Menu UI: All menu screens updated & streamlined (a.k.a. "Lipstick on a Pig").
Menu & Game UI: improved to accomodate non-English texts that are longer. Some streamlining also.
Chat (in-Game): Chat messages are now shown on the left edge of the screen by default (if the chat panel is closed). Text messages can by types via ENTER-key or selecting the chat button if the chat is closed.
Sword Up/Down Indicator: fixed the game to make sure kings don't die, if the winning army has a higher bonus (as indicated in the UI).
Competitions: Tournaments and leagues are now restricted to prevent games to last longer than 90 days (so the tournaments can eventually end and are not blocked).
Quick Join: Games now start earlier. Also, they are advertised in the chat and can be joined by other players later.
Game Setup: the minimum turn duration for games is now 30 turns (was 20 before) to prevent abuse.
Modding: max. map size increased to 4000x4000px (from 4000x3000px).
Language: translation center move to [Modding] --> [Customize] section.
Language: fixed Arabic/Persian rendering of text.
Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
In-Game Messaging: preventing overlong in-game messages by limiting them to 512 characters at max (to prevent slowness/crashes).
Clan Invites: clans can now send invites to players asking them to join their clan.
Manual: explained that declaring war against a nation that isn't bordering your lands is resulting in a higher happiness penalty.
Chess: time per turn is now 60 seconds for chat-chess (not 90 seconds).
UI Update: game listings condensed for clarity, i.e. clutter removed.
UI Update: some stuff from the menu screens moved into popups so they can be accessed from everywhere. E.g. tournament lobby can be access from within games now also.
UI Update: loading indicator for misc. images, such as account images. The image loading is deferred to speed up loading of data.
UI Update: single player achievement list condensed to make it look better (less distractive).
UI Search Utility: can now search users by country also. Also added a separate search dialog.
UI Cursor: wait-cursor displayed where appropriate. Also, the mouse cursor should now work on Linux as well?
UI Popup Menu: aligned so the top/left corner is where the mouse/touch is located (not cenered around it).
Camera for Screenshots: now works everywhere even when hidden behind other popups (disable as needed via settings).
Keyboard: Key mappings update with additional keys for e.g. Numpad.
Networking: now using HTTPS by default (can be turned off in the game's setting).
Networking: network I/O improved by prioritizing non-imagery data and combining image objects that are loaded together.
Networking: default image size reduced for small avatars when loaded over the network (25% of original size now).
Networking: joinable games list should now load faster by not loading data already available (joined games).
Networking Bugfix: some images where loaded more than once right after each other due to bad caching.
Networking: configuration for cleartext connections updated on Droid (separate file security configuration)
Cheat Detection: emulator check updated (@Moderators: some could be false positive, so be wary!)
Cheat Detection: moderators are now capable of seeing in-game fund transfers.
Moderation Maps & Translations: it's not available directly in the moderator interface.
Moderation Guide: section with information about privacy added. @Moderators: MUST read!
Droid Login: fixed to fall back to Google Services if undefined.
Map Downloads: custom listing of (1) FREE Maps and (2) Featured maps added. Also simplified the UI and removed clutter.
Map Downloads: deferred map icon loading until later to speed up displaying the list of available maps. Other improvements also to reduce network calls.
Backend: upgraded to libGDX 1.9.13 which contains misc. bugfixes and improvements.
Backend: upgraded to LWJGL3 as the desktop backend (better handling of Retina displays). If you are on Mac OS X, please download the latest installer for the game to continue working.
Crashing: the game now properly crashes during boot up so error messages are clearly missing and indicating what's wrong, incl. reporting.
Crash Reporter: fixed to also show up (not hidden) in special circumstances where the render context was changed.
Linux ARM Support: with the new LWJGL3 backend, the game should support Linux ARM 32 and 64 bit. It should work on e.g. Raspberry Pi (untested).
Linux 32bit (non-ARM): due to missing libraries, support for x86 Linux has been dropped. Replaced by Linux ARM 32 and 64bit support. Linux support for AMD 64bit still works fine.
Performance: game boot-up speed and other functionality speed up! :)
Performance: default FPS is not unlimited anymore (considering possible side effects).
Boot Screen: simplified & speed up by just using the Noble Master logo.
