Get the Universal Combat: CE v2.0 Patch off WP (240mb)

Revised: 04-25-09

NOTES

1. This major upgrade is free to all owners of a pre-existing version of this game. It requires a previous install of v1. If you want the stand-alone version which installs separately and does not require a previous v1 install copy, you can buy it online for $19.99.
2. This is not a mandatory upgrade and thus will not be available via the in-game patch updater.
3. Single player upgrade only. NO MULTIPLAYER.
4. All GBS graphics tools (PTEStudio and BCStudio) included with v1 will not work with this version There are no plans to upgrade them.
5. This version will update all versions of the following versions, including patched versions. However, you are advised to apply this only on top of a vanilla (new) v1 installation. There is no need to apply any of the v1 patches first.
* Retail DVD-ROM
* Direct2Drive ESD
* Gamers Gate ESD
* Digital River ESD
* BMT Micro (UCSE to UCCE upgrade special offer ESD)
6. To upgrade your pre-existing UCCE v1 install do the following:

Run the v2 update and point it to your game install folder as you would a normal patch.

WARNING: This is a one-way street. To revert back to your v1.x install, you will have to uninstall, kill the folder (including all files) and re-install from scratch. Then patch to the latest v1.x patch as normal.

v2.00.01 (04-25-09)

1. Official Release
2. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

Minimum:

Windows XP SP3, Vista SP1 (with all service packs)
DirectX 9.0c or later
Pentium IV 3.0 GHz or equivalent
1GB system RAM
256MB video card with pixel and vertex shader 2.0

nVidia chipsets: GeForce 6800 or better
ATI chipsets: ATI X800 or better

DirectX 9 compatible sound card
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
Multiplayer: N/A

Recommended:

Windows XP SP3, Vista SP1 (with all service packs)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 or AMD X2 6000+ 3.0GHz
2GB system RAM
512MB video card with pixel and vertex shader 2.0 or higher

nVidia chipsets: GeForce 7800 or better
ATI chipsets: ATI X1600 or better

v2.0 BETA 17 (04-21-09)

1. Removed spark effect when shields were breached.
2. Tacops no longer renders particle effects.
3. FIXED: 'CRAFT LOADED' and 'DRONE LOADED' texts were overlapping.

v2.0 BETA 16 (04-08-09)

1. FIXED: Perscan now displays icons correctly
2. Various Frontend GUI related fixes.
* FIXED: Logistix/Cargo and Logistix/Power screen buttons were the wrong size
* FIXED: Various other scroll bar corruptions in Tactical/Loadout
* FIXED: location of pilot display in Tactical/Loadout

v2.0 BETA 15 (03-23-09)

1. Compiled with latest FMODex (4.24.00) audio SDK.
2. Various Frontend GUI related fixes.
* FIXED: Logistix systems repair interface screens

v2.0 BETA 14 (03-16-09)

1. Various Frontend GUI related fixes.
* FIXED: can now select items in Logistix/Crafts. Still can't repair parts though.
* FIXED: alignment issues in medibay
* FIXED: overlapping Tradcom Crew/Personnel assignment messages
* FIXED: Tradcom now displays "Insufficient Funds" and "Finances" messages in correct area
* FIXED: artifacts in Tactical/Loadout and other scrolling menus

v2.0 BETA 13 (03-10-09)

1. Various Frontend GUI related fixes. More to come.

v2.0 BETA 12 (02-21-09)

1. FIXED: mouse flight mode was broken.

v2.0 BETA 11 (02-20-09)

1. VTT now show distance in meters when its below 1000.
2. Revised laser damage. Previous revision was too weak.
3. Mobile EAD units will no longer move around the base on their own.
4. FIXED: NPC personnel had incorrectly high armor values.
5. FIXED: NPC personnel escorts would ignore threats when they stopped outside leader range.

v2.0 BETA 10 (02-20-09)

