2014-10-12 22:10:41 (edited by Ian Reed 2014-10-14 03:15:31)

I'm reserving this post for the latest links, and a few notes to beginners.
See post 2 for the release announcement.

Download Tactical Battle 2.0 here:
http://BlindAudioGames.com/downloads/Ta … Battle.zip

It doesn't come with any map packs, so use the "Download map campaigns" option in the main menu to get some.
If this is your first time playing Tactical Battle you should start with the Getting Started maps, and read both the main menu user guide and the Getting Started maps user guide.

It is a zip file, so be sure to unzip it before playing.
You can read instructions about unzipping or solving other problems encountered when running the game by visiting:
http://BlindAudioGames.com

Need .NET Framework 4?  Get it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download … x?id=17113

Much appreciation goes out to:
Craig Brett, Allan Thompson, KeyIsFull, Victorious, Austen Perry, and Abigail Prescott.

~ Ian Reed
Visit BlindGamers.com to rate blind accessible games and see how others have rated them.
Try my free JGT addon, the easy way to play Japanese games in English.
Or try the free games I've created.

2014-10-12 22:12:14 (edited by Ian Reed 2014-10-14 03:16:18)

Hi all,

It's been a long time since the last public release of Tactical Battle.
In that time there have been a lot of new dev releases and some great new map creations.
I'm happy to announce the release of version 2.0.

This new version includes:
* An in game map pack downloader so you can easily get any new maps that are released as stable.
* A battle log that lets you review the enemy's turn at your own pace.
* Support for the NVDA screen reader and braille by pressing alt + O in game.
* New scripts from Craig Brett, including transportation, transformation, toggle team, move units away or closer, critical hit chance, etc.
* New scripts from KeyWasFull and Abigail Prescott.
* An auto update feature that notifies you of available updates and will even download and install them for you.
* The ability to change hot keys using the Keys.config file.
* Script flags that let scripters add features that can be used much the same as normal flags.
* Tons of bug fixes and performance improvements.

I want to give a *huge* thanks to Craig Brett who has not only added some great features via scripting, but has also helped to maintain the core game code base, eradicating bugs and adding new features.
His efforts helped make 2.0 happen.

I also want to thank the map creators for their creativity and hard work.
Thanks Allan Thompson, KeyIsFull, Victorious, Austen Perry, and Craig Brett.

I hope everyone enjoys this new version.

