there is no frame rate problem, it can reduce the black-out period when switching between dialog screens. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.26.5, v3.6.28.0)}}
+
#* '''SmoothBackgroundGradient_Disable.reg''', '''SmoothBackgroundGradient_Enable.reg'''&nbsp;– Disables or re-enables the dithered background gradient in all in-game detail levels. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.30.0)}}
+
#* '''StereoEffects_Disabled.reg''', '''StereoEffects_Normal.reg''', '''StereoEffects_Reversed.reg'''&nbsp;– Disable, enable (default) and reverse the stereo sound effects. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.29.0)}}
+
#* '''TimerWorkaround_On.reg''', '''TimerWorkaround_Off.reg'''&nbsp;– Prevents W:A from using the system's high-resolution timer. {{lowlight|(introduced in v3.6.20.1)}}
+
  
== Credits ==
+
===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.29.0 Beta Update|v3.6.29.0 Beta Update (2008-07-28)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-30-0-beta-update}}
  
{| cellpadding="5"
+
===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.30.0 Beta Update|v3.6.30.0 Beta Update (2010-10-26)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-31-0-beta-update}}
 +
 
 +
===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.31.0 Beta Update|v3.6.31.0 Beta Update (2010-11-16)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-6-31-2b-alpha-update}}
 +
 
 +
===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.6.31.2b Alpha Update|v3.6.31.2b Alpha Update (2012-09-12) - first Steam release]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-7-0-0-update}}
 +
 
 +
===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.7.0.0 Update|v3.7.0.0 Update (2012-12-20)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-7-2-1-update}}
 +
 
 +
===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.7.2.1 Update|v3.7.2.1 Update (2013-03-15)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|version-v3-8-update}}
 +
 
 +
===[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/v3.8 Update|v3.8 Update (2020-07-13)]]===
 +
{{Anchor|section-4-0}}
 +
 
 +
==Known Issues/Bugs==
 +
 
 +
===Crashes / Fatal errors===
 +
* One possible cause of crashes, sometimes before W:A even has a chance to start up, can be nonstandard, erroneous, or missing files in the directory structure of the W:A CD-ROM or installed "Worms Armageddon" folder, often due to a pirated copy of W:A.<br />
 +
 
 +
===Privacy===
 +
* Whispers are not sent securely, and can be spied upon using a network packet logger. This applies both to the host/join screen and the in-game chat.<br />
 +
 
 +
===Network Connectivity===
 +
* In an online game, the delay between turns (a minimum of 2 seconds) is perhaps sometimes longer than necessary.<br />
 +
* When a v3.6.24.1 user is present in an online game along with v3.6.23 or v3.6.24.2+ users, a desync may happen during long turns of the v3.6.23 / 3.6.24.2+ users.<br />
 +
* In v3.6.30.0 and later, if a client is in an online game with at least one other connected client, and the host stops responding (without detectably dropping the connection) during a remote client's turn, then the game will not automatically time out the connection.<br />
 +
* A temporary network problem (manifesting as a TCP disconnect or timeout) causes the affected player to irreversibly drop out of the current game (and cause a two-player match to end). There is currently no way to continue an interrupted match.<br />
 +
* The user's external IP address will not be autodetected until they connect to a WormNET server.<br />
 +
* WormNET / Direct IP games hosted from systems lacking a network interface with a global IPv4 address (or behind a network firewall) may not be joinable by other players.<br />
 +
* Network configurations with broken path MTU discovery or Deep Packet Inspection (e.g. due to an overly-aggressive firewall) may cause network packets of a certain size to be lost. As a result, attempting to add a team after joining a game can lock up the connection.<br />
 +
 
 +
===Usability issues===
 +
* In the end-of-round screen of an online game, the "Exit" button sometimes stays greyed out for an unreasonable or indefinite amount of time.<br />
 +
* A game hosted on WormNET will disappear from the list after a timeout, even if the game is still open for joining. A workaround for this is for the host to use the '''/open''' command (introduced in v3.7.2.1).<br />
 +
* There are some text strings (mainly those added since v3.0) that have not been translated and are shown only in English. Since v3.7.0.0, most of these have been translated; the ones that remain untranslated are mostly strings that are printed in the chat in an online game (and thus may have to be printed in multiple different languages simultaneously depending on the configured Language of each connected player).<br />
 +
* Certain Cyrillic characters are internally represented as their look-alike Latin characters. As a result, Cyrillic strings emitted in log files or copied into the clipboard may not coincide with the original strings. One effect of this is that it may not be possible to search generated log files using a Cyrillic search pattern; another is that online translation engines and other translation software may not work.<br />
 +
* It is too easy to accidentally kick another player in the host lobby.<br />
 +
 
 +
===Playability issues===
 +
* Weapons dropped by a roping worm will sometimes immediately hit or bounce against the roping worm. Examples:<br />
 +
** The Bazooka may hit the roping worm before it has any chance to retreat, instantly detonating even if there are no obstacles in the immediate vicinity.<br />
 +
** The Holy Hand Grenade may bounce against the roping worm and fall the wrong way.<br />
 +
** The Sheep Launcher may brush against the roping worm and drop straight down.<br />
 +
* It is too easy to accidentally Surrender.<br />
 +
* It is possible to fall onto a Crate in the middle of Rope Roll without collecting the crate. This is very rare. (This can also happen in a Mission/Training round, if a worm continues roping after losing enough health to die; that is a separate issue, and if anything needs to be fixed in ''that'' case it is the fact that a zombie worm can keep moving.)<br />
 +
* When computing the possibilities for firing a projectile, a CPU worm follows the paths with staggered pixels. However, a projectile's actual collision path sweeps a 7x5 rectangle, which may collide in a place the CPU worm didn't check. This can result in the CPU worm accidentally throwing a Grenade which bounces back onto itself, regardless of its CPU skill level.<br />
 +
* When the Pneumatic Drill is used on top of an Oil Drum, it does not cause an explosion. (It does, however, if a corner or side of the Oil Drum is hit.)<br />
 +
* The camera follows an opponent's active worm and cursor even if they are Invisible. This gives an advantage to players who are running W:A at a low resolution, since this narrows down the opponent's location.<br />
 +
* There are several performance issues with large maps, particularly during the spawning of randomly placed crates.<br />
 +
** In particular, with a large map, and both "Maximum crate count on map at once" and "RubberWorm crate rate" set to high values, there can be a long pause at the beginning of each turn while new crates are spawned, during which the viewport is not updated and the game does not respond to input.<br />
 +
***:A fix is planned which will result in an enormous speed-up for the calculations of spawning multiple crates in a single frame.<br />
 +
** A fix is eventually planned which will allow the game to redraw itself and respond to input during crate spawning calculations.<br />
 +
* In certain situations, it may be possible to have Double Time and Crate Shower crates in the weapon inventory, however these utilities will appear invisible due to not having weapon inventory icons.<br />
 +
* The weapon tips in the sprites of worms holding the Uzi, Handgun and Minigun weapons do not correspond with the actual coordinates from where the bullets emerge.<br />
 +
* In some cases, fall damage is incorrectly not being applied to falling worms.<br />
 +
* Impractically high values for Extended Game Options<br />
 +
** With Gravity set to a very low value or Wind set to a very high value, the persistent flamelets from a Petrol Bomb may stick to a wall without falling, causing a softlock (unending turn) while the game waits for the flamelets to fall.<br />
 +
** The largest allowed value for "Maximum crate count on map at once" is higher than what could be practically achieved, and exceeds the maximum number of sprites than can be rendered at once. With about 1000 or more crates on the map at once, some sprites may become temporarily invisible.<br />
 +
** A "RubberWorm bounciness" value of 1.00000 is allowed because RubberWorm supported it (achievable by directly editing a scheme file), but can easily result in a softlock due to a worm bouncing forever without the height/power of their bounce decaying. Values such as 0.99998 can result in bounces taking an impractically long time to decay.<br />
 +
 
