Universal Combat

Platform(s): PC
Genre: Action
Publisher: Dreamcatcher
Developer: 3000 AD

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'Universal Combat' - Update Patch Available NOW

by Rainier on Feb. 10, 2004 @ 9:51 a.m. PST

Get the Universal Combat RC1 (v1.00.02) patch off Worthplaying (10mb)

1. Revisions to AI kernel

1. NPC troops can now more frequently self-heal (using medkits) and self-repair (using repair kits). They can also do this while clearly close to the point of death (Grey TTD). Previously they won't pause to do this during a combat engagment or if badly injured. Since there is no ability for you or an NPC to carry an injured comrade to safety (wait for the next game), you have to ensure that you manually pull your people out of a hostile zone if they are badly injured as they will NOT abandon their order (and subsequently their comrades) without a direct order. i.e. an Assault Force Marine, carrying the devastatingly powerful A9MAG will never leave - even if he has a very low LF or very high FF. You have to find a safe location and then give him the order to escort you (and subsequently to that location) or another NPC (in a safe location). If you give the RTB, he will bugger off home and be lost to you.NPC marines have long term memory - so treat them nicely or they will get you killed at the very first opportunity, by ignoring a direct order.

2. NPC troops can now use supply stations (like the player) - even ones located in hostile bases.

o The supply station object is now a support platform so that NPCs (and player) can get closer to it, since several NPCs may decide to use it all at the same time.
o The supply station must must exist in the current 3D world to be usable.
o A supply station is not usable if more than six people are already using or intend to use it.
o A supply station is not usable if a hostile person is using or intends to use the station.
o A supply station is not usable if more than 5km from the position of the person trying to use it.
o Persons currenty do not go to a supply station of their own accord because there are situations where they will bugger off in search of one - just when you need them to be engaging enemy forces. They must be given an order using the Proceed to Supply Station order in the Team Orders Menu. The order is ignored if there is no suitable supply station nearby.
o Once a station is selected, the person will then proceed to the supply station, stand at a vacant position, and orient towards it. The supply operation takes 10 seconds to complete. On completion the person is rearmed, healed, resupplied and the armor is restored. The person then resumes previous orders.
o Supply station use is implemented as a gesture. The disarm/pose change/rearm gesture sequence begins when the person arrives at a certain distance from the TEAM tag position being used that is defined in the station object. The person uses side steps to position accurately similar to when escorting a person.
o The supply station use is cancelled if an order is issued that sets the objective of the person e.g. "Attack My Target"

3. NPC personnel troops can now RTB to a Mobile Forward Base
4. Sometimes when you (as the leader) of a marine team goes prone, some members of the team do not follow suit. This is because members who do not have direct orders from you, will take orders only from their leader. So, if you have marine A escorting you and you go prone, only marine A will go prone, as marine B (escorting marine A), will not. This has been addressed so that orders are propagated based on the chain of command within the team.
5. Changes to NPC repair/healing

o Armor repair takes priority and has a higher "must repair" threshold. Unit will now repair armour if it is less than 50%.
o After performing healing/maintenance the NPC will repeat until he runs out of supplies or is repaired/healed. NOTE: that using a single MEDPAK,
NUTRIPAK, or TOOLKIT (as viewed in the CVD/SMD) will not immediately change the
stores manifest as they each have 2 and 4 uses respectively. The stores
manifest will change after the healing process is completed, not when it
starts.
o Disabled persons will not repair/heal themselves. They are
considered unconscious, it is up to something else to treat them.
o The pain timer is used to reduce the number of pain SFX. The pain
SFX will not be issued for 3 seconds. (this uses the pain timer).
6. Increased the spectrum coverage of planetary SAM/SAL threats so that
they acquire and fire on hostile targets more frequently. This was heavily
revised from previous BC games in order to make the game a bit more playable
without overwhelming the first time player with a barrage of hostile fire they
simply couldn't avoid. Now, their previous rules have been restored, but a
margin of error has now been introduced so that experienced players don't cry
foul.