Here's the more precise changelog:
1. Added the player_team= map flag to specify which team is controlled by the player.
2. Fixed a bug where AI would sometimes attack units that were already dead and removed from the map.
3. Added after_effect_applied, after_effect_removed, and after_effect_fizzled events to effects for scripters.
4. Added the after_death event to units for scripters.
5. Added shared.CreateUnit, map.AddUnit, and map.RemoveUnit methods for scripters.
6. Added a sanity check that announces when a unit does not  have a valid team number.
7. Added sanity checks that announce when there are no teams or the player's team does not exist rather than crashing.
8. Updated range and dice parsing to be case insensitive.
9. Improved error reporting when parsing ranges or dice.
10. Added contextual help that is accessed by pressing F1 and shift + F1.
11. Added color= flags to team and unit files.
12. Fixed a bug with the terrain_limit= flag.
13. Fixed a bug when using a take skill with a range of more than 0.
14. Added a verbose flag for the game.config file so map creators can hear dice rolls and more in depth information.
15. Added a unique ID to units for scripters as direct object reference comparison does not work in javascript with objects passed to you by the engine.
16. Separated the Map Creation Guide from the main user guide so it is not so overwhelming for new players.
17. Added visuals for menus.
18. Added visuals for items.
19. Made it so all skills show up in the unit menu for enemies.  This way you can press F4 on them to hear the descriptions of enemy skills.
20. Fixed a bug where loading a game after starting the program fresh would cause start turn changes to occur.
21. Made it so that an item is equippable if any of it's equip type names match the unit's equip type names.
22. Made it so unit names used in escape victory conditions or death defeat conditions can match any unit regardless of team.
23. Fixed a bug where units with spaces in their names were not recognized in escape or death conditions.
24. Added the ability to download and install map packs in game.
25. Fixed a few bugs to make downloading map packs in game more solid.
26. Fixed a bug where items that did not have an equip type requirement could not be equipped.
27. Fixed a bug that caused the game to crash when using specific skills on empty tiles.  These skills targetted a tile but caused effects on units.
28. Added the ability to configure many of the game's keys using Keys.config.
29. Added the no_drop_items_on_death flag for units.
30. Hidden points will no longer have start or end of turn changes announced.
31. Added the unit after_create event for scripters.
32. Changed how dictionaries are accessed from javascript to support adding or removing keys from them.
33. Updated dictionaries in javascript so scripters no longer need to prepare strings for indexing before using them as keys.  The engine now handles that itself.
34. Added the shared.GetStorage() method for scripters.
35. Made it so the game gets a different map downloads file based on whether it is a dev or stable version.
36. Fixed a bad memory leak introduced in earlier dev versions.
37. Added Allan Thompson's beginner's guide to map creation to the documentation.
38. Significantly improved the performance of checking for updated map packs by having the server check instead of the client and by caching the result.
39. Added a go to map selection menu in the battle menu.
40. Improved the way sounds were loaded and disposed which greatly improved memory usage.
41. Added an option in preferences to turn off the graphics.
42. Significantly improved TB map rendering performance on large maps.
43. Significantly improved AI performance on large maps.
44. Added the ability to get the lists for units, structures, and effects from a tile object in script.
45. Added the AllUnits property on the shared.Map object for scripters.
46. Added an in game updater that automatically checks for updates to the game and gives the player an option to update.
47. Fixed a bug where a map pack that was missing Map Pack Settings.txt and Author.txt would crash the game.
48. Added the new parser format for most files.  That is parser version 10.
49. Added Event Subscriptions.txt for subscribing to global events.
50. Added the Script Flag Definitions.txt file for scripters.
51. Added the load_scripts flag to the Map Pack Settings.txt file.
52. Added an inherits flag for units, so you can have a base unit that other units inherit flags and script flags from.
53. Added a feature to convert older map pack files to version 10.
54. A number of bug fixes that didn't get properly recorded in the changelog.
55. Significantly reduced the size of saved games and TB memory consumption in general which also improves the speed of saving and loading.
56. (CB) Fixed a bug where specifying cost mods for specific skills didn't work e.g move_actions_cost_mod=2. This should all be fine now.
57. (CB) The AI will no longer use self targeting skills to effect units on the same tile. Self should mean self.
58. (CB) Fixed a bug where skills that caused effects and damage would kill the unit, then apply the effect, then kill it again. This could cause trouble with death transformations and other after_death events.
59. (CB) There is now an only_useable_on flag that works as the opposite to not_useable_on. It will only let you or the AI target given units with that skill or item. In cases where both are used, the game will give you a spoken warning and then use the only_useable_on in preference.
60. Fixed the bug where maps playing synchronous sounds in their intro_text flag would not actually play the sound.
61. Added a battle log that lets you review the enemy's turn at your own pace.
62. Fixed a bug where loading a game would run the javascript code while the global object was in play, thus overwriting some saved data.
63. Fixed a bug where the current tile would be announced along with sound before the battle log appeared.

~ Ian Reed
Visit BlindGamers.com to rate blind accessible games and see how others have rated them.
Try my free JGT addon, the easy way to play Japanese games in English.
Or try the free games I've created.

2014-10-12 22:27:12 (edited by stewie 2014-10-12 22:33:22)

I just tried this. For some reason screenreader support is not working. I tried copying the nvda dll to the folder which failed.

For the map downloader, it would be cool if there was a way to turn off the percentage notification. Particularly as this large map is downloading very slowly and it's announcing every single percentage increase.

<edit>Now NVDA is working, but I did encounter a bug. when I started a map, the introduction to the map was being read with nvda, however the enemies attacking were being read by sapi.</edit>

Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.

2014-10-12 22:36:50

To switch to using screen reader support for NVDA press alt + O.
If it doesn't seem to be reading, try alt tabbing away from the game window and back again.
No NVDA dlls are required.

~ Ian Reed
Visit BlindGamers.com to rate blind accessible games and see how others have rated them.
Try my free JGT addon, the easy way to play Japanese games in English.
Or try the free games I've created.

2014-10-12 22:42:58

If you turn off the battle log then SAPI will read the enemy's actions.
If you leave the battle log on then they will be read by your screen reader.

I can not reasonably synchronize the playing of speech and sounds when playing multiple in a row and outputting to a screen reader because screen readers do not support any way to find out when the speech has finished.
SAPI does provide this, which is why it gets used when the battle log is turned off.

~ Ian Reed
Visit BlindGamers.com to rate blind accessible games and see how others have rated them.
Try my free JGT addon, the easy way to play Japanese games in English.
Or try the free games I've created.

2014-10-12 22:58:06

for some reason when I started a map, the battle log was off and sapi was reading it for the initial turn. I'm really liking the update so far though, particularly as the map downnoader no longer results in interesting script errors when maps start.

Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.

2014-10-12 23:26:38

awesome stuff!  when I've got some time off in a couple weeks, really want to try my hand at creating something for this.  smile

2014-10-13 03:23:59

hey it would be cool to have a map with sounds for a star trek voyager battle and strategy, also lord of the rings, and dota2.

2014-10-13 03:51:45

I can't use the getting started maps or the tomb robber maps, it says that there are some txt files missing.

