Engine02 Release 8 - What's new

Engine02 Release 8
* Release 8

New builds are now available for x86 Linux, PowerPC Mac, Intel Mac, Playstation Portable, and Nintendo Wii
All documentation has been corrected, updated, and expanded, including conversion to HTML with reference links and examples
Implemented custom 16-channel XM music support, featuring most standard XM effects, individual channel muting, and in-song script event triggers
Implemented script controls for music/sound effect volume set and fade (range 0-64)
Added Targa TGA image support, as it seems to be more readily usable than PCX. PCX images may still be used. (TGA was chosen for it's simplicity; No other, more bloated format with irrelevant settings/options will be supported)
Windows version now uses 640x480 mode for full-screen instead of exiting when using a graphics card/chip that doesn't support 320x240 mode. For hardware that supports both, both modes are available by switch in the "video" menu in Windows, Linux, and Mac versions
Windows, Linux, and Mac versions now have the selectable display filters "TV Blur" and "Anti-Alias"
Implemented toggleable VBlank wait for DOS and Windows versions
Windows version sound now uses a streaming buffer with a custom mixer similarly to other versions, and DOS version now accepts wav files of any quality (16bit-stereo are converted to 8-bit mono during load)
New Script Commands (1426-1436, see "Functions" doc)
Expansion and contraction of Tile Plane size is now possible in the Level Editor by using "M"+ArrowKeys. Saving the Level no longer shrinks Planes automatically
Game, Zone, Act, and Object Function loading now reports when too many or too few functions are loaded from external files based on their respective "total" entries
There are now error messages for attempting to set a high palette index in "with water" mode, for attempting to spawn Tile Plane objects before the planes they reference have actually been loaded, for ungrouped If, Switch, and Do Commands, and for overlapping boundary events
"Notes" fields (Including those labeled "Zone Author", "File Description", etc) have been removed from all scripts, and "Init2 Func" and "End Func" entries have been removed from "Zone Def" scripts, as they were leftovers from much older versions that no longer serve any purpose. All official scripts have been updated. Please update any custom scripts accordingly
Further optimizations have been made in areas such as level scrolling and player handling

*BugFixes*
Level Ripper would sometimes crash when using the "Use Existing Tileset" option. The ripper will now always add tiles to an existing tileset without issue
Tile Selector would crash when the user clicked on an area corresponding with a non-existent tile. It now ignores left and right mouseclick on areas not corresponding with an existing tile
Table data wasn't deallocated when loading a new game. Loading a new game now deallocates the previous game's table storage
A few memory leaks and a pointer-related "occasional crash" bugs have been addressed
Insert Row in the Level Editor would occasionally corrupt horizontal (tiled and lined) scroll properties. This feature now functions correctly

* Test Release 7

@This document and others are still under construction. Some added features aren't listed
@New HTML documentation with better formatting and cross-reference links is under construction. Documents explaining the new player management systems as of Demo 6 are now complete, except for links leading to other unconverted sections
@Revised function script format to allow automatic length calculation, labels for loop/goto/switch commands, and limited script error reports (The old format will still load. See "Functions" doc and "Errors" doc)
@Added Script Reader support for Hex($) and Binary(%) number values
@New Script Commands (1263-1425, see "Functions" doc)
@Implemented scriptable scrolling control. "Plane Effect" functions can be used to manually control the scrolling of each tile/line row/column of a tile plane, or the entire plane on either axis (depending on the plane type setting) to perform finer scrolling than with the automatic system, or to create plane deformation effects (See "Plane Effects" doc)
@Implemented user-definable tables. Binary and Script-form tables of constant BYTE, WORD, and DWORD values can be loaded at game start and read by script functions
@Implemented forced player input control. There are now script commands to force settings for mapped player input to create effects such as puppet scenes, AI partner characters, etc. Mapped player input states may also be copied en masse to variables
Speed and RAM usage optimizations have been made to resource-intensive aspects of the program (graphics, script processing, collision, ...)