2. Revisions to Dynamics kernel:

1. Tweaked the CALS system (manual p59) a bit more in order to alleviate
twitching when landed on some terrain slopes. Also resolves some issues related
to landing profiles in some instances.
2. Tweaked the landing profile for NPC gunships in order that they can
better intercept landing waypoints especially when under fire.
3. You can now eject from a craft (while in VTOL mode) without having to
first land it. This allows you to do silly and crazy things like, oh, I dunno,
say (a) flying a fighter into another unit while ejecting at the last minute
(b) dropping in on a carrier deck and stealing a fully functional fighter from
its deck (c) ejecting from a craft that is sure to be destroyed in the coming
moments etc. Naturally, if you jump at a high altitude and end up on land
instead of water - without a jetpack - you're dead.
4. Significantly revised and tweaked the collision detect and avoidance so
that it is less likely to fail during low frame rate processing. NPC units will
now predict a collision more quickly and can avoid them where possible. This is
mostly beneficial on planetary scenes where there are a lot of buildings and
NPC (mostly troops) have too many buildings to process in order to eliminate
from their decision tree.

3. Revisions to interface:

1. Completely revised the DJP menus. Are now cascade style menus; making
selection navigation easier
2. Revisions to the Priority List Viewer (PLV)
o The PLV is now active in all craft views. Was previously only
available in the fp mode view. It was originally designed for ease of handling
combat troops in this mode.
o The image of a speaker is no longer displayed if the PLV is active
o Adding a target to the priority list (P) now plays a sound and
provides visual feedback (same as target designation using G)
3. Revisions to the Team Orders Menu (TOM)
o Now has three new orders :(REPAIR, DOCK WITH, PROCEED
TO...WDU/SUPPLY STATION)
o The 1-9 command keys have been remapped to F1-F12.
o Entries that have no effect are displayed in Red
o The "DOCK WITH" order tells a person to dock with a player asset.
When completed the person will disappear. This command will later be revised
for better support so that if an NPC docks with, e.g. a vehicle, it can later
exit when you do. Also, if you order your own CC team to dock with one of your
own assets (e.g. SC), they will appear in the cargo manifest.
o The "REPAIR" (NYI) command tells a person to repair either another
person using a Medkit for LF or Toolkit for armor. Since NPC do not currently
assist each other in this regard, you can order them to do it.
o The "PROCEED TO..." command takes either a (1) WDU (Waypoint
Designator Unit) which you can select from the list, if you have deployed any
or (2) a supply station (the NPC will seek out the nearest supply station in
the vicinity).

4. Revisions to content:

1. Revised the numbering scheme of the IA scenarios to go from IA0101 to
IA0115 for those non-programmers who don't understand that numbering starts at
zero. Not one. And thus wondering what IA0100 to IA0114 is all about.
2. Added LCAC naval units to the shores where naval (subs, carriers etc)
are. This makes it easier to access them without having to swim - or die
trying.
3. Revised the APR_GPR rocket (fired by some weapons e.g. the KLMP
launcher) attributes and added a shockwave explosion for better effect and
coverage
4. Created several more planetary scene templates and added more units
(vehicles, crafts etc) to these new ones as well as existing ones.