1. Performance tweaks to radar detection.
2. Laser damage is no longer tied to the current frame rate
3. NPC personnel with escort orders will no longer stray past 16m from the leader
4. NPC personnel will now pause for 500ms before shooting again
5. NPC's escorting player will now always receive orders from the player; even after being given escort/defend orders via the TOM.
6. FIXED: lasers were causing damage twice, once as lasers and a second time as fragments.
7. FIXED: NPC's were shooting at targets they weren't supposed to attack. This was also causing NPC's to ignore line of sight to their target.
8. FIXED: a revision to radar detection performance improvement in previous update caused issues with friendly target detection. e.g. when you play a ROAM career in fp mode the starbase didn't detect you, so no friendly NPC escorts were dispatched.

v2.0 BETA 09 (02-17-09)

1. Minor performance tweaks in first person mode
2. Compiled with latest FMODex (4.22.00) audio SDK.
3. Non hostiles, civil and misc units are no longer tracked on radar. Performance improvement
4. FIXED: Issue with improper sound card initialization
5. FIXED: multiple missiles sometimes firing when using joystick/gamepad/xb360 controller

v2.0 BETA 08 (12-29-08)

1. Compiled with latest DirectX (November 2008) SDK. Requires November 2008 Runtime!!
2. Compiled with latest FMODex (4.20.06) audio SDK.
3. Removed CONFIG entries from Frontend drop-down menu. Can now only run CONFIG from the main menu.
4. FIXED: MD5 digital signature was missing in ItemMgr.ini causing a crash when playing in fp mode.

v2.0 BETA 07 (12-14-08)

1. Updated fpitems.html appendix file entry for GLE22
2. The prox grenades in the GLE22 have been replaced with flashbang grenades
3. FIXED: In the DIE/TVM mode the NID/LOC text was displayed outside the extents of the viewport
4. FIXED: Cloaking was rendered incorrectly

v2.0 BETA 06 (12-02-08)

1. FIXED: Destroyed units which could rebuild were rendered/located incorrectly
2. Minor tweak to NPC persons in escort/defend mode

v2.0 BETA 05 (11-26-08)

1. Increased the range at which NPC persons will stop before attacking a non-moving target
2. NPC person will no longer stop shooting if it didn't have a target. This was a half second pause that is no longer required.
3. Revised handling of NPC ships when in defend mode.
4. Revised handling of NPC persons when in escort or defend mode
5. FIXED: Decoupled cap ship gun crosshair was not rendered correctly
6. FIXED: The hyperjump timer in the VDD/VID was not rendered correctly when viewing a ship in hyperspace

v2.0 BETA 04 (11-24-08)

1. Removed Frontend background blurring effect.
2. FIXED: Several planetary models and textures were incorrectly replaced/deleted by BETA02. Have now been restored.
3. FIXED: VDD/VID rendering was causing several other rendering issues.
4. FIXED: DIE and rifle zoom scope masks were being rendered incorrectly.

v2.0 BETA 03 (11-22-08)

1. Key command revisions:

SHIFT+H : Game Commands
h : HUD Color Change
CTRL+M : GALAXY MAP
ALT+M : *deleted*
ALT+R : *deleted*

v2.0 BETA 02 (11-20-08)

1. Revised PERSCAN color scheme to match new GUI color scheme
2. Revised space skybox shader
3. FIXED: Player asset textures are now pre-loaded by the asset streamer
4. FIXED: Some text rendering in VDD/VID were not rendered correctly
5. FIXED: Icons (e.g. weapon) in first person interface were not rendered correctly

v2.0 BETA 01 (11-15-08)

1. Minor tweaks
2. Added Engstrom super carrier asset
3. Added bitmap pages for Game commands (6 pages), manual (100 pages), tutorial (115 pages) & galaxy map available via the in-game document viewer

