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2021.0 - Respawn (Digital Archaeology Edition)

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@matatk matatk released this 22 Jun 13:51
2021.0
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2021.0 release notes

If you'd like to try out the Level Description Language and/or AudioQuake on modern platforms, here's a major new release for you :-). Whilst times have moved on in terms of accessible games and mainstream game accessibility, I wanted to bring things up-to-date so at least you can still play the game—and most importantly, try out the (basic, but functional) Level Description Language (LDL).

Feedback is welcome, either via filing issues in this repository, or posting on the mailing list. Here are some major changes…

  1. New GUI launcher based on wxPython.

  2. Level Description Language (LDL) is built in to the launcher.

  3. Support for Quake, Open Quartz (an open-source asset pack) and ‘high-contrast’ texture schemes for maps (and all AGRIP maps have been built for all three ways to play).

  4. Support for single-file Quake Modifications ("QMODs") has been reinstated since the previous beta from years ago (and the GUI is massively improved since then, too).

  5. It’s much easier to build AQ yourself because the build system has been completely rewritten and the documentation updated. Even on Windows it can compile the engine for you automatically, without the need for you to use the Visual Studio GUI. (You still can, and you still need to install some build tools from Microsoft; the documentation has all the info.)

  6. The user and development manuals have been edited and brought up-to-date (though I'm still working on the multiplayer section of the user manual, but wanted to start by getting this release out now things are working well).

I would be really interested in your thoughts on the Level Description Language (LDL), simplistic as its geometry is, if you fancy having a go at that. The tutorial has many examples to help you get started, and each tutorial map, plus some examples, are included. You can give feedback via the AGRIP Google Group.

I am not sure how often the releases will be (or need to be) from now, but as I’ve wanted to make it easier for you to access the tools and the game for some time, and finally found the time, I thought I’d give it a go.

Caveats and known issues

There are some known limitations in this release:

  1. The code is not signed, for Mac nor Windows, as I don’t have developer accounts. On Windows you’ll be given a choice as to whether you want to run it. On the Mac, you would need to allow it through Gatekeeper and move it somewhere on your computer and back if you decide you want to run it.

  2. This is only tested on 64-bit Windows 10 (Home) and macOS 10.15 Catalina. It seems to run fine on macOS 11 Big Sur, but I can't develop it on that platform so I can't guarantee things will keep working. I have tried to keep all the new code and build system cross-platform, so it should be easy to add Linux support back in, but I have not had time. If Linux support does come back it may well be in source form only.

  3. Several sounds and models are missing from Open Quartz, as a result you will get some messages about missing sounds (sometimes quite a lot of them; you can stop them from all being announced by opening and closing the console again), and LDL tutorial map 7 won't run at all. Neither may some mods (though some will be able to).

  4. I have tested the launcher with VoicOver and NVDA and it works well, though the file picker controls' textboxes don't have their own accessible names. I have tried to provide some, but haven't met with success yet.

  5. When you install the registered data on Windows, the file dialog won't actually show any files, because it's a directory selector. I was expecting the classic tree-based directory picker to be used, but it seems to've been replaced. This is a bit confusing, but it doesn't stop the thing from working - just make sure you're in the directory where pak0.pak and pak1.pak reside, and use the "Select folder" button and you'll be good to go.

  6. If you have the AudioQuake+LDL package extracted in a directory that's nested very deeply in your filesystem, then when the map compilation tool QBSP runs, the path to the file containing the textures for the level may be too long for it. In this case, you will get a "token too large" error. The fix (for now, at least) is to extract the package higher up towards the root of your filesystem or drive.

  7. If a multi-line message is printed to the console you may only hear the last line of it. This breaks the in-game "help" command, but all of the things it tells you how to do, you can do via the new launcher.

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