*BugFixes*
The script reader did not correctly interpret lines broken immediately after a colon (:), reading the next line in the file as the Parameter it was looking for. It now interprets a newline immediately following a colon as an empty Parameter/blank string (The two in-progress games released with E02 at this point used some blank "text" entries in their menu scripts, though the problem wasn't apparant because the entries were double-spaced. In no other way are NULL Parameters acceptable)
The script reader did not correctly interpret the final entry in a script file when it was not followed by a newline. Scripts whose final entry ends at the end of the file will now work properly
"Stop_Function"-related commands left behind inconsistent function IDs in the running function structures, causing skipped calls and other errors when a new, larger function set was loaded afterward. "Stop_Function" commands now mark the structures with a fixed ID signifying "No active function" that won't conflict with changing function sets, and so will not skip calls, crash, etc
"Set" and "Add" Animation commands for players and objects did not properly update the animation for the affected object when the command was used by an object that processed after the affected object/player, causing no frame, or a frame from the previous animation, to display on the game frame on which it was set/added. These commands now properly run the animation immediately if the change is requested after the object's/player's normal animation processing time
X/Y-relative object values weren't reset to for an object's new position when it was moved in the object editor due to v5-v6 changes. Variables using X/Y-relativity now update correctly when an object is moved in the editor
Resettable objects weren't reset when entering the Object Editor due to v5-v6 changes. Objects are now reset when entering the Object Editor unless the ALT key is held
Deleting an object that is flagged to also delete it's children didn't actually delete the children due to v5-v6 changes. An object flagged to do so will now delete it's children when it is deleted
Loading a new object file mid-level caused crashes because certain data was only reset during inter-level object list clearing. Object files may now be properly loaded without changing levels
Spawning an object in debug mode by spawnobject script command without also using the built-in Debug_Place_Standard would sometimes cause crashes because the program relied on the built-in function to obtain the reset flag for the object type, attempting to read the flag from the object def for the object type ID that was last spawned, which would cause an overflow if the last spawned object was a "built-in" type. Objects may now be placed in debug mode by spawnobject script command without also using Debug_Place_Standard without issue (This is only applicable if the object does not need to reset)
CallFunction/RunFunction script commands caused occasional crashes due to v5-v6 changes. These commands may now be used without issue
If_Object_Collide_Player/If_Object_Offset_Collide_Player didn't have working player hurt->object mainbound support. This condition may now be tested properly
???_Equ_Reg_Minus/Div/Pow_Obj commands read the source Parameters in the wrong order, and thus, "didn't work". These commands now work as documented
Incorrect calculation in "Random" script commands caused them to never generate a value equal to the upper limit. These commands can now generate all numbers between and including the lower and upper limit
Object Def Flags would gain junk settings because the field wasn't cleared before the bits were loaded. These flags are now set exactly as described in the Object Def file
Spawning a tiled object would sometimes cause crashes if it took on a pointer that was previously occupied by an animating sprite, because the animation was only cleared when a new non-tiled sprite was spawned. Tiled Objects now properly ignore animation
Objects/Windows in a Status Object that were already at the position being set by a SetDest (or window size) command wouldn't increase the activity counter. They now properly increase the activity counter even if they don't have to move
Script Window draw behavior was inconsistent between DOS and Windows versions because Windows version window draw routines were not updated to include drawing of the row/column specified by X2/Y2 when the DOS version was. Both versions now display lines/columns of windows between and including X1/X2/Y1/Y2

