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May 15th, 2007Paintball 2.0 Alpha Build 18 ReleasedAt long last, another public alpha release is available.  The major change in this release is the addition of the global login system.  This allows players to register names and clan tags that will be reserved across all servers.  Simply click on the "Login" link above and create an account.  Only one account is allowed per player, but you can register multiple names to a single account, so that won't be an issue.

Please note: some portions of the web interface and database are not complete and are still being tested.  The test database is still being used.  When the system switches over to the live database, you will need to register a new account.

Here's what's new:

build018 (2007-05-08):
- Bugfix: Fixed crash caused by status packet sent while playing a demo. 1:50 PM 3/25/2007
- Bugfix: Fixed crash when attempting to load bad wav file (drip_amb.wav) in OpenAL. 3:17 AM 5/6/2007
- Bugfix: Fixed macro processing in $$$var scenario. 2:14 PM 5/27/2007
- Tweak: Switched over to UDP for communicating with the login server. (major rewrite)
- Tweak: Switched to UDP to download the serverlist. (major rewrite)
- Tweak: Changed default timeout value to 30 seconds. 8:10 PM 4/29/2007

build017 (2007-03-04):
- Bugfix: No longer tries to download .md2 files if the .skm file exists.
- Bugfix: Fixed r_reflective water with gl_ztrick 1 (ztrick just gets disabled, but the screen doesn't flicker).
- Bugfix: Attempted to fix some buffer overflows causing server crashes.
- Bugfix: Fixed minor buffer length issue with client side scoreboard.
- Bugfix: Fixed entity loading problem where entity string was not null-terminated.
- Bugfix: Fixed select widget to position properly when empty.
- Bugfix: Fixed see-through-wall glitch with high FOV.
- Bugfix: Fixed gl_skymip.
- Bugfix: Fixed crash caused by highly populated servers over a long period of time. 3:36 AM 10/3/2006
- Bugfix: Fixed ping time display in the server browser for LAN servers. 2:46 AM 12/5/2006
- Bugfix: Fixed crash when loading non power of two textures larger than 1024x1024. 12:59 AM 1/11/2007
- Bugfix: Screenshots work in the console again.
- Bugfix: Linux input fixes (you may need to set in_dgamouse to 0 if you have problems now).
- Tweak: Cleaned up condump command to get rid of color codes and other garbage.
- Tweak: Fixed paths and letter casing in fopen function for better Linux compatibility.
- Tweak: r_speeds now account for water polygons.
- Tweak: r_speeds now account for reflective water.
- Tweak: r_speeds are colored to help tip mappers off to areas that need polygon reduction.
- Tweak: Defaulted cl_sleep to 0 because it caused some framerate/choppy issues with some people.
- Tweak: Made "build" serverinfo, so you can see what build a server is running from server browsers.
- Tweak: Tweaked alpha channel a bit when mipmapping so textures like fences don't disappear in the distance.
- Tweak: Minor optimization in file reading.
- Tweak: Tried to fix screenshot lag problem.
- Tweak: Added more video resolutions.
- Tweak: Made weapon draw with high FOV values, use cl_gun 0 to disable.
- Tweak: Removed the netgraph background so you can see the hud while it's enabled.
- Tweak: Linux checks for libGL.so (or whatever gl_driver is set to), libGL.so.1.2, and libGL.so.1, in that order.
- Tweak: limited gl_picmip to 2.
- Tweak: Support for sv_forcesky so it won't cause framerate drop.
- Tweak: Limited cl_maxfps to higher than 5. 6:08 PM 12/6/2006
- Tweak: Changed dpball.com to dplogin.com for serverlist downloads. 2:11 AM 2/15/2007
- Tweak: Stripped garbage from names in "status" command. 11:08 PM 2/19/2007
- Tweak: Made the "GLimp_EndFrame() - SwapBuffers() failed!" message caused by buggy drivers only display once.
- Tweak: Increased console exec. buffer from 8k to 32k. 1:45 AM 2/16/2007
- Tweak: Added support for a number of new resolutions, including: 1280x1024, 720x480, 720x576, 848x480, 960x600, 1088x612, 1280x720, 1280x768, 1280x800, 1680x1050, 1440x900, and 1920x1200.
- Feature: Global login account system.
- Feature: Added password flag for text fields (used for login menu).
- Feature: Client now scans for LAN servers on port 27910-27920 so multiple LAN servers can be run on one machine. 2:25 AM 12/5/2006
- Feature: Added simple file check to warn people that modifying content will result in a ban.
- Feature: vid_windowclassname cvar to set the name of the window.  This is so people can set it to "Quake 2" in order to be compatible with keygrip2.
- Feature: Made it so pak files will load from the "pakfiles" subdirectory.
- Feature: timestamp_console cvar to print timestamps at the console.  Enabled by default for dedicated servers.
- Feature: Added ability to name screenshots.  "screenshot test" would save the screenshot as test.jpg.
- Feature: Support for local serverlist files. 4:25 AM 10/4/2006
- Feature: Autologin option for global login. 4:16 AM 11/7/2006
- Feature: Added "sharp" to rscripts to disable filtering (only works if pic hasn't already been loaded). 11/10/2006
- Feature: Xfire support (just displays team color for now). 1:16 AM 12/7/2006
- Feature: "arecord" command, same as "record" but tacks on the map name and date. 3:10 AM 1/3/2007
- Feature: Demo recording avoids file overwrites by tagging on numbers (example: demo_001.dm2 if demo.dm2 exists). 3:11 AM 1/3/2007
- Cvar: cl_customkeyboard uses .kbd files instead of Windows layout.
- Cvar: gl_skyedge cvar to tweak for black sky edges.
- Debug: Added logging for invalid serverlist error. 7:47 PM 2/15/2007

