I think I accidentally updated my game with unreleased stuff

[Huskie]

I followed Spearthrower's FTP download process religiously yesterday, and noticed a few differences which seemingly aren't listed in the updates, or in his differences sticky thread.

Some are subtle and some are pretty noticeable, though I'm not 100% sure if it is indeed unreleased stuff. If it is normal, forgive me for starting something which could lead to disappointment, I'll try to delete the thread ASAP to avoid any false hypes.

Still, here are some things I've noticed (note that I updated directly from retail, so while I have noticed a lot of changes, I can't tell precisely which seem to be from unreleased stuff and which don't):

-All three machines in the stations now have 3x4 grids to accomodate XM171 Thermo Cannons. (I tihnk this is new, since there was a thread recently by someone complaining that they couldn't de-mod their cannon)

-Some subtle graphic improvements, lighting/shader related.

-Extremely different level layouts, especially in dungeon-themed ones. I just had a feckin' extremely gigantic level generated for eastcheap. I actually even got lost in it (and I have a pretty good memory and sense of direction). To give you an idea of it's sheer size, the full-screen automap wouldn't even fit my screen. Took me about 20 minutes just to find the other portal. The game took so long to properly render some of the levels textures that I really thought it had become bugged, or that the memory leak had yet again gottten the better of my computer. Plus it now doesn't look like a twisted corridor with a few branches and stairs now and then, it really has the feel of a dungeon with more open spaces. Reminded me a lot of Diablo I's first few levels. Will let you know if other level-styles have also gotten different.
EDIT: just wen't to Fenchurch, which is also dungeon-based, but this time around it was seemingly generated normally (twisted corridors, stairs, etc.). A shame, was really a lot of fun clearing that big-ass dungeon.

-The mini-game is gone altogether.

-Characters in the stations, even unnamed ones, now randomly display a " '',, " symbol, probably for gossip, though nothing happens when tryng to interact with them. the most that can happen is the game showing the same text it would show if you tried to use the "examine" function on the NPCs.

Will see if I can find more (hopefully indeed unreleased) differences. I know I'm risking looking like an idiot if all this is already widely known, but what the hell... :D



P.S.: The game version on the Main Menu still displays as v1.43, though. Might be that just a few of those files from the FTP were changed.

[Spearthrower]

That seems about right Huskie. Some of those I didn't actively add to the SP/MP differences thread because they were "advertised" in the patch notes to some degree, i.e. Gossip and Graphics tweaks...

But that map size difference sounds interesting! That's not something I've seen or read about!

For me, the shader variation in 1.43 actually looks terrible in some places - specifically around the barrel fire area - you get these perfect circles of differing grey shades. That's with the highest shader and all but AA on highest.

[Hannya]

Some of the things mentioned were normal for 1.43 (like '',," symbol over unimportant npc's, sometimes one could get some comment from them, sometimes it served no purpose at all), others seem a random oddity.

The level layout thing is interesting. Similar thing happened to me once, in one of the "church" areas; extremely large level with unusual number of rare/epic mobs and INSANE respawn rates. With my evoker I could never clear more than 1 - 2 of those big rooms before ones cleared previously repopulated. Respawns produced another batch of rare mobs (one and only time I've seen six rare tormentors in one room). Overall, loads of fun.

When entering the level, I got a momentary flash of Windows error message saying something about "too low maximum door numbers" (well, more or less, I'm sure it was something about door numbers), and while I could play normally for a while, the game promptly crashed after exiting the level. I'd guess it was random level generator going haywire rather than some unreleased content showing up.

[Huskie]

Hmm, I thought I had posted yesterday something explaining some of those things in this topic (was already late at night, I probably replied it on the wrong thread, instead, lol). At the very least the reason for my mini-game to disappear. Apparently after I downloaded a few of the update files, FSS released SP patch2, and thus made me update the game with mixed files from both, making none of them a complete legit update from either versions. Really just bad timing on deciding to update the game I guess. :D