Minor update 158015 has been released!
Update Type: Monthly & Feature Update. Changes: https://www.ee2.eu/patch/changes/#158015
- Improved quality of vanilla EE2 music files, from MP3 128kbps to 320kbps:
* Thanks to Michael Gordon Shapiro (EE2 music composer) for providing uncompressed .wav files, specially for Unofficial Patch 1.5. Check out Michael's music at:
https://mikemusic.com/
* Significantly improved volume levels of the Ambient music in order to remove the "buzz" and align with tracks for all regions. Every track has been deeply checked for the best possible improvements, without affecting the composer's quality. Changes made by EE2 developers have also been applied.
* Unfortunately, the improved Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy music is not available for the time being (different music producer).
* After installing this update, the UP1.5 Launcher will automatically enable music in-game and adjust volumes for the best user experience. This will happen only 1 time (a cookie file is used).
- Updated ambient & weather sounds for all climates:
* Added the ultra-high quality land, forest and weather (rain, snow, wind, dust storm) sounds, ensuring that they sound as similar to the original ones as possible.
* The new sounds have been purchased by Dr.MonaLisa for ~$100 USD. They're fully licensed for Empire Earth II Unofficial Patch 1.5 usage only. Please consider donating for more features of this type:
https://ee2.eu/donate
* Due to the license limitation, the new sounds are encrypted and it's impossible to mod them nor import to the other game mods (with the exception of Developers Version of UP1.5).
* Updated the Uranium Mine, Oil Rig and Boat Move sounds with higher quality versions (88kbps vs 32kbps), which were available in EE2 Single Player Demo files.
* The old ambient sounds were available in 32kbps .wav format, that's why quality was so poor.
* Fixed a bug where the last "loopingSounds” and "sounds" entry in DbAmbientSoundSet (dbambientaudio.ddf / dbambientaudi5.ddf) was ignored.
* The updated ambient sounds can be disabled by changing "Unlock UP1.5 units, buildings, models, sounds..." to "No" in UP1.5 Settings.
* Thanks to user "Fortuking" from EE1 Reborn for the idea and generic help.
- Fixed a bug (present since ver 1.0), where projectiles (usually guided missiles and bombs) were exploding way too high above ships. Reference addresses: 007F7B1C (EE2), 0088E8CC (AOS):
* It was happening, because the game uses the unit size X (width) as their top impact border. It was not that noticeable for the smaller, rounded ground units as much as for the big, elliptical ships.
* The fix detects if the target unit "moveType" is "kUnitMoveType_NavalShallow" or "kUnitMoveType_NavalDeep" and simulates the same behaviour as when attacking buildings. Following with the guided missiles is not negatively affected (works in the unchanged form).
* It also improves explosion visuals in lower epochs, during sea battles. Projectiles (including torpedoes) now explode right next to the hull instead of somewhere far beside. Discussion and before/after screenshots are available in this forum topic:
viewtopic.php?p=26690#p26690
* WARNING: This update will make previously recorded game playbacks with naval units used - incompatible. They will hang / stop due to incorrect synchronization. Game saves should not be affected.
- Increased the "Maximum Sound Memory" to 200MB (from 100MB in versions 157024+, originally 5MB).
- Improved the visual explosion effect of TBMs (1.5).
- Option "Reduce visual weather effects for Blizzard, Sandstorm" is now enabled by default for users who have never changed the status of this option. This doesn't affect Developers Version of UP1.5. It's to give the best experience to new players who have no time to check for all available UP1.5 options, and might get annoyed by the game after seeing these bad weather effects.
- Included the official EE2 / EE2: AOS maps from the Empire Earth® II Pre-Order Bonus Disc: "Desert World_bonus.map", "Even Steven_bonus.map", "Iron Cross_bonus.map", "Oldie Island_bonus.map", "Bayside_Bonus.map".
- Included a new EE2 / EE2: AOS map created by Loewenherz: "Mirage" (for 8 players, reconstruction of EE3 map). Details:
https://ee2.eu/t5304
- Improved the "Host version %HOSTVERSION% differs from local version %LOCALVERSION%" message on the Multiplayer Lobby. It now displays additional information depending if a player is on EE2, AOS, EE2 / AOS with disabled UP1.5 units, or Developers Version of UP1.5. It helps new players understand the difference between versions and guides them how to switch between different versions. Thanks for help with translation to players "IndieRock00" (Italian), "FoxTunez" (German).
- Fixed a game crash that could occur on the start of a multiplayer game. Reference addresses: 00568BF7 (EE2), 0057C5F8 (AOS). It occurred when some player (who was not present in a hosted game room) attempted to join a game after it was already launched.
* Historical detail: Usually, this crash was connected with the 'empty slot' bug, but not caused by the recent UP1.5 updates with fixes for it (the first crash reports with these reference addresses were sent to EE2.eu already in 2016). Before the 158006 update, players were rejoining hosted game rooms in order not to leave empty slots in the middle. It was minimizing the risk of this crash. In update 158007 the slow games list refresh issue has been fixed. It allows players to attempt to join game rooms much faster (but the host might click the Launch button while they're joining). These useful improvements made the newly fixed crash more recognizable, but they were not a direct cause of it.
If you have got UP1.5.5+, you can update by clicking:
empireearth2://FunctionMinorVersionInstall