Release Notes


v0.3.1.28 - June 1, 2011


THIS IS NOT A STABLE RELEASE!


It's sad, and hopefully this won't happen too often, but we have to invoke the "NOT A STABLE RELEASE" clause once again. We did this before when we added DirectX 9 (Windows XP) support back in January because we simply ran out of time and we did it again today. But, as promised from the very beginning, we will ALWAYS have our regular release, stable or not. As such, here comes 0.3.1.


This release was supposed to add the promised multiplayer support, originally slated for 0.3.0. The reason why this release is not "stable" is because this feature is not really finished. You can start a server and one other player (client) can connect to you by ip, however, not everything that can be done in the game will get transferred to your peers. Only road and lot creation is transmitted. Deletions and buildings stay put. Also, contrary to intention, the simulator is not yet aware of multiplayer which means it will run separately on each client so different people in the same group could have different-looking cities. Furthermore, when you connect to a server there is no functionality to sync up with the server. If there is anything on the server that you don't have you'll never get it. Finally, there is no cross-client validation going on which means you'll be able to build lots and roads on top of each other using different clients. Of course, there are also a bunch of nasty bugs living in there somewhere.


So, if you don't plan on trying multiplayer then the game is more or less stable. Then again, if you don't try multiplayer then there is little reason to download this release. It's recommended you wait for the next month's release. There is one visual glitch in DX9 we did fix though and the simulator no longer feeds on itself.



Minimum Requirements:


  • Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7
  • 1 GHz processor
  • 1 GB of system memory
  • Hard drive with at least 50 MB of available space*
  • Support for DirectX 9.0c, Shader Model 2 and 128 MB of graphics memory

* Does not include space requirements of DirectX and Visual C++ Redistributable which may be anywhere from 20kb to 500 MB depending on what has already been installed.


What we install:


  • Synekism v0.3.1.28
  • DirectX Redistributable
  • Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable
  • GPU-Z.0.5.1.exe (to check DirectX support - removed after installation is finished/aborted)

NEW FEATURES:


Multiplayer:

  • you can start a server and it will automatically listen on all network connections active on the local machine
  • you can specify a server ip and connect to that server as a client
  • road and lot creation, as well as lot deletion, will be transferred from the client to the server and the server will transfer all such changes to all clients currently connected to it

Minor:

  • balanced the simulator so high density buildings no longer feed on each other (as much)
  • added keyboard control for camera rotation and zoom

BUGS FIXED:


  • in DX9, after some play time, roads seem to develop memory and are not cleared as one drags them about

KNOWN ISSUES:


  • zoning along more than one, non-aligned, road segment does not work
  • zoning very sharp-angled lots can cause them to overlap the road
  • if playing the game on a non-administrator account on Vista or Windows 7 you will not be able to save unless the game is started "Run as administrator"
  • if the angle lock option is on you cannot create regional roads
  • saving while missing the Saves folder in the Program Files Synekism folder will not work
  • any DirectX problems will cause the game to crash (mostly during loading)