Maintenance: misc. comparable functions fixed (some were even wrong/buggy).
Maintenance: sort algorithms and collections streamlined (slightly more performant).
GDPR/etc. Compliance: the game now allows to view all data collected and also permanently delete a user account (via account settings).
Server: making sure that auto-created display names are not too long (capped further).
Server: logging updated for when games are deleted to make sure all refunds are given. Also added internal tests for system function.
AI & Fast Rating Reset: on 2020-12-27/etc. I reset the fast rating. They weren't properly working anymore cause by me adjusting the AI ratings to make them more fair. At least that's what I though.
AI Rating: now internally limited to a max. value and max/min increase to prevent rating table problems.
Downloading Data: improved error output when e.g. downloading spreadsheet data on mobile (i.e. not available).
Bugfix: Chat scrolling fixed. The popup menu marked the mouse button as handled even when it didn't preventing the scroll pane to not properly react.
Bugfix Festivals: Festivals due to being executed out of order could potentially distribute money to later non-existing provinces. Will now distribute to exact provinces at that time. Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrUp7ixxFU4
Bugfix Recruting: Troops are still recruited if a faction doesn't have enough cash, but with reduced numbers (rather than '0'). Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrUp7ixxFU4
Bugfix Ancient Europe: the default map had a missing link between a land province and a water province (11<->110). This has now been fixed.
Bugfix Screenshots: they are not saved in a fixed location. Reporting players with screenshots should now always show the actual list of screenshots (not blank anymore).
Bugfix Rating History: making sure it doesn't overshoot the graph area.
Bugfix Crashes: when changing the username (profile picture wasn't properly retained).
Bugfix Crashes: file selection broken and could result in crashes.
Bugfix Crashes: viewing games could crash (moderator option).
Bugfix Crashes: pausing/resuming application.
Update 4.26.258 - Networking and Chat incl. Chat-Chess
Chess: there is now a chat bot for the main chat allowing plays of humans vs. AI.
Chess: there now is a chess popup to play single player against the AI (via modding section).
Chat Synchronization: speed of chat system slightly increased to reduce delays.
Networking Fix: Multiple devices could not connect to the same server from the same network. Parameter "net.ipv4.tcp_tw_recycle" disabled which can/will cause problems connecting from the same NAT/Router with different devices.
Manual/FAQ: indicated that political, religious or generally ideological messages are not desired and will be deleted as we see fit. This is a game, not a forum. Nothing good has ever come out of it.
Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
Language/Updated: plural rules link (for translators).
Language/Removed: legacy translation option details (obsolete for a while now).
Language: rendering of Persian text fixed.
Language: render glyphs updated with latest.
Username Change: cost increased to prevent abuse. Also logged by system.
Clan Membership Requests: the notification counter is only show to a clan's admin or owner (they are the only ones being able to the handle the notification anyway).
Investigated: exploit for province trade. Can not reproduce, works as expected.
Maintenance: odd code removed that sometimes didn't call glTexImage2D causing mipmapping not to work.
Maintenance: latest version for Droid login & purchasing system.
Bugfix: Mouse handling updated to ignore and not hijack any other than just the 2 buttons the game is using.
Bugfix: chat input focus reset if chat is hidden (to give back keyboard control).
Bugfix: Steam Overlay on Mac OS X now working again (entitlements were missing).
Bugfix: Chat command for "/list" was called "/dude" by mistake in the help section.
Bugfix: not being able to click on a multiplayer game and go there anymore (even from menu screens).
Bugfix Modding: maldefined animations would result in errors due to out of bound coordinates when creating a new map bundle.
Update 4.25.254 - Performance and UI Update, Bugfixes
Game Modus: "Watch Tower" mode added, when selected, only allows seeing neighbor provinces via watch towers. Check the "Watch Tower" checkbox during game setup!
Mesopotamia Map: new free "Timurid Conquest" scenario added. Provided by timurpodcast.com.
Modern Map Scenarios (Official Maps): missing watch tower added!
Clan Management: option to download all the clan member's list in spreadsheet format including ratings.
Clan Rating: we only rate clans with 2+ players and take the top 8 players to calculate the average.
UI: improved layouting for languages that have longer texts (compared to English).
Sponsoring: possible for password protected games also if account shows a purchase.
Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
Language: improved translatable texts.
