News - February 2001   

18th February 2001

  • Just to let you know, I think I've found the problem with the game switching ... when XMaps switches to a game type that it doesn't have anything set up for (i.e. no Extended Map List or Favourites), it just says 'duh?' and doesn't suggest a map.  So, the map you get is from the type of game UT thinks it's currently playing (e.g. DM), but the game type is then changed by XMaps (e.g. to CTF), so the map and game don't match.  The reason I didn't spot this is that I have XMaps lists set up for all game types ... sorry I screwed up!!  This will be fixed in XMaps 205 (or which ever version gets released next) - I should be able to get this done within the week, although knowing my obsession with quality there'll be a full release before you can sneeze ;-)  Note that 205 also fixes the problem caused by mod game types with a '/' in their name, like "CTF/E" (kudos to Pedro for the XMapsGame.ini file - I wouldn't have known about this otherwise).

17th February 2001

  • Implemented a few user-requested features ... (1) a 'force map prefix' option, which means you can choose to only have mod-specific maps in Random Maps mode and Favourites map lists, (2) a 'Disable announcer countdown' option for game switching, and (3) in-game commands to Skip or Restart the current level or Switch game types.  These commands can be entered using the console or mini-console (using 'mutate xmaps skip', for example), or bound to keys for instant response. Thanks to Alex and Doug Gibson for this great idea...

11th February 2001

  • XMaps 204 released ... this is functionally identical to 203, but I've increased the number of game types stored by XMaps from 64 to 256, just to be sure.  To use the larger game types list, install XMaps 204 and hit the Refresh button in the Game Options window.  While I was at it, I also increased the number of maps that XMaps reads (when selecting maps at random) from 1,024 to 1,536.
  • Got an email from one user who's already hit the 64-game-types limit in XMaps 203 ... I really didn't think that would happen!  I'll look into doubling it to 128 some time this week; keep an eye on this page for developments.
  • XMaps 203 gets ModSquad's first ever 10/10 in the review!

10th February 2001

  • XMaps 203 released, with the all-new game switching feature.  This will probably be the last release before I move XMaps over to PlanetUnreal.

4th February 2001

  • Completed the game-switching routines and the new Game Switching setup windows.  I'll be testing this for a week or so; I should be able to release it next weekend or earlier.

3rd February 2001

  • Added support for Favourites lists in all XMaps selection types, and introduced the first game-switching routines.  It's working like a dream...

1st February 2001

  • Introduced XMaps' caching of Game Types data to reduce the load time of the Game Options window from about 90 seconds to 2 seconds. Nice...