 +
===Cosmetic issues===
 +
* PNG maps with more than 64 non-black colours create glitches in the soil texture when land is destroyed. (Note that the glitches can be avoided in 3.6.25.1+ by disabling Placement Holes, at the cost of losing soil textures and some or all background graphics.)<br />
 +
* Several sprites for in-game graphics contain various errors:<br />
 +
** In the sprite of a Worm holding a Freeze, the worm is incorrectly shown as standing on a downward slope if it is standing on an upward slope. A fix for this will be bundled with the next update of Gfx0.dir and Gfx1.dir (delayed because it is hard to get the palette just right).<br />
 +
** In the sprite of a Worm firing a Minigun at certain angles, some stray pixels are visible at a 90 degree angle from the direction of the aiming angle.<br />
 +
** In the sprite of a Worm aiming or swinging a Baseball Bat, the bat's tip appears cut off at certain angles.<br />
 +
** In the sprite of a Worm activating a Suicide Bomber, the worm is incorrectly shown as standing on flat terrain if it is standing on a slope.<br />
 +
* With ambient music enabled, sudden switches in the music track (for example, when Sudden Death initiates) can cause an ugly audio pop. It is unknown whether this happens on all systems.<br />
 +
* When viewing a map of nonstandard size (something other than 1920×696) in the Map Editor, the cavern borders are not rescaled or moved; they are shown as if the map is still 1920×696. Also, the water level will not be proportionally correct.<br />
 +
* The background debris in the front end moves at a speed dependent on your video refresh rate.<br />
 +
* The description for the eighth mission, "Big Shot", is wrong. The error is present in all translations.<br />
 +
* Long weapon names may not fit in the bottom text bar of the weapon selection panel (especially when the weapon has a delay and limited ammunition).<br />
 +
* Various kinds of dynamic in-game objects have fixed count limits. Reaching limits may cause e.g. multiple explosions to cause older flamelets to disappear, or dud mines to not emit visible smoke.<br />
 +
* Tweening inaccuracies<br />
 +
** Collisions/bounces of non-roping objects are not yet tweened. Any such object that experiences a collision/bounce will stop being tweened (i.e. appear to stop moving) until the next 1/50 second frame is reached.<br />
 +
** With Wind set to a very high value, flamelets may be visually shown to pass through thin walls, and suddenly backtrack to the original side of the wall when the next 1/50 second frame is reached.<br />
 +
 
 +
===Interoperability issues===
 +
* Windows versions starting with Windows XP disable certain keyboard shortcuts, such as Alt+Tab, the Windows logo key, and Menu key, when they detect that W:A is running (even when it is minimised). This was presumably done as a compatibility measure for early W:A versions, which did not support minimisation — pressing such keys would cause W:A to crash. Even though those problems were fixed in W:A updates, the compatibility entry remains in Windows' compatibility database. One way to work around the problem is to delete Landgen.exe, or rename WA.exe to something else, which avoids Windows' detection of W:A.<br />
 +
* Certain versions of Media Player Classic and VMware may crash when W:A is started, due to the switch to 640×480 resolution.<br />
 +
* In the Steam edition of the game, it may not be possible to open a replay if its filename contains international characters. To work around this problem, rename the file and remove international characters from its filename.<br />
 +
* Temporary files use fixed locations, which may cause conflicts for multiple instances of the game. For example, opening two replay files, then rewinding the first one would cause the second one's map to be used, which will result in playback desynchronisation.<br />
 +
* When certain compatibility flags are enabled in the WA.exe file's properties, it may not be possible to select high resolutions on the options screen. Clear any unnecessary compatibility options to resolve this problem.<br />
 +
* Norton Personal Firewall, and possibly other personal firewalls, do not gracefully detect the replacement of "WA.exe" with a new version.<br />
 +
** Symptom: You can no longer connect to WormNET.<br />
 +
** Workaround: Each time after you install a new W:A update you need to delete the entry for "WA.exe" from your firewall so it can create a new, working entry.<br />
 +
** Plan: In a future version this will be addressed by "faking" accesses to the needed ports before going full-screen, so that the user has a chance to respond to firewall windows that may pop up.<br />
 +
* PeerGuardian may prevent W:A from successfully connecting to a WormNET server.<br />
 +
* On systems which use the Mesa 3D OpenGL renderer, Worms Armageddon will crash on start-up if the OpenGL renderer is selected. The root cause seems to be a bug in Mesa or a dependency. The problem can be worked around by selecting a different renderer, building Wine with the commit 0cb79db12ac7c48477518dcff269ccc5d6b745e0 reverted, or using a Wine version which does not include that commit (4.5 or older).<br />
 +
 
 +
===Replay/logging issues===
 +
* In recorded replay files of online games, only the passage of game time separates lines of chat. Chat that took place during network lag or game loading will be displayed all at once during playback.<br />
 +
 
 +
===Further Troubleshooting===
 +
Additional troubleshooting resources can be found at <span style="color:#0000ff"><u>[https://worms2d.info/Troubleshooting https://worms2d.info/Troubleshooting]</u></span>.
 +
 