G : GALAXY MAP
H : GAME COMMANDS
ALT+H : GAME MANUAL
CTRL+H : GAME TUTORIAL

v2.0 BETA 00 (10-31-08)
Game engines based on Universal Combat CE v1.01.00

1. Completely replaced the following engines with versions used in GALCOM: Echo Squad SE.
* Terrain rendering engine
o All shaders upgraded to improved SM 2.0 versions. Game will no longer run on SM 1.x hardware
o All new terrain and environment lighting
o All new water rendering
o Volumetric clouds
o Revised Sun (and sunlight) rendering
o Increased terrain data resolution
o Revised weather (rain, snow, heatwave etc) rendering and handling
* Graphics rendering engine. Now requires SM 2.0 card as a minimum.
o All shaders upgraded to improved SM 2.0 versions. Game will no longer run on SM 1.x hardware
o All new shader based effects including, shield/armor impact, hyperspace, hyperjump, explosions, particle filters, cloaking, contrails, gun fire, damage etc
o High Dynamic Range lighting with blooming and tone mapping. Can be disabled for cards with problematic drivers.
o Motion blur
o Multiple dynamic light sources (e.g. from planets, explosions, other scene objects etc)
o New space skybox rendering with ambient cube maps
o Normal mapping
* Frontend GUI engine. NOTE: The CONFIG option in the drop-down menu is no longer active.
* Input interface module. Minimal support for gamepads and XBox 360 Controller For Windows controller.
* Asset streaming module
* In-game document viewing module
2. Replaced all legacy assets with newer versions which were revised for Echo Squad SE
* Various 3D models
* All skybox assets
* All specialFX assets and shaders
* Frontend GUI assets
* Planetary terrain rendering assets
* Space rendering engine assets
3. Commandline parameter revisions
* Obsolete: -j, /j, -w1, /w1, -w2, /w2
* New: -w, /w (run in windowed mode. unsupported)

v1.01.04 (02-20-09)

1. VTT now show distance in meters when its below 1000.
2. Revised laser damage. Previous revision was too weak.
3. Mobile EAD units will no longer move around the base on their own.
4. FIXED: NPC personnel had incorrectly high armor values.
5. FIXED: NPC personnel escorts would ignore threats when they stopped outside leader range.
6. FIXED: mouse flight mode was broken.

v1.01.03 (02-20-09)

1. Performance tweaks to radar detection.
2. Laser damage is no longer tied to the current frame rate
3. NPC personnel with escort orders will no longer stray past 16m from the leader
4. NPC personnel will now pause for 500ms before shooting again
5. NPC's escorting player will now always receive orders from the player; even after being given escort/defend orders via the TOM.
6. FIXED: lasers were causing damage twice, once as lasers and a second time as fragments.
7. FIXED: NPC's were shooting at targets they weren't supposed to attack. This was also causing NPC's to ignore line of sight to their target.
8. FIXED: a revision to radar detection performance improvement in previous update caused issues with friendly target detection. e.g. when you play a ROAM career in fp mode the starbase didn't detect you, so no friendly NPC escorts were dispatched.

v1.01.02 (02-17-09)

1. Minor performance tweaks in first person mode
2. Compiled with latest FMODex (4.22.00) audio SDK.
3. Non hostiles, civil and misc units are no longer tracked on radar. Performance improvement
4. FIXED: Issue with improper sound card initialization
5. FIXED: multiple missiles sometimes firing when using joystick controller

v1.01.01 (12-29-08)

1. Compiled with latest DirectX (November 2008) SDK. Requires November 2008 Runtime!!
2. Compiled with latest FMODex (4.20.06) audio SDK.
3. Updated fpitems.html appendix file entry for GLE22
4. The prox grenades in the GLE22 have been replaced with flashbang grenades

v1.01.00 (11-19-08)

1. Official release.

v1.01.00 BETA 04 (11-15-08)

1. Disabled ability for NPC persons to automatically use supply stations. Was enabled in BETA 02 but causes issues with non-military personnel
2. FIXED: Due to a revision in 1.00.10 naval units were no longer floating
3. FIXED: The Tacops ZOOM-TO/PLANET/MZONE menu was incorrect due to localization issues

v1.01.00 BETA 03 (11-14-08)

1. Can no longer asset switch to EAD (SAM and SAL) units
2. FIXED: NPC persons were not using supply stations after locating the closest one. This was due to a revision in BETA 02.