* Test Release 6

@The player system has been almost completely rewritten. In place of the original hard-coded Sonic-like player, there is now a simple path/freespace movement handler that acts on velocities set/changed by the player input event functions, or the new "Movement Function" that is assigned to the current "Movement Mode". Other than simply tracing a path or moving through freespace at a given velocity, all movement/physics, input, and animation are handled by script with the new player control setup, which adds a "movement phase" script function before a "sentry phase", followed by the "input phase" to parse the "key events", and finally an "update phase" to control manual viewport movement and set the player's current animation. A "common" function listing accessible by all player characters has also been added
@New Script Commands (827-1262, see "Functions" doc)
@Relative referencing has been added to the "loop" command to jump foreward or backward by a certain number of commands, rather than jumping to an explicit command ID
@"???_Equ_???_Hotspot" commands were listed as requiring Reference 0 for the destination value, and Reference 1 for the source value, but when the source type was not the same as the destination type, they actually read from the player/object Fetcheded to Reference 0, and this also broke the "destinations always use Reference 2" rule. They have been changed so that they all use the player/object Fetched to Reference 2 for the destination, and the player/object Fetched to Reference 0 for the source. Also, new commands for obtaining only the X or Y portion of the Hotspot position individually have been added, and so support for the "-1" setting for omitting either X or Y has been removed to speed up the commands
@The following commands have also been updated to conform to the "destinations always use Reference 2" rule: Commands that modify parent/child settings, Set/Unset/Flip Flag commands, and all Set/Add/Stop animation commands, as well as "Change_Player_Animations" (See Corresponding Func Command Docs)
@"GetArray" and "PutArray" commands have been modified to include a new Parameter for entering the ID at which the desired array starts, eliminating the need to manually add the starting ID to the offset ID using another variable before accessing the array
@"Set_Delay_Relative_???" animation delay commands have been modified to remove the unnecessary "divisor" Parameter, which was relatively useless and only served to slow down the processing of the command. New versions to delay by given player/object variables rather than just the velocity variables have also been added
@Set Player/Object Animation functions have been modified to ignore requests if the current primary Animation for the player/object is the same as the requested Animation, so that script functions can redundantly request a set Animation without having it restart if it's already playing, eliminating the need for a scripted test. Change_Player_Animations has also been modified to ignore requests for Animations that already exist in the designated area to eliminate jerking that happened when calling for a redundant change
@Change_Player_Animations has been updated to allow the use of the "l" tag on the "Reference ID" Parameter to signify that the given ID represents a custom Animation as opposed to a Required Animation (See the Animation function doc)
@Last version implemented two "Status Script" objects that could be displayed on either the top or bottom screen only. Object 9994 (top-only) has been removed, and 9995 (bottom-only) has been modified to use an extra Parameter for setting which screen the object displays on. This value is stored in object variable "E1" and can be used later like any other object variable value (See "Built-in Objects" doc)
@An object to draw a "Water" layer based on the the height set by it's controlling register "Water_Level" (54) has been added as Built-in Object 9994 (See "Built-in Objects" doc)
Slightly improved the speed of player/object collision testing
Applied a new and faster method for keeping deleted/spawned objects properly sorted
@Added "Key Mapping" for mapping any regular input to "Map" fields. One use of these fields is to manage input for multiple players. "Player Events", "Status Script" "Selections", and the function "If Key State" have been updated to make use of them (See "Key Map", "Character Def", and "Status Script" docs)
@Added "Path Objects" by means of a new Object draw type to use the object's variable space as a tile map for drawing level tiles to the screen, and a new collision type to allow a player character to react to that map
@The use of the ';' character in previous scripts to denote comments was only cosmetic. The script parser now recognizes it as the start of a comment line, so it can be used to comment out script lines without having to delete the ':' character, and can also be used at the end of lines requiring text Parameters
@Previously, the only way to address the object being placed from within a "Debug Placement" function was as "Last_Spawned". This object is now recognized as the "Current Object" as well, so that commands affecting "Current Object" can be used to change it's settings, and so the object's pointer will still be available if another object is spawned from within the function, overwriting the "Last_Spawned" pointer
@The "Destroy_Current_Object" Command (88) was previously only for animation functions. It can now be used by movement and collision functions as well to destroy the object with a single, one-line command instead of having to Fetch it and set Object Type to 0 manually. This command also works for functions controlling "Status Scripts", and replaces "Stat_Destroy" (0). Command 0 is now "nop", a do-nothing command that can be used in place of removed commands during function testing so that function length, and loop/goto locations don't have to be updated
@Added "Object_CurrSpriteSet" variable to objects (as variable 4, it replaces the "useless" Object_Collide value), which can be used to set which of the sprite sets referenced by the object will be used to draw the object. It's set to 0 by default for newly spawned objects