Language: map story text properly translated for tutorial.
Language: further check to make sure tags have been properly used during translations.
Font Rendering: improved output for long texts that are missing spaces.
Networking: timeout for loading games list slightly increased to reduces errors for slow connections.
Networking: additional buffering added for network I/O.
Keyboard: ENTER button action added for certain popups (wasn't working before).
Game Server: game update speed improved to reduce "lag"!
Internal: GUIColor is now "XUITint".
Internal: other GUI* components streamlined (combined/moved).
Internal: combined VN & Version objects.
Internal: server backups now via SFTP.
Internal: server reboot time improved by ~5 minutes by skipping remote backup check and running it in later thread.
Internal: Misc. cleanup for (Byte)Buffer position(...) and clear()/flip() functions.
Bugfix: for some languages, the nation, diplomacy, etc. buttons in-game would not be clickable. Caused by too long texts in the background messing up layouting.
Bugfix: Language Center would not properly layout for large texts on portrait screen.
Bugfix: if text-color parsing fails, we ignore (rather than error out).
Bugfix: randomly setup games could potentially double-join the same user if network problems were encountered during joining.
Bugfix: function keys F1-F4 were working at times when they shouldn't (panels shouldn't have opened).
Bugfix: server bugfix that should fix a problem where games didn't update, i.e. stuck. Slow startup could prevent the initialization to properly run the first time but not re-try a second time.
Bugfix Crashes: when trying to send a private message while not logged in.
Bugfix Crashes: custom nation setup popup would crash if not all the image data was loaded.
Bugfix Crashes: when play-state wasn't properly initialized yet.
Bugfix Crashes: if no installed maps were found.
Bugfix Crashes: disposing assets after game ended.
Bugfix Crashes: partly unsupported SDK function IntBuffer.limit(...) replaced /w clear()!
Clan Ranking: clans are now ranked also and get a separate rating based on the average of all the clan members. Please note it will take a while until the first player of a clan gets a ranking to have it appear. The rankings table takes another few hours to update thereafter.
In-Game Guide: contains the email address to reach us immediately in case the server goes down & no moderators can be reached to assist.
Large World Map: "Zombie Apocalypse" scenario added :)
Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
Language: Swedish removed for now. Was very low quality, sorry for that!
Language: missing translation texts added (Medieval Europe map).
Language: Credits section translated where feasible (missing translation keys added).
UI: "Quick Join" match-making service now shows the connected users.
UI: Split Screen & Multi-Window support for Droid.
UI: App Icon updated (adaptive icon on Droid).
UI: Dropdown list now remembers last scroll position for the 2.+ time.
UI: Dropdown list updated to not notify listener if selection is manually set (buggy?).
UI: UI components updated that revert to English if text is too long (due to bad translation).
UI: Improved Error output while connecting from a country that might have blocked the game's IPs (e.g. Russia).
Admin Guide: "DELETED" account explained, i.e. removal due to e.g. GDPR request.
Server API: documentation updated with bugfix and 'get-size'.
Server Monitoring: monitoring server still accepts connections & auto-reboots if not.
Server Monitoring: logging # of connections also (DDoS detection).
Server Backend: Jetty updated to latest version!
Bugfix: improved error report when login via provider failed. If you have troubles, please contact us with the error details.
Bugfix Server: better handling of malformatted requests (response code).
Bugfix Crashes: when worker was 'null' (render-thread).
Bugfix Crashes: when playing music (ANR).
Bugfix Crashes: loading limited fallback font if loading the default font crashes.
Bugfix Crashes: executing threads on render-pool.
Bugfix Crashes: if group graphic was not available (i.e. 'null').
Bugfix Crashes: if map panel wasn't created yet (i.e. 'null').
Bugfix Crashes: bit shift '1 << 30' potentially produced error due to race condition?
Bugfix Crashes: crash while trying to send a message to another nation (dropdown problem).
Bugfix Crashes: when not properly initialized yet (play state).
Update 4.22.241 - AI Runs Faster & Maintenance incl. Bugfixes for Crashes
Latest Update:
AI: runs in background to pre-calculate actions (while the player is entering actions).
Manual/Guide: Fair-Play policy explained. No bribes or other unfair behavior. Players that use unfair tactics not part of a game will be appropriately punished.