 +
{{Anchor|section-5-0}}
 +
 
 +
==Footnotes==
 +
 
 +
{|
 +
|'''1.'''
 +
|If a Worm dismounts a horizontally-stationary Ninja Rope in direct contact with the ground, it will land instantly, thus ready to do other things without delay. It is not always possible to extend a rope to the length necessary for this to happen — since it extends and retracts 4 pixels at a time, it may stop with 1-3 pixels of room remaining between Worm and ground. Also, even if a rope appears to be horizontally stationary, it may have a microscopic amount of momentum. Following are ways to recreate the circumstances required for an instant rope dismount:
 
|-
 
|-
| Lead Code
+
|}
| Karl Morton
+
* ''(All versions of W:A)'' Worm is standing in a confined space (e.g. at the bottom of a tunnel 9 pixels wide and at least 8 pixels high), and shoots the Ninja Rope straight upward. It may then retract and extend the rope and/or fire a weapon, as long as it does not nudge the rope left or right. Then, when that rope is extended to maximum length (either by not moving at all, or by re-extending the rope as far as it will go) the Worm is in direct contact with the ground.<br />
|-
+
* ''(v3.6.23.0 and later)'' Same as above, but Worm is not required to fire the rope from a confined space. It may do so from any standing position.<br />
| Lead Art
+
* ''(v3.6.23.0 and later)'' Worm is in mid-air, with no horizontal velocity, and shoots the Ninja Rope straight upward. There is a 25% chance that the rope's length modulo 4 will match what its length modulo 4 would be if the Worm were in direct contact with the ground, and when this is the case, the rope can be extended to put the Worm in direct contact with the ground.<br />
| Dan Cartwright
+
* ''(All versions of W:A)'' Same as above, but Worm must be in a 9-pixel-wide tunnel at the time the rope connects.<br />
|-
+
{|
| Original Concept
+
|'''2.'''
| Andy Davidson
+
|This bug is emulated for compatibility with older versions of W:A. An emulated crash ends the game in a draw for those using a newer version. The older versions will still crash.
|-
+
| Lead Support Code
+
| Colin Surridge
+
|-
+
| Support Code
+
| Rob Hill, Martin Randall
+
|-
+
| Network Code
+
| Phil Carlisle
+
|-
+
| Producer
+
| Martyn Brown
+
|-
+
| Scenario Art
+
| Tony Senghore, Rico Holmes, "Jan The Man"
+
|-
+
| Sound and Music
+
| Bjorn Lynne
+
|-
+
| Additional Audio
+
| Matinee Studios, Martyn Brown, Richie Palmer, Cris Blyth (inc vocals on WormSong98), Rico Holmes, Fraser Stewart, Mike Green
+
|-  
+
| Additional Art
+
| Paul Robinson, Cris Blyth, Rory McLeish
+
|-
+
| Assistant Producer
+
| Craig Jones
+
|-
+
| Mission Design
+
| Porl Dunstan, John Eggett, Martyn Brown
+
|-
+
| Lead QA
+
| Kelvin Aston, Mark Baldwin
+
|-
+
| QA
+
| John Eggett, Grant Towell, Andy Aveyard, Kevin Carthew, Paul Webb, Brian Fitzpatrick
+
|-
+
| QA Manager
+
| Paul Field
+
|-
+
| Localisation
+
| Paul Sharp
+
|-
+
! colspan="2" | Beta Coding/Design:
+
|-
+
| Versions 3.5 to {{LatestBeta}} and later
+
| David Ellsworth — "Deadcode"
+
|-
+
| Versions 3.6.27.1 to {{LatestBeta}} and later
+
| Vladimir Panteleev — "CyberShadow"
+
|-  
+
! colspan="2" | Beta Localization:
+
|-  
+
| French
+
| "Jabba"
+
|-  
+
| German
+
| "bonz"
+
|-
+
| Dutch
+
| "Koen"
+
 
|-
 
|-
| Spanish
+
|'''3.'''
| "OutofOrder"
+
|The '''wa://''' protocol can be used to join or host games with advanced parameters. The format is '''wa://'''''address'''''?'''''param1'''''='''''value1'''''&amp;'''...'''&amp;'''''paramN'''''='''''valueN''. Specifying a blank address will cause the game to host a game with the specified parameters. The following parameters are supported:
 
|-
 
|-
| Russian
 
| "Mr.X"
 