Game code v. 1.901 build 147-148
- Fixed cvar_set command to allow for settings with spaces in them.
- Switched over to UDP for communicating with the login server.
- Made "timeout" available to cvar_get/cvar_set.
- Sets "_scores" cvar to "N/A" in non-team modes.
- Fixed gravity issue with ball_speed set less than 1300.
- Added sv removetbans command.

Game code v. 1.831-1.900 build 142-146
- sv_login cvar: 0 to disable, 1 to require logins for registered names, and 2 to require logins for all players.
- match_timeout checks to make sure allow_match is set.
- g_consolechat cvar to enable/disable automatic "say" when things are typed at the console.
- Changed "TimeElapsed" to "TimeLeft"
- used EV_OTHER_TELEPORT when moving items back to their origin so they don't "fly through everything" to get there.
- Renderstate sent to server immediately.
- pong_nokill cvar.
- removeip fixed to not require 2 parameters when only 1 is needed.
- particle effect removed for players spawning in DM mode.
- bugfix: if you prime a grenade then use tossgren, you can fire now.
- Fixed crash with "rotation clear"
- Fixed crash with only 1 map in rotation.
- Fixed bug where if you switched teams while a shot you fired was midflight, you could get a teamkill, even though you killed what was an opponent.
- Fixed bug where if you hold the jump key down and walk down a hill, it plays the jump sound repeatedly.
- Fixed the idle on connection bug.
- Made chase targets show up in siege mode.
- Fixed buffer overflow with skin command.
- Fixed crash with "sv listuserip"
- g_autorecord, when set to 1, forces demo recording on clients, when set to 2 (default), forces recording when the server is passworded.
- Fixed overtime bug.
- Made player id enabled by default.
- The allow_match setting seemed to be the opposite of what it should have been.  It works properly now.  If it's set to 1, people can use the "match" command.
- Increased default sv_enforcetime from 120 to 240, so it's less likely to kick people for time discrepancy.
- Team changing flood protection (uses "floodprotect" cvar).
- Players can go idle while eliminated.
- Got rid of the hardcoded settings for matchmode and publicmode.  Uses only the configs now.
- sv_forcesky cvar stops clients from changing skies.
- Made guntemp reset when a player eliminates somebody.
- sv_allowednamechanges restricts number of times a player can change names (to reduce potential lag from login server).
- g_commandfile cvar replaces hardcoded commands.txt.
- g_nws.
- Made bots have a ping of 1 so they're more obvious.
- "model" can be specified for pongball spawns.
- "players" command shows global login id (and removes skin).
- Increased global ban list buffer.
- Changed serverlist source to dplogin.com instead of dpball.com

Build 18 can be downloaded from the files page here.
April 27th, 2007Build 18 Status UpdateWait, what?  What happened to build 17, you ask?  Build 17 had a few too many issues to be released publicly.  The primary issues were related to the fact that it used http for communication with the login server.  This often caused lag or freezing and some people (those behind HTTP proxies, in particular) were not able to connect to the login server at all.  Build 18 is going to use UDP for login server communication to resolve these issues.  It's pretty close to complete, but there are still a lot of loose ends to wrap up.  I might be changing servers (see below), so I probably need to get all that straightened out before the release.  Also, the way the new server list works probably won't be compatible with the old, so all servers and clients will need to update.  It might be a pretty rough transition, so I need to make sure everything is working properly.
2007 Feature VoteThere's still a lot of work that needs to be done on this game, but what changes do you think are most critical?  To cast your vote, simply post a reply in this thread.  Please post your votes in a clean and clear list.  Votes don't have to be limited to the game.  You can throw in requests for the website, forum, external server browser, or whatever else you think really needs the most attention now.