5. Revisions to gameplay:

1. All capital naval (sub, carrier, cruiser) units can now be used by any
career if the EP is 500 or higher. Previously (see the manual addendum) for
game balancing reasons, only some careers could use them, regardless of EP.
2. Revised the damage factor for some missiles (ATS/APM/APR)
3. Due to their vulnerability and need for precision strikes, gunships no
longer use conventional ATA/ATS missiles. They now all (those with weapons) use
the more powerful and accurate all purpose RALIX and RALAR missiles.
4. Implemented turret target prediction, mostly to prevent friendly fire
within planetary scenes
5. Enabled gesture animations in single-player mode and taught NPC marines
how to use/respond to them. This allows NPC personnel to (a) use them (b) react
to them based on your use. e.g. if you salute and a bunch of NPC marines are
around (and friendly to you), they will also salute. If you wave, they will
wave back. If you tell them to hold position or follow you, they will comply.
As long as they see you do the gesture. Refer to the keyboard commands sheet
for a list of gestures. WARNING: Go saluting your troops in the middle of a hot
zone and they'll all get shot in the head (since they have to drop their
weapons in order to return the gesture).
6. Revisions to graphics kernel:
1. You can now toggle OFF planetary clouds in Config
7. Revisions to multiplayer kernel:
1. Developed an all new console based server. To use it, add /console to
the "Start MP Server" shortcut. This allows you to now have remote servers,
administer it etc etc. Previously, due to its graphics nature, the server
could not be started or administered remotely, using Terminal Services (win2K),
Remote Desktop Connection (winXP) or similar. This is a WIP console server and
may have some quirks though. A Linux server is in the works.
2. Significant improvements to packet sizes, rates, transmissions etc etc
resulting in a marked improvement in multiplayer games.
3. Enabled client side gestures (wave, salute etc). This no longer needs
to be configured on the server.
4. FIXED: In some cases a dropped client alias remained on the server
indefinitely, though the client had physically disconnected.
8. Miscellaneous Revisions:
1. Updated several appendix files, as well as the CONFIG OPTIONS.PDF and
UC_MANUAL_REVISIONS.PDF files
2. In first person mode, the step L/R keys have been changed from from
END/PGDOWN to HOME/PGUP. This is so that stepping left and right works when
using a weapon with a zoom scope. Previously you could not use END to step
left with such a weapon because that key would effect zoom in instead. Using
HOME/PGUP avoids this problem because the zoom out function provided by HOME
has no effect when zoomed out (off) so the key can function as step left.
Stepping left right is disabled when zoomed in.
3. The numeric arrow keys are no longer effected by the state of NUMLOCK
9. BUG FIXES:
1. FIXED: Naval units could sometimes not be moved if they were too close
to land e.g. there is a naval base on Earth and even when you switch to the
carrier (assuming you have the required EPs and rank), you couldn't move it.
Same thing applies to subs, LCACs etc. This bug actually crept in as a result
of a recent seabed detection routine revision and nobody noticed it (since
naval units aren't that sexy to play with).
2. FIXED: The PL12 sniper rifle and FG45 combat rifle had incorrect export
values. This resulted in them being incorrectly attached to a jetpack or
backpack when holstered. They attach just fine to the characters back holster,
as long as there is no jetpack or backpack.
3. FIXED: Grenades are no longer removed from list of inventory ammo when
running an IA scenario. This also fixes an issue whereby NPC troops are created
without grenades (for manual throwing) if they don't have a weapon (ZS10 rifle
or GLE22 launcher) that uses them.
4. FIXED: A crash related to escort NPC troops trying to copy the pose of
a target that has not yet selected one.
5. FIXED: Escort troops remain in prone state and move at running speed
when leader decides to up and run
6. FIXED: Excessively injured characters no longer instantly vanish
instead of being correctly killed and thus causing the death animation to be
played. If you ever see a marine killed and he instantly disappears with no
death animation, thats what this fix corrects.
7. FIXED: commlink personnel image sometimes not being displayed in FP
front view e.g. in some IA scenarios the image of the speaker (e.g. NPC
marines) is only displayed in other views
8. FIXED: Player gun no longer fires (left-click) after using the DJP menu
to make a destination selection
9. FIXED: Turning some planetary terrain options off in CONFIG, had no
effect
10. FIXED: Some collision detect issues with units (especially on the deck
of carriers). e.g. if you walked up to an Intruder gunship from certain angles
(e.g. near its ramp and tail fin section), you could walk through the model
because the support structure (which allows you to get that close, since you
can climb on its ramp) and precise collision detect (which allow you to pass
under its tail fin etc without triggering a false collision) flags were being
set.
11. FIXED: Game was attempting to auto-save (when player killed) in
INSTANT ACTION mode. This could cause a crash in some instances.
12. FIXED: The person would not re-arm or resume action after maintenance
if the gesture time was decreased to exactly zero.
13. FIXED: The invert Y axis toggle in CONFIG did not work in first person
mode or when in turrets. Now operates in the first person view and mouselook.
It now also effects the turret pitch when controlling a turret in a vehicle
(OC).
14. FIXED: Switching to some assets (e.g. AX25 SAM) would sometimes cause
a crash due to incorrect missile loadouts defined in the DATAASSETS.INI
15. FIXED: The environment weather was not being overwritten via a script
command if not running in debug or cheat mode. e.g. IA0115 should take place
in stormy weather.
16. FIXED: Crash in some Frontend modules (e.g. Logistix, Tradcom) due to
inventory not being initialized
17. FIXED: Crash resulting from items inventory not being initialized.
This resulted in weapon modes containing incorrect clips counts for weapons
with more than one mode (e.g. ZS10)
18. FIXED: In first person the view position would drift due to precision
loss.
19. FIXED: The NAVCHART.INI file was missing some military base entries.
This would result in a crash if you tried to start on EARTH08_MB01 using a
marine career.
20. FIXED: A crash would occur if you tried to select an asset for the
Space Force Marine career. At one time this career could not use assets, but in
UC it has access to shuttles.

