Joined: 26 Apr 2003 Location: Somewhere in Germany
Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 12:59 pm Post subject:
OpenRA release 20171014 is here!
After three months of public playtesting the OpenRA developers are pleased to finally declare “Mission Accomplished” on the new OpenRA release! Release 20171014 makes some fundamental changes to the way that the OpenRA game engine works, plus a few similarly important gameplay changes to the default mods.
The first big change will be visible as soon as you go to launch your favourite mod. The in game mod chooser has been removed, and mods are now launched directly from your operating system. This is part of a much larger set of changes to the game engine to support multiple OpenRA installations and the new Mod SDK.
The mod chooser screen has been replaced by separate launchers for each mod.
The next big change is the new command bar at the bottom of the screen. This new UI improves discoverability for several advanced unit commands and served as a focus for several gameplay changes related to unit stances and the Attack Move command – read through the in game button tooltips to find out more!
A new bottom command bar is now available for issuing common orders and changing unit stances.
The final group of big changes is less obvious, but just as important: the way that buildings are targeted and take damage has been reworked (taking inspiration from the original Dune 2000) to account for the size of the building footprint. This has a range of balance implications, for example Tanya and Commandos no longer need to run to the center of buildings to demolish them.
Other great new features in this release include:
- Automatic discovery of LAN games in the Multiplayer browser.
- Nine more campaign missions for D2K, which is now half way complete!
- New search and filtering options in the Map editor.
- Installing missing maps from the Replay browser.
- Improvements to the Global Chat UI.
- Significant performance and memory improvements relating to music playback.
- Community-driven balance improvements to Red Alert and Tiberian Dawn.
See the full changelog for more details, or go directly to their download page to try them out for yourself.
New building physics improves the way that structures are targeted and take damage.
Supporting the C&C modding community has always been an important goal for OpenRA, and this release takes a big, but disruptive, step forward in this area. Back in April it was announced the planned mod chooser removal, and in July they have released the first version of the OpenRA Mod SDK that replaces it. From now on, all mods should be built using the SDK, which makes it easy for you to build your own stand-alone installers that do not rely on a base OpenRA installation. See the SDK getting started wiki page for more details!
Other improvements for modders include further adoption of trait conditions, improved error checks and logging, and a collection of new and improved game logic for energy walls, tunnels, and subterranean units.
It has been a long road to this release, and we hope you enjoy it!
Then what does the "RA" part of OpenRA mean then though? I'm personally in favor for a name change and don't think it'd be a problem for those used to the old name is they just gradually make a shift to the new name. This could be done by making the old domain automatically redirect to the new one and maybe keeping "AKA OpenRA" (with a small font) in the title for a while. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Right, I'd forgotten about that. The conversation just kind of died down though without any resolution.
Banshee wrote:
RA means RA. The letter R followed by the letter A. Does it need to make any sense? It's just a name.
The name is the first thing that identifies a project, so I'd say that it actually does need to make sense when part of it already has a well known meaning to the intended audience. RA means Red Alert to almost every single C&C fan out there and it simply gives the wrong impression (as mentioned in the topic LKO linked to: many players are surprised that it has more than just the RA mod).
So with that in mind I think it'd be best to either use a name that's relevant to all C&C games (even if that leaves out Dune) or to come up with a name that doesn't mean anything to C&C fans yet to begin with.
There was a mention that they'd lose publicity that the current name has already gained up until now though, but I think a good solution to that could be to explicitly name the engine's existing RA mod "OpenRA" and to name the project as a whole (including all official mods) something different. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 22 Nov 2010 Location: Iszkaszentgyorgy, Hungary
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:48 am Post subject:
Pot calls cattle black. You didn't renamed DTA either when you added the RA sides - so I don't think you should expect something from OpenRA you didn't do. (Yes, you changed the logo to incorporate RA into it - and guess what? there's a WIP tank logo with the intent to be as generic as possible, read http://www.openra.net/news/new-project-logo/).
OpenRA is the engine's name, the mods have the names of their original games. There's an intent to push OpenRA-as-an-engine over OpenRA-as-a-RA-recreation by now (with the logo being a part of it), but it's constantly getting backpedaled by how OpenRA treats modder feedback - which caused it's own repercussions (I gave up fixing it's antics, CD shifted priorities, etc.).
So yeah, there was a resolution in that topic - you just don't like it and don't want to accept it. _________________ "If you didn't get angry and mad and frustrated, that means you don't care about the end result, and are doing something wrong." - Greg Kroah-Hartman
=======================
Past C&C projects: Attacque Supérior (2010-2019); Valiant Shades (2019-2021)
=======================
WeiDU mods: Random Graion Tweaks | Graion's Soundsets
Maintainance: Extra Expanded Enhanced Encounters! | BGEESpawn
Contributions: EE Fixpack | Enhanced Edition Trilogy | DSotSC (Trilogy) | UB_IWD | SotSC & a lot more... QUICK_EDIT
but it's constantly getting backpedaled by how OpenRA treats modder feedback
This is something I would like to improve on, but I'm having trouble remembering specific situations that this statement could apply to. Can you please link some to specific examples of modder feedback being treated badly? QUICK_EDIT
DTA doesn't have its own domain and changing the name wouldn't be as easy, but the main reason why we kept the name is actually because it still makes sense: Red Alert literally did take place at the dawn of the tiberium age (I'd have felt a lot more urgent to change the name if it wasn't for this).
I'm aware that OpenRA is the engine's name, but my point was that if it'd be used to describe just the RA mod instead, it'd keep its established name recognition and the engine itself could get a more fitting or unique name. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 26 Apr 2003 Location: Somewhere in Germany
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:10 pm Post subject:
Bittah Commander wrote:
I'm aware that OpenRA is the engine's name, but my point was that if it'd be used to describe just the RA mod instead, it'd keep its established name recognition and the engine itself could get a more fitting or unique name.
At least one of the problems is that a rename would break the github history. Basically, it's less that the issues with the current name aren't acknowledged, it's more that a rename would probably cause more trouble than it is worth. QUICK_EDIT
You cannot post new topics in this forum You can reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You can download files in this forum