Not only is it the 5th birthday of the project, it’s also the day of the release of v0.56 which was in the works for 20 months! Last but not least you surely have noticed that the website has changed as well. I hope you like it.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
But first things first.
It’s the fifth anniversary for DXX-Rebirth. While it was only a small hobby for me in the beginning and for almost two years I rarely even worked on it, it somehow survived – growing. I never expected that, but I am very proud of it as well. I admit I always work very slowly (20 months for one release… gosh) and my lunch break times surely will some day crush the borders of the space-time continuum, creating a paradox which will swallow the whole universe (or at least this galaxy).
But you trustful players out there are my biggest motivation besides my love for the games in general. This is why I invested a lot of work into this v0.56 release.
So here is what you all have been waiting for – the most important changes of this release:
* Totally rewritten UDP code for Multiplayer – including LAN Netlist, Packet-loss prevention and many improvements
* All game parts now are window elements (you should not notice this but it’s a huge code improvement)
* Improved Music playback compatibility. Missions can now have their own descent.sng, using HMP, MID, MP3, OGG and AIF
* Extended Jukebox-feature to play your own music
* D1X-Rebirth now supports D1 Shareware, Destination Saturn, 1.0/1.4/1.5 game content
D2X-Rebirth fully supports D2 Demo, Destination Quartzon, 1.0/1.2 game content
* Improved demo recording. Views will always be correct in newly recorded demos, no matter how you jump through the demo. Descent 1 will record open/blown doors correctly when demo starts (all backwards compatible)
* Bug in Joystick reading fixed. Game should now support more Joysticks, buttons and axes than you can ever operate in your state of evolution.
* INI/command-line option added to use CAPSLOCK and NUMLOCK as normal keys
* FPS-based damage/screen-shaking of Fusion cannon fixed
* Old homing projectiles have been restored and now are FPS-independent
* Code has been improved so it should now compile on way more *NIX-like operating systems
* The game can optionally be compiled with/without IPX and/or UDP support
* Movies are now always displayed in correct aspect ratio
* The game will automatically detect supported resolutions of your system configurations and offer them in RESOLUTIONS menu
* Ability to dynamically load AddOn packs
* Tons of fixes and other improvements
Download v0.56 right away at www.dxx-rebirth.com
Well, I hope you have fun with the new release and the new website. If you have Feedback, Comments or something else you would like to say, drop me a line (zicodxx at yahoo dot de) or visit our Forums.
Best regards,
zico