v1.01.00 BETA 02 (11-11-08)

1. Can no longer arm a launcher when in prone pose
2. Crouch pose is no longer forced when arming a launcher weapon. Also if you attempt to enter prone pose while carrying a launcher weapon, it is holstered
3. NPC persons with a leader will now arm pistols if they were previously carrying launchers and attempting to enter prone pose in order to match the leader's pose
4. Increased range at which NPC persons will run to their target
5. NPC persons now copy their leader more reliably by checking the state more often
6. NPC persons will now automatically proceed to the nearest supply station if they run out of ammo, need repairs, supplies etc. Was previously disabled in order to prevent them from doing it at will - and usually when you least want them to.
7. FIXED: NPC persons sometimes could not arm pistols due to the default weapon mode not being set

v1.01.00 BETA 01 (11-04-08)

1. Reduced character movement speeds in prone, crouch and swim states
2. Previously when carrying a launcher type weapon, the fp character cannot go into prone pose, so crouch was forced instead. Now if a launcher type weapon is equiped and the prone pose set, the weapon is first holstered so the character can go into prone pose.
3. Removed ALT+O (setup) command. Should never use it when in the game anyway, only from the main menu
4. Restored previously disabled "Proceed To Supply Station" TOM command. Note that NPC units do not automatically go to a supply station unless instructed to do so. This is to prevent them from taking off to resupply while in the middle of a combat engagement.
5. Revised sections of the manual e.g. 8.1 (using supply stations), 12.4 (TOM), 12.5 (using gestures)
6. Added revised GAME_COMMANDS.PDF

v1.00.10 (10-28-08)

DUE TO CHANGES IN THIS VERSION RELATED TO APM USE, PREVIOUS SAVED GAMES ARE NO LONGER VALID.

1. Added some new terrain textures
2. Due to issues with recent nVidia drivers FSAA is now disabled by default. You can still use nVidia's control panel to set the FSAA if you want.
3. Compiled with latest FMODex (4.18.06) audio SDK.
4. The game will now default to the standard 800x600 resolution if an incorrect resolution is detected in the INI file
5. Revised handling of F7/F8 missile views. Now more flexible. NOTE: If you have the missiles/mines threat filter off, these keys will not work.
6. Revised proximity detection code for APM and Proximity grenades. There's a 30second 'delay' now before the grenade is activated to give time for the user to run away after deploying. NOTE: The prox grenade has a lifetime of 2.5min and a blast radius of 100m. The APM has a lifetime of 1m and a blast radius of 100m. For each, the closer you are to the object, the more damage inflicted. WARNING: Previous saved games invalid.
7. FIXED: The height of group terrain objects was sometimes incorrect causing some to appear below ground
8. FIXED: The APM now rests correctly on the terrain when dropped.
9. FIXED: Profile #2 for the Commander did not have clips for the TL22 rifle
10. FIXED: Grenade soundfx used the wrong filenames
11. FIXED: DJP SCENE/MZONE selection menu was incorrect due to localization issues

v1.00.09 (09-30-08)

1. Compiled with latest DirectX (August 2008) SDK. Requires August 2008 Runtime!!
2. Compiled with latest FMODex (4.18.00) audio SDK.
3. Removed support for GameCQ lobby interface
4. Added native resolution support for 1280x800, 1920x1200
5. Increased commlink log delete threshold to 1MB

v1.00.08 (08.04.08)

