Changelog

The following changelog summarizes the changes that happened since the original commercial release of Planet X3.

Previous free-as-in-free-beer update releases

These releases came after the initial commercial release but predate the Open Source Edition.

Active programmer(s): Benedikt Freisen

New engine variant: PX3_EGA.COM
New video mode: EGA 640x200 16-color (in the new PX3_EGA.COM, down-converted VGA artwork)
New video mode: Tandy Video II / ETGA 640x200 16-color (in PX3_VGA.COM)
New video mode: Plantronics ColorPlus 320x200 16-color (in PX3_CGA.COM, upscaled TDY artwork)
New video mode: Hercules 640x200 2-color (in PX3_CGA.COM)
New video mode variant: grayscale CGA 320x200 4-color (in PX3_CGA.COM)

New engine variant: PX3_MTDY
New video mode: Med.-res. Tandy 320x200 16-color (in the new PX3_MTDY.COM, down-converted from VGA with sub-optimal LUT)
New video mode: ATI Graphics Solution 640x200 16-color (in the new PX3_MTDY.COM, down-converted from VGA artwork)
New audio device: TNDLPT (must be un-muted)
Bugfix: Use correct background color for all text in the VGA version (bug introduced by the previous release)
Bugfix: Do not show white as yellow in CGA 4-gray mode on IBM EGAs
Bugfix: Restore a proper text mode when leaving high-res Tandy mode
Bugfix: Work around buggy int 29h versions for "Have a nice DOS!" message

Optimization: hand-pick one LUT entry for 320x200 256-color to 640x200 16-color translation (prettier water in snowy tileset)
Optimization: hand-pick 35 LUT entries for 320x200 256-color to 320x200 16-color translation (usable med.-res. Tandy mode)

This is what you are currently looking at: The heavily refactored, expanded and partly rewritten Planet X3 engine code base pubished under GPL.

Active programmer(s): Benedikt Freisen, Michal Procházka (MIDI)

Port of the entire code base from A86 to YASM syntax
New build system mostly based on GNU tools
Introduction of a "logical screen coordinate" concept and conversion functions
Replacement of all hard-coded on-screen addresses with either logical coordinates or variables for pre-converted coordinates
Introduction of mode-specific function pointer and data variable blocks
Reintegration of the various engine forks, resulting in only one engine: px3_ose.com
Full rewrite of most text plotting routines and addition of new ones (lower overhead: string-based rather than character-based)
Full rewrite of most low-level tile plotting routines and addition of new ones
Full rewrite of rectangle clearing and scrolling routines as somewhat generic functions
Partial rewrite of most cursor plotting routines, addition of new ones
Partial rewrite of the radar code: Single LUT-based radar screen function, routines that plot horizontal groups of pixels
Partial rewrite of the menu code: Now based on data structures for menus and menu entries
Refactoring of the AI dispatcher: Now based on jump tables
Refactoring of the screen redraw routine and addition of a "lazy update" mechanism
More graceful handling of missing files: First search elsewhere, then ask for disk
Re-formatting of the entire code base
Additional documentation for certain parts of the code base (calling conventions etc.)

Various new video modes
Hardware sanity checks that usually catch incompatible video mode choices
New audio device: MPU-401 (two modes: MT-32 and General MIDI)
New audio device: CMS/GameBlaster (also CMSLPT)
Map flipping and multi-climate maps (via 2nd menu level)
Enhanced jukebox: Additional tracks for MT-32 (via shift key), in-game tracks keep playing when a game is started
Command line options (documented in new "Engine Manual")
Map lists stored in a user-editable maplist.bin rather than the engine itself
Transparent and/or smooth multi-disk support
Masking of transparent areas in modes without transparency support
Scout cars (included as useless preview because the artwork is there)
Check the actual +-key and not just = (Software assuming an American kezboard lazout is annozing!)
Better bridge construction
Further minor improvements and fixes

Implementation of the two previously reserved EGA modes (i.e. 640x350 3-color and 320x200 16-color)
Fix bug in LUT patching for tile set overrides
Fix bug in radar LUT (existed since PX3 OSE 1.0.0)
Let the (improved) MIDI converter translate missing General MIDI tracks from MT-32 during the artwork import step