 
|}
 
|}
 +
* '''pass''' or '''password''' – specifies the game's password.<br />
 +
* '''id''' or '''gameid''' – specifies the game's ID, as used on WormNET.<br />
 +
* '''scheme''' – specifies the channel scheme to be used. This setting should be identical on all ends. Since this information isn't transmitted via the game peer-to-peer connection, non-matching values can cause a desynchronisation. For more information on the channel scheme format, see <span style="color:#0000ff"><u>[https://worms2d.info/WormNET_(Worms_Armageddon)#Channels https://worms2d.info/WormNET_(Worms_Armageddon)#Channels]</u></span><br />Using the scheme parameter, it's possible to create direct IP games with rope knocking enabled. To do this, the host must run '''WA.exe wa://?scheme=Pf''' , and other players must run '''WA.exe wa://'''''address'''''?scheme=Pf''' .<br />If the game is hosted on a TCP port other than the default one (17011), the port can be specified with the syntax: '''wa://'''''address''''':'''''port'''''?'''''parameters'''''...'''<br />
 +
{|
 +
|4.
 +
|The following registry tweaks allow setting certain game options, most of which can also be set using the '''Advanced Options''' screen. These files are located in the '''Tweaks''' folder, and are activated by double-clicking them (the game should not be running).
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
* '''BackgroundGradientParallax_Disable.reg''', '''BackgroundGradientParallax_Enable.reg''' - enable or disable the dithered gradient parallax effect introduced in the same version. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.6.30.0)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''FrontendUseDesktopWindow_Enable.reg''', '''FrontendUseDesktopWindow_Disable.reg''' - Enables a workaround to allow the front end to render correctly under Wine. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.6.30.0)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''ForceWineVirtualDesktop_On.reg''', '''ForceWineVirtualDesktop_Off.reg''' - Causes W:A to automatically restart itself under a Wine virtual desktop. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.6.30.0)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''HardwareRendering_Disable.reg''', '''HardwareRendering_Enable.reg''' - Disables or enables hardware rendering. Used when a supported rendering API is selected. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.8)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''LargerFonts_On.reg''', '''LargerFonts_Off.reg''' - Use a larger font in some places in-game and in the front end. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.6.28.0)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''LegacyUtilityKey_On.reg''', '''LegacyUtilityKey_Off.reg''' - Use the key used for typing the '''`''' character for the current input language to select utilities, instead of using the key under '''Escape''' (for non-US keyboard layouts). <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.6.28.0)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''LoadWormKitModules_Enabled.reg''', '''LoadWormKitModules_Disabled.reg''' - Load WormKit modules (DLL files starting with "wk") on start-up. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.7.0.0)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''MapAreaWarnLimit_Always.reg''', '''MapAreaWarnLimit_Default.reg''', '''MapAreaWarnLimit_Unlimited.reg''' - Sets the threshold for which to display the map loading prompt, to prevent a Denial of Service attack by loading a very large map. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.6.28.0)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''SkipIntro_On.reg''', '''SkipIntro_Off.reg''' - Skips the intro and logos shown upon W:A start-up; identical to the /nointro command line option. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.6.30.0)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''OfflineRopeKnocking_On.reg''', '''OfflineRopeKnocking_Off.reg''' - Enables "rope knocking" in Offline Multi-Player and Quick CPU games. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.6.24.2)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''Phone_Disable.reg''', '''Phone_Enable.reg''' - Disables or enables the in-game telephone icon (used for notification of new chat messages). <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.6.26.4)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''RegisterAssociations_Automatically.reg''', '''RegisterAssociations_Manually.reg''' - Enables associating W:A with replays and wa:// on W:A start-up. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.6.30.0)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''SlowFrontendWorkaround_Alternative.reg''', '''SlowFrontendWorkaround_Off.reg''' - Enables a compatibility tweak for certain new video cards, which may resolve low responsiveness and refresh rates in the front end. Even if there is no frame rate problem, it can reduce the black-out period when switching between front end screens. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.6.26.5, v3.6.28.0)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''SmoothBackgroundGradient_Disable.reg''', '''SmoothBackgroundGradient_Enable.reg''' - Disables or re-enables the dithered background gradient in all in-game detail levels. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.6.30.0)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''StereoEffects_Disabled.reg''', '''StereoEffects_Normal.reg''', '''StereoEffects_Reversed.reg''' - Disable, enable (default) and reverse the stereo sound effects. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.6.29.0)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''TimerWorkaround_On.reg''', '''TimerWorkaround_Off.reg''' - Prevents W:A from using the system's high-resolution timer. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.6.20.1)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''UseCommunityServerList_Enabled.reg''', '''UseCommunityServerList_Disabled.reg''' - Load '''CommunityServerList.htm''' (instead of '''ServerList.htm'''), which redirects to a third-party server list linking to community WormNET servers. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.7.0.0)</span></span><br />
 +
* '''UseVRAM_Disable.reg''', '''UseVRAM_Enable.reg''' - Disables or enables usage of hardware graphics memory. Used when hardware rendering is active. <span style="font-size:7pt"><span style="color:#808080">(introduced in v3.8)</span></span><br />
 +
{|
 +
|'''5.'''
 +
|WA.exe exports a function '''SetHostingProxyAddressAndPort''', which can be used by a DLL that hooks into W:A to tell it the current hosting proxy address and external port, allowing the '''/url''' command to work properly. This is currently used by the WormKit module '''wkWormNAT2'''.
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
Function prototype:
 +
 +
void __stdcall SetHostingProxyAddressAndPort(const char *hostingProxyAddressAndPort);
 +
 +
Example calls:
 +
 +
* SetHostingProxyAddressAndPort("proxy.worms2d.info:54321"); // proxy address is "proxy.worms2d.info" and external port is 54321 <br />
 +
* SetHostingProxyAddressAndPort(NULL); // reset back to "no hosting proxy", the default state <br />
 +
* SetHostingProxyAddressAndPort(""); // reset back to "no hosting proxy", the default state (alternative method) <br />
 +
{|
 +
|6.
 +
|When the '''Phased Allies''' and/or '''Phased Enemies''' setting is set to '''Worms+Weapons+Damage''' (or the '''BoomRacing''' test version is used), this creates a condition in which worms do not influence friendly and/or enemy worms at all, respectively, with the following exceptions:
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
* The landscape is shared, so terrain creation (girders, arrows) and destruction (explosions, Fire Punch, Kamikaze, Blow Torch, Pneumatic Drill, Mole Bomb, Mole Squadron, Napalm Strike, Flame Thrower) influence all worms. Worms standing on terrain may fall if that terrain is destroyed or pierced by an arrow; the creation of terrain puts an obstacle in the path of all worms, and its destruction removes an obstacle.<br />
 +
* Rising water drowns all worms, regardless of who or what caused it to rise.<br />
 +
* Destroying an Oil Drum will remove it as an obstacle, meaning worms that were standing on it will fall.<br />
 +
* An Earthquake triggered by any team will move all Oil Drums, thus influencing shared objects that can affect any team.<br />
 +
* Collecting or destroying a Crate will prevent any other team from collecting it.<br />
 +
* If a Mine placed on start-up is triggered by proximity, the influence of its damage will be restricted by the Phased Allies/Enemies setting. However, its disappearance will mean that it can no longer serve as an obstacle for any worms.<br />
 +
* A Mine placed on start-up can be pushed by explosions, gun fire, Earthquakes, and other means without triggering it by proximity, thus influencing a shared object that can affect any team.<br />
 +
* Anything that creates flames (Napalm Strike, Petrol Bomb, Oil Drum explosion) may erase pre-existing flames if the maximum number of flamelets is reached, regardless of which team created the flames.<br />
 +
* Worms will visually hide the terrain covered by their sprites.<br />
 +
* These shortcomings may be addressed in a future update.<br />
 +
{|
 +
|7.
 +
|When describing game engine fixes and changes which apply to occurrences that were previously only possible by enabling options in RubberWorm, the new v3.8 extended scheme option names are used. Here they are alongside their RubberWorm names:
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
* "Weapon use doesn't end turn" was called "Shot Doesn't End Turn" (SDET) in RubberWorm.<br />
 +
* "Loss of control doesn't end turn" was called LDET in RubberWorm.<br />
 +
* "Worm Selection is never cancelled" was called "Select Worm Any Time" (SWAT) in RubberWorm.<br />
 +
{{Anchor|section-6-0}}
 +
 +
==Credits==
 +
 +
{|
 +
|Lead Code
 +
|Karl Morton
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Lead Art
 +
|Dan Cartwright
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Original Concept
 +
|Andy Davidson
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Lead Support Code
 +
|Colin Surridge
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Support Code
 +
|Rob Hill, Martin Randall
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Network Code
 +
|Phil Carlisle
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Producer
 +
|Martyn Brown
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Scenario Art
 +
|Tony Senghore, Rico Holmes, “Jan The Man”
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Sound and Music
 +
|Bjørn Lynne
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Additional Audio
 +
|Matinee Studios, Martyn Brown, Richie Palmer,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Cris Blyth (inc vocals on WormSong98),
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Rico Holmes, Fraser Stewart, Mike Green
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Additional Art
 +
|Paul Robinson, Cris Blyth, Rory McLeish
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Assistant Producer
 +
|Craig Jones
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Mission Design
 +
|Porl Dunstan, John Eggett, Martyn Brown
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Lead QA
 +
|Kelvin Aston, Mark Baldwin
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|QA
 +
|John Eggett, Grant Towell, Andy Aveyard,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Kevin Carthew, Paul Webb, Brian Fitzpatrick
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|QA Manager
 +
|Paul Field
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Localisation
 +
|Paul Sharp
 +
|-
 +
|-
 +
|'''Update Coding/Design:'''
 +
|-
 +
|Versions 3.5 to 3.8 and later
 +
|David Ellsworth — “Deadcode”
 +
|-
 +
|Versions 3.6.27.1 to 3.8 and later
 +
|Vladimir Panteleev — “CyberShadow”
 +
|-
 +
|Version 3.6.31.2b
 +
|Charles Blessing (Team17 Senior Programmer)
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|'''Update Localisation:'''
 +
|-
 +
|French
 +
|“Jabba”, “LTK”
 +
|-
 +
|German
 +
|“bonz”, “schaf”
 +
|-
 +
|Dutch
 +
|“Koen”
 +
|-
 +
|Spanish
 +
|“OutofOrder”
 +
|-
 +
|Russian
 +
|“Mr.X”, “CyberShadow”, “Shtirlitz”, “StepS”
 +
|-
 +
|Swedish
 +
|Olle Settergren
 +
|-
 +
|Finnish
 +
|Juho Toivanen
 +
|-
 +
|Portuguese
 +
|Wallison “Kaleu” Camargo
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
<span style="font-size:5pt"></span>
 +
{|
 +
|Update Testing and Research:
 +
|Adame “LTK” BF,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Alborz “MonkeyIsland” Shams,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Alex “Lex” Folland,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Balázs “Balee” Laky,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Ben Paddon,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Chris “Plutonic” Wallace,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Cody “Mablak” Myers,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Edward “Maz” Webb,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Esme Povirk,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Gregor “KRD” Koželj,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|John “Cueshark” Evans,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Juho Toivanen,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Kaddour “bonz” Bounab,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Kevin “goom” Yaccino,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Kieran “Melon” Millar,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Liam Dobson,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Marc “DarkOne” Vrooland,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Mark “GreeN” Dawson,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Martin “Wyv” Denk,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Murray “Muzer” Colpman,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Nick “NickyNick” Tymchenko,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|“OutofOrder”,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Paul “Bloopy” Harvey,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Paulo “Twyrfher” Miranda,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|“schaf”,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Simon Arlott,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Stepan “StepS” Obraztsov,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Stéphan Kochen,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Trey Brisbane,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|Veronika Ajtai,
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
|and others
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
 +
'''Licence for "Flexible and Economical UTF-8 Decoder":'''
 +
 +
<span style="font-size:8pt">Copyright (c) 2008-2009 Bjoern Hoehrmann &lt;bjoern@hoehrmann.de&gt;
  
