First off, I’d like to say that ALL server owners should upgrade to 2.0.16 as soon as possible. There was a security flaw found that allows player impersonation to occur. It was fixed in the server code as of late March. I would say a good chunk of the popular servers are already running recent enough code to prevent the exploit. But over half of the running servers are still using an older version.
So anyways, if you didn’t know, BZFlag 2.0.16 (named “No foolin”) is out. Source packages and a Windows installer are available for download. An OSX package may or may not happen. There are a couple notable new features in the client. There are a few other minor changes as well.
First, you can use the mouse to control the view in observer mode. If you are in either tracking (tank or flag) or roaming mode (press F8 to cycle modes), you can click and drag the mouse to control the view. You can use the left, right, and center (press the mouse wheel) to move differently. You can, of course, continue to use the arrow keys paired with the modifier keys for observer movement.
The second is a new feature back ported from the development code called “shot length”. This gives the bullets a different look. They will appear to have a tail. You can enable this feature by adjusting the Options > Effect Settings > Shot Length setting. View the full post for screenshots of the new bullets, as well as talk about my April Fools prank.
New style – Normal Bullet
New style – Superbullet
Here’s a comparison of the new and old style.
New style – Showing ricochet
Old style – Showing ricochet
A good number of you are probably aware of the April Fools joke I had on the server. It worked quite well. If anyone wasn’t on my server on the 1st, then you missed all the poorly typed sentences. I had effectively converted The AOLer Translator to a BZFlag server plugin. Anything that anyone said would get brutally converted into AOL speak. Here are some of my favorite parts (not in any specific order):
Burger King: Y MUST U BUTCHAR TEH 3NGLISH LANGUAEG
TASAIRES: MORE ADMIN!11!1!!1 LOL AND CHAT SARVER PROBLEM??!1!!111!!?!???!?!??! OMG LOL WHEN CAN FIX TAHT??!?!??! OMG WTF ;)
Blissarde: SI CAPS LOK ENABLAD ON DA SARV OR SOMETHIN?!!?! WTF
sleepyman: MAH TYPIGN SI BIGN CHANG3D ON SCREN
Animal Lover: MAYB IF I TYPE EVERYTHIGN IN CAPS 2 BGIN WITH IT WIL APEAR SMAL
Animal Lover: NAVERMIND
ekko.: AXCUES ME?!??!? OMG WTF
ekko.: WAIRD I DIDNT SAY TAHT
ekko.: WTH LOL
ekko.: SOMATHIGNS WRONG WIT MAH COMPUTER SORYY
think_tank: liar
ekko.: Y DO U THINK IM TYPIGN LIEK THES DUMB DUMB?!!!!??!! WTF LOL
genotronic: WUT SI HAP3NIGN I DONT HAEV CAPS ON BUT I SE AL IN CAPS
moonlight: IMM NOT WRITIGN THES IN CAPS BUT I DUNO Y ITS COMIGN OUT IN CAPS.!!1111!1!!! OMG LOL
moonlight: ALRIGHT SOMEONA HAEXD THES S3RV3R
Well, you get the idea. It was hilarious. It also made people say random things when they capped a flag, and all tanks spawned 4 units in the air.
Could you release the AOLer Translator plug-in?
Nope. No need for it to be released. Plus, it was a direct rip off of that other converter, so it might violate copyright.
Sucks that I missed it…looks like it was a blast, blast.
PLZ R3LEESE IT OMG WTF LOL :P
HEY! I was there, that was sooo awesome, but scary at the same time. You know, that blew my mind that day that it was April Fools. You should check into the copyright of that, that plugin would be sweet! Have that on at every server (maybe not every), would be sweet!
Wow, that’s such a great plugin. Someone should make one that does about the same thing, but isn’t such a direct copy of the online translator. I could do that as practice with C++.
WOW TAHTS SUCH A GRAAT PLUGIN!!!!!! OMG WTF LOL SOM3ON3 SHUD MAEK ONE TAHT DO3S ABOUT DA SMA THNG BUT ISNT SUCH A DIERCT COPY OF DA ONLIEN TRANSLA2R!!1!1!1 OMG I CUD DO TAHT AS PRACTIEC WIT C+!11!1! WTF LOL