Modding: template.ZIP updated with latest nations and flags.
Ancient Europe Map: "Barbarian Invasion" renamed to "Hun Invasion".
Cheat Detection: improved detection for players using multiple accounts.
UI: Notifications can now be copied to the clipboard.
Maintenance: libGDX backend updated to 1.9.10.
Bugfix Crashes: removed 'null' exception (possibly error still happens?).
Bugfix Crashes: when a previous input wasn't applied yet (we should output an error now).
Bugfix Crashes: proper synchronization blocks added when adding assets during loading.
Bugfix Crashes: when formatting a text (possibly fixes strange exception).
Bugfix Crashes: when an exception was 'null'.
Bugfix Crashes: when music player couldn't properly be paused/stopped.
Bugfix Crashes: asset loading reworked to prevent crashes and stuck loading screens.
Update 4.21.239 - Balancing, Maintenance and Bugfixes
Latest Update:
Balancing "Fake Wars": attacking distant nations (not at border) will have a -10% happiness penalty added when declaring war. Also helps sea nations against new war declarations from afar nations.
Balancing/Declaration of War: reduced the initial 1x penalty for declaration of war, multiplied by number of enemies the other nations is at war with already, from -8% to -6%. In other words, the penalty to declare war is reduced.
Sending Gold: sending gold to other nations did not always work in cases where your actual gold amount was less than what you proposed to send (due to WEGO). The game now internally adjusts the gold amount to match your actual treasury, so the action will always execute.
Declaring War: capped at -99% (no more -106%).
Cross-Platform Login: error output improved for players that fail to login cross-platform!
Incognito Games: now advertised anonymously in the chat (without the user's name).
Game Bootup: improved application startup time to take less time to go to the menu screen!
Game Bootup: additional indication of loading progress via bar (progress).
App Icon Updated: now the knight's head!
Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
Crash Reporting: now also contains system information.
Moderating: the "Abuse" flag now has the same effect as unverified accounts, i.e. no participation in sponsoring and betting games (moderator manual updated also).
Moderating: accounts cannot be unverified anymore (verified accounts are considered legit accounts even if caught cheating).
Maintenance: reduced DB calls when updating an account (deadlock problems on server).
Maintenance: update for NTP time utility to better handle failures (server).
Maintenance: making DB backup more resilient from crashes (e.g. when remote location is inaccessible).
Bugfix: catching of crashes improved, so they can be submitted and fixed.
Bugfix Crashes: if there was no country, the proxy setup panel would crash during construction.
Bugfix Crashes: disposing the play screen (some elements weren't initialized yet but we tried to dispose).
Bugfix Crashes: reporting to the same handler twice (rather than once) during startup.
FREE Map for a Limited Time: Mesopotamia
Our latest map "Mesopotamia" is free for a limited time. Grab it now and re-enact the Battle of Ain Jalut.
The Battle of Ain Jalut (Arabic: عين جالوت) took place in September 1260 between Muslim Mamluks and the Mongols. Vastly outnumbered, the Mamluks took on a great Mongolian army.
App Bootup: improved loading speed of game. Secondary assets are loaded in background allowing to enter the home screen much faster.
Rankings: clan button re-instated that is shown for players that are in a clan (previously removed but added again due to it being requested :-).
Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
Clan Notifications: notification for clan member actions (e.g. role changes/removals) now also list the user that made the change.
Investigated: deleted wall messages that still appear for other players: due to caching, deleted wall message will still show for players that have seen it before it got deleted. Won't fix for now.
Investigated: scrolling a panel while an onscreen keyboard was visible and offsets the screen (reported by Eogum). The scroll view scrolls in mysterious ways at first glance, but actually it works as intended. The system tries to keep the text input within view so one can see the contents while typing :)
Integration itch.io: started showing rating option (if user likes to do it).
Server Side: Geo IP lookup database updated (able to resolve previously missing addresses).
Server Side: account deletion improved (deletes all relevant data also).
Internal: account modus "DELETED" added.
Maintenance: improved error handling/output for text parsing (decorated strings).
Bugfix: translation approvals/rejections did not always work, i.e. no approval was done (server wrongly assume one of the lists was sorted, but it wasn't).
Bugfix: application exit now properly releases audio resources (proper native cleanup on desktop).
