THE WHEEL OF TIME
VERSION 333B
READ ME


CONTENTS

I. WHAT WAS CHANGED IN VERSION 333B?
II. WHAT IS IN THE 333 PATCH?
III. WHO SHOULD I CONTACT IF I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THE PATCH?

 

 
I. WHAT WAS CHANGED IN VERSION 333B?
  • In the 333 version of the patch, using the Disguise ter'angreal in a multiplayer game would crash the server if the players were using a mix of patched and unpatched clients.  This has been fixed.
  • The file path to the \Movies and \Music directories were being overwritten by the 333 patch.  This has been fixed so the file paths will remain as specified by the user.

    Note: If you have previously installed the movies and/or music to your hard drive, you will need to re-install them after you install the patch.

 

II. WHAT IS IN THE 333 PATCH?
There are several new features in Version 333:
  • Player ID (point your cursor at a player and see their name).  It works with Disguise, too--moving your cursor over someone who is disguised will show the correct disguised name.  You can turn this option off from the "Controls" menu.
  • A voting system.  Players can now vote to restart the server, kick an abusive player, ban an abusive player, and change a map in progress.  In order for this to work, use the following syntax from the console:
    vote restartserver
    vote kick <player> (example: vote kick TheAmazingFoodMan)
    vote kickban <player> (example: vote kickban Badaxe)
    vote open <map> (example: vote open arena_02)
    In order for the vote to succeed, all players voting in the affirmative must type the same command.  If you wish to vote no, simply do not enter any command. A majority is required before the command is executed. Only players who have installed this patch will be able to use the voting system.
  • New log statements for players joining a team, leaving a team, and restarting the game, in order to better present the information to server administrators.
  • A "Net Speed" menu option in the "Player Config" section of the "Multiplayer" menu.  There are three settings: "Internet" (for 28.8 to 56K modem users), "Fast Internet" (for ISDN and cable modem users), and "LAN" (for DSL or faster connections)

In addition, there are several fixes for existing problems with the commercial release of The Wheel of Time:

  • The number of seals will stay constant.  This fixes a bug where players could create extra seals in citadel mode.
  • Inactive citadel servers (servers with no players that have been idle for an extended period of time after a game has started) will now restart.
  • Spectators are now forced onto a team after 15 seconds of the start of a multiplayer game.  This fixes the problem of spectators being mistaken for players during the game.
  • Icons on the scoreboard will now display the proper background color (according to skin) for each player.
  • The tracer ter'angreal will now find seals wherever they are in the level.  If a seal is well-hidden by terrain, etc in the level, the tracer will sometimes go through the obstacle to reach the seal.
  • Spaces in player names will now be changed to underscores.  This fixes the problem of multi-worded player names being cut off after the first word.
  • Machin Shin and the Light Sphere ter'angreal will now function properly in multiplayer.  No official maps use either of these things yet.
  • Spirit shield will now cancel Swap Places.
  • All previous Direct3D enhancements and fixes have been included.
  • A previous patch that fixed a copy protection problem with launching multiplayer servers has been included.
  • The Wheel of Time servers no longer report their existence to Epic's master server.
  • The FString::Parse / appStrfind crash has been fixed.
  • Players can no longer hold the Shift key to stay suspended in midair after shifting.
  • The Home and Grey Plus keys are now rebound to the "flush" command.  If your system uses a Direct3D accelerator card, you may notice gradual performance degradation in certain areas of the game.  In these cases, the "flush" command can improve performance dramatically.
  • Legion's projectiles will now lose acquisition upon the target's death.
  • NPCs will now lose acquisition upon the target's death.
  • Players can no longer freeze corpses.
  • The Fork ter'angreal now lasts twice as long.
  • The Sever ter'angreal now uses charges 50% more slowly.
  • The Sever ter'angreal is now only stopped by spirit, earth, and water shield.
  • Seeking projectiles that lose acquisition will no longer explode when they hit a player (or NPC).  They will continue to float until they strike something in the environment, where they will explode or expire.
  • If a client wants to join a server that is running a map the client does not have, the client will now automatically download the map.
  • Non-English versions of the game are unable to access the "Advanced Options" menu.  All advanced changes should be made directly to the .INI files.
  • If you have a card with the S3 Savage 4 chipset and are experiencing rendering problems, change the "Detail Textures" option in the "Hardware" menu to off.  This will fix almost all of the rendering problems in the game.  However, we were unable to fix the rendering problem in Mission_08c (The Ways, Part II).  Please contact your graphics card vendor for updated drivers.
  • If you are using Direct3D and The Wheel of Time did not automatically detect Direct3D when you first installed (so you had to manually select it), you should change your video driver to Direct3D again after installing this patch. This will allow the game to optimize its settings for your video card. To reset your Direct3D driver, select the "Change Video Mode" option from The Wheel of Time's Program Group.

 

III. WHO SHOULD I CONTACT IF I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THE PATCH?
All inquiries should be addressed to me, Grant Roberts, at groberts@legendent.com.  I will take your queries, problems, etc and either answer them myself, or forward them to the appropriate people who will.