1. Compiled with latest FMODex (4.16.08) audio SDK.

General

1. Increased player run and walk movement speeds
2. Changed player walk sound to softer version

Multiplayer

FIXED: Clients reporting different time of day after docking and launching from starbase To resolve this, time no longer elapses when you dock with or launch from a starbase/starstation
FIXED: Issue with airborne (gunships, fighters etc) dynamic objects moving on server
FIXED: Minor revision which seems to have fixed duplicate dynamic (e.g. vehicles) objects when player interacts with them. NOTE: This has nothing to do with each client having a copy of a dynamic object.
FIXED: Client no longer starts inside the scripted starbase object
FIXED: Problem controlling ground vehicles due to position updates.
FIXED: dynamic objects with no previous position information (e.g. objects created by 3DG files or scripted) were not being rendered. This caused the issues with "ghosting" in which the object TTDs were visible but not rendered as well as cases where they appeared below the terrain height.
All ground units in a scene now have their dynamics and tactical state disabled. This prevents them from moving around, doing target acquisition etc and saves on processing.
Restored all player controlled vehicle units to the .3DG scene files
Removed test script which had scripted units in it. This turned out to be a bad solution due to clients having own copies of these objects.
FIXED: Scripted starbase units now appear in the scene so that you can dock with them. There is a slight caveat with this. See above.
Removed all player controlled units from .3DG scene files
Added [test] scripted player controlled units to PROCON/PROCON SB01. This is a test as an alternative to having them in the .3DG scene file and being handled incorrectly by the server.

v1.00.06 (06-13-08)

1. Compiled with latest DirectX (June 2008) SDK. Requires June 2008 Runtime!!
2. Compiled with latest FMODex (4.16.00) audio SDK.

Multiplayer

1. When a new unknown object is created the console server now shows who created the object.
2. FIXED: grenades kept sliding on the floor and wouldn't bounce.
3. FIXED: server delegated objects were sometimes being created and moved under the terrain.

v1.00.06 RC9 (IN TESTING)
Multiplayer

1. FIXED: Character orientation issues when in fp mode. Now updated to use same dynamics as crafts; so is much smoother.
2. FIXED: when a remote client tries to change weapon the clients no longer check for that item in the inventory. Also it doesn't keep trying to change if the weapon is in 'IS_Holster' state already. Previously when a client changed weapons in fp mode, the other clients wouldn't see it.

v1.00.06 RC8

1. FIXED: Use of DJP would sometimes cause a crash
2. Disabled the Y/N prompt on DJP and supply station use

Multiplayer

1. Added some driveable vehicles to the scenes. All NPC units were previously removed in the previous update.
2. FIXED: grenades were not detonating due to their being handled remotely
3. FIXED: weather conditions were being generated on client. Server now chooses a random fixed value for the weather each session. NOTE: Once the server sets a random weather, it will not change until the server is restarted!

v1.00.06 RC7
Multiplayer

1. Revised the multiplayer specific scenes and removed all NPC units from them. This vastly improves performance but of course relegates planetside skirmishes to deathmatch and team deathmatch only with no NPC units (launch pads, SAMs, crafts etc) present. Since you can launch from a server with your asset of choice, this is a worthy tradeof.
2. Tweaked fp character dynamics. First person multiplayer was vastly improved since RC1 and this represents the final tweak. Engagements involving players in fps mode, flying fighters, gunships, driving vehicles etc is now a much better reality than ever before.
3. Tweaked character animation timing which was causing a jitter when in fp mode
4. Disabled the five minute wait timer for using the DJP and supply station.
5. FIXED: various server related crashes.

v1.00.06 RC6

1. Compiled with latest FMODex audio SDK.
2. All save games now have the date/time stamp
3. FIXED: Problem with auto-save (CTRL+SHIFT+G) when on planet
4. FIXED: Crash due to gunship using incorrect gun file when fired. Bug introduced in 1.00.06 RC1

Multiplayer

1. Added multiplayer specific planetary scenes in order to improve performance
2. FIXED: Major planetside lag due to a massive number of laser objects being fired and delegated by the server. This was a major showstopper and is due to the fact that the planetary scenes are within range of each other. So as soon as they are activated, all out war breaks out. Thus bringing the game to an unplayable state before long.
3. FIXED: various issues and crashes due to new multiplayer code.

v1.00.06 RC5

1. Enabled CTRL+SHIFT+G support which auto-saves the current game state to slot #9. It does this without you having to completely quit the game to the main menu. Note that ALT+G remains unchanged, as this gives you more control over the save game slot, naming convention etc.
2. All save game ops will now prompt Y/N before proceeding.