*BugFixes*
Functions 357, 359, and 361 ("If Not Flag" Functions) not only tested the condition of the flag, but caused all other bits to be zeroed out in the original value. The value is simply tested now, and the original value remains unaffected
Negate and Absolute Value Functions that didn't alter the original value (791-799 and 803-811) were listed as requiring Reference 0 for the source value, but actually used Reference 2. They have been altered to use the player/object Fetched to Reference 0 as the source as listed
The "Restore_Global_Palette" command would set all global palette entries to the same "random" color when "ActiveFlag" was set to 0, instead of correctly resetting the global area of the target palette. This command now works properly for both settings
Copy/Paste Tile in the tile selector worked improperly in modes 3 and 4, causing an incomplete tile with garbage at the bottom. The copied tile is now pasted properly
Functions run during "Boundary Events" or by a "Run Function" command would crash if they called the "Stop Current Function" command because function processing wasn't broken, causing an attempt to read a nonexistant function. The "Stop Curren Function" command now breaks the process and terminates the currently running function without error
A function could not be stopped by one of it's subfunctions (any function that it starts with a "Run_Function" type command, which starts the referenced function immediately, pausing the current function) because there was no exception to catch this case. A function now recognizes when it has been terminated by any other function that it runs during it's own process
When using the "Set Animation" functions during the animation sequence that should be affected, the new animation is passed to a second function parser to begin processing immediately, but the first was never instructed to break when control returned from the "Run Function" call that started the new animation, and would run it a second time, skipping ahead and either displaying the wrong frame with the wrong starting timer value, or exiting the animation altogether. The original parser is now instructed to break when control returns so that animation occurs properly
@Trying to access Player Variables from Functions belonging to Game Objects (not Zone or Act) when custom Player Constants were present would cause undesired results or crashes because the total number of Player Constants was assumed to be equal to to the number of required Player Constants at the time they were loaded. The "Number of Constants/Variables per Character" entries have been moved just below the "Num Registers" entry so that they are known before the Game Object Def is loaded
The "If Collision Axis" commands for players/projectiles would always return false due to an improper test. The test is corrected now, and will return true if collision is being tested on the referenced axis (if the "count" variable is > 255 or < -255, at least one pixel's movement in either direction on the axis)
@The "Status Script" "Object" setup for Player Variable display was not updated to accommodate the lower-case "a" and "c" tags for user-defined variables/constants, so "a" would display a normal variable instead, and "C"/"c" would read as constant ID 0. These tags have now been implemented properly for Player Variable display
Using the "G" key in the sprite editor to move the sprite's normal Y drawing offset down caused the backward-drawn X2 main boundary box for that frame to be incorrect unless another of the offset modifying keys was pressed, or the game is restarted, either of which would re-calculate the reverse versions of the boundary boxes. The reverse boundary box positions are now calculated correctly after using the "G" key, as with any of the other offset modify keys
???_Get_Tile_Info_From_??? commands sometimes caused the program to enter an infinite loop due to re-use of a global variable. Also, if the destination variable for the Tile ID was reused as a destination for other data retrieved from the tile, the value recieved was used as the Tile ID from which to obtain any remaining data. These commands no longer cause an infinite loop, and if the Tile ID is not desired, the variable ID used as the destination for retrieving the Tile ID can be safely overwritten by another data, as the command will now remember which tile it should be recieving data from
Call/Run/Stop_Function commands weren't properly accepting values larger than 256 for function ID due to a mis-set type. Function IDs up to 65535 will now work (The phrase "Function ID" refers to the function's actual position in a complete listing, not it's offset ID in a segmented listing such as the Zone or Act portion of the complete set of Game Functions)
"Stat_Set_Object_Animation" would cause errors by mistakenly affecting the function that called it, stopping the function or causing a crash. This command now functions properly
"Stat_Set_Window_Animation" commands wouldn't accept an explicit Y position because the destination was always mistakenly set equal to the current position. The command now properly sets the destination so that the window will move to the desired location on the Y axis
@Status Script Windows were drawing up to the last pixel specified by X2 and Y2 size, but not the last pixel, and if the window was collapsed in on itself on either axis (X1>X2 or Y1>Y2), one pixel width/height on that axis would still be drawn. Now, collapsed windows do not draw (X1=X2 and Y1=Y2 is accepted for one pixel height/width) and the pixel row/column specified by X2/Y2 are now drawn
Status Script "Objects" of type "Script Sprite" and "Script Text" were listed as supporting the G/Z/A tags for the "Script" entry, for listing which script contains the desired data, but support for those tags was not implemented, causing the value to read as 0 (It would attempt to read the data from the first Status Script loaded by the game def). The G/Z/A tags are now recognized and properly signify a Game, Zone, or Act Status Script ID
@Object Collision testing was behaving as if level looping were set on both X and Y axis, even when it was not, causing invalid "collision" with "invisible" objects (most notable when the level boundaries were set within the level instead of to level extents). Collision tests for objects on the other side of a loop are now only performed if looping is activated on the corresponding axis
Explicit negative values for X/Y Parameters for "Spawn_Object" were mistakenly interpreted as references to registers and would cause a crash instead of spawning the object directly at the given location. Giving a negative value for the X or Y position will now work properly, and if desired, registers may still be referenced to retrieve their values for use as the object's position instead
"Floor Path" mobile objects with a velocity greater than or equal to zero would move down one pixel more than they should each frame. This has been fixed, and the objects now move only one pixel for every 256 units of velocity, as they should