2014-10-13 03:53:59

Yay, this new release is pretty exciting. Most map creaters have been using features in the development versions, and it'll be great when non-beta testers get to try out the latest and greatest packs.

2014-10-13 04:21:47

@whocrazy, I just tested both and they work fine for me.
Do you have anti virus software that might be stopping the game from looking at its files?
Or have you placed the game somewhere that Windows UAC might be stopping it from accessing its files?

You might try running it from a folder on your desktop.
Or temporarily disabling your anti virus to see if that's the problem.

~ Ian Reed
Visit BlindGamers.com to rate blind accessible games and see how others have rated them.
Try my free JGT addon, the easy way to play Japanese games in English.
Or try the free games I've created.

2014-10-13 08:02:59

I am using windows xp sp3, and I have even disabled and uninstalled my antivirus and firewall software, and yet it still tells me after it downloads the zip file that it cannot find the needed text files author.txt or settings.txt in the map packs folder.

2014-10-13 08:44:18

@whocrazy: I am using the same system and got no problems with the mappacks. Thats strange.
Hey, i got a nother question. Will it be possible to play this against friends in a multiplayergame? I think it would be more fun instead of playing against the computer.

2014-10-13 08:54:35

@whocrazy, Did you manually copy map packs into the game folder?
Or have you been using the in game map pack downloader?
Are you launching the game with a desktop shortcut, or running TacticalBattle.exe directly?

Try a fresh unzipping of the game and only using the in game map pack downloader, and launching TacticalBattle.exe directly.

If those things don't work then I'd like to see the current state of your Tactical Battle folder.
If you can zip it up and give me a dropbox or sendspace link to download it that would work.

~ Ian Reed
Visit BlindGamers.com to rate blind accessible games and see how others have rated them.
Try my free JGT addon, the easy way to play Japanese games in English.
Or try the free games I've created.

2014-10-13 12:23:06

Hi.
This is an awesome release.
I've joined the mailinglist because I'm working on a map pack, but I got very busy at my job and a lot of other things, so I haven't had time to work on it for a while. But I've followed the developement which is really awesome!
I look so much forward to play the new map packs.

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2014-10-13 13:36:07

I used the in game map pack downloader and I am running the program directly in a folder.  Everything else works fine, I just can't download the map successfully.
I mean, the file downloads and when it gets to 100% I get the error about the missing text files.
I unzip the game into c:\battle.

2014-10-13 18:17:18

yes I wish we could play online against and with friends. like I could be the good and an online friend could be the enemy. or you could do team player. hey this would be perfect! in tacticle battles3 online play where either 1. you are good and your friend is the enemy or 2. you do team play with a dota2 mod where you and a friend or some friends team up and make towns or towers at the bottom of the map and the enemy team makes towers and recruits archers and dragons and things at the top of the same map and then you all go at it all out war! oh and how about a call of duty map or lord of the rings, or how to train your dragon, or power rangers. in power rangers for example the command center is your base at bottom left of the map you start out as human. you fight putties and then you get to upgrade and become a power ranger with basic powers. then you upgrade to the other kinds of power rangers. and once you get so much experience you can then get zords and megazords and things. I love tacticle battle and I wish I would have tried it out earlier! Oh, and you could even do a deer hunting mod where your hunting cabin is base and you recruit archers and guys with guns to shoot deer which would be the enemy in that game.

2014-10-13 18:19:50

hi slj what map pack are you working on? also does anyone know how to rip sounds from sighted people's video games so I can then use them in a map pack? I unzipped my tacticle battles into c:\users\username\my documents\ .

2014-10-13 18:20:59

also I would love to play tacticle battles on my android phone! and if it were in the google play store I would pay $20 or $30 to play tacticle battles on my phone.

2014-10-13 23:29:37

I'm just now realising how much I suck at this game for the moment. haha.
That age of warlords pack looks totally awesome though.  actually, they all do.  it's hard to figure out what I wanna try first.

2014-10-14 02:45:58

WOw. smile

I've just had the chance to try this out with my Windows VM. I'm very impressed. I do wonder about some of the map packs though, they don't seem to have a lot of documentation. Age of Warlords seems to have a game mechanics file, but nothing else that I could find. It looks very cool though, almost civilization-like in style.

THanks, Ian!

2014-10-14 09:16:54

@zkline: I think Alan's working on more detailed documentation for age of warlords.

2014-10-14 11:46:29

this is probably an incredibly obvious question, but if I change a music file but keep the same name, will it still be useable? only doing this for a couple in the clone wars pack that I have the original quality versions of.

2014-10-14 12:35:08

yeah, that is right.

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2014-10-14 21:32:52

Hi.
I'll keep my Map pack as a secret, because I'm not sure if I even will get the time to finnish it soon. It's not nice to give out some great information on something which never is going to be released. smile

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen