UQM-HD Beta 1 Coming soon!

[dczanik]

We're hoping to release by the end of this month! I'll post screens later this week. Videos this weekend.

Beta Changes:

• 250+ bug fixes!
• Support for all monitors, even for the 1280x960 mode!
• Fullscreen mode automatically scales to fill the screen (in correct aspect ratio of course)
• 640x480 Native Graphics Resolution.
• Most of the enhanced solar system graphics now user-selectable to retain the original 1992 experience.
• Authentic planet surfaces for Sol system planets.
• Moon letter is shown in the blue planet name box when orbiting a planet (in hi-res modes).
• A map of constellations is now available in the starmap by pressing F7
• A map of the pre-Ur-Quan-war situation is now available in the starmap by pressing also F7
• Starmap cursor movement system is now more user-friendly in hi-res modes.
• Quasispace holes’ corresponding hyperspace coordinates are shown on QS map AFTER entering the hole once.
• Support for savegames from ”vanilla” Ur-Quan Masters
• Nameable savegames.
• Fixed AI so the computer controlled Ur-Quans should finally be LETHAL.
• Lovely ship info screens now available in super melee (press right alt in ship picking grid).
• Improved Artwork.
• Finally, the missing bits of Mycon dialogue have been recorded and added into the game.
• Totally re-recorded, better quality Utwig voice acting.
• Ships can be deleted from fleet in Supermelee with both ’delete’ and ’backspace’ keys (will help some laptop users)
• Cheat mode available for cheaters!!!
• Shows a list of all mineral values as you are scavenging for minerals. Can be turned on/off.
• Russian Language support. Translators. I need your help for other languages!
• Graphics package for other translations.

And, in case you missed it:

Alpha Changes:

• All new artwork at over 4 times the original's resolution.
• Planets rotate and orbit their star in the interplanetary view. They also feature the textured planet surface graphics in the IP view.
• Animated suns (hi-res).
• Nebula backgrounds.
• Enemy ships in interplanetary view are no longer static icons, but can rotate.
• Smarter mineral collection – the remainder of a partially collected mineral node stays on the surface instead of disappearing.
• The value of biologicals is shown when picked up.
• Shooting the tractors on the moon makes them explode.
• In Starmap both the ”max distance you can travel”, and ”max distance from which you can still return to Sol starbase” are shown.
• A color-coded warning is displayed when deploying lander and the fuel consumption would make it impossible to return to Sol starbase.
• When exiting a system on autopilot, automatically exit facing in the correct direction, regardless of your facing when you left the in-system screen.
• Destroyed Zoq-Fot-Pik colony worlds can be found in their area.
• It is now possible to encounter Slylandro probes in solar systems.
• Some fixes to Ur-Quan & Kohr-Ah AI.
• The game now asks to give player & flagship name in a clear and noticeable manner when starting a new game.

[Nikolai]

Really excited about this. Looking forward to giving my daughter a copy of UQM HD that she can play on her aging computer. Thank you so much for all your hard work!

[Niffiwan]

Very nice! The constellation map is especially welcome. A few questions:

Will it be mentioned somewhere in the game to press F7? I don't know if people would think of it, if it's not.

Will save states from the alpha work with no problems?

Will the re-recorded Utwig dialogue be optional? Theirs was actually one of the voices that didn't bother me.

What exactly do you mean by the computer-controlled Ur-Quan now being lethal?

Also, it would be neat if there was a feature to highlight just the stars you've already visited (maybe by pressing another F key) - perhaps in the future?

[Zarnium]

Sounds fantastic! I'm glad to hear that the starmap cursor is getting a tune up, it was really wonky.

[superbutcherx]

Very nice! The constellation map is especially welcome. A few questions:

Will it be mentioned somewhere in the game to press F7? I don't know if people would think of it, if it's not.

Will save states from the alpha work with no problems?

Will the re-recorded Utwig dialogue be optional? Theirs was actually one of the voices that didn't bother me.

What exactly do you mean by the computer-controlled Ur-Quan now being lethal?

Also, it would be neat if there was a feature to highlight just the stars you've already visited (maybe by pressing another F key) - perhaps in the future?

Yes, the F7 (and F6 for star search) will be mentioned in the blue title bar when in starmap.

Also, we've shed a lot of blood, sweat and tears to make the Alpha saves work also in Beta

Unfortunately, the new Utwig dialogue replaces the old. However, you can unzip the voice .uqm pack and replace the new Utwig voices with the original files.

The computer-controlled Ur-Quan being lethal means that their AI now works in 640x480 and 1280x960 modes as buglessly as in the original 320x240. You see, there's a bug in Alpha which makes the dreadnoughts and several other ships behave less aggressively than they normally do, making the fights too easy.

The idea of highlighting visited star systems is a neat one. Perhaps we'll reserve F8 for that in the final release

[Zarnium]

When do the Mycon actually say their missing dialogue?

[Death 999]

Where their homeworld is. Since you need to go there and there is another world in their territory that is frequently confused for it, this is kind of important.

[Zarnium]

But when do they say it?

[superbutcherx]

When visiting that 'other' planet for the first time. And also when encountering a mycon ship for the first time.

[Salk]

Wow!

Great news here that I somewhat missed!

Thank you so much guys for this upcoming Beta version! Sounds really exciting!