v1.00.01 - 01.14.04 [RETAIL RELEASE VERSION]

GENERAL

1. Personnel deployed from crafts (manual or via waypoints) will now run away from the deploying craft in order to better separate deployed troops in
instances where a lot of them are deployed. Each person is deployed one sec after the next and the craft will only dust-off (if it has a subsequent wp
order) after the last person is deployed and is clear (outside the bounding box) of the craft.
2. CALS is now a toggle (CTRL+E) for instances where the player decides not to land. Previously once engaged it could not be disengaged until the craft had
actually landed on the terrain.
3. On planet ingress from space, the initial altitude (35K ft AGL) was beyond the ceiling capabilities of some crafts thereby causing them to stall and
eventually crash into the terrain under gravity during a rapid descent. The
planetfall ingress altitude is now set at the ceiling altitude for the craft
instead of the previously fixed altitude of 35K ft AGL.
4. MISCON now lists campaign scenarios as ACM.
NOTE: To those of you creating scenarios, do NOT use the same numbering
system as the game!! e.g. the IA scenarios in the game are numbered IA01xx.SCR,
allowing for up to IA0999.SCR scenarios. So, all user scenarios can use the
next numbering set e.g. IA02xx, IA03xx etc up to IA09xx. The same applies to
ROAM (Rxxx.SCR) and CAMPAIGN (Cxxx.SCR) scenarios.
5. The option to toggle ON the terrain flocks (birds, animals etc) system is
now exposed in CONFIG. Previously was disabled (flocks are disabled by default)
and could only be modified manually in the UCCONFIG.INI file by setting
PteFlocks=TRUE
6. Like the player, NPCs attempting to climb up steep inclines (40 degrees or
higher) are now forced into prone state.
7. Enabled the /i cheat (invincibility) parameter. No other cheats are
enabled.
8. FIXED: Due to a timing issue on some fast systems, the campaign scenario
would sometimes time out after the first AI tick occurs.
9. FIXED: If you selected ROAM or CAMPAIGN from the Main Menu, then from the
Start New Game screen you changed your mind, went back to the Main Menu and
selected INSTANT ACTION, sometimes a CTD would occur.