Bugfix: increased allowed screen aspect ration to improve scaling on full screen (Droid).
Bugfix: using a new minus '-' sign with same format as the '+' sing which ended up not showing because it wasn't included in the bitmap font.
Bugfix (Server): reduced deadlocks accessing the database and cache (using separate caches now for separate request).
Bugfix: code & logging update for when the server becomes stuck and doesn't update games anymore.
Bugfix Crashes: if proxy detection failed (will just not work, rather than crash!).
Bugfix Crashes: storing loaded image data via render-thread (should reduce crashes?).
Bugfix Crashes: reduced the max. number of simultaneous sounds that can be played at same time (fixes ANRs on e.g. Droid?).
Bugfix Crashes: error reporting possible now if the app crashes during startup (error got swallowed before).
Bugfix Crashes: preventing the data loader to report results twice (potentially resulting in crashes).
Balancing addressing "Ganging" and "Fake Wars": in addition to 1x penalties when declaring war, there is now a per turn penalty for wars you have started. For each declaration of war on a given nation, a happiness penalty of -1% (capped at -3%) is applied every turn. The penalty is only applied if you were amongst the ones declaring war against a nation. This is loosely based on the following feature request: http://www.multiplayerhub.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5765
Balancing: a player that has been war declared upon, will NOT receive happiness losses anymore for lost battles. Only an aggressor, i.e. player that declared war on someone, can lose happiness for battles lost against that other player.
Balancing: additional pending update for happiness (fake wars). Need to wait until most clients are up-to-date to make LIVE (will come next update).
Manual Updated: "Diplomacy (per turn)" explains the new diplomacy system were penalties for wars are applied each turn for declaring war (in addition to 1x penalties).
Manual Updated: further explained what is considered an unfair game setup, may it be by a player or clan.
AI: updated to work with new happiness system (penalties per turn).
Networking (sync. errors): improve synchronization reducing "Syncing Errors" due to high latency connections.
Networking (performance): code improvement removing dubious 'synchronization' blocks and also properly releasing connections after usage.
Pinned Posts (for Wall): the wall now supports pinned posts! This is now available for the main wall, plus clan/team walls. Only members with correct permissions can pin or unpin wall posts. If you are running an old version of the game, please upgrade. The game won't crash, but due to pinned posts, the wall will not always appear to work correctly (little bit funky).
Clan Icon: the user's head image-button now shows a clan icon (star within a circle) to indicate a player is in a clan. If there is space the clan's name is shown next to the username. Only available for displays where the clan information was loaded (might not be loaded everywhere).
GUI: some label's brightness/contrast has been slightly increased for better visibility (easier to read).
GUI: main user communication popup now taller if you are on a bigger screen.
GUI: option to copy wall posts with formatting code also (rather than just the text).
GUI: misc. minor UI tweaks & adjustments.
Modding: checkboxes added to set defaults for scenarios. Includes fog of war ON/OFF and commando unit ON/OFF (by default) for each scenario.
Modding: open travel options ON/OFF (ditto game setup) is now added as default behavior that can be customized for each scenario.
Language: latest translations added - Thanks :-D
Spelling: misc. minor fixes (also in code/documentation).
Max. FPS (Frames/Second): updated to 120 FPS max. for foreground rendering (if the monitor supports it).
Maintenance: backend libGDX library updated to version 1.9.9.
Maintenance: legacy code removed. If you are running an old version (6+ months) of the game, please upgrade. You will not be able to connect otherwise anymore.
Performance: memory usage reduced/optimized.
Clan Restrictions/Member Recruitment: the previous restrictions have been removed. Please note, clans ending up with more clan players in game than allowed on constant basis will be reprimanded.
Clan Member Recruitment: manual updated to explain that repeatedly violating the rules ending up with more clan players in a game will have consequences for a clan and its leaders.
Moderators: Officers are now able to delete games that have not started yet (e.g. games setup in bad faith).
Steam: separate 32bit & 64bit Linux builds now available for download (should work on 64bit systems where it didn't work before).
Server: updated/improved RAID disk array monitoring (detection if missing also).
Bugfix: mouse wheel and rollover effects should now work properly on all devices where supported.
Bugfix: potential bugfix loading assets in render-thread during boot (potentially prevents it being stuck during startup?).