Currently the items with the most votes are:
- Faster in-game downloading.
- More high-resolution textures.
- Vwep (have players carry weapons they're using rather than just the carbine).
- Increase paintball visibility.
- New map format.
- Option to disable colored text in chat.

The items with the most votes will receive a higher development priority.
Potential Server Switch (and Downtime)There have been some complaints about lag on the EV1 servers recently, and that server is pretty dated anyway, so I'm probably going to switch over to a new dedicated server.  This will impact those game servers, the forum, the server lists, and the up and coming global login system.  The new game servers are actually already up for testing.  Look for anything that starts with "EV1-Alt" and try it out.  Post any feedback in this thread.

If I go through with the switch, there will probably be some downtime while the domains get switched over and everybody gets switched over to the latest version with the new server list setup, so if the forums are down or you can't get any servers to show up in your server list in the next few days or weeks, that's probably why.  Be sure to check back for updates.
March 5th, 2007QuakeCon 2007 (+DPCon?)Well, this slipped right by me, but the registration for QuakeCon 2007 started this weekend.  There are still some slots free on the BYOC, so hit up quakecon.org and register quickly if you have any interest in meeting up with some Paintball2 players.  There is no charge.  You just have to get yourself there.  I was hoping to organize things a bit better this year, but I wasn't expecting registration to open so soon.  Stay tuned for more details.  Also stay tuned for the build 17 release, which should be happening shortly.
February 21st, 2007The Forums Return!We never were able to retrieve the data from Server Pronto's server (the old dpball.com).  They wanted us to shell out $250.  No, thanks.  I must say I'm not at all pleased with ServerPronto's level of customer service and wouldn't recommend them to anybody.  We just went with the last backup I had and lost a month or two worth of forum posts.  I will be doing backups much more frequently on the new forums to minimize the loss if anything like this happens again in the future.
December 25th, 2006Merry Christmas! (And a Status Update)I wish I had better news for this Christmas, but it doesn't look like we'll be getting the server back that was hosting the forums.  Delirious tried his hardest to get in touch with ServerPronto and figure out what went wrong, but the only response he ever got was to read and respond to the email sent to his electropsycho.com email account.  Guess what?  That account was hosted on the server they shut down.  I have personally attempted to contact and reason with ServerPronto through their abuse department, since that's what got the server shut down, but I haven't heard a peep from them.

In the meantime, we've redirected dpball.com to another server to at least get some of the core functionality back up, such as the server list.  If you're still having trouble, your DNS may not be updated yet.  It should resolve in time.  For the forums, we've set up a temporary shelter on the forums of a personal friend of mine.  You can visit the Paintball2 subforum here.  Perhaps you're feeling festive and wish to discuss this holiday or simply want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas?  Visit this thread.

The official Digital Paint forums will probably not be back up for another week or so.  I would like to get all of the current data, but we will probably end up losing about a month's worth of posts unless somebody can work some magic.

If you can work that magic, here are some of the details:
- Hosting company: ServerPronto.com (part of InfoLink.com)
- Their contact email: I was using abuse@serverpronto.com, but that got no response.
- IP of the server that was shut down: 65.111.169.183
- Domain name: electropsycho.com and dpball.com (dpball.com has since been directed to a new ip)
- Name of the person leasing the server: Steven Andresen (this is Delirious, not me)
- His registered contact email: steve@electropsycho.com (this email account is obviously inaccessible)

I think what happened is that sendmail (or whatever Redhat 9 uses) basically exploded.  Delirious had it disabled because of previous issues where sendmail vulnerabilities lead to black listing.  During this period of time, sendmail had thousands of emails backlogged.  Somehow it got activated and BOOM!  Every forum activation email, PM notification, new reply notification, and whatever else the forum software sends out emails for got sent simultaneously.  Stuff dating all the way back to 2003, I think.  We're not sure if that by itself caused ServerPronto to shut the server down, or if whatever activated sendmail was also using it for malicious purposes.  We may never know.

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