== Bug Reporting To Team17 ==
+
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
  
This software update is in a continued state of internal development and testing. The update has been primarily released for external consumption in order to capture a greater range of system setups for compatibility purposes.
+
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
  
In the interests of efficiency we have provided a bug reporting service that is available through the Team17 Forum. If you wish to provide feedback, registering on the forum is free, quick and easy to perform. It is recommended and we would most appreciate that you browse through forum posts prior to submitting any feedback information. This will hopefully restrict the level of duplicate reports that are received.
+
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
  
If, for any reason, you encounter any problems whatsoever running the game, please contact us and provide the following information via the [http://forum.team17.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=68 Team17 Forum].
+
</span>
 +
{{Anchor|section-7-0}}
  
'''External Beta Submission Form'''
+
==Bug Reporting==
  
:W:A Beta Version:
+
Feedback for future Worms Armageddon updates may be provided via the channels listed on:
:Operating System:
+
:CPU:
+
:Motherboard:
+
:System Memory:
+
:Video Card / Driver Revision:
+
:Sound Card / Driver Revision:
+
:DirectX Revision:
+
:Nature of the problem:
+
:Steps to recreate:
+
  
If your problem is related to a crash (W:A fails to start or closes unexpectedly, followed by the message "Worms Armageddon has encountered an error. Detailed information about the error can be found in the ERRORLOG.TXT file"), attach the file ERRORLOG.TXT (located in the folder where you installed W:A) to your post.
+
<span style="color:#0000ff">'''<u>[https://worms2d.info/Feedback https://worms2d.info/Feedback]</u>'''</span>

Revision as of 21:37, 25 August 2020

In other languages: English (en) • français (fr) • español (es) • русский (ru) • português (pt) • +/-

This is a web version of the Worms Armageddon Update Documentation. The original RTF is included with the updates, and can be found in your W:A folder.

Contents

Introduction

Since its initial release in 1999, Worms Armageddon has undergone continual evolution, with two programmers, Deadcode and CyberShadow, continuing to add new features and implement community-requested improvements to the game. This document lists the changes which have been introduced in each version and provides a list of known issues and bugs in the current software.

Supplementary Documentation

Version History

v3.5 Beta 1 Update (2002-08-09)

v3.5 Beta 2 Update (2002-08-15)

v3.6.19.7 Beta Update (2004-02-09)

v3.6.19.11 Beta Update (2004-02-10)

v3.6.19.12 Beta Update (2004-02-11)

v3.6.19.14 Beta Update (2004-02-12)

v3.6.19.15 Beta Update (2004-02-20)

v3.6.19.17 Beta Update (2004-03-11)

v3.6.19.17a Beta Update (2004-03-12)

v3.6.19.18 Beta Update (2004-03-19)

v3.6.19.19 Beta Update (2004-03-21)

v3.6.20.1 Beta Update (2004-07-13)

v3.6.20.2 Beta Update (2004-08-03)

v3.6.20.3 Beta Update (2004-08-06)

v3.6.21.1 Beta Update (2004-09-23)

v3.6.21.2 Beta Update (2004-09-27)

v3.6.21.3 Beta Update (2004-09-28)

v3.6.22.1 Beta Update (2004-10-06)

v3.6.23.0 Beta Update (2005-03-23)

v3.6.23.1 Beta Update (2005-03-23)

v3.6.23.2 Beta Update (2005-03-24)

v3.6.24.1 Beta Update (2005-03-29)

v3.6.24.2 Beta Update (2005-03-31)

v3.6.25.1a Beta Update (2005-04-26)

v3.6.26.4 Beta Update (2005-11-22)

v3.6.26.5 Beta Update (2006-01-05)

v3.6.28.0 Beta Update (2007-06-29)

v3.6.29.0 Beta Update (2008-07-28)

v3.6.30.0 Beta Update (2010-10-26)

v3.6.31.0 Beta Update (2010-11-16)

v3.6.31.2b Alpha Update (2012-09-12) - first Steam release

v3.7.0.0 Update (2012-12-20)

v3.7.2.1 Update (2013-03-15)

v3.8 Update (2020-07-13)

Known Issues/Bugs

Crashes / Fatal errors

  • One possible cause of crashes, sometimes before W:A even has a chance to start up, can be nonstandard, erroneous, or missing files in the directory structure of the W:A CD-ROM or installed "Worms Armageddon" folder, often due to a pirated copy of W:A.

Privacy

  • Whispers are not sent securely, and can be spied upon using a network packet logger. This applies both to the host/join screen and the in-game chat.

Network Connectivity

  • In an online game, the delay between turns (a minimum of 2 seconds) is perhaps sometimes longer than necessary.
  • When a v3.6.24.1 user is present in an online game along with v3.6.23 or v3.6.24.2+ users, a desync may happen during long turns of the v3.6.23 / 3.6.24.2+ users.
  • In v3.6.30.0 and later, if a client is in an online game with at least one other connected client, and the host stops responding (without detectably dropping the connection) during a remote client's turn, then the game will not automatically time out the connection.
  • A temporary network problem (manifesting as a TCP disconnect or timeout) causes the affected player to irreversibly drop out of the current game (and cause a two-player match to end). There is currently no way to continue an interrupted match.
  • The user's external IP address will not be autodetected until they connect to a WormNET server.
  • WormNET / Direct IP games hosted from systems lacking a network interface with a global IPv4 address (or behind a network firewall) may not be joinable by other players.
  • Network configurations with broken path MTU discovery or Deep Packet Inspection (e.g. due to an overly-aggressive firewall) may cause network packets of a certain size to be lost. As a result, attempting to add a team after joining a game can lock up the connection.

Usability issues

  • In the end-of-round screen of an online game, the "Exit" button sometimes stays greyed out for an unreasonable or indefinite amount of time.
  • A game hosted on WormNET will disappear from the list after a timeout, even if the game is still open for joining. A workaround for this is for the host to use the /open command (introduced in v3.7.2.1).
  • There are some text strings (mainly those added since v3.0) that have not been translated and are shown only in English. Since v3.7.0.0, most of these have been translated; the ones that remain untranslated are mostly strings that are printed in the chat in an online game (and thus may have to be printed in multiple different languages simultaneously depending on the configured Language of each connected player).
  • Certain Cyrillic characters are internally represented as their look-alike Latin characters. As a result, Cyrillic strings emitted in log files or copied into the clipboard may not coincide with the original strings. One effect of this is that it may not be possible to search generated log files using a Cyrillic search pattern; another is that online translation engines and other translation software may not work.
  • It is too easy to accidentally kick another player in the host lobby.

Playability issues

  • Weapons dropped by a roping worm will sometimes immediately hit or bounce against the roping worm. Examples:
    • The Bazooka may hit the roping worm before it has any chance to retreat, instantly detonating even if there are no obstacles in the immediate vicinity.
    • The Holy Hand Grenade may bounce against the roping worm and fall the wrong way.
    • The Sheep Launcher may brush against the roping worm and drop straight down.
  • It is too easy to accidentally Surrender.
  • It is possible to fall onto a Crate in the middle of Rope Roll without collecting the crate. This is very rare. (This can also happen in a Mission/Training round, if a worm continues roping after losing enough health to die; that is a separate issue, and if anything needs to be fixed in that case it is the fact that a zombie worm can keep moving.)
  • When computing the possibilities for firing a projectile, a CPU worm follows the paths with staggered pixels. However, a projectile's actual collision path sweeps a 7x5 rectangle, which may collide in a place the CPU worm didn't check. This can result in the CPU worm accidentally throwing a Grenade which bounces back onto itself, regardless of its CPU skill level.
  • When the Pneumatic Drill is used on top of an Oil Drum, it does not cause an explosion. (It does, however, if a corner or side of the Oil Drum is hit.)
  • The camera follows an opponent's active worm and cursor even if they are Invisible. This gives an advantage to players who are running W:A at a low resolution, since this narrows down the opponent's location.
  • There are several performance issues with large maps, particularly during the spawning of randomly placed crates.
    • In particular, with a large map, and both "Maximum crate count on map at once" and "RubberWorm crate rate" set to high values, there can be a long pause at the beginning of each turn while new crates are spawned, during which the viewport is not updated and the game does not respond to input.
      • A fix is planned which will result in an enormous speed-up for the calculations of spawning multiple crates in a single frame.
    • A fix is eventually planned which will allow the game to redraw itself and respond to input during crate spawning calculations.
  • In certain situations, it may be possible to have Double Time and Crate Shower crates in the weapon inventory, however these utilities will appear invisible due to not having weapon inventory icons.
  • The weapon tips in the sprites of worms holding the Uzi, Handgun and Minigun weapons do not correspond with the actual coordinates from where the bullets emerge.
  • In some cases, fall damage is incorrectly not being applied to falling worms.
  • Impractically high values for Extended Game Options
    • With Gravity set to a very low value or Wind set to a very high value, the persistent flamelets from a Petrol Bomb may stick to a wall without falling, causing a softlock (unending turn) while the game waits for the flamelets to fall.
    • The largest allowed value for "Maximum crate count on map at once" is higher than what could be practically achieved, and exceeds the maximum number of sprites than can be rendered at once. With about 1000 or more crates on the map at once, some sprites may become temporarily invisible.
    • A "RubberWorm bounciness" value of 1.00000 is allowed because RubberWorm supported it (achievable by directly editing a scheme file), but can easily result in a softlock due to a worm bouncing forever without the height/power of their bounce decaying. Values such as 0.99998 can result in bounces taking an impractically long time to decay.

Cosmetic issues

  • PNG maps with more than 64 non-black colours create glitches in the soil texture when land is destroyed. (Note that the glitches can be avoided in 3.6.25.1+ by disabling Placement Holes, at the cost of losing soil textures and some or all background graphics.)
  • Several sprites for in-game graphics contain various errors:
    • In the sprite of a Worm holding a Freeze, the worm is incorrectly shown as standing on a downward slope if it is standing on an upward slope. A fix for this will be bundled with the next update of Gfx0.dir and Gfx1.dir (delayed because it is hard to get the palette just right).
    • In the sprite of a Worm firing a Minigun at certain angles, some stray pixels are visible at a 90 degree angle from the direction of the aiming angle.
    • In the sprite of a Worm aiming or swinging a Baseball Bat, the bat's tip appears cut off at certain angles.
    • In the sprite of a Worm activating a Suicide Bomber, the worm is incorrectly shown as standing on flat terrain if it is standing on a slope.
  • With ambient music enabled, sudden switches in the music track (for example, when Sudden Death initiates) can cause an ugly audio pop. It is unknown whether this happens on all systems.
  • When viewing a map of nonstandard size (something other than 1920×696) in the Map Editor, the cavern borders are not rescaled or moved; they are shown as if the map is still 1920×696. Also, the water level will not be proportionally correct.
  • The background debris in the front end moves at a speed dependent on your video refresh rate.
  • The description for the eighth mission, "Big Shot", is wrong. The error is present in all translations.
  • Long weapon names may not fit in the bottom text bar of the weapon selection panel (especially when the weapon has a delay and limited ammunition).
  • Various kinds of dynamic in-game objects have fixed count limits. Reaching limits may cause e.g. multiple explosions to cause older flamelets to disappear, or dud mines to not emit visible smoke.
  • Tweening inaccuracies
    • Collisions/bounces of non-roping objects are not yet tweened. Any such object that experiences a collision/bounce will stop being tweened (i.e. appear to stop moving) until the next 1/50 second frame is reached.
    • With Wind set to a very high value, flamelets may be visually shown to pass through thin walls, and suddenly backtrack to the original side of the wall when the next 1/50 second frame is reached.

Interoperability issues

  • Windows versions starting with Windows XP disable certain keyboard shortcuts, such as Alt+Tab, the Windows logo key, and Menu key, when they detect that W:A is running (even when it is minimised). This was presumably done as a compatibility measure for early W:A versions, which did not support minimisation — pressing such keys would cause W:A to crash. Even though those problems were fixed in W:A updates, the compatibility entry remains in Windows' compatibility database. One way to work around the problem is to delete Landgen.exe, or rename WA.exe to something else, which avoids Windows' detection of W:A.
  • Certain versions of Media Player Classic and VMware may crash when W:A is started, due to the switch to 640×480 resolution.
  • In the Steam edition of the game, it may not be possible to open a replay if its filename contains international characters. To work around this problem, rename the file and remove international characters from its filename.
  • Temporary files use fixed locations, which may cause conflicts for multiple instances of the game. For example, opening two replay files, then rewinding the first one would cause the second one's map to be used, which will result in playback desynchronisation.
  • When certain compatibility flags are enabled in the WA.exe file's properties, it may not be possible to select high resolutions on the options screen. Clear any unnecessary compatibility options to resolve this problem.
  • Norton Personal Firewall, and possibly other personal firewalls, do not gracefully detect the replacement of "WA.exe" with a new version.
    • Symptom: You can no longer connect to WormNET.
    • Workaround: Each time after you install a new W:A update you need to delete the entry for "WA.exe" from your firewall so it can create a new, working entry.
    • Plan: In a future version this will be addressed by "faking" accesses to the needed ports before going full-screen, so that the user has a chance to respond to firewall windows that may pop up.
  • PeerGuardian may prevent W:A from successfully connecting to a WormNET server.
  • On systems which use the Mesa 3D OpenGL renderer, Worms Armageddon will crash on start-up if the OpenGL renderer is selected. The root cause seems to be a bug in Mesa or a dependency. The problem can be worked around by selecting a different renderer, building Wine with the commit 0cb79db12ac7c48477518dcff269ccc5d6b745e0 reverted, or using a Wine version which does not include that commit (4.5 or older).

Replay/logging issues

  • In recorded replay files of online games, only the passage of game time separates lines of chat. Chat that took place during network lag or game loading will be displayed all at once during playback.

Further Troubleshooting

Additional troubleshooting resources can be found at https://worms2d.info/Troubleshooting.

Footnotes

1. If a Worm dismounts a horizontally-stationary Ninja Rope in direct contact with the ground, it will land instantly, thus ready to do other things without delay. It is not always possible to extend a rope to the length necessary for this to happen — since it extends and retracts 4 pixels at a time, it may stop with 1-3 pixels of room remaining between Worm and ground. Also, even if a rope appears to be horizontally stationary, it may have a microscopic amount of momentum. Following are ways to recreate the circumstances required for an instant rope dismount:
  • (All versions of W:A) Worm is standing in a confined space (e.g. at the bottom of a tunnel 9 pixels wide and at least 8 pixels high), and shoots the Ninja Rope straight upward. It may then retract and extend the rope and/or fire a weapon, as long as it does not nudge the rope left or right. Then, when that rope is extended to maximum length (either by not moving at all, or by re-extending the rope as far as it will go) the Worm is in direct contact with the ground.
  • (v3.6.23.0 and later) Same as above, but Worm is not required to fire the rope from a confined space. It may do so from any standing position.
  • (v3.6.23.0 and later) Worm is in mid-air, with no horizontal velocity, and shoots the Ninja Rope straight upward. There is a 25% chance that the rope's length modulo 4 will match what its length modulo 4 would be if the Worm were in direct contact with the ground, and when this is the case, the rope can be extended to put the Worm in direct contact with the ground.
  • (All versions of W:A) Same as above, but Worm must be in a 9-pixel-wide tunnel at the time the rope connects.
2. This bug is emulated for compatibility with older versions of W:A. An emulated crash ends the game in a draw for those using a newer version. The older versions will still crash.
3. The wa:// protocol can be used to join or host games with advanced parameters. The format is wa://address?param1=value1&...&paramN=valueN. Specifying a blank address will cause the game to host a game with the specified parameters. The following parameters are supported:
  • pass or password – specifies the game's password.
  • id or gameid – specifies the game's ID, as used on WormNET.
  • scheme – specifies the channel scheme to be used. This setting should be identical on all ends. Since this information isn't transmitted via the game peer-to-peer connection, non-matching values can cause a desynchronisation. For more information on the channel scheme format, see https://worms2d.info/WormNET_(Worms_Armageddon)#Channels
    Using the scheme parameter, it's possible to create direct IP games with rope knocking enabled. To do this, the host must run WA.exe wa://?scheme=Pf , and other players must run WA.exe wa://address?scheme=Pf .
    If the game is hosted on a TCP port other than the default one (17011), the port can be specified with the syntax: wa://address:port?parameters...
4. The following registry tweaks allow setting certain game options, most of which can also be set using the Advanced Options screen. These files are located in the Tweaks folder, and are activated by double-clicking them (the game should not be running).
  • BackgroundGradientParallax_Disable.reg, BackgroundGradientParallax_Enable.reg - enable or disable the dithered gradient parallax effect introduced in the same version. (introduced in v3.6.30.0)
  • FrontendUseDesktopWindow_Enable.reg, FrontendUseDesktopWindow_Disable.reg - Enables a workaround to allow the front end to render correctly under Wine. (introduced in v3.6.30.0)
  • ForceWineVirtualDesktop_On.reg, ForceWineVirtualDesktop_Off.reg - Causes W:A to automatically restart itself under a Wine virtual desktop. (introduced in v3.6.30.0)
  • HardwareRendering_Disable.reg, HardwareRendering_Enable.reg - Disables or enables hardware rendering. Used when a supported rendering API is selected. (introduced in v3.8)
  • LargerFonts_On.reg, LargerFonts_Off.reg - Use a larger font in some places in-game and in the front end. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
  • LegacyUtilityKey_On.reg, LegacyUtilityKey_Off.reg - Use the key used for typing the ` character for the current input language to select utilities, instead of using the key under Escape (for non-US keyboard layouts). (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
  • LoadWormKitModules_Enabled.reg, LoadWormKitModules_Disabled.reg - Load WormKit modules (DLL files starting with "wk") on start-up. (introduced in v3.7.0.0)
  • MapAreaWarnLimit_Always.reg, MapAreaWarnLimit_Default.reg, MapAreaWarnLimit_Unlimited.reg - Sets the threshold for which to display the map loading prompt, to prevent a Denial of Service attack by loading a very large map. (introduced in v3.6.28.0)
  • SkipIntro_On.reg, SkipIntro_Off.reg - Skips the intro and logos shown upon W:A start-up; identical to the /nointro command line option. (introduced in v3.6.30.0)
  • OfflineRopeKnocking_On.reg, OfflineRopeKnocking_Off.reg - Enables "rope knocking" in Offline Multi-Player and Quick CPU games. (introduced in v3.6.24.2)
  • Phone_Disable.reg, Phone_Enable.reg - Disables or enables the in-game telephone icon (used for notification of new chat messages). (introduced in v3.6.26.4)
  • RegisterAssociations_Automatically.reg, RegisterAssociations_Manually.reg - Enables associating W:A with replays and wa:// on W:A start-up. (introduced in v3.6.30.0)
  • SlowFrontendWorkaround_Alternative.reg, SlowFrontendWorkaround_Off.reg - Enables a compatibility tweak for certain new video cards, which may resolve low responsiveness and refresh rates in the front end. Even if there is no frame rate problem, it can reduce the black-out period when switching between front end screens. (introduced in v3.6.26.5, v3.6.28.0)
  • SmoothBackgroundGradient_Disable.reg, SmoothBackgroundGradient_Enable.reg - Disables or re-enables the dithered background gradient in all in-game detail levels. (introduced in v3.6.30.0)
  • StereoEffects_Disabled.reg, StereoEffects_Normal.reg, StereoEffects_Reversed.reg - Disable, enable (default) and reverse the stereo sound effects. (introduced in v3.6.29.0)
  • TimerWorkaround_On.reg, TimerWorkaround_Off.reg - Prevents W:A from using the system's high-resolution timer. (introduced in v3.6.20.1)
  • UseCommunityServerList_Enabled.reg, UseCommunityServerList_Disabled.reg - Load CommunityServerList.htm (instead of ServerList.htm), which redirects to a third-party server list linking to community WormNET servers. (introduced in v3.7.0.0)
  • UseVRAM_Disable.reg, UseVRAM_Enable.reg - Disables or enables usage of hardware graphics memory. Used when hardware rendering is active. (introduced in v3.8)
5. WA.exe exports a function SetHostingProxyAddressAndPort, which can be used by a DLL that hooks into W:A to tell it the current hosting proxy address and external port, allowing the /url command to work properly. This is currently used by the WormKit module wkWormNAT2.

Function prototype:

void __stdcall SetHostingProxyAddressAndPort(const char *hostingProxyAddressAndPort);

Example calls:

  • SetHostingProxyAddressAndPort("proxy.worms2d.info:54321"); // proxy address is "proxy.worms2d.info" and external port is 54321
  • SetHostingProxyAddressAndPort(NULL); // reset back to "no hosting proxy", the default state
  • SetHostingProxyAddressAndPort(""); // reset back to "no hosting proxy", the default state (alternative method)
6. When the Phased Allies and/or Phased Enemies setting is set to Worms+Weapons+Damage (or the BoomRacing test version is used), this creates a condition in which worms do not influence friendly and/or enemy worms at all, respectively, with the following exceptions:
  • The landscape is shared, so terrain creation (girders, arrows) and destruction (explosions, Fire Punch, Kamikaze, Blow Torch, Pneumatic Drill, Mole Bomb, Mole Squadron, Napalm Strike, Flame Thrower) influence all worms. Worms standing on terrain may fall if that terrain is destroyed or pierced by an arrow; the creation of terrain puts an obstacle in the path of all worms, and its destruction removes an obstacle.
  • Rising water drowns all worms, regardless of who or what caused it to rise.
  • Destroying an Oil Drum will remove it as an obstacle, meaning worms that were standing on it will fall.
  • An Earthquake triggered by any team will move all Oil Drums, thus influencing shared objects that can affect any team.
  • Collecting or destroying a Crate will prevent any other team from collecting it.
  • If a Mine placed on start-up is triggered by proximity, the influence of its damage will be restricted by the Phased Allies/Enemies setting. However, its disappearance will mean that it can no longer serve as an obstacle for any worms.
  • A Mine placed on start-up can be pushed by explosions, gun fire, Earthquakes, and other means without triggering it by proximity, thus influencing a shared object that can affect any team.
  • Anything that creates flames (Napalm Strike, Petrol Bomb, Oil Drum explosion) may erase pre-existing flames if the maximum number of flamelets is reached, regardless of which team created the flames.
  • Worms will visually hide the terrain covered by their sprites.
  • These shortcomings may be addressed in a future update.
7. When describing game engine fixes and changes which apply to occurrences that were previously only possible by enabling options in RubberWorm, the new v3.8 extended scheme option names are used. Here they are alongside their RubberWorm names:
  • "Weapon use doesn't end turn" was called "Shot Doesn't End Turn" (SDET) in RubberWorm.
  • "Loss of control doesn't end turn" was called LDET in RubberWorm.
  • "Worm Selection is never cancelled" was called "Select Worm Any Time" (SWAT) in RubberWorm.

Credits

Lead Code Karl Morton

Lead Art Dan Cartwright

Original Concept Andy Davidson

Lead Support Code Colin Surridge

Support Code Rob Hill, Martin Randall

Network Code Phil Carlisle

Producer Martyn Brown

Scenario Art Tony Senghore, Rico Holmes, “Jan The Man”

Sound and Music Bjørn Lynne

Additional Audio Matinee Studios, Martyn Brown, Richie Palmer,
Cris Blyth (inc vocals on WormSong98),
Rico Holmes, Fraser Stewart, Mike Green

Additional Art Paul Robinson, Cris Blyth, Rory McLeish

Assistant Producer Craig Jones

Mission Design Porl Dunstan, John Eggett, Martyn Brown

Lead QA Kelvin Aston, Mark Baldwin

QA John Eggett, Grant Towell, Andy Aveyard,
Kevin Carthew, Paul Webb, Brian Fitzpatrick

QA Manager Paul Field

Localisation Paul Sharp
Update Coding/Design:
Versions 3.5 to 3.8 and later David Ellsworth — “Deadcode”
Versions 3.6.27.1 to 3.8 and later Vladimir Panteleev — “CyberShadow”
Version 3.6.31.2b Charles Blessing (Team17 Senior Programmer)

Update Localisation:
French “Jabba”, “LTK”
German “bonz”, “schaf”
Dutch “Koen”
Spanish “OutofOrder”
Russian “Mr.X”, “CyberShadow”, “Shtirlitz”, “StepS”
Swedish Olle Settergren
Finnish Juho Toivanen
Portuguese Wallison “Kaleu” Camargo

Update Testing and Research: Adame “LTK” BF,
Alborz “MonkeyIsland” Shams,
Alex “Lex” Folland,
Balázs “Balee” Laky,
Ben Paddon,
Chris “Plutonic” Wallace,
Cody “Mablak” Myers,
Edward “Maz” Webb,
Esme Povirk,
Gregor “KRD” Koželj,
John “Cueshark” Evans,
Juho Toivanen,
Kaddour “bonz” Bounab,
Kevin “goom” Yaccino,
Kieran “Melon” Millar,
Liam Dobson,
Marc “DarkOne” Vrooland,
Mark “GreeN” Dawson,
Martin “Wyv” Denk,
Murray “Muzer” Colpman,
Nick “NickyNick” Tymchenko,
“OutofOrder”,
Paul “Bloopy” Harvey,
Paulo “Twyrfher” Miranda,
“schaf”,
Simon Arlott,
Stepan “StepS” Obraztsov,
Stéphan Kochen,
Trey Brisbane,
Veronika Ajtai,
and others

Licence for "Flexible and Economical UTF-8 Decoder":

Copyright (c) 2008-2009 Bjoern Hoehrmann <bjoern@hoehrmann.de>

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Bug Reporting

Feedback for future Worms Armageddon updates may be provided via the channels listed on:

https://worms2d.info/Feedback

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