The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: August 27, 2006

Official News - page 2

PLANET VERSION NUMBERS

There is a new command in the game which will help planet-owners keep track of whether new planet files sent in have been linked to the game. The command is 'VERSION' and it gives the file version number of the map.

What's that, I hear you ask? The file version number is a new feature in the map editor, a new version of which has just been released. When you create a new map, it is given a version number of 1, and then every time you save the map the number goes up by 1. The file version number is shown on the status bar at the bottom of the screen.

If you make a habit of backing up your planet files while you work on them (which is a very good idea), the version numbers will help you keep them straight, particularly if for any reason you have to revert to working on an earlier file. Plus, being able to match up the file version number for the files on your hard disk, with what's in the game, will help if you have submitted files to be linked to the game and don't know if they have shown up yet.

In the game, the command shows you the file version number of the map you are currently on, so if you're on the ground it'll tell you about the planet map, and if you're in space it'll tell you about the space map. It only works for your system, though. Right now, the maps in the game will all be set to either file version 1, or file version 999 (there's some obscure technical reason why this is so that is far too complicated for me to bother with now).

If you use the 'SAVE MAP' command in the game, after editing a location's name or description, the file version number will not change.

The message editor also now has a file version number which works in the same way, although there's no way to get that version number in the game.

You can download both of the new editors from the Windows workbench page.


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