Release Notes


v0.2.0.60 - January 1, 2011


THIS IS NOT A STABLE RELEASE!


Our first major release since launch, we introduce Saving, Windows XP and DirectX 9.0c support. Both our graphics engine and our simulator have been rewritten and performance significantly increased. Some features, like the custom terrain texture and fullscreen mode, have been removed temporarily due to the major differences between DX10 and DX9 but they will return soon.


IMPORTANT: You will notice some visual glitches and probably full out new bugs since we touched a lot of code in this release and as always finished most of it at the last minute. Please let us know through support@synekism.com of any bugs and if necessary we will be releasing patches. Sorry.


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 been already installed.


What we install:


  • Synekism v0.2.0.60
  • DirectX Redistributable
  • Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable
  • GPU-Z.0.4.6.exe (to check DirectX support - removed after installation is finished/aborted)

FEATURES:


Core:


  • full SAVE functionality - saved cities are added in the Saves folder in the Program Files/Synekism folder
  • temporarily removed Custom Terrain Texture feature until next release

Engine:


  • the game now uses DirectX 9.0c only with DirectX 10 support to come back next release
  • now runs on Windows XP
  • temporarily removed FullScreen mode until next release
  • buildings, lots and roads are now created fully in memory (instead of each frame) which should significantly increase game performance
  • there will be some visual glitches until we get the hang of DirectX 9

UI:


  • added a City Select menu with 5 slots where cities can be saved to
  • added Main Menu and Save buttons at the top right corner of the screen
  • the Main Menu and the Horizontal Bar have been resized since textures with sizes that are not powers of two had issues in DirectX 9

Simulator:


  • rewrote entire simulator
  • streamlined (runs much faster)
  • density plays a larger role in building construction
  • government buildings are no longer fixed height and cost, they also update themselves

BUGS FIXED:


  • none, probably many bugs were introduced...