* Test Release 5

Implemented scripted "Move", "Draw", "Collide" "PCollide", "DBDraw", and "DBPlace" functions for Game Objects (see "Object Def" doc)
New Script Commands (92-826, see "Functions" doc), and altered "Switch_Palette" (91), "Chr_Equ_Const" (85), "Chr_Equ_Reg" (86), "Reg_Equ_Chr" (87), and "Loop" (28) functionality and Parameter list format. New functions include many to directly manipulate Game Objects and Player Characters. The Functions documentation has also been broken into categories for easier navigation
Added resizing of "Windows" during processing of Status Scripts, change their clipping regions instantly or cause them to grow/shrink
Implemented a faster method for processing "If"/"Else"/"EndIf" Script Commands
Added "Player Hotkeys", "Player Functions", and Player Animation Listing to "Character Def" format (See "Character Def" doc)
Reference tags for Player Variables have been updated to include "C", "c", and "a", as well as the previously available "A". (See "Player Variables" Doc)
Added "Out Of Range Event" line to "Object Def" format for handling objects that move outside of "active" range (two screen widths away from any active player) (see "Object Def" doc)
Added three new commands to the Object Editor for managing object's current states and "Resetted" states, and changed the "D" keypress for deleting to "Ctrl+D" to avoid accidental deletion of objects during editing (see "Object Editor" doc)
Added "Flags" line to "Object Def" format for setting special properties of an Object Type such as whether or not it is saved when an Object File is created (see "Object Def" doc)
Added "Hotspots" to sprites for managing collisions, object spawning, ETC., based on "Hotspot" position in each frame (see "Character Def", "Object Def", "Functions", and "Sprite Editor" docs)
Added "Auto Center" option to Drawing Offsets manipulation in sprite editor. When this option is on, flipped/mirrored drawing offsets will be automatically generated from normal offsets based on object position (the crosshair's point)
Added "Player Boundary Positions" case (2) to "Boundary Event"'s "Target Object" Parameter (See "Zone Def" doc)
Added ability to assign Player Character sprites to a Game Object using the "P" flag (See "Object Def" doc)
Finalized implementation of "FreezeObjects" "Game Register", for freezing game objects' movement and animation
Added "Player_Freeze" "Player Variable", allowing scripts to freeze a player's automatic movement and animation
Added "Curr_Palette" (51) "Game Variable", allowing scripts to read the ID of the level palette that is currently being displayed
Added "PalDump" utility to dump color palette entries from a PCX image to a file in "Set_Palette_Range" script function format (See "Command Line" documentation)
Added ability to modify Global Palette from "Set Palette Range" script function (Func 21, see "Function" documentation)
Added Tile Plane Copy/Paste to Level Editor for copying tile and scroll data from one plane to another (See "Level Editor" doc)
Converted "Ring" object collision to generic touch item collision (See "Object Collisions" documentation)
Added other mobile Game Object functions, including a "projectile" object that can test for collision against other Game Objects (see "Object Movers" documentation)
Added objects for "Status Scripts" that should only be displayed on the first or second screen in split-screen mode as opposed to being shown on both screens (see "Built-In Objects" documentation)
Added "Player_Type" "Player Variable" (A24) for reading the Character ID that any given player is using so that it may be used in scripts (see "Player Variables" documentation)
Added "Number of Constants/Variables per Character" entries to the Game Def File Format to enable users to create extra Constant and Variable space within Player Characters for use with scripts (See "Game Def" documentation)
Added Level Map Dumper to Level Editor for dumping any combination of level tile planes to a PCX image
Sprite Dump from the Sprite Editor now outputs Game Object sprite properties in the format in which they appear in the "Object Def" instead of defaulting to the Player Sprite property format