MULTIPLAYER

1. FIXED: If a client with a low bandwidth (dial-up) dies on a server, he is
not auto-joined to the server. The only way to re-join the server is to return
to the server browser and re-join the server.
2. FIXED: If at startup the game serial number is not located, the game will
not attempt to contact the auth server and thus not start the server browser.
Instead it will start and go to the Main Menu. This does not seem to happen all
the time. The game will now only attempt to contact the auth server after the
client has started in the server browser. Upon connecting to a server, if the
game serial number (CDKEY) is not authenticated, the game will now quit.
3. FIXED: several servers issues:
+ Using zoom-to/other would crash the graphical server
+ Crash related to "hostile/friendly/neutral" menu entries in priority menu
by removing them (the concept of alliance is ambiguous in the server).
+ Crash in zoom-to/other (caused by display of range to (non-existent) self
in menu pullright)
+ Crash when log level >= 3
+ Crash when sometimes observing planet (related to menu)
+ Crash zooming to (eg) the ODS platform with video camera enabled
(reference to self)
+ Menu item text flickering
+ Removed some menu items that require a command craft
(COMMAND/FC/SC/OC/PROBES)

v1.00.06.28 (RC2) - 12.17.03

1. If an object residing on a map other than the one the player is on is being
viewed in an external cam view, the object (as viewed by the camera) will
sometimes be incorrectly positioned above ground if the view crosses a tile
boundary. This has been corrected by removing the randomness for straight and
curved corner transition tiles which caused height variations when matched with
the reference heightmap for these transitions, resulting in incorrect terrain
heights at tile boundaries.
NOTE: The F10 camera (like all external cameras) is for viewing purposes
only and not to be relied on for normal gameplay operation. Due to the vast
distances which an object being viewed can be at, this camera will sometimes
give incorrect object placement results depending on the map location.
2. Revised the UC_MANUAL_REVISIONS.PDF file to match the section/page
references in the recently received printed manual.
3. Added revised satellite map based terrain snow textures. These have much
better visual clarity than the existing ones
4. The ISX installer pulled the Beta scenario files (DATASCENARIOS.ZIP) from
the wrong NAS HDD resulting in only the Beta scenarios being available in the
RC1 burn.
5. The ISX installer used the incorrect file/shortcut for the mp executable.
Fix: Edit the "Join MP Server" shortcut and add /c commandline parameter, or
wait for this patch.
6. In the release build, you cannot swim to some underwater bases without
running out of air because of the depth at that location. The amount of air in
the rebreather has now been increased from 15 to 30 mins.
7. If you fall off a naval carrier/sub, you have no method of getting back on
deck. A DJP has now been placed near the initial positions of carrier battle
groups.
8. FIXED: Addressed an issue with the height above terrain in some parts where
crossing a tile boundary which had a detail mesh, would report an incorrect
height. This can cause a model to momentarily go below the terrain in a frame
update.
9. FIXED: Depending on the height above the seabed, if you were previously
below the surface and swam to the top, you could no longer swim and can only
wade.
10. The size of the fp crosshair has been reduced by popular demand

11. The ALT+J key in Config has been removed in order to prevent re-configuration, since it is now a fixed function
12. FIXED: When an object which can be rebuilt is destroyed, the model is repeatedly loaded if the "Optimized Models" option was set in Config.
13. FIXED: When an object which can be rebuilt (e.g. planetary buildings, starstations etc) is destroyed, a crash may sometimes occur when the object is being re-textured to its visible damage state. This problem is caused by an array which contains five texture elements intead of four. A temporary fix for this problem is as follows:

1. Quit the game and go to the GFX folder
2. Extract the damageL4.tga file from the FX.ZIP archive resource into the GFX folder. Do NOT delete the version which resides in the FX.ZIP file!!!
3. Now rename the extracted damageL4.tga to damageL5.tga and leave it in the GFX folder. This gives five textures and solves this problem.

14. FIXED: Sometimes destroyed buildings on the planet were not disappearing under the ground. This was due to a timing issue related to frame rates. Now
the buildings will slowly descend into the ground and gradually rise as they are rebuilt.
15. FIXED: The A/P was overriding the CALS system, making it sometimes impossible to land.
16. FIXED: Visible character models in open vehicles (CAV, UAV etc) was enabled only in debug build. Is now enabled in release build.

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