v1.00.06 RC4

1. Can now swap the yaw/roll on two-axis joysticks by pressing and holding SHIFT
2. FIXED: flight control mouse axis swapped when a joystick is plugged in and joystick swap roll/yaw is enabled in Config
3. FIXED: The Navitron/Tactical access control codes in the COMMAND menu were swapped

v1.00.06 RC3

1. FSAA settings in Config now goes up to 16x. Also, only FSAA modes supported are available.

Multiplayer

1. FIXED: orbiting objects (stations, ODS) were jumping around a little when flying close to them.

v1.00.06 RC2
Multiplayer

1. FIXED: console server was trying to use vertex buffers causing a crash when going to or starting on a planet
2. FIXED: remote ships weren't entering in hyperspace properly due to orientation prediction.

v1.00.06 RC1

DUE TO THE DRASTIC CHANGES IN THIS VERSION, PREVIOUS SAVED GAMES ARE NO LONGER VALID. ALSO, ONLY BROADBAND CONNECTIONS ARE SUPPORTED.

1. Added revised GAME_COMMANDS.PDF file (removed CTRL+J entry)
2. Removed legacy Flight Path Trails
3. Removed fixed timed step option. Note: Multiplayer now always runs in fts mode.
4. Added native support for 1152x864 and 1440x900 resolutions
5. When disabled, ships - not being towed - will now self-destruct after a random period of five to ten minutes.
6. You can now abort Config button mapping by pressing the ESC key.
7. The SWAP ROLL/YAW AXIS option in Config now works with sticks that have an independent X axis (twist).

I have no idea why anyone would want to swap this but apparently some folks are so used to doing it the WRONG way that they are just used to it. I put the blame squarely on other space combat developers who started doing this crap way back when.

Listen guys, that X axis was introduced in order to allow rudder (which control yaw) controls in flight sims. Thats why most sticks with a twist axis use it for yaw. The default roll of the joystick is standard.

I really do think that you folks need to un-learn this improper way of flight controls and do it the correct way. If you insist on using yaw as your default joystick axis, you will be extrememly frustrated during combat in my games because the NPC pilots - who do it the proper way - will completely 0wn you time and time again.

Also, CTRL+J is now obsolete and will no longer work.

Multiplayer - The first in a slew of radical revisions in the multiplayer engine

1. Replaced dynamic object position prediction. New system now predicts position and orientation using spherical quaternion interpolation.
2. Added prediction to objects while in orbit or hyper jump.
3. Added basic laser prediction when an object is in transition to smooth it out.
4. Reduced the delay between multiplayer position update messages.
5. Added support for displaying the game type in server browser. Requires 'game_type=' added in [game] section of ucsetupMP.ini.

Two types are supported, DM (deathmatch) and BW (Base Wars). The latter is not a currently supported game type, so it has no effect when used.
6. Added "ms" text to the end of the ping on server list. Removed decimal part of the ping.
7. Changed client/server debug logging filenames to server_log.log and client_log.log
8. Multiplayer server now creates and uses ucconfigMP.ini instead of ucconfig.ini. A default version with the minimal settings, is included.
9. Added new UCMPCONSOLE.EXE app. This is a pure console server for use on remote servers which do not have any shader (3D graphics) hardware. No commandline params are required as everything is set by default.
10. FIXED: lasers 'last update tick' wasn't being updated, resulting in lasers moving faster than intended.
11. FIXED: server wasn't reliably sending lasers or armor impacts created by the server to the clients.
12. FIXED: when a client or NPC was destroyed the server wasn't broadcasting any message.
13. FIXED: collision detection no longer checks objects that are docked.
14. FIXED: server wasn't accepting the delegated dynamic objects properly.
15. FIXED: number of logic updates limited to 5 per frame to prevent infinite loop.
16. FIXED: positions are no longer predicted when the ship is in a transition.
17. FIXED: PTE objects weren't being properly positioned due to prediction. Also static objects (e.g. buildings) no longer have their positions predicted.

Related articles, Click here!