*BugFixes*
Modification to Sprite Editor caused boundary boxes to display improperly sometimes and caused crashes when selecting a box type that was not already used on the current frame. Boxes now display properly and there is no crash
RAM wasn't allocated properly during loading of scripted Game Object functions and would sometimes cause crashes, most noticeably after loading games during an existing session, during the new load or during object animation. The functions now recieve the proper ammount of RAM and will not crash
Improper initialization of "Animation" scripted function structures caused crashes after repeated use. Proper initialization now ensures that other RAM doesn't become corrupted and eliminates this crash
Program switched back to "Game Folder" instead of "Zone Folder" after loading Zone-specific "Game Objects", causing a crash if a file containing these objects was specified. It now returns to the "Zone Folder" and continues to process normally
If two different levels used object files that opened image files of the same name, the second level wouldn't load it's image because a copy of the filename is used to determine whether to load a new file, or work from the file that is already open. The filename copy is now reset between levels, allowing them to load image files of the same name
Collision lists weren't cleared during a level transition, causing objects in the new level to be inappropriately set for collision during the first gameplay frame of the level, which would cause a crash if those objects weren't intended for collision. Collision lists are now cleared during level so that object collision behaves as it should from the start
Mishandled pointers in DOS sound code caused game to crash when a sound should have looped. The pointers are now set correctly, causing looping sounds to loop without problems
An un-freed pointer during the clearing of Status Scripts between levels caused a slow loss of free RAM. The pointer is now freed properly, returning unused RAM
The Status Script "Level Window" (254) didn't display it's sub-windows' contents properly, and windows nested more than one level below either the "Level Window" or "Screen Window" wouldn't display at all. "Level Window" now displays it's sub-windows correctly, and windows nested within non-"main" windows will be displayed
Program mouse didn't properly keep up with Windows mouse in double-sized windowed mode. Program mouse now follows Windows mouse properly
Game-Specific Global Palette would load after selecting new game with the game menu, but not when the game was started from the command-line (or launcher). The game's global palette is now loaded instead of the default when applicable
Tile editor's fat bit editing grid expected stretched art in video modes 1 and 2, which is only used in modes 3 and 4. This caused it to display and accept input improperly. It now recognizes the un-stretched art, displaying the tile and accepting editing input correctly.
Level Ripper only reads and creates un-stretched art, which caused corrupted output when using Parameters to call the level editor in video modes 3 or 4 after the ripping is complete. Preexisting tilesets are now un-stretched before the process begins, and the output is re-stretched before the level editor is started, saving and displaying the resulting tiles correctly.
Sprite editor would report and act on doubled sprite size in modes 3 and 4 rather than actual size. It now reports and acts on the sprite's actual size
Sprite Editor would not reset current boundary box and animation frame to 0 when switching between sprite types, causeing errors and crashes when a higher frame/box ID is selected before switching to a sprite type who's first sprite has fewer frames/boxes. These values are now reset during the switch, preventing errors and crashes
Saved tiles would become corrupt when saved while using modes 3 or 4 because the stretched art was not un-stretched before save. The art is now un-stretched before saving, allowing for proper output in all modes
Script Functions 86 and 87 actually called function 85 due to improper setup. These functions now work as they should
Palette fades would sometimes cut off prematurely when most colors were already close to their target values. All fades now run their full course
When inserting a row or column in a tile plane in the level editor, the plane may visibly repeat itself and visibly cover any alterations that are made to the new section. The scroll/ repeat settings are now fixed so that the newly created rows/ columns are visible
A miscalculation caused the Right-Click "Get Color" feature of the tile editor to select the wrong color when trying to select a color from a tile while in video modes 3 and 4. The correct color is now selected when any fat pixel in the tile grid is right-clicked in all modes
When altering a palette color in 64-color mode ("water" mode), the program would attempt to also modify the "water" equivalant color, but index calculation was based on an older version, and "global" colors would be changed instead. The corresponding "water" index is now properly modified, leaving other colors untouched
An error in manipulating the double-buffer caused the program to crash when returning to game mode from the level editor if the large editing mode and video modes 3 or 4 were being used. The buffer is now set properly, allowing for transition between large editing mode and mode 3 or 4 gameplay without crashes.
Both C and V keys would cycle foreward in the list of object sprites in the Sprite Editor. C now cycles backward as it should

* Test Release 4

"Boundary Events" implemented (new info in "Zone Def" Doc) Player variable "Player_Curr_Boundary" added to accomodate (see "Player variables" doc)
Level segment looping implemented. BGOffset? "Registers" updated, and ?Loop_Size "Registers" added to accomodate (see "Game Variables" doc). "Level Looping" doc added
New Script Commands (89-91, see "Functions" doc)
Added "Max_Objects_Used" and "VMode" to "Game Variables" (see "Game Variables" doc)
Added Status Script object types 14 and 15 for Player Variable display (see "Status Script" doc)
Re-implemented solidity viewing in level editor (press 5 to toggle, or use the tile editor, as described in "Tile Editor" and "Level Editor" docs)
Editor now attempts to view the same portion of the level that was visible in gameplay mode when entered from gameplay mode if the currently selected plane is large enough (Ex: Go to level editor, select the "flat" plane that is used for collision, return to gameplay mode, return to editor mode. Editor will view player's current position without having to scroll to it)
Added ability to toggle boundary viewing during an animation in the sprite editor (right-click the "Ani ID" option)
Re-implemented Tile Animation and Palette Rotation toggles in Tile Editor, and enabled both in Object Editor
Re-worked scripted function handlers to use fewer unique functions and structures between types, easier to build (C++ Functions, available script functions have not been changed). "Animations" can now use "if" statements like normal "functions".
Removed the limit on the number of active functions/animations and their "if" statements. The lists will grow and shrink automatically as needed IMPORTANT: This has slightly changed the formats for "Game Def" and "Status Script" by removing unnecesary lines. Please see relevant documentation, the removed "If" and "Active Function" items are no longer listed
Added new video modes with square pixels. Original 320x200 video mode is still available (and active by default) for speed. Others can be selected by command-line or launcher (see "Command Line" doc)
Updated launcher with video mode select and a functional "Game Help" button which will load the currently selected game's documentation if it's available and properly stored (see "Launcher" doc). "E02 Help" opens docs folder
Allowed for PCX image sizes other than 320x200 when loading game art. These images will now load properly instead of causing errors
Level Ripper now auto-detects image size; Image width and height settings have been removed from the command line switch and the Level Ripper portion of the launcher ("Level Ripper" doc updated)
Slight Sonic player handling bugfixes and improvements
Hard-coded debugging status removed and re-created through the status script "dbgstat.def" in the "default\stats" folder (must be loaded and spawned by the game to be displayed)

*BugFixes*
"Relative" tile planes would cause crashes or load improperly. Levels with "Relative" planes now load correctly
"PCX Palette Import" didn't function properly, it now properly imports the selected palette region to the selected palette "layer"
Deleting Palette "layers" could cause crashes or freeze the current selection on an invalid "layer". Adding/subtracting "layers" now works properly
Mis-set window type in full-screen mode caused mouse to be able to grab the program window and/or click window buttons, which would cause problems. Window does not react to mouse in full-screen mode now
Tile editor allowed for "Total Colors" of a color entry to be reduced to 0 which is invalid and caused crashes, the editor now prevents the value from dropping to 0

*Special Notes*
Scriptable object functions are documented in the "Object Def" documentation, but they are NOT currently active. Only scripted "Animation" functions are available for objects currently.
Demo recording is listed in the launcher, but not currently active.

* Test Release 3

Act data loading implemented
Tile Editor reimplemented
Tile/Level ripper reimplemented with new features
Object (placement and properties) Editor reimplemented
Command-line Parameters reimplemented with new features
Macro file for command-lines longer than 10 Parameters (only necesary for DOS ver) ("Macro.txt")
Launcher re-built for new options
Re-wrote level editor, tile editor, and level ripper documentation to suit E02, and created up-to-date documentation for all other aspects (32 total docs)
Corrected Level Editor Row/Column Insert for non-"flat" planes

*Special Notes*
Scriptable object functions are documented in the "Object Def" documentation, but they are NOT currently active. Only scripted "Animation" functions are available for objects currently. Also, level boundary events are not currently active, though they may be emulated through creative use of "Game Functions". Level Loop activators in the "Game Variables" are also currently ineffective.
"If" conditionals currently cannot be used in "Animations"
Demo recording is listed in the launcher, but not currently active. Loading of game-specific .txt and .hlp files is also not currently active, as well as joystick support.

* Test Release 2

"GDF" and "ZDF" Scripts re-implemented, along with new Music and Sound Effect scripts.
All Script formats have changed to accomodate for the higher level of versatility.
".?DF" file extensions have been replaced with a uniform ".DEF", or ".DE1", ".DE2", ... in case of game Sub-Types.
Certain types of data can be loaded as Game-Global, Zone-Specific, and Act-Specific: Music, Sound Effects, Game Objects, Script Objects, and Script Functions. Game texts can be loaded Game-Global, and Zone-Specific.
".GDF" file type has been remade. This file, which must be placed in the "GDF" folder, contains basic information about it's "Game Set" such as it's name, how many sub-types it has, and what files to look for if it requires another add-on. It controls the listing of the games in the selection menu and how the program loads their data.
Game and sub-type selection menu has been added. Hold F8 while starting the program, or press F8 at any other time to select from a list of available games and their sub-types
"Game Functions" introduced, "Functions" that can be called outside of "Status Scripts" (such as at the start of a level), and exist within their own files
Many new "Functions" added to "Status Script" and "Game Functions", introducing loops, conditionals, variables, and math operations, among other useful things
Split-Screen game mode and large level editor mode reimplemented
Art is actively stretched/shrunken in RAM when switching to/from stretched split-screen mode instead of reloading (which involved re-reading full scripts and disk load time)
Info message system implemented, gives "technical" and "debug" information when necesary
Several new editor keys
Sprite editor in progress
New version of Game Object system in progress
Player character scripting and gameplay in progress
Script Documentation in progress
Script/Scroller/Player demo created

* Test Release 1

First Release
Up to 16 layers available per level, with the ability to turn each on or off.
In addition to the Normal and Horizontal Tiled scrolling modes, 4 new modes have been added: "Relative Flat", Vertical Tiled, Horizontal Lined, and Vertical Lined.
Level Editor contains a more descriptive status listing and features improvements related to layer selection, visibility, and type, as well as more functionality for the "Selection Box", such as the ability to use it to change scroll properties for more than one row/column at a time.
"Titlecard Script" has been replaced by "Status Script", which can be used to create "Titlecards", Title Screens, Menus, Status Displays, etc.
".SPR" and ".SCR" file extensions have been replaced by the less 'confusing' ".PCX" extension